USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 33
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On July 29. 1877, Dr. Burnett was married to Miss Prudence Cor- win, daughter of Dr. J. M. Crowin, who came from Indiana and was engaged in practice in Raleigh for ten years. Two sons have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Burnett, namely: Rex C., who is associated in busi- ness with his father; and Henry L., Jr., who now attends the home schools. Dr. Burnett is possessed of the qualities of industry. honesty and integrity, attributes essential to an upright and successful busi- ness life, and as a sociable and genial man is one of the most popular citizens in Raleigh.
CHARLES C. DAVIS. A city or country owes much to her profes sional men, merchants and farmers, for to them is due the steady eir- eulation of money and trade, without which a place would stagnate. but when a town has grown to any size then it needs some one who can step in and turn this money to the best advantage, so that it will be
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used to advance the corporate growth of the community, in other words, a capitalist. Such a man is Charles C. Davis. He started as a poor boy with no prospects whatever; the early years of his career offered nothing but deadly monotony, with no apparent hope for the future, but, never allowing himself to become discouraged, believing always that one could get almost anything if one worked for it hard enough, he was ready to seize the opportunity when it offered. His chance when it came seemed so small that men lacking his adventurous spirit and confidence in fate would have refused to consider it. Not so he, and the result is that he is one of the successful men of Marion county, and has had a hand in practically every large enterprise that has been launched in Centralia for years.
Charles C. Davis was born on the 2nd of April, 1855, the son of Thomas P. Davis. His father was a native of Virginia, and left the Old Dominion as a mere boy, coming to Illinois with his parents. They settled in White county, near Grayville, and when the lad grew to manhood he adopted the carpentry trade, and as a carpenter and con- tractor he soon became well known throughout the county. When Centralia began to grow he moved to what was then a village and built some of the earliest homes in the now thriving city. When the war broke out in 1860 he willingly offered his services and for three years served in Company HI of the Eightieth Illinois Regiment. His politics were Republiean, but he was content to cast his vote at election time and let others fill the offices. Both he and his wife were staunch mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church. Ile married in Belleville, Illinois, Wilhelmina Beal, the daughter of Jacob Beal. The latter was born in Germany, and immigrated to America in 1844, settling in Pennsylvania. He later moved to St. Clair county, where he took up farming and gardening. During the later years of his life he moved to Centralia, where he died. The father of Thomas P. Davis was James Davis, who was born in Virginia, and moved to Illinois while Thomas was quite young. He was a farmer and continued to operate his farm to the day of his death. Thomas P. Davis and his wife had ten children, eight sons and two daughters. of whom Charles was the first born, and of these six sons and one daughter survive.
Charles C. Davis obtained all his knowledge of books from the public schools. His first job was as a brakeman, and by the time he was twenty he had climbed the rounds of the ladder until he had reached the position of conductor. For twenty-one years he followed railroad- ing, and apparently he was never going to do anything else, but some- how the idea came into his head that there was coal around Centralia, and although he knew nothing about coal mining he determined to have a try for it. Giving up his position, he took his small savings and came to Centralia. where in company with Mr. G. L. Pittinger, who had persuaded him to go into the venture with him, sunk a shaft. They struck coal. This was the beginning of their fortune. After this start the rest eame easily, for his mind was peculiarly adapted to the work of a financier, and he seemed to know almost intuitively in what direction the real estate market was going to move. After the lucky strike they sunk another shaft and bought others until they owned the whole coal field around Centralia, then when the value of the property had enormously inereased they sold out, and the mines are now owned and operated by the Centralia Coal Company. Mr. Davis is connected with almost every leading finaneial enterprise in Cen- tralia. He is president of the Pittinger Davis Mercantile Company, which is a store of great importance to the commercial life of Cen- tralia. He is a director and heavy stockholder in the Old National
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Bank, and for many years he has been a director of the Building and Loan Company. Much of his property consists of real estate, but he always has money to invest in any enterprise that meets with his ap- proval, and much of his income is derived from loans. He is known as a friend to the poor and many of his small loans have been made without interest. for. coming himself from the ranks of those who labor with their hands, he realizes the value of a helping hand. The most snecessful deals which were carried out by Mr. Pittinger and the sub- jeet and which seem to have been made with an intuitive sense of the future were in reality the result of hours of thinking and planning. Mr. Davis' long experience in railroading had given him a keen judg- ment of men, and from a long study of conditions he is usually able to prophesy how this or that affair is going to turn out.
