USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 56
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The education of William Schwartz was secured in the district schools of his locality, and he was for a short time an attendant at a German school near his home. Ile came to know the life of a farmer by his actual experience with it, and when he was twenty-three years old his father turned the county home over to him and his brother for cultivation and management. During the years which intervened be-
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fore he came to Pulaski county he accumulated some stock, farming implements and other necessary paraphernalia incidental to successful farming, and he came to Southern Illinois prepared to acquire a farm of his own. He purchased a hundred and sixty aeres of land possess- ing rather primitive improvements, and began to raise stock and grain. Hle reaped a liberal reward from his applied industry and in a com- paratively short time was able to add another quarter section to his estate. In 1900, ten years after he located in Pulaski county. Mr. Schwartz built himself a handsome residenee, suited in every way to the demands of country life and entirely modern in the best sense of the word, in addition to which he has erected a fine lot of buildings which give him an ideal equipment for the housing of his products and his stock. All things considered, his place is one of the best and most snit- ably equipped that may be found in the county. In addition to his ex- tensive farming interests, he is a stockholder in the Grand Chain Mer- cantile Company, one of the leading concerns of the village of Grand Chain. He shares in the political faith of his father, which was that of the Republican party, and is interested in the advancement of the cause, although his time is so fully occupied by his manifold duties in connection with the proper management of his farm that he has little time to devote to political matters. He has been a school-director for his distriet, giving praiseworthy service in that capacity.
On November 20, 1884, Mr. Schwartz was married to Miss Eva K. Daab, a daughter of Louis and Johanna (Fahrbeck) Daab, both of German birth and residents of Monroe county. Mr. Daab died in 1864, and two of his four children were living at that time. Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz became the parents of six children, all of whom are living. They are: William D., a farmer of Pulaski county, married Miss Lizzie Allit, who died after a few months and he took for his second wife Miss Angie Riffner; Julius, a resident of Belleville; Walter F .; Eddie P .: Frederick W .; and Albert Philip.
WALTER DAVIS PARMLY. Among the most intelligent and progress- ive fruit growers of Union county is Mr. Walter Davis Parmly. Hay- ing lived in this section all of his life, he has become closely identified with the affairs of the county and is a man whose publie spirit may be depended on when any important issue arises. As an agriculturist he has been very successful, owing this success not only to his own thor- ough knowledge of this great basic industry, but to a natural ability for farming and fruit raising, inherited from his father.
Walter D. Parmly was born on the farm where he now lives, Septem- ber 18, 1867, his father being John Parmly and his mother. Sarah ( Biggs) Parmly. The former was the son of Giles Parmly, and was born in October, 1816. Giles Parmly was a Kentuckian by birth. who migrated to Southern Ilinois in 1808, but finding the Indians on the warpath and peaceful farming impossible. he returned to Kentucky, where he resided until 1811. At this date he again came to Inion county, settling about one mile west of Alto Pass. Here he reared a large Family and died on the farm where he had spent the later years of his life. His son John, with the exception of one year's residence in Stoddard county, Missouri, lived in Union county all of his life. Iu 1861 his first wife, Susan Hanson, died. By this marriage he had seven children, three of whom are now living. When the Mexican war threat- ened Mr. Parmly responded to the call for volunteers and enlisted in the army, but he saw no active service. In 1857 he began to experi- ment with fruit growing, thus becoming one of the first orchardists in his eounty. IIe was a good farmer, believing in embracing every op-
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portunity for improving his property and methods of cultivation, and his views have been ably carried ont by his sons. After the death of his first wife he married Sarah Biggs, and Walter D., the subject of this sketch, is the third of five children, four of whom are living.
Walter D. Parmly was born and reared in the clean atmosphere and among the strengthening influences of a healthy farm life, having always lived on his present place of one hundred and twenty acres. He has planted his farm largely in fruit trees, as follows: fifteen and a half acres in apples, which are just beginning to bear; twenty acres in peaches, also young, but producing in 1911 a light erop of five hundred cases; five acres in rhubarb, largely young plants, from which he ob- tained seven hundred packages in 1911; also shipping this year four hundred barrels of sweet potatoes. He owns another large farm of one hundred and five acres, which he has likewise planted mainly in young fruit trees, nine acres being planted in apples, eight in peaches, four in rhubarb and ten in sweet potatoes. In cultivating these various erops Mr. Parmly uses the most modern methods. Ile has two machine sprayers, operated by gasoline, and believes in their frequent use, all of his trees receiving a spray about five times a year.
