USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 57
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Ralph E. Sprigg grew to maturity in his native place and as a youth he attended St. Vincent's College. He spent five years in the Cape Girardeau (Mo.) Normal School, and eventually pursued the study of law in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. After his gradu- ation in the last-mentioned institution he took advanced work in the University of Georgetown. at Washington, D. C. In 1880 he was admit- ted to practice at the Illinois bar and he entered upon the active prac- tice of his profession in Chester, where he has resided during the long intervening years to the present time. He immediately assumed a prominent position as a member of the legal fraternity, developed the art. of publie-speaking to a remarkable degree, and was chosen state's attorney of his county in 1884. He continued as the able and popular incumbent of the latter office For a period of eight years, at the expira- tion of which he left it with the reputation of a vigorous proseentor and defender of the law. His long experience as the state's representative before the court uncovered for him the real career of his life-criminal law. He gave prominence to this feature of law when he returned to private practice and his snevesses have established For him a fine reputa- tion and clientele in all Southern linois. He is an adept at the art of getting testimony and is a master of the subject of evidence. Ilis manner in trials is vigorous and determined and his arguments before
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court and jury come from a heart filled with anxiety for his client and are supported with faets and precedents that seldom fail to win him a verdict.
Mr. Sprigg was reared a Democrat. He remained with the regular organization until the Chicago convention nominated Bryan and took up the free-silver heresy, when he joined the Palmer and Buckner wing of the party and stumped the state with IIon. W. S. Foreman, the gold Democratie candidate for governor. He was elected mayor of Chester for three terms consecutively, filling the office for six years, and his eon- nection with state politics extended to a service of five years on the State Democratic committee. He was a member of the Chester school board two terms and has rendered service to his town and community in defense of their welfare on every and all occasions. In the contest for the relocation of the county seat he rendered his community inval- uable assistance in brushing away the inducements offered by the com- petitive point for capital honors. In a business way Mr. Sprigg is vice- president of the bank of L. II. Gilster, of Chester, is connected with the Buena Vista Milling Company and is local attorney for the Illinois Southern, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, and the Cotton Belt Railways. In fraternal eireles he is an Elk, a Knight of Pythias and a Modern Woodman. As a man he is thoroughly conscientious, of un- doubted integrity, affable and courteous in manner, and has a host of friends, and few, if any, enemies.
On June 9, 1880, Mr. Sprigg was united in marriage to Miss Eliza- beth Florence Lindsey, a daughter of Judge John H. Lindsey. Their only child. Nora, is the wife of J. Frank Gilster, law partner of Mr. Sprigg and a promising member of the Chester bar.
JAMES HENRY HOGUE. The junior member of the firm of Hogue & Son, of Vienna, Illinois, James Henry Hogne, young though he is, has by persistence and application to his chosen vocation forged to the front until he is now one of the best known and capable contractors and house movers in the city. Many structures throughout this part of the county attest his mastery of the building trade, and the several large contraets which he now has on hand indicate that his ability and workmanship are fully appreciated. He was born on a farm near Vienna, in Johnson county, August 31, 1884, and is a son of Isaac S. and Vesta (Bridges) llogue.
James Ilogue, the grandfather of James Henry, was a native of the Blue Grass state, and migrated to Southern Illinois in 1853, settling on a farm in Johnson county. He was a timber and lumber dealer, operating in Kentucky and Illinois, and became the owner of nine hun- dred acres of land. He was married (first) to a Miss Morris, of Gol- conda, a daughter of Overman Morris, of Virginia, and granddaughter of William Morris, who was of Colonial parentage, and there were two children born to this union : Mrs. Alice Bellamy and Isaac S. By his second marriage, with a Miss Mathis, he had seven children. Isaae S. Ilogue was born in 1849, in Kentucky, and was four years of age when he was brought to Southern Illinois. He was reared to agricultural pur- suits and for some years followed that line of endeavor, but during later years has devoted himself to contraeting and house moving, as senior member of the firm of Hogue & Son. Mr. Hogue married Miss Vesta Bridges, daughter of Il. T. Bridges, a former justice of the peace and highly esteemed farmer of Vienna. Her grandfather, James D. Bridges, was a native of North Carolina, and a son of Francis Bridges and grandson of William Bridges, a native of England, who immigrated to the colonies during an early day and settled in North Carolina. Fran-
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eis Bridges married Sarah Cudle, daughter of Jesse Cudle, of North Carolina ; and James D. Bridges was united with Elizabeth Thompson, of Manry county, Tennessee, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Schef- ner) Thompson, Nortli Carolinians.
