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 79
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Charles H. Wallace comes of Scottish ancestry but of American parent- age. He was born at North Ridgeville, Lorain County, Ohio, November 4, 1856, and is the second born son of William S. and Helen (Bryant) Wallace. The father was a farmer, later a manufacturer, and still later became identified with banking interests, being a man of great business enterprise. His death occurred at Trinidad, Las Animas County, Col- orado. The mother died at Elyria, Ohio. They were the parents of seven children, namely : James E., who is a resident of Cleveland, Ohio; Charles H .; Frances A., who is deceased; Nellie J., who is the wife of the Hon. F. R. Wood, of Trinidad, Colorado; and Lewis D., Margaret and Rosaltha, all of whom are deceased.
When Charles H. Wallace reached Champaign County, Illinois, on March 26, 1878, he located at Homer and as farming was his object, he rented a tract of land and there put into practice the knowledge he had gained during his university course. As time passed he began to acquire land and still more land until now Mr. Wallace has sixteen hundred acres and these, under his intelligent methods, yield so abundantly that he is looked upon as an authority on all things agricultural. Mr. Wallace for many years has been interested in a number of banking institutions, and is an official in the Elyria Savings and Banking Company, of Elyria, Ohio; the Allerton State Bank, at Allerton, Illinois; and is vice president and a director in the First State Trust & Savings Bank at Urbana, Illinois, which he assisted to organize.
The First State Trust & Savings Bank is one of the soundest financial . institutions in the state. According to its statement at the beginning of business May 2, 1917, its resources are as follows : Loans and Discounts, $137,760.82; Overdrafts, $2,338.22; Banking House, Furniture and Fix- tures, $40,000.98; Other Real Estate, $7,800.00; Due from Banks, $61,928.80; Cash on Hand, $7,281.94. Total, $257,110.76. The liabil- ities are as follows: Capital Stock, $60,000.00; Undivided profits, $3,566.62 ; Deposits, $176.000.38; Certified Checks, $43.76; Bills Pay- able, $17,500.00. Total, $257,110.76. The officers of this bank are: S. E. Huff, president; C. H. Wallace, vice president; Harry Gardner, vice pres- ident ; Abner Silkey, cashier; S. H. Busey, cashier; H. L. Ascher, assistant cashier. The board of directors is made up of the following capitalists : S. E. Huff, C. H. Wallace, Harry Gardner, Abner Silkey, S. H. Busey, F. E. Williamson, John Vedder, Joseph W. Vedder, H. V. Cardiff, J. O. Goodmann, L. F. Wingard. This bank was authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States to receive subscriptions to the first
J
ANTHONY COYLE AND HIS FAMOUS WAR HORSE "CRUSHER"
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Liberty Loan and the bank handled these subseriptions without profit or commission.
Mr. Wallace was married to Miss Effie O. Core, the only daughter of Dr. James Core. She had one brother, Charles F., who is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace have had seven children, as follows: A son who died in infaney ; Ralph C. J., who is cashier for the manufacturing firm of Lynn & Bowler at Stuttgart, Arkansas; Helen J., who is the wife of Howard Smith, of Sidney, Illinois; Lewis B., who is a teacher in the high school at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia; and Ruth, Julian and Irene, all of whom reside with their parents.
In politics Mr. Wallace has always been a supporter of the principles of the Republican party. He has never accepted public office, as his many private interests have elosely engrossed him, but he is a wideawake eitizen and when necessary lends helpful influenee in the right direction unof- fieially. For twenty-five years he has been on the official board of the Methodist Episcopal Church and its secretary during this time. The only fraternal organization with which he is identified is the order of Ben Hur.
ANTHONY COYLE. With the lengthening perspective of years more and more. honor is paid the participants in that struggle by which the Union was preserved and the liberty of all men assured in the United States. Only a handful of the survivors of this great struggle remain as a reminder to patriotism in Champaign County. Those who are familiar with his career say that Anthony Coyle was one of the bravest men Champaign County sent into the war. Mr. Coyle, after a life of honorable effort and service, is now enjoying the comforts of a pleasant country home a half inile north of Pennfield in Kerr Township.
