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 81
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He is secretary of the Somer Township Telephone Company, has been township supervisor two years, being chairman of the printing and sta- tionery committee and a member of the buildings and grounds committee of the board, and for a number of years he has been director and president of the local school board. He is a Republican, a member of the Presby- terian Church and affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. and Mrs. Shade have two children : Genevieve Frances, born April 26, 1908, and Richard Norman, born April 15, 1912.
PATRICK BRENNON was for many years identified with the community of Ogden as a stanch and reliable merchant, a citizen who was never negligent of his responsibilities and duties, and altogether completed a well rounded life of activity and service.
A native of Dublin, Ireland, where he was born in 1844, he came_to America at the age of fourteen. He had limited advantages in his youth, and by sheer force of will and determination gained a substantial position in the world. He lived in New York State for a time and then came west and located in Vermilion County, Illinois. He went from that county into the ranks of the Union army and three years after his honorable dis- charge in 1868 he laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage to Miss Cornelia Terrell.
Mrs. Brennon, who is still living at the old home in Ogden, was born at Georgetown, Illinois, and grew up and married there. Her parents were William and Artemesia (Douglas) Terrell, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Kentucky. Artemesia Douglas' family was related to that which gave Illinois and the nation the great figure of Stephen A. Douglas.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Brennon came to Ogden, which was then a small hamlet consisting only of a postoffice and a general storc. Mr. Brennon taught school for several years here and also in the Fair- mount school. The young people bought a home at Ogden and, possessing youth, industry and energy, they were not long in establishing themselves
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permanently. For some time Mr. Brennon was passenger agent for the I. B. & W. Railroad, and at the same time extended his activities to the buying and shipping of grain. He did that on a commission basis, but in course of time his success enabled him to branch out as a buyer for J. W. Leney. He had splendid native business ability. His first independent effort was the establishment of a grocery store at Ogden, and as his trade increased he added other departments until he supplied all the general merchandise required by that community. Merchandising was the business to which he gave all his later years.
He was very young when he responded to the call of patriotism and enlisted with other boys from Vermilion County at Georgetown in Com- pany C of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry. He took part in a number of notable engagements, and for three years followed the flag as a gallant soldier. After his discharge and in later years his sympathies were always with his army comrades, and it gave him the keenest pleasure to gather with them at reunions. He continued to attend those assemblages of the old soldiers as long as his health and strength permitted.
Mr. and Mrs. Brennon were the parents of two children, a son and daughter, William and Wintress. The name of the daughter was selected by her father. Realizing the advantages of a good education, Mr. and Mrs. Brennon supplied their children with the best facilities of the home schools and of outside institutions. William took his preparatory work in the Methodist Academy at Danville, a branch of the Illinois Wesleyan College, and afterwards completed the regular course of the Wesleyan University at Bloomington, where he graduated in law. He made a splen- did record as a student and for a time after his graduation was associated with Judge Benjamin in his office at Bloomington. Later he joined Mr. J. B. Mann, one of the prominent attorneys of Danville, and Mr. Mann desired that the young man should accompany him to Chicago. At that time young Brennon realized that his father needed him to assist in the local business, and an arrangement was made whereby the son assumed many of the responsibilities connected with the conduct of the store at Ogden and entered a partnership with his father. William Brennon mar- ried Miss Mary Louise Whitzell, of St. Joseph village. Four children have been born to them, Jessica, Virginia Terrell, named for her grandmother, Mary Elizabeth and Dorothea Patricia. These constitute a fine group of young people, the joy and comfort of Mrs. Brennon.
The daughter Wintress Brennon after finishing the course of the public schools at Ogden entered the famous St. Mary of the Woods school near Terre Haute, Indiana, and then for six years was a student of the Uni- versity of Illinois. She graduated in the literary and art department in 1914 and in 1917 completed the course of the Library School. She is a thoroughly trained and graduate librarian and has recently accepted the post of branch librarian at Gary, Indiana, where her duties began Sep- tember 1, 1917.
