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 22
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resident of Chicago and connected with the United States postal service. Mr. and Mrs. O'Toole have a little daughter, Frances. The daughter Anna Kirk married Bernard Murphy, who for many years was with the Chicago police force and died five years ago.
After many years of companionship and mutual sharing of joy and sorrow and prosperity, Mr. Kirk departed this life in February, 1908, after a brief illness of one week. He was a kind neighbor, a forceful business man and farmer, and had a record of which his family will always be proud. "Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace."
Thus left alone Mrs. Kirk faced the duties of life in a manner that has won for her the admiration of a large community. She took the manage- ment of the estate with the co-operation of her children and has shown a fine executive ability in keeping matters straight and in improving the large property left to her. She has never left the old homestead, and lives today amid the scenes which are associated with her coming to Champaign County as a happy and carefree bride. The crown of her life is her children, whom she has seen grow up around her and whose lives have partaken of the spirit and character of their worthy parents. The sons have proved themselves successful farmers, and the way in which the large estate is handled is the best evidence of their training and ability. Mrs. Kirk with all her many cares and responsibilities keeps in close touch with the issues of the day, and like many other American women, she abominates war and feels that its sacrifices are unjust and uncalled for. Mrs. Kirk and family are active members and liberal supporters of the Catholic Church at Penfield. While there have been trials and vicissitudes in her life, Mrs. Kirk considers it a golden day in her existence 'when she left Ireland and came to America, and has never had a cause to regret her choice of the New World and the many pleasant and fruitful years she has spent here.
JOSEPH L. HINES. The first man appointed to carry the mail into the rural districts of Champaign County was the late Joseph L. Hines. Mr. Hines was for many years a resident of Champaign and his death, which' occurred in that city November 15, 1910, removed an honored and respected citizen.
Mr. Hines was born in Hamilton County, Indiana, December 31, 1859, the youngest in a family of nine children born to Joseph and Eliza- beth (LeMarr) Hines. He grew up and received his education in the country and was a farmer until his marriage. He then formed a con- nection as a traveling salesman with the Coal Brothers Pump Company at Greencastle, Indiana, and sold the goods of that organization over a large territory. After many years of this life Mr. Hines removed to Champaign County in 1893 and entered the livery business. About half a dozen years later, when the rural free delivery system was established, he secured the first appointment as a rural carrier and for a number of years made his journey daily up and down the roads of Champaign County, delivering mail to the farmers along the route.
Mr. Hines was married November 18, 1881, to Miss Lizzie B. McKinsey, a native of Indiana and the oldest of seven children of Jacob and Rachel (Moore) Mckinsey. Her parents were also natives of Indiana. Since her husband's death Mrs. Hines has continued to live in Champaign, and in 1913 she built the handsome two-story and basement brick and tile apartment house at 105 South Randolph Street, where she still resides. Mr. Hines was an active Republican in politics. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hines: Fred J., now deceased; Margaret L., wife of
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Charles A. Powers, of St. Louis; Edna, who died in childhood; and Kate, a resident of New York City and pursuing a course in voice culture.
REUBEN ROUGHTON. Among the many beautiful country estates which are to be found in Champaign County one of the most attractive and val- uable is the farm of Reuben Roughton, which is located in section 27, Ludlow Township, one and one-half miles north of Rantoul. . The owner of this property is one of the progressive agriculturists of the county, a skilled and industrious representative of his vocation, and a citizen who in many ways has contributed to the advancement of his locality. He was born at Attercliff, near Sheffield, England, but has been a resident of the United States since he was one and one-half years of age.