Fraternally Mr. Parmly is affiliated with the Cobden Chapter of the Knights of Pythias, and is an ardent supporter of all for which this order stands. In religious matters he is a Baptist, being a member of the Missionary Baptist church of Limestone.
On the 7th of October, 1888, Mr. Parmly was married to Nancy Elizabeth Sumner, a daughter of Winstead and Ellen (Farrell) Sum- ner. They are the parents of three children, two of whom, Faith and Ulva, are living.
ANTHONY DOHERTY. Self-made is a word that comes quickly to mind when a man has overcome difficulties that have beset his path and used them as stepping-stones by which he has climbed to a large meas- ure of success in life. It is an honorable word and stands for industry, perseverance, courage and self-denial, and may justly and appropri- ately be used in commenting on the life and career of Anthony Doherty, one of the prominent business men of Clay City, Illinois. That success should come to such a man is in justice due, for the untrained lad who overcomes obstacles by sheer persistency and indefatigable labor cer- tainly deserves such reward. Mr. Doherty was born in the state of Louisiana. August 11, 1858, and is a son of Robert II. and Sarah A. (Smith) Doherty, and grandson of Anthony and Charlotte (Swayzee) Doherty.
Mr. Doherty's grandfather was a wealthy Louisiana planter and slave-owner, and died just before the Civil war, while his grandfather on the maternal side was a native of Massachusetts who moved to Louisiana and there spent the rest of his life. The latter had a family of five children, to all of whom he left a good estate. Robert II. Doherty was born in Louisiana, November 3, 1831, and received excellent educa- tional advantages, being a graduate of Bethany (Virginia) College. lle was engaged in sugar planting in his native state. He died Septem- ber 27, 1860. Ilis widow was left with the estate that had been given her by her father, but this was lost, like thousands of other fortunes, when the Confederacy went to its doom, and Mrs. Doherty was per- suaded to move to a little farm belonging to a maiden aunt in Illinois. Accordingly, she came to this state in 1871, settled on the little prop- erty and proceeded to rear and educate her children as best she might. and Anthony secured a good education in the schools of Clay City. After completing his mental training he started life on his little forty-
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acre farm, but he had no inclination for the vocation of an agriculturist and after giving the life a trial entered a drug store, working for a year without pay, except his board, in order to learn the business. Dur- ing the next two years he worked as a clerk in drug stores at a salary of thirty dollars per month, but found he was not advancing fast enough, and so secured employment as a school teacher. During the next six years he was employed as an edneator in various parts of the county and for one year was principal of schools in Clay City, and in 1882 found he had saved enough, by constant economy, to purchase a one- half interest in a drug store. Subsequently he and his partner divided the stock and Mr. Doherty took his brother as partner, under the firm name of Doherty Brothers, a concern that has conducted a pharmacy in Clay City for more than twenty-eight years. In 1881 Mr. Doherty first went on the road as a commercial traveler for a drug house, and he has traveled nearly all the time since. At one time he decided to leave the road, but after a short trial found that his health demanded travel- ing, and accordingly took up the work and again became a "Knight of the Grip." Since 1899 Mr. Doherty has been in the service of the JJ. S. Merrill Drug Company, and he is known to members of the trade all over the country. Mr. Doherty has invested much of his capital in valuable lands in Illinois, and nows owns an excellent. well-paying farm of one hundred and forty-eight acres, located near Clay City. He is a capable business man, and to each of his several enterprises brings a complete and intricate knowledge of detail, showing the result of care- ful and conscientious study .. He is a prominent Mason, belonging to Clay City Lodge, No. 488, A. F. & A. M .; Flora Chapter, No. 154, R. A. M .; Gorin Commandery, No. 14 K. T. of Olney, and has served as mas- ter of his lodge and as district deputy grand master for a number of years He gives his political allegiance to the Democratic party, but has been too busy to think of seeking publie preferment. With his family he attends the Christian church.
