USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 12
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Mr. McCormick was first married, on July 8, 1882, to Miss Josie Crider of Marion, Kentucky. On July 8, 1910, he married Ella Lilly, of Carbondale. They have six children: Gertrude E., the wife of C. C. Neely, a train dispatcher for the Illinois Central Railroad; William F., a prosperous merchant in Jackson, Tennessee; Esther, who is a valned employe of the Carbondale Telephone Company; and Edith M., Alma L. and Archibald S., who are still members of the parental family circle, and strong elements of its popularity as a social center and source of genial and genuine hospitality.
Mr. McCormick has taken a great interest in the fraternal life of his community for a number of years, and his membership is highly appreciated in the various benevolent societies to which he belongs. He is a past noble grand in the Order of Odd Fellows, and had been the representative of his lodge in the meetings of the Grand Lodge many times. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Order of Elks and the United Commercial Travelers Association. His religious af- filiation is with the Baptist church, and the members of his family also favor that denomination.
DANIEL NEEDHAM. From mule boy to chief engineer for the Collins- ville Mining Company is the record of Daniel Needham, who has been a resident of Breese in the latter named capacity for the past twenty years. "Push, Pluck and Perseverance" have been the watchwords of Daniel Needham, and the measure of success he has achieved in his life thus far amply demonstrates the winning power of those qualities when applied in daily life.
Born in Belleville, Illinois, on October 10, 1863, Daniel Needham is the son of Matthew Needham, a native of England, born in Manchester. Mat- thew Needham was a coal miner. He went into the mines as a boy and made a close study of mining, and when he came to America as a young man he located at Belleville and there entered the same oceupation. He gradually worked his way up in mining circles, and finally became presi- dent of the Ruby Coal Mining Company, which position he held at the time of his death, in 1901. Mr. Needham was a Democrat, staunch and true in his adherence to the party, but never an office seeker. He was a
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Methodist, and for years a trustee of that church. Just previous to his migration to America Mr. Needham married Miss Martha Williamson, of Manchester. Seven children were born of their union, five of whom are living, Daniel Needham being the eldest. The others are JJohn, Thomas, James and Albert.
The ascent of Daniel Needham from his labors as a mule driver when a boy to his present responsible position has been attended by manifold difficulties and even hardships. Relentless, unremitting toil marked his youth and early manhood, and only his dominant will,-his determination to advance, have brought him to his present secure footing. When he was a young boy his mother died, and his father contracted a second mar- riage. He attended the Collinsville Publie schools, graduating there- from in 1880, and he immediately went into the mines, starting as a mule driver. He worked there in that and other capacities for a period of about twelve years, after which he went with one Mr. Hanvey to perfect himself in the trade of an engineer, and in 1889 he came to Breese as en- gineer for the Consolidated Coal Company of St. Louis, a position which he has held continuously since that time.
MIr. Needham has ever been a man of prominence in the town which he has called home for so many years. In his political convictions he is Democrat, and has served the party in various capacities and at various times. He is citizen of great worth, and his political influence is always directed in a manner that is calculated to result in the best good to the community, regardless of party affiliations. He has held various offices in Breese from time to time. He was for three years president of the vil- lage, and he was the incumbent of that office when the village was incor- porated five years ago as a city. In 1910 he was elected mayor of the city, carrying the election by an overwhelming majority. For fifteen consecutive years he held the position of chief of the Breese tire depart- ment, always giving the town the most efficient service possible with an organization of its size and equipment. Mr. Needham is a member of the Miners' union, being president of that body. He is a member of the Catholic church.
In 1888 Mr. Needham wedded Sarah Normansell. of Caseyville, Ili- nois. Six children have been born to their union, three of whom are living. They are William, James and Nora. In 1900 Mrs. Needham died, and in 1902 Mr. Needham contracted a second marriage, when Miss Wilhelmina Niemeyer became his wife. She was a resident of Breese, well known and esteemed of all. There is one child by the second marriage, Martha.
SAMUEL WILSON BAIRD. A genial, obliging and efficient publie of- ficial, Samuel W. Baird, postmaster at Carlyle, is faithfully devoting his attention to the duties of his position, being mindful of the interests of his patrons and true to those of the government. A native of Illinois. he was born June 20. 1845. in Edwards county, a son of Samuel Baird.
