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 55
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Mr. Frank Stout had to content himself with a common school educa- tion. Most of his career has been spent in Champaign County and his
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older friends know the quality of his thrift and enterprise as a young man and the diligence with which he worked steadily to achieve the object of his worthy ambition. When he was twenty-two years of age he began working out on farms, and his first wages were $20 a month. In this way he continued some years, and finally felt justified in taking upon himself the responsibilities of a home of his own.
On January 1, 1886, he married Miss Leonora Clapper. When they married they still had success to achieve and they went earnestly to work and gained prosperity without aid from anyone, and all they have enjoyed is directly due to their thrifty energies. Three children have come into their home and it has been a matter of deep satisfaction that they have been able to train them well and furnish them good advantages in schools so as to fit them for worthy positions in the world.
Ernest A., the oldest child, attended school at Mahomet, is still a resident of Mahomet Township, and for the past ten years has carefully looked after his duties as a rural free delivery man. His long service is the best proof of his business capacity. He is a Republican, a member of the Masonic order at Mahomet and with his wife is affiliated with the Court of Honor. He married Miss Hazel Curtis, and their two children are Nadine and Paul.
Samuel, the second son, still claims his parents' home as his own, but at present is working on the aviation plant at Belleville, Illinois. He is a graduate of the Mahomet High School, of the State Normal Univer- sity, and has spent one year in the Summer Normal at Menominee, Michi- gan, also in Normal School at Indianapolis, and one year at the University of Illinois. He has been a very successful teacher and for two years was connected with the high school of Decatur. He is a Republican and a member of the Masonic order.
Nellie B., the only daughter, is still at home with her parents. She spent one year in high school and has received considerable training in music.
Mrs. Stout was born in Champaign County, January 1, 1862, a daughter of Samuel and Frances (Biggs) Clapper, an old and well known family . in this section of the state. She is one of five children, four daughters and one son, still living, and all residents of Champaign County. Her father was born in Pennsylvania in 1829 and died in 1908. He was a successful farmer and when only a boy went to Ohio and afterward worked at the tanner's trade in Indianapolis. He came to Champaign County, where he married, and as a farmer he accumulated eighty acres of good land. He was a Whig and afterwards a Republican, and both he and his wife were devout Methodists. His remains now rest in Riverside Cemetery. His wife was born in Ohio in 1836 and is still living, at the age of eighty-one, bright and active and looking after the duties of her home.
Mrs. Stout had a common school education, and for over thirty years has given her husband, children and her community the value of her capable energy and her well-poised character.
Mr. and Mrs. Stout made their first purchase of land in Newcomb Township, where they bought ninety acres. A year later they sold that and removed to Mahomet, where they have since had their home. They now own thirty-five acres just east of the town of Mahomet, also two lots in that town and one lot in Champaign, and have ten acres in Newcomb Township. These properties represent a sufficiency for all their needs and they have done much to develop and improve the land which has been under their management. Mr. Stout is a Republican, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Mahomet, in which he has
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Mr and Mrs Upm Shenice
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passed all the chairs, and he and his wife are both active in the Rebekahs and are leading members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Mahomet.
WILLIAM M. PHENICIE, proprietor of the Sunny Prairie Farm in Stan- ton Township, has known Champaign County for over half a century and was a factor in making it one of the garden spots of the world whether considered from an agricultural standpoint or as the home of industrious and worthy people.
Mr. Phenicie is a native of Pennsylvania, having been born at Mercers- burg in Franklin County, a son of Joseph and Susan (Conner) Phenicie. His parents were also natives of the same state and were of English and German ancestry. William M. was one of seven children, four sons and three daughters, all of whom were well educated in the district schools of Franklin County.
In 1861, the year the Civil War broke out, William Phenicie married Margaret Besore. She was also a native of Franklin County, a daughter of John and Mary (Mouen) Besore.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Phenicie located on one of his father's farms, but two years later came out to Illinois, where two of Mrs. Phenicie's brothers were living in Vermilion County. They spent only one year in that county, and then came to Stanton Township in Champaign County. Here they rented land and subsequently Mr. Phenicie bought 120 acres at $8 an acre from the Illinois Central Railway. It was a tract of virgin prairie, without a single improvement, and their first home was one of the cabins such as dotted this county in pioneer times. The passing years brought evidences of their industry and good management, a good house was built, fruit and shade trees were planted, and the land was redeemed from the waste prairie and converted into a fine farm.
