USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 19
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Beginning his trade as a lad of twelve years, it was impossible for Alexander W. Miller to seeure much schooling, but home study and much reading have made him a well-educated man. His name appeared on the payroll of the Palm mine at Belleville in 1877, and his efforts theneeforth were directed in mastering the details of mining. He was a coal digger
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until he was thirty-three years of age, when he was made a mine manager at Glen Carbon, Illinois, and there did the work that earned him the su- perintendency of the old Big Muddy properties at Carterville. Ou Febru- ary 26, 1886, Mr. Miller was married at O'F'allon, Illinois, to Miss Minnie Sherman, a daughter of George Sherman, a painter and settler there from Indiana. Mrs. Sherman was formerly Miss Amanda Powell, whose ancestors were of the old residents of Ridge Prairie in St. Clair county, going there with the noted Colonel Thomas. Mr. Miller established his home in Edwardsville, and is still a resident there. His children are: Raymond, who is assistant electrician of the Madison Coal Corporation at Carterville; Elton, who is bill elerk for the same concern ; Blanche, who is a teacher in the Glen Carbon schools ; and Berniee Fern and Ker- mit R., students in the public schools.
Mr. Miller has manifested much interest in Free Masonry, having taken the thirty-second degree by both the Scottish and York routes. He is a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Eastern Star at Edwards- ville, of the Council and Commandery at Alton, and of the Consistory at Chieago and the Mohammed Temple at Peoria. His membership in the Knights of Pythias he holds at Glen Carbon. Ile is a Republican in poli- tieal matters, but outside of showing a good citizen's interest in the affairs of the day he has not engaged in public affairs.
WILLIAM M. GRISSOM. A man whose life's activities have demanded the possession and use of a high order of intellectual attainments as well as ability in leadership of men is Mr. William M. Grissom, Jr., who is now well known as the president of the Merchants State Bank of Centralia, Illinois. The Grissom family was one of the first to settle in Johnson county, Illinois, John Grissom having crossed the country between North Carolina and that point in 1818, traveling the whole distance in a one horse eart. This was the great-grandfather of William M. Grissom, Ir., whose life it is our purpose to sketch. Next in line came Warren Grissom, a native of North Carolina, who was brought by his father to Illinois. At the age of twenty-four years he was united in marriage to Miranda Fin- ney, a native of Ohio, whose parents died when she was a small child, and who was brought to Golconda, Illinois, when six years old by an aunt with whom she lived. Her demise occurred several years before that of her husband, who married again later and was the father of ten chil- dren. Ilis death occurred in 1867, and he was buried in Pope county. The oldest son of his family was William M. Grissom, Sr., the father of our subject, his birthplace being a prairie home in Grantsburg township, and the date on which he was born, December 9, 1830. In 1859 he as- sumed the responsibilities of a family man and was united in wedlock with Miss Eliza Farless, a native of Johnson county. To this union were born ten children, including: Sidney A .. deceased; JJames E., Jane, Thomas S., Kittie and Ida, all of whom died in infancy ; Mary Elizabeth, wife of Frank Ferris; and William M., Jr. The mother of these chil- dren died in 1886 and subsequently Mr. Grissom married again, his ser- ond wife being Eliza Spense, of Massae county, Ilinois. Mr. Grissom is a prosperous farmer and now resides with his wife in Vienna.
William M. Grissom, Jr., was born October 3, 1872, on a farm in Grantsburg township. Johnson county, and until seventeen years of age he employed his time in attending school and performing such duties as are common to the son of an agriculturist. He then entered the Southern Illinois State Normal University, and for several years alternately at- tended college and taught school to help defray his college expenses, con- tinning with this method until he had acquired the equivalent of a three years' course. It was Mr. Grissom's worthy ambition to devote his life
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to the cause of education, and this desire he carried out with fidelity. He followed the pedagogieal profession for a period of twenty years, dur- ing eight of which he filled the office of county superintendent of schools of Johnson county, discharging his duties in a manner highly satisfae- tory to the public and with great credit to himself. He was first elected to that office in 1902, served a term of four years and was re-elected in 1906, continuing in office until December 1, 1910.
