USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 15
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On December 25, 1856, Mr. Lufkin was married to Chloe Allen Bagg, who was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and to this union the fol- lowing children have been born: Harry E., who is now acting as state superintendent of Sunday schools in the state of Maine; Adele, who married A. J. Nesbitt, a resident of New Mexico; Virginia, the wife of Oliver Alden, living in Anna; Arizona, who married Peter Anten, of Princeville, Illinois; and John E., Jr., part owner of poultry farm, and who married Miss Belle Sifford.
Mr. Lufkin joined the Odd Fellows in 1854, at Murphysboro, Illinois, the same night and at the same place that John A. Logan beeame a member of that order. Formerly a Democrat, since the Civil war he has aeted with the Republican party, but he has never sought publie pre- ferment, although he is a staneh supporter of his party's principles. The family is identified with the Presbyterian ehureh, and Mr. Lufkin though never a member of any church, has been liberal in his support of religious and charitable movements.
BENNETT M. MAXEY. Possessed of the rare gift of being able to give expression to his ideas of right and wrong and still retain the per- sonal friendship of praetieally every individual who reads his news- paper, Bennett M. Maxey is giving the people of Flora, Illinois, and the adjacent country a newspaper of which they may well be proud in the Flora Journal, the pages of which are filled with clean, elear and concise news matter and virile, well-written editorials. While Mr. Maxey is giv- ing the greater part of his attention to journalism, he has at various times been engaged in business ventures, and now has large real estate holdings both in Illinois and Colorado. He is a native of the Prairie state, having been born in Wayne county, November 25, 1856, and is a son of Joshua C. and Elvira A. (Galbraith) Maxey.
Bennett Maxey, the grandfather of Bennett M., was a native of North Carolina who came to Illinois at a very early date, settling in Jef- ferson county, where he took up land from the government. During early days in this state he served as an Indian fighter. Agricultural pur- suits of an extensive nature claimed his attention during the greater part of his life, and when he died he was in comfortable eireumstances finan- cially. All of his five sons were soldiers in the Union army during the Civil war, and Joshua C., father of Bennett M., who had previously heen a farmer, and who entered the service in 1861, was a member of Company 1, Forty-eighth Illinois Volunteers at the time he met his death, in 1865. He was but thirty-three years of age at the time his death occurred. Joshua C. Maxey was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, and there educated and reared to agricultural pursuits. He was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and politically, up to the time of the war, was a Democrat, but subsequently gave his allegianee to the Republican party. Ile married Elvira A. Galbraith, who was born in Marion county, Illinois, daughter of Green B. Galbraith. The
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latter was born in Tennessee and came to Illinois at an early period, settling first in Marion and later in Wayne county. He was first an agriculturist, but later engaged in the mercantile business at Johnson- ville and Odin, and died a prosperous man in the latter city.
The education of Bennett M. Maxey was secured in the public schools of Flora and in the Valparaiso ( Indiana) College, From which latter he was graduated in 1880. Taking up teaching as a profession, he followed that vocation during the next eight years in ('lay county, becoming widely and favorably known as an educator. At that time he decided to enter the mercantile business and accordingly established himself as the proprietor of a store at Xenia, where he remained for about seven years, during which time the business grew to considerable magnitude. At this time Mr. Maxey learned of a business opportunity in the West, and went to California, where for the next four years he was engaged as a real estate dealer, but in 1892 he located in Flora. From that time until 1904 he followed the real estate business and gen- eral merchandising, but in the latter year he purchased the Journal. a Republican publication forty-two years old and the leading newspaper of Clay county. Mr. Maxey's polities have always been those of the Republican party, and he has. no doubt, done a great deal in influencing publie opinion during campaigns. Ile is endeavoring to give the reading publie all that is best in journalism, and if the success that has attended his efforts so far is any criterion he has not tried in vain. Alive to every important issue of the day. he gives his support to the measures which he deems will be best for the country, state or community, and as one who has the best interests of the public at heart he has the universal respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. Mr. Maxey's operations have been deservedly successful in a financial way, and he has real estate holl- ings in Flora and in Colorado. Fraternally he is connected with Flora Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter of Masons and with the Knights Tem- plar, and has served as junior warden and as secretary of his Chapter.
