USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 49
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Abe Levy was born in Germany in 1847, and sought Ameriea after his schooldays were passed. Reaching his destination on April 15th, the day following the assassination of President Lineoln, he was soon in the employ of one of his countrymen in the big metropolis along the Ohio river. Subsequently he went to Indianapolis, Indiana, and he re- turned to the former eity some months later, prior to coming to Illi- nois. He was married in Cincinnati to Miss Paulina Rittenberg, and they had the following children: Simon, of Murphysboro, a machinist; Harris, of Murphysboro, a elothing merchant; Mike; Sadie, residing in Murphysboro; Isaac, who is state's attorney of Jackson county; and David B., who is a lawyer and his brother's assistant.
Mike Levy has been a resident of Murphysboro sinee the 'seventies. He was educated in the graded schools, and when he was thirteen years of age began to make his own way in the world. As a messenger boy for the Western Union Telegraph Company Mr. Levy performed the duties incident to that position and also carried the mail from the post- office to the depot, and for this double service he was paid the sum of thirteen dollars per month. The lad was ambitious, however, and soon learned telegraphy, being subsequently employed by the old Cairo Short Line as operator at different points for a few years, and became agent of the company at Murphysboro. When that road was absorbed by the Illinois Central, Mr. Levy was made agent of the consolidated company at Murphysboro in 1898. In 1904 he gave up that position to aeeept the one he now holds, which has sinee received the benefit of his best energies.
On September 30, 1911, Mr. Levy was married at Carbondale, Illi- nois, to Mrs. Etta Grammer, a daughter of Allen Holder, a farmer and old settler of Carbondale, while the new Levy home is situated in Murphysboro. Mr. Levy has given his attention to business rather than to promisenous affairs. He is a Republican in polities, but they have no attraction for him other than as a voter, and his connection with fraternities is told when it is stated that he is an Elk.
THOMAS B. NEEDLES. Pre-eminent among the men of Nashville who are the authors of large and worthy accomplishments in a publie way is Thomas B. Needles, president of the First National Bank of Nash- ville and the possessor of no little fame as a member of the Dawes Com- mission, which wound up the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians and thus prepared them for full entry into civil relations as eiti- zons of the United States. As marshal of the Indian Territory district at one time he took an important part in the actual opening up of that territory to settlement, and he has in many and various ways given valuable service to the state in an official capacity.
Born in Monroe county on the 26th of April. 1835, he is the son of James B. and Lumima ( Talbert ) Needles. The former was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1786 and came to Illinois in 1520. He had re- ceived the advantage of an exceptionally good education, and during the first six years of his residence in Monroe county he taught school
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there. He later served as sheriff of the county for six years, but with- drawing from public life he engaged in mercantile business in Water- loo, Illinois, remaining there until 1851. He then made several moves, being two years in Keokuk, lowa, two years at Mt. Sterling, Illinois, and two years at Belleville, Illinois. He then moved to Richview, Washing- ton county, Illinois, in 1857, where he carried on a mercantile business until his death, which occurred in 1860. He was reared in the Quaker faith, but late in life he became an adherent of Methodist principles and died as a member of that church. He was thrice married. His first wife, Lumima Talbert, was a daughter of Elijah Talbert, who came to Illinois from Virginia and settled in Monroe county. When Mrs. Needles died she left three children: Thomas B., of this review, Sarah E., who passed away in Washington county as the wife of S. P. Cooper, and James B., who died in 1862. Mr. Needles next married Sarah Decker, who died, leaving a son, Edward Needles, of Prairie du Rocher, Illinois. The third wife of Mr. Needles was Miss Christina Mace, and of this union one son was born, Henry Needles, a prominent lawyer of Belleville, Illinois.
Thomas B. Needles was liberally educated in so far as the common schools were able to advance him, after which he attended a seminary at Mt. Sterling, Illinois, spending two years in study there. When he had finished his training he joined his father in business and continned with him until 1860, when he started a mercantile business in Nashville, Illinois, on his own responsibility. The following year he became aetive in the political life of Nashville, and he was elected county clerk of Washington county, filling that office by successive elections for sixteen years. He was the first Republican to be elected county clerk of the county, and in 1876 he was elected state auditor of Illinois. One pol- itieal honor followed another, and in 1880 he was elected to the upper house of the general assembly, and while a member of that body was chairman of the committee on revenue. In 1889 he was appointed by President Harrison to the marshalship of the district of the Indian Ter- ritory and filled the office until he was succeeded by J. J. MeAlester, the appointee of Grover Cleveland when he entered the presidential office. It was during Mr. Needle's term of service that Oklahoma was opened to settlement, and the police arrangements for the management of the famous horse race were made by him and the actual opening of the country to settlement was accomplished under his management.
