USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94
In 1857 Dr. Park was united in marriage with Miss Emma Dowler, daughter of Frank Dowler, an early settler of Indiana, who later moved to Fayette county, Illinois, being a merchant at the time of his death in Vandalia. Mrs. Park died in 1896, having been the mother- of four children, as follows: Emma Lula, who is living with her father and acting as his housekeeper during his declining years ; Kate. who married William JJ. Selby and resides in Flora : Marion, de- ecased, who married Samuel Norwood, of South Carolina, and was living in that state at the time of her death ; and Dr. Edmund C., Jr .. who now has an excellent practice in Chicago, and who was for fifteen years one of Flora's best known professional men.
1248
IIISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
CHARLES B. COLE is vice-president of the H. C. Cole Milling Com- pany and president of the Wabash, Chester & Western Railroad Com- pany. He was born at Chester, Illinois, May 6, 1845, and is a represen- tative of one of the old families which has been conspicuous for three- quarters of a century in commercial and industrial affairs at this point. Mr. Cole, of this notice, has passed his life in the development of one of the leading flour mills of Illinois and as a promoter of a line of trans- portation which has availed much for this community in the interchange of commodities.
Mr. Cole's father, Hermon C. Cole, was born in Seneca county, New York, in 1813, and was brought into the Mississippi valley when he was eight years of age. His father, Nathan Cole, the founder of the family in this section of the country, passed his milling interests to his son, Hermon C., when the latter was about twenty-five years of age. The original progenitor of the Cole family in America was of English origin and he came to this country during the early colonial epoch of our na- tional history.
Hermon C. Cole was reared on the banks of the Mississippi and, while he acquired but little education within the walls of a genuine school, he developed power with experience and demonstrated a large amount of latent capacity in the building up of his mill business. His citizenship was marked for its lack of activity in political matters and for abstention from fraternal societies. He was originally a Whig but later became a Republican, casting a vote for Fremont in 1856. He manifested a general interest in current news and discussed public questions of moment intelligently whenever drawn into conversation. He was an easy talker but never essayed to speech-making, preferring to be a layman rather than a leader. He was about five feet, eight inches in height and weighed one hundred and fifty pounds; his move- ments and expression were indicative of a man of achievement. In 1844 Hermon C. Cole married Miss Emily Cocks, the ceremony having been performed at Stamford, Connecticut. Mrs. Cole was a daughter of Richard Cocks, and Englishman by birth and a mill-wright by occupa- tion. It is interesting to note that from the pond of the old Cocks mill property the city of Stamford gets its water supply today. Mrs. Cole died in 1859, and her honored husband passed away October 20, 1874. Their children are here mentioned in respective order of birth,-Charles B. is the immediate subject of this review; Zachary T. is a resident of Los Angeles, California ; Mrs. Alice Smith resides at Alton, Illinois; Henry C. is connected with the HI. C. Cole Milling Company, as will be noted in following paragraphs; Eunice is the wife of George J. Ken- dall, of St. Louis; and Edward E. is engaged in business at Fargo, North Dakota. Hermon C. Cole married for his second wife in Feb- ruary, 1862, Mrs. Sarah J. Flanigan, and of this union there were born Cora V., who died February 19, 1892; Hermon and Grace, who live in Upper Alton, Illinois; Nathan, who lives in Springfield, Illinois; and Newell, who died January 24, 1896.
After completing the curriculum of the public schools of Chester, Charles B. Cole was matriculated as a student in the engineering de- partment of Harvard University, in which excellent institution he was graduated as a civil engineer in 1867. When ready to assume the active responsibilities of life he came to the aid of his father in the mill, with the business of which he has been identified during the long intervening years to the present time, in 1912.
Following is an article devoted to the HI. C. Milling Company, which will here be reproduced in its entirety. The same appeared in the Modern Miller under date of March 3, 1906.
Hermow, Co, Coole
1249
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
"The Cole family of Chester, Illinois, have operated a flour mill continuously for sixty-seven years and probably conduct the oldest mill- ing company in the Mississippi valley. The Coles were pioneers in the milling trade of the west and the milling industry established by the first generation has thrived and continues one of the most successful in Illinois. C. B. Cole and H. C. Cole have large interests, aside from milling, in railroads and corporations, but their milling industry they look upon as their inheritance, in which they take special pride. The history of the Cole family and the Chester mill is an interesting one.