James Henry Hogue is the only child of his parents, and his educa- tion was secured in the public schools in the vicinity of his father's farm. Ile was reared to agricultural pursuits, but early in lite decided to en- gage in some more congenial occupation, and the year 1903 found him in the employ of the Big Four Railroad Company. He was connected with this line, and subsequently with the Cotton Belt Line, for Four years. but since 1906 has been engaged in business with his father. Aside from being a skilled contractor, Mr. Hogne has a well-equipped outfit for house moving, and he and his father have done much of this kind of work in recent years. Ile has gained a reputation for living up to the letter of each contract that the firm accepts, and the confidence that has thus been instilled in the publie has assisted in building up a large trade. Mr. Hogue is a member of the Modern Brotherhood of America, with the members of which he is very popular. He owns a handsome residence in Vienna, and has many warm, personal friends in the city. In 1904 Mr. Hogue was married to Miss Della Pugh, daughter of Leander Pugh, and they have had one child, Morris Isaac, an interest- ing lad of five years.
ROBERT B. TEMPLETON is one of the leading educators in Southern Illinois, not only working with all his forees for the advance of educa- tional work in his own town and county, but also through the various educational associations is actively interested in the advance of the work all over the state. In addition to his professional ability he is a practical man of affairs, who is able to cope with the problems that arise in a business-like fashion. This is perhaps due to the early age at which he began his life work, and the many types of people that he has had under his management during his years of executive work.
Robert B. Templeton was born in Perry county. Illinois. on the 12th of September, 1877. Ile is the son of a remarkable man, who had a varied and interesting career. This man was the late Rev. William H. Templeton, who spent more than half a century in missionary and pas- toral work in the Presbyterian church. He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 13th of October. 1824. His forefathers were Scotch and the American branch of the family was early founded in the New England colonies. His great-grandfather on his mother's side was a chaplain in the army of General Washington, and had the nerve- straining task of bringing cheer and comfort to the suffering soldiers in the ice bound camp at Valley Forge through the winter of 1777 and '78. Some of this ancestor's courage and fortitude must have passed into the soul of his descendant, l'or after having finished his college edu- cation he went to the Indian Territory as a commissioner to the Indian tribes, and spent seven years of his life in missionary work among the Choctaws. Chickasaws and Seminoles. Ile had prepared himself for this work in Washington and Jefferson College in his native state, where he was a classmate of James G. Blaine, and it was in the late forties that he went out into the wilderness. On his return to civilization he took up his residence in Perry county, thinois, and here the years of his ministry passed until at the end of the nineteenth century he was forced to retire from active work on account of failing health. He died on the 27th of March, 1910. and in his death the Presbyterian church lost one of its strongest forces for good in Perry county, for not only was the strength of his character a dominating influence in the life of his people.
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but the beauty and nobility of his long life of service was an ever pres- ent reminder of the ideals they all were reaching towards.
Rev. Templeton married Elizabeth M. Craig, a daughter of John M. Craig a farmer of Perry county, who had settled there on his removal from Kentucky. Mrs. Templeton is still alive, keeping the old house open for any of her children who may chose to come home, for most of them are scattered from the old place in Pinkneyville. The children are the Rev. William C., pastor of the Presbyterian church in Kirks- ville ; Jeanie E., who is lovingly carrying on the work which her father began among the Chickasaws in Oklahoma; Emma, of Pinkneyville; John F., a farmer of Perry county ; Dr. James S., of Pinkneyville ; Mary M., the wife of C. E. Malan, of the same city; Thomas, who has a farm not far from here; and Robert B., the principal of the John B. Ward school in DuQuoin.