While acting as county superintendent of schools Mr. Grissom was a strong advocate of agricultural extension work and zealously labored for the advancement of scientific agricultural methods, and the introduction into the rural schools of studies covering them. His interest in the pro- motion of the best interests of the rural people was further demonstrated by his activity in the Johnson County Farmers' Institute, of which or- ganization he acted as secretary for several years and in January, 1911, was elected president. An off-shoot of this institute was the Johnson County Fair Association. Mr. Grissom becoming its first secretary and filling the same office for three successive years, 1905-06-07. While at the head of that institution's affairs the new fair grounds were platted and he, with the assistance of .J. C. Blair, of the State University, laid out the plans for the location of the various buildings and supervised their erection. He is at the present time filling the office of president of the Fair Association.
For several years Mr. Grissom was connected with the Agricultural Extension Department of the State University as lecturer, and it was largely due to his influence that the agrienltural department has been added to the curriculum of the Southern Illinois Normal University at Carbondale, of which institution of learning he is a trustee. Mr. Gris- som's interest and activities in agricultural work are not wholly the- oretical, for he is a practical farmer and is known as the premier dairy- man of Johnson county, and owns a two hundred and five acre farm near Vienna that is one of the finest in this section of the country. Owing to his removal to Centralia to live and the multiplication of his commercial interests he recently disposed of a splendid herd of Holstein cattle which he had kept upon his farm.
Mr. Grissom's connection with financial institutions dates back several years, and while filling the office of county superintendent of schools he was first elected as a director of the First National Bank of Vienna, and in July 1, 1910, was made vice president of the same institution. In the summer of 1911 Mr. Grissom, in company with other substantial men, purchased a controlling interest in the stock of the Merchant's State Bank of Centralia, Illinois, which was established in 1889, and is known as one of the most stable financial institutions of that city. The bank has a capi- tal stock of fifty thousand dollars and assets aggregating four hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. On August 1, 1911, the new owners had an election of offieers, which resulted as follows: William M. Gris- som, Jr., president ; . J. Hefter, vice president ; JJacob Pfeifer, second vice president ; J. F. Mackay. cashier ; S. Condit, assistant cashier. President Grissom removed with his family to Centralia in October, 1911, to take active charge of the operation of the bank. The foregoing recital apply illustrates the wide extent and superior character of the activities of Mr. Grissom in business and professional life, and the fact that he has achieved abundant snecess in whatever channel he has directed his en- deavors proves his possession of unlimited energy and a high order of ability. Yet his interests are not confined to commercial and professional work, and social and religious cireles also are debtor to his activity. He has from his youth been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. worked in the Sunday-school as one of its most effective teachers and he
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Many Ritter
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has served also as president of the JJohnson County Union Sunday-school Association. lle takes an active part in the direction of the church's af- fairs. being a trustee of the Vienna Methodist church. His lodge af- filiations are numerous and ineInde membership in the A. F. & A. M., Knights Templars, Eastern Star and Knights of Pythias. Politically he is a believer in the principles of the Republican party.
On April 8, 1894, occurred the marriage of Mr. Grissom to Miss Nettie I. Farris, a daughter of T. J. and Amanda Farris, of JJohnson county. Mr. and Mrs. Grissom are the parents of four children, three of whom are living. They are Curtis, sixteen years of age : Dorothy, twelve years old : and Mildred, three and one-half years of age. James died when a child of two and one-half years.
The accession to the citizenship in any community of a man of the stable character and high abilities possessed by Mr. Grissom is a distinct advantage, and Centralia is to be congratulated upon his becoming a resi- dent there. Few men are accorded the unstinted admiration and respect given by all to Mr. Grissom and among his extensive acquaintance there is not one but holds him in highest esteem for his many personal attrib- utes and his publie benefactions.