On May 2, 1877, he married Ella Kell, the daughter of Matthew Kell, who was a prominent business man of Centralia up to the time of his death. Dr. Davis is deeply interested and very active in the Masonie order, believing firmly in the principles of this great institu- tion and he is a past master, past high priest and past eminent com- mander. Ile is also a Consistory Mason and a Shriner, and has taken the thirty-third degree. At present he is grand high priest of the state of Illinois. Ile is a member of the Elks, having been one of the charter members of the Centralia Lodge.
HARRY O. PHILP, M. D. Among Franklin county's able and emi- nent physicians Dr. Harry O. Philp is entitled to representation as one of the deservedly prominent, possessing a large country practice and enjoying the confidence of both laity and profession. Beloved as the kindly friend and doctor of hundreds of families in this part of the state, it might well have been such as he who inspired the famous couplet of Pope,
" A wise physician, skill'd our wounds to heal, Is more than armies to the publie weal."
Dr. Philip was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, October 1. 1869. the son of James W. and Angusta ( Kinne) Philp. The father was a native of Illinois, and his parents were among the earliest settlers of Jefferson county, their arrival on the Hlinois plains having occurred when the Redman still looked upon them as his own hunting ground, his trail being clearly marked across them. The mother, who was a Hoosier by birth, was reared on a farm in Jefferson county, finois, whence she came as a little girl. James Philp was a farmer and school teacher and was a Union soldier in the Civil war, being cap- tured and incarcerated in Andersonville prison. He was a member of Company ! of an Hlinois regiment. The founder of the family of Philp in this country was the subject's grandfather, Thomas Philp, who was born in England and came to this country when a young man, locating in Illinois and taking an active part in the many-sided life of the new community. He was noted as a musician in his day and locality and furnished tunefulness for many interesting occasions. He could be practical also and made all the shoes for the neighborhood. The maternal grandfather of him whose name inaugurates this review was a native of Indiana, in which state he lived and died. Thus the sub- ieet's forebears on both sides of the house have been personally con- cerned with the growth and development of the middle west.
Doctor Philip received his education in the public schools of lef- ferson county and worked on a farm until he attained to the age of
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twenty-one years. In the meantime he arrived at a decision to enter the medieal profession and accordingly matriculated in the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, from which he was graduated in 1893. Soon after receiving his degree he located in Ewing and he has con- tinned in active practice ever since that time. His praetice, which is large, takes him over a wide rural territory. He has been very suc- eessful, financially and professionally, and he owns considerable prop- erty, having an excellent farm and other material interests.
Dr. Philp was happily married in 1894 to Daisy Neal, daughter of Thor Neal, an extensive farmer and stoek dealer. He resided in Franklin county for a number of years, but now makes his home in Missouri. They have one child, a son named James, who is a pupil in the public schools. Dr. and Mrs. Philp belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, taking an active interest in its good works. He is a member of Ewing lodge, No. 705, of the Masons, and is identified with the Southern Illinois and Franklin County Medical Societies. He is Republiean in politics and is inclined to the cause of Prohibition, in whose beneficial influenee upon a community he has great faith.
WILLIAM II. GILLIAM. One of the prominent figures in the journal- istie field of Southern Illinois, and a man who has been identified with educational movements here for many years, is William H. Gilliam, editor of the Vienna Weckly Times. Mr. Gilliam, who has the best interests of the community at heart, is editing a elean, wholesome sheet which wields a great deal of influence among the people of this part of the country and may always be counted upon to support all movements of a progressive nature. William H. Gilliam, who is serv- ing in the capacity of postmaster of Vienna, was born December 1, 1856, in Weakley county, Tennessee, and is a son of Thomas H. Gilliam.
