USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 22
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Mr. Gerhart is a member of the Christian church, and is an active, earnest worker in the church. He is a trustee of the church and for some time was superintendent of the Sunday school. In the fraternal world he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and is master of the exchequer Sumner Lodge, No. 702. Ilis ability as a lawyer has been greatly enhanced by his thorough understanding of many of the tech- nical points of business which he gathered during a business course of study which he took in Vincennes University, Indiana.
Mr. Gerhart was married on the 15th day of June, 1898, to Caroline Jennings Clark, a graduate of Indiana State University, and a daugh- ter of Reverend T. J. Clark, of Bloomington, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Gerhart are the parents of three sons: Francis C., Charles T. and Emerson T.
HENRY F. HECKERT. For more than sixty years the Heckert family has been prominently identified with the best interests of Washington county, of which the subject of this review, Henry F. Heckert, a prom- inent agrienlturist of Venedy township, is serving his sixth year as clerk. He is a native of this township, and was born December 2, 1861, a son of Rudolph and Mary (Luebke) Heckert. Mr. Heckert's father, a Hanoverian, born in 1825, was seventeen years of age when he came to the United States from the Fatherland, and stopped first in St. Louis, where he remained until his advent in Washington county in 1850. He adopted readily the modes and practices of the New World, took a stand with the Republicans in polities, and participated in local affairs with his fellow citizens without being drawn into a fight for personal success. ITe died in 1899, and his wife, who was a daugh- ter of Rudolph Lnebke, passed away in 1868. Of their nine children, three grew to maturity, viz: Mrs. Caroline Vortman, of Venedy town- ship ; Henry F. ; and Louisa, who died as Mrs. Henry Heitland and left
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one child. Mr. Ileekert married for his second wife Mrs. E. Hodde, widow of Chris Ilodde, and two children were born, Rudolph and Wil- liam C.
Up to fourteen years of age Henry F. Heckert was a pupil of the parochial schools, then spent a year in a public school of St. Louis, and to round out his education took a course in Jones Business College in that city. Having been brought up on the farm and learned its suc- cessful principles, he applied himself to that sphere of industry for nearly a quarter of a century in the community of his birth and bring- ing up. Ilis faseination for local polities, in which he took an interest even before he attained his majority, led him into a race for public office for himself, and he was nominated for county clerk as a Repub- liean in 1906. His former participation had given him experience in county and congressional conventions as a delegate, and when he sought the tangible results of political activity for himself he was equipped to make his candidacy worth while. He was elected without dangerous opposition and took office as the successor of Il. F. Renter, and succeeded himself in 1910 without competition in his own party, at present hav- ing completed his sixth year as an efficient and conscientious public servant.
On November 15, 1883, Mr. Ileckert was married in Johannesburg township, Washington county, to Miss Mary Van Stroh, a daughter of Henry Van Stroh, a settler from Hanover, Germany, who married Minna Holland. Mrs. Heekert is the only child of the four born to her parents who reached maturity. She and Mr. Heckert have had three daughters, namely : Laura, Ida and Ella. Mr. Heckert maintains his interest in agriculture, owning a handsome, well-cultivated property in the west end of the county. He holds no other affiliations or con- nections save his membership in the Modern Woodmen of America. He has many friends in this section, where his genial, jovial personality has made him a general favorite with all who know him.
ELBERT WALLER. The county of Union numbers among its citizens many skillful physicians, lawyers of state repute, well known mann. facturers and business men of much more than local reputation; while proud of them the county is not lacking in others who have achieved distinction in callings requiring intellectual abilities of high order. Among the latter Professor Elbert Waller, the popular and efficient superintendent of the Cobden schools, orenpies a deservedly conspicuous place. No one is more entitled to the thoughtful consideration of a free and enlightened people than he who shapes and directs the minds of the young, adds to the value of their intellectual treasures and moulds their characters. This is pre-eminently the mission of the faithful and conscientious educator, and to such noble work is the life of the subject of the sketch devoted.