CHARLES L. RITTER. As a native son of Southern Illinois and a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of this section of the state, Mr. Ritter is well entitled to consideration in this publication, as is he also by reason of his standing as one of the representative busi- ness men and progressive and public-spirited citizens of Murphysboro. the judicial center of JJackson county. He has been influential in the furthering of measures, and enterprises tending to advance the civic and material welfare of his home city and county and has been specially prominent in connection with educational affairs, the while his personal popularity in the community emphatically gives evidence that he has measured up to the gange of publie approbation, which is the mete- wand of character.
Charles Louis Ritter was born in the city of Cairo, capital of Alex- ander county, Illinois, on the 21st of September, 1868, and is a son of Louis and Kate (Erne) Ritter. The family removed to Murphysboro in 1871, when he was about three years of age. and here his parents passed the remainder of their lives, seeure in the high regard of all who knew them. The Father devoted the major part of his active carcer to merchant tailoring, and is a man of prominence and influence in Jackson county. To the public schools of Murphysboro Charles b. Rit- ter is indebted for his early educational discipline, and he was grad- nated in the high school as a member of the class of 1585, when but six- teen years of age. Thereafter he devoted sixteen years as an officer of Jackson County and First National Banks, and at the expiration of this period he engaged in the real-estate and insurance business, with which line of enterprise he has since continued to be actively identified and in which his operations have been of broad scope and importance. Through the medium of his real-estate business he has done much to further the material advancement of his home city and county, and he is one of the leading factors in his field of business in this section of his native state. lis transactions have been of important order. in- volving the handling of valuable city and farm property, and the scope of his business has been expanded to include representation as a general fiscal agent. Mr. Ritter has won large and definite shoes through his own well directed efforts and has large and varied capital- istic interests. He is a member of the directorate of the First Na- tional Bank of Murphysboro and also that of the Murphysboro Savings
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Bank, and he was prominently concerned in the development of the Murphysboro Waterworks, Electric & Gas Light Company, of which he was superintendent for two years. He is secretary of the Jackson County Fair Association, and served for some time as president of the loeal board of insurance underwriters. Among the most worthy and valuable achievements of Mr. Ritter as touching matters of general publie import has been his work in connection with the advancement of the standard of public-school systems in Jackson county, and his interest in this important work has been of the most loyal and insistent order. He was a member of the official board under whose direction was erected the present fine township high school building of Murphys- boro township, in the city of Murphysboro, and he served as president of the board of education of this township for five years.
Though he has manifested no desire for the honors or emoluments of political offiee, Mr. Ritter is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor. He is an appreciative and influential member of the Knights of Pythias and in this order is now grand chancellor of the Grand Lodge of Illi- nois. He is also affiliated with the Benevolent and Protcetive Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America, besides which he was for a number of years president of the Jackson Club, one of the rep- resentative civie organizations of Murphysboro. He has put forth many effective efforts in behalf of educational work, and in this connection has delivered many effective addresses before educational organiza- tions as well as before popular assemblies of a general order. Broad- minded, liberal and progressive, Mr. Ritter stands as a loyal and valued eitizen, and in his home community his eirele of friends is coineident with that of his acquaintances.
On the 3d of September, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ritter to Miss Jennie Goggin, of Murphysboro, and they have one daughter, Pauline Celeste.
JOSHUA HI. RICKMAN, owner of the Chester Knitting Mills, was born with the time-honored credential to greatness, that is, he was born in a log house, this particular log house being located in Todd county, Ken- tucky, about nine miles from Elkton, and was at that time the prevailing style of architecture in that neighborhood.
Joshua N. Rickman, the father of Joshna H., was a Southerner of the old school, his ancestors having lived in Virginia since before the Revo- lution. His mother, Betsy Ilenry, belonged to the Henry family of which Patrick Henry was the most historie character, and her near relatives were among those who demonstrated their patriotism so forcibly at Meck- lenburg and elsewhere in Virginia during the Revolution. She was born at the elose of the Revolution, but early enough to become personally acquainted with many of the renowned patriots of that state. From Vir- ginia the family migrated into Tennessee, and here she was married to James Rickman, father of Joshua N. Rickman, and when the latter had become a young man the family moved to Kentneky, where he married Amanda Richards and here, November 28, 1861, Joshua H. Rickman was born ; his father was enlisted in the Confederate service at the time. His mother's people were Northern sympathizers and four of her brothers were in the Union army, thus Joshua H. comes from a race of fighters, not so mueh warriors as men of very positive opinions and courage to baek them up.
