USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 47
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Mr. Brush is a member of the Illinois Commandery of the Loyal Legion. Army of the Tennessee. Ile also belongs to John W. Lawrence Post, Grand Army of the Republic. For many years he has been an earnest, active and devoted member of the Presbyterian church, and this is an organization in which all the members of his family of the present and past generations have taken a great and serviceable interest. His uncle, Daniel H. Brush, built the first Presbyterian house of wor- ship in Carbondale, in 1858, and in 1906, when the congregation needed a new one to accommodate its increased and still inereasing numbers, he was himself chairman of the building committee. The old structure cost $3,500, and the new one $35,000.
Mr. Brush loaned the congregation half of the money required to build the new church, and the sum did not long remain unpaid, the church having been dedieated in 1907 free from debt. He has shown his deep interest in the moral well being of the eity in many other ways, one conspienous evidence being his ceaseless war on the saloon. He served seven years as president of the anti-Saloon League, and in every
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case he has furnished the money required to carry the saloon question up to the supreme court of the state when litigation over it has arisen. In fact, it is due largely to him that there are no saloons in Carbondale. This is not to be wondered at. Two circumstances give him a peculiarly warm interest in the city: After it had been founded and laid out by his unele Daniel, his mother's family was the third to settle in it; and he is himself the only person who has lived in it continuously sinee 1852.
On October 3, 1864, just after his return from the war with all "his blushing honors thick upon him," Mr. Brush was married to Miss Sophia L. Freeman, of Anna, Illinois. Two of the children born to them are living. One is James C., of Carbondale, a farmer and coal operator, who was long associated with his father in that business. He was born on February 2, 1868, and completed his education at the Southern Illinois Normal University. He married with Miss Blanche Brown, of Hillsboro. this state, and has six children: Clara B., Francis B., James Curtis, Jr .. Sophia Louise, Samuel Tasker and Edgar John. The other living child is George M., a resident of Boulder, Colorado, and unmarried. He is a musician, writer and eritie of considerable reputation all over the country.
The mother of these children died on September 5, 1874, and in 1882 the father contracted a second marriage, uniting himself in this with Miss Jennie Candee, of Galesburg, Illinois. They have had two daughters, one of whom, Alice, died at Carbondale in 1906, at the age of twenty-one. The other, Elizabeth P., is a graduate of Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, and is now a teacher in the State Uni- versity in Champaign, following the example of her distinguished father in rendering exalted service to her day and generation, although in a very different field of action from any that ever engaged his powers.
GENERAL DANIEL H. BRUSH. Every town or city of consequence which is not the sudden and recent product of trade conditions venerates the memory of some sterling, though it may be rugged, founder who, anticipating the tide of immigration which has flowed from the Atlantic seaboard steadily toward the sunset until it has overspread the whole country, planted his foot in the wilderness and there hewed out for him- self a new home wherein his hopes might expand and flourish. These were men of heroie mold, fashioned by their time for sturdy work-fit progenitors of the people they begot. No toil deterred, no danger daunted, no hardship dismayed them. With unyielding will they pressed their way over every obstacle, often challenging Fate herself into the lists, and meeting her on almost equal terms.
The dreams that impelled them to and sustained them in their per- ilous undertakings we may not know, for they have left no record of them. Perhaps they were inspired only by hope of immediate gain, and saw no farther. It may be that some of them sought naught but relief from the irksome restraints of society in the wild life of the forest. Yet men of either of these elasses must have awakened to wider vision in their elose communion with Nature, and come to see themselves, as many others must have seen them, the planters of new communities, the patriarchs of people, to pass away in their time but to be revered ever afterward, and, remote from the period when their wasted tenements were laid to rest, to be kept standing in the gaze of posterity, heroic figures, dimly glorious, far up the valley of years. To this class belongs General Daniel H. Brush, the founder of Carbondale. He had both the lessons of the past and the impressive events of what was the present to him to give him hints of what might happen anywhere in this country.
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But he had also a wide sweep of vision and foresight, and it must have revealed to him much for what he was preparing the way, extravagant as his view might have looked to others.