On September 7, 1879. Mr. Maxey was united in marriage with Miss Rosa Tully, daughter of John Tully, an early settler and agriculturist of Marion county. Mr. and Mrs. Maxey are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church and have a wide acquaintance in social cireles of Flora.
WILLIAM PERRY WILSON. In the recent death of William P. Wilson, Jackson county has suffered a great loss. for it was given to this popular citizen of Murphysboro to achieve a place as one of the representative members of the bar of his native county, and he was also known as a man of marked progressiveness and vivie loyalty, in which connection it may well be noted, as a matter of evidence, that he was president of the Southern Illinois Building and Loan Association, which accom- plished a most beneficent work under his able regime. In addition to these activities he was the owner of valuable farm property in Jackson county and was prominently concerned with various agricultural and stock-raising enterprises.
William Perry Wilson was born in Degonia township, Jackson county. Illinois, on the 17th of Inne, 1879, and was a son of Aaron E. und Rachel HI. (Donalds) Wilson. Aaron E. Wilson established his home in Jackson county many years ago and eventually became one of its rep- resentative farmers and stock growers, having developed one of ite tine landed estates of the county and having been an honored and influential citizen of his township. Both he and his wife are yet living, loved and respected by the whole community.
William P. Wilson found his childhood and youth compassed by the Vol. III-7
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benignant surroundings and influenees of the home farm and his pre- liminary educational advantages were those afforded in the publie schools. Later he prosecuted a course of study in the Southern Illinois Normal University and in preparation for the work of his chosen pro- fession he entered the law department of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1906 and from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws. In July of the same year he was admitted to the bar of his native state and forthwith opened an office in Murphysboro, where he continued to devote himself to the general practice of his profession up to the time of his death. In his work his success was on a parity with his energy and well recognized ability, and had he lived longer his repu- tation would have been even more widespread. He served two years as eity attorney, but manifested no predileetion for political office, though he was aligned as a stalwart and effective advocate of the princi- ples and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor.
Throughout his whole life Mr. Wilson was especially active and progressive in the furtherance of civic and material improvements, and in this line his influence was noteworthy and emphatic through his con- neetion with the affairs of the Southern Illinois Building and Loan As- sociation, of Murphysboro, the business of which has more than doubled under his administration as president, an office of which he was the in- cumbent at the time of his death. He was a zealous and valued member of the Murphysboro Commercial Association, another of the alert and progressive institutions of Jackson county. The valuable landed estate, which he owned in his native county, a well-improved tract of one thon- sand acres, he devoted to diversified agriculture and to stock-growing. Four hundred acres of this property on an average was planted in corn, and Mr. Wilson always took a most lively interest in the further- anee of the agricultural and stock industries in the county which was ever home to him.
Mr. Wilson was a member of the Jackson County Bar Association, of which he was treasurer for several years. He was also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and with the Modern Woodmen of America. Both he and his wife were members of the Free Baptist church, in which his wife is still active. Mr. Wilson died in Murphysboro, Illinois, on the 1st of November, 1911. The funeral services were conducted from the Free Will Baptist church, the Knights of Pythias being in charge, the burial taking place in Ava, Illinois, where he now rests in the Ever- green cemetery. He was only a little over thirty-two years old at the time of his death, and one can but wonder what he would have become had he lived a few years longer, for his ability was so pronounced that every one joined in prophesying for him a brilliant future.
Mr. Wilson was married on the 4th of September, 1907, to Miss Harriett Downen, who likewise was born and reared in Jackson county and who is a daughter of Cornelius C. and Elizabeth (Snyder) Downen, her father being a representative farmer in the vicinity of the village of Campbell Hill, this county. Three children were born of this mar. riage, namely : Russel A., Rachel A. and Cornelius J.