Thomas H. Gilliam was born in Dinwiddie county, Virginia, and was there married to Sarah E. Hill, daughter of Thomas Hill. a Vir- ginian by birth. After his marriage Mr. Gilliam went to Gibson county, Tennessee, thenee to Henry county, and eventually to Weakley county, in the same state. Later he removed to Calloway county, Kentucky, but in 1862 disposed of his interests there and eame to Johnson county, Illinois, buying a fine farm in Burnside township, on which the village of Ozark is now located, and there he died November 18, 1892, aged sixty-two years, his wife having passed away in 1889. Six children had been born to them, namely : Joseph, William II., Alice, Charles, Robert and Mary of whom Robert, William H. and Mary survive.
William II. Gilliam was six years of age when the family came to Illinois and after completing his studies in the publie schools he entered Ewing College. When nineteen years old he commenced teaching during the winters and working on the farm during the summer months and then became elerk in the postoffice at New Burn- side, subsequently filling a elerieal position in the circuit elerk's of- fice at Vienna. In 1882 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Johnson county, serving in that capacity and in the circuit clerk's office until 1885, and in that year purchased a half interest in the Weekly Times, with G. W. Ballance as partner. In October, 1886, he became sole proprietor of this newspaper, which has become one of the leading news sheets of this part of the state. Mr. Gilliam has always tried to give his subscribers the best and latest news of both a national and local nature, and the rapid growth of this periodical shows that his labors in the field of journalism have not been in vain and that the people have not failed to appreciate his efforts in their behalf. In
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connection with his plant he condnets a job printing office, where only the best class of work is done, and he has built up quite a large trade in this line. Mr. Gilliam has been prominent also in the educa- tional field. From 1893 to 1898 he was elerk of the board of education, serving as such at the time the new high school was erected. In 1897 he was appointed postmaster at Vienna, and his work in this capacity has been so sneeessful that he is now serving his fourth term. He is an efficient and courteous official and has discharged the duties of his office with so much ability and conscientiousness that his service in his important position has been an eminently satisfactory one. Frater- nally Mr. Gilliam is connected with Vesta Lodge, No. 340, I. O. O. F .. and Vienna Encampment, No. 53; Romeo Lodge, No. 651, Knights of Pythias ; and is popular in all. His wife is a member of the D. of R., Vienna Lodge, No. 187. Politieally he adheres to the principles of the Republican party.
In June, 1890, Mr. Gilliam was married to Miss Dimple Perkins, a native of Howard county, Missouri, and daughter of Henry Stewart Perkins, deeeased. Three children have been born to this union: Frank, born in 1891; Lois, born in 1894; and Marian, who died in May, 1908, aged twelve years. Mr. and Mrs. Gilliam are faithful church members, he of the Baptist and she of the Methodist.
IRA BEATTE was born in St. Francois county, Missouri. on Septem- ber 8, 1881. He is the son of Henry Beatte and Vereella (Wyams) Beatte, the latter of Jefferson county, Missouri, and is the eldest of the five children of his parents. Henry Beatte was born in Washington county, Missouri, about 1852. For a time he followed farming and later embarked in the mercantile business in Danby, Missouri, where the family still eonduets the store. The father of Ira Beatte died in 1910. He was a Democrat, was affiliated with a number of fraternal orders and was a member of the Baptist church. The mother is still living.
The early life of Ira Beatte was spent in the counties of St. Fran- eois and Jefferson, and he was educated in the public schools. He started in the blacksmith business at an early age at Kinsey, Missouri, and in 1906 he came to Monroe county, where in Maeystown he opened a blacksmith and wagon shop. He remained there for two years, com- ing to Valmeyer abont two years ago, and establishing a similar business. He has prospered most agreeably, and now has a thoroughly modern shop, equipped with gas engine, trip hammers, and other modern power apparatus, Mr. Beatte is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church and of the National Protective Legion.
On Christmas day, 1903. he married Lorena Busking, of Monroe county, and they are the parents of two children : Freeman and Archie.
