USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 68
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Joel Dunn was thirteen years of age when the family located at Be- ment, Illinois, where he continued to attend the public schools until properly prepared for more advanced studies, when he entered Eureka College, at Eureka, Illinois, where he was graduated in 1871, with the degree of B. S. For two years afterward he engaged in the study of law and practiced considerably in the justice courts, for eight years was a school teacher and for two years was a farmer, and just here it may be mentioned that he owns a large farm in Jackson county to which he proposes to retire when he feels satisfied with the work he has completed as an engineer. About 1885 he began working as a drainage engineer in central Illinois and it was Mr. Dunn who made the surveys for the greater amount of ditching in the northern part of the Kaskakia valley. During the past dozen years he has been continuously busy in Seott and New Madrid counties, Missouri, his present labors being in Jackson county as the engineer of the Degoria & Fountain Bluff Levee and Drain- age distriet.
In 1876 Mr. Dunn was married to Miss Josephine Smith, and they had three children, as follows: Joel Ernest, who was born in 1879, graduated from the University of Illinois, with his degree of C. E., and resides at Dexter, Missouri; Thomas, who was born in 1886, is also a civil engineer and is his father's assistant, living at Fordyce; and En- genia, who is Mrs. B. D. Berkhart, residing at Gideon, Missouri. Mr. Dunn's second marriage was to Mrs. Mary E. Lyon. They attend the Christian church. In polities Mr. Dunn is a Demoerat.
JOHN B. HARPER. The owner of one of the best farms of its size in Johnson county is John B. Harper, of section 15, Bloomfield township, who for forty years has been carrying on operations on the same traet and who is widely and favorably known among the agriculturists of this section. He has been a witness of the marvelous development of John- son county, and has participated in the changes that have brought. this locality from a practical wilderness into one of the garden spots of the state. Mr. Harper was born October 27, 1848, on a farm in the state of Alabama, and is a son of Jesse and Leannah (Busby) Harper, natives of that state.
Mr. Harper's mother died during the same year that he was born, and his father migrated to Johnson county, Illinois in 1852, settling near old Reynoldsburg. Shortly thereafter, however he went to Arkansas, and it is probable that he died there, as all trace of him was lost. Mr. Harper's only sister. Mrs. Leannah Elizabeth Birdwell, died in 1899. in Johnson county. His unele. W. E. Harper, fought during the Civil war, enlisting at Eldorado, Saline county, as a member of the Third Illinois Cavalry. After the death of his mother Mr. Harper was reared by his grandparents, John and Betsy (Gocher) Harper, who migrated
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to Johnson county in 1852 and settled on a farm of forty aeres, pur- chased under the "bit" act, at twelve and one-half cents an aere. Later they sold this property and settled in Saline county, near Eldorado, where they contime to reside until their deaths, in 1862. Mr. Harper continued to reside with his grandparents as long as they lived, and then hired out as a farm hand in White county for two years. Locating then in Williamson county, he secured employment in a livery stable, but in 1865 came to Johnson county and again took up farm work, continuing to be thuis employed until 1870, at which time he was mar- ried. Ile then began operations on his own account on his present farm, a tract of eighty aeres located about three and one-half miles north of Vienna. This farm, which is second bottom land, with five springs, is highly prodnetive, and Mr. Harper has raised eight hundred bushels of corn on thirty aeres, with wheat and other farm produets in comparison. A skilled agrieulturist who believes in using modern methods, he has been very sueeessful in his work, and the prosperous appearance of his farm testifies to the presence of able management. Each year has found him adding to the buildings and improvements on his land, his stock is of the best grade, and his farming machinery is of the latest and most highly-improved manufacture. Although he has reached the time of life when most men are willing to retire and shift their burdens to the shoul- ders of younger men, Mr. Harper is still hale and hearty, and fully able to do as large a part of the farm work as he was years ago. Having led a elean, temperate life, he has never known a day's siekness, and has reared a healthy, intelligent family of children. Mr. Harper has never cared for public offiee, but has discharged his duties as a good citizen by serving his township as school director and trustee.
