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 20
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Doctor Leathers is a man of thorough education and culture and besides extensive travel in this country has been abroad in Europe. In politics he is independent, is a member of the Masonic Order and the Benevolent and Protetive Order of Elks, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was married August 28, 1900, to Minnie M. Crawford, a native of Champaign County.
PATRICK CONNOR. Every one in the Rantoul vicinity of Champaign County knows the home of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Connor. It is located in section 19, five miles northwest of Rantoul and near the schoolhouse to which Mr. Connor sent his own children and with which he has been officially identified. This is a fine farm, comprising 320 acres, and from the road the large white house is almost screened by the fine trees which surround it and most of which were planted and set out by Mr. Connor's own hands.
. All these worthy and creditable possessions are the result of Mr. and Mrs. Connor's self-sacrificing efforts in early days and continued good man- agement at. the present. Mr. Patrick Connor was born at Richmond,
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Virginia, a son of Patrick and Catherine (Kane) Connor, who were natives of Ireland and came to America soon after their marriage in order to better their conditions in the New World. From Virginia they moved to Peoria County, Illinois. Their three children were Mary, Hannah and Patrick.
Patrick, the only son, attended school in Peoria County, and soon after reaching manhood, in. 1885, he married Mary Sullivan. Mrs. Connor was born in Logan County, Illinois, third in a large family of children born to Daniel and Catherine (Buckley) Sullivan. Mrs. Connor was six years of age when her parents located in Champaign County, and she obtained her education in the Ludlow Center school.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Connor lived on the old Connor homestead in Condit Township for seven years. They were ambitious for the future and had the energy and enthusiasm of young people, and thriftily put aside some of the surplus from each year's efforts until they were able to buy the nucleus of their present estate, consisting of 160 acres five miles northwest of Rantoul. For that quarter section they paid $65 an acre.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Connor were born nine children, two of whom died in infancy. The others were named Catherine, Mary, Irene, John, Patrick, Madaline and Helen. These children were educated in the nearby school, the Locust Grove school. Catherine was also a student in St. Joseph's Academy at Bloomington, and Mary was a pupil in St. Mary of the Woods at Terre Haute, Indiana. Irene graduated with honors from the Rantoul High School and fitted herself for teaching, being engaged in ยท that work for two years in the Independence school in East Bend Town- ship. Catherine is now the wife of John Murray, a farmer in East Bend. Township, and their three children are named Anna Gertrude, Mary Louise and Connor. The other children, Mary, Irene, John and Patrick, remain at home and assist their father and mother in the management of the farm. All are bright and energetic boys and girls and have a good future before them. Three of the children are students in the Donovan Memorial School of Rantoul conducted by the Dominican Sisters.
Mr. and Mrs. Connor attend St. Malachi's Catholic Church at Ran- toul, and their children were baptized and confirmed in that church. Polit- ically he votes the Democratic ticket. Proof of his public spirit is found in the fact that he was clected for a number of ycars as school director and has been frequently honored with the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Connor have done all in their power to pre- pare their children for efficient lives. Realizing and appreciating the value of music as a source of true culture they have given their daughters musical as well as literary training.
Mr. Connor has achieved a position among the first of Champaign County's farmers and stockmen. He now has 320 acres of land, and among his improvements is a silo with a capacity of ninety tons. He has gained something more than a county-wide reputation as a breeder and raiser of Aberdeen Angus cattle. In the off crop year of 1916 Mr. Connor raised 4,500 bushels of corn, and at this writing still has most of it in his cribs. The market value of corn is now close to $1.60 a bushel. The Connor home has always been characterized by its generous hospitality. Mr. and Mrs. Connor have with all their hard work found time to perform their community duties and neighborly responsibilities, and have every reason to be proud of their home and the possessions they have gathered around them. Reference has already been made to the attractive feature of the fine trees in the door yard. These trees, planted by Mr. Connor himself, are maples, catalpas, box elders and a row of fine black walnut trees which now bear abundantly. All these things add to the real pleasure of life, and none are better qualified to enjoy such possessions than Mr. and Mrs. Connor.