"In 1820 Nathan Cole came from western New York to St. Louis, Missouri. In 1821 his wife followed him with six boys, floating on a raft with twelve other families, from Olean Point, New York, to Shaw- neetown, Illinois, and from there across Illinois to St. Louis in an ox- eart. Mr. Cole engaged for several years in packing beef and pork at East St. Louis, near where the Southern Railway freight station now stands. In 1837 he moved to Chester, Illinois, bought a large body of land and started a saw mill with a corn stone attachment. In 1839 he built a flour mill with two run of four-foot stones and a small pair for eorn. At this time there was not enough wheat raised in this section to feed the people and considerable flour was brought from Cincinnati and other points East.
"Nathan Cole died in 1840. He was sueceeded by his third son, Hermon C. Cole, who operated the mill with varying sueeess until 1847, the year of the Irish famine, when for the first time he made a fair profit out of the business. This, with the active markets caused by the Mexican and Crimean wars, gave him sufficient means to build, in 1855. a then up-to-date mill. with four run of four-foot stones and one three and one-half pair for middlings.
"With the new mill and the splendid wheat raised in the vicinity of Chester, he determined to make the best winter-wheat flour that good machinery and skill could, and he sold it under the brand of FFFG.
"This flour soon took the place it was intended that it should have and until the introduction of purifiers it stood at the top and com- manded a corresponding price.
"This was accomplished by using only the best of the wheat grown in this section. The lower grades were used to make a flour sold under the brand of Coles Mills Extra, which stood very high in the southern markets; the FIFG being sold principally in eastern markets.
"During a part of the time from 1840 to 1861 H. C. Cole's oklest brother, Abner B. Cole, was associated with him. In 1861 A. B. Cole moved to Turner, Oregon, where he died at a ripe old age. In 1873 purifiers were introduced into the mill but no attempt was made to in- troduce a purified middlings flour.
"In 1868 Mr. Cole admitted his son, Charles B. and Zachary T. Cole. as partners under the style of II. C. Cole & Company. He then removed to Upper Alton, Ilinois, where he died October 20, 1874, at. the age of sixty-one years. The mill was sold in 1875. in settlement of the estate, to his sons, C. B. Cole, Z. T. Cole and Henry C. Cole, who continued the business under the old firm name of HI. C. Cole & Com- pany, In 1878 the mill was enlarged to eight run of stones.
"In 1883 the old mill was wrecked and new machinery installed. changing to the full roller process, with a daily capacity of five hundred barrels. At this time the brand of Omega was established for the patent grade and the old brands FFFG and Coles Mills Extra were retained for the clear flour. By the same care in the selection of wheat and skill of manufacture the new brand of Omega was soon established
.
1250
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
and has maintained its supremacy as one of the highest grades of winter wheat patent to the present time.
"In 1872 an elevator of 80,000 bushels capacity was built. In 1888 another of 125,000 bushels was built, which, with four country elevators, gives a total storage capacity of 250,000 bushels of wheat, insuring an ample storage capacity for a thoroughly uniform grade. There are warehouses for the storage of 7,000 barrels of flour.
"In 1888 the business was incorporated with a capital of $100,000, as the H. C. Cole Milling Company, with H. C. Cole, president; Z. T. Cole, vice-president ; and C. B. Cole, secretary and treasurer. In 1882 C. B., Z. T. and H. C. Cole purchased a half interest in the Star & Crescent Mill in Chicago and Z. T. Cole went there and assumed the active management of the same. He continued in this position until 1890, when his health failed and his interest was sold to Clinton Briggs. Z. T. Cole removed to Los Angeles, California, where he still resides, but retains his interest in the Chester mill. In 1895 P. H. Ravesies purchased an interest in the H. C. Cole Milling Company and was its manager until 1905, when he sold out. He was sueceeded by E. P. Bronson, who purchased his interest and was elected a director and treasurer of the company. The mill has been enlarged and new machinery added until now it has a capacity of 800 barrels per day, with a trade that takes the full output.
