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 8
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Joseph C. W. Pittman secured his first educational advantages in Mahomet Township. His privileges were somewhat limited and most of
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his training was the result of experience and observation. At the age of twenty-one he started out to make his own way in the world, without any cash capital and with nothing to rely upon except a disposition for honesty and industry. For six years he rented and farmed and then accepted an opportunity to buy 107 acres in the northwest part of the township. He went in debt for the greater part of the purchase price and finally traded the land for another farm, and that, too, he sold. He then bought 280 acres in Mahomet Township, and on this he assumed a debt of $5,000. He carried these obligations and disposed of them as rapidly as possible and in the course of time his substantial success was assured. Many improve- ments have been made on his farm, including a new residence, four differ- ent barns, substantial fences and other improvements. About 1907 he bought eighty acres more and added a forty-acre tract in 1912. His home- stead in Mahomet Township now includes 340 acres of the rich and fertile soil of that region. Besides this he has 240 acres in Calhoun County, Iowa, and is interested as a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company of Mahomet and in the Champaign County Fair Association.
On December 12, 1876, the Centennial year, Mr. Pittman married Miss Mary E. Boyer. Their marriage was blessed with the birth of four chil- dren, three sons and one daughter, and all of them were carefully trained and educated both at home and in school.
Claude E., the oldest, was educated in the Mahomet High School and spent two years in the Illinois State University. For the past six years he has been a salesman of agricultural implements for the John Deere Company, with home and headquarters at Indianapolis. He married Miss Clara Prather, who received her education at Anderson, Indiana, and is a daughter of Calvin W. and Arabella (Summers) Prather. Their home is now brightened by the presence of one daughter, Louise. Claude Pittman is a Republican, a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and his wife is a Presbyterian.
Mabel G., the only daughter, is the wife of Archie Herriott, a prac- tical agriculturist in Mahomet Township. Their two children are named Harold and Frank. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Mahomet.
Elmer D., the second son, supplemented his training in the common schools by a two years' agricultural course at the state university and is now applying his knowledge and experience as a farmer in Mahomet Town- ship. He is a member of the Masonic order at Mahomet and he and his wife are active Methodists. He married Miss Ruth Bishop, and their son has been given the name J. C. W., Jr.
Cecil, the youngest child, is a graduate of the Champaign High School and is now successfully devoting himself to farming in Mahomet Township. He married Miss Blanche Bell and their two children are Viola and Catherine E. They have membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mrs. Pittman, the mother of these children, was born in Champaign County, December 25, 1850, a daughter of George and Mary E. Boyer. Her parents dicd in 1872 and 1874 respectively. Mrs. Pittman was a grad- uate of the Mahomet High School and also of the Illinois Woman's College at Jacksonville. For nearly forty years she was a loyal wife, a devoted home maker, and expressed her many kindly qualities and good deeds in her community and among her friends. Her death on January 25, 1915, was a great loss not only to the family but to the entire community.
Mr. Pittman has been a loyal Republican since casting his first presi- dential vote for General Grant forty-five years ago. At different times he has served as a delegate to county conventions and has filled many places of honor and responsibility. For nine years he was road commis- sioner, was township supervisor six years, has been one of the men in his
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section of Champaign County to advocate consistently and unselfishly the cause of good roads, and has also accepted every opportunity to advance the interests of the local schools. He is now and has been for four years school treasurer of Mahomet Township. Mr. Pittman is also one of the prominent Methodists of his section of the county, was a member of the building committee when the present Methodist Church at Mahomet was built, is a member of the church official board and for over twenty-one years has been superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school and is yet superintendent. For four years his brother DuBois was superintendent of this same Sunday school. He gave up that position when he went to the war as a Union soldier and died from the effects of a wound received in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain during the Atlanta campaign.
Those movements which have been undertaken for the advancement of his home county have always found Mr. Pittman a capable and effective co-operator. His is a name everywhere spoken with respect and due loyalty for a man whose life has been so consistently honest and honorable. In 1917 Mr. Pittman made a trip back to his old home in Ohio, and after an absence of sixty-one years revisited the old scenes and landmarks of his early childhood and of his parents' early associations. One of the things that interested him most was the towpath of the old canal that went and his mother of Ohio. The father left Virginia in early youth, settling standing and people are living in it at the present time.