After the completion of his preparatory work in the public schools, Robert B. Templeton attended first the Southern Illinois Normal Uni- versity at Carbondale and then the Normal School at Kirksville, Mis- souri. When he reached the age of nineteen he began teaching in the country schools of his native county, and after two years of this sort of work he entered the grades of the Pinkneyville schools. In just a year he was elected principal of the high school, and served in this position for three years, when he was elected eity superintendent of schools. He remained at the head of the educational department of the city until January, 1911. when he took office as county superintendent of schools. He had been elected to this position in November of the previous year to succeed Walter R. Kinzey. This post he filled for four years, when he was elected to his present position, as principal of the John B. Ward school in DuQuoin.
In his professional connections he is a member of the Illinois State Teachers Association, in which he served as director for one year. He is also a member of the Southern Illinois Teachers' Association, of which he has acted as president. He is unmarried and is actively identified with church work. He is particularly interested in the work of the Sunday-schools and represented his church in the state Sunday-school convention in Bloomington in 1903.
The success with which Mr. Templeton organized his work as a teacher was prophetie of the success he was to meet in his official capac- ity as principal and superintendent. He has been, in all cases, able to unite warring factions and by the use of a strong will and firm determina- tion not to let the cause of education suffer has been able to keep peace between those two hereditary enemies, the school-boy and his teacher. ITis popularity is great, for with the understanding of the little man and woman that he has gained through his years of teaching has come an understanding of the older man and woman, therefore his circle of friends has grown with the years, until now it includes every one who has been brought into friendly contact with him.
NEWTON W. DRAPER, principal of schools and editor and proprietor of the Wayne City News. is essentially one of the foremost men of this city, in which he has been active since 1906. that being the year which marks the purchase of the plant of the Wayne City Nors by him. Mr. Draper is a native son of Wayne county, born here on December 22, 1875, the son of John W. and Rebecca J. (Witter) Draper, of whose life and ancestry it is fitting that a few brief words be said here.
John W. Draper was a native of Tennessee, and a son of William 1. Draper, who migrated to Illinois from Tennessee, in 1856. He was the grandson of Joshua Draper, also a native of Tennessee, but who
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was of Virginia parentage and ancestry since the beginning of the Virginia colonies. Joshua Draper fought in the Revolutionary war, and his ancestors came directly from England in the latter part of the seventeenth century, settling in New England, where the family con- tinned to abide until in the early part of the nineteenth century, when the direct ancestors migrated to Tennessee. John W. Draper. the father of Newton W., married Rebecca J. Witter, a daughter of James and Sarah Witter, of North Hamilton county. Illinois, her parents coming from Kentucky. Five children were born to them: Newton W. : Mrs. Sarah E. Simpson; Francis Marion; Daniel, deceased; and Otha C. Mrs. Draper died in 1882, and in later years Mr. Draper married Malinda Ballard. Two children have been born of this union .- Cly and Rebecca.
Newton W. was educated in the common schools of Wayne county, later attending the Southern Illinois Normal at Carbondale, and gradu- ating from the Northwestern University Academy at Evanston, Illi- nois, in 1904. his education thus being of a high order and well suited to his ealling in life. In 1904 and 1905 Mr. Draper was principal of the Fairfield high school, and in the fall of 1905 came to Wayne City as principal of schools, and he has labored continuously in educational work. with the exception of two years which he gave to exclusive news- paper work. In JJune, 1906, Mr. Draper bought the plant of the Wayne City News, which had been established there in 1903 by Woods Brothers. and since that time he has conducted the newspaper in con- junction with his other duties. The paper has a circulation of five hun- dred and is especially well patronized as an advertising medium. It is an eight page sheet, newsy and instruetive, and is the organ of Re- publieanism in this locality.
Mr. Draper is a member of the Baptist church of Wayne City and is prominent in the allied work of that body. being superintendent of the Sunday-school and active in other branches. He was secretary of the Wayne County Sunday School Association for four years.
On June 6, 1906, Mr. Draper married Miss Mary P. Carter, of Fair- field, the daughter of William II. Carter. They have two children,- Dorothy, aged four years, and Elvira, two years old.