Mr. Doherty was first married to Miss Maggie Smith, who died July 5, 1880. daughter of John Smith. On December 28, 1881. his second marriage occurred, when he was united with Miss Clara Souther, daugh- ter of Simon Souther, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany. Mr. Souther who was a carpenter by trade and came to the United States when a lad of eight years, lived for a number of years at Salem, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Doherty have had seven children, namely: Ethel, who married Dr. C. E. Duff, a well-known dental practitioner of Lawrenceville, Illinois ; Robert, an electrical engineer at Schenectady. New York. in the employ of the General Electric Company, and a graduate of the class of 1909, University of Illinois: Mande, who lives at home with her parents: Stephen Swayzee, who in April. 1912, graduated from the Chicago Vet- erinary College ; Thomas Anthony, traveling in Hlinois for a wholesale drug establishment ; Chester C., a student at the Lawrenceville high school ; and Kathleen, who lives at home and is attending school.
JAMES R. WEAVER. Conspicuously identified with Mounds for up- wards of five years as a coal and ice dealer and as a member of the livery and trading firm of Seruggs & Weaver, James R. Weaver is one of the best known and most prominent men in Pulaski county, He was born at Wa- thena, Kansas, November 29, 1862. His mother died at his birth, and his father, Barnett Weaver, brought his two children back to their old home at Grand Chain, Illinois, around which point the son, James R. Weaver, remained until his removal to the county seat to assume the duties of the office of sheriff of the county, in 1902.
Barnett Weaver, the father of James R. Weaver, was born in Union
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county, Illinois, in 1832, and he passed his youth near Mount Pleasant, where his father, Barnett Weaver, Sr., had settled as a pioneer in early days, and where he passed away after rearing a family of six children. Barnett Weaver, Jr., was an average citizen of his community from the standpoint of education, and came from a home where patriotic senti- ments flourished. He with his two brothers, Jasper and John, were vol- unteer soldiers and are Civil war veterans. At the cessation of hostilities Barnett Weaver removed to Indian Territory and was a resident there when he died, in 1908. He is buried at Sapulpa, Oklahoma, where his family by his second marriage still lives. His first wife was Susan White, and besides James R., she . left a daughter, Florence, now Mrs. Abe Mobley, of Seattle, Washington.
The childhood of James R. Weaver was passed under the guardianship of one of the eccentric characters of Pulaski county, Dr. James B. Ray. The Doctor practiced medicine at Grand Chain for a number of years, coming to Southern Illinois before the war. He was a native of Kentucky and was reared in a household which took up arms against the Union. He became a most rabid, uncompromising and partisan Republican, and this, with other peculiarities, marked him conspicuously among his fellows. His ward, young "Jim" Ray, as he was called, imbibed many of the traits of the singular old Doctor. As a school boy, Jim cared little or nothing for books. He abused his privileges in school by inventing schemes to evade his responsibilities as a student, and his school days were a con- tinuous round of frivolities, rather than the serious preparation which the average youth finds necessary. He was later sent to Ewing College, where he might have taken a degree, but for the old failing which clung to him with the passing years. When he left school he was as little in- clined for serious work as he had been in his school days, and for several years he roved about through the west, securing occasional employment when necessary, but for the most part getting money from home for his needs. As he neared the close of the third decade of life he began to show a disposition to fasten to something serious and make a name for himself, and he was encouraged in his new motives by being chosen as constable of his township; he was shortly thereafter elected justice of the peace, and while the encumbent of that office acquired a solid footing with the politicians and voters of his county, which eventually resulted in his being chosen to the office of county assessor and treasurer. In his po- litical opinions Mr. Weaver is a Republican and believes that all good and true policies of a political nature emanate from the Republican party. In 1898 he was chosen assessor and treasurer of Pulaski county, as men- tioned previously, and after serving four years in that capacity he was elected to the office of sheriff and collector, and when his term in that ca- pacity expired he was returned to the office of assessor and treasurer, in all passing twelve years in the courthouse in the service of Pulaski county. Save for the execution of Eli Bugg for conspiring to murder Chris Mathis, Mr. Weaver's regime as sheriff was void of incident beyond the regular routine of duty.
. On January 6, 1890, Mr. Weaver married at Olmstead, Illinois, Miss Myra Smith, a daughter of Judge H. M. Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Weaver became the parents of three children : Susie, born November 4, 1890; Mid, born January 22, 1894, died January 1, 1896; Maurice, born March 14, 1896, died October 30, 1901. Susie attended the public schools of Mound City, following which she became a student in the M. C. F. I. at Jackson, Tennessee, and was duly graduated from that institution in 1907. She married on April 27, 1909, to Fred S. Keiser, of Union City, Tennessee. Mr. Keiser is a graduate of Vanderbilt University. At the time of their marriage he was in the employ of the Illinois Central Rail-
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road Company at Mounds. They now reside in Chicago, where Mr. Keiser is in the employ of the same company in their general offiees.
