USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 66
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94
In addition to this first child of his brain, Mr. Ward has other in- terests in the commercial world. He is a director of the Mount Vernon Car Manufacturing Company and is president of the Mammoth Shoe and Clothing Company of Sullivan, Illinois. The latter organization was established by Mr. Ward in 1907 and is under the able manage- ment of J. H. Smith, who has been in the employ of Mr. Ward as a clerk for twenty years. The stock of goods which is carried is valued
1526
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
at $15,000, and the company is capitalized at $10,000. Mr. Ward is also a heavy stockholder and was one of the first founders of The Mt. Vernon Building and Loan Association, for many years being its pres- ident and now a director. This is one of the largest institutions of its kind in Southern Illinois.
Mr. Ward is a strong believer in the effectiveness of the various fraternal organizations, believing that they are of great benefit not only to those who are directly associated with them but that through their indirect influence they are of benefit to mankind in general. He is a member of the Marion Lodge No. 13, of the Odd Fellows, having originally joined Hope Lodge in DuQuoin. He is a charter member of the Jefferson Lodge, No. 21, of the Knights of Pythias and is a Modern Woodman, belonging to camp No. 1919. He is a charter mem- ber of both the Iuka Tribe of Red Men, No. 151, and of the Mount Vernon Chapter of Elks, being in addition a life member of the latter society.
On the 2nd of June, 1880, Mr. Ward was married to Elizabeth Pope, the daughter of Dr. B. F. and Emmeline Pope, of DuQuoin, Illinois, who are representative members of an old Southern Illinois family. Mr. and Mrs. Ward have reared three children. Dr. Todd Pope Ward, who is the father of two children: Elizabeth Letitia, and G. F. M. Jr., Leota, who married Grant T. Harm, and has one little girl, Helene Elizabeth; and Henry Ben Pope, who is secretary and treasurer of the Mammoth Company, and has charge of the dry goods department.
Politically Mr. Ward has always been a staunch Democrat, and his influence in political affairs has always been on the side of good govern- ment. In 1885 he served as city alderman, and in every crisis stood for what would be most advantageous to the people. Remembering this and other numerous services that Mr. Ward had meanwhile performed in their behalf, his fellow citizens elected him mayor for two terms, ex- tending from April, 1899, to April. 1903. He has added two addi- tions and two sub-divisions to the city, and has acted as president of the board of education. He is responsible for the beautiful and quiet peace in which the dead of Mount Vernon repose, for he was instru- mental in laying out Oakwood cemetery and has long served as presi- dent of the Cemetery Association.
Dr. Todd P. Ward was born in Mount Vernon, on the 16th of Feb- rnary, 1881, the son of G. F. M. Ward, of whom a short account has been given in the preceding paragraphs. Dr. Ward was edneated in Mount Vernon, attending both the grammar and high schools. IIe then went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he pursned a classical and medical course for three years. Ile entered the above mentioned uni- versity in 1898, and in the fall of 1901 he went to Philadelphia, where he entered the Jefferson Medical College. In the spring of 1903 he received his degree from this institution, and immediately began to practice in Mount Vernon. In 1906 his practice had become large enongh to warrant his going into partnership, so he and Dr. Earl Green became associates. This partnership has been a very successful one, and Dr. Ward is widely recognized as a skillful practitioner. He is deeply interested in the scientific side of his profession, and is a close observer of all that is taking place in the laboratories of the men who are working in bacteriology and the related sciences in every part of this vast country, for Dr. Ward believes that the doctor of the future will have less and less use for drugs and more and more for preventive measures.
Dr. Ward, like his father, is prominent in the fraternal world. IIe
1527
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
is a Mason, being a member of the blue lodge, the chapter and the commandery of Mount Vernon. He is also an Elk, affiliating with the Mount Vernon lodge No. 819, and is at present district deputy grand exalted ruler of the order, having seventeen lodges in Southern Illi- nois under his jurisdiction, his territory extending from Jerseyville southward. He is a member of the County Medical Association, of the Southern Illinois Medical Association, of the Illinois State Medical Association and of the American Medical Association. In 1909 he be- came connected with the National Association for the Study and Pre- vention of Tuberculosis and is an active member of this society, which is doing so much towards stamping out the great "White Plague."
