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 76
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William G. Fulton after leaving the district schools attended the Normal School at Danville, Indiana, where he was graduated at the age of eighteen. For two years he taught school in his home county and then began farming. Though he had a capital of less than a hundred dollars he courageously bargained for an eighty acre tract of land, and in a few years not only had that paid for but began the accumulations which are now represented by 420 acres of fine land in Champaign County and two farms in Arkansas. Mr. Fulton is both a crop and stock farmer and in an active career of about twenty-five years has achieved all the success that a man of modest ambition might crave.
On October 9, 1907, he married Miss Naomi Price, a native of Leb- anon, Indiana, and a daughter of David and Ida Belle (Boring) Price. Her parents were both born in Ohio and when she was a small child moved to Champaign County, locating in Crittenden Township. Mr. and Mrs. Fulton have four children: Dale H., Idabelle, Glenn Price and Dean George, the last named having been born on the 13th of August, 1917.
Mr. Fulton is a Democrat in politics. He was formerly connected with the First Naational Bank at Philo. An active Methodist, he has served as superintendent of the Sunday school and was formerly superin- tendent of the County Sunday School Association of Douglas County for seven years. He has also been active in school work and served as trustee of his local district.
JOHN T. RIEMKE, one of the leading grain and elevator men of southwest Champaign County, began his career in humble circumstances. and has raised himself by sheer force of will and determination to a posi- tion of independence and influence.
Mr. Riemke was born in Pesotum Township of this county August 29, 1877. His parents were Henry and Anna (Richmond) Riemke, his father a native of Germany and his mother of England. Henry Riemke came to America in 1854, spending two years in LaPorte, Indiana, before he joined the early settlers of Champaign County. He cleared up some of the land in this county and was successfully engaged in farming until his death in 1905. His wife passed away in 1904. They had nine children: Catherine, deceased ; Henry of El Reno, Oklahoma; Mary, wife of Matthew, Miller, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Jane, wife of Joseph E. Lustig, of Cham- paign County ; Edward of Pesotum Township; Alice, wife of John Magsam, of Monroeville, Indiana; Anna, wife of M. J. Maley, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; John T .; and William, of Douglas County, Illinois.
John T. Riemke grew up on the home farm, attended the local schools, and at the age of nineteen went to work on a farm for J. A. Cramer as engineer with the threshing outfit and later as traction engineer with Dosey Brothers. He followed threshing as an occupation for cleven years. Later he served the firm of Condon & Kleiss in the elevator at Pesotum until 1905, when he bought Mr. Kleiss' share in the business, and since 1907 has conducted this elevator under his own name. He buys a large amount of the grain raised around Pesotum, and altogether is at the head of a prosperous business.
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Henry . B. Claus . Jessie 23 Clark
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On February 4, 1904, Mr. Riemke married Judith Lieb, a native of, Champaign County. They have one son, Charles Henry, born January 17, 1916. Mr. Riemke is a Democrat in politics. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and he and his family are members of the St. Joseph Catholic Church at Pesotum.
HENRY BERNARD CLARK. Life is a great drama, and many men play ·various roles and on many stages of activity. Such has been the experience of Henry Bernard Clark, a veteran jeweler, now living retired from a long business career at Rantoul.
Mr. Clark is probably the only man in Champaign County and perhaps the only one in Illinois whose birthplace was the historic. Isle of St. Helena, associated in the memories of men chiefly because it was the prison home of Napoleon Bonaparte and also the place where he died. He was born there, a son of Thomas and Louisa (Lowden) Clark. His father was a native of England and the mother was born at St. Helena of Scotch parents. When H. B. Clark was a few days old his father died, and when he was seven years of age his widowed mother came to America. His mother was a school teacher, and the English Government gave her the management of the fortified village of Longwood, where Napoleon had had his home. A strong guard of English troops had been kept at Long- wood while Napoleon was there in order to prevent his escape and foil any attempts made by the French to spirit him away from the island. In such surroundings Mr. Clark spent the first seven years of his life .. His brothers were James, Thomas, William and John. He retains many memo- ries of his early life at St. Helena. Perhaps the chief incident of his early memory was when he and some playmates filled the bathtub in the old home at Longwood which the French had built for Napoleon and played on the water some ducklings and watched their antics with great enthu- siasm.