He grew up on the family homestead. a serious minded, white headed boy ; learned to ent wood, hoe corn and "worm" tobacco; went bare- footed in summer and a stubbed toe or stone bruise was nothing uncom-
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mon. That the boy should be a preacher was the fond desire of his mother's heart, whether the idea appealed to him or not, I do not know, but strangers not infrequently mistake him for a minister, probably be- cause the strong, square chin and aggressive nose are softened by the sincere kindly eyes.
At the age of eighteen the wanderlust struck him and he soll his horse and saddle and started for Illinois, where the big corn and wheat fields appealed to him : his strong physique and disposition to make him- self useful readily secured for him employment with a farmer at ten dollars a month and board. It is one thing to get a job and another to hold it, but J. H. Rickman held his job and always held whatever job he undertook. The following year his father moved the family to Wash- ington county, Illinois, and settled on a farm north of Nashville and all went well for awhile, then followed year after year of drouth and chinch bugs, then the era of business depression, when l'arm products reached their lowest price, potatoes twenty cents per bushel, wheat forty-five cents, and horses and cattle so cheap it was an insult to a spirited horse to have his cash value mentioned above a whisper. The prospect was any- thing but encouraging and when he was offered a position in the Southern Illinois Penitentiary, by the Democrats of his county, he gladly ae- cepted. This was the real turning point in his life; it placed within his reach the means of achieving a place among his fellows, although that means had to be uncovered by his own sagacity. Alter a time the Para- mount Knitting Company established a plant at the prison on a con- traet with the state to use prison labor, and the president of that concern, being on the look out for men to strengthen his organization, soon had his eye on Riekman and indneed him to give up his position with the state and accept one with the Paramount Company.
This was the first knitting factory he had ever seen, but with his usual thoroughness set about learning the business from the ground up. That he was successful in this is shown by the fact that in less than three years he was general manager; he held this position until the company was obliged to move from this state on account of the conviet labor law passed by the legislature.
Believing in the possibilities of Southern Illinois as a manufactur- ing center. Mr. Rickman set about establishing the Chester Knitting Mills. This he imbued with his own personality until the Chester Knit- ting Mills is J. Il. Rickman. In this country town where the boys form- erly loaled in the park and smoked cigarettes, and the girls walked the streets in idleness, you will not find an habitually idle person in the town ; they are all employed making stockings. The work is pleasant. clean and remunerativo, as is evidenced by the four hundred happy, healthy girls and boys that file through the doors of the factory about two minutes past six. This enterprise started in 1905, with a capital of twenty thousand dollars, but has twice increased its capital until now it is one hundred thousand dollars, with a probability of this being doubled during the present year. The output is twelve hundred dozen pairs of stockings daily and last year (1911) a branch factory was located at Collinsville. Illinois, with a capacity equal to the Chester mill ; this makes Joshua H Riekman the largest employer of labor in Southern Illinois. This growth is largely due to the excellence of the hosiery manufactured anybody can make a stocking, but to make them better than your com- petitors takes brains.
Mr. Rickman was married November 18, 1896, at Chester, to Miss Alice Randolph, a daughter of W. J. Randolph, of Golronda, Illinois. Portia Isabel, now twelve years of age, is the only child. Notwithstand- ing the close application to his business, his family always comes first,
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and his highest aim in life is to make them happy. His home is one of the beauty spots in Chester-an old colonial, vine covered house in the cen- ter of a five acre park, and it is here in front of the open wood fire in the winter evenings or under one of the "venerable oaks" in the summer that some of his far seeing ideas are hatched.
THOMAS JEREMIAH. As mayor of Willisville and general superin- tendent of the Willis Coal and Mining Company, Thomas Jeremiah is one of the prominent men of his community. A follower of the coal mines since he was a lad of nine years, he is well qualified to hold the responsi- ble position he now fills, and is an acknowledged authority on many sub- jeets pertaining to coal mining. Mr. Jeremiah has also given his atten- tion to various other matters beyond the province of coal mining, and is actively coneerned in a number of industrial organizations of varied natures, while his connection with the organization of the National Mine Workers of America has brought him no little prominence in surrounding communities.