John Roughton, the father of Reuben Roughton, was born in England, where he received his education, and as a young man learned the trade of blacksmith, which he thoroughly mastered and which he followed for many years. In his native country he was united in marriage with Eliza Gilbert, who was born at Leicestershire, England, and they became the parents of ten children, all of whom died in infancy with the exception of Reuben. When this son was one and one-half years of age the family immigrated to the United States and first settled at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, but in 1854 removed to Urbana, Illinois, and subsequently settled at Big Grove in Champaign County, where they were residing at the outbreak of the Civil War. John Roughton enlisted in the Seventy-sixtlı Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, a famous fighting organization, under Colonel Busey. In the army it was soon found out that he was a skilled blacksmith and a mechanical genius as well, just the kind of man needed on hand on various occasions. Detailed to Jackson, Tennessee, a special order was obtained from General Grant to have him remain at that point and at Memphis to assist in the work of the ordnance department, where it was felt that he was of greater value than he would be at the front. In the latter part of his three-year service, however, he went to New Orleans and into Alabama, and took part in the victorious charge of the Union forces on Fort Blakeley. At the end of the war, with an admirable record for faithful service to his adopted country, John Roughton received his honorable discharge and returned to Champaign County. Later he became well known in public life and had numerous friends among the prominent men of his day and locality, among them Judge Cunningham. At various times he was called upon to perform public service, being elected official census taker from the township of Ludlow in 1880, and subsequently serving ten years as justice of the peace, five years as road commissioner and several years as overseer of highways. He was also secretary and superintendent of the Rantoul Maplewood Cemetery Association. Mr. Roughton pre-empted, upon his arrival in Champaign County, 160 acres of land in section 27, Ludlow Township, and there resided during the remainder of his long, busy and uscful life. He made himself a beautiful home, where hospitality ever reigned, and built up an enviable reputation for solidity and sterling probity of character. He and his faithful helpmate were laid to rest in the same grave.
Reuben Roughton's parents were desirous that he should enter upon. life's battles fully prepared by good educational advantages, and he was accordingly granted good facilities in this direction. As a youth he attended the public schools, subsequently was a student at the Urbana High School, and then went to Memphis, Tennessee, where his father was employed in the ordnance department of the Federal Government. During the first year of the existence of the University of Illinois, at Urbana, he studied in that institution, going there with Professor T. J. Burrell, and
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after the completion of his studies returned to the homestead to assist his father in its work and management.
On January 27, 1876, Mr. Roughton was married to Miss Eliza H. Genung, who was born and educated at Rantoul, a daughter of E. N. and Julia A. (Shank) Genung. They began their wedded life on the home farm with his parents, and here there were born to them three children: Ada Maud, Roy John and Hazel N. The children were all given good educational opportunities, and Hazel N. graduated from the Rantoul High School with creditable honors. She married Ira Crane, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits near Rantoul, and has two bright and promising sons, Wendell Lowell and Maurice Roughton. Roy Roughton married Miss Mattie Lindsey, who was educated in the district schools and at Champaign and Rantoul, a daughter of Felix G. and Mildred Lindsey, and they have two children, Mildred Helen and John Addison. Mildred, who is in her second year of high school and expects to finish her course, is a studious and progressive young lady, with creditable ambitions. The first child of Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Roughton, Ada Maud, after a brief illness with typhoid pneumonia, died when but eleven years of age.
The Roughton home is one which exemplifies the highest type of com- fortable country dwelling. It is situated in a grove of beautiful maple, ash and evergreen trecs, which Mr. Roughton planted as a boy, and one of the features of the farm which at once attracts the notice of the visitor is a mammoth brown boulder in the front yard of the home, which has probably rested there for ages, this curious rock formation now being set attractively in the midst of a circle of flowers and plants and covered with vines. The beautiful lawns and drives remind the visitor of the old English estates, the pride of Great Britain, and the other improvements have been so installed that they not only please the eye, but are also placed so as to give the greatest amount of practical service. Mr. Roughton carries on general farming and stock raising operations and has been very successful in both directions. He has been industrious in his work and modern in his methods, while his honorable dealings have served to impress the com- munity with his integrity and probity. Politically he is a Republican, and he and Mrs. Roughton are members and liberal supporters of the Chris- tian Church of Rantoul.
