USA > Illinois > Champaign County > A Standard history of Champaign County Illinois : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, civic and social development : a chronicle of the people, with family lineage and memoirs, Volume II > Part 19
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PETER STEWART CAMPBELL came to Champaign County when he was a small boy, learned the trade in one of the shops of the county and for many years has been identified either with a newspaper establishment or with a printing shop of his own. He now has one of the principal job printing houses of Urbana.
Mr. Campbell was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, April 18, 1868, a son of Archibald B. and Christina (Stewart) Campbell. He was one of seven children, named as follows: Alexander, deceased; Jennie, wife of G. L. Baker, of Champaign; Mary, widow of Robert Leslie, living at Pittsfield, Illinois; John and William, both deceased; Peter Stewart; and Archibald, of Tolono.
The father of these children was a drainage contractor and died in Seotland in 1872. The following year the widowed mother brought her family to America, and soon located near Tolono, where she lived until her death in 1916. Peter S. Campbell received his education at Tolono
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and in 1881 began learning the printing trade. He served his apprentice- ship in Champaign County and in 1887 went to Wichita, Kansas, where he spent about a year as a printer. On returning to Champaign County he became connected with the Urbana Herald, and was with that journal nine years. For a short time he was with the Champaign News, and then opened a shop of his own but sold out after six months. Then followed a relationship for nine years with the Urbana Daily Courier. On leaving the Courier Mr. Campbell opened a shop of his own and now has all the facilities as well as the experience for first class work in general com- mercial printing.
He was married May 20, 1891, to Elizabeth Brown, of Rantoul. They have three children : Raymond B., William V., and Eleanor Pauline. Mr. Campbell is a Republican, a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men, and he and his family worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
GEORGE DRISKELL. One of the farms that lend distinction and dignity to Champaign County as a center of the great- Illinois corn belt is that of Mr. George Driskell in section 33 of Kerr Township. Mr. Driskell has been a farmer all his life, and he knows the business as only one can know it through years of practical experience and common sense application of his energies to the task at hand.
Mr. Driskell was born in Warren County, Indiana, a son of Hiram and Anna (Black) Driskell. There were six children in the family, four sons and two daughters, Roland, George, William, one that died in infancy, Julia Ann and Hannah. Hiram Driskell was also a farmer, and brought his family to Champaign County when George was nine years of age. The family located on a farm at Sugar Grove in Kerr Township and the ehildren attended the Sugar Grove school. Hiram Driskell and wife lived in this locality the rest of their lives.
On February 12, 1871, Mr. George Driskell married Miss Samantha Mercer. They had been sweethearts for some time, but their parents opposed their attention and planned a different future for them. The young people thought they knew best, and determined to take the issue in their own hands. In the early winter of 1871 they attended a party at the home of a neighbor named Pattens. All the young people of that district were present. On the following day, instead of returning home, George and Samantha drove to Champaign and were married at the hotel. On returning home they received the blessing of their parents, and their long and prosperous married life shows that they made no mistake in this vital decision.
Mrs. Driskell was born in eastern Ohio, a daughter of Aaron and Polly (Cecil) Mercer, her father a native of Virginia. Their ancestors were formerly from Scotland. Her parents were married in Ohio and there were five sons and three daughters: Solomon, William, James, Joseph, Henry, Martha, Nancy and Samantha, who was the youngest. When Samantha was a small child the Mercer family came to Illinois and located in the Partlow settlement of Vermilion County. The children attended the Sugar Grove school and the Flagg school. Samantha finished her education in a school for young ladies at Paxton, Illinois, when Mrs. Buckley was principal.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Driskell started out for themselves on eighty acres which he inherited from his father. They located in their new home in the month of June, the month for brides, and they went at their task as home makers with youth, enthusiasm, eourage and ambition. They lived there ten years and then removed to a part of Mr. Driskell's
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father's estate, and also bought adjoining land. At the present time the Driskell farm comprises 240 aeres, and through his care and management many notable improvements have been made. The house has been remod- eled, a large barn has been built, and there is ample equipment for carrying on such a farm as a business. Mr. and Mrs. Driskell have planted many trees, flowers and shrubs and their home stands out as one of the pic- turesque spots in Kerr Township. Mr. Driskell's work has chiefly been as a grain grower and stock raiser. He has raised hogs on a large scale, some years as high as 150 head. One year the eholera struck this region and he lost over 100 hogs through this disease.