Mrs. Clark was an ambitious, energetic mother, and recognizing in the advantages of America such as were not found in Europe she came to this country hoping to better the conditions of her sons. Her oldest son, James, kept the only bakcry at St. Helena, and also came to America, but was taken ill on the voyage and died three days after landing in New York. Her sons William and Thomas took to the sea while at St. Helena, and afterward became captains of vessels. Mrs: Clark brought with her to America her two sons H. B. and John. The other three sons followed her some years later. William became a captain on the Great Lakes, sailing a vessel from Buffalo to Chicago. The family were eighty days in making the voyage on a sailing vessel from St. Helena to New Bedford, Connecticut. From there Mrs. Clark went to Chicago. Her friend, Mrs. Blachford, had offered inducements which caused Mrs. Clark to come west with her sons, and she took up her home at St. Charles, Illinois, where she educated her younger boys.
H. B. Clark was only sixteen years of age when the Civil War broke out. His brothers Thomas and John cnlisted in 1861. John was stricken with the measles while in the army, and while still convalescent went into action at the battle of Pca Ridge. After the strenuous cxertions of that day's fighting and while stooping to enter his tent at night he dropped dead. Thomas was in the Nineteenth Illinois Infantry, was wounded three times, and died a few years ago at Chicago.
H. B. Clark enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment of Illinois Infantry and was first sent to Cairo, Illinois, and then into Ken- tucky to retard the raid of General Forrest against Illinois. He was with the troops that proceeded up the Tennessee River and drove Forrest's cav-
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alry back to Memphis. Mr. Clark saw fourteen months of active service and witnessed some of the heavy fighting and arduous campaigning in the Mississippi Valley. He was mustered out at Memphis, Tennessee, and given his honorable discharge at Springfield. He then returned to Chicago.
In 1873 he married Jessie Ferson, a native of St. Charles, Illinois, and a daughter of James and Mary (Hall) Ferson. Her father was born in New Hampshire and her mother in Vermont. The Ferson children were John H., Mary A., Louisa, Julia and Jessie. They were all educated at . St. Charles, Illinois.
After his marriage Mr. Clark set up a home in Chicago, where he had become identified with the jewelry business. In 1876 they came to Ran- toul and Mr. Clark was continuously engaged in the jewelry business in that city for forty years. He finally retired in 1916.
To their union were born two children, one son and one daughter, James F. and Edna. Edna married Dr. W. J. Fernald, who formerly practiced in Champaign County and subsequently removed to Frankfort, Indiana. Mrs. Fernald died in Frankfort. There were four children in the Fernald family, two sons and two daughters, named Bernice, Mildred, Paul and Leroy. Bernice and Mildred graduated from the Frankfort public schools. The former is now the wife of Lieutenant Morse of the United States army and assistant band master. Their wedding was cele- brated at the home of his commanding officer in Hartford, Connecticut.
The son, James F. Clark, has distinguished himself as a very capable and ambitious student and later as a successful lawyer. He attended the Rantoul High School, and then entered the law department of the. Univer- sity of Michigan, where he was graduated LL. B. He is now in successful practice at Rantoul and has won a fine clientage. He married Miss Eunice Craigmile, a daughter of Alexander Craigmile, a prominent citizen of Champaign County, now living at Rantoul. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have two bright young daughters, ¡Elizabeth and Janis.
Mr. and Mrs. Clark are active members of the Congregational Church. She possesses an unusually well cultivated and perfect singing voice, and for years sang and took an active part in 'musical affairs in various Chicago churches and since coming to Rantoul has been an active member of the choir of her church. Fraternally Mr. Clark is affiliated with the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Grand Army of the Republic. In this brief review Mr. Clark's long and active career has been followed from his boyhood days in St. Helena until he is now, with his wife, enjoying the comforts and happiness of a good home in Rantoul and surrounded with children and grandchildren and hosts of friends.