Resuming his active connection with home affairs once more. Mr. Needles was elected in 1894. to the lower honse of the general assembly was given the chairmanship of the committee on appropriations. He was returned by the Republicans in 1896 as his own successor and con- tinued to work at the head of the same important committee. In 1899 he was appointed to the Commission of the Five Civilized Tribes, other- wise known as the Dawes Commission, and he served throughout the eight years of the life of that Commission. The immense and important work done by this body was of far-reaching consequence to the Indian and to the nation, and will be written in history as among the great pieces of work done under and for the government. As a member of that commission, if he had done nothing else to establish his name in the history of Illinois, he would have succeeded admirably in that one respect.
Throughout the course of his political life Mr. Needles was closely affiliated with the affairs of the Republican party in Illinois, and he was a member of its state conventions on many occasions, and possessed a wide acquantance among the more prominent men of the state. In 1872 he became interested in banking and it was about that time that he
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assisted in organizing the Washington County Bank, with which he has been connected continuously since that time. Following its conversion into the First National Bank on June 1. 1903. Mr. Needles was made president, the office which he now holds, and since his retirement from public life he has devoted himself completely to the welfare of that institution. Mr. Needles is one of the oldest Odd Fellows in the state. Ile has served as grand warden and grand master; he is a member of the Grand Lodge and was a member of the Sovereign Grand Lodge, and has been grand treasurer of the order for twenty-eight years and which office he still holds. He is a Royal Arch Mason.
On December 16, 1860. Mr. Needles was married at Richview, Ili- nois, to Miss Sarah L. Bliss, a daughter of Augustus Bliss, who came to Illinois from Ohio. Mrs. Needles passed away March 4, 1905, as the mother of Jessie, who died in Nashville in 1902 as Mrs. Frank Genung, and Winnie, the wife of Paul Krughoff, of Nashville.
JOHN W. MATHENY, who is holding the office of city clerk for the fourth term and who for the past decade has been engaged in the fire insurance business, has attained a prominent and influential position in the affairs of Newton and Jasper county. Since first becoming a factor in the world of affairs he has been engaged in more than one line of industry,-mercantile, grocery and the hotel business,-and has found success in all. Essentially public spirited, he has long been recognized as a safe man to whom to entrust important publie interests and he has been the incumbent of a number of offices. It is a pleasure to the biog- rapher to take up the record of his life, which has ever been of the most praise-worthy character.
John W. Matheny was born with what seems to be the greatest "open sesame" to success-his birthplace was upon the farm, and the date of his nativity was March 15, 1870. His father, Norman C. Matheny, was born January 12, 1850, also in Jasper county, and spent his earlier life upon his farm, but subsequently engaged in public life, holding a num- ber of offices. Ile died February 14, 1912, at his home in Newton. He was engaged for a number of years in the hotel business at Newton, con- ducting the Hudson House. He was married in 1869 to Sarah Hunt, of Jasper county, and they became the parents of six children, three of whom are living, and the subject being the eldest in order of birth. The first wife died in 1884 and in 1889 the elder Mr. Matheny was united to Naney A. Matheny. Six children were born to the second union and three of this number survive. The subject's father was a Democrat of staunch conviction and took no small interest in public affairs. He was for several years constable of Wade township and was also aeting special deputy sheriff. He had at all times taken much interest in the affairs of county, state and nation and was a man of such character as goes to make up the better element of citizenship in any community. He maintained his residence in Newton and was an honored member of the Intheran church, in whose advancement he took an active part. He was a lodge man, belonging to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Court of Honor.