In the meantime children were born into their home to the number of six, three sons and three daughters. These sons and daughters were named Stephen H., Della, George, Emma, Eva and Otis. All of them were edu- cated in the local schools, while Otis completed his education in the St. Joseph High School. While Mr. Phenicie has been liberally rewarded in a material way, he finds the greatest satisfaction of his career in the worthy sons and daughters who have grown up and have found honorable positions in life for themselves. Stephen H. is a successful farmer in southern Michigan. He married Emma Funkhouser, and their seven children are Oscar, Ethel, Ernest, Opal, Claude, William and Ruth. The daughter Della is the wife of William Barricklow, also a Michigan farmer, and they have three sons, C. Dwight, Cecil and Carlos. George has one of the good farms of Stanton Township, and by his marriage to Etta Johnson is the father of five children, Merle, Abner, Roy, Harold and Chester. The daughter Emma is the wife of Adam Varner, and their family consists of Elmer, Vernie, Effie, Otis, Margaret, May, Letha and Clever. Eva is the wife of John Turner, a coal merchant at Urbana. Their children are Nellie, Marie, Ora, Amy, William and Norma. The youngest son and child, Otis, who lives on his father's homestead, married, September 26, 1906, Lena Dunn, daughter of John B. Dunn. Otis and wife have an energetic young son, Arden, now ten years of age and a student in the fourth grade. Though so young, he takes a keen interest in aviation and flying machines.
The Phenicie home has not escaped the visitation of death, and in 1910 the good mother entered into rest. The lives of her children are an expres- sion of her character and training, and by many acts of kindliness and good she endeared herself to a large community. Mr. Phenicie and his late wife were active members of the Prairie Hope Christian Church, and for
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years he was a trustee in that organization. In politics he is a Democrat, and proof of his public spirit is found in his service for a number of years as a school director.
When Mr. Phenicie came to Stanton Township there was not a public road, schoolhouse nor church in the entire community, and his own efforts and influence have co-operated with every movement for such improvement and advancement. Since the death of his good wife Mr. Phenicie has con- tinued to live on the home farm, but has surrendered the responsibilities of its management to his capable son Otis, and in his cultured daughter-in-law finds a most capable home maker.
JOHN W. CHURCH, supervisor of Hensley Township, has been a resi- dent of, Champaign County since 1884. Those years have marked his progressive labor toward independence as a farmer and today there is hardly a better known citizen in the northern half of Champaign County than Mr. Church.
He is a native of Vigo County, Indiana, where he was born July 5, 1860, third in a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters. Two of the family live in Illinois, his sister Ellen being the wife of Charles Roberts. Four others live in Indiana, and one in Minnesota and one in Michigan.
Erastus Church, the father, was born in Vermont in 1833, of English lineage. At the age of twenty-one he came west and settled in Vigo County, Indiana, and became one of the substantial agriculturists of that section. He started life with only a common school education, but suc- ceeded well 'in all he undertook. He owned a farm of eighty-three acres in Vigo County and occupied it until his death. He was a Republican and he and his wife were active Methodists. Erastus Church married Julia Barnard, who was, born in New York State in 1832, daughter of a Baptist minister who preached in many localities of the South and at one time resided on the estate of Henry Clay.
John W. Church was reared and educated in Vigo County, and mar- ried there January 1, 1882, Miss Sarah Shanks. Two children have been born to their union, a son and daughter. The son is Clarence, who was educated in the common schools and graduated from Akers Business College at Terre Haute, Indiana. He is now doing well as an agricultur- ist in Edgar County, Illinois. He is a Republican, affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America, and with his wife is active in the Presbyterian Church. He married Miss Stella Harris and they have a daugliter, Miriam'. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Church is Mattie, who received a common school education and is a member of the Methodist Church. . She is the wife of Arthur Epler, a farmer in Condit Township of Cham- paign County. Their two children are named Elmer and Helen.