EVARTS BOUTELL GREENE has been Professor of History in the Uni- versity of Illinois since 1897, and from 1906 to 1913 was dean of the College of Literature and Arts. He has been connected with the State University twenty-three years, is well known as an historical author and editor, and is a member of an old American family that has furnished many useful men and women to the arts and professions.
He was born in Kobe, Japan, July 8, 1870, a son of Daniel Crosby and Mary Jane (Forbes) Greene. The late Daniel Crosby Greene, who died September 15, 1913, was one of the pioneer American missionaries in Japan and was long considered an authority on Japanese life and affairs. He was born at Roxbury, Boston, February 11, 1843, and was a member of a Massachusetts Colonial family. His parents were Rev. David and Mary (Evarts) Greene. A brother of D. Crosby Greene is Roger Sherman Greene, who made a brilliant record as a soldier in the Civil War and in 1870 was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of Washington Ter- ritory and has practiced law and taken a prominent part in public affairs in Seattle for the past forty years. D. Crosby Greene was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1864. In 1862 he served as a private in the Seventh Squadron of Rhode Island Cavalry. In 1869 he entered upon his work as a missionary in Japan and his home and activities were in that country the rest of his active life. He was president of the Asiatic Society of Japan in 1896 and 1901-02, and was lecturer on Japan in Harvard Uni- versity in 1908-09. He was author of the Chinese New Testament, pre- pared for Japanese readers, 1878; Course of Study for Students of the Japanese Language, 1903; was joint translator of the Japanese New Testa- ment; revised and brought up to date Ritter's History of Protestant Missions in Japan, 1898; and was editor of the Christian Movement in its Relation to the New Life in Japan. He was married to Mary Jane Forbes in 1869. Besides Evarts Boutell Greene two other sons have gained distinction, Jerome Davis and Roger Sherman Greene. Jerome Davis Grecne was secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation 1913-16, and is also a member of the International Health Commission of the General Education Board, the Board of Overscers of Harvard University. Roger
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Sherman Greene was in the consular service in South America, Japan and Russia, subsequently consul general at Hankow, China, and sinee 1914 has been resident director in China of the China Medieal Board for the Rocke- feller Foundation.
Evarts Boutell Greene was a student in Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, from 1885 to 1888, and graduated from Harvard Uni- versity in 1890, A. M. in 1891, and with the Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1893.
From 1890 to 1893 he was assistant in history at Harvard and during 1893-94 was Harris Traveling Fellow of Harvard University and a student in the University of Berlin. In 1894 he became assistant professor of history in the University of Illinois, was associate professor during 1895-97, and sinee 1894 has been head of the history department. Mr. Greene has been president of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois State Historieal Library sinee 1910. In 1913 he was appointed a member of the Illinois State Centennial Commission, was a member of the Centennial Building Commission which in 1916 purchased the site of the Centennial Building, and as chairman of the publication committee of the Illinois Centennial Commission has had general supervision of its historical publications. Sinee 1913 he has been secretary of the Council of the American Historieal Association, and was a member of the Council from 1908 to 1911. He is corresponding member of the Chicago and Minnesota Historieal Societies and of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and member (1917) of the National Board for Historical Service, Washington.
Mr. Greene as an author has the following works to his credit: The Provincial Governor in the English Colonies of North America, 1898; ' The Government of Illinois, 1904; Provincial America, 1905; was joint author with C. W. Alvord of The Governors' Letter Book, 1818-1834, and with C. M. Thompson of the Governors' Letter Book, 1840-53; American Interest in Popular Government Abroad, 1917. His contributions have also frequently appeared in historieal and educational periodicals.
ROLLO STEWART BASSETT is a lumberinan of wide and thorough expe- rience in both the manufacturing and business ends of the industry, and for the past ten years has been distriet manager of the Alexander Lumber Company, with headquarters at Champaign.
Mr. Bassett was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mareh 9, 1872, a son of Charles F. and Bertha (Stewart) Bassett. His father was born in Cin- cinnati and his mother in Newport, Kentucky. His father is an old time lumberman, is an honored veteran of the Civil War, having served three years in the armies of Burnside, and is still living at Cincinnati, being connected with the National Flag Company of that city. His wife died at the age of forty-two. There were four children: Rollo S .; Edna, deceased ; Newton, of El Paso, Texas; and Ferris, of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania.