EDWARD II. BIRKNER. As postmaster of the village of Oraville, IIIi- nois, Edward II. Birkner has been identified with the public interests of Jackson county for the past two years, but this is not his first publie office, as prior to his advent here he had been selected to hold other positions of trust by the townsmen of the vieinity in which he made his home. Ile has proven a faithful, efficient and courteous official, giving to his work the same conscientious regard that has made him sueeessful
W. J. Ferrell.
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as a merchant, and the esteem in which he is universally held is mani- fested by the large number of people who are pleased to call him friend. Mr. Birkner is a native of Jackson county and has resided here all of his life. Like many of the successful merchants of this part of the state, he is the product of the farm, having been born on his father's home- stead in Ora township, December 27, 1876, a son of Peter and Emma (Meuschke) Birkner.
Peter Birkner was born September 21, 1844, at Belleville, St. Clair county, Illinois, his parents having settled in the St. Clair colony at the time of their arrival in this country from Germany. As a youth Peter Birkner was reared to habits of frugality and industry, traits which make the Germans sueh excellent citizens, and he was brought up to en- gage in agricultural pursuits. In 1861 he accompanied his parents to Jackson county, settling in Ora township, and here he was married to . Miss Emma Meuschke, of Jackson county, and they had three children : Amelia, who is deceased; Annie, who became the wife of Frank Sher- mann, a Jackson county agriculturist ; and Edward II. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Birkner settled down to clear and cultivate their land, and they are still residing in Ora township, and are respected by all who know them. They are faithful members of the Lutheran church, and the loyalty with which Mr. Birkner has supported Republican principles has won him the recognition of his party and caused him to be elected to various township offices.
Edward II. Birkner spent his early life in Ora township, seeuring his education in the common schools, and assisting his father until he reached the age of twenty-five. At that time, deciding on a mercantile career, he established himself in business at Sato, a little mining town, but after three years found that his business had outgrown his field, and went to Herrin, where he had better facilities. After three years spent at the latter place he came to Oraville, and opened the general merchan- dise store which he now owns and operates, and where he does an excellent business. Progressive ideas and up-to-date methods have gained him a large and lucrative trade, these being associated with a pleasant person- ality and straightforward manner of doing business. He has found that the best way to gain and hold trade is to be absolutely above-board in all of his dealings, and his success may be said to have been caused by this poljey. In 1909 Mr. Birkner received the appointment to the office of postmaster, and, as heretofore mentioned, he has made a highly satis- factory official.
In 1899 Mr. Birkner was married to Dolly Mae Wills, of Ora town- ship, daughter of Benjamin Wills, and four children have been born to this union, namely: Vera, Clarence, Marguerite and Lillian. Mr. and Mrs. Birkner are members of the Lutheran church, and have many warm friends among its congregation. Mr. Birkner holds membership in the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America.
WILLIAM F. FERRELL. Should a search be made throughout the length and breadth of Union county no fairer example of the self-made man could be found than William F. Ferrell. manufacturer. farmer and landowner of Jonesboro. Brought by merest chance, in early manhood, in touch with the making of beer kog staves, he seized upon this accidental chance as upon an opportunity, mastered the rudiments with a thoroughness that has characterized his every action in life, and upon this practical knowledge builded his exceptional business career One by one he saw the possibilities as they opened before him, each possibility becoming a probability and then a certainty, until eventually the poor youth who had begun his business career with absolutely no
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education and a eapital in cash of one hundred dollars in borrowed money has become one of the wealthiest men of his section.
William F. Ferrell was born on May 30, 1869, at Jonesboro, Illinois, and is the son of William and Mary (Tinsley) Ferrell. His father was born in Tennessee and came to Union county in 1864, and his mother was born in Jonesboro, being the daughter of Isaac Tinsley, who came to Union county in 1818 and settled on a farm four miles from Jones- boro, on Dutch Creek, his farm comprising land which he entered from the Government. He was one of the earliest pioneers of Union county and passed an active and useful life in that section. He was born in South Carolina in 1798, and passed away on his farm near Jonesboro at the venerable age of eighty-two years. Ile had acquired a farm of three hundred and ninety acres, which is now the property of his grandson, William Ferrell.