Mrs. Church was born in Vigo County, Indiana, December 16, 1861, a daughter of George and Rachel (Hawkins) Shanks. She grew up in that locality, securing her advantages in the common schools, and has been a most capable helpmate and adviser to her husband.
In 1884, when Mr. and Mrs. Church came to Champaign County, they located on land as renters and raised the fruits of the soil on land be- longing to others for several years. Mr. Church had a very limited capital when he came to this county, but hard work and economy on his part and the part of his wife have brought success in generous measure. At the present time the Church farm comprises eighty acres in Hensley Township, and its improvements rank it among the best places in this locality. They have remodeled the house and this farm together with
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another place of eighty acres in Edgar County stand as monuments to their industry, without a single dollar of indebtedness against them.
Mr. Church is a Republican, and has always been a great admirer of Theodore Roosevelt. His fellow citizens have long regarded his position in the community as valuable from an official standpoint. While living in Condit Township he served three years as supervisor, resigning that office, and has been continuously supervisor of Hensley Township for the past fourteen years. This is the most important township office under the Illinois system of local government, and Mr. Church has made his official influence count in many ways. He is also director of his local school district, and has proved a steadfast friend of popular education. He is affiliated with Champaign Lodge No. 333 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Champaign and is a charter member of Dewey Lodge of that order. Mrs. Church is active in the Royal Neighbors. Both have long been identified with the Mount Vernon Methodist Church in Hensley Township, of which Mr. Church is a trustee and teacher of the Young Men's Class in the Sunday School.
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The farm of Mr. and Mrs. Church is a fine tract of land in section 11. Its location makes its name, High View Farm, very appropriate. Besides general farming Mr. Church is much interested in good grades of live stock. His home is a place of good cheer and hospitality, and many friends have found a cordial welcome within its doors.
WILLIAM HAYES. For many years some of the burdens of agricultural industry and business affairs have been carried by members of the Hayes family in Ogden Township. Mr. William Hayes is a young and progres- sive business man, manager of the local elevator at Ogden, and has also had practical experience from early boyhood as a farmer.
Mr. Hayes was born at Ogden, February 8, 1881, son of John and Elizabeth (Huckin) Hayes. His father was a native of Ireland and his mother of England. They married in Indiana, and about fifty years ago came to Champaign County, where the father lived to develop a good farm and witness the magnificent transformation of the county from a prairie to a landscape that has been fitly characterized as a garden. In the family were six children, four sons and two daughters, William being the third in age.
Mr. Hayes graduated from the Ogden High School in 1899. His boy- hood days were spent on the farm and at the age of twenty-one he married Miss Laura A. Green. She was born in Oakwood Township, daughter of Wilson and Julia (Fredrick) Green. She was educated in the Union district school. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes after their marriage moved to Ver- milion County, Indiana, and for six years farmed there. They then returned to Ogden and Mr. Hayes took charge of his father's homestead and the home of his youth. This farm consisted of 160 acres. After his parents died in Ogden he continued the management of the farm for a time and was then able to buy forty acres of the old home. He has since farmed this in general crops and live stock.
Mr. and Mrs. Hayes have two sons, John, who is a student in the grammar schools of Ogden and in another year will enter high school, and William, the baby. For the past seven years, in addition to farming, Mr. Hayes has been a coal dealer at Ogden and is now manager of Supple's grain elevator in that town. .
The Hayes family have always been closely identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican and was practically born and reared in that party. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic lodge. Mrs. Hayes is an active member of
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the Eastern Star. Like the majority of Champaign County citizens, prog- ress has been the keynote of the Hayes family and they have manifested . that spirit of push and energy that has brought about notable results.
CECIL L. GOLDEN, present mayor of Sidney, has built up a large hard- ware business in that Champaign County town, and has proved himself one of the live and energetic factors in the civic community. Mr. Golden is a veteran of the Spanish-American War.