Rollo S. Bassett attended local schools at Cincinnati, and at the age of sixteen began working with his father in the lumber business. Later he attended high school and also the Art and Mechanical Institute of Cincinnati, where he perfeeted himself in mechanical designing and illus- trating. Mr. Bassett at the age of twenty-two went to Chieago and was connected with a wholesale milling concern in that eity until 1908. In that year le came to Champaign as his headquarters, and as district man- ager for the Alexander Lumber Company his territory eovers Rantoul, Villa ·Grove, Penfield, Royal, Mansfield, Sidell, Champaign and Decatur.
Mr. Bassett was married September 13, 1893, to Miss Ethel Sibley Benham, of Cincinnati. Their two children are Stewart Sibley and Mar-
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
garet Benham. Mr. Bassett is an accomplished musician, and while in Chicago he served as organist for the First Congregational Church. He is now deacon in the First Congregational Church of Champaign. Mr. Bassett is a Knight Templar Mason and in politics is a Republican.
J. E. NYE. By reason of long residence in Champaign County, for a period of sixty years, by the ability shown in varied undertakings and by the honesty and high character of its members the Nye family is one of the best known in the county and the name is everywhere spoken with ' respect and esteem which are their due.
Of this family is J. E. Nye, who came to Champaign County when a boy of two years of age and is now able to take life somewhat at leisure in one of the fine country homes south of the village of St. Joseph.
He was born in Gallia County, Ohio, April 7, 1855, a son of Arius and Rebecca (Gardner) Nye. Both parents were natives of Ohio and the Nye ancestry goes back to the New England states. The grandfather, Nial Nye, served as a colonel in the War of 1812. Arius Nye brought his family to Illinois in 1857, arriving in Champaign County in the month of Sep- tember. Hc had three children, J. E., Louis E., now deceased, and Mary E., Mrs. S. N. Prather of Deland, Florida. These children were educated in the Allen school of Champaign County.
J. E. Nye grew up in this locality and was well trained to habits of industry in addition to the lessons he learned from school books. On December 9, 1879, at the age of twenty-four, he married Miss Ella E. Ford, who was born in Union County, Ohio, youngest daughter of William J. and Catherine (Birely) Ford. The Ford family came to Illinois in September, 1860, first settling on a farm near Mansfield in Piatt County, but in the fall of 1863 moving to Urbana. There were three children in the Ford family, Sarah E., Louis E. and Ella E. They received their early educa- tional advantages in the Marriott school north of Urbana and also at the Allen school, in which vicinity Mr. Ford had bought a farm.
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After the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Nye they rented a farm in Somer. 'Township during the spring of 1880 and having the equipment of industry and energy they worked to such good advantage that year that they were then able to buy forty acres of land for their own. They paid $30 an acre, subsequently adding another forty acres. 'They had confidence that their labors would be rewarded and were not afraid to undertake responsibilities beyond their immediate resources. Later they sold their first farm at a good profit and bought a place in section 4, Somer Township, two miles south of Thomasboro.
Mr. and Mrs. Nye had four children, one son and three daughters. The son and the daughter Nettie E. died in infancy. The other two daughters are Kate and Maude. They were well educated in the local district schools, the high school at Thomasboro and the Urbana High School. Kate finished a course in Brown's Business College. She is now the wife of Albert Stonestreet, a prosperous farmer in Kerr Township. Mr. and Mrs. Stonestreet have one child, Leslie, born June 24, 1908. He is now attending the public schools at Penfield, and is taking his education very seriously and is showing much proficiency in his studies. He rides back and forth from home to school on his black and white pony, Prince, which is the gift to him from his Grandfather Nye. This pony is the cherished companion of the boy and it performs its part well like a faith- ful friend in carrying its young master back and forth to school. The daughter Maude married Walter C. Wood, a practical farmer who lives on part of Mr. Nye's estate. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have two sons, Paul and Maurice, the former born May 20, 1913, and the latter April 13, 1915, both fine boys and great favorites of their grandparents.