In 1870 Mr. Ilarper was married to Miss Sarah A. Cooper, daugh- ter of John and Betsy ( Harrold) Cooper, who came to Johnson county at an early day from North Carolina and took up government land. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Harper, as follows: Mrs. Lean- nah Elizabeth Taylor, who has five children,-Lloyd, Blanche, Lee and Lawrence, twins, and Sarah ; Martha Adeline Clayton, who has three chil- dren,-Elvira, Hazel and Pleasant; Mrs. Nora Taylor, who has three children,-Vivy, Louisa and Charles; Cora Pennina ; Mrs. Della Lean- nah Taylor; and Fred, who married Miss Jobe and has three children,- Philip, John and Gerrel. The family is connected with the Cumber- land Presbyterian church, and Mr. Harper has been a liberal supporter of religions and charitable movements.
HENRY BAILEY is the president of the Little Muddy Fuel Company, a corporation operating mines at Sunfield and Tamaroa, Illinois, and has all his life been connected with the mining industry in one capacity or another. Ile was born in Perry county, on March 23, 1879. Coal mining no doubt came to him quite naturally, as in addition to being reared in a community where that was the principal industry, he is the son of Joseph Bailey, himself a practical coal miner of Monmouthshire, Eng- land, who was born there in 1834 and eame to the United States as a young man. On arriving in America he first stopped in the fuel region of Youngstown, Ohio, where he remained for a time and then continued on until he came to Illinois. He settled in the vicinity of DuQuoin and died at Sunfield, in 1883. He was married in 1863, in Youngstown, Ohio to Rachel Owens, and in 1911 Mrs. Bailey passed away at Marissa, Illinois. The issue of their union were: John, who lost his life in the inines at Sunfield in 1889; Joe, an officer of the Little Muddy Fuel Company, and who married Lizzie O'Keefe; Robert, a Sunfield miner and is married to Della Cytrall; William married Belle Payne and
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is identified with the Sunfield mine of the company; George, one of the brothers who comprise the firm, resides at Sunfield, and is married to Mary Terry; Henry; Charles, who grew up in and about the mines owned and operated by members of his family and who is now identified with the company, is the husband of Minnie Bishop; Mary, the widow of James Lockhart, is a resident of Sunfield.
Henry Bailey and his brothers were edueated in the common schools and he began his career as a miner at Sunfield with one of the local companies. He began with the simplest manual labor and steadily ad- vanced until he held the position of chief to the commissary of the com- pany. In 1900 he and his brothers eame into the possession of the prop- erty by lease, and operated the mines at Sunfield as the Bailey Brothers Coal Company, he being chosen as chief officer of the company. The lease covers three mines in this section, and they have a heavy interest in the Pond Creek Coal Company at IFerrin, Illinois, of which company he and his brother Joe are directors, the latter being secretary of the eom- pany as well. The Sunfield and Tamaroa properties have united capacity of something like fifteen hundred tons output daily, and employ a working force of three hundred men.
The marriage of Henry Bailey took place at DuQuoin on December 23, 1900, his wife being Lizzie, the daughter of B. A. Terry, a miner of English birth. Mrs. Bailey was born in Perry county on May 1. 1882. and she and her husband are the parents of three children,-Harley R., Hazel and Ray.
Mr. Bailey is a Republican, as are the other members of his family who are voters, and he is a Master Mason and a Pythian Knight.
HON. ROBERT S. JONES. The true American spirit of progress and enterprise, as exemplified in the career of Hon. Robert S. Jones, of Flora, gives him prestige among the representative citizens of Southern Illinois, and his career is a case in point that proves one of the reasons for the country's greatness-the fact that all men are equal before the law and that all have an even opportunity in the struggle for advance- ment. He is essentially a self-made man, and his energetic nature and laudable ambition have enabled him to conquer many adverse eireum- stances, while he has so ordered his life as to gain and hold the esteem and confidenee of his fellow men. Mr. Jones was born at Xenia. Clay county, Illinois, June 20, 1871, and is a son of Robert II. and Emily E. ( Ham- mer) Jones.