WILLIAM A. COOLLEY. Of the financial institutions of the smaller communities of Champaign County, which, by reason of the character of their officials and the manner in which their business has been conducted, have acquired and held in greater or less degree the confidence of the public, one of the best and most favorably known is that operating as the Bank of Broadlands, a house which has been builded upon an honorable policy and maintained along straight-forward lines. Much of the success that has attended this institution has been brought about through the splendid business and financial ability of William A. Coolley, one of its founders and now its president. Formerly an agriculturist, Mr. Coolley is familiar with this part of the country, where he has built up a reputa- tion for sound integrity and practical ability.
Mr. Coolley was born in Douglas County, Illinois, March 4, 1862, being a son of John A. and Harriet (Wyckoff) Coolley, the former a native
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of Indiana and the latter of Ohio. John A. Coolley was for many years engaged in farming in Douglas County, where he owned a large and valuable property, but after his retirement came to live at Broadlands, where he died June 8, 1915, Mrs. Coolley having passed away August 30, 1903. There were six children in the family, as follows: William A .; Nettie, who is the wife of D. P. McIntyre, of Champaign; Luella, the wife of A. M. Kenny, of Decatur; Jonathan M., who lives on the farm in Douglas County formerly owned by his father; and two boys who died in infancy.
William A. Coolley secured his education in the public schools of Douglas County and grew up in an agricultural atmosphere, his boyhood and youth being filled with the tasks that train men to become farmers. When ready to adopt a vocation he took up the cultivation of the soil as his life work, and his energy and industry were rewarded by the accumulation of much valuable farming property. Having succeeded in this direction, and having become interested in monetary matters, as connected with farm loans and other ways, in 1892 he joined Messrs. Kenny and McIntyre in the formation of the Bank of Broadlands. At the time of the organi- zation Mr. Kenny, now a resident of Decatur, was made president, and when he left that office was succeeded by Mr. McIntyre. Subsequently the latter removed to Champaign, and Mr. Coolley succeeded to the presi- dential position, which he still retains. He is rather of the conservative type of banker, but has the courage to enter into large undertakings when assured that they are absolutely safe and legitimate. His policies have served to attract and hold the faith and esteem of the public, and the de- positors come from all over the countryside adjoining Broadlands. Politi- cally Mr. Coolley is a Republican, but he has only taken a good citizen's interest in public matters, and has not cared to have his name used in connection with candidacy for public office. His fraternal identification is with the Masons. In the civic affairs of Broadlands he has done his part to help good movements and to conserve the best interests of the thriving little city.
On October 10, 1894, Mr. Coolley was united in marriage with Miss Jeannette McIntyre, who was born in Ontario, Canada, and to this union there has been born one daughter, Anna, who is single and resides with her parents.
ALPHEUS C. SWEARINGEN. At a pleasant home on Sherman Street in the village of St. Joseph reside a couple who carry with them many memories of Champaign County both old and new and are enjoying the declining years of life with comforts and the riches of esteem befitting their worthy careers. Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen spent their active lives on a farm, garnered many harvests therefrom, reared their children to worthy and useful lives, and then gave up their home in the country for the one they now occupy at St. Joseph.
Mr. Swearingen is a native of Champaign County, a son of Andrew and Rebecca (Hayden) Swearingen. His parents were among the pioneers of this section of Illinois, and around their log cabin home in the early days the Indians were frequent visitors. They helped convert the prairies and the swamps into arable farms, and had many hardships to contend with.
Alpheus C. Swearingen grew up in a pioneer home and had his edu- cation in the public schools. He married Mary Strong, also a native of Champaign County, of St. Joseph Township. She is a daughter of John H. and Eliza Ann (Rice) Strong. The Strongs were likewise among the pioneers, and John H. Strong was a stock buyer for forty ycars. Mrs.
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Swearingen's grandparents were John Orange and Naney Strong, who came to Champaign County from Kentucky. At that time Indians were very numerous. The family kept large dogs in order to seare the Indians from the home while the men were away. The Indians feared the dogs and would only come up to the fence, where they would ery "Hoo-Hoo." The red men were great beggars and always wanting something to eat. Mr. Swearingen's unele, Christopher Hoff, also lived in Champaign County at . this time. The government had purchased the land from the Indians and gave them a certain date to evacuate. The time passed by but the Indians were slow about leaving. Mr. Hoff and his neighbors went down to their encampment south of the Kelley Hotel on the ereek. There were about 500 Indians. The white men told them the time was up, to which the Indians replied "Puekaehee, Puekaehee," that is, we will go by and by. Christopher Hoff spoke up and said, "You puekaehee now, time is up." The next morning the entire eamp had moved West, greatly to the relief of the white settlers. Christopher Hoff was a genial, wholesouled man who always had some pleasant story to relate, in faet his supply of stories was inexhaustible. His memory is still gratefully preserved among the old settlers.