In September, 1906, Dr. Ward was married to Virginia Griffin Watkins, of Owensboro, Kentucky, a daughter of H. C. Watkins. Dr. and Mrs. Ward have two children, Elizabeth Letitia, who is three and a hall years old, and G. F. M. Ward, Jr., who was born on the 29th of June, 1911.
Il. B. P. Ward, the second son of G. F. M. Ward, was born in Mount Vernon, Illinois, June 21, 1885. He received his preparatory education in the Mount Vernon schools, later attending the University of Illinois at Champaign during the years 1903 to 1907 from which institution he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. On leaving college he went to work in his father's business and in 1909 was taken into the firm as secretary and treasurer, also having charge of the dry goods and ladies' ready-to-wear department. Mr. Ward is also a member of the incorporated firm, The Mannoth Shoe and Clothing Co. of Sullivan, Ili- nois, being viee president of the company. Mr. Ward is a member of the blue lodge and chapter in the Masonic order and is also a member of the Elks.
The benefit that acerues to a community in having among its mem- bers a wide-awake progressive citizen is never quite realized until after it is too late, and then on taking a retrospective view of his life, they discover how great has been his influence, without considering what he has actually accomplished. Let the people of Mount Vernon be alive to the fact that they have men who would be a great loss to the town were their places to become vacant, for both Mr. Ward and his sons take the optimistie view that times are constantly changing for the better, and consequently that it is wise to keep abreast of them, and to disseminate the modern spirit, which is progress.
BENJAMIN B. FERRELL. It is a safe presumption that Benjamin B. Ferrell, a well-known agriculturist of Union county, who is also identi- fied with some of Anna's leading business interests, is an example of self-made manhood that is worthy of the most persistent and conscientious emulation. A native of this county, Mr. Ferrell from the time of his arrival at maturity has marked his career with uneeasing toil and honor- able occupation and transactions. From a lad with but few advantages and only humble prospects his rise has ineessantly been in the ascend- aney. Benjamin B. Ferrell was born in Union county, Illinois, in 1872, and is a son of William and Mary C. (Tinsley) Ferrell, the former a native of Tennessee who came to Union county in 1864, and the latter horn here.
Mr. Ferrell attended the distriet schools of Union county as a youth, but most of his education was seenred in the school of hard work, as he was expected to do a full share of work on his father's farm. Reared to agricultural pursuits, at the age of fifteen years he began farming on his own account, sharing erops until he was able to purchase twenty-two aeres of land in 1905, on which he is carrying on gardening and truek
1528
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
farming, and he is now the owner of the old homestead farm of three hundred and sixty aeres, a wheat and grain farm which is in a fiue state of cultivation and yields banner erops. Recently Mr. Ferrell has paid much attention to the cultivation of strawberry plants, and he is gradu- ally building up an excellent business in this line, his produet having been brought to a high state of excellence through muel study and con- stant experiment. Although he had but a meager education when he started out in life, close observation and self teaching have made him a well-informed man, and he is fully abreast of the times in all the live topies of the day. He is a stoekholder in the Anna Creamery. Politic- ally a Democrat, Mr. Ferrell has been active in the ranks of his party, and has served as street commissioner for two years, a position which he ably fills at the present time. His fraternal connections are with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Odd Fellows.
On November 24, 1895, Mr. Ferrell was united in marriage with Miss Gusta Jane Turner, who was born in Union county, daughter of Perry P. Turner, one of the old settlers of this section. Mr. and Mrs. Ferrell have become the parents of three children: Dorsic L., Bessie B. and Benjamin H., all residing at home.
ROBERT LEROY ADAMS is a man of unusual enterprise and initiative and has met with such marvelous good fortune in his various business projects that it would verily seem as though he possessed an "open sesame" to unlock the doors to suecess. Self-made and self-educated in the most significant sense of the words, he has progressed steadily toward the goal of success until he is now recognized as one of the fore- most business men and eitizens of Herrin, Illinois, where he has long been the efficient incumbent of the office of city engineer.