He was born in Champaign County March 12, 1879, a son of Eugene S. . and Mary E. (Mullen) Golden. His father was born in Menard County, Illinois, and his mother was a native of Pennsylvania. His father came to Champaign County when a young man, followed farming and after- wards engaged in the hardware business at Urbana. He was a merchant in that city for about sixteen years and then retired to Sidney, where he died October 4, 1913: The widowed mother still lives at Sidney. They had five children. Leonard M., deceased; Archie S., a resident of Cham- paign County ; George A., a farmer in Jefferson County, Illinois; Cecil L. and Ross Burr, deceased.
Cecil L. Golden attended the public schools at Urbana, and then learned the trade of tinner in his father's store. At the age of nineteen he enlisted as a non-commissioned officer in Company M., organized in Champaign County for service in the Spanish-American War. He spent most of the period of his enlistment in concentration camps and was also for a time on duty in Cuba. After the war he followed farming three years, then went to work at his trade in Peoria. While there he was fore- man of the Twentieth Century Heating and Ventilating Company about two years.
After his marriage Mr. Golden removed to Sidney and built a brick building 30x100 feet, which houses a very complete stock of general hard- ware implements and also furnishes quarters for the undertaking business.
On April 25, 1905, Mr. Golden married Miss Edna Rado Jones, of Jefferson County, Illinois. They are the parents of two children, Karma Ellen, who was born November 2, 1907, and Stanley Jones, who died in early childhood. Mr. Golden is a Republican in politics and is now serving as a member of the Republican Committee. He was village treasurer of Sidney two years and is now mayor of the village and in that office has done much to influence wise and conservative improvement and economical handling of the municipal revenues. Mr. Golden is affiliated with the Masonic Order, being past master of Sidney Lodge, No 347, with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 473, the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his family worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
JOHN M. PETERS, who now lives retired in the village of St. Joseph, has exemplified above everything else that quality of permanence which enters into the best class of personal and national character. Mr. Peters was for sixty-five continuous years a resident of one place, the farm where he grew up as a boy and whose acres he tended so skillfully and diligently during his own active life. From the work of his hands and brain he has prospered, has reared useful children, and has made his name widely respected over his native county.
Mr. Peters was born at Tipton, and lived in that rural locality until he came to St. Joseph a few years ago. He is a son of William and Sarah (McNutt) Peters. His parents were natives of Kentucky and came to Illinois at such an early period that his father was able to acquire 160 acres of Government land at $1.25 an acre. Besides farming and devel-
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oping his raw land he also operated a saw mill for many years, manu- factured much lumber, and was also a skillful cooper. He was a very successful and industrious man and at the time of his death owned an estate of 400 acres. He also served as justice of the peace for a long period and was widely known as Squire Peters. He educated his children in the old log schoolhouse which stood in his neighborhood, and it was in such a building that John M. Peters endured cold and other discomforts while learning his first lessons.
In 1868 John M. Peters married Miss Elizabeth Wood. She was born in Ohio, daughter of John and Sarah Wood, who came to Tipton in Cham- paign County at an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Peters had five children, Sarah Isabel, Eva, Oliver and Otis (twins), and Orin. These children were given the advantages of the Swearingen district schools and all of them have made successful records in life. The daughter Sarah is now the wife of Frank McAdams, a farmer at Defiance, Ohio, and they have one son, John. Eva married Alfred Blaker, and they live west of St. Joseph, their four children being Charles, Roy, Ruby and Raymond. The son Otis lives at Fairmount in Vermilion County and by his marriage to Jessie Alexander has three children, Lyle, Raymond and Bessie. Orin is connected with the grain elevator at Sidney, Illinois. He married Bertha Watson and has two children, Gladys and Dwight. Oliver, unmar- ried, is now baggage master in the Big Four Depot at Champaign and is an energetic young man, possessing many friends and having a bright future.
At the death of his father Mr. Peters inherited some of the estate and afterwards purchased more from the heirs, giving him a farm of 1071/2 acres. That land he diligently and closely cultivated and from it gained that prosperity which enables him to spend his last years in comfort.
On January 28, 1904, he was deprived of the companionship of his good wife and the mother of his children. On February 28, 1906, he married Mrs. Emily Cornelius. She was born near Troy in Miami County, Ohio, daughter of John S. and Mary C. (Day) Cox. Her father was a native of Ohio and her mother of Virginia, and in 1864, when Emily was nine years of age, the Cox family came to Illinois and settled near Fair- mount in Vermilion County. There her father engaged in farming, but later was a druggist at Fairmount and in 1870 continued the same busi- ness at Ogden in Champaign County. He lived at Ogden until his death. Emily acquired her education in the district schools and in the graded school at Fairmount.