Mr. Coyle was born in Baltimore, Maryland, but has lived in Cham- paign County sinee 1854. He is a son of Martin and Mary Coyle, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Maryland. The names of their children were Mary, Ellen, Martin and Anthony.
Anthony Coyle was fifteen years of age when he came with his parents to Illinois, and soon afterwards he found employment on Charles MeHenry's farm near Urbana. He was twenty-one when the war broke out and he soon enlisted and marehed to the sound of the fife and drum to defend his country's flag. He enlisted July 10, 1861, in Company I, Second Regi- ment of Illinois Cavalry, under Colonel John J. Mudd, for three years, or during the war.'
In the year before the outbreak of the war Mr. Coyle had gone to New Orleans on a business trip. While in that city he was at the St. Charles Hotel. He became a witness to an altereation between John J. Mudd, who was then a St. Louis commission merehant, and a group of hot-headed Southerners. Mudd expressed himself as loyal to the elected President Lineoln, deelared that Lineoln had been elected by a majority of the people and not only ought to be President but the people ought to abide by the decision of the majority. For all this Mudd was derided as an Abolition- ist and his life was threatened. This seene oeeurred on the last day of December, 1860. It was the bold and fearless young Northerner, Anthony Coyle, who probably saved Mr. Mudd from the fury of the mob. He stepped in and showed such determination and vigor that the ardor and expressed intention of the mob to hang Mudd was somewhat cooled. By a strange eoineidenee when Mr. Coyle went into the army the colonel of his regiment was John J. Mudd. There always existed a warm friendship between the two men, and after the death of Colonel Mudd his grateful family wrote a special letter to Mr. Coyle, thanking him for the bold manner in which he had expressed his bravery in New Orleans. It was
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also while he was in New Orleans that Mr. Coyle first became acquainted with General Sherman, who was then serving as military instructor at a school at Alexander, Louisiana.
Impressed by all he had seen and heard in the Southern city, and recognizing that secession was an imminent danger and that the Union was seriously imperiled, Mr. Coyle, hastily closing up his business affairs, came North and rode through Illinois on horseback to Chicago and over many of the counties, warning and arousing the people. In those early days he raised more men for enlistment than any other person. Some laughed at his fears, but he said, "Boys, this is no little play before break- fast; our country is imperiled." Riding up to the home of Russell Kerr, who was stacking hay with six men, he said: "Russell, our country is in danger, and every man is needed." He then gave him further facts as he knew them by personal experience. Mr. Kerr stuck his fork in the half- finished hay rick, remarking, "Boys, there will be no more haying until our Union is saved," and with all his men he enlisted and went to the front.
The Second Illinois Cavalry went first to Fort Massac on the Ohio River, a month later to Paducah, Kentucky, and from there to Columbus, Kentucky, and the Second Regiment was among the first of the troops to enter and capture that town in March, 1862. At the time General Sher- man was at Cairo, Illinois, and did not arrive on the scene until the dashing Northerners had taken the city. The Second Illinois was soon ordered back to Paducah, later returned to Columbus, and from there moved to Jackson, Tennessee. In the two severe engagements at Bolivar, Tennessee, on August 30, 1862, the Second Regiment lost all its officers. Mr. Coyle was one of the men who saved Grant's supplies at Bolivar on that day. He possesses a copy of the complimentary special field order issued by General Grant complimenting the Second Illinois Cavalry on its gallantry. It is said that this was the only time a general order ever paid special com- plimentary praise to an individual regiment.
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At Bolivar, when Colonel Leggett was ordered to charge the Rebel front, expecting to find 600, he found instead he had a force against him of 6,000. His men engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict, fighting six times their own number. Realizing the importance of reinforcements, the colonel detailed five of the cavalry to go meet General McPherson, who was slowly coming with artillery and infantry from Jackson, Tennessee. Anthony Coyle and his noted cavalry horse, Crusher, was one of these five men. Their orders were to ride for their lives as they valued the lives of their imperiled comrades. From the time they started they were constantly harassed by guerrillas and bushwhackers. Four of the horses tired out in that mad ride and their riders had to return to camp. Anthony Coyle was the only man who got through, delivering his orders to General McPher- son. He then returned, his brave horse carrying him on the round trip, three days and nights. All the world knows the result of the battle by which McPherson's troops saved the day. When Anthony Coyle rode back into camp a wild cheer went up from the boys in blue for the horse and this brave rider.