VIRGINIE'S W. SMITH. The man who buys land today in Gallatin county has no idea of the obstacles which confronted the ones who began developing this property. Now fertile fields yield banner erops, the ground once covered with mighty forest trees smiles beneath culti- vation, and where worthless swamps gathered green slime and sent forth pestilential fevers, the rich soil eagerly responds to the modern methods of the farmer. MII this was not attained without endless hard work through all seasons. When summer erops did not require effort the fenees had to be repaired, there were new buildings to be erected, and other improvements to be inaugurated. No man who has brought out success from his years of endeavor over attained it unless he was ready and willing to make any kind of sacrifice of in-
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elination or strength to bring it about, and one who has through his ef- forts in this way become more than ordinarily prosperous and has developed some of the best land of Gallatin eounty is Virginius W. Smith, of Ridgway, Illinois, who is widely known and highly re- speeted. Mr. Smith was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, March 20, 1842, and was brought to Illinois by his parents Joseph and Eliza Jane (Akins) Smith.
Joseph Smith was a farmer by occupation, and on first settling in Illinois located at Equality, where he had friends. Subsequently he rented the Crenshaw farm, three miles south of Ridgeway, but during the fall of 1849 came to the present farm of Virginius W. Smith, lo- cated one mile east of Ridgway, where he purchased eighty acres of land, for about $500. Fifteen aeres of this land were cleared, and a small log cabin had been erected thercon, and here Mr. Joseph Smith started to develop a farm, it being very conveniently located, as it was but a two or three-hour journey to Equality, about eight miles, and three or four hours to New Haven, which was ten miles away, although the land at that time was all a wilderness and there had not yet been a settlement made at Ridgway. Joseph Smith started a store at New Market, one-half mile south of his home, but later all the business there was removed to Ridgway. He continued to operate his farm, putting a great deal of it under cultivation, and served for some years as justiee of the peace, to which offiee he had been elected as a Democrat. His death oceurred in May, 1863, when not much past fifty-five years, his widow surviving until 1895 and being seventy- three years old at the time of her death. They had the following chil- dren : Virginius W .; Dennis, a soldier, a member of the One Hundred and Thirty-first Illinois Regiment, who died at Vicksburg. Mississippi, in 1863; Margaret, who died as a young married woman ; John F., a farmer, who died in 1911, at the age of fifty-five years; Catherine, who married John Hammersley and died at the age of thirty years; Christ- opher, a farmer near Eldorado, Illinois; and Lueinda, who married Thomas Riley and died when about forty years of age.
Virginius W. Smith received his education in the public schools of the vicinity of the home farm, and remained with his parents until the outbreak of the Civil war. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Com- pany D, Twenty-ninth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, a com- pany recruited about New Haven Captain Whiting, and with this organization he served until securing his honorable discharge, Novem- ber 20, 1864. This regiment saw some of the hardest fighting of the war, and among its battles may be mentioned Belmont, Missouri; Columbus, Kentucky ; Paducah and Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Jackson, seeond Corinth, Holly Springs and Coldwater. The regiment was captured at Holly Springs but his company, with an- other, was sent back on detail to Jaekson Tennessee. In April, 1863, the regiment was sent to Vieksburg to man the gunboat "Tyler," as sharpshooters, on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, and this boat was constantly in the severest part of each action. At the battle of Vicks- burg the vessel was sent to the Arkansas side to ward off the Con- federate Generals Marmaduke and Price, and after this engagement Mr. Smith and his companions rejoined their regiment, which in the meantime had been exchanged. They were on guard at Vieksburg and on the Black river until Sherman's Atlanta campaign, as far as Jaekson, but eventually were sent back to Vicksburg, and Mr. Smith then became a member of a scouting party which went to Natchez, and at that point he received his honorable discharge. Ile had been twiee wounded, in the left side and right leg, and the effects of these
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injuries did not entirely pass away for a long period. On his return to Illinois he again took up farming, and for five years rented a prop- erty, then purchased forty acres, which he sold after developing, and eventually purchased one hundred and twenty acres, to which from time to time he added until he now has a magnificent tract of three hundred and forty aeres, including the old family homestead. For some of this land he paid only ten dollars per aere, and when he bought the homestead it cost him only forty-three dollars per acre, this land now being all worth upwards of one hundred dollars per acre. His large, comfortable home is situated on a hill one mile east of Ridgely, and his other buildings are well built and modern in equip- ment. Mr. Smith raises wheat and corn, and gives a good deal of at- tention to the raising of pure-bred stock. He was one of the original stockholders of the First National Bank of Ridgway, but outside of this has given most of his time and attention to his farm. He has done more than one thousand dollars worth of tiling, and his land is per- feetly drained and ditched, although at first much of it was swampy and unproductive. Modern methods, however, have done much for this property, and it is nearly all now black soil. Mr. Smith is a Re- publiean in polities, east his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. and for ten years has served as supervisor of his township. He is a popular comrade of Loomis Post. Grand Army of the Republic. On the breaking out of the Spanish-American war in 1898, a regiment was organized and Virginius W. Smith was appointed captain, await- ing the call of his country, but the service was not required, there being no more calls necessary for troops.