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ROGER E. ZOMBRO is one of the live and enterprising business men of
. Champaign, and after a number of years of practical experience as an employe graduated into the ranks of independent merchants and now conducts one of the most popular men's furnishing goods stores of the city, drawing his trade from the best classes of people.
Mr. Zombro was born at Midland City, Illinois, October 16, 1880, a son of Jacob W. and Mary M. (Cheney) Zombro. His parents were both born at Mechanicsburg, Ohio. Jacob Zombro spent the last twenty years of his life in the insurance business, and he died at Weldon, Illinois. The mother died at Champaign in July, 1916. They were the parents of five children : Minnie, wife of B. F. Peltz, of Clinton, Illinois ; James B., of Logan, Utah; Janette, wife of J: H. Alsbury, of Maroa, Illinois; Edna, wife of George Reddick, of Clinton, Illinois; and Roger E.
Mr. Roger E. Zombro began life with a fair equipment of education. He attended the common schools and lacked only three months of gradu- ating from the high school at Weldon, Illinois. On account of poor eye- sight he had to give up his studies, and soon afterward; at the age of fifteen, he began acquiring a mercantile experience as an employe of William Gushard & Company at Decatur, Illinois. He was in that com- pany's dry goods establishment four years and then transferred his employment to McPherson, Edwards & Company in their dry goods store at Springfield, Illinois. After about two years at Springfield Mr. Zombro came to Champaign in 1901 and was successively connected with the dry goods stores of E. C. Willis, F. S. Robson and W. Lewis & Com- pany. With a wealth of experience, with credit acquired by his knowledge 'and ability, and with some capital Mr. Zombro in 1909 opened his men's furnishing store at 604 East Green Street, and has been continuously in that location with a rapidly growing trade.
On August 11, 1916, he married Miss J. Ethel Lediendecker, who was born in Champaign. Mr. Zombro is now precinct commissioner, is a member of the Country Club, the Civic Club, the Rotary Club, is a Repub- lican in politics, and is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge and the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks.
ALEXANDER FUNKHOUSER. Some men go through the world, subject to its various experiences, doing their work well and accumulating property, but after all is said and done they apparently have not placed the proper emphasis upon life as living and have not accentuated the many interests which lie around them. Of those families of Champaign County that seem to have realized most adequately the breadth and fullness and depth of life and its possibilities perhaps none deserve mention more than the household of Alexander Funkhouser. Mr. Funkhouser is a prominent farmer near Rantoul, and his activities have been closely identified with Champaign County since boyhood days.
He is a son of James and Rachel Funkhouser, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. The original ancestors of the Funkhousers were three brothers who emigrated from Holland to America in early days, and their descendants still have the sterling qualities that marked the family back in Holland. James and Rachel Funkhouser had only two children, Alexander and Sarah.
Alexander Funkhouser was born two and a half miles from Greensburg in Decatur County, Indiana. He was eight years of age when he came with his parents to Champaign County. They arrived in this county Octo- ber 19, 1857. Here the family experienced the various hardships and privations incident to their day. They possessed powers of endurance and were always willing to sacrifice present comfort for the sake of future
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good, and thus they surmounted seemingly insurmountable barriers and came to take their place in the ranks of the sturdy tillers of the soil whose business in life is to make old mother earth yield her rich increase. The passing years have shown that their labor was not in vain.
Young Alexander Funkhouser went to work in earnest to assist his father in cultivating the new farm in Champaign County. His first employment was in dropping corn. In those days such a thing as tiling fields was not known. The water frequently filled all the ditches and remained there a good part of the spring and early summer, and in order that the corn might not rot it had to be carefully dropped and covered on top of the furrows. Also as a barefooted boy he herded cattle on the Thomasboro flats, keeping a sharp lookout for the snakes that infested the place. He would quench his thirst by drinking water through a straw or reed from the numerous holes made by the cattle's feet. That way of drinking was a common custom in early days, and is said to have explained the reason why the inhabitants of Illinois were called "Suckers."