A high degree of publie spirit has characterized all of Mr. Driskell's activities in the community. He is widely known all over Champaign County, which he served fifteen years on the board of county commis- sioners. During that long public service he had a part in the building of nearly all the bridges along Middle Fork Creek, the largest being the Mercer bridge, and also the one east of his home. These bridges are a eredit to the entire county. Mr. Driskell has also served on the school board and has helped make his district one of the best in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Driskell attend the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, but is a man of broad views and believes that the special national executive is entitled to the support and confidence of every true American. Mrs. Driskell has done all she could to forward the prohibition movement in the county and state, and it is one of her most ardent hopes that nation-wide prohibition will be an accomplished fact in her lifetime. From sueh faets as have been here related it is possible to understand Mr. and Mrs. Driskell's high position in Champaign County, and it is not without good reason that they take pride in their country home, their family and the worthy influences that they have been able to set in motion for the benefit of the community.
GEORGE SKINNER is one of the prosperous farm owners and well known eitizens of Champaign County, now living retired at Urbana, and for his suecess the credit is due almost entirely to his individual efforts and his steadfast honesty and integrity.
Mr. Skinner was born in Somersetshire, England, January 29, 1850, and was about four years of age when he accompanied his parents, Robert and Anna (Rieh) Skinner, to America. The family first located near Elk Grove, northwest of Chicago, and in 1873 they moved to the vicinity of Homer in Champaign County, where Robert Skinner spent his last years and died in 1883. Robert Skinner and wife had four children : Amelia, who died in 1888; Rhoda, who died in 1913; George; and Henry, now a resident of Los Angeles, California.
When George Skinner was fourteen years of age the family removed to Shelby County, Illinois, renting a farm there three years and after another year at Arcola they went to a rented farm south of Homer, where George Skinner remained five years. In the meantime his father had suffered a severe accident by a fall on the ice and he and his brother assumed many of the responsibilities connected with the management of the farm and the domestic upkeep. Mr. George Skinner eventually acquired land of his own and by systematic improvement and develop- ment continued his land holding interests until he is now owner of 204 acres, constituting one of the best farms in Champaign County. Mr. Skinner has made his success by raising corn and oats, cattle and hogs. In 1893 he bought a fine home at 921 West Green Street in Urbana, where he is now living retired. In 1900 he bought another farm of 124 acres in St. Joseph Township.
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Mr. Skinner was married December 29, 1887, to Mary Havard, a native of Illinois, whose parents came from Wales. Mr. and Mrs. Skinner have one son, John E. Skinner, who is now attending the Camp Ground School at Biloxi, Mississippi. Mr. Skinner is a Republican, has served on the Board of Supervisors of Ayres Township, and has filled other minor township offices. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
HUGH A. KIRK. While it cannot be claimed for all Champaign County farmers that they live up to the opportunities afforded them, there are some of them whose progress and prosperity are well worth noting and whose modern methods have in the last few years almost revolutionized the industry. One of these wide-awake and progressive agriculturists is Hugh A. Kirk, whose finely cultivated fields are a credit to Harwood Township and whose thoroughbred stock have made his name known all over the county.
Hugh A. Kirk was born in Champaign County, Illinois, and belongs to an old pioneer family of this section. His parents, James and Alice Kirk, were born in Ireland. The mother passed away some years ago, but the father survives, although the weight of years is heavy upon him. He is surrounded by loving descendants who tenderly minister to his wants. He was one of the early members of the Catholic Church at. Ludlow, reared his children in that faith and they have always followed its teachings.