"Thus for sixty-seven years the mill has been run continuously by three generations; the present one being well along in years they must soon give way to new faces, none of the fourth generation being dis- posed to follow the old trail.
"This, in brief, is the history of what, so far as known, is the old- est mill in the Mississippi valley run by the same family."
In company with several parties Charles B. Cole purchased the Wabash, Chester & Western Railroad at the receiver's sale and upon the reorganization of the company he was chosen vice-president and general manager in 1878. Some years later he was made president of the company, a position he still holds. In politics Mr. Cole is a Demo- crat and he served his distriet in the capacity of representative to the state assemply in 1887. He attended Democratie state gatherings and helped make state tickets as a delegate until 1896, when the party be- eame Bryanized and adopted a platform which he could not and did not endorse. He gave encouragement to the "sound money" element of the party and was an alternate delegate to the Indianapolis con- vention which nominated Palmer for president. He opposed what was said then to be the un-American policies of Mr. Bryan and has op- posed their author since in his efforts to reach the presidency upon a more modified declaration of principles.
Mr. Cole was first married at Walebville, Illinois, in 1869, to Miss Laura Layman, who died in 1878. The children born to this union were: Burt, a mining engineer; Miss Alice, of Chester; Una, wife of P. C. Withers, of Mr. Vernon, Illinois; and Miss Edna, of Chester. In January. 1882, Mr. Cole married Miss Mary Palmer, of Hampton, New Hampshire. This union has been prolific of one child, Marion, who is the wife of Dr. R. G. Mackenzie, of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
JOHN II. HENSON. Active and energetic, possessing good business ability and judgment, John H. Henson ocenpies an assured position as one of the leading general merchants of Xenia, and as mayor of the city is rendering efficient service. He was born December 25, 1864, in Wayne county, Illinois, which was likewise the birthplace of his father, W. C. Henson. His paternal grandfather. Reuben IIen-
1251
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
son, a Kentuckian by birth, migrated to Illinois during the twenties, took up land from the Government, and was there employed in tilling the soil until his death, while yet in the prime of a vigorous manhood. His wife, who survived him, married for her second husband Jerry Chapman, a pioneer settler of Wayne county and a well-to-do farmer. Philip Henson, father of Reuben Henson, was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary army.
Born December 16, 1844, in Wayne county, W. C. Henson began his career as an agriculturist, and for thirty years owned and occu- pied the same farm. He is now living three miles south of Xenia, where he is still engaged in general farming. During his earlier years he was an adherent of the Democratic party, but since the year in which William McKinley was nominated for the presidency he has voted the Republican ticket. Both he and his wife are members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. The maiden name of the wife of W. C. Henson was Nancy Catherine Martin. She was born in Wayne county, Illinois, December 29, 1846, a daughter of Andrew Jackson Martin, whose birth occurred, in 1809, near Wheeling, West Virginia. Mr. Martin came to Illinois about 1839, entering a tract of land in Sanga- mon county. Subsequently entering land in Wayne county, Illinois, he was there prosperously engaged in farming until his death, in 1902. He was a man of pronounced ability, by wise management and invest- ment acquiring a large property, at one time owning a thousand acres of land. Two of his sons, Henry Martin and James Martin, served as soldiers in the Civil war, JJames dying from the effect of wounds re- ceived on the battlefield.
Receiving his high school education in Salem, Illinois, John HI. Hen- son completed his early studies at Hayward College, in Fairfield, Ili- nois, although he was not graduated from that institution. Taking up then the profession for which he was so well fitted, he taught school from 1887 until 1891. after which he was employed at the Orchard City Bank, in Xenia, for a time. Resuming his educational work in 1893, Mr. Henson taught school until 1908, meeting with good suecess as an educator. Locating then in Xenia, he has since been here engaged in mercantile pursuits, having a finely stocked general store, which he is managing with most satisfactory success, his honest integrity and up- right dealings having won for him a large and substantial patronage. Mr. Henson is also interested in the agricultural development of this part of the state, being the owner of a farm lying near Xenia.