As the boy grew to manhood he had an earnest purpose for the future and laid the foundation of his own home and fortune by his union with Miss Adie James. To visit these good people in their home today, which possesses all the marks of a plenteous comfort, and see their fine sons and daughters and witness the cheery atmosphere of home life, one would quickly decide Mr. Funkhouser had not made any mistake in the choice of his life's partner.
Adie James was a daughter of Thomas J. and Almeda James, both natives of Indiana. The old home of the family was near Terre Haute. They early migrated to Champaign County. Thomas James died in Stan- ton Township of Champaign County. To their marriage were born four- teen children, and the seven still living are Adie, Mrs. Funkhouser ; Alice, Cary, Lizzie, Chauncey, George and Hugh. The children of the James family all derived their education from the district schools.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Funkhouser took up their joint partnership as farmers. Through the strictest economy and by long con- tinued saving they were able to purchase their first land, which consisted of eighty acres. To this they added from time to time until they now own 160 acres in Rantoul Township, 160 acres in Ford County and 150 acres in Vermilion County.
Into their home and to gladden their hearts have come twelve children, eight sons and four daughters. Their names were: Effie, Allie, Homer, Isaac, Charles, Etsel, Otis, Clinton, Frederick, Earl, Lena and a daughter that died in infancy. Charles is also deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Funkhouser gave their children all the advantages to be obtained in the country school' district and later sent them to high school at Rantoul.
The daughter Effie was for four years a successful teacher in Champaign County and married an educator, G. E. Wright, and they now live in Des Moines, Iowa. They have a child, Cecil, a bright and energetic boy, who for two years filled the position of page in the Statehouse at Des Moines. He is an independent little fellow and began his business life as a newsboy and since the age of ten years has done his own banking.
Allie is the wife of L. F. Ledderboge, a resident of Bloomington, Illi- nois, from which city he travels as representative for the Portable Elevator Company. They have two sons, Lloyd and Clifford.
Homer married Miss Cora Moudy, and they live at Gerald, Vermilion County. The town of Gerald takes off eight acres from their farm. Their ' children are named Merle, Doris, Eugene, Lenore, Margaret, Christine and Emory.
Isaac Funkhouser married Sadie Hartsock, and he lives on the old Funkhouser farm. They have a son, Marion.
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Etsel, who lives in Somer Township, married Julia Tracy, and they have one son, Richard Alexander, who was born on his grandfather's birth- day and was given the name of his grandfather.
Otis, who is a farmer near Gifford, married Evelyn Bailey.
Clinton is a farmer near Rantoul and married Opal Mulvany.
Lena is the wife of Claud Ziegler, and they live on a farm in Ford County. Their daughter was named Mabrie Wilson.
Frederick married May Colwell. Earl remains at home.
As the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Funkhouser married and left home the parents wisely exerted themselves so as to give proper opportunities to their sons and keep them at home and busy as long as possible. They therefore rented a 400-acre ranch, the old Richard estate near Rantoul, and that has proved a very wise arrangement, since it gives ample opportunities for the boys to practice agriculture and work out their destinies for them- selves without going away from home.
The family are active members of the Christian Church at Rantoul, and in politics Mr. Alexander Funkhouser is a strong Democrat and believes the present incumbent of the White House is not only the man of the hour but the man whom destiny has marked out to be one of the greatest factors in the settlement of the problems of the world. Mr. Funkhouser is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World, and all his sons who have reached the proper age have membership in the Odd Fellows lodge and all are enthu- siastic workers in that fraternity. A portrait shows the picture of the father and seven sons wearing the regalia of Odd Fellowship, and this photograph indicates that the father as well as the sons have attained the stations of past grand masters. Mr. and Mrs. Funkhouser have lost no opportunity to lead exemplary lives before their family and instill in them principles of manly conduct and true American citizenship. Their hospitable home for years has echoed ringing laughter and merry voices of boys and girls, and it has been a center for the social gatherings of the neighborhood. Mrs. Funkhouser is a fine type of the American woman who believes in rearing her boys to fill places of usefulness in the great busy avenues of life and finds little satisfaction in the glories of war, which she believes is not the true field for American manhood.