In the fullness of years and in the fullness of accomplishment as a business man and citizen Patrick Brennon passed away August 19, 1913. He was long regarded as one of the most reliable business men of Cham- paign County, and possessed many other excellent traits of character, so that his memory is secure. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Brennon has continued to live in the old homestead at Ogden, with her daughter as her chief companion. The Brennon family have long been identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Ogden. In politics the late Patrick Brennon was a Republican and was affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Order of Palm and Shell, and was an honorary member of the
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Eastern Star, in which Mrs. Brennon is an active member. Long before his death Mr. Brennon was made happy in the realization that his son would continue the business, and today that fine old establishment is con- tinued at Ogden under the capable management of William Brennon.
ALONZO O. MORRISON. One of the families that was established in Vermilion County, Illinois, in the early '40s and has ever since been a representative agricultural one in east central Illinois bore the name of Morrison. This branch of the family was of pioneer stock in Ohio and doubtless can trace its far back ancestry to Scotland. The leading repre- sentative in Champaign County is Alonzo O. Morrison, a highly respected resident of Homer, Illinois.
Alonzo O. Morrison was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, November 17, 1859. His parents were James Perry and Harriet A. (Sterns) Morri- son. The father was born in Ohio and the mother in Virginia. When they came to Illinois James Perry Morrison secured land from the govern- ment, and this land he developed and his subsequent life was devoted to general farming and stock-raising. He was a man of sterling character, just in all his dealings with his neighbors and generous to his children. His death occurred in 1888. His widow survived until 1894. They were the parents of the following children : Elijah, who is a resident of Homer, Illinois; James, who died in infancy; Alonzo O .; Jasper, who died in childhood; Florence, who is the wife of J. M. Boggess, of Homer; and Harland P., who resides at Homer.
Alonzo O. Morrison attended the public schools and remained at home assisting his father. When he was twenty-seven years old he took charge of a farm of 120 acres that his father had given him in Vermilion County, on which he carried on farming for two years and then sold advantageously and bought a part of the old homestead and still owns eighty acres of the original land that his father secured from the government some seventy years ago. To the above purchase he added others, and continued his agricultural operations in Vermilion County for eleven years. In 1907 Mr. Morrison came to Homer and since then has been dealing in Belgian and Percheron horses.
Mr. Morrison was married March 24, 1886, to Miss Elizabeth Clutter, who was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, and they have one son, Howard Monroe, who is associated with his father in the horse business. The family home is a fine, modern structure of brick which stands in a pleasant part of the town. Mr. Morrison and family are members of the Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a stanch Republican. For many years he has been a member of the order of Knights of Pythias. Mr .. . Morrison is numbered with the solid, substantial and dependable citizens of Homer.
GEORGE W. FENIMORE. After half a century of almost uninterrupted peace and prosperity America is again at war, and in this condition the people appreciate more than ever the splendid services and devotion of those brave boys in blue who defended the Union at the time of the Civil War. That war made America a great and united nation, unexampled in resources and material achievement, and there is a direct logical con- nection between the victories of the Union troops on Southern battlefields fifty years ago and the present great world struggle, when America, by lending its resources and soldiers to war-stricken Europe occupies the dominant position in the world's affairs and can practically dictate the terms on which national life everywhere shall be reorganized on a basis of permanent democracy.
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Hence there is every reason to refer gratefully to the soldiers of our own Civil War, and pay tribute to the guardians of the nation in those critical times. One of them in Champaign County was George W. Feni- more, proprietor of the Fenimore House of Sidney. After a long life of arduous labor and industry he spent his declining years with the tender devotion and care of his wife and daughters, and answered the final summons of death on October 29, 1917.
George W. Fenimore was born in Randolph County, Indiana, February 22, 1842, a son of Pierson and Eliza Fenimore, both natives of New Jersey, of English descent. His parents came to Indiana at an early day, and were married in that state. Pierson Fenimore was a well known road contractor and spent a useful, industrious career.