GEORGE L. INMAN was for many years a business man of power and influence in Champaign County. He was accustomed to handling large . things in a large way, and besides the New Inman Hotel at Champaign, citizens of the county have reason to remember him for many other influences and activities.
Mr. Inman was born in Erie County, Pennsylvania, March 8, 1867, and was only a little past his fiftieth birthday when he died April 5, 1917. . His death occurred at Cramer, Indiana, but he was laid to rest at Cham- paign, where he had his home for over a quarter of a century. Mr. Inman's mother, Emily Drake, was a direct descendant of the great English admiral, Sir Francis Drake. Mr. Inman was the youngest of six children, the others being: Mrs. Dora Orton, of Erie, Pennsylvania; Sylvester C., of Erie; Fred, of Erie; Herbert and Emily, both deceased.
George L. Inman grew up in Eric County, Pennsylvania, where his father was a lawyer, and he studied law under his father's direction as part of a liberal education, not for the purpose of practicing. His first important enterprise was promoting the publication of a paper called the Farmers Ledger, located at Danville, Illinois. In the interests of that publication he traveled extensively throughout the Middle West. About 1891 Mr. Inman came to Champaign and engaged in the real estate and
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farm mortgage business. Mr. Inman is remembered by all with whom he came in contact as a man of great magnetism and personality. He had a host of friends, and also an extended business acquaintance. He did much to develop Champaign County. In Champaign- he erected a large brick building at the corner of University Avenue and Market Street, and in 1915 he built the splendid six-story brick hotel known as the New Inman House, where he had his home and where his widow still resides. This hotel is at the corner of University. Avenue and Walnut Street. Mr. Inman was independent in politics, and never found time for clubs or for church affairs.
His first wife was Minnie Swearingen, of St. Joseph, Champaign County. She died in 1899. On May 13, 1900, Mr. Inman married Nora Trumbull Stevenson. By her first marriage to Elijah Stevenson Mrs. Inman had two children: Arthur G., who lives at St. Louis, Missouri, and by his marriage to Madeline Fuller, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, there are three children, Arthur G., Robert L. and Madeline. Mrs. Inman's second child, Elizabeth, is the wife of Jay C. Taylor of Champaign, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have a child, Croydon Stevenson, born September 6, 1916.
JOHN J. HANSON, who has a splendid farm partly in Champaign and partly in Ford County, is one of that type of citizens who begin life with- out special advantages or the inheritance of means except ability to toil and make the best of an environment, and has proved himself one of the sturdy characters in this section of Illinois. His home is just beyond the Champaign County line in Ford County, opposite section 4 of Harwood Township. He gets his daily mail delivery over Route No. 3 from Paxton, Illinois.
Mr. Hanson is a native of Sweden but has spent most of his life in Champaign County. He is a son of Charles and Martha Hanson, and his mother died when he was two years of age. He then grew up in the home of his grandmother and also an uncle, who brought him to America when John was nine years old. He received the bulk of his education in the public schools at Paxton.
At the age of twenty-six Mr. Hanson married Miss Annie Danielson, who was born near Rantoul, daughter of G. and Hilda (Staff) Danielson. Her parents were also natives of Sweden and had a family of nine children. Mrs. Hanson was educated in the Gallagher school near Ludlow.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hanson started farming in Ford County, and four years later moved to the Danielson farm in Champaign County, where they remained eleven years. They had all the qualities which are requisite to making a success as farmers and as factors in the life and uplift of a community. From the fruits of their labors they bought their present fine farm, consisting of 200 acres, 120 acres lying in Ford County and eighty acres in Champaign County. In 1913 Mr. Hanson erected a fine country home at a cost of $4,000. This is one of the most pleasant and attractive country residences in that region. Mr. Hanson has installed a complete water system, furnishing water both hot and cold, and also a Delco electric lighting plant. These improvements, together with telephone and rural mail delivery, give the family all the conveniences of the city in the midst of attractive rural surroundings. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson have five children: Martha, Phoebe, May, Theodore and Ella. . To properly educate these children has been one of the chief objects of Mr. Hanson. Martha, Phoebe and May have all finished the eighth grade of the public schools. They have also taken instrumental lessons in music, and music is one of the features of the Hanson family life.