Professor Waller was born August 24, 1870, on a farm four miles south of Murphysboro, Jackson county, Illinois, the son of William and Mary (Crawshaw) Waller, natives of Union and Williams counties. respectively, both counties being at the time of the birth of these worthy people parts of Jackson county. William Waller was born in 1823. the son of Joseph Waller, a native of Kentucky, and grandson of William Waller, a native of Georgia. Joseph Waller found his way to Southern Illinois about the year ISE1, and settled near Bald Knob. Union county. Professor Waller is thus of the third generation in the state.
The father of William Waller, previously mentioned, founded the family on American shores, coming from England during the Revolu-
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tion. Professor Waller's grandfather, Joseph Waller, took up govern- ment land in Union county and enlisted in the Black Hawk war under the "Old Ranger." He passed to the great beyond shortly after re- turning home from his military services, his death being caused by sickness contracted during the war.
William Waller was a farmer by occupation. After his mar- riage he removed to Jackson county and with his brother-in-law entered forty acres of land. While a boy in Union county he attended a school near Bald Knob, the improvised sehool house being an old stable in which a fireplace was built. This school was taught by ex-Lientenant Governor Dougherty. During the Civil war William Waller belonged to an organization opposed to the Knights of the Golden Circle and all they represented and several times they tried to take his life. He was a man of patriotism and tried to enlist during the war, but was re- jeeted on account of ill health; so making the best of things he remained at home and looked after several families whose natural providers were away fighting for the Union. In later years he was very active in hunt- ing down horse thieves, with whom the country became infested, and he successfully landed several of these undesirable members of society in the penitentiary. Ile was thrice married. His first wife was a Miss Ditzler, who died shortly after they were united. He then married a Miss Lipe, whose demise several years later left motherless four chil- dren, namely : John; W. J .; Sarah (Crawshaw) and Mary (Crow) de- ceased. His third marriage was with Mrs. Mary (Crawshaw) Hagler, whose first husband, brother and a cousin were killed in the battle of Fort Donelson. The children of this union were five in number and concerning them the ensuing data is entered. The first-born was Han- nah, who married William R. Lee. Luvisa became the wife of the late Dr. Trobaugh, of Murphysboro. She, as well as her husband, is deeeased. Elbert, the subject, is third. Gilbert is at Herrin, where he is engaged in the real estate business. The youngest, Alice, married A. M. Beecher. William Waller died after an active life and one full of achievement, on December 26, 1891, and his faithful and devoted wife survived him until April 14, 1900. He was an able, public-spirited citizen and his memory will long be cherished in Jackson county, in which he lived from the time he was first married. His wife was the daughter of Samuel Crawshaw, a native of Leeds, England, and a farmer by occupa- tion, who immigrated to America in 1824 and located in Williamson county, at that time a part of Jackson county. In those days the redskins still claimed Illinois as their hunting grounds, and he was engaged in an Indian war waged against the Indians and a western tribe. He died very young and his widow lived to advanced old age. A family tradition has it that an ancestor of Professor Waller was a relative of Oliver Cromwell and served in his army.
Professor Waller received his education in the district schools and prepared for his profession in the Southern Illinois Normal sehool. The piquant experiences of the primitive schools were not altogether the property of his forebears, for he remembers vividly attending school in the old Sharon ehureh, seated on long benches, seats and desks, all home-made of course. This school housed sixty pupils, these being crowded at four desks. There was a small blackboard, three feet by three feet. used by the teacher, and the pupils used homemade soap- stone pencils. The cracks in the floor allowed the pencils to drop through and eager hands were frequently raised by the boys asking, (and girls too) "can I erawl under the house and git my pencil." As boys will be boys, it is possible that the dropping of pencils was more frequent than really necessary. He attended the normal for a time
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and then Ewing College, where he pursued his studies several terms. In 1909 he received the degree of Ph. B. from the latter place.