Second in a family of five sons, George W. Fenimore, at the age of twenty-one, volunteered at Indianapolis in Battery A of the Fourth Indiana Light Artillery. This battery was sent south, first to Nashville, Tennessee, where it participated in one of the struggles of the war, afterwards did guard duty at Murfreesboro, and was in service in that part of Tennessee until the close of the struggle. Only by change of plans was Mr. Fenimore deprived of the privilege of accompanying Sherman on the great campaign from Atlanta to the sea, and he has always regretted that he could not have taken part in that glorious campaign. He was mustered out of service and given his honorable discharge at Indianapolis on August 1, 1865.
He then went back to his old home in Indiana, but in the fall of the same year came to Champaign County, Illinois, and joined friends at the town of Sidney. September 18, 1866, he married Miss Catherine Morgan, who has been his faithful companion and sharer of joys and sorrows over half a century. Mrs. Fenimore is of German and Irish descent and a daughter of Job and Susan (Shrigley) Morgan, both natives of Virginia. From Virginia they moved to Ohio, locating near Zanesville, where her father became a farmer. Mrs. Fenimore was fifth in a family of five sons and three daughters, all of whom were educated in the public schools of Ohio. The Morgan family finally came to Sidney, Illinois.
At the time of their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Fenimore located on a farm eight miles southwest of Sidney, near Linn Grove, and began the cultivation and improvement of an almost raw tract of 160 acres out on the broad prairie. They had the courage and enthusiasm of young people and made some additions to their prosperity during the five years they spent in that district. Later they bought eighty acres and remained on and cultivated that farm for seven years. On selling it they bought a place near Fithian in Vermilion County, and after making that their home for nine years removed to Sidney and bought the property then known as the Black Hotel. For thirty years Mr. and Mrs. Fenimore conducted this as a model country hotel, under the name Fenimore House, and they enjoyed a prosperous business and rendered a splendid service to all who were entertained within their gates.
Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Fenimore, three sons and five daughters, Alice, William, Otis, May and Minnie, twins, Elizabeth, Anna and Charles. The oldest son William was taken away from the family circle at the age of eleven years. From the first the training and education of these children were matters close to the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Fenimore, and they sent the children regularly to the public schools of Fithian and Sidney. Anna became a student of the Normal School at Danville, Indiana, and for several years was a successful teacher in Champaign County. She then married Frank Freeman, and was the mother of two children, Lucile and Carl. Mrs. Freeman died when these children were still young, and both of them were then taken into the home
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of their grandparents and have received their utmost devotion and affection. Both are now students of the public schools of Sidney.
Otis Fenimore married Pearl Mansfield and they reside in Oklahoma City, where he is successfully engaged in the automobile business. They have two children, Alma and Robert. Otis Fenimore made a splendid record when a young man for his industry. He began his career as a telegraph operator at Sidney, and possessing good and thrifty habits some- what later removed to Oklahoma and invested his capital in land. He became eashier in a bank at Lambert, Oklahoma, where he remained six years, and then removed to the capital of the state and engaged in the automobile business. May Fenimore married Arthur Busey, who is in the brokerage business in Oklahoma City. Their three children are Elsie, George and Roy. Charles Fenimore is engaged in farming near Salt Lake City, Utah, where he and his wife, whose maiden name was Florence Towne, reside. Their one child is named George.
The three remaining daughters, Alice, Elizabeth and Minnie, remain at home with their mother and their presence is a constant source of comfort to her. By their loving and unselfish devotion they have done much to smooth out life's pathway, and have repaid in a generous measure some of the parental love and watchful care bestowed upon them as children.
. The Fenimore family are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically they give their allegiance to the Republican party. Mr. Fenimore was one of the charter members of the Grand Army Post at Sidney, was active in its organization and for years served as com- mander of the post.
In addition to the above, compiled from material while he was living. it is fortunate that an estimate of this valued old citizen of Sidney ean be published as written in the words of a friend. With some repetition, it will serve to complete a well rounded account of his life.