The son of William and Mary Ferrell was given but seant oppor- tunity to secure an education of any sort, in his boyhood attending the distriet schools for only a brief period, and he was not more than a mere boy when he secured a chance to go to work for C. F. Myers, of Mound City, who was then engaged in making beer keg staves. After ten years of service at small wages, only adequate to provide a meagre living for himself, the boy left Mr. Myers and, seeing a chance for him to accomplish something for himself, he borrowed one hundred dollars and bought a car load of staves, thus becoming established in business. Four months later his former employer saw fit to buy his youthful competitor out, which he proceeded to do, Mr. Ferrell clearing four hundred and fifty dollars on the transaction. In 1902 he started buying timber for hickory spokes, and this business has grown to such an ex- tent that he now ships from fifty-five to sixty ears of spokes each year, his dealings in the hickory spoke business alone aggregating twelve thousand dollars in 1910. As a side line Mr. Farrell is the buyer for the Mutual Wheel Company of Moline, Illinois. In his capacity as buyer for this firm he is called upon to exercise his best ability as a judge of timber, timber lands and the values of both, and his long ex- perience in kindred matters has given him a prestige in timber eireles that is of very material value to him.
In addition to his operations in timber and manufacturing, Mr. Ferrell runs a truek farm upon his grandfather's old homestead farm of three hundred and ninety aeres, as previously mentioned, and he has a garden and trucking plot of twenty seven and a half acres of valuable land in Jonesboro, a two hundred and sixty acre traet on the river, three hundred and twenty aeres in section 14, township 12, the latter being in timber, as well as being the owner of one hundred and twenty aeres of land heavily timbered in part and the remainder rich in pottery clay, the latter of which he ships to some extent. Mr. Ferrell is in- tensely interested in White Leghorn chickens, being the possessor of a handsome flock of these birds, and it is his expectation to soon enter this business extensively with a view to producing eggs for breeding purposes.
During his business career in Jonesboro Mr. Ferrell has gained an enviable reputation as a man of the highest integrity and business abil- ity, as well as a man of extraordinary foresight in placing investments, and a good and public-spirited citizen of Jonesboro. His operations have ever been along strictly legitimate lines, and whatever enterprises his good name has been connected with have had the fullest confidence of the business men of his community.
Mr. Ferrell is of the opinion that the popular belief or idea that a man is irrevocably handicapped in business life unless he has had the
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advantages of a generous education, or at least an education of some sort, is vastly over-estimated. He cites his own case as an example of the contrary view of the matter, and admits that he began business life without the ability to even read and write. While he admits that his lack of educational training has been a hindrance, and made some of his suecesses eome harder than might have been the case had he been better equipped along educational lines, still he regards his accomplishments as being far removed from failure, and justly. He believes that if a man takes firm hold upon the old belief "Where there's a will there's a way," he will come very close to realizing the success he might have made with the greatest possible educational equipment, and starting life as he did, with only his indomitable will to win and his splendid in- herent ability to baek him in the struggle, Mr. Ferrell has certainly demonstrated his proposition in a most thorough manner.
In 1900 Mr. Ferrell was married to Miss Lela Lewis, a daughter of James A. and Anna ( MeNeely) Lewis, a native of Union county. Four children have been born to them, all of whom are under the shelter of the parental roof. They are Mabel, Selma, Carl and Lela.
LOUIS G. PAVEY. One of Mount Vernon's citizens of whom she speaks with great pride is Louis G. Pavey, not only on account of the things he has accomplished, but also because of the clean, straightfor- ward way in which he has always conducted his business affairs, his achievements having been accomplished not by elever trickery in which the means was the justification of the ends, or by the juggling with finances, but by honest business methods, and by his marked capacity for making wise investments. Ile is now cashier of the Ham National Bank of Mount Vernon, and his associations with other financial institutions, as a member of their direetorates or as one of their officers, are numerous. Not only is he interested in financial affairs but he is also connected with the commercial world through his interest in one of the leading dry goods firms in Mount Vernon. Ile has labored under the disadvantage of having a reputation already made for him and which he was expected to sustain, for his father was one of the most prominent men in the state of Illinois, and from the brilliancy of mind that all of his children seemed to inherit. and which Louis early showed, the whole community woukl have been greatly surprised and disappointed had he not met with success.