JAMES CLINTON CHAPMAN. In the affairs of his part of the great state of Illinois James Clinton Chapman is a leader. and happily in the case of a man of so much influence as he possesses, he is progressive and publie-spirited. Although for many years identified with mercantile business, Mr. Chapman since 1905 has given the greater part of his at- tention to agriculture, owning a fine farm of five hundred and thirty acres and a half interest in the old Oliver farm north of Vienna. Ho is seientifie in his agricultural methods, and not only has lent his as- sistance to certain experimental endeavors, but has also profited by them very materially in the cultivation of his own land. He has been partie- ularly successful as a stock-breeder and has raised some of the finest stock in this part of the state. lle has taken an active part in the adoption of the best educational methods proenrable, for he is fully cog- nizant of the important part education plays in the life of the nation.
Mr. Chapman was born February 10. 1856, in Johnson county, Ili- nois, the son of Daniel C. and Mary Elizabeth (Groves) Chapman. the former a brother of Hon. P. T. Chapman. The Chapman family is. in truth, one long established in this country and some of the subject's ancestors were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. James Clinton Chap- man was educated in the district school and worked upon the old home- stead Farm until the age of twenty-three years. He then concluded to Vol. 3 25
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to try town life for a time and became a clerk in a mercantile business in Vienna, in which capacity he remained for the space of seven years. In 1885, when thoroughly familiar with the business in all its departments, he, in association with his brothers, Tobias and Pleasant, established a mercantile business, the firm being known as Chapman Brothers, and, good fortunes being the result of their fine management and unimpeach- able business methods, they continned together for a period of twenty years, or until 1905. In that year Mr. Chapman disposed of his inter- ests in the concern and removed to his present farm of five hundred and thirty acres. in whose management he has ever since been successfully engaged. As previously mentioned, he also owns a half interest with C. II. Gillespie in the old Oliver farm of four hundred acres north of Vi- enna. He is an extensive raiser of draft horses and Angus cattle, having eight head of the latter on one of his farms and sixty-six head on the other. He has twenty-one head of draft horses at the present time. He built a handsome and commodious home, which further enhances the attractiveness and desirability of his property.
For five years Mr. Chapman has been a director of the Fair Associ- ation and in 1910 he served as president of the Vienna school board, having on several occasions been a member of the same. He was serving in 1899 when the Vienna school board authorized the erection of the new high school building. From 1896 to 1902 he was a member of the State Board of Agriculture of Illinois. At the present time he is vice- president of the Illinois State Live Stock Breeders' Association. He is one of the most popular and prominent of lodge men and he is repre- sented in various orders. His Masonic affiliation is with the Blue Lodge, the Chapter and he is eligible to the white-plumed helmet of the Knight Templar. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in- cluding the Encampment, and he is also connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Eastern Star. He is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church and in politics is Republican; having given his allegianee to the "Grand Old Party" since his earliest voting days.
On November 28, 1889, Mr. Chapman laid one of the most important stones in the foundation of his success by his marriage to Eliza Ann Oliver, daughter of James and Aveline (Smith) Oliver. Her grand- father Oliver served as county judge for many years in Johnson county. Aveline Smith is the daughter of Barney Smith, one of the pioneers of Southern Illinois. They share their happy and hospitable home with six children, five of whom are sons. They are as follows: Oliver, a grad- uate of the Vienna high school, class of 1911: James, of the class of 1912; Robert; Joseph; Mary, and George.
THOMAS T. JONES was born on his father's farm in Coles county. Illi- nois, in the year 1853, and there he was reared and passed the best part of his life until in recent years he located in Lawrenceville. For many years a prominent and snecessful farmer in Coles county, he has been not less prosperous or prominent in his business in Lawrenceville, where he has carried on a thriving real estate business for a number of years. An honest citizen, faithful in every detail to the duties of eitizen- ship and a kind and indulgent husband and father. Mr. Jones has lived a life in every way worthy of his better self, and is held in the high esteem of all who come within the sphere of his influence.