Hugh A. Kirk attended the parochial schools at Philo and St. Joseph, and the Paxton High School, and still later took a course in Brown's Business College. He has made a special study of scientific agriculture and has proved the value of such a course on his farm of 240 acres. His land has been made to produce abundantly through intelligent cultivation and he has been equally successful in other farm industries. He owns the magnificent black imported stallion Keota General, and raises Aberdeen cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. Additionally he gives a great deal of atten- tion to his valuable full blood Orpington chickens. For the proper accom- modation of this exceedingly valuable stock, Mr. Kirk has made wise provision. On his farm a certain system is followed, the old haphazard way of carrying on agricultural operations being obsolete here. Aside from all this the farm is well situated and well watered and drained, and through the introduction of modern comforts much of the old-time drudgery is a thing of the past. Fine shade trees are a part of the landscape and Father Kirk can remember when he set them out as saplings.
Mr. Kirk was married in the Catholic Church at Ludlow on June 7, 1916, Father Drumming officiating, to Miss Marie Deany, who was born in La Salle County, Illinois, and is a daughter of Daniel and Mary Deany, the former of whom was born in New Jersey and the latter in Illinois. They have one son, Harold Hugh Kirk.
In politics Mr. Kirk is a Democrat and fraternally belongs to the Cath- olic Order of Foresters. The family is one that has always been held in high esteem in this section, its members being solid, representative people.
U. G. NORMAN has found his work in life and has rendered his chief service during his residence at Champaign as a building contractor. Some of the principal buildings of the city have been erected by him.
A resident of Champaign County most of his life, he was born in Wayne County, Indiana, April 14, 1867, a son of John Scott and Eunice A. (Stover) Norman. His father was a farmer, and in 1869 removed to Champaign County, locating on a farm ten miles from Urbana, where he was engaged in general farming and in looking after the responsibilities
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and duties of a good citizen until his death in 1897. The mother died in 1912.
The sixth of his parents' children, Ulysses G. Norman grew up in the country, attended the local schools, and was at home on the farm until he was twenty-two. Then for a year he farmed, and having acquired in the meantime a practical knowledge of carpentry he made his first venture in the building business by the purchase of a plat of land whielt is now known as the Norman Addition, and on which he built apartments and residences. After this initial success and experience he removed to Champaign in 1889 and now for nearly thirty years has been engaged in business as a contractor and builder. Among the more notable structures he has erected are the Dr. Howard Building, the Gazette Building and a number of the better residences.
Mr. Norman married Miss Minnie Osborne, a native of Champaign County. Mrs. Norman was a teacher in the city schools of Champaign for five years and taught in the country a similar length of time. She is a daughter of Robert and Margaret (Henley) Osborne, her father a native of Ohio and her mother of Tennessee. Both parents are now deceased. Her father was a farmer and . building contractor. Mrs. Norman was next to the youngest of the family of six children. To their marriage have been born four children : Louise E., Helen Grant, Margaret A., and Hartwell Osborne. Mr. Norman is independent in matters of polities, and he and his wife are active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is serving as a steward.
DANIEL MOONEY, proprietor of a fine and valuable farm in section 18 of Compromise Township, came to America from Ireland about the close of the Civil War, and has had a long and active career in America for more than half a century.
He was born in the north of Ireland, a son of Peter and Mary (Graham) Mooney. His parents died in the old country when Daniel was about twenty years of age. He had the usual education given to Irish boys, and about the time his parents died, having heard much of the opportuni- ties of Aincrica, he came to this country, first joining his cousin, Patrick Grimes. From New York he came on to Illinois, having friends in San- gamon County, and was soon working at farm labor at wages of $20 a month. One of the great events with which he associates his coming to America was the assassination of President Lincoln at the close of the Civil War.
Central Illinois was by no means so attractive or beautiful as old Ire- land, but Mr. Mooney had the true Irish grit and determination and determined to make the best of his circumstances. While working as a farm hand on the raw prairie there were many unpleasant things to contend with, including mosquitoes and flies, fever and ague. He was industrious, and in a few years felt justified in taking the next serious step in life ..
At Lincoln in Logan County, Illinois, he married Miss Margaret Kear- ney. After their marriage they rented land in Logan County and were soon making a good living for themselves and their inercasing household. Five children came to them, Peter, Daniel, Margaret, Lydia and Anna. When Anna was ten months old the beloved mother entered into rest. Thus left alone in the world, with five orphan children, Mr. Mooney had mnany additional trials and responsibilities.
