USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 24
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The early life of Louis Faller was spent in Newton, where he se- cured a publie school education. In 1875 he went to work in the old mill, and he has sinee engaged in that line of enterprise. The pres- ent firm of Faller Brothers, which bears a high reputation in this see- tion, was organized in 1903 by Mr. Faller and his brother, Charles, they buying up the shares of the other stockholders and dissolving the old corporation. Five men are employed in producing 144 barrels of flour daily, and the well-known "Stella" and "White Lily" brands are manufactured. Mr. Faller is a man of marked discrimination and taet, and his careful regard for the highest ethies of business has gained for him uniform confidence and esteem and a patronage which is the natural sequence of correet methods. Politieally a Democrat, he has served as a member of the city council, maintains a thoroughly publie-spirited attitude and is held in high esteem by all who know him in both business and social eireles. He and Mrs. Faller are members of the Catholic church, and he belongs to the Catholie Order of Foresters, the Court of Honor, the Modern Americans and the Newton Commercial Club.
In 1895 Mr. Faller was married to Miss Josephine P. Shaekmann, of Newton, and eight children have been born to them, three of whom are living, namely: Louise, Elizabeth and Florant. Charles Faller was married in 1904 to Miss Molly F. Sullender. They have no children.
JUDGE WILLIAM P. GREEN. Exercising, with marked distinction, and impartiality, high judicial functions as county judge of Wash- ington county, and recognized as one of the able members of the bar of Southern Illinois, it is but fitting that a record should here be en- tered concerning the Hon. William P. Green, of Nashville. IIe was born in Nashville township, Washington county, June 4, 1874, his father be- ing one of the farmer citizens of the county who was honored with
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public office. Ile left his farm to take the office of county treasurer, to which the Republicans had elected him, and the years following his retirement were passed on the Green homestead, three miles south- west of Nashville, where he died in 1890, at the early age of fifty- six years.
Hugh P. Green, father of Judge Green, was born in 1834, in St. Clair county, Illinois, from whence he came to Washington county. His father was Burget Green, who settled near Marissa, St. Clair county, as a pioneer and spent his life there as a farmer and school teacher. He had these children: Parker, who died in 1890, at Mar- issa, as a farmer and left a family ; James, who passed away there in the same vocation and was the father of children ; Polly, who married Abraham Teter and died near New Athens, Illinois, with issue: Rob- ert, who died in Missouri: Isabel, who died at Marissa, unmarried ; and Hugh P. In 1849 Hugh P. Green joined the throng moving on California, went out through Texas and Mexico, and sought his for- tune in the gold fields. He engaged in prospecting at once, and dur- ing his absence of several years gathered together with pick and pan enough gold dust to pay for the Green homestead in Washington county, which he bought and settled on before the outbreak of the Civil war. He was educated limitedly, save for his varied experience in the affairs of men, and he applied himself to the popular features of farm life until elected to eare for the public funds of his county. In politieal matters he was a stalwart Republican.
Ilugh P. Green was married in Washington county, Illinois, to Miss Elizabeth Troutt, a daughter of the venerable Nashville patri- areh, Elijah Troutt. Mr. Troutt came to Nashville in 1863 and re- sumed his trade of blacksmith, following it until old age ordered his retirement. lle came from Elkton, Todd county, Kentucky, where he grew up from a lad of a dozen years and where his father. Joseph Troutt, had settled in 1833. The latter was a North Carolina man, was a schoolboy during the progress of the Revolutionary war, moved to Lebanon, Tennessee, and spent a few years just after his mar- riage, and there his son Elijah was born. His wife was a Miss Wall, and it is said that they brought their eleven children to years of ma- turity without the aid of a doctor. Joseph Troutt died at the age of one hundred and ten years, in Todd county, Kentucky.
Elijah Troutt and his sister. Polly Sneed, were the only men- bers of the family to migrate to Ilinois. While he was sparingly educated, he was fond of literature and possessed himself of a fund of general information by daily reading. He seems to have been a typical "village blacksmith." with an active and well-balanced mind. and capable of defending his convietions in extemporaneous debate. He was an ardent Prohibitionist and anti-slavery man during war times and on the eve of the secession movement was challenged by a preacher of the community to debate with him publiely the question whether liquor or slavery were the greater evil. He was assigned the slavery end of the question, and although his was a pro-slavery community and he flayed the institution without merey, the judges gave him the decision. While troops were being enlisted for the Mex- jean war about Elkton. Mr. Troutt was a fifer at the head of the column marching under martial music to arouse public interest in the cause. Ile was subsequently captain of a militia company and still later colonel of a militia regiment. He married his wife in the com- munity where he grew up. she being Lucinda Carson, daughter of Samuel Carson. an Englishman, whose wife, a Miss Waggoner, was born in Germany. and Mrs. Troutt was the third of their six children.