On September 26, 1902, Mr. Henson married Nellie Mayfield. a daughter of James M. Mayfield, a well-to-do and highly respected man, who is distinguished as being the oldest resident of Xenia. Mr. May- field was born January 14, 1837, in South Carolina. As a young man he migrated to Georgia, where he lived until after the breaking out of the Civil war, which swept away all of his property, leaving him pen- niless. Coming to Ilinois in 1864, he began working at the carpenter's trade, in that capacity building. or helping to build, the most of the houses in Xenia. He is now carrying on a good mercantile business, dealing extensively in lumber and building materials. Mr. and Mrs. Henson have three children, namely: Gladys Ray, assisting in her father's store: Inez Mae : and Harry Mayfield.
Politieally Mr. Henson is identified with the Democratic party, and as a true and loyal eitizen has never shirked the responsibilities of public office, having served for three years as assessor of Xenia town- ship, and being now not only mayor of Xenia, but also clerk of its school board. He is likewise president of the Township Democratic Central Committee. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent
1252
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has passed all the chairs; of the Daughters of Rebekah; of the Improved Order of Red Men; and of the Modern Woodmen of America, in which he has served as clerk three years. Religiously Mr. Henson belongs to the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, while Mrs. Henson is a member of the Methodist church.
W. H. PIPPIN. One of the conspicuous figures in the recent history of Jasper county is the present popular and efficient sheriff whose name introduces this review. It should be added, however, that his popularity is far greater with the sound law-abiding citizenship than with that elass whose business unfortunately takes them out of the straight and narrow path, for the duties of his office are scrupulously carried out by him, the chief eustodian of the law. He is influential in local Demo- cratie councils and takes an active part in the many-sided life of the community.
Mr. Pippin is a native son of Jasper county, his birth having oc- curred in Crooked Creek township. August 1, 1870. His father, Bird Pippin, was born in middle Tennessee. November 16, 1846. and came to Illinois after the Civil war. He had at first served in the Confed- erate army under General Longstreet, but as soon as he received his discharge he joined the Tennessee volunteers of the Union Army. his sympathies being with the cause it represented. Upon coming to Illi- nois he engaged in agriculture and continued in this line of activity until his demise in 1905. He was married in 1868 to Mary Jane Kil- burn, of Jasper county, and of the three children born to them, Mr. Pippin is the eldest and the only one living at the present time. The wife and mother died in 1874 and the father married again, Martha N. Hudson becoming his wife. Four children were born to the second union. The second Mrs. Pippin died in 1891. The subject's father is Democratie in politics and is one of the highly respected men of his locality.
W. II. Pippin has spent almost his entire life in Jasper county and no one is more loyal to its institutions or more ready to advance its welfare. He received his education in the public schools and when quite young learned the barber trade, which he followed for seventeen years. In the meantime he held a number of offices, his faithfulness to any publie trust soon becoming apparent. For two terms he was town- ship clerk, for an equal space of time was village clerk and for one term, village trustee. He finally gave up barbering and served two years and ten months as city marshal. In January, 1910, he resigned the office of city marshal to make the race for sheriff and was elected by a very large majority. He carried the primaries by three hundred votes and the general election by a large majority. He still holds the office and has two deputies. He spares no pains to be agreeable to all having business to transact in his office, while his determination to en- force the law to the letter and bring law-breakers to justice has made his name a terror to evil doers within his jurisdiction. Determined to carry out the mandates of the court and exeente the laws as far as main- taining the peace is concerned, he has been untiring in his efforts, and has brought to the bar of justice a number of hardened criminals.
Mr. Pippin was married at the age of twenty-one to Della Rice, who became the mother of one daughter, Velva Irene, who was left mother- less by her death on Christmas day, 1899. The subjeet was married in 1902 to Iva Bunton, and by this union there are two other daughters- Viva Leora and Hally Lee.
Sheriff Pippin is of wholesome social and fraternal proclivities and
1253
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
takes great pleasure in his affiliations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and the order of Ben Hur.
HORATIO C. CHAFFIN. Clay county claims a goodly number of pros- perous business men who have distinguished themselves by worthy accomplishments in a financial way, but among them all none is more prominent or more worthy of mention in this history of Southern Illi- nois than is Horatio C. Chaffin, whose principal labors have been along educational lines, but who has been variously connected with financial and commercial enterprises of distinctive character.