He married for his second wife Mary Nolan, a native of County Tip- perary, Ireland. In the meantime Mr. Mooney had bought eighty acres, in Compromise Township of Champaign County, and here his best successes as a farmer and business man have been realized. In the course of time his
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estate grew to 240 aeres, and it was improved with commodious farm build- ings and home, by the planting of fruit and shade trees, and the entire traet now stands as a monument to his industry.
By his second marriage there were three children, two sons and one daughter, named Mary, Michael and John. The children were all edueated in the distriet sehools, Mary subsequently continuing her studies in the Sisters sehool at Champaign, while Michael took a course in the Catholie College at Kankakee.
The record of the children who have married is as follows: Peter Mooney married Anna Buek, and their three daughters and one son are named Stella, Kate; Daniel and Mary. Margaret Mooney is the wife of Jolın O'Donnel. Lydia married Russell Fitten and has four children, John, Franees and twins. Anna Mooney is the wife of Spenee Raymer. Mary Mooney married John Coffey. Michael Mooney by his marriage to Rene Lyneh has two sons, Patriek and Eugene. The sons Daniel and John are still at home with their father and have aetive charge of the management of the farm, whose cultivation and thrifty appearance testify to their progressiveness and energy in this business.
Mr. Mooney is one of the publie spirited eitizens of Compromise Town- ship and has filled the offices of road commissioner and sehool director. He and his family are members of the Catholie Church at Penfield and in polities he is a Demoerat of broad views and liberal in support of all good eauses. His friends and acquaintances in Compromise Township recognize in liim a thorough gentleman and a man of absolute integrity, whose word is as good as his bond.
FRANK KERN ROBESON. Of the many business establishments in Champaign County perhaps none has a wider connection with the families of this seetion of Illinois and a better reputation due to many years of sueeessful business relations than the Robeson Department Store, founded and built up by the veteran merehant Frank Kern Robeson, who has the distinetion of having developed the first real department store in the eity of Champaign.
While his sueeess and position in the community are now so well established, it is noteworthy that Mr. Robeson did not always have an easy course and one free from obstaeles. He was born in the state of Pennsylvania. His parents, Alexander M. and Jane (Kern) Robeson, were natives of the same state. Their ancestors had come to America prior to the Revolutionary War. Both the Robesons and the Kerns were engaged in the great iron industry of Pennsylvania until a short time before the Civil War.
In 1863 Alexander M. Robeson and his family moved to the pineries of Northern Michigan. During the next winter they and four other families endured the hardships of frontier life. When navigation elosed in the fall there was no communication with the outside world except mail every two weeks brought in on sledges drawn by dogs. When navigation opened in the spring the Robesons took the first boat, a sailing vessel, that left for Bay City, and thenee proceeded by rail and by stage over corduroy roads to Rensselaer, Indiana. Rensselaer, now the county seat of Jasper County, was then a sparsely settled seetion in swamps and with no railroad communications. The Robesons became farmers in that vieinity.
Many of the boyhood recollections of Mr. F. K. Robeson are of the old Indiana farm. He lived on the farm until past sixteen, and was educated in the country and county seat sehools. His first experience in business was as elerk in a store at Logansport, Indiana.
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DR. Robeson
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One of the strongest points in personal character is ability to recognize and seize opportunity. After Mr. Robeson had been clerking about two years he was offered a partnership in a store to be opened at Danville, Illinois. He accepted the offer, and thus came to Illinois and was at Danville nine months. He prospered there, but then went to Decatur, Illinois, and formed a business partnership which in eleven months time brought him near to the brink of disaster and he lost in it nearly all the money he had saved.
.It was after this experience and when just past twenty-one years old that Mr. Robeson came to Champaign, where he arrived in April, 1874. Here he opened a store on Neil Street in the first block north of Church Street. What he lacked in capital he made up in energy, pluck and bus- iness judgment. The small stock of merchandise grew with the growth of population, his success was soon recognized in the community, and there has never been a time when his business and his personal character has not been recognized as important assets in the city. About forty years ago Mr. Robeson moved to the David Bailey building. The store has a frontage at 219-221 North Neil Street, and the building runs back to a side entrance at 113-115 West Church Street.