At Crab Orchard, Illinois, May 2, 1882, oeeurred the birth of Robert L. Adams, whose forefathers have been residents of Williamson eounty since the ante-bellum days. Ilis father, Robert Adams, was born in Kentucky, and was brought to Illinois as a child by his parents. He grew up in the vieinity of Herrin's Prairie, where the modern metropolis of Ilerrin has sprung up. William Adams, grandfather of Robert L. of this review, was a farmer in the locality of Crab Orchard during the greater part of his aetive career and he died in 1895, at the age of sixty- eight years. William's children were: Robert ; Mrs. Lizzie Toler, of Car- bondale, Illinois; Mrs. Delia Chapman, of Herrin, Illinois; Mrs. Dora Reed, of IIerrin ; Mrs. Dell Cox, of Carterville, Illinois; Curt, who died unmarried ; and Mrs. Beulah Brown, whose death occurred in 1895.
Robert Adams passed an uneventful boyhood and his early educa- tional training consisted of sueh advantages as were afforded in the schools of the locality and period. He is yet an active farmer and eon- servative eitizen of the vieinity of Crab Orehard, where he is a man of prominence and influence. He married Sarah A. Seobey, a daughter of John and Amanda (Pulley) Scobey, both pioneers in this section of Illinois from Tennessee. The Scobey children were: Mrs. Hannah Mos- ley, of Williamson county ; Mrs. Robert Adams; Freeman and Edward H., farmers in Williamson county ; and Mrs. Eva Fuller and Bert Seobey, of this county. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Adams are here mentioned in respective order of birth: J. Prentiss, deputy elerk of Williamson county; William W., a traveling salesman for a Little Rock, Arkansas, concern ; Frank, an employe of the state in the hospital at Jacksonville : Robert LeRoy, the immediate subject of this review ; and Harry, who remains at home with his parents.
To the publie schools of Williamson county Robert Leroy Adams is indebted for his preliminary educational training. At the age of eighteen
1529
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
years he began teaching school and he followed that ocenpation for a period of five years, during which time he was also a student in the Southern Illinois Normal University, at Ava, and in the historic academy at Crab Orehard. His attention was finally directed to civil engineer- ing as a profession and in order to familiarize himself with the details of that line of work he entered the service. as a helper, of the firm of Hutchinson & Jacob, the scene of his early activities being in the Crab Orchard section. Eight months were spent in the employ of the above concern and at the expiration of that period Mr. Adams began to work for his old employer, T. W. Jacob. During the following two years he ap- plied himself to the work at hand and during that period mastered mining engineering. He became associated, in the engineering field, with W. T. Pierce, a noted engineer at Herrin. When Mr. Pierce lost his life in a mine accident, in December, 1909, Mr. Adams succeeded to his business, to which he has devoted his time and attention during the intervening years to the present, in 1912.
In his profession Mr. Adams oceupies a broader field than that per- taining to mining alone. Demands are constantly being made upon him in connection with surveying, running land lines, establishing corners, płatting township additions and establishing grades for city improve- ment. He is engineer for a number of corporations engaged in mining coal in Southern Illinois and has held the office of city engineer of Her- rin for some years. As city engineer he prepared the plans for the eity water plant and supervised its installation in 1911. He came to Herrin in 1906 and has thoroughly entered into the spirit of town-build- ing both as a private citizen and as an official of the corporation. In politics Mr. Adams is aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Repub- lican party and while he is not an active politician he is always ready to respond to the call of his home town for the furtheranee of progress and improvement. He resides in the Fourth ward and represents it as a member of the board of education.
On May 29, 1903, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Adams to Miss Mande Simmons, a daughter of the later William and Mary ( Cruse) Sim- mons. Mr. and Mrs. Adams are the fond parents of two children, Beatrice and Justin. Mr. and Mrs. Adams are honored and respected citizens of Herrin, where their exemplary lives have gained to them the love and admiration of all with whom they have come in contact.
JOHN SNODSMITH. Industrions, enterprising and progressive, and possessing the energy and ability that ever commands success in life, John Snodsmith is prominently associated with the advancement of the financial interests of Jefferson county, being cashier of the Belle Rive Banking Company, of Belle Rive, which was organized in June, 1910, by local and Mount Vernon capitalists, in connection with the Third Na- tional Bank of Mount Vernon. This company is capitalized at twelve thousand dollars, of which five thousand eight hundred dollars is paid in. and gives four per cent interests on time deposits, while its individual liabilities amount to a million dollars. Its offieers are all men of ability and integrity, being as follows: President. F. E. Patton, of Mount Ver- non : vice-president. A. Knowles, of Belle Rive: cashier, John Snod- smith, of Belle Rive: while its directors are F. E. Patton. George . Cross, L. L. Emmerson. R. B. Kern, Kirby Smith, A. Knowles. W. F. Carpenter, E. B. O. Dayton, T. J. De Will. George H. Batka and Henry Pnekett.