Samuel Baird was born in Indiana, and as a boy came with his parents to Ilinois, where he grew to man's estate. Becoming an agri- enlturist, he was engaged in tilling the soil in Edwards county for a number of years. He subsequently bought land in Wabash county, where he continued as a general farmer until his death, in 1557. He was a Whig in polities, and an active and valued member of the Christian church, oftentimes preaching on Sundays in the rural churches of that denomination. His wife, whose maiden name was Lucinda Stewart, was born in Indiana, and died, in 1884. in Hlinois. Eight children blessed their union, Samuel Wilson being the seventh child in succession of birth.
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Four years old when his parents settled in Wabash county, Illinois, Samuel Wilson Baird acquired his elementary education in the rural schools of that county, completing his early studies at Eureka College, in Eureka, Illinois. He subsequently taught school two years in Law- rence county, in the meantime working at the carpenter's trade in his leisure moments. A good mechanie, and liking the work, Mr. Baird finally accepted a position with the old Ohio and Mississippi Railroad as carpenter and bridge builder, and proved himself so capable that he was soon promoted, being first made foreman of the bridge builders, and later being division superintendent of bridges on the road. Mr. Baird continued in this capacity until 1907, when he was appointed, by Presi- dent Roosevelt, postmaster at Carlyle, an office which he has sinee held.
Mr. Baird has been twice married. He married first, in 1868, Julia Black, of Salem, Illinois. She died five years later, leaving no children. Mr. Baird married in 1896 Miss Lillian Belle Brigham, of Mannsville, New York, and they have one child, Lillian Bernice Baird. An enthusi- astic Republican in politics, Mr. Baird is a strong supporter of the prin- ciples of his party. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, in which he has taken the Knights Templar degrees. Religiously he is a member of the Christian church.
WILLIAM M. SCHUWERK. Preeminent among the many important factors in the political life of Evansville and Randolph county stands Judge William M. Schuwerk, judge of Randolph county, and for many years recognized as a particularly able exponent of the legal fraternity in his section of the state. A resident of Evansville since his early youth, he is correspondingly well known in that place, and as a skillful lawyer, a successful and honored judge, as a man of family, and the friend of the people, his place in his community is most firmly established.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, April 12, 1856, William M. Schuwerk is the son of Paul Schuwerk. The latter was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1814, and migrated to this country in 1844. In Cleveland he married Miss Elizabeth Moser, a young woman of Swiss extraction, born in 1828, and who died in Evansville in 1891. Paul Sehuwerk passed away in 1869. The issue of their union were William M., Mary, who became the wife of IIenry G. Meyerott, of St. Louis, and Annie, who married A. C. Douglass and also resides in St. Louis.
The childhood and youth of Judge Schuwerk were passed upon his father's farm in Randolph county, and his early schooling was received in the parochial schools of Evansville, wherein he was taught in the mother tongue of his parents. Later he was sent to the public schools that he might become thoroughly grounded in English, and following his graduation from the public schools he entered MeKendree College at Lebanon, Illinois. He finished a scientific course in that institution, graduating therefrom in 1882, with the degree of M. S., and later he fin- ished a course in law with the degree of LL. B. He was admitted to the bar of the state of Illinois upon presentation of his diploma, and he be- came a member of the bar of the state courts and of the Federal courts at about the same time.
Prior to the completion of his eollege courses, Judge Schuwerk spent some little time as a teacher in the public schools, and following his graduation he resumed that work for a period of three years, conelud- ing his pedagogie experience when he was principal of the Evansville schools. He then established a law office in Evansville, entering into a partnership with a Mr. Hood, of Chester, Ilinois, in 1885, from which time an office was maintained in each of the two towns, the firm name being Hood and Schuwerk.
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As the conditions of rural practice necessitate, Mr. Schuwerk fol- lowed all branches of the law, conducting cases through all the courts with appellate jurisdiction as they chanced to reach there. In criminal cases he was always a defender, and many of his cases have either re- sulted in the establishment of a new precedent, or in giving rise to a new interpretation of the law. His political relations Judge Schuwerk has ex- tended through the channels of Democracy. He has held few offices, his first official position being that of chancery judge of Randolph county and his second that of county judge, to which latter position he was elected as a Democratie candidate in November, 1910, the sueressor of Judge Taylor. In 1889 he was chosen to represent his county in the Illi- nois general assembly. He belonged to the minority party of that body. looking with a feeling something like chagrin upon the many transac- tions of the lower house, although its proceedings were dictated by many of the old and what might be termed political statesmen of the Republi- ean party of that day.