The jovial spirit of Alexander Funkhouser is contagious. Neither he nor his wife believe in growing old in spirit, and they always have a cheerful word for everyone. In 1916 Rantoul held a Halloween carnival pageant. All the participants were garbed in costume. Among them was a jolly old black mammy, gaily decorated in the bright colors so dear to the race. Her appearance on the street amid the revelers was hailed with hearty delight. She looked as though she had just emigrated from a southern plantation. Many guesses were made as to who she was. It was the signal for added mirth and pleasure when it was discovered that she was Mrs. Alexander Funkhouser, a gray-haired grandmother, with her heart young as in her girlhood days. At that carnival Mr. and Mrs. Funk- houser received a fine prize for having the largest family.
WILLIAM O. SMITH. For more than half a century a resident of Champaign County, William O. Smith is known to the people of this section as a man who did his brave and efficient duty in the Civil War, as an active and industrious farmer, and as one who in all the relations of a long and busy life has lived up to the best standards of citizenship. He is also known through his children, a number of whom now occupy worthy and honorable places in community affairs.
Mr. Smith was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 5, 1839,
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a son of S. B. and Mary Ellen (Sheperd) Smith. His father's native home was near Harper's Ferry, Virginia. William O. Smith was one of a family of five sons and two daughters. In 1846, when he was seven years of age, the family removed to Sangamon County, Illinois, and rented a house in Sheldon's Row in the city of Springfield. For two years they had the distinction of living in the same house with Abraham Lincoln and his wife. The house was a double apartment, the Smiths occupying one side and the Lincolns the other. S. B. Smith served eighteen years as justice of the peace in Sangamon County.
Mr. W. O. Smith as a boy attended the Lake Creek District School in Sangamon County. After leaving the common schools and working for a year he realized the need of more education and saved and earned the money necessary to give him a course in the Springfield High School.
While in high school he was invited to join a debating club. The rules of the club were that members should be called upon for extempore speeches, limited to fifteen minutes on any given topic. Failure to make . a speech made the member subject to a forfeit or fine of twenty-five cents.
When young Smith was first called upon for such an ordeal the chair- man reached in a box, as was the custom, drew out a subject for the speech and handed it to the young man. Much to his suprise the slip contained the one word, soap. That was a test of quick thinking and ready wit. Another factor was that young Smith was not troubled with many quarter dollars in those days, and he promptly waded into his subject. He elucidated every phase and fact concerning soap, and much to the amusement and delight of the audience. Finally the time was up and the president had to ring him down. About sixty-five years later Mr. Smith met in Springfield one of his old schoolmates, who after mutual greeting laughingly asked "Smith, how is soap in Champaign County ?"
Mr. Smith was a young man of twenty-two when the war cloud broke and deluged the country with hostilities. Filled with enthusiasm, he enlisted in his country's service at Springfield 'in 1861 and became a member of Company I, Twenty-ninth Illinois Infantry. This regiment it has been frequently said was the regiment that "put down the rebellion." He signed his enlistment papers August 7, 1861, at one o'clock in the afternoon. He immediately went home and bid his mother good-bye and next morning ate his breakfast at Cairo, Illinois. For nearly three years of his service Mr. Smith was employed as a United States scout. He was in many of the principal engagements, including Fort Donaldson and Fort Henry, Pittsburg Landing or Shiloh, Black River, and many other scenes of carnage and bloodshed that have never effaced themselves from his memory. Even yet he shrinks from talking about the terrific side of war. It is only such men who can completely realize the tremendous sacrifices that were made in making this country a free.and united people. He became a corporal in his company and was subsequently promoted to the post of deputy to a general. Finally General Grant took him to his headquarters and employed him there for two years. Some years later, when Gencral Grant was in his second term as president, Mr. Smith visited Washington. Desiring to sce his old general he presented himself at the door of the White House. The soldier on guard asked him to present his card. This Illinois veteran was not prepared with visiting cards and consequently was told that the President could not see him. It chanced that the President was close by, and recognizing the voice of the old soldier called him in and gave him his warm and characteristically kind greeting. They spent some time talking over old days in the army. Mr. Smith was one time taken prisoner but was paroled. Eleven days
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after the expiration of his term of enlistment he was mustered out at Natchez, Mississippi, and received his honorable discharge at Springfield August 27, 1864. He was under Capt. Samuel H. Russell, the brave soldier who subsequently accompanied General Custer on the expedition against the Indians in the Northwest and fell another victim to the frenzy of the red men under Sitting Bull in the massacre of 1876.