Born in Clay county, Illinois, January 4, 1873, Horatio C. Chaffin is the son of John and Mary E. (Claypool) Chaffin, both natives of Ohio, the former of Scioto county and the latter of Ross county. John Chaffin was a carpenter by trade, and he was also an experienced farmer. He came to Illinois as a young man and when he died he had achieved a fair measure of success, judged by the standards of his time. Ilis demise occurred in 1886, and he left an estate of four hun- dred acres of fertile Illinois land. He was a Republican of staunch faith, and with his wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. They reared three sons, all of whom are living at this time. John Chaffin was the son of Reuben and Sarah Chaffin, the former born and reared in Ohio, and there he passed his life and finally died. lle at one time entered Illinois land from the government, intending to move there, but never did so. After his death his widow came to Illinois and died in this state. The maternal grandfather of Horatio C. Chaffin was James Claypool, born in Ohio. His son, the unele of the subject. is H. C. Claypool, member of congress for the Chillicothe, Ohio, distriet.
Horatio Chaffin was given the advantage of a broad education, which he put to excellent use in later years. He finished the schools of Clay county, and after graduating from the high school of his town entered MeRendree College at Lebanon, Illinois, where he was gradu- ated in dne season with the degrees of B. S. and LL. B. Thereafter he taught school for nine years in Clay and St. Clair counties, and was for some time superintendent of the schools of the city of Flora. llc was editor of the Olney Republican at Olney, Illinois, the oldest news- paper in Southern Ilinois, and while acting in that capacity demon- strated amply his fitness for work in an editorial eapaeity. In 1902 Mr. Chaffin established the Rinard Banking Company at Rinard, Ili- nois, but he eventually sold out his interests in that organization and returned to Flora, where he reorganized the Bank of Flora, becoming its cashier. Later, in connection with C. MeDaniel, of Rinard. he or- ganized the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Creal Springs, Ilinois. Ile is also financially connected with a grain and seed business in Flora, the name of the concern being Borders Chaney & Company. this being one of the largest concerns of its kind in the state of Illinois.
Mr. Chaffin is a Republican, although he has never been a candi- date for office. Hle rather inclined toward helping his friends in their political struggles than to struggling for himself. He is a Mason and a member of the Modern Woodmen. He is widely known in and abont his community, and is regarded as a particularly able young business man by those who have watched his career thus far.
In 1899 Mr. Chaffin married Miss Olive Miller, the daughter of Dr. 1. T. Miller, for thirty years a practicing physician in Southern Hli- nois. Ile has now retired from active practice and is passing his de- clining years on a farm near Collinsville. One son has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Chaffin.
1254
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
ARCHIBALD B. McLAREN. Among the many well known mining men of Southern Illinois, the popular superintendent of the Chicago Big Muddy Coal and Coke Company, of Marion, is one of the most efficient. He has spent most of his life in this work, and save for a short period has pursued his vocation in the state of Illinois.
Mr. McLaren has behind him a long line of sturdy Scotch ancestors, he, himself, having been born in Dunfermline, Scotland, on the 6th of January, 1873. Ilis father was William McLaren, who was born in the same little Scotch community in 1850, and his mother was Miss Mary Kennedy, whom William McLaren had married in his native Scotland. Five years after the birth of Archibald the family came to the United States, sailing from Glasgow to New York and thence by way of the Great Lakes making their way into the interior of the country, through Chicago as the gateway. They made their way down to Streator, Illinois, where they remained until 1884, when the father decided to try his fortunes in the south, and moved to Charleston, Arkansas, where he expected to engage in mining, which industry had been his means of livelihood in the "Auld Countree." Condi- tions not being favorable there, he loaded his family and his house- hold goods upon two ox-carts and made his slow way across the state into the sparsely settled territory of Oklahoma, passing through the densely peopled Choctaw nation, whose many strange and weird cus- toms made a deep impression upon the Scotch wanderers. Reaching Me- Alester, Oklahoma, he established his family at Krebs, in the vicinity of which place he resided during the several months he spent in the territory. Here it was that his son Archibald was first instructed in the proper methods of mining coal, for that was the father's business. When he returned to Illinois some time later he continued as a miner, and has followed that vocation in the central part of the state ever since, at present being at work in the mineral field about Cuba. Illinois.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.