John Snodsmith was born on a farm in Morris Prairie township. Jefferson county, Illinois. September 28, 1866. of German ancestry. Ilis father. John Snodsmith, Sr., a native of Germany, immigrated to this
.
1530
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
country when very young, and after living in Saint Louis, Missouri, lo- cated on a farm in Jefferson county, Illinois. Energetic and thrifty, he succeeded in his agricultural labors, and at the time of his death, in 1885, owned a whole section of land, six hundred and forty acres. Dur- ing the Civil war he served his adopted country as a soldier, enlisting in Company E, Thirty-first Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, in which he served nine months and six days. He married, in Saint Louis, Missouri, Eliza Thoensing, a native of Germany, and of their seven children two died in infancy, and the five that grew to years of maturity are as fol- lows: Mrs. Carrie Maxey, a widow, living in Mount Vernon; Henry H., a farmer; Adolphus, also a farmer; Charles Augustus, deceased ; and John, of this sketch.
Brought up on the home farm John Snodsmith attended the rural schools of his distriet, after which he completed a course in bookkeeping in Lexington, Kentucky, later continuing his studies at both the Ewing College and the Valparaiso College. Fitted for a professional career, Mr. Snodsmith taught school five terms in Jefferson county, commene- ing when he was twenty years old. He has since followed farming most successfully, and in addition to owning one hundred and thirty acres of the parental homestead, having purchased in the summer of 1911 a farm of seventy-six aeres in Morris Prairie township. He is now devot- ing his energies to his duties as cashier of the Belle Rive Banking Com- pany, a position for which he is eminently qualified, and which he is filling most acceptably to all concerned.
Taking an active interest in political affairs, Mr. Snodsmith is an ardent supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. He served as assessor of Morris Prairie township three terms, and for one term was school trustee. Fraternally he is a member of Belle Rive Lodge, No. 992, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and religiously he is a member of the Missionary Baptist church.
Mr. Snodsmith married, in 1891. Ollie Jane Smith, daughter of Ben- jamin Smith, of Spring Garden township, Jefferson county, and they have one child, Juanita Jean, born October 7, 1897.
ANDREW DILLON. One of the oldest and most highly esteemed families of Franklin county, Illinois, is that of Dillon, which has been identified with the agricultural interests of this section for more than a century. Its members have been chiefly interested in farming and have been known as honest, upright people, the name being a synonym for honest dealing and integrity of character. A worthy representative of this family is found in Andrew Dillon, who has spent his life within the confines of Franklin county, and who is now engaged in successfully operating the old homestead on which his grandfather settled so many years ago. Mr. Dillon was born in this county, June 9. 1849, and is a son of William M. and Isabella (Moore ) Dillon.
John Dillon, the grandfather of Andrew, moved from the state of Tennessee to Illinois over one hundred years ago, and became one of the first settlers of Franklin county, where he followed farming until his death, in 1854. He was also one of the early medical practitioners of this county, and at the time of his death, in 1854, was a successful and highly- respected citizen. William M. Dillon was born in Franklin county in 1827, and spent his entire life on the property his father had taken up, dying in 1889, at which time he was considered one of the wealthiest and most influential farmers of this part of the county. He was an active and interested Democrat. but never cared to run for publie office. Wil- liam M. Dillon married Isabella Moore, daughter of Joseph Moore, and
1531
HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
she died in 1880, having been the mother of two children, Andrew and a sister.