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The issue of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh P. Green are as follows: Martha, the wife of W. E. Darrow, of O'Fallon, Illinois; Mary, who married O. H. Burman, and resides in Washington, D. C .; James, of Schaller, Iowa; William P., the subject of this sketch; Dr. G. A. Green, of Hoyleton, Illinois; Anna, the wife of H. J. Mueller, of Nashville, Illinois; Viola, now Mrs. George Ausmeyer of this city; and Hugh P., who completed his course in law in the Northwestern University, Chicago, in 1912.
William P. Green attended high school in Nashville, Illinois, and spent two years in the law department of MeKendree College. After his admission to the bar he taught sehool two years in Washington county. Hle then engaged in law practice and was made city attorney of Nashville. He soon formed a partnership with Judge Louis Bern- reuter in the real estate and loan business and was appointed manager of the Washington County Abstract Company, which business they are still carrying on as W. P. Green & Company. In 1910 Mr. Green be- came a candidate for the office of county judge before the Republican primaries and was nominated and subsequently elected. He took the office upon the retirement of Judge Bernrenter, and is giving a most excellent administration of the affairs of this important judicial office. Judge Green has established a thorough reputation for comprehensive legal knowledge and for ability to apply it. He is a logician as well as a close student, and is highly regarded by his fellow members of the beneh and bar, and has the full confidence and respect of the publie at large.
Judge Green was married May 21, 1907, in Washington county, to Miss Clara Becker, a daughter of William Becker, the oldest shoe merchant in Nashville, and three children have been born to this union, namely : William, Vera and Porter E.
JOHN R. BONNEY, well known in Clay county and Southern Illinois as a prosperous farmer and a prominent attorney in this section of the state, was born in Monroe county, Illinois, on the 27th day of April, 1848. Ile is the son of Philip C. and Nancy (Fisher) Bonney, the former born in Cumberland county, Maine, in 1808. He came to Illi- nois in 1840 and settled in Monroe county, later moving to Jackson county. A stone mason by trade, he followed that occupation all his life. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted in Company A of the Thirty-first Illinois, in the command of General John A. Logan, and after a continuous service of eleven months he sickened and died three days after being sent home. Mr. Bonney saw mueh active service dur- ing the months of his enlistment, passing through the siege of Vicks- burg and participating in many important engagements. His widow survived him until May 12, 1908. when she passed away at the family home. She was a woman of sterling character and all womanly traits, and was always a member of the Baptist church. She was a charter member of the New Design Baptist church, the first Baptist church or- ganized in the state of Illinois, and was ever an enthusiastic and honored member of the organization. Her father, Thomas Fisher, the grand- father of Jolin R. Bonney, was a native of Tennessee. He settled in Illinois in an early day and there passed his life as a farmer. He was a highly respected member of society in his community. and lived a worthy and useful life in his quiet way.
John R. Bonney was educated in the common schools of Clay county, and finished with two years in Shurtleff College at Upper Alton, after which he taught school for two terms. In 1877 he settled on a farm in Clay county. and there lived the quiet life of a farmer. He was elected
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justice of the peace, and for twenty consecutive years hell that office In the meantime he prosecuted a carefully outlined course of law study, and in 1896 was admitted to the bar. In 1898 he was elected to the office of county judge, succeeding himself in that office in 1902. It was not until then that he entered into the active practice of his profes- sion, forming a partnership with Judge A. M. Rose, prominent in Louisville and Clay county, and for two years he carried on a wide practice, meanwhile farming "by proxy," as he says. Mr. Bonney is a veteran of the Civil war, having served in Company E of the One IIundred and Fifty-fifth Illinois Regiment for a term of seven months. He is and always has been an active Republican, as was also his father. Mr. Bonney has prospered in all his undertakings, and his farm of three hundred and seventy-five acres is a source of much pride to him, as well as a considerable ineome. Ile is at present filling the position of city attorney in Louisville in addition to his general practice, and is an all-around busy, business man. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In 1869 Mr. Bonney married Miss Samantha Erwin, and of their union six children were born. They are: Laura, who married J. HI. Chandler : Etta, who became the wife of George W. MeGlashan ; Lillie, who married Elijah G. Johnson; Maude and Jessie, both living in the parental home; and Roseoe, principal of schools in Springer, New Mex- ico. The wife and mother died in 1898, and on November 9, 1900, Mr. Bonney contracted a second marriage, when Miss Jennie Wolf became his wife. She is the daughter of Jacob Wolf, an carly settler in Clay county. One son has been born of this later union,-Harold Hobson, now attending school. Mrs. Bonney is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is interested an active in all its departments of service.