Mr. Swearingen's mother, when a young girl used to work at the old Kelley Tavern when Abraham Lincoln, Douglas and other noted men were guests.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen started their wedded life in St. Joseph Township, the first year renting a farm of his brother, V. Swearingen. They had all the elements of character necessary to sueeess as thrifty farmers and out of their earnings of hard work they bought their first eighty aeres, and their first improvement there was a log house with hewn logs, comprising three rooms. Some years later, they traded this for another eighty aeres and Mr. Swearingen entered upon his aetive career as general farmer and stoek raiser. He sold many bushels of eorn at twenty- five eents a bushel and at one time he sold a ear load of hogs for $3.10 a hundred. After many years of steady cultivation of the soil Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen bought their eosy home on Sherman Street in St. Joseph, and there they may be found today. Mr. Swearingen is a man of publie spirit and has served the village ten years as postmaster and also as sehool director.
Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen: Alta M., John V., Elza C., Edith E., Lillian O., Cora A., Chester B. and Leona T. Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen took great pains with the education of their children and all of them attended the publie schools of St. Joseph. Their first heavy loss was the death of their oldest ehild, Alta, at the age of twelve years. Their son John V. Swearingen, now an undertaker at Champaign and county coroner, married Alta M. Glasseoek and they have three sons, Paul Vere, Clare and Virgil. Elza C. Swearingen, a farmer in St. Joseph Township, married Lutie Ridinger, and their children are Orville, Omer, Pearl, Clora, Vern, Margaret, Evalyn, Florence and Vere. Edith Swearingen married Otis Cowden, and at her death she left three children, named Trevert, Lavelle and Lyle. Lillian O. died after her marriage to Orin Reese and left one ehild, Glen. Cora A. Swearingen is the wife of Fred Cowden and has two daughters, Thelma and Roberta. Leona T. Swearingen married Louis Foulk, and their two daughters are Neva and Morine. Chester B. Swearingen, the youngest son of the family, was educated in the publie schools of St. Joseph and from an early age his ambition was eentered upon the navy. Such a career was his leading thought while a boy on the farm, and he talked of it until he finally persuaded his father to give his eonsent, and at Danville, at the age
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of eighteen, he enlisted. For eight years he served his eountry as a musi- eian in the government band, and has been promoted from time to time and has made a fine record for himself. His first four years werc spent on the battleship Virginia, and for the last three years he has been on the United States repair ship, now located at Norfolk, Virginia. He has visited Paris, London and many other principal eenters of Europe. Mrs. Swearingen has in her home a pillow with a picture of the battleship and the United States coat of arms, bordered with a golden ehain and anehor.
Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen are active members and liberal supporters of the Christian Church at St. Joseph. In politics they are ardent Republi- eans. Mrs. Swearingen imbibed the principles of that great party from
her father, a pioneer and most loyal Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Swear- ingen, always loyal to Champaign County, have at the same time used their means for extensive travel, especially in the western states. They have made several tours through the West, visiting Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Washington, and Denver, Colorado. It has been their lot to witness the many changes for good made in Champaign County. Both of them remember the primitive types of the old time threshing maehinc, operated by horse or eattle power. When they were ehildren the town of Champaign did not exist, and nearly all the other marvelous developments described on other pages of this history were witnessed before their eyes. Mr. Swearingen has as a family relic a fine old Bible which was published in Philadelphia in 1825, and is now over ninety years of age and contains many interesting items eoneerning the family history of the Haydens.
JAMES P. YEAZEL. In the fertile agricultural country of Champaign County there are found many men who have passed their entire lives within its borders and have won sueeess and standing. In this elass is undeniably James P. Yeazel, who is now earrying on agricultural opera- tions in section 8, Homer Township, which has been his home for nearly thirty-one years. He was born in this township, here received his training, both educational and agricultural, and here ·has passed his entire career, winning straightforward suecess with honor, and a strong place. in the confidence of his fellow eitizens.