Following the years of his publie serviee as an official of Pulaski county, Mr. Weaver moved to Mounds and engaged in the livery, ice and coal business with George M. Seruggs, which firm deals aetively as trad- ers in horses and mules for the home markets. The firm has contributed to the improvement of Mounds in the ereetion of a eonerete barn and in building a number of cottages to rent. Mr. Weaver has other permanent interests in the county, and leads rather a busy life, but he always has plenty of time for his friends and is always glad to meet them.
JOHN E. DAUGHERTY is secretary of the Chester Knitting Mills, was one of its active spirits as a promoter and has been identified with this seetion of Illinois sinee 1903. Ile is indigenous to the soil and climate of this state, his birth having occurred at Pontiac, Illinois, January 17. 1879. He grew up in that city and his early educational training was acquired in the township high school, in which he completed a commer- cial course, thus equipping himself for a business career, which he began upon reaching his majority.
The father of the subject of this review was James M. Daugherty, a native of Ireland, whence he came to the United States with his parents when a mere child. He grew up and was educated in Rhode Island. James M. Daugherty married Miss Nancy Sharkey, and the two came out to Pontiac, Illinois. There he passed his life and died in 1899, at the age of sixty-six years. Concerning the five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Daugherty, James is an instructor in the trade school of the Pontiae Reformatory ; Mrs. A. J. Renoe resides at Leavenworth, Kan- sas; Elizabeth is a teacher in the Pontiae publie schools; John E. is the immediate subjeet of this sketch; and Edward S. resides with his mother and sister at Pontiac.
When ready to engage in business John E. Daugherty was con- fronted with an opportunity to become a volunteer soldier and help fight a battle for humanity or seek employment in some commercial or industrial capacity at home. He chose the former and enlisted as a soldier in Company F, Third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Col- onel Fred Bennett, for service in the Spanish-American war. The regi- ment was ordered from Springfield to Chickamauga Park, Georgia, and there remained in camp for three months. In July it was ordered to join the troops bound for Porto Rico and was disembarked at Arroya. The command proceeded on the Guyama and encountered the Spanish at a few points, but met with little resistance. When the Spanish do- minion collapsed in America, Angust 12, 1898, the Third Illinois be- came one of the regiments of occupation. It remained on police duty until November, 1898, when it was ordered home. Upon reaching JJoliet. Illinois, the regiment was furloughed until January, at which time it was mustered out.
Upon resuming the responsibilities of civil life Mr. Daugherty en- tered the Paramount Knitting Company's service at. Pontiac as an ordi- nary hand about the plant and he came to Chester for the company in 1903. He had been rewarded with a foremanship by this time and when the factory removed to Waupun, Wisconsin. in 1904, he accom- panied it and was absent from Chester till 1905, some eighteen months. When the Paramount mills left. Chester a movement was soon inang- urated for the establishment of an independent plant here, with JJ. H. Riekman as its prime mover. Mr. Riekman was joined by Mr. Daugh- erty and upon the organization of the new concern the latter was chosen secretary of the company. Both Mr. Daugherty and Mr. Rick-
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man had mastered the details of the knitting business and, as a mat- ter of course, the management of the new company fell to them. The several expansions of the plant and the erection of another mill at Col- linsville, Illinois, are some of the indications of the efficiency of the work of the management.
On April 24, 1907, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Daugherty to Miss Mabel V. Horner, of Chester. Mrs. Daugherty is a daughter of HIon. Henry Clay Horner, one of the leading members of the Randolph county har and a citizen of prominence and influence in Southern Illi- nois. Mr. and Mrs. Daugherty have two children,-Mary Elizabeth and Catherine Isabel.
Mr. Daugherty, while he has never participated actively in publie affairs, is deeply and sincerely interested in community affairs and does all in his power to advance progress and development. He is affiliated with a number of representative fraternal organizations. . The family home of the Daughertys is one of great attractiveness and is a center of refinement and hospitality.