General Brush was born at Vergennes, Vermont, in 1813, and in 1820 moved with his parents to Illinois. In 1836 he married Miss Julia Ether- ton, of Jackson county, and in 1852 they moved into the county from their former home and took up their new residence in a small settlement which had not then a name, but which subsequently, through his enter- prise, became Carbondale and received its geographical baptism from him. He and ten other men acquired the land on which the city now stands, and, after due deliberation, determined to lay out a town on it.
Being a strong temperance man, Mr. Brush, for he was not then a general, had incorporated in each contract for the sale of a town lot a provision forbidding the traffic in intoxicating liquors as a condition of the sale. He also looked after the moral and religions welfare of the town in another important respect, by making provision for four churches and setting aside a lot for each of them when he laid out the village he was starting as the nucleus of the city he hoped would follow.
In 1856 he was chosen trustee and a member of the building com- mittee for the erection of a Presbyterian church. The facilities for building were meager and the structure was not completed until 1859, but it was dedicated on July 12 of that year. On December 18, follow- ing, he was elected ruling elder of the congregation. Thus was started in motion the beneficent foree that has resulted in the present large con- gregation of the Presbyterian sect in the city and the splendid church edifiee which it uses.
Up to this time his work in connection with his bantling was one of peace and progress only. But the time was near at hand when he would be ealled to sterner duties and take the flower of the community with him. When the Civil war began the whole of his following was against the partition of the Union, and he raised a company of vohinteers in and around Carbondale to assist in defending it against this disaster. This beeame Company K, Eighteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and he was ehosen captain of it by the united voice of its members.
The command was soon at the front and engaged in active hostilities, although it was formed in response to the first call of President Lincoln for volunteers. At the battle of Fort Donelson in 1862, Captain Brush received a rather serious wound which disabled him for service for a time. On his recovery and return to the company he was promoted major for his bravery in the engagement. At the battle of Shiloh he commanded the regiment and received another wound. Ile recovered from this, however, in time to take part in the battle of Little Rock. Arkansas. In 1863 he resigned from the army, and was discharged with the rank of brevet brigadier general.
When he left the military service he returned to Carbondale, and thereafter served Jackson county for a number of years as county and circuit elerk. In 1867 his wife died, and in 1868 he married a second time, being united in New York on this occasion with Miss Elizabeth Ward. a Carbondale lady, with whom he lived in domestic happiness nn- til 1879, when he was killed by a falling tree in the yard of his home. General Brush did more for Carbondale than any other one man. He was a merchant and helped to give the town mereantile importanee. Ile also dealt extensively in land, and in this way aided greatly in develop- ing and improving the surrounding country. He was an earnest advo- cate of everything that was good and was universally beloved.
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LOUIS DELL'ERA. The very substantial and dignified aspect of the town of Herrin is due in particular to one of her most loyal citizens, Louis Dell 'Era, who belies his Italian birth in not only being strenuously progressive himself but in inspiring his fellow citizens with eivie pride and with sufficient confidence in the future growth of the city to invest their money in home enterprises and to erect permanent structures in- stead of the makeshifts that are usually built in a new town. His pru- dence and foresight in real estate deals have won for him the trust of others, so that now where he leads others follow, consequently his in- fluence in building up the town has been great. He is not only in- terested in real estate but in other phases of business and whatever he handles seems to turn out fortunately.
Louis Dell 'Era is a child of the sunny Southland, the land of blue waters and bluer skies, of gray-green olive trees and purple grapes. Per- haps his optimistic, happy belief in the ultimate good in everything is a result of his childhood in the warm soft Italian sun. He was born at Cuggiono, in the province of Milan, on the 8th of February, 1866, the son of Charles Dell 'Era and Josephine (Frejerri) Dell 'Era. His brother John now lives in St. Louis, while his sister, Mary is the wife of Jo Cheodini, of Murphysboro, Illinois. Louis Dell 'Era grew up in his native town, gathering a rather meager education from books, but a plentiful knowledge in the art of taking care of himself. When he was sixteen circumstanees compelled him to earn his own living. This was not easily done, for he had no trade and was forced to become a wan- derer, drifting from place to place. picking up a bit of work here, another yonder, sometimes able to pay for a bed, oftener sleeping under the stars. He crossed the Alps into France and spent several years among the French people, becoming proficient in their langauage and managing somehow to earn a livelihood. While roaming over the southern provinces of France he picked up considerable knowledge of Spanish. The sound of this liquid tongue made him long for home, so he went back to his native land and enlisted in her service as a mem- ber of the engineering corps of the army. The next two years were spent in that strangely remote country, tucked off down there under the wing of Egypt, Abyssinia. Here he pieked up not only a knowledge of the surrounding country but also of African conditions in general, for his fellow soldiers had seen much service on the continent and knew Africa as well as that dark land of many mysteries could be known. His years of army life gave him an acquaintance with engineering that was to be of great use in after life in furnishing him with a profession.