CARL, ROEDEL. Unless the modern lawyer is a man of sound judg- ment, possessed of a liberal education and stern training. combined with a keen insight of human nature, there is not much chance of his meet- ing with success. The reason for this lies in the spirit of the age, with all its complexities. Modern jurisprudence has become more and more intricate because of new conditions and laws and in their interpreta- tion. Years of experience, constant study and natural inclination are superindneed upon a careful training in the case of Carl Roedel. whose career as an attorney-at-law has been marked with many successful out- comes for his elents. His heart is in his work and he brings to it an enthusiasm and belief in its importance which would probably result in his being raised to the bench were it not that his political convictions have made him a member of the party now in the minority in his see- tion of Illinois. Mr. Roedel, whose field of practice is the city of Shawneetown, Gallatin county, was born in Van Wert county, Ohio. September 30, 1842, and grew to manhood at Decatur, the county seat of Adams county, Indiana, whenee his parents had removed when he was a child.
Mr. Roedel was educated in Vermilion Institute at Hayesville, Ohio. taught school awhile in Indiana, and for a period of three years was principal of the schools of Mt. Carmel, Illinois. In 1568 he came to Shawneetown as principal of its schools for one year, and even at that time the attendance was about what it is today, although the school buildings were poor and the system had not advanced to its present efficiency. Miss Joanna Golden, who was one of his assistants, has taught school here for more than half a century and is still engaged in the profession here. Later Mr. Roedel taught at Grayville, in the
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meantime assiduously studying law, and in 1871 he was admitted to practice, locating in Shawneetown the year following. Sinee that time he has devoted himself unreservedly to his profession and has been very successful in his chosen line, that of civil practice. He has served as counsel in almost every case of any importance in Gallatin county dur- ing this time, and several with which he has been connected have at- tracted widespread attention, especially the famous "Riverside Tax Title Case," involving title to the widely-known Riverside Hotel, the only case on record that, has had three rehearings before the supreme court. The former state treasurer Ridgeway and the then member of congress Townsend were the leading spirits in this case, which gave op- portunity to fight out long existing personal, political and business animosities, the questions involved interesting the profession generally. For some five or six years Mr. Roedel's son, Charles K., a graduate in law from Wesleyan College, at Bloomington, Illinois, has been his partner. An earnest Republican, casting his first vote in 1864 for President Lineon, Mr. Roedel has been an active and earnest worker for his party, the campaign of 1896 especially demanding his efforts on the rostrum to counteract the Free Silver movement. He stands high in his profession, many of the members of which would be pleased to see him occupy a seat on the circuit bench, but an overwhelming Democratic district leaves little chance for a Republican to be eleeted.
Mr. Roedel was married at Mt. Carmel, Illinois, to Miss Saralı Frances Koser, and they have reared a family of seven children. He is an elder in the Presbyterian church and has been active and liberal in his support of religious and charitable movements, especially in the Sunday-school, of which he has been the head for many years. Mr. Roedel belongs to the old school of lawyers, although progressive in his methods and ideas, and is of gracious and genial personality and courteous bearing. Widely acquainted throughout Gallatin county, he has hosts of friends both in and out of his profession, regardless of political views, and is justly regarded as one of this section's most eminent attorneys.
PROFESSOR HENRY W. HOSTETTLER. The reputation of Professor Hostettler as an educator is not alone confined to Olney, nor yet to Richland county, but is familiar to the educational circles of all South- ern Illinois. His work during the years of his service has been of an excellent order, and has won him a reputation for efficiency and ad- vanced ideas that is wholly consistent with the close and careful appli- cation he has given to all matters of educational interest.