Mr. Jones is the son of William R. Jones, a Kentuckian born and bred, who was ushered into this world on a Kentucky farm in Harrison county. on the 14th of August, 1808. Half his life was spent on the farm whereon he was born. In 1831 Mr. Jones eame to Illinois on a tour of inspection, making the entire journey on horseback. In the
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same year he returned to his Kentucky home, making his way back to C'oles county, Illinois, in the following year, where he farmed for the season. In the autumn he returned to Kentucky and remained there until 1837, when he again turned his face towards Coles county. His brother had become interested with him by this time, and the two en- gaged in the stock-raising business, which meant, in those days, more trading than outright selling. William Jones made fifteen trips on horseback from Harrison county, Kentucky, to Coles county, Illinois, and always with the same horse. By 1837 he reached the conclusion that from the viewpoint of the success of his business the Coles county location would be preferable to the Kentneky location, and he accord- ingly moved his family from their Kentucky home to the new place in Coles county. In 1853 Mr. Jones married Miss Eliza P. Threkeld. In their new Illinois home they had a vast wooded prairie to themselves, with not a human habitation in gunshot, but Mr. Jones lived to see the day when that same barren prairie was a thickly settled region. On the last day of December, 1856; the young wife and mother passed away, leaving her husband with two small sons to mourn her untimely death. The elder of the children was Thomas T. Jones, and he was less than three years of age at the time. William, Jr., was a mere infant. Mr. Jones gave to the little ones the best a lonely man might offer and remained loyal to the memory of their sainted mother until 1862, when he married Elizabeth Ewing, of Coles county. She became the mother of one child. Lulu, who is now deceased. For twenty-five years Wil- liam Jones pursued the quiet, even life of the well-to-do farmer and built up in Coles county a reputation for general stability and worthi- ness of character which was well in keeping with the blameless and up- right life he led. He was a staunch Whig-Republican, and was in his early days a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, in the days when he was still giving his attention to rail-splitting in Illinois. Mr. Jones never had any ambitions to hold office, other than the minor offices of his township and county, and these he filled when occasion demanded, in the interests of unselfish citizenship. lle was a man of deeds rather than words, and he made no religious professions, but lived a life of spotless integrity that surpassed in its purity that of many a man of more churchly pretensions. Ilis death, which occurred on the sixth day of April, 1889, proved an inestimable loss to the community and to all who were privileged to share in his friendship and acquaintance.
Thomas T. Jones, his eldest son, was born on the Coles county farm, near Mattoon, and the greater part of his life was there spent. During his motherless childhood his father sent him to the district school near by the farm, and later gave him a year of training at Lee's Academy in the same county. For many years he worked with his father on the home land, but ultimately purchased a farm of his own. In 1888, seven months before his father, who had been his life-long companion. passed away, Thomas Jones married Rosa Clark, the daughter of Parker Clark, a neighboring farmer. They became the parents of nine children. namely : Robert W., a clothing merchant of Mattoon: Stella, the wife of Ernest Howell, of Marshall; Carrie, who married L. R. Smith. of Lawrenceville ; Sammel E., in the laundry business in Lawrenceville : Horace. Helen. Dumas W., Lulu and Richard, who are still in the Family home. On May 21, 1902. the wife and mother passed away. leaving the younger daughters to make a home for their father. Life in the farm home where the presence of the mother had so bright- ened and cheered everything became unendurably lonely for all after her passing, and the family left the oldl home, moving onto a tract of land adjoining Lawrenceville, which the father had but recently pur-
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chased. This land was shortly incorporated into the city of Lawrenee- ville by Mr. Jones, who platted the farm and began selling it in the form of city lots, thus gaining his first interest in the real estate busi- ness. In 1908 he formed a partnership with W. S. Titus, one of the popular land dealers of the county, and he has since devoted his entire time to the business of real estate and building. Aside from this, he is a director and part owner of the Lawrenceville Steam Laundry. Mr. Jones has given good and true service to the city of Lawrenceville as a member of the city council, to which he was elected five years ago on the Improvement ticket, and on which body he has been ever active and en- thusiastie in all work for the betterment and advancement of the com- munity during the four years of his service. Mr. Jones is associated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is an appreciative member of the order.
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