On his discharge from the army he took a contraet for railroad grading in the Congo Free State and led a force of six hundred men far into the interior of Africa, where they remained two years. On his reappearance he took a similar contract for a piece of work in Salonika, Turkey, and when this was completed he returned to the Congo to handle another job like the first. He stayed in the jungle some fifteen months, then the heat, the incessant rains. the inscetivorous pests, the snakes and wild beasts that sometimes get on a man's nerves, in short, the intoler- able life that a white man must endure in a tropical country was too much for him and he had to get out. and he did, just in time to save his life.
Having friends in America, he decided to try his luek in that land of many promises, and turned his face westward in 1896. He came to Illi- nois with a few hundred dollars in his pocket, looking for work in his own line. Finding none, he opened a saloon in Murphysboro, and in 1898 he came to Herrin. The town was embryonie then, and Mr. Dell 'Era may in truth be said to have grown up with it. He established
Tomis Dell'Eng
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a retail liquor trade which was so successful that he was soon enabled to put back into the town some of the money that was flowing from it into his pocket. He bought considerable property and upon the most desirable sites erected substantial business houses. His own handsome and commodious brick hotel ocenpies one of the most prominent corners in the business seetion and the splendid structure that attracts the eye of the stroller along Park avenue is the three story brick opera house also erected by him. There are many minor improvements which he has carried out that add materially to the sum total of Herrin's welfare.
This interest in real estate and his belief in the potential possibilities for the growth of new towns through this great mineral belt of Southern Illinois have led him, in conjunction with his partner, Mr. Berra, to buy a large property some four miles north of Herrin. Here a town site of fifty-five aeres in one plat, called Franklin, has been platted, and sixteen acres in another, called Dell 'Era, in honor of its most dynamie owner. It is in the region of the newly developed coal fields and with the inrush of workmen and the further development of the mines the success of this rather daring venture is practically secured. Mr. Dell 'Era is also interested in the City National Bank, becoming one of the original stockholders when the institution assumed a corporate exist- ence, and now being a member of the directorate.
Before coming to this country Mr. Dell 'Era was married to Dora Biotti, the eeremony taking place on the 17th of June, 1893. Of their three children, Joseph is a student in the Catholic school at Quincy, Illinois, while Ida and William are attending school in Herrin.
Mr. Dell'Era was qniek to adopt the political views of his new conntry and beeame a Republican. He is one of the leading spirits of the Lombardo Society of Herrin, having been its president for seven years. He belongs also to the Eagles and to the Red Men. He it was who inaugurated the practice of observing Columbus day in Herrin. this being the anniversary of the discovery of America by his great compatriot of Genoa. At first this celebration consisted of little flocks of Italians, with decorations proclaiming their nationality, passing through the streets, the recipients of the curious stares of their fellow citizens. How different was the celebration of last year! The grand parade, with its many floats, on which were contrasted the enstoms of old Italy with those of the New Italy, gallant knights in armour, a long string of automobiles bedecked with the stars and stripes, platoons of foot- men and horse, and the crowning joy of all, a bevy of girls in white with gayly floating ribbons. The moving spirit of all this splendor.was Louis Dell 'Era. He was the organizer, and raised the funds necessary to carry the affair out on a spectacular seale, and to give the brilliant pyro- technical display that followed in the evening. It was he who insisted that order should be preserved all along the line of march; that the Italians were on exhibition and that no disorder coming from them should mar the occasion. His commands were obeyed, and suffice to say, the citizens of Herrin were delighted with the demonstration made by their adopted fellow citizens and October 12th will not soon be for- gotten by them.