Professor Waller began teaching in 1890, and since then has taught continuously with the exception of three years. At first for some terms he taught rural schools in winter and attended Normal in sun- mer. From 1893 to 1896 he was principal of the Ava (Ill.) schools and following that he spent a year in college. In 1898, when pat- riotism became more than a mere rhetorical expression, he voluntered for service in the Spanish-American war, but through no fault of his own saw no active service. During the winter of 1898 and 1899 he taught a rural school and following that for a short period engaged in the newspaper business and was elected eity attorney of Ava, Illi- nois. He held this important offiee one year, from 1901 to 1902, and proved remarkably successful in enforcing the laws. From 1901 to 1904 he was principal of the Perey (Ill.) schools; from 1904 to 1906 acted in similar capacity in Tamaroa, Illinois; was principal of the Viola schools for the three years included between 1906 and 1909; and was principal of the Anna high school in 1909-1910. In 1910-1911 he was superintendent of the Columbia schools and at the present time he holds the office of superintendent of the Cobden schools, having been appointed in 1911. He has here, as in preceding seenes, given a favor- able "taste of his quality."
Professor Waller belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Perey; and to the Masons and the Modern Woodmen of Tamaroa. He is a Baptist in religious convietion. He has no small amount of literary ability and has published a brief history of Illinois, which has had a wide eirculation and much praise.
In the spring of 1894 Professor Waller was united to Maggie D. Clendennon, of Jackson. She is a daughter of Dr. M. W. Clendennon, of Roekwood, who died when Mrs. Waller was only about ten years of age, and she was reared to young womanhood by her unele, W. G. Wagner. To the subject and his wife have been born l'our children. The first died in infancy ; Arista died at the age of seven months; Wil- lard W. is a lad of twelve; and Max is five. Both the subject and his wife are held in highest esteem, and are active in social circles.
Professor Weller is energetie, progressive and ambitious in his ehosen profession and during the brief time he has had charge of the Cob- den schools marked advancement has been made. Under the guidance of his inspiration a new and modern high school has been erreted and an eleetive course is offered that makes his school among the largest and best in Southern Illinois. In conclusion it may be said that Profes- sor Waller is a very successful school man and a speaker of inusual ability.
REVEREND FATHER JOHN MOLITOR. That friend of all the helpless and poor and weak, the Catholic priest, has a worthy representative in these pages in the person of Father John Molitor. In this state of Illinois, which should be regarded as a part of the great Northwest, the Catholic priest should be looked upon, as a class, with perulair veneration, for it was a priest of the Roman Catholic church, Pero Marquette, who, with his companion JJoliet, first explored the prairies of Illinois, and later it was these same priests who through their mis- sionary labors among the Indians of this section made possible the settlement of the country sooner than would have been possible other. wise. Father Molitor has been such an intimate factor in the lives of the people of Newton for so many years that it would not seem the Vol. II-10
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same place were his familiar figure absent. For thirty-five years he has baptized, married and buried the people of this parish.
Father John Molitor was born in Clinton county, Illinois, on the 6th of Deeember, 1845. Ilis father, William Molitor, was a native of Germany, having been born at Waterslow, in Westphalia, in 1811. Wil- liam Molitor emigrated from Germany in 1836, and, coming to Amer- ica, located first in Baltimore. From there he went down to New Orleans, and then followed the Mississippi up to St. Louis. He re- mained here for a time, and then he eame over into Illinois and set- tled on the site of the present town of Germantown. This was in 1840, and from this time until his death in 1868 he lived the peaceful life of the farmer, respeeted by all who knew him. In 1838 Mr. Molitor was married to Gertrude Roeekenhans, also a native of Germany, and they became the parents of six children, of whom Father Molitor was the fourth. The mother long outlived her husband, dying in 1892.
The beautiful character which makes Father Molitor so well be- loved owes some of its fineness and strength to his early surroundings, for he was brought up on a farm, and he was much alone with the grass and trees, and at night the stars for company, so he learned to think, he learned with Milton that,
"In contemplation of ereated things By steps we may aseend to God."