The corporations of Evansville have been aided in their ambitions for a charter existence by the machinations of Judge Schuwerk. He as- sisted in the organization of the Evansville Building & Loan Association. the Evansville Telephone Company, and the N. & W. Sauer Milling Com- pany. Ile also was an active factor in the securing of the Ilinois South- ern Railroad for this point, in raising the cash bonus of fourteen thous- and dollars, and also in securing a portion of the right-of-way, all of which have been very material aids to the growth and prosperity of Evansville. Judge Schuwerk has always been more or less interested in farming and is the owner of some especially fine farm land adjacent to this locality in the Okaw bottoms.
On June 7, 1883, Judge Schuwerk married Miss Mary M. Hoffman, a daughter of Michael and Josephine Hoffman, of Mascoutah, Illinois. Mr. Hoffman was born in St. Clair county, Illinois, but his wife is of Swiss birth. Mrs. Schuwerk was born in Macon county, Ilinois, June 25, 1862, and she and Judge Schuwerk are the parents of Myrtle M., the wife of H. P. Sauer, of Etherton, Illinois; William M., a law student in the fa- ther's office : Walter J., a student in MeKendree College ; and Panl Ed- ward, the youngest of the family.
Fraternally Judge Schuwerk is affiliated with a number of important societies. Ile is master of Kaskaskia lodge, No. 86. A. F. & A. M., the first masonie body established or organized in Illinois, and he has on several occasions represented it in the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He is deputy grand master of Elwood Lodge, No. 895, 1. O. O. F., and a member of Hercules lodge, No. 285, Knights of Pythias, of Chester. He is the pres- ent representative of the Evansville I. O. O. F. to the State Grand lodge, and he also belongs to the Stanley Chapter, No. 103, Royal Arch Masons, at Sparta, Illinois, and to Murphysboro lodge, No. 572, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
HOSEA V. FERRELL, M. D. The name of Ferrell has for several gener- ations been familiar to the inhabitants of Williamson county, Ilinois The family sprung from stanch old Irish stock and the original repre sentative of the name in America was one James Ferrell, who was trans ported from Ireland to the Maryland colony in commutation of a death sentence about 1720. James Ferrell located where Frederick, Mary land. now is. He was a soldier in the French and Indian war, in Gen eral Braddock's army, which marched on Fort Pitt in 1755 and which was surprised and almost annihilated in what is known as " Braddock's Defeat." James Ferrell married Lydia Dent, and they became the parents of three children, namely. - Hezekiah, Zephaniah, and one dangh-
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ter. Hezekiah and Zephaniah Ferrell were patriots of the Revolutionary period and both served with General "Light Horse" Harry Lee's legion throughout the war, taking part in the slaughter at MeNeil's Lane, in which some four hundred Tories were killed.
Hezekiah was born about 1724 and died at Georgetown, Virginia, in 1804. In civil life he was a farmer, living near where the city of Ra- leigh, North Carolina, now is. His wife was Susan Allison, of English lineage, and among their children were: James, who passed his life in North Carolina, where he died in 1870, survived by a family; Dent set- tled in Dyer county, Tennessee, and his posterity can be found about Dyersburg, Humboldt and Memphis, Tennessee; Lydia married W. P. Mangun, for thirty years United States senator of North Carolina and one of the able men of the south before the Civil war period; Mary be- eame the wife of a Mr. Fuller and reared a large family, whose pos- terity is scattered about over western Tennessee. William Ferrell, who established the family in Illinois, was born at the old farmstead, or plan- tation as it was then known, in 1788. He married Jailie Barnes and re- moved to Shelbyville, Tennessee, in 1811. The year following his advent in Tennessee, William Ferrell enlisted in Colonel Coffey's regiment for the Creek war and served under "Old Hickory" in that struggle and in the war of 1812, his military eareer ending with the defeat of the Brit- ish at the battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. He subsequently moved to Smith county, Tennessee, and thence proceeded on his final journey westward to Illinois, arriving here in 1839. He passed the re- mainder of his life as a farmer and as a Baptist minister in this state. He was originally an old-line Whig in polities but upon the formation of the Republican party, transferred his allegianee to that organization. He passed to the life eternal in 1867, and his cherished and devoted wife died in the following year.