In 1875 Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Me- Dermott, who died less than two years later, leaving one child : Joseph. who is now engaged in cultivating a part of the home farm. In 1900 he was married to Orvilla Shain, a native of Gallatin county, and three children have been born to them: Susie. Eliza and Virginius, Ir. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have numerous friends in this part of Gallatin county. He is remembered as a brave and faithful soldier during the war. and he has discharged his duties just as faithfully as a private citizen. Ilis success has been the result of his own efforts and his career is typical of the successful American agriculturist.
ANDREW JACKSON WEBBER. Among the prominent and highly esteemed citizens whom Saline county has been called upon to mourn within the past few months none will be more greatly missed than Andrew Jackson Webber, one of the leading men of Galatia, who was familiarly known among his acquaintances and associates as "Jack" Webber. A native of Southern Illinois, he was born September 11. 1845. on a farm lying two miles southeast of Galatia, a son of the late Henry Webber.
Ilis paternal grandfather, who was also the grandfather of his widow, Mrs. Annie J. (Webber) Webber, was John M. Webber, the immigrant ancestor of the Webber family of America, the name hav- ing been spelled in the old country " Weber." John M. Webber was born in Holland, on the banks of the Rhine. November 10, 1791. When twelve years old he came with his mother to the United States, and for several years lived in Philadelphia, where he was educated. Go- ing to Tennessee in 1823, he lived in Rutherford county until Isto. when, with his family, he came to Saline county, Illinois, and purchased land near Galatia where he improved the fine estate now known as the Webber homestead. He was there prosperously employed in till- ing the soil until his death, in 1867. He married, in Philadelphia.
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Elizabeth MeQueen, who was born in Virginia, in 1793 and died on the home farm in 1869, having survived him but two years.
Henry Webber was a small lad when he came from Tennessee to Saline county. Ile grew to manhood on the homestead, as a boy and youth becoming familiar with all branches of agriculture. He was a man of great energy and enterprise, and in 1855 creeted the first steam mill in Saline eonnty. The following year he located in Galatia, and here ereeted the first steam mill in this section of the county. He had previously operated a threshing machine while living on the home farm, and for several years after settling in Galatia he was engaged in milling. Finally making a change of oeeupation, he disposed of his mill and. in company with his son "Jaek," opened a general store under the firm name of II. Webber & Son, and in addition to selling general merchandise handled tobacco on an extensive scale, selling about a million pounds annually. In 1888 he disposed of his store, which had beeome the largest mercantile establishment in the county, although he retained ownership of a second mill which he had ereeted, placing his son "Jaek" in charge of that plant, which is still owned by the Webber estate. After selling his store, Henry Webber established the Bank of Galatia, which was owned by the old firm of II. Webber & Son, and placed the son in charge of the institution, while he, him- self, devoted his time and attention to the eare of the home farm. liv- ing on the place until his death, April 18, 1899, at the age of seventy- six years, five months and four days, his birth having occurred in Philadelphia, September 14, 1822. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Jane Rhine, died in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where she had gone for her health, April 20, 1884.
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