Mrs. Peters' first husband was William E. Cornelius. Of that union there are five children, Frank, Edna, Nell, Walter and Lela. These chil- dren were educated in the district schools. Frank married Mabel Mulroy and has one child, Clover Frances. Edna is the wife of Robert Strong, connected with the elevator at St. Joseph, and they have a son, Paul. Nell married John C. Loeffler, and her two children were Bernhardt and Elizabeth. The son Walter Cornelius is a resident of Rockford, Illinois, and by his marriage to Maud Brown has two sons, Raymond and Donald. The daughter Lela married Gus Loeffler, who is employed by a brick con- tractor, living at St. Joseph, and their one daughter, Emily, was named for her grandmother.
Mrs. Peters has laid two of her children to rest, Frank and Nell, and that was the severest bereavement she has been called upon to suffer. Up to six years ago Mr. Peters was identified with general farming, and he and his wife then moved to the village of St. Joseph, the first move Mr. Peters had made in his life of sixty-five years. Most of his pleasant memo- ries of boyhood and of mature life are centered around the old home
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place at Tipton. Mr. Peters has never been called upon in vain for a proof of public spirit. For thirty-three years he served as school director, and has always been drainage commissioner. Besides farming he has been an expert carpenter, and has erected many buildings over this part of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Peters are members of the Christian Church and in politics he is a Democrat, while his wife was reared in sympathy with the . Republican party. On moving to St. Joseph Mr. and Mrs. Peters bought a good home on Main Street and they live now in peace and comfort, happy in the fact that their children are well situated in homes of their own.
Mr. Peters was the youngest in a family of thirteen children. He was reared to honesty and industry and has endeavored successfully to instill the same principles in his own household. He and his wife have made their home a most hospitable one, and they enjoy the complete confidence and esteem of a large community. Mr. Peters can look back to a time when Champaign County was without railroad transportation." In fact he went to Champaign to witness the arrival of the first engine over the Illinois Central Railway. He has accommodated himself to the marvelous advancement and progress of the time, and is now a careful and skillful driver of his own automobile. Several years ago a party came to him for the purpose of selling him a car and he finally accepted with the proviso that if the automobile people could teach him to run the machine he would buy. He meant what he said, proved an apt scholar in the mechanics and technique of automobile driving and has developed into a most skillful chauffeur and has absolute confidence in his own ability to get his car over the roads, his only fear being of the other man, that constant dread of the automobilist, the reckless driver.
MRS. NANCY IRENE DOWNS. At no time in the world's history has the position of woman been so notable, not merely as a factor in the home but as a power in economic and political affairs and in that practical philanthropy which serves to soften somewhat the cruel actions of con- flicting nations. Champaign County has many noble women and there is every reason why special attention should be paid by this work to their achievements and lives.
One of them is Mrs. Downs, who since the death of her honored hus- band has taken his place as a practical farmer and has done that in addi- tion to the responsibility of caring for and training a splendid family of children. Mrs. Downs resides in Newcomb Township on a fine estate and for years has been prominent in the church and social life of that com- munity.
She is a native of Champaign County, born in a log cabin that stood two and a half miles east of her present home in Newcomb Township, August 1, 1860. She was the fifth in a family of thirteen children; six sons and seven daughters. Her parents were John H. and Elizabeth Ellen (Baily) Funston. Her father was an Ohio man, and the fact that General Fred Funston's family were also of Ohio makes it very possible that a family relationship existed there. Mrs. Downs is one of seven living children, and four of them are in Champaign County, she being the second in age. The oldest sister, Jennie, married John Trotter, a prosperous agriculturist. Mr. and Mrs. Trotter and their four children are all active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. George W. Funston is a retired resident of Champaign and married Martha Lanam, both being members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Cham- paign. Cora is the wife, of Mark Hazen, of Champaign, and they are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church there. Of the children out- side of Champaign County, Edmund B. is a successful architect practic-
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