Among the children of William and Jailie Ferrell were Reverends Hezekiah and Wilfred Ferrell, leaders in the work of the Missionary Baptist church in Southern Illinois for many years. They married sis- ters from Virginia and both were strong men in their ealling and use- ful citizens. Wilfred Ferrell represented Williamson county in the gen- eral assembly of Illinois in 1850-1 and was an associate of Abraham Lin- coln. It was that assembly that gave the Illinois Central Railroad its corporate existenee and there was mueh polities played in the selection of the railroad route across the state. In 1859 Rev. Wilfred Ferrell re- moved to Hallville, Texas, where he passed away in 1875. His first wife was Mary Walker and his second was Eliza J. Smith. Some of his ehil- dren are numbered among the old residents of that Texas community. Rev. Hezekiah Ferrell married Martha Walker and died in Williamson county, Illinois, in 1860. George, another son of William Ferrell and father of Dr. Hosea V. Ferrell, was born near Rome, Tennessee, in 1816. He passed his life as a farmer and merchant, married Laura M. Waller, and died in 1856. His widow survived until 1905, dying at the venerable age of eighty-four years. Mrs. Ferrell, a daughter of John Waller, who eame to Franklin county, Illinois, from Virginia in the territorial days of this state. Her great-uncle, Ned Waller, was the first justice of the peace in Mason county, Kentucky, and lived at Waller and Clark's Station, near Kenton's station in Mason county, Kentucky. George and Laura Ferrell became the parents of seven children, namely,-Leander, Dr. Hosea V., Levi, James M. (deceased), Amanda, Callie and Georgia (de- ceased).
Of the above children Dr. Hosea V. Ferrell is he whose name forms the caption for this review. The Doctor was educated at Indiana Uni- versity and received his degree of Doetor of Medicine at the old St.
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Louis Medical College. He has been a resident of Carterville since 1872. He married Miss M. C. Davis, a daughter of General John T. Davis, who was born in Trigg county, Kentucky, on a farm adjoining that of the fa- ther of Jefferson Davis. General Davis was born in 1803 and accom- panied his parents to Illinois in 1819. He was liberally educated and in 1832 was commissioned brigadier general of the Illinois militia during the Black Hawk war. He was the first member of the general assembly from his county and was the first justice of the peace of Williamson county. During the greater part of his active career General Davis was engaged in the general merchandise business at historic oll Sarahville, which place was named for his daughter, Sarah. He was unusually suc- cessful in his various business projects, was an extensive property owner and was known as the wealthiest citizen of his county at the time of his demise, in 1855. Davis Prairie, in the eastern part of Williamson county was named for his father. His wife was Nancy Thompson, a daughter of William Thompson, of Kentneky, and his surviving children are Mrs. Hosea V. Ferrell and Mrs. Sarah Walker. General Davis was a Democrat in his politieal convictions and as a citizen gave freely of his aid and in- fluenee in support of all projects for the general welfare.
ALFRED BROWN, for many years a prominent figure in Alexander county, and for the past three years the clerk and recorder of the Circuit court of his county, is a seion of the family of Browns which was es- tablished in Southern Illinois in the early part of the nineteenth cen- tury by David Brown, the paternal grandfather of our subject.
David Brown was born in Roan county, North Carolina, December 14. 1804. and eame with his parents to Union county, Illinois, about 1809. In 1838 he wisely homesteaded a valuable tract of farm and timber land in Alexander county from the Government, upon which he settled and passed the remainder of his life, passing away February 2, 1865. Early in life he was married to Rebecca Ellis, who was born in Pennsylvania, May 15, 1810, and who came with her parents to settle in Illinois about 1818. David and Rebecea Brown were the parents of thirteen children, named as follows : Minerva, George, Matilda, Martin (who was the father of Alfred Brown of whom we write), John, William, Catherine. C'aro- line, Andrew J., Benjamin F., Martha, Elizabeth and Henry.