During the campaigns that followed the Second Regiment was contin- ually on the firing line and did much notable service in the campaigns around Vicksburg. Mr. Coyle was wounded five times and after the fall of Vicksburg was honorably discharged. In his last engagement he was shot through the body and remained for two days and a night on the battle- field while the other wounded were gathered into the hospitals. His comrades thought him past all human aid and therefore turned their atten- tion to others less severely wounded. He was finally put in a box car with the dead and dying and by that time the wound had festered and was
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filled with maggots. After being removed to hospital the wound was dressed, a silk handkerchief was drawn entirely through the body, and General Grant detailed two special nurses to watch over this brave and gallant soldier. Anthony Coyle has frequently been called the "minute man" of Champaign County. He was ever alert to warn the people of danger. At one time he was completely surrounded by Rebels who deter- mined to close in on him and put an end to his dashing career. To their surprise he headed his faithful charger, Crusher, down a steep embank- ment where it was supposed no man could walk. At the foot was a high' fence, but Crusher never stopped at anything he could see over, and vaulting the fence he carried his rider to safety. There is in the home of Mr. Coyle an enlarged photograph, framed, showing him and his splendid cavalry horse Crusher. After his discharge from the army he bought his horse which had carried him through so many engagements, and Crusher spent his last years in comfort and ease in Champaign County.
Mr. Coyle has as another souvenir of his war service a certificate of membership in the Lincoln Memorial Association: He was very active in the movement and had charge of raising funds for Lincoln's monument. Among other souvenirs Mr. Coyle possesses some Rebel envelopes and liter- ature and also the Rebel flag which he captured at Columbus, Kentucky, March 7, 1862. This is the noted "Bonnie Blue" flag, the theme of Southern song and story. The flag carries on the blue field a white star for every seceding state. The flag when it was captured was riddled with bullets.
There is perhaps no man living today who was better acquainted with Abraham Lincoln than Anthony Coyle. During Lincoln's travels as an Illinois lawyer, following the movement of court from county to county, Mr. Coyle was frequently employed to convey the railsplitter from one point to another. At the time of the Lincoln and Douglas debate Mr. Coyle became so interested that he followed them around and heard several of the debates. Lincoln's earnestness and keen wit and knowledge of law made such a deep impression on his mind that today, after nearly sixty years, he can quote Lincoln's sayings almost verbatim.
At the age of twenty-six Mr. Coyle laid the foundation for his own home by his marriage to Manda J. Cooder, daughter of John and Permelia (Edison) Cooder, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of North Carolina. When Manda Cooder was eight years of age her people came to Illinois and located in Champaign County. All the children except Manda and her brother William died in infancy.
After his marriage Mr. Anthony Coyle rented land the first year and in time he was able to buy a place of forty acres, paying only $8 an acre, whereas the same land today is worth $250. His industry had its reward and later he acquired another tract of forty acres and has gradually devel- oped a farm sufficient for the needs and comforts of himself and his growing family. Mr. and Mrs. Coyle had one son and one daughter, Frank and Clara. These children they educated in the Penfield school. Frank also attended the University of Illinois, taking the mechanical engineering course, and he worked at his profession at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, three years and afterwards was in the employ of the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio, being located at Cleveland, in Michigan and various parts of the West. He is a very successful man, and his active career has covered a number of years. At present he is at home assisting his father on the farm. The sister, Clara, is also still living with her parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Coyle and family are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Penfield. In politics he is a Democrat, though lie
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cast his first vote for Lincoln. A public spirited man and always enjoying the confidence of his fellow citizens, he was elected supervisor of Kerr Town- ship, and has also served as a trustee of the local schools. Mr. Coyle is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he was instrumental in instituting the first Union League in this section of Illinois. For a number of years Mr. Coyle was entrusted with the management of the large Parsons estate farm and also the farm belong- ing to the Battles estate.
Mr. and Mrs. Coyle have seen Champaign County develop from a primitive condition into one of the garden spots of Illinois. They have done their part in life, have been attentive to the duties that lay nearest them, and besides the honor and credit that belong to his record as a valiant soldier Mr. Coyle has the esteem paid to the worthy and upright citizen at all times.