Henry W. Hostettler was born in Richland county, June 7, 1868, and is the son of Peter and Elizabeth (Balmer) Hostettler, the former having been born in Ohio, of Swiss parentage, while the latter was born in Switzerland. Peter Hostettler came to Illinois as a young man and settled on a farm in Richland county, where he still lives. He has been highly successful in his labors in agricultural lines and is widely known in Richland connty as a stock raiser of much ability and success. He is an enthusiastic Democrat, and both he and his wife are members of the German Reformed church. His father was Joseph Hostettler, born in Switzerland and an immigrant to Ohio in early life. He was a physician and practiced his profession in Ohio for forty years. The maternal grandfather of Henry W. Hostettler was a native of Switzer- land, coming first to Indiana and later to Illinois, where he devoted himself to farming pursuits, in which he was particularly successful, being known as one of the well-to-do men of his district.
The higher education of Professor Hostettler was obtained mainly
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through his own efforts, as after he left the common schools he was left to his own resources in the matter of his continued studies, and he attended the Southern IHinois Normal school by teaching school in the winter and prosecuting his studies in the summer, continuing in that way until he had finished his normal course of instructions. He was principal of schools at Bridgeport from 1895 to 1898, and in the latter year was elected superintendent of schools of Lawrence county, serving one term. He was then made city superintendent of schools at Law- renceville, where he remained for four years, tilling the position with eredit to himself and in a manner that was highly beneficial to the schools. His next position was as principal of the township high school, a place which he filled for two years, coming to Olney as superintendent of schools in 1911. His labors thus far in Olney have been rewarded by a pleasureable degree of success and he is regarded as the right man in the right place by his constituency.
Professor Hostettler is a member of the Masonie fraternity, and is an adherent to principles of the Democratic party, whose cause he has ever supported in a whole-souled manner. During his teri of service in Lawrenceville he was twice elected to the office of mayor, happily demonstrating his fitness for other positions of responsibility aside from his educational work, to which he has devoted the greater part of his life thus far. He is the owner of a fine farm in Lawrence county, as well as other outside interests, but none of these have been permitted to interfere with the fullest and most conscientious performance of his duties in his educational capacity. Ile has been a member of the Revi- sion Committee of the State Course of Study, serving from 1900 to 1902. and while a member of that committee he did excellent work for the commission. Professor Hostettler was a teacher of mathmatics in the State Normal at Normal, Illinois, during the summer term of 1911, in which branch he was particularly successful. He has done a vast amount of institute work and has held various offices in the Teachers' Association of Southern Ilinois, his high reputation among the educa- tional interests of the state being well earned and one of which he is eminently deserving.
In 1894 Professor Hostettler married Stella Shaw, a daughter of Hutchings Shaw, a native of Ohio. now a resident of Lawrence county. Three children have been born to the union of Professor and Mrs. Hos- tettler: Jean, Fern and Mary. The two eldest are attendants at the Olney schools, while Mary is but eighteen months old.
ETHELBERT CALLATIAN was born in Lieking county Ohio. December 17, 1829. Hlis father was of Irish and his mother of English descent. His grandfather, the Rev. George Callahan, was a soldier of the Revolu- tion and a pioneer Methodist preacher in Ohio. In 1849 he came to Crawford county, Illinois, and that winter taught a three months' school at fifteen dollars a month and says that when paid he felt richer than ever since. He edited the Wabash Sentinel in 1853-4, after which time he went to Marshall and edited the Telegraph during the Know Nothing campaign of that year. On the 27th of June, 1854, he mar- ried Mrs. Mary Barlow Jones and has since resided in Crawford county. In his boyhood he heard Thomas Ewing make a great legal argument and decided in boyish fashion that he, too, would be a lawyer, but years had passed leaving the ambition still ungratified. In 1-57 he was elected justice of the peace, began to read law and in 1-59 was admitted to the bar. In 1861 he opened an office in Robinson, and commeneed an active practice. Ilis career as a lawyer has been emi- nently successful, and this has been achieved by an untiring devotion to Vol. III-11
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his profession, a profound knowledge of the law, the patient study that gave him complete mastery of his cases and a rare faculty for seizing opportunities in their trial, a genius for examining witnesses and an unfailing judgment of men, strong, earnest argument, and the high standard of honor and courtesy to friend and foe that entitles a man to call himself in a true sense a lawyer.
The general practice of a country lawyer necessarily inchides every branch of the law and all classes of cases, from the most trivial to the most serious character, involving life, liberty, reputation and the numer- ous rights of property arising out of the diversified pursuits and com- merce of the country. This kind of a practice enlarges the knowledge and broadens the mind of a lawyer who keeps up with its demands. Mr. Callahan has not lagged behind his professional brethern but has won his full share of important legal battles. As a recognition of his char- acter, ability and standing as a lawyer the honorable degree of Doctor of Laws was, in June, 1898, conferred upon him by McKendree College.