Born at Steeleville, Illinois, on June 10, 1868, Thomas Jeremiah is the son of the venerable pioneer mine developer. John Jeremiah, now a re- tired resident of DuQuoin, Illinois. He was born at Ponter Pool, South Wales, in 1830, and came to the United States in 1852. He stopped for a time in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, and reached Southern Illinois just at the close of the Civil war, after having served a term in the Fed- eral army as a member of the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Pennsylvania troops, and seeing much active service during the term of his enlistment.
HIe was among the first to engage in coal mining in Randolph and Perry counties, and was prominently identified with that industry for many years. He married Miss Margaret Bridgewaters, a daughter of Andrew Bridgewaters, who was a pioneer of Illinois and who settled in Perry county, where Mrs. Jeremiah was born in 1837. The issue of their union is : Thomas, the subject ; Alfred of Percy, Illinois : Solomon of Du- Quoin, Illinois, an electrician with the Brilliant Coal and Coke Company ; and Emma, the wife of Fred Kennedy, of DuQuoin. By an earlier mar- riage with Sarah Edmund he was the parent of five children : Rachel, who died in infancy ; Edmund, of DuQuoin ; William, who died in 1908, as a niner ; Mattie, who became the wife of Charles Voice ; and John, of Perey, Illinois. Margaret Bridgewaters, the second wife of John Jeremiah and the mother of Thomas Jeremiah, of this review, was twice married. Her first husband was John Yaney, and of their union four children were born. They are: Rebecca, who married Walter Standhouse, now de- ceased, the widow residing in DuQuoin; Rachael became the wife of George Popham, of Herrin, Illinois, and Amos and Josephine passed away as children.
The chief characteristic as displayed by Thomas Jeremiah in his boy- hood was industry. At the age of nine he left off his studies and followed his father into the mines as a student of mining methods and as a helper when required. He passed several years thus in mastering the details of the subject, and, becoming interested in the labor organization, was advanced to a leadership in it at an early age. Ile secured additional ex- perience as a miner in other coal fields, as in Arkansas and Oklahoma. and he was made master workman of the Knights of Labor at Jenny Lind, Arkansas, in 1887. Returning to Illinois in 1892, Mr. Jeremiah was later made superintendent of the Excelsior Coal Mining Company, and held that position until 1894, then going west and working in the mines. In 1896 he returned to Illinois and began taking an active part in organizing the miners of Southern Illinois and was elected a member of the central sub-district No. 7. In 1897 he was chosen a member of the state executive
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board and later was appointed national organizer for the United Mine Workers of America. In his work in the latter named capacity he cov- ered many of the coal producing states of the Mississippi Valley and the east, and secured a varied experience in a general way that has been of utmost importance to him in later years. He resigned from that office in 1902 to accept service with the Willis Coal and Mining Company, with whom he has since been employed.
Mr. Jeremiah is now serving his third term as mayor of Willisville. He is a member of the Mine Investigators Committee of the State of Illi- nois by appointment of Governor Deneen; he is a member of the Perry County Fair Association and of the Democratic Senatorial Committee. He has aeted in the capacity of operators' commissioner for the Fifth and Ninth districts, and is a member of the operators' board for the same distriet. In addition to his numerous connections of a more public character, Mr. Jeremiah is a member of the Willisville Breeding Asso- ciation. and is superintendent of the Mid-Valley Oil Company, now pros- pecting for oil in and about Willisville and Pinckneyville. Ile is a di- rector of the First National Bank of Perey, a director of the Willis Coal and Mining Company, of which he is also general superintendent, and is a member of the mercantile firm of Schmitt & Jeremiah, of Willisville. From all of which it will be seen that he has a multiplicity of interests demanding time and attention, in addition to his regular duties. Fra- ternally he is an Elk and a Knight of Pythias.
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