It shows much strength of character and a determination to succeed for a man differing in nationality, with all the differences in speech and temperament and mode of thinking, which that implies, to come into a community and forge to the front, at the same time working for the best welfare of the city with as loyal a heart as Mr. Dell 'Era has done. It was a great disappointment to him when he could find no work in his chosen profession on coming to this country, but did he sit down and bemoan his fate. No, with a smile on his lips he turned to the first thing
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that offered. Herrin is proud to have as one of her citizens a man who has passed through many hardships and bitter experiences, but has brought to his latest home a calm belief in the good of his fellow men and the silver lining in every cloud.
HON. CHARLES ALBERT DAVIDSON. As one who has attained distine- tion in his profession and has been chosen to fill high office, Charles Albert Davidson, of Newton, is recognized as one of the able members of the Jasper county bar. Ile was born in Shelbyville, Indiana, Feb- ruary 17, 1861, and is a son of Benjamin D. and Mary E. (Andrews) Davidson, the former of whom was born in 1824, at Lexington, Ken- tucky. In 1835 Benjamin D. Davidson was taken to Indiana by his par- ents, and there followed the trade of blacksmith. In 1850 he was mar- ried to Mary E. Andrews, a native of the Hoosier state, and they had a family of eight children, Charles Albert being the sixth in order of birth. In 1872 Mr. Davidson brought his family to Illinois, and after spending about four years in Clark county, removed to Jasper county. where the remainder of his life was spent in working at the trade of blacksmith, and his death occurred April 2, 1909, his wife hav- ing passed away in 1865. Both were consistent members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and in political matters Mr. Davidson was a staneh Democrat.
Charles Albert Davidson attended the public schools of Jasper county, and continued his studies in the Valparaiso University, Val- paraiso, Indiana, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1880. Returning to Newton, he entered an attorney's office and faithfully prosecuted his law studies, being admitted to the bar in 1885. In that year he was elected eity attorney of Newton, and served in that offiee until 1888, when he was chosen state's attorney, a capacity in which he acted until 1896. In 1898 Mr. Davidson received the nomination for the office of state senator from the forty-fifth distriet of Illinois, and was elected by a handsome majority, serving with dis- tinction until 1902. At present he is serving as a member of the Kas- kaskia Land Commission, to which he was appointed by Gov. Charles S. Deneen in 1911. In that year he formed a partnership with Charles D. Fithian, present state's attorney. and in addition to having a large and representative law practice is successfully engaged in the mortgage and loan business. Of great exeentive ability and business sagacity, he has satisfactorily met every demand made upon his versatile talents and long experience as a man of affairs. He is one of the leaders of the Democratic party in Jasper county, where he has made his influence felt in various ways. Fraternally he is prominent as a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, of the Red Men, the Odd Fellows and the Court of Ilonor, and is popular with the members of the local lodges.
In 1887 Mr. Davidson was united in marriage with Miss Cora M. Bogard, of Newton, Illinois. Mrs. Davidson is a member of the Pres- byterian church, and is active in religious and charitable work. In his profession Mr. Davidson has not only the technical and practical knowledge essential to eminent suecess, but also the tolerance, breadth of view and generons publie spirit which characterize the superior man.
HON. ISAAC ILILL WEBB. After holling a foremost place among the practitioners at the Hamilton county bar the Hon. Isaac Hill Webb is making a record as judge of the county court that holds out a stimulus and example to all men who are called upon to bear the high responsi- bilities of a place upon the bench. The sound judgment, the well-bal-
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anced judicial mind, the intellectual honesty and freedom from bias which are required in a judge-these attributes have been his and have enabled him to maintain the best traditions of the judicial office. JJudge Webb was born July 15, 1856, in Hamilton county, Illinois, and is a son of John and Sarah (Mitchell) Webb.