Mr. Callahan claims the distinction of having made the first speech in the county for the Republican party. As a Republican he has been a member of the twenty-ninth, thirty-seventh, thirty-eighth and thirty- ninth general assemblies of the state. As presidential elector he voted for Garfield and Harrison. He was a member of the Methodist church and was, in 1874, a delegate from the Southern Illinois Conference of that church to the general conference held in Brooklyn. Mr. Callahan was one of the organizers of the Illinois State Bar Association, was its president in 1889, and has contributed to it several valuable papers, among which was "The Lawyers of the Bible," which has been exten- sively copied.
He is also one of the largest farmers in the county, and his farm on the banks of the Wabash is an exponent of the best scientific methods of farming.
EDMUND C. PARK, M. D. After nearly forty years spent in minis- tering to the needs of suffering mankind, Dr. Edmund C. Park, of Flora, Illinois, has practically retired from the practice of his profes- sion and is now living a semi-retired life on his handsome farm in Clay county. During the Doctor's long and useful career he has been phy- sician, soldier, merchant and agriculturist, and at all times a public- spirited citizen, and no one has the confidence and esteem of his fellow men in a greater degree. Dr. Park was born in South Carolina, Octo- ber 18, 1836, and is a son of Edmund C. and Susan M. (Wilkins) Park, both born in that state.
Thomas Park, the grandfather of the Doctor, was a prominent edu- cator and occupied a chair in Columbia College, Columbia, South Caro- lina, where he died, and where he was the owner of a large plantation and a number of slaves. Ilis son, the father of our subject, was edu- cated to be a physician, and in 1840, with his wife and children, came to Illinois, settling at Greenville, Bond county, where he practiced medicine until 1849. Dr. Park then started for California, having contracted the gold fever. and with eight other adventurous souls started to cross the country overland. When the little party was near Inde- pendence, Missouri, however, the cholera plague struck their camp and three of the party, including Dr. Park's father, passed away, the lad then being only thirteen years of age. Ile was left alone with his mother, who was the daughter of Samuel Wilkins, a native of South Carolina and a Missionary Baptist missionary and preacher for many years. He moved to Illinois in 1844 and entered land, but only re-
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mained a short time, returning to his native state, where his death oe- enrred.
The early education of Edmund C. Park was seenred in the schools of Greenville, Illinois, where he had as a schoolmate the late Robert Ingersoll. After the death of his father he went to California, but did not remain long in that state, returning by way of the Isthmus. While on the return journey, and in Havana, Cuba, he witnessed the publie execution of Nareiso Lopez, the Spanish-American filibuster, who after a career marked by murder and revolutionary activities was put to death September 2, 1851. On his return to Illinois, Dr. Park took up the study of medicine under the tuition of his unele, Dr. C. K. Hlender, of Olney, and he subsequently entered the Chicago Medical College, being graduated therefrom. He began practice in LaClede, Illinois, where the outbreak of the Civil war found him, and in 1862 he gave np his practice to answer the eall for volunteers. Becoming first lieu- tenant of Company H, Sixty-second Regiment, Ilinois Volunteer In- fantry, he was soon promoted to the rank of captain and detailed to hospital duty. He served with distinction with the same organiza- tion until the elose of the war, having an honorable reeord for faith- ful, cheerful and capable service, and then returned to LaClede to piek up the broken threads and resume his praetiee where he had left off. In 1872 Dr. Park moved to Flora, and there began a prae- tiee that lasted for something like forty years, during which time he gained the affection and confidence of his fellow men in an exeep- tional degree. Known as an experienced physician and surgeon, and as a man who had served his country, his praetiee was large from the start, but each year found him widening his circle of patients, ae- quaintanees and friends, and when he decided that he had completed his duty and that he had earned a rest from his labors the community expressed their regret in no uneertain terms. During five years the Doetor was the proprietor of a pharmacy, but of this he also dis- posed, and he is now living praetieally retired, the greater part of his attention being given to apple raising. He has been deservedly successful in a material way, and in addition to his large farm is the owner of considerable eity property in Flora. Always conscien- tions in regard to publie duty, Dr. Park has been called upon to fill various offices, and he is now acting very capably as county coroner. Ile has been stanch in his support of Republican principles, and the leaders of the party in Southern Illinois consider him one of their valuable workers. For many years a Mason, he belongs to LaClede Lodge and Chapter, being past master of the former and having represented it in Chicago more than forty years ago. Ile and his family attend the Presbyterian church, and all are well known in religious and charitable eireles.
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