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Mr. Hanson's political support is given to the Republican party. His fellow citizens, having the utmost confidence in his judgment, have elected him to such offices as road commissioner and school director. This con- fidence is well placed, since he is willing to take from his own time what is necessary to keep up the standard of schools and also contribute to the good roads movement. As a farmer Mr. Hanson raises many bumper crops and in some years has had a harvest of 9,000 and 10,000 bushels of corn. The family also believe in enjoying the good things of life as they go along, and they have a fine five-passenger touring car which enables them to get over the country and visit friends at a distance. Mr. Hanson is one of the leading officials and workers in. the Lutheran Mission Church at Paxton. For years he has filled the office of deacon, and is now church treasurer and a trustee. The pastor of this church is Rev. G. Nelson. The family attend worship in the same church and the children are mem- bers of the Sunday school.
HON. OLIN L. BROWDER. The office of chief executive in any com- munity is a responsible one and the individual occupying it has resting upon his shoulders not only the numerous details of the management of a city, but also the accountability for its financial, commercial and moral integrity. In many cases, as he is so is his community, for it soon reflects his character and manner of dealing with large problems, and unless he keeps a firm grip upon the reins of government and forces his associates and fellow-officials to act as he believes is right and just his administration soon shows the effect of lax methods and unprogressive principles, and the community retrogresses. For this reason, of late years many of the more progressive cities have chosen for their chief executives individuals from the ranks of the solid business and professional men, for they have recognized the effect of example and action and know that one who has accomplished much in a financial or professional way is very apt to possess the qualities that make for successful handling of a city's governmental problems. An example of such a choice and of its benefi- cent nature is found at Urbana, the county seat of Champaign County, where Olin L. Browder, one of the county's most successful lawyers, filled ably for two .terms the mayoralty chair. His term as mayor expired May 1, 1917.
Mr. Browder was born in Hamilton County, Illinois, September 4, 1879, and is a son of William A. and Harriet A. (Henry) Browder, natives of Washington County, Illinois. Mr. Browder's father has been for over fifty years a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with charges in various parts of Illinois, and in 1910 located at Urbana, where he now makes his home, as does Mrs. Browder. They were the parents of two children : Olin L., and a daughter, Ethel, who died in childhood.
The boyhood of O. L. Browder was passed in various parts of Illinois, as his father's vocation kept him moving from one territory to another, but the greater part of his early education was secured at Mount Vernon, Jefferson County. In order to secure more than a graded school coursc he worked his way through the high school at Mount Vernon, from which he was duly graduated, and in 1899 entered the University of Illinois. Here he again showed his independence, ambition and resource by paying his university tuition fees and paying for his board and lodging by working at whatever honorable occupation he could find, and in this way secured his degree of Bachelor of Arts. Still he was not satisfied, for his ambition was set upon a career in the law, and after several years he once again became a student at the University, from the legal department of which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1906, bearing with him his
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coveted degree of Bachelor of Laws. At that time Mr. Browder took up his residence and opened an office at Urbana, and here he has continued in the enjoyment of a constantly increasing practice, interrupted only by the demands of his official positions. Almost immediately upon his arrival he was appointed corporation counsel, an office in which he served under two mayors, following which he acted as alderman for two years. By this time the people of Urbana had become sufficiently acquainted with the hustling young lawyer and his methods to recognize that he would make an excellent man in the mayor's office, and accordingly, in 1913, they sent him to that position. His handling of the weighty matters that came up for consideration during his first term proved so satisfactory that in 1915 he was given the re-election, and continued as one of the best mayors the city of Urbana has ever known. He is a Republican in his political views, affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the movements of which he supports liberally. As a lawyer he is astute, shrewd and thoroughly versed in all departments of his profession, a stickler for ethics and a courteous opponent and valued associate. He represents the new and hustling element that has arisen in late years to add to the progress of Champaign County.