After the war Mr. Smith engaged in farming in Champaign County and in 1865, at Mahomet, married Miss Louzsa Rea. Five children were born to them: Ida Lillian, Grace Eleanor, Jessie R., William O., Jr., Mary Ellen. These children were well educated in the Ludlow schools and the Paxton schools. W. O. Jr., after his education in these institu- tions studied law at Normal University three years, graduated, and has since practiced as a successful young attorney. He married Martha Whitcome and has one child, Raymond. The daughter Ida married Charles Hammerlin, and their children are Charles, Lew, Vera, Myrtle, Chester, Dewey, Rex and Clara. Grace E. is the wife of Charles Coon. Their children are Flossie, Bede, Carl, Lois, Lillian, Glen, Jay, Marian . and June. Jessie R. is the wife of Charles S. Wallace. Mr. Smith now makes his home with this daughter, Mrs. Jessie Wallace, at Champaign. By a former marriage Mrs. Wallace has one daughter, Lou Iris, who married T. H. Doty, and they have one child, Robert Hurrel Doty. This great-grandchild, a great comfort and the pride of his great-grand- father, was born November 17, 1913. The daughter Mary E. married William Clark, and their children are William, Robert, Laurel, Evelyn, Richard and Opal. The Clark family reside in Urbana.
After a happy home life of nearly a half a century Mr. Smith's com- panionship with his beloved sharer of joys and sorrows was terminated in the death of Mrs. Smith on March 30, 1914. She was a loving mother and true and noble wife. Mr. Smith is a kind hearted and most hos- pitable man, and his long experience has made him the delightful com- panion of both old and young. One of his aims has been to make a new friend each day, and his motto, oft repeated and a constant abiding prin- ciple with him is "he who is armed with right is thrice doubly armed and need have no fear."
GEORGE L. WATSON. There are pioneer names in Champaign County that so essentially belong to the development and progress of this section of Illinois that no history would be complete without reference to them. One of these names is Watson, and a worthy bearer of it is found in George L. Watson, a leading citizen and the owner of a large body of finely improved land situated in section 16 of Harwood Township.
George L. Watson was born in Champaign County, Illinois, and is a son of Joseph and Rachel E. (Simpson) Watson, the latter of whom was born in Ohio. Joseph Watson was born in Ireland and was a son of William N. and Ellen (Patrick) Watson, born in County Kildare. The father belonged to the old order of Orangemen. When Joseph Watson was three months old his parents immigrated to America and finally settled at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later in Ohio. At that time there was a fine old custom prevailing whereby a son who remained with his parents and did a son's duty until he was twenty-one years old was then released from all responsibility, was given a horse and bridle and saddle and a God- speed and was sent out to test his own physical and moral strength with the world. When he reached his majority Joseph Watson received these gifts and bravely started out to find opportunity for himself. It was some- thing of an undertaking in those days because of so many unknown dangers to be faced, but he started on his way from Ohio and traveled by horse-
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back to Iowa, in the meanwhile paying his own way by labor and keeping his eye out for a desirable section in which to locate, finally deciding that Illinois would suit him best of all others. After his marriage, which took place in Indiana, he moved with his wife to Champaign County, Illinois. There were many hardships and no doubt he often remembered the story his father had told of his pioncer days in Ohio, when the loss occasioned by his horse, his one valuable possession at the time, caused him much distress. The horse had wandered away into the great surrounding wilder- ness and Grandfather Watson had to leave his wife alone in the little cabin for three days while he sought the animal and found it miles away. Such stories were not unusual and doubtless many like accidents happened to Joseph Watson in Champaign County. Here, however, he became a man of settled estate and public usefulness and his name is recalled with feel- ings of respect and veneration. Of his six children George L. was the youngest in order of birth.
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