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Mr. and Mrs. Nye lived at Thomasboro twelve years, then at Urbana five years, having in the meantime sold their Thomasboro property, and they then bought their present farm of 240 acres in sections 27 and 28 of St. Joseph Township. Mr. Nye for years has been successfully engaged in the raising of Poland China hogs and Plymouth Rock poultry, and handles only thoroughbred stock. His farm is known as the Timber View Farm and in point of improvements and general value it ranks as one of the very best anywhere in Champaign County.
Mr. Nye is a stalwart Republican, having cast his first vote for Hayes in 1876. He is a public spirited citizen, served as justice of the peace while living at Thomasboro and has always been willing to take his place in the ranks and fight for any cause that reflected the welfare of the community.
DAVID B. WRIGHT was born in Millerstown, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1867, a son of John B. and Elmira (Cox) Wright, both of whom are natives of Pennsylvania. His father, who died in Missouri, enlisted in the Forty- second Pennsylvania Infantry and served until the battle of Gettysburg. He and his wife had five children: William I., deceased; James A. of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ; David B .; Minerva, widow of John L. McKinsie of Champaign; and John B., deceased.
When David B. Wright was seven years of age he was sent to a soldiers' orphans' home in Pennsylvania, where he remained until he was sixteen. After that he continued as a teacher in the orphans' home for one year. While there, in addition to literary studies, he had learned the marble cutting trade and he worked at it for three years at Newport, Pennsylvania, and subsequently was in business at another town in that state.
In 1889 Mr. Wright came out to Champaign County and located at Mahomet. For about four years he was employed on farms, and then capi- talized his experience and invested his modest means in a place of 100 acres in section 17 of Champaign Township. That farm has since been the object of his constant endeavors at improvements and he has found himself well situated in later years, commanding the resources of a good farm and having every comfort that one could desire.
On February 18, 1892, Mr. Wright married Tillie Jahr, who was born at Mahomet in Champaign County. They have two children: Almeda Zay, who is now attending the Illinois Woman's College at Jacksonville, and Helen Esther, a high school girl.
Politically Mr. Wright has been a Republican since casting his first vote. He is now assistant supervisor of highways. He is also deputy assessor and has served as president of the board of school trustees and as district commissioner of ditches. In Masonry he is district inspector of the Royal Arch Masons and was high priest of the Champaign chapter. The badge of jewels presented to him as high priest is an article he prizes highly.
OLIVER B. DOBBINS. As a lawyer Oliver B. Dobbins has gained some of the better distinctions and successes of the profession. He has been in practice in the profession in Champaign County twenty-three years. His ability is sought in cases of more than ordinary importance. During his career Mr. Dobbins has appeared in more than a hundred cases in the Supreme and Appellate Courts of the state. Of such cases he has suc- ceeded in winning at a ratio of three out of four, and at one time he sccured favorable decisions in twelve successive appeals. An individual distinction of which any lawyer might be proud is that he procured the largest judgment ever rendered in Champaign County in an action for
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fraud-sixty thousand dollars. Mr. Dobbins has made a specialty of organizing and representing drainage districts, having organized and appeared as attorney for fifty such districts. His work in that line now covers a dozen counties.
As a public leader Mr. Dobbins' name is synonymous with high ideals and the better element of local citizenship. In national politics he has always been a Democrat, and has also been closely identified with anti- saloon work. In 1896 as county chairman of the Democratic party he had the honor of piloting the party to its first county victory in fifty years.
From 1913 to 1915 Mr. Dobbins was mayor of Champaign. That administration will have a notable place in a subsequent survey of the city's history. A body of business men interested in the welfare of Cham- paign obtained a petition signed by six hundred persons to induce Mr. Dobbins to accept the nomination as leader of an independent movement to clean out the dives and joints with which the city was infested. A voluntary subscription of $800 was pledged for the campaign. Mr.
Dobbins was elected by an overwhelming vote, exceeding that of the regular Republican and Democratic candidates combined. People did not have to wait long to find out what he would do in office. His was a truly reform administration. It was marked by a continuous and unrelenting fight to make the city clean. During that fight one of his policemen was murdered and the chief of police was shot. His admin- istration was not confined entirely to the moral benefit and uplift. There also ensued an immense amount of public improvement, particularly notice- able in police and fire departments and in street improvements. Mr. Dobbins' name appears as mayor on either the ordinances or warrants for pavements laid on sixteen streets of the city.