Mr. Browder married at Urbana June 29, 1905, Miss Nellie S. Taylor, who was born in this county. They have been the parents of three children : Sheldon, who was born in 1908 and died in 1912; Olin L., Jr., born in December, 1913; and William B., born September 6, 1916.
EUGENE H. RUSSELL is one of the younger business men of Cham- paign, and is successfully managing his mother's Belvoir Theater. The Belvoir stages high class theatrical productions and fills it with the best of the modern film productions. Recently there was installed in the theater a $5,000 Bartolo organ, and its music is now one of the important features and attractions of this fine house.
Mr. Russell was born in Champaign November 12, 1893, a son of Charles H. and Lizzie V. (Hamilton) Russell. Both parents were born in Illinois, his mother being a native of Carlinville. His father came to Champaign County when a young man and was in the hardware business for a number of years. Mr. Russell is a nephew of C. F. Hamilton, and the Hamiltons have been long prominent and wealthy citizens of Cham- paign County. This branch of the family history is taken up in more detail on other pages. Eugene H. Russell was the second in a family of four children. The oldest, Fenton, is now deceased. Virginia and Helen still live at home.
Mr. Russell, who is yet unmarried, was graduated from the Cham- paign High School in 1914 and then took a year in the agricultural depart- ment of the State University. For about four months he was connected with the Williams Garage, and he then took the active management of his mother's theater. She is owner of the brick building now occupied by the Belvoir. Mr. Russell is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
JOHN FRANCIS MCCABE. A man of broad usefulness and influence in the community was taken away in the death of John Francis McCabe. He stood high among all classes of people, was industrious, quiet in his manner, seldom attracting much attention beyond the borders of his own neighbor- hood, but wherever known was recognized for his sterling merits and his efficiency in everything he undertook.
Mr. McCabe was born in Logan County, Illinois, a son of John and Ann (Spencer) McCabe. His parents were natives of Ireland, coming to
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America when young and marrying in this country. When John F. was a year and a half old they located in Champaign County. There were only two sons in the family, James R. and John F.
The McCabes were among the pioneers of Champaign County and acquired an estate of 520 acres. All of this was developed, cultivated and beautified through the efforts of the family. The home is in section 10 of Harwood Township and it is one that does credit to those who contributed to its development.
John F. McCabe married Mary Agnes Quinlin. She was born at Farmer City in DeWitt County, Illinois, a daughter of Michael and Mary (McKevitt) Quinlin. Her father was born in Ireland and her mother in Ohio and they were married at Lincoln, Illinois. Mrs. McCabe was the second of nine children. With her brothers and sisters she attended the public schools.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McCabe started out as farmers on the old McCabe homestead. Into their home were born eight children. One of them, Paul, died at the age of six years. The others are John J., Michael M., William Vincent, Francis R., Mary Ellen, Anna and Grace. Mr. and Mrs. McCabe from the first endeavored to give these children the best of home training and a substantial education. They attended the Bur- bank district school, and for the past three years John, Michael and Vincent have been students of the Donovan Memorial School at Rantoul. They attend the school daily, driving from the country to Ludlow and from there going by interurban.
Death has been a frequent visitor in the McCabe family. John McCabe, Sr., passed away in October, 1901, and his wife has also entered into rest, passing away January 25, 1916. On March 18, 1916, John F. McCabe, after a brief illness of one week of pneumonia and appendicitis, passed away. He was still young, with a promise of great accomplishment and achievement still before him, but had endeared himself to his family and a large community by his ability and kindness.
Mrs. McCabe since her husband's death has bravely taken up the duties of existence, and has been both father and mother to her children. She possesses unusual executive ability and having decided to remain on the old homestead has proved a splendid manager. This home is one made sacred to the McCabe family by many associations, and while. looking after the many details of the farm Mrs. McCabe is also carefully rearing her . family of children. They attend the Catholic Church at Ludlow.
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