For an education he was sent to the district schools, and later, in 1864, to Saint Joseph's College at Teutopolis, Illinois. In 1868 he went to Saint Franeis Seminary at Milwaukee, and here he remained until 1874. On the 25th of March of that year he was ordained at Alton, Illinois, and went immediately to take charge of his first parish at Olney, Illinois. He remained here until 1877, when he was transferred to Newton. It was a fortunate thing for the people of Newton when Father Molitor arrived in the town on that eold January day in 1877. They had not had a priest until a few years before this when Fr. Cor- nelins Hoffman had been sent to them, the date of his eoming being 1873. It was as his successor that Father Molitor had been sent, and the young priest found plenty of work eut out for him. His first work was to build a suitable edifiee for the worship of God, and 1880 saw the completion of a fine brick church. In 1895 fire destroyed part of the church building, but the people, led by Father Molitor, immediately set to work, improved the old building and rebuilt the part which had been laid in ruins, so in 1896 the present beautiful building was ready for oecupaney. In 1884 the schools were estab- lished, and both ehureh and schools are dedicated to Saint Thomas. Sinee there are only one hundred and fifty-five families in the parish, this activity is the result of some one person's influence and very nat- urally it is that of their beloved priest's. As for the man himself, he walks quietly along his peaceful way, with his hand ever out- stretched to give help to those who ask it, without a thought of self, only asking that he may be permitted to live out his days surrounded by those for whom he has given his life and who in return have given him their confidence and affection.
JOHN W. THOMASON. Among the more prosperous young business men of Louisville, John W. Thomason must be aeeorded a prominent place. Admitted to the bar in 1899 and beginning the practice of his ehosen profession in Louisville immediately thereafter, he has in the intervening years built up a law practice worthy of a longer
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period of labor, and in addition has beeome prominent in stoek rais- ing eireles as a breeder of fine cattle, pure Shorthorns being the breed he is cultivating. His united efforts in the law business and as a cattle raiser have brought him a prominence in Clay county, where he was already well known, that being the county of his birth.
Mr. Thomason was born on July 5, 1874, and is the son of Wil- liam B. and Caroline (Kellums) Thomason. The father was a na- tive of Indiana and the mother of Clay county. He was a farmer, and when his son, John W., was four years of age, he died. His widow survived him until 1901. He was a son of Allen Thomason, born in South Carolina, who settled in Indiana, later removing to Illinois, where he passed the remainder of his life. Ile was a farmer and a veteran of the Mexican war. The maternal grandfather of John Thomason was John W. Kellums, born in Greene connty, In- diana, who moved to Illinois shortly after his marriage. He settled on a farm in the northern part of Clay county, and was there known as a large stoek-raiser, in which business he was especially pros- perous. He was ever a prominent Republican, and was well known throughout the county. He has always been in the well-to-do elass, owning as much as four and five hundred of acres of farm lands. He is now retired from the farming business, and is a resident of Flora, where he owns the principal hotel of the town. Ile also still retains a goodly quantity of valuable lands in the vieinity of Flora.
John Thomason received his earlier education in the common schools of Clay county and later attended Orchard City College at Flora, from which institution he was graduated in 1894. He taught school for a few terms by way of becoming aceustomed to making his own way in the world, after which he studied law in a Chicago law school. He also studied in Mereer county, Illinois, and finished his studies in 1899, being admitted to the bar of the state of Illinois in the same year. Ile took up the active practice of his profession in Louisville, and in the year following the initiation of his praetice there he was elected to the office of state's attorney, in which he served one term. Ile was elected on the Democratie ticket, although Clay county is a stronghold of the Republican party. In the fol- lowing election he was defeated for re-election by one vote, at a time when Theodore Roosevelt carried the county by a five hundred majority. Mr. Thomason has been chairman of the Democratie county committee, and has in many and various ways made himself a use- ful and valuable adherent of the party. As previously mentioned. his operations in the stock-breeding business have brought him added prosperity, and he is the local attorney for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
In 1901 Mr. Thomason married Margaret Downing, of Mercer county. She is a daughter of John Downing, who is a merchant in Joy. Mercer county, and a man of considerable note in his com- munity. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomason. They are Corinne, Helen and John D.
Mrs. Thomason is a member of the Presbyterian church, in which she takes a sympathetic and dutiful interest, and her husband is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic order In the latter connection he is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter at Flora and has served as master in the Louisville lodge.