Again the Lord of battle has given command, taps have sounded and another "boy in blue" has been "mustered out." George Washington, son of Pierson and Eliza Fenimore, was born February 22, 1842, near Hunts- ville, Randolph County, Indiana, and died at his home in Sidney, October 29, 1917, aged seventy-five years, eight months and seven days. He was the second of five sons, three of whom grew to manhood. His early life was spent in the Indiana home and not unlike the boyhood of other boys. Facilities for school were meager in those days, and he attended a subserip- tion school that was opened in the vicinity. When the Civil War broke out it was his intention to enter the army. Twice he applied for admission, but not having the required chest expansion was rejected. He was deter- mined to overcome this disability and did. He enlisted in Company A, Fourth Indiana Light Artillery at Indianapolis early in 1864 and served until the close of the war. He started with Sherman on his famous march to the sea, but was cut off by General Hood at Murfreesboro. Mr. Fenimore was not in the thick of this battle, but did valiant and commendable service in caring for the dead and wounded. It was always with enthusiasm that he recalled these war experiences, and great was his pride that he had given service to his country in its time of need. He received his honorable discharge at Indianapolis, August 1, 1865.
In October of that year he came to Illinois and made his home with relatives-the family of Richard Bloxsom-near Sidney. On September 18, 1866, he was married to Miss Catherine Morgan. The early years of their married life were spent on a farm near Lynn Grove. In 1879 they disposed of this farm and purchased land near Fithian, where they lived until 1887 when they removed to the present home. The "Fenimore House" has become a landmark in and about Sidney, and its genial host will be
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sadly missed, not only by the residents of this community, but by a large traveling public. Mr. and Mrs. Fenimore were accorded a happy privilege in the celebration of their fiftieth wedding anniversary on September 18, 1916. Mr. Fenimore is survived by the widow and the following children : Otis and Mrs. Mae Busey of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Charles of Salt Lake City, Utah; and Alice, Minnie and Elizabeth at home. Two grand- children, Lucile and Carl Freeman, have lived in the home since infancy, and one of Mr. Fenimore's great desires was to be spared to see this girl and boy able to care for themselves. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Other grandchildren left are: Elsie, George and Roy Busey, and Alma, Robert and George Fenimore. Two brothers, Edward and Samuel, live at Rock- ville, Missouri. One son, Willie, died in 1880 while the family lived near Fithian, and a daughter, Anna, died at home October 1, 1907.
Sidney Post G. A. R. has lost a stanch and loyal member. This comrade, who has gone, was very proud to wear the little brown army button, to give serviee to the soldier living and to do honor to the soldier dead. Memorial Sunday and Decoration Day in Sidney will not be the same with Mr. Fenimore away. He was converted and united with the Methodist Church in Fithian. His chief thought was always for others, and he enjoyed having his family and friends about him and he did gladly for them all that he could. All during his long and painful illness he was patient and grateful for everything that was done for him. He had a firm belief in an all-wise God and a life eternal, and repeatedly gave assurance that "all is well." For-
"He who marks the sparrow's fall Knows where each hero lies, And humble blood for justice shed, By Him is not despised ; And when in the last reveille The dead ranks throng about, Foremost among the just shall stand These soldiers mustered out."
WILLIAM J. QUINLAN. Any list of the big farmers and land owners of Crittenden Township would include the name of William J. Quinlan. Mr. Quinlan has been a resident of Champaign County for nearly half a century, and he used the generous rewards of his agricultural labors here to extend his investments to several states.
Mr. Quinlan was born near Covington, Kentucky, March 15, 1856, a son of Daniel and Margaret (Harty) Quinlan. Both parents were born in Ireland. His father came to America in 1847, locating in Kentucky. In June, 1856, a few weeks after the birth of William J., the family moved to Illinois, locating in Peoria county, and in 1868 they came to Champaign County, locating in section 20 of Crittenden Township. Daniel Quinlan was a man of marked prosperity and industry. He died at Tolono, Illinois, in 1899. His widow is still living in Ohio, at the advanced age of ninety-two. They have six children : Margaret, who died in infancy ; William J .; John, who died in childhood; Bridget, wife of . Frank Hesler, of Ohio; Mary, who died in 1891; and Ellen, wife of W. J. Reinhart, of Ohio.