Martin Brown was born near Anna, Union county, Illinois, Soptem- ber 9, 1834. From 1838 his life was passed within the contines of Alex- ander county, and his activities in the farming industry were limited to the neighborhood of Thebes. He was wedded, April 30. 1854, 10 Eliza- beth Durham, a daughter of John A. Durham, also an esteemed citizen and pioneer of that vicinity. Mr. Brown passed away in the year 1905. and it was less than two years later that his life partner followed him. They were the parents of eight sons and daughters, named as follows: Alfred, William, Martha, Mary, Henry, Ulysses S., Martin and Thomas.
The minor years of Alfred Brown were passed in the same quiet man- ner which characterized the life of his ancestors. He was indebted to the district schools of his community for his education. At the age of twenty years he abandoned the old homestead to the younger members of the family and launched out into the timber and saw-mill business. Eight years of his life were devoted to this work in his home town, and in Isso he went to Cairo, Illinois, where he was engaged for three years as pro. prietor of a hotel. He was then appointed deputy sheriff and jailor of Alexander county, and served throughont a term. Following that he once more turned his attention to the mill and lumber business, and for several years was thus employed.
The next change in Mr. Brown's somewhat varied career came when Vol NII -- ₲
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he was elected to the office of circuit clerk and recorder of his county. He secured the Republican nomination against odds of three to one and was elected in 1908. Mr. Brown has served with all efficiency thus far, and his splendid record is a source of much pride to his friends and his eon- stituency in general.
Mr. Brown was married on December 21, 1879, to Miss Zorayda Irvin, a daughter of Joseph Irvin, of Raleigh, Saline county, Illinois.
WILLIAM A. WILSON is a noble illustration of what independence, self-faith and persisteney can accomplish in America. He is a self-made man in the most significant sense of the word, for no one helped him in a financial way and he is self educated. As a youth he was strong, vigor- ous and self-reliant. He trusted in his own ability and did things single- handed and alone. Today he stands supreme as a successful business man and a loyal and publie-spirited citizen. Most of his attention has been devoted to mining enterprises and at the present time he is general manager of the Wilson Brothers Coal Company, of Sparta. He is a very religious man and for three years was wholly engaged in evangelistie work in Towa, and then for about three years in his native land of Scot- land.
In Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the 9th of June, 1863, occurred the birth of William A. Wilson, whose father, John Wilson, was a coal miner by oc- cupation. Early representatives of the Wilson family were from Aber- deen, Scotland, and the Allans, maternal ancestors of the subject of this review, hailed from near Edinburgh. John Wilson died in Scotland, and after his demise his widow followed her children to America. Mrs. Wil- son died in Whateheer, Iowa, and she is survived by five children, eon- cerning whom the following brief data are here incorporated,-John is a member of the company of Wilson Brothers, as is also William A., to whom this sketch is dedicated ; Agnes is the wife of William Dalziel, of Albia, Iowa ; George A., is the third member of the firm of Wilson Broth- ers, at Sparta ; and Ann is now Mrs. Lewis Jones, of Renton, Washington.
William A. Wilson's early education was not even of the high school kind. His services as a contributor to the family larder were necessary from childhood and he entered the works about the mines where his father had been employed at an early age. He left Scotland in 1880, on the ship Anchoria, going from Glasgow to New York city, from which latter place he proceeded at once to the Carbon Run mines in Bradford county, Pennsylvania. He remained in the old Keystone state of the Union as a miner for several months and eventually removed west to Iowa. He was an integral part of the mining fraternity about Whatcheer, Iowa, for the ensuing ten years and he also spent two years at Forbush, Iowa. During his stay in Iowa he spent five terms in Oskaloosa College and one summer term taking private lessons in Greek. He took an irregu- lar course, but his thirst to read the Bible in Greek kept him at that study all the time. Leaving that commonwealth, he also left the eraft for some three years and returned to his native land as an evangelist, here carry- ing on a spiritual crusade among his fellow workmen in the cause of the gospel. Almost immediately after his return to America he went to Kan- sas City. Missouri, where he was superintendent of the Baker & Lock- wood Tent & Awning Company for a time, and in Kansas City he also at- tended Brown's Business College at nights for some time. From there he removed to Sparta in 1899. Hle has been eonneeted in some capacity with the coal-mining industry here since his advent in Illinois and was official mine inspector of Randolph county, in which position he served two years. While so doing he was invited to make an inspection report to the president of the Eden Mine Company. This report resulted in his leasing
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