THEODORE L. REUTER has been identified with the milling industry at Nashville sinee 1869 and is a co-manager of the triumvirate chosen by the venerable John Iuegely to conduct the affairs of his great
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flouring mill under the name of the Huegely Milling Company upon his retirement from active business life nearly a quarter of a century ago. Mr. Reuter is a German, born near Frankfort-on-Main, April 6, 1845, and was a child of three years when his father, Philip C. Reuter, brought his family to the United States and located, after two years in St. Louis, at Belleville, Illinois. Philip C. Reuter was a tailor, and also carried on a small grocery business at Belleville, where he resided until some sixty years of age, when he came to Nashville to be near his sons, and died here in 1872, when he was sixty-three years old. Mr. Reuter married his wife in the com- munity where they both spent their childhood, she being Miss Eliza- beth Otto, and her death oeeurred in 1869. Their children were as fol- lows: Henry F., ex-county clerk of Washington county, and now engaged in the monument business in Nashville; Theodore L .; and Rev. William C., a minister of the Methodist church, who holds a pastorate in the state of Oregon.
Theodore L. Reuter acquired his education in the Belleville schools and when a youth applied himself to the trade of carriage painting. The call to arms of 1861 for the preservation of the Union roused him and prepared him for his part in the struggle, even before he attained the legal age for aeeeptanee as a soldier. He enlisted in August, 1862, at Belleville, in Company H, One Hundred and Seven- teenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Captain R. A. Halbert, R. M. Moore being colonel of the regiment. This formed a part of the Third Division of the Sixteenth Army. Corps, with Gen- eral A. J. Smith in command of the division. General Hurlbert was the first corps commander and General Dodge succeeded him. The first active service of the regiment was on the Meridian campaign in Mississippi, following which the command was ordered to join Gen- eral Banks on the Red river, and it took part in that famous eam- paign. Transferring baek to the east side of the Mississippi river, the campaign around Tupelo, Mississippi, was made and fought out. Subsequently the regiment reerossed the Mississippi and took part in the defense of Missouri against General Priee's army, known uni- versally as "The Price Raid," and when this work was done an- other order east put them across the river for the fourth time and plaeed them in conjunction with the Union troops operating against the Confederate General Hood around Nashville, Tennessee, and they helped annihilate that part of the Rebel foree in November, 1864. After this engagement, the One Hundred and Seventeenth, with other troops, was ordered to Mobile and reached there in time to help eap- ture Fort Blakely, one of the last Confederate fortifications in the South. While waiting for the War Department to get its bearings, the command was ordered into eamp at Montgomery, Alabama, and remained around there until ordered home for discharge and muster out, at Camp Butler, Springfield, in August, 1865. During this three years of military life. which tried the metal of men as well as their eonrage, Mr. Reuter slipped through between the missiles of the en- emy without a wound, escaped capture always, but not hunger. Hav- ing disearded his uniform for the regalia of peace, he resumed his work with bueket and brush in the town he marehed out of as a soldier and among the friends of his childhood.
After a brief period he gave up his trade and took a elerkship in a store in Belleville; subsequently, in 1866, eame to Nashville to ae- cept a like position. and still later went to Chieago as a merchant's clerk. In 1869 he returned to Nashville and entered the employ of .John Huegely as a clerk, and began a career with an enterprise
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which has held him during his remaining years and to the present time. The political, social and ehnreh life of the locality has felt his influence in a modest way, and the movements which have stood for sobriety, morality and order have ever commanded his interest and support. He has served on the city council of Nashville, and has spent many years as a member of its school board. He is a Repub- liean, an active member of the Methodist church, and has been fre- quently called to the superintendeney of that denomination's Sun- day-school. He is an active G. A. R. man locally, has attended their state and national eneampments at times, has been post commander at home, and in other ways has encouraged the welfare of the now- dying but still great patriotie order.
On October 6, 1870, Mr. Reuter was married in Nashville, Illinois, to Miss Mary C. Reuter, daughter of John Huegely and a native of Mascoutah, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Reuter have had the following children : Miss Sue, residing in Nashville: Annette, the wife of W. R. Jones, of St. Louis, Missouri; Philip G., who married Miss Mar- garet Cretsinger and resides in St. Louis: Theo, who married Cor- win N. Blaekman, of St. Paul, Minnesota ; and J. Bertram, who is a elerk in the employ of the Huegely Milling Company.
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