. Oliver B. Dobbins was born at Gallatin, Tennessee, December 6, 1870, and is of old Southern and Revolutionary stock. His great-grandfather Dobbins fought with the Carolina Rangers under the leadership of Marion in the Revolutionary War. His grandfather, Henry Dobbins, was born at Gallatin, Tennessee, in 1798, was a planter in that state, and died there in November, 1870. He was a whig and a member of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church.
Foster Dobbins, father of the Champaign lawyer, was born at Gallatin, Tennessee, May 19, 1838, grew up there, and served one year in the Con- federate arıny during the war. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Murfreesboro, was confined for a short time at Nashville, and on being paroled came North and taught school at Toronto until the close of hostil- ities. In February, 1871, he settled with his family at Bushnell in McDonough County, Illinois, in 1875 removed to Gibson City in Ford County, and 1876 to a farm in East Bend Township of Champaign County. He was actively engaged in farming there until 1899, when he removed to Urbana, where his death occurred in April, 1908. In politics he was a Whig until the war and after that a Democrat. His religious affiliation was with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Foster Dobbins married Margaret Beard, who was born at Gallatin, Tennessee, December 8, 1844, came to Illinois in 1871 and died in Champaign County, October 30, 1881, when her son Oliver B. was ten years of age. She was a daughter of Henry and Hannah (Sloan) Beard. Foster Dobbins and wife were married at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1866, and became the parents of seven children, five of whom are still living.
Oliver B. Dobbins had three uncles, brothers of his mother, and one paternal uncle, who were killed during the Civil War.
Mr. Dobbins was six years of age when the family removed to Cham- paign County. He attended the common schools, and in 1888-89 was a
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student in the Illinois State Normal University at Normal. Four years of his early career were spent as a teacher in Champaign and Ford counties. From 1892 to 1894 he attended the Wesleyan University at Bloomington, where he was graduated in the law course in June, 1894, and on his degree of LL. B. was admitted to practice. On the 24th of June in the same year he opened his office at Urbana with Spencer M. White, under the firm name of White & Dobbins. After seven years this firm was dissolved and Mr. Dobbins removed to Champaign, where in 1891 he formed a partnership with J. L. Ray as Ray & Dobbins. Mr. Ray retired on account of ill health in 1914 and Mr. Dobbins has since practiced with his brother D. C. Dobbins, under the firm name of Dobbins & Dobbins.
Mr. Dobbins is a member of the Presbyterian Church, belongs to the Champaign County Country Club and the Champaign Club, and is a Mason and Elk. He was married December 15, 1897, to Miss Edith Leonard, who was born at Elliot, Illinois, July 13, 1874. They have three children : Ray F. Dobbins, born November 26, 1901, and a junior in the Champaign High School; Dorothy, a freshman in the same school, born September 4, 1903 ; and Leonard, born September 26, 1907, attending the grade schools.
H. M. MORRIS has long been a resident of Rantoul and is proprietor of a beautiful home and a large greenhouse at the north end of the village. Mr. Morris has a creditable record `as an old soldier of the Union, though he was a very young man when the war was in progress. His life has been a busy one and he and Mrs. Morris have well earned the esteem and the comforts which they now enjoy.
He was born in Ohio, a son of Edwin and Mary (Benson) Morris, both natives of Ohio. The Morris ancestors were pioneers in Ohio from the State of Connecticut. H. M. Morris was seven years of age when his mother died and his father afterwards married again and in 1864 brought his family to Illinois. H. M. Morris secured his early education in the public schools of Ohio and subsequently attended school in Champaign County.
While living in Ohio his ardent patriotism shone forth, and though he was much younger than the accepted age at which enlistments were taken he managed to get into the army and went to the front. He was finally taken prisoner and paroled. He was cighteen years of age when his father came to Illinois and located on a farm ncar Rantoul.' Still the war was in progress and the nation's trials and difficulties were not yet ended. Mr. Morris then accepted another call to service, this time in a three months' regiment. He went out in February, 1865, for a second term of duty and marched away to the music of the fife and drum and was on duty in Tennessee and Kentucky until the war came to a close.
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