HUGH GRAHAM. Coming to Illinois over half a century ago, a young and ambitious Irishman but with little capital except that contained in tlie resources of his individual character, Hugh Graham is living today in one of the most complete country homes of Champaign County, located in sec- tion 22 of Harwood Township. His wealth consists not alone in many broad acres, well. tilled fields and sleek stock, but in the riches of esteem paid him by a large community of friends and acquaintances, and even more in the capable and trustworthy sons and daughters who are still part of the family circle.
Mr. Graham was born in County Monaghan in the Province of Ulster, May 22, 1844. He was the seventh of nine children born to Hugh and Sarah (McMahon) Graham. Mr. Graham obtained his early education in the National Schools of Ireland. This was a very satisfactory system and he attended throughout the year except for two weeks at Christmas, two weeks at Easter and the month of August. The school hours when he was a boy ran from 10 to 3 in the afternoon.
He was about twenty years of age when, having heard of the wonderful opportunities of America and not being satisfied to live in a country bur- dened with British rule, he expressed his spirit of adventure by immigrating with relatives and landed at New York on October 25, 1864. A sister was already living in New York and a brother in Sangamon County, Illi- nois.
On the 12th of December, 1864, Mr. Graham reached Macon County, Illinois. At that time most of central Illinois was a raw prairie and looked like a complete wilderness to the young Irishman who was accus- tomed to the fertile and closely tilled estates of Ireland. In Macon County he found work as a farm hand and remained there until 1869, and after- ward, as a result of well directed industry, bought some land in Champaign County, where at the age of forty he established a home of his own.
Mr. Graham married in 1885, at Rantoul, Miss Johanna Murphy. She was born in Morgan County, Illinois, a daughter of William and Mary Murphy, natives of southern Ireland. Mr. Graham took his bride to the farm of eighty acres in section 22 of Harwood Township which he had previously purchased. For this land, the nucleus of his present handsome estate, he paid $37.50 an acre, and that was considered a very high price for land at the time. Mr. and Mrs. Graham had the requisite qualifica- tions of industry and thrift, and they made these qualities count until at the present time their possessions embrace 520 acres of as fine land as can be found in the State of Illinois. They have been satisfied not with crops alone but have expressed their energies in numerous improvements that add to the attractiveness and value of their possessions.
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The best part of the entire reeord is that pertaining to the children. Eight sons and two daughters have come into the home, the names of these sturdy young people being William A., Hugh D., Sarah, John J., Arthur, Margaret, Tom C., Edward, Francis Paul and Joseph Leo. From the first Mr. and Mrs. Graham have furnished the young people every ineentive at home and every advantage in the local schools. The ehildren all attended the Harwood Center distriet sehool. William completed his education in Brown's Business College, while Hugh and Tom were students of St. Viator's College at Kankakee. John and Arthur were also students at St. Viator's. Sarah completed her education in St. Mary's sehool at Champaign, Margaret studied at the Sacred Heart Academy in Springfield, Francis attended the Donovan Memorial School at Rantoul, and Joseph is still in the Harwood Center sehool. Not only did the older children wisely improve the advantages of schooling given them by their parents, but they have put their edueation to good use and have ably assisted the father in the management of the farm. The son William A., who married Catherine Kirk, is a practical farmer living on some of his father's land in seetion 12 of Harwood Township. Mr. Graham has been liberal in extending opportunities to his sons, and has done all he could to get them loeated near by and as sharers in the prosperity which his capable efforts have won.
The family are all active members of the Catholic Church at Ludlow. Mr. Graham is a staneh Demoerat in politics and has served in sueli posi- tions as town clerk, collector and school trustee. As a farmer his plaee is known not only for the quantity but for the quality of its products. Last year his land produced 8,800 bushels of oats and 6,400 bushels of corn. In the way of stoek he raises Polled Durham and Shorthorn eattle and fine horses of the Percheron and Shire breeds. His progressivencss as a farmer is well attested by his fields and the systematie management of the farm in every detail. Mr. Graham through his experience is in a posi- tion to appreciate the wonderful changes that have eomc over the eountry. He recognizes the value of improved machinery, and he also knows that the character and industry of the man is the chief faetor in any worthy suceess. There was no thought in the early days of germs or danger lurk- ing in drinking water. Today, as he enjoys the pure water that comes from deep wells, he looks back and wonders how the people lived and prospered. All the many other inconvenienees he endured without mur- mur, such as lack of roads, which at eertain seasons of the year were almost bottomless, and laek of drainage also made some of the most fertile lands of Champaign County useless for agricultural purposes. The history of the Graham family is a real factor in the development of Champaign County. Mr. and Mrs. Graham have sueeessfully exerted their efforts to make their farm and home attractive for their children, and the young people have found their permanent interests here rather than in the more superficial life of the large eities.