Mr. Yeazel was born February 14, 1847, on the old Yeazel family homestead farm in Homer Township, a son of Adam and Maria (Crable) Yeazel, natives of Ohio. His father eame to this community at a very early date in the history of the county, and, loeating in Homer Township, took up land and applied himself to the eultivation of the soil. He eon- tinued to be engaged in farming during the remainder of his life, but did not live to enjoy the suceess which his industry and good manage- ment merited, as his death oeeurred in middle age, June 1, 1852. Mrs. Yeazel survived him for a long time and passed away in Homer township in 1886. There were ten children in the family, namely: Eliza Jane, Sarah, John and Mary, who are all deeeased; Elizabeth, who is the widow of Captain Zeblin Hall, who earned his title while serving with Company C, Twenty-fifth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil War; Isaae, deceased; James P .; William, of Tazewell County, Illinois; Wallaee, of Homer ; and Abraham.
James P. Yeazel attended the district schools of Homer Township and was brought up to be a farmer, the only voeation which he has ever followed. Until five years after his marriage he remained with his mother, for whom he operated the home farm, and then purehased a prop- erty of his own, 100 aeres on seetion 8, Homer Township. To this original purehase he has sinee added, and he is now the owner of one of the valuable farms of the township, a traet noticeable for its many fine
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improvements, its good buildings and its general prosperous condition. Mr. Yeazel carries on his operations along modern lines, and is quick to note the value of innovations. In his conduct of his business transactions he has always been upright and honorable, and as a result has gained a position where his fellow citizens place their trust and confidence in him and consider his word as something as valuable as his bond. His opera- tions in farming have been general in character, and as he is equally skilled in all departments his property shows a well-balanced success.
Mr. Yeazel was married December 11, 1878, to Miss Lucy A. Taylor, of Vermilion County, Illinois, and one daughter has been born to this union; Ethel M., who is now the wife of Barton Parrish, of Allerton, Illinois. Mr. Yeazel. is a Republican, but takes only a voter's part in polit- ical affairs. He belongs to the Masons and the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and Mrs. Yeazel belong to the Presbyterian Church. .
FRED J. HOLL, who has lived in Champaign County for half a century, having grown to manhood here, has made his career chiefly that of merchant, and is proprietor of one of the oldest and most completely stocked mercantile establishments in the village of Sadorus.
Mr. Holl in his career has exemplified the sturdy virtues of the German fatherland, where he was born December 16, 1861, a son of Fred and Christina (Kreager) Holl. His parents immigrated from the father- land in the spring of 1867, bringing their little family to Champaign County and locating on a farm in Pesotum Township. Here the farmer industriously pursued his career as an agriculturist until his death in 1897, being survived by his widow until 1903. Fred Holl, Sr., was honored with several minor township offices and was a splendid citizen. There were five children in the family : Fred J., William, of Pesotum; Augusta, wife of A. J. Nofftz of Champaign; Henry W., of Sadorus; and Benjamin C., of Pesotum Township. By a previous marriage the mother had a son Charles, now deceased.
Fred Holl grew up on his father's farm in this county and was twenty- eight years old when he started out to make his own way in the world as a farmer. He did farming two years and then engaged in the general mer- cantile business at Sadorus with George Luhrsen. They were partners three years and then Henry Holl, brother of Fred, bought the interests of Mr. Luhrsen and the business grew and prospered under the joint enter- prise of the Holl brothers for eighteen years. At the end of that time Fred Holl bought out his brother and has since been sole proprietor of the fine two-story modern brick store that is a center of trade for a large district in the southwest corner of Champaign County.
Mr. Holl married, August 19, 1894, Emma Rahn, a native of Pesotum Township. They are the parents of a family of four children: Clarence A., Edna, Everett and Alfred.
Besides his very busy career Mr. Holl has found time to serve as tax collector of Pesotum Township and as a member of the town board. He is interested in Democratic party affairs and is a regular worshiper in the Lutheran Church.
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