JOHN JUDSON JENNELLE, D. D. S. One of the leading members of the profession of dentistry in Southern Illinois, John Judson Jennelle has been engaged in practice in Cairo for a quarter of a century con- tinuously. His first advent hither was in 1872, and after passing two years he went back to his old home, DuQuoin, Illinois, to remain a few years, and then returned to the commercial center at the mouth of the Ohio for permanent identity with its citizenship. He was born at Leroy, New York, August 3, 1850, from whence his parents migrated in 1865 to Pontiac, Michigan, his father, John J. Jennelle, following the trade of tinner and plumber, which he had learned at his native place, Quebec, Canada, where he had been born of French parents. He died in 1901, at the age of eighty-five years, and his widow, who had been Miss Melvira Barter, of Ogdensburg. New York, followed him to the grave in 1904. Of their family five children lived to grow to maturity.
Dr. John J. Jennelle acquired his education in the common schools and took up the study of dentistry when there were but two dental col- leges in the United States. He learned his first lessons in the office of a practitioner, thereby equipping himself for real professional work, and in 1870, having properly experienced himself, he took up the prac- tice in DuQuoin, and that place and Cairo constitute the scenes of his professional activity. Dr. Jennelle entered the profession before the State Association of Dentists was organized and he is a charter member of that body. When the movement for legislation for the protection of the profession was being urged, the Doctor adds his influence to it and was appointed by Governor Cullom a member of the first board of den- tal examiners of Illinois. He is a Republican in politics, and has become allied with the public services as one result of his unalloyed citizenship and Republican proclivities. He was elected county commissioner in 1904, again in 1907 and a third time in 1910, and during all these years he has been chairman of the board. He has given a few years of service to the city as an alderman and, while in DuQuoin, he served very ably as a member of the board of education.
On August 6, 1874, Dr. Jennelle was married in DuQuoin, Illinois, to Miss Lucy E. Dyer, a daughter of the late Dr. L. Dver, prominent in Southern Illinois affairs for many years, a member of the Eighty-first Ilinois Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war, a surgeon in Grant's army and actively identified with professional interests almost to his death in 1897. Hle was born in Vermont and married a Miss Purdy. Dr. and Mrs. Jennelle have had the following children: John, who is
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general manager of one of the largest lumber companies of the Pacific coast, maintains his home in Seattle, and is married to Miss Edith Halli- day, of Cairo, and has two children, Edith and John Judson ; Marian, the Doctor's second child, married R. E. Given, a business man of Fort Stockton, Texas; and JJune, the third child, became the wife of H. N. Calhoun, well known in business circles of Chicago. Dr. JJennelle has ever comported himself quietly and unobtrusively, and his life has been devoted to his family and his profession, and to a modest effort to serve his adopted community.
RALPH E. SPRIGG, of Chester, whose name occupies a conspicuous place on the roll of Illinois' eminent lawyers, during some three decades connection with the bar of the state has won and maintained a reputa- tion for ability that has given him just pre-eminence among his pro- fessional brethren. In the law, as in every other walk of life, success is largely the outcome of resolute purpose and unfaltering industry .- qualities which are possessed in a large degree by Mr. Sprigg.
A native of Illinois, Ralph E. Sprigg was born at Prairie du Rocher, October 9. 1859. His father was James D. Sprigg, a merchant at Prairie du Rocher during a goodly portion of his active career. He was likewise born in linois and was a son of Ignatius Sprigg, who came west from Hagerstown, Maryland. The original progenitor of the Sprigg family in America was born and reared in England and was one of the first governors of Maryland after his arrival in this country. William Sprigg, another ancestor of the subject of this review, served on the bench as presiding judge of all the country west of Virginia, then styled the Northwest. Territory. Men of the Sprigg family have been engaged in various vocations-bankers, merchants, doctors and lawyers-and all have proved themselves able representatives of their respective crafts. Ignatius Sprigg in his youth was a surveyor and was associated in that work in Illinois with Judge Thompson. Making his home in Randolph county, this state, he was chosen one of the early sheriff's of the county. James D. Sprigg, father of Ralph E., passed away in 1872, at the age of forty-four years. He married Miss Amanda Mudd. a daughter of Wil- liam Mudd, of Virginia, Mrs. Sprigg long survived her honored hus- band and she died in 1901. leaving Ralph E. as her only heir.
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