The early life of John W. Matheny was spent on his father's home- stead farm and its pleasant, if strenuous, experiences constitute some of his happiest memories. He received his early education in the pub- lie schools and then, desiring to drink deeper of the "Pierian Spring." he matriculated at Hayward College, in Fairfield. Illinois, where he pursued a commercial course. He then returned to Jasper county and for a short time was engaged in a general mereantile business at Gila. In October, 1890, he came to Newton and for a period of six years was
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employed in a store in this place. Subsequent to that he engaged in the grocery business in association with other parties, the firm having the caption of T. D. Foster & Company. He remained thus engaged for three years and then acted as clothing salesman for another firm for a period of three years. In 1902, following the example of his father, he entered the hotel and fire insurance business, conducting the Evans House, but his career as "Mine Host" was limited, for after seven months the Evans House was destroyed by fire. It was then that Mr. Matheny went into the fire insurance business, in which he has met with great success.
Mr. Matheny, like his father before him, is a loyal supporter of the men and measures of the party of Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland. He was first chosen for publie office in 1892, when the people elected him town clerk of Grove township. He could not have begun his career any younger, for that was the spring he became of age. He held the above-mentioned office for a year, and then came to Newton. In 1895 he was elected alderman of the Third ward and as such served one term of two years. In 1897 he was appointed city collector and served one year, and in 1898 he was re-elected eity alderman of the ward he had previously represented so well. In 1905 he was elected city clerk and has ever sinee held the office, having now entered upon his fourth term. He is one of the most progressive and enlightened members of the board of education and has served in that body for twelve years. At the present time he is also deputy county coroner. Mr. Matheny has achieved that highest success-good citizenship. His methods are in keeping with the progressive spirit of the twentieth century. Ile is a man of broad humanitarian principles, of earnest purpose and upright life and he does all in his power for the uplifting of his fellow men and the promotion of the moral welfare of the community.
Mr. Matheny was married in 1894 to Irene B. Foster, daugthter of Thomas D. Foster, and their happy union has been blessed by the birth of a trio of interesting children-Nellie S., Alta E. and John A. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the subject is a member of the Court of Honor, in which he enjoys well-deserved pop- ularity.
SAMUEL DEBERRY PEELER. One of the foremost citizens of Cache township, Johnson county, and a man whose activities in publie and agricultural life have made his name well known all over this section is Samuel DeBerry Peeler, chairman of the board of commissioners of the Cache River Drainage Projeet, and the owner of Lincoln Green Stock and Grain Farm, a magnificent traet of 634 aeres of well-enlti- vated land. Mr. Peeler was born Angnst 8, 1861, on a farm in the southwestern part of Johnson county, Illinois, and is a son of William DeBerry and Catherine Elizabeth (Bishop) Peeler.
William DeBerry Peeler was born in North Carolina, and as a boy of ten years was taken to northern Alabama by his father, John Peeler. While in that sonthern state he was married to Catherine Elizabeth Bishop, a lady of Puritan deseent, who is still living on the old home- stead farm, and in 1860 they came to Southern Illinois and settled on a farm. In the spring of 1862 William D. Peeler enlisted in Company E, Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry, for service in the Civil war, and con- tinned with that organization until the spring of 1865, participating in Stoneman's raid through Tennessee after Hood, barely escaping cap- ture at Nashville and seeing much hard fighting. His record was one that would honor any man, and he was known as a brave, cheerful and faithful soldier, popular with his comrades and respected by his officers.
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On his return from the army he engaged in farming and became very successful as an agriculturist, accumulating some 1,500 acres of land. He was elected to various township offices by his fellow-townsmen, who recognized and appreciated his many admirable qualities, and was for a long period tax collector of Cache township. Three children were born to William D. and Elizabeth Pecler, namely : Samuel DeBerry ; William Olin, a farmer on the old family homestead; and Mrs. Mary F. Wilhelm, who resides in Cache township. William D. Peeler died May 17, 1899.