The father of Louis G. Pavey was Charles W. Pavey, who was born on the 14th of November, 1835, in Highland county, Ohio. He was the son of Samnel Pavey and Lucinda Taylor, the latter of whom was a rela- tive of Zachary Taylor, one time president of the United States, Charles W. Pavey migrated to Southern Illinois in the 'fifties, and went into business in Mt. Vernon as a merchant, on the corner now occupied by the Odd Fellows building. He conducted this general merchandise busi- ness for a number of years and then, when he could no longer resist the wave of patriotism that was sweeping over the country, he enlisted in the Union army, his commission giving him the rank of second lieuten- ant of Company I, of the Eightieth Ilinois Regiment. This was the beginning of long years of a glorious service, in which the agon ing nights and days that he spent as a prisoner and the terrible experiences which he had as an active soldier counted as nothing when he thought that it was all for the glory of the Stars and Stripes and the uniting of a divided country. He was wounded by a shell at the battle of Sand Mountain, as a participant in General Strait's famous raid, and was picked up by the cavalry of General Forrest and sent to the much dreaded Libby prison at Richmond. He underwent the horrors of this pestilent
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hole for twenty-three months, part of this time as an occupant of a death eell, not knowing at what moment he would be ealled upon to sacrifiee his life for his country. One of the many strange ineidents that happened to him during his life in the army happened at this time. When he had enlisted in the army his little sister, to whom he was de- voted, gave him a small testament, which he earried with him wherever he went, whether for a quiet nap in his tent or for a desperate charge against the enemy. Consequently it was with him in old Libby. As the time drew near when he knew he was to be executed he could not bear to think of the little volume that was so saered to him falling into care- less hands, so he wrote a message upon the fly-leaf designating its dis- posal and asking that it should be sent to his family. On the last night of his life, as he thought, the day set for his exeention being the mor- row, he slipped the testament through the bars of the little window in his cell, praying that it would fall into friendly hands. The execution did not take place and soon afterwards he was taken from the prison upon the evacuation of Richmond, but he was not yet a free man. To return to the testament, years afterward while attending a National Eneampment he met Sergeant Sumner of the Twenty-seventh Michigan Regiment, who told him that the highly prized volume had fallen into his possession and was one of the treasures of his daughter. Through Sergeant Sumner's influence General Pavey was once again put in pos-
session of the battered little hook, dog-eared and minus one corner which had been gnawed off by the prison rats, but the most valuable book in the world to its owner. It was returned to him on the 24th of May, 1900, almost thirty-five years from the time he had last seen it.
When the siege forced the Confederates to evaenate Richmond our young prisoner was removed to Dalton, Georgia, and at last he was ex- changed. While he languished in his small, narrow death eell the horror of his condition was inereased by the sight of the men outside his tiny window working on the eoffin intended for him. After his exchange he returned to the army, and reported to General Rousseau for duty. The General assigned him to a position upon his own staff, and there he re- mained until the elose of the war.
After the surrender he returned home and engaged in the general merchandise business, following this occupation for twenty years after the war, until 1885. To a man who had witnessed such stirring seenes it was at first a relief to settle down to the quiet life of a small town merchant. But after the novelty had worn off General Pavey began to look with longing eyes towards an active publie life. Consequently it was very willingly that he accepted the office of collector of internal revenues for the Cairo distriet, to which post he was appointed by Pres- ident Arthur. He held this position for three years, until President Cleveland took up the reins of office. In 1888 he was elected state auditor of publie accounts, serving for four years. In 1892 he was re- nominated, but was defeated with the entire state tieket, his name lead- ing the ticket. In 1897 he was appointed by President MeKinley, who was one of his very elose friends, as an examiner in the department of justice at Washington. This position he held until 1908, when his health began to show the hard strain of his long years of active service, and he resigned to return home.
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