John Webb was born in Ireland, about 1825, and came to the United States when but a lad with a family named Wallace, his own parents both having died when he was only a few years old. About 1837 he came to Hamilton county, and until the outbreak of the Mexican war was engaged in working by the month on various farms, but when volunteers were asked for during that struggle he enlisted in the army of his adopted country, and for his brave and faithful services was given a patent for one hundred and sixty acres of land in Hamilton county, about three miles east of MeLeansboro. There he spent the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits, and died September 20. 1883. He married Sarah Mitchell, who was born in Hamilton county in 1829, daughter of Ichabod and Mary (Lane) Mitchell, and she still resides on the old Hamilton county homestead. They had a family of children as follows: Robert T., who married Sarah Langhmiller and resides in Hamilton county; Mary, who married Dr. Asbury, of Me- Leansboro; Aletha, who is living on the old homestead with her mother ; Isaac Hill; Laura, who married George W. Donnely and lives near Me- Leansboro ; Jolm, who married Sarah Anderson, and is engaged in farm- ing in Hamilton county: James M., who died single; Charles W., who married Telia Lassater; Cora, who married John M. Flannigan, a well- known banker of Walpole; and Teresa, who married Arthur T. Dow. During the war of the rebellion, John Webb enlisted for service in the Union army, but after about a year was discharged on account of disability and left the service with the rank of sergeant. He served as county commissioner for a number of years, being a well known worker of the Democratic party in this section. His religious affiliation was with the Methodist church, while fraternally he was connected with the Masons.
Isaac IIill Webb received his education in the common schools and subsequently graduated from Hamilton College, at MeLeansboro, and until twenty-one years of age followed the life of a farmer. At that time he began to teach school, and continued to engage in that profes- sion for four years, in the meantime spending his summer vacations in assiduous study for the legal profession. He entered the law depart- ment of Illinois University in 1881, and after his graduation returned to MeLeansboro and formed a law partnership with Judge John C. Edwards. In 1888 he was elected to the office of state's attorney, and after serving in that office for two terms resumed his law practice with Judge Edwards and J. H. Lane, the firm eventually becoming Webb & Lane. Since 1905, however. Judge Webb has praetieed alone. For two terms he served as master in chaneery, and in 1910 he was elected county judge, being the present incumbent of that offiee. As a lawyer Judge Webb held a position of high credit and distinction, his gifts as a speaker and his eapaeity for close, logical reasoning making him a peculiarly forceful and effective advocate. He has been a conspienons and influential foree not only as a prominent member of the bench and bar, but as a leading citizen interested in the important public move- ments of the day, and he is held throughout the county in the highest respect and esteem. Politieally Judge Webb is a Democrat, and fra- ternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen.
On February 14, 1904. Judge Webb was married in MeLeansboro,
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Illinois, to Estelle Baker, who was born at Golconda, Illinois, January 15, 1872, daughter of John C. and Mary (Boicourt) Baker. Two chil- dren have been born to this union, one of whom survives: John Robert, who was born July 16, 1909. Judge and Mrs. Webb are faithful mem- bers of the Methodist church, and have been widely known in religious and charitable work.
ANDREW L. SNIDER. One of the enterprising and progressive mer- ehants of Jackson county, in whose career the ambitious youth of today who seeks to attain success in the mercantile field may find much that is worthy of emulation, is Andrew L. Snider, of Sand Ridge, who has attained his present enviable position in the commercial world as a re- sult of exercising an inherent business ability and always confining his business operations to legitimate lines. He is a native of Jackson county, and was born in Pomona township, August 17, 1861, a son of Andrew Jackson and Liza A. (Lattie) Snider.
Andrew Jackson Snider was born in the state of Pennsylvania, from whence he was taken by his parents when a youth to Ohio. He began his career as a railroad man, but subsequently drifted into the sawmill business, which he was following at the time of his death, which oc- curred when his son Andrew L. was about fifteen years of age. Mr. Snider's demise was caused by an accident in his mill, when he was in the prime of life, while his widow, a native of Pulaski county, Illinois, still survives him and makes her home at Sand Ridge. A public-spirited and patriotic citizen, at the outbreak of the Civil war, Mr. Suider en- listed in the Federal army and served throughout that struggle. He and his wife had eight children, Andrew L. being the third in order of birth, and three other children still survive, namely: Willis Sheridan, Wil- liam Sherman and Erin.
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