William J. Quinlan has always lived close to the old home, grew up and received his education largely in Champaign County, and after reach- ing manhood his father gave him as a start eighty acres. The passing years have brought notable increases to his holdings and he is now the
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fortunate possessor of 560 fertile acres in sections 20 and 29, Crittenden Township. He also owns a farm of 320 acres in Iowa and another place of eighty acres in the State of Ohio. Mr. Quinlan has made his prosperity as a general farmer and stock raiser and hard work and intelligent man- agement have been the keynote of his career. He is a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Pesotum and has also been a prominent figure in public affairs in Crittenden Township. Four years he served as assessor, as collector fourteen years, and was a director of the local schools for thirty-five years. Mr. Quinlan is a Democrat and a member of the Catholic Church.
He gets his daily delivery of mail from rural route No. 46 out of Tolono. On April 23, 1879, Mr. Quinlan married Mary A. Ryan, a native of Ohio. Eight children have been born into their home: Margaret; John T., deceased ; James E., at home; Nellie; Mae; William T .; Joseph- ine C .; and Daniel Francis, deccased. These children were liberally edu- cated and Mae and Josephine C. are successful teachers.
JOHN RUSSELL STEWART. As a citizen who for many years was closely identified with journalism and local affairs in Champaign County, the people of this section feel a corresponding interest in the personality and career of John Russell Stewart. As supervising editor of this publication, the publishers feel that this interest should be gratified by the inclusion of a brief personal biography.
He was born on his father's farm in Butler County, Pennsylvania, November 6, 1840, a son of William and Eliza Jane (Gibson) Stewart, who were both of direct Scotch-Irish descent. Mr. Stewart received his education in the local public schools and private academies, grew up on his father's farm, and at the age of eighteen qualified for work as a teacher and was in the schoolroom in that capacity for four terms.
Coming west in 1863, he found work in the public schools of Scott County, Iowa. In the same year he had volunteered his services to the Union army in the Civil War, but was rejected on account of defective. eyesight. After four years in Scott County, Iowa, he moved to Tama County, and became superintendent of schools at Toledo, the county seat. In 1868, he was elected superintendent of the Tama County public schools and filled that office until the time of the Chicago fire in 1871.
As early as 1860 Mr. Stewart became deeply interested in politics and for more than half a century has actively championed the principles of the Republican party as writer, as speaker and as local campaigner. While in Iowa his active work in politics led to a connection as one of the owners of the Republican newspaper published at the county seat of Tama County. Soon after the great Chicago fire in 1871 he was called to the Milwaukee Sentinel and made telegraph editor of that paper. In 1875 he removed to Quincy, Illinois, as solicitor and associate editor of the Quincy Whig, and in 1881 assumed the desk of night editor and editor's assistant on the Illinois State Journal at Springfield. Mr. Stewart was connected with the Illinois State Journal for ten years.
On January 1, 1891, he became editor of the Champaign Gazette, then owned by the late Henry H. Harris. Ten years later Mr. Stewart, with . E. C. Flanigan and O. L. Davis, bought the Gazette and incorporated it. Mr. Stewart became president of the company and editor in chief of the paper, and was actively identified with the enterprise until about 1911, when he retired and practically gave up all active newspaper work.
He was four times clected president of the Illinois Republican Editorial Association and was an influential member of that organization until the close of the campaign of 1904. Since early youth his church association
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has been with the Presbyterians. On December 27, 1868, at Clinton, Iowa; Mr. Stewart married Adella M. Morris, daughter of Anson L. and Maria G. Morris. Their only child is John Starr Stewart, who in 1908, at Springfield, married Alice Mary McIntyre, and this marriage has given Mr. and Mrs. Stewart a granddaughter, Alice Adella Stewart.
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