Samuel DeBerry Peeler was educated in the district sehools and the Southern Illinois State Normal University at Carbondale, finishing his course in 1882. During this time he taught school for six years in Belknap and at various other points in Johnson and Pulaski counties. but in 1882, on account of the failing health of his father, he returned home and became superintendent of the home farm. and thus continued for seventeen years. In 1886 he purchased a small farm of his own, and also managed a merchandise store on his farm, which was owned for thirty years by father and son, and resided near his father until 1899, keeping the Lincoln Green postoffice in addition to looking after his farm and store. In 1899 Mr. Peeler removed to a farm residence about one-half mile south of the old home, selling his first farm to his brother, William Olin, and then purchased what is known as the old Andrew Jackson Axley farm, consisting of 282 acres, to which he has since added until he now owns 634 acres. 500 of which are under cul- tivation. This he operates as a livestock and grain farm, under the name of the Lincoln Green Stoek and Grain Farm, and his annual pro- duetion, for which he has no trouble in finding a ready market, is as follows: Thirty head of cattle, one hundred and fifty hogs and ten horses and mules. His net income from his farming operations averages from $2,000 to $3,500 per year. He was one of the original organizers and promoters of the Cache River Drainage Project, and his adminis- trative abilities were recognized in his election to the position of ehair- man of the board of commissioners of this great enterprise. A Re- publican in politics, in 1890 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, serving on that body until 1896, and for fifteen consecutive years he was road district clerk of Cache township. Fra- ternally he is connected with the Masonie lodge at Belknap, the chapter at Vienna, and the Knights Templars at Cairo: and with the Knights of Pythias. the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America at Belknap. He and his family are active members and liberal supporters of the Methodist Episcopal church.
On March 9, 1884, Mr. Peeler was married to Miss Mary D. Rees, daughter of Dr. Alonzo P. and Jane (Krews) Rees, the former of whom is deceased, and six children have been born to this union : Seth H., who died at the age of twenty years: Bertie, Carl, Doris and Mabel, who died in infancy; and Ralph D., who is eighteen years old. Mr. Peeler is certainly a man who merits the esteem of all who appreciate pro- gressiveness, industry, enterprise and honest dealing, and his person- ality is such that he has made many warm, personal friends in his com- mumity, who have watched with a gratified interest his rise to a fore- most place among the men of this section.
FREDERICK HI. KOENNECKE. One of the most successful of the in- dividual operators in the mineral district of Carterville, Illinois, is Frederick H. Koennecke, owner of the Donaly-Koennecke Coal Com- pany, an active enterprise some two and a half miles north of the city. He is rather a novice in the business of mining when compared with
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those whose lives have been devoted to this industry, but notwithstand- ing his recent entry into this now hazardous field he has demonstrated his capacity for handling a considerable enterprise with favorable re- sults to its owner, as well as to those who help to dig out the coal.
Mr. Koennecke has been a resident of Southern Illinois for a quarter of a century and of the United States since 1884. He sought the new world in order to evade the military service incumbent upou all able- bodied young men of his native land and came hither equipped with a knowledge of the trade of baking. He was born at Magdeburg, Prussia, October 26, 1863, a son of Christoph Koennecke, a farmer and one of seven children. As a good education is imperative for German chil- dren, Frederick Koennecke had the advantage of a high school training and he might have remained a subject of his Kaiser but for the hurden of military service demanded of the Fatherland's young men.
He sailed from Hamburg as quietly as possible and landed at Phil- adelphia. As he failed to secure work at his trade, he began to look outside of it and found work on a farm in northern Illinois. In re- sponse to an advertisement telling of the demand for tradesmen in the eity of New Orleans, he went there during the exposition of 1885, and upon his arrival he found to his great dismay that similar pilgrims in quest of work were being shipped away in great numbers. Hearing of the possibility of securing labor at Delta, Mississippi, he spent almost his last dollar to reach there by boat, only to find that he had followed another ignus fatuns. Without means for further transportation he set out on foot for Shreveport, Louisiana, and reached there "broke." Luck favored him, however, and he kept busy for several months and when he had accumulated four hundred dollars, in the light of the les- son taught by former advantures, he deposited three hundred of it in a bank and with the remainder bought a trunk and some good clothes. But alas for good planning, the bank subsequently closed its doors and he was again stranded. He thereupon went to St. Louis and there sc- cured work for a time, in the meantime keeping on the lookout for a position at his trade. Presently an inquiry came from Carbondale for a baker and he first set foot within the limits of the Southern Illinois coal field in 1886.