Andrew Dillon was educated in the country schools in the vicinity of his father's farm, his uncle, Captain C. Moore, being his first teacher. As soon as he was old enough he began to do his share of work on the home place, and his father taught him lessons in tilling the soil that have since proved invaluable to him. Progressive and enterprising in all things, Mr. Dillon was one of the first to take up fruit enlture, and he now has an apple orchard of sixty acres, and claims that he has not had a complete failure in all the twenty years that he has followed this branch of agriculture. IIe believes in the use of modern methods, and pays at- tention to the leading agricultural journals, keeping fully abreast of all the innovations and discoveries of his voeation, and he is known through- out Franklin county as an able and experienced farmer. In 1894 Mr. Dillon ereeted a handsome residence at Parrish, and there he and his wife make their home. Politically, like his father, he has always been a Democrat, and also like him has never cared to hold public office.
In 1871 Mr. Dillon was united in marriage with Miss Laura Finney, daughter of William B. Finney, an early settler of Williamson county, who later became a resident of Franklin county, and two children were born to this union, namely : Carroll M., who is superintending the operations on his father's farm; and Byron E., who is employed in the Ziegler mines. Mrs. Dillon is a faithful member of the Saints church, and is well known in religions and charitable work. Both she and her husband have numerous warm, personal friends in this vicinity, where both families have been known for so many years.
CORNELIUS W. MUNNDELL. The life of Cornelius W. Munndell is both interesting and unusual, for his rise in life has been due entirely to his own undaunted efforts and an innate ability to accomplish whatever he has set out to do. The man who is now the respeeted and popular superintendent of the schools of Franklin county could not at the age of eighteen write his own name.
Mr. Munndell was born in Franklin county, Illinois, on the 24th of August. 1866, the son of J. H. and Malinda (Lannace) Munndell, his birth occurring sometime after his father's death. His father was a native of the state of South Carolina, and his mother of Franklin county. Ilis father moved to Southern Illinois in 1854, and here bought a small farm, which he lived upon until his removal to Missouri, in which state he died. J. H. Munndell was a thoroughgoing Democrat, but he never eared for the honors and emoluments of public office and was content to show his interest merely at the polls. Both he and his wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
John Launace, the maternal grandfather of Cornelius W. Munndell, the immediate subject of this brief personal review, was one of the earl- iest and most prominent settlers in Franklin county, for he came to the United States from Germany about the year 1820, and located in Frank- lin county in the days when the whole region was a vast wilderness, and Indians were the most frequent visitors. Fortitude and persistence were indeed necessary to make life possible in those days and it may be that from that hardy settler Cornelius Munndell inherited some of the vigor and perseverance that have won him so high a place in the general esteem. The grandfather took up his life as a farmer and was one of the well- known eirenit-riders in the Methodist Episcopal church. His death or- curred in the pulpit during a revival sermon. He was a much revered figure of those early days. In polities he had always identified himself with the party of Jefferson and Jackson.
1532
IHISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
Cornelius Munndell, bereft of his parents at an early age, was left with the care of his sisters and his own fortune to carve for himself. He set himself gladly at the task and began life as a farm hand, not attend- ing school until after his eighteenth year. He then attended the common schools of the county and later took a term in the Benton high school, but the main part of his education can honestly be said to have been obtained from books which he has read by himself or through that other school, experience. He began teaching at the age of twenty-one and since the year of his majority he has taught for twenty-three years, finally, in 1910 being elected to the superintendence of the Franklin county sehools by a majority of two hundred and fifty, an almost unheard of majority for a Democrat to have rolled up in a district consistently Republican, and one which shows well the high regard in which Mr. Munndell is held by those who have known him throughout his entire life.
In 1891 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Munndell to Miss Lizzie Quillman, the daughter of David Quillman, a pioneer farmer of Frank- lin county, and to this union have been born eleven children. Eight of the family are sons and the remaining three are daughters. The family are members of the Missionary Baptist church and active participants in the many good movements fostered by the denomination. Fraternally Mr. Munndell is a member of the Modern Woodmen and of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows.
JOIIN COLP. Conservative business tacties generally result in con- servation of resources, as every practical man knows, but all do not possess the courage to practice accordingly. John Colp has proven dur- ing a long and active career his ability to grapple with every condition that has presented itself and wrest success from discouraging situations. As the senior member of the millage firm of Colp, Arnold & Company, of Carterville, he has beeome a very active factor in the industrial life of this community and built up a business of considerable magnitude. Mr. Colp was born near Osage, Franklin county, Illinois, December 30, 1849, and is a son of Milton and Louisa (Dillard) Colp.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.