For many years his store has demanded more commodious quarters. To meet this demand for more room and more up-to-date housing, Mr. Robeson in the fall of 1915 began preparation for the construction of a new store building at the corner of Church and Randolph streets. The building is 132x132 feet square, five stories and basement, modern through- out, and as nearly fireproof as possible to make it. It is a steel frame building with pressed brick walls. This is the largest store building in this section of Illinois, and in every feature it attests the rugged character and sterling integrity of the man responsible for it.
Besides this large department store Mr. Robeson has extensive agri- cultural interests, owning land in Champaign County, in South Dakota and in Iowa. A part of his land he rents out and a part he farms himself, employing his own help and directing the farm operations. His business as a farmer has been no less successful than as a merchant.
Mr. Robeson married in 1897 Miss Hortense M. Bartholow, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. M. Bartholow, and a native of Champaign County. Dr. James M. Bartholow is a prominent physician of Urbana. After leaving college he enlisted in the Civil War and served until the close of that conflict. In 1869 he began his practice at Philo in Champaign County, but removed to Urbana in 1885. Dr. Bartholow was married May 28, 1867, to Florence Ford, of Macon City, Illinois. They had two children, Otho, a minister in New York; and Hortense, Mrs. Robeson. Mr. and Mrs. Robeson have two children: Frank Kern, who followed his high school graduation with a course at college, and Florence Louise Robeson.
Mr. Robeson is a Knight Templar Mason, also a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His public spirit as a citizen has always been prominent. He enters whole heartedly into any plan for the general benefit of the com- munity. Mr. Robeson is a man of broad intelligence and pronounced convictions, and is never afraid to let his opinions be known. He stands for all that is best in community life, in business and in politics. He served on the building and finance committees that erccted and paid for the University Place Church of Christ. For twenty years he was a member of the Republican County Central Committee and for ten years was chairman of that organization. He never sought public office, but on two occasions was induced to accept official honor, once in the City Council as alderman from his ward, having been elected without opposition,
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and again as a member of the State Board of Equalization for a term of four years. Though repeatedly urged to accept other official positions he always deelined. He prefers private life, his home, his business and his farm. In many ways Mr. Robeson is an ideal citizen. His friends are legion. Not even his most intimate friends are aware of the extent of his good works and good deeds. The keynote to his success has been hard work. He personally mastered the smallest details of merchandising, and from the details has risen to the power of constructive planning and the supervision of extensive interests.
THOMAS H. LEATHERS, who for a number of years has stood second to none among the competent dental surgeons of Champaign County is an instance of a self-made man who came almost to the age of manhood without schooling or education and by sheer force of will and ambition qualified for a profession requiring a high degree of skill and intelligence.
Doctor Leathers was born in Glensborough, Kentucky, June 30, 1870, son of William and Mary (Royalty) Leathers. His parents were both born in Kentucky, were thrifty farming people but of modest means. The mother died at the age of thirty-one and the father is now living in Montana. There were only two children, Doctor Thomas being the older, while his brother, Alfred, is manager of the Standard Oil plant at Nash- ville, Tennessee.
The childhood of Thomas H. Leathers was spent on a Kentucky farın, also in the logging camps, and when he was seventeen years of age he began his education. He determined to get an education and he worked constantly to pay his tuition and his support while in school. He first attended school at Palmyra, Illinois, and subsequently completed a four years course in the Danville Normal in Indiana. When he had made up for early deficiencies in the way of a literary training, he entered the Louisville College of Dentistry at Louisville, Kentucky, and in 1898 passed the State Board after two years of work and was graduated in 1899. For three years Doctor Leathers kept his main office at the corner of Fourth and Jefferson streets in Louisville, but practiced throughout the contiguous country district. In 1902 he came to Champaign, and his reputation as a dentist has been steadily growing throughout the past fifteen years. Doctor Leathers now maintains one office and besides his individual skill and attainments he has surrounded himself with every modern equipment and appliance by which the skill of the dentist is immeasurably enhanced.
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