While in Carbondale Mr. Koennecke again had a somewhat varied financial career. He engaged in the baking business and later drifted into merchandising in connection with it. He let a small start get away from him a time or two as a result of too much confidence in am- bitions Americans, but he finally got out of that city with enough to set him up in business as a baker in Carterville in 1891. His industry served him well as a merchant, for he soon mnade himself felt in this line, and until 1898 he did a leading business, controlled the trade of the Brush mines, favored that company materially in its contest with its employes when on a strike and was subsequently taken up by Mr. Brush, of the St. Louis Big Muddy Coal Company, who used his store as a base of supplies when he introduced colored labor into his mines. He finally sold his store and was made manager of the mercantile busi- ness of the St. Louis Big Muddy Company and served in this capacity until 1901, when he resigned to take active charge of the office and finan- cial affairs of the embryonic company-the first Donaly-Koennecke Coal Company, formed in 1899. The new company secured a lease near the city on the north and sold it soon after opening it up to the Chicago Coal Company. They then leased a traet of a few hundred acres at Brush Crossing on the Illinois Central Railroad and began development work there in 1902. This proposition embraces a half section of land and is equipped to operate to the capacity of a thousand tons a day.
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In 1911 Mr. Donaly retired from the eonceru as the result of a sale of his interest to Mr. Koenneeke and the latter is the head of the corpora- tion, while his daughter, Esther E., acts as secretary and treasurer.
As a resident of Carterville Mr. Koennecke has added his capital and influence toward the material development of the city. He took stoek in the Carterville State & Savings bank and is one of its directors. He responded to the demand for substantial business houses and erected a few fronting on the main streets of the place. He built residences and has a rental list which indicates a considerable financial ontlay. He has built a small mining town adjacent to his place of business and operates a store in connection with the town.
Some years ago he served Carterville as an alderman and took a fervent interest in urban affairs. He was then a Demoerat, but certain policies of the party have displeased him in late years and he supported President Taft for the presideney in 1908. He is a Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Carterville Blue lodge, of the Oriental Consistory and Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine, at Chicago. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias.
On March 12, 1891, Mr. Koenneeke married Miss Mary Louisa Don- aly, daughter of William and Mary (Ganley) Donaly, the former of Scotland and the latter from the city of Dublin. The children of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Keonnecke are as follows: Esther, who grad- uated from St. Theresa's Academy of St. Louis and is associated with her father in business; Dorothy, a student of St. Theresa's Academy ; and Catherine L. Mr. Koenneeke in 1907 took his family on a visit to his old home for the first time since he left it, and spent four months in Europe, seeing the leading eities of Germany, and traveling into Hol- land, Franee and the British Isles, the tour being for his children an unsurpassed educational opportunity.
ISAAC MONROE ASBURY, M. D. For nearly forty years an eminent member of the medieal profession of Southern Illinois, Dr. Isaae Mon- roe Asbury, of MeLeansboro, well merits the esteem in which he is held by the people of this seetion, and is able to fill the high position which he now holds, that of medieal director for the Grand Army of the Re- publie for the state of Illinois. Dr. Asbury was born in Hamilton county, July 6, 1848, and is a son of Wesley and Susan M. (Mitchell) Asbury.
Wesley Asbury, who was born July 5, 1805, in North Carolina, was a tanner by trade, and came to Hamilton county, Illinois, in 1838, where he continued to follow the tanning business for twenty years. For about ten years he was engaged in school-teaching near MeLeans- boro, and was also engaged in farming to some extent, purchasing a plaee about four miles southeast of Mebeansboro. He died near Me- Leansboro in 1897. He was a stalwart Republican in his political views, and belonged to Polk Lodge, No. 137. A. F. & A. M., of which he was the last charter member at the time of his death. He and his wife were faithful members of the Baptist church, in which they reared their ehil- dren. Wesley Asbury married, October 1, 1844, Susan M. Mitchell, daughter of Ichabod and Mary (Lane) Mitchell, the former of whom settled in Hamilton county in 1818, and the latter also a member of a pioneer family. Mrs. Asbury was born July 10, 1822, on her father's farm three miles east of MeLeansboro, and her death occurred Novem- ber 24, 1876, on a property four miles southeast of that city. She and her husband had the following children: John M., who died while sery- ing in the Union army during the Civil war ; Mary and Elizabeth, who died in infancy : Isaac Monroe: Wesley L., who married Naney Coker
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