MRS. MARY A. TAYLOR has for many years had her home in Champaign County, and is now living on the old homestead farm at Penfield in seetion 30 of Kerr Township, where with the aid of her son she is carrying on the farm management left in her hands after the death of her husband.
Mrs. Taylor is a native of Dundee, Scotland, and a daughter of John and Jean (Davidson) Rennie. She grew up in Scotland and rceeived an edueation in the schools of that country. After reaching young woman- hood she married Mr. C. B. Taylor, also a native Seotchman and a son of. John and Helen (Gordon) Taylor. While they lived in Scotland Mr. and Mrs. Taylor had four children : Jennie, John, Mary and Helen.
At different times they thought and talked mueh of the land of America and Mrs. Taylor was especially influential in urging her husband to leave
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Scotland and seek the opportunities of the New World. Thus the little family embarked on a vessel, the Venetian, a ship which later went down in South American waters. They landed from this boat at Boston, and went from there to Chicago, where Mr. Taylor, a butcher by trade, found employment in the great Armour packing plant which was presided over by that genius of the packing industry, the late P. D. Armour. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor lived for many years at Chicago. While there other children were born, named Annie, Charles R., Jennie, Alexzina, Gordon and Rennie, the last being twin sons. Of these Annie, Jennie and Rennie are deceased. From Chicago Mr. and Mrs. Taylor moved to Gifford in Champaign County, where he engaged in the butcher business until his death in 1894. Mr. Taylor was a fine business man, an industrious worker, and his citizenship meant much to any community where he lived. After coming to Cham- paign County he had bought eighty acres of land and he also bought fifty acres at Penfield.
After the death of her husband Mrs. Taylor bravely faced the duties of life, her twin boys being then only four months old. Her daughter Mary married Elmer F. Henry and they live on a farm in Iowa. Helen Taylor married S. A. Smith, a railroad contractor living at Chicago, and her three sons are named Walter, Edward and Samuel. Alexzina is the wife of Albert Mauser and they live on a farm near Rantoul and have two children, Fern and John. Charles R. Taylor is a railway employe and married Maud Schultz.
In addition to rearing her own children Mrs. Taylor has carefully looked after the training of her grandson, James R. Croger, a son of Mrs. Helen Smith. Her life has been devoted to the welfare and training of her children and they have in many ways repaid the debt they owe such a brave and conscientious woman. Mrs. Taylor is an active member of the Episcopal Church at Rantoul and in politics she is a stanch Republican and has reared her children in the same faith. Her motto has always been America for Americans, and while thoroughly patriotic she is not con- vinced of the wisdom of having American sons serving in foreign countries under a foreign flag.
Her son Gordon is one of the able younger citizens of Champaign County and is the successful manager of the home farm. He is an admirer of good horses and other live stock, and his well kept fields are a splendid proof of his ability in agriculture.
EDWARD BUTZOW, a resident of St. Joseph Township for a long period of years, has had a career that challenges admiration and respect. It has the solid basis of industry and is crowned by a success of his own achieving, won by the strictest regards to honest principles and integrity of character.
Mr. Butzow is one of the sturdy sons of the fatherland who in such numbers came to America in early years, poor in cash but with ambition and energy. He was born October 23, 1839, at Walkendorf in Mecklenburg Schwerin, son of Ernest and Sabina (Brosaman) Butzow. Ernest Butzow lived on a farm owned by a German nobleman, and about eighty families altogether had their home there. Ernest Butzow was employed as teacher of the community school, and at one time had 120 students, being their only instructor. Edward was one of four children, three sons and one daughter. He first attended school under his father and later at the town of Tessin, and finally completed his education by private instruction.
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