Robert Jones, the paternal grandfather of Robert S., was a native of Virginia, from which state he moved to Kentucky, thenee to Illinois in 1839. He was a blacksmith by occupation, participated in both the Black Hawk and Civil wars, attained advanced years, and died in Clay county, respeeted and esteemed by all who knew him. On the maternal side Mr. Jones' grandfather was Frederick Hammer, a native of Ger- many, who came to the United States in young manhood and spent the remainder of his life in Jasper county, Illinois, where he was the builder of the first mill in the county. Dr. Robert HI. Jones, father of Robert S .. was born in Warren county, Kentucky, in 1829, and when ten years of age was brought to Illinois. Reared in Randolph county and educated to the profession of physician, he was engaged in practice for thirty years and attained eminenee in his calling. During the entire Civil war he served with distinction on Grant's staff in the Twenty-first linois Volunteers, holding the rank of quartermaster-sergeant. On his return from the war he again engaged in practice, and from 1897 to 1900 was surgeon of the Soldiers and Sailors Home at Qniney. Being stricken with paralysis, he was for the last eleven years of his life an invalid, and his
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death occurred in 1909. Dr. Jones was a well known figure in Republi- ean politics and in 1872 was chairman of the county committee. His wife was born in Marion county, Indiana, and came to Illinois with her par- ents, and she survives her husband and resides at Lebanon, Illinois.
Robert S. Jones obtained his education in the common schools of Flora, supplemented by attendance, at Fairfield, Illinois, in Hayward College, and he subsequently studied both law and medicine, but never took up either profession. During the early years of his business career he followed commercial traveling, but after spending about fifteen years on the road established himself in the real estate business in Flora, with Colonel Randolph Smith. Although he had started life with little beside ambition and a determination to win success, he had the native ability and enterprising spirit that goes to make the leaders in any field, and his operations have been of such an extensive nature to entitle him to a place among the prominent business men of his section. Mr. Jones is an expert on realty values, and although the firm does a small commission busi- ness the greater part of their operations are carried on with their own property, and at times they own vast tracts of valuable lands. Mr. Jones is a man of the highest honor and integrity in all the relations of life, and commands the confidence and esteem of the entire community, where the family enjoy a distinctive popularity. He is progressive in his methods, is public-spirited in his attitude, and is known as a man of wide informa- tion and sound judgment. Ile and his family are connected with the Christian church, and fraternally he is connected with the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. A staneh and stal- wart Republican in a distriet strongly Democratie, Mr. Jones in 1908 was a candidate for a state senatorship, but owing to political conditions met with defeat, although he ran ahead of his ticket about 2,000 votes. In 1910, however, he was nominated and elected to the legislature of the state, and he is chairman of the committee on horticulture and a member of the following committees: Appropriation, corporation, fraternal and mutual insurance, judicial apportionment, mines and mining, penal and reform institutions. retrenchment, temperance and to visit state institu- tions. A strong and able speaker, Mr. Jones has been fearless in his sup- port of those measures which he has deemed important to the welfare of his constituents, and he is esteemed by his fellow-legislators as an active and energetie member. All progressive movements in his home city have his earnest and hearty support, and he has just been elected secretary of the newly organized Fair Association. He is a stoek-holder and director in the First National Bank of Flora, and contributes in various ways to the development of his community's industrial, commercial and eivie re- sources.
In 1907 Representative Jones was united in marriage with Miss Della Naney, daughter of Newton Naney. for more than thirty years a passen- ger conductor on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and two children have been born to this union : Leslie and Pauline, both attending school.
EDGAR E. FYKE. One of the most prominent men in Centralia, Illi- nois. both in the business and in the professional fields, is Doctor Edgar E. Fyke. Ile started in life a poor boy, but he had his father's fondness for books, and he was full of ambition, so making up his mind that if energy and perseverance could win for him his goal he would make a sue- cess in the same profession that his father had chosen. Success has come to him not only as a physician but as a business man. He has now re- tired from active medical practice, but he is still a prominent figure in the business world. He is a large stock-holder and is general manager of one of the most important commercial enterprises in and around Cen-
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tralia. The tact and patience which he learned as a physician have served him well in this position, where one of his biggest problems is the management of men. He has built up a good sized private fortune, but he has been too close to the suffering of the world to profit at the expense of others, consequently his money does not bear the taint of having been wrung from weak and toil worn fingers, but has been made by honest and upright business methods. Dr. Fyke, having spent so many years in the service of others, has never lost the habit of thinking much of and for others, and this generosity and big heartedness has won him the regard and affection of the people of Centralia.
Edgar E. Fyke was born in Odin, Illinois, on the 23rd of December, 1868. He was the son of John J. Fyke and Minerva T. ( Phillips) Fyke. His father, John JJ. Fyke, was born in 1842, at Tennessee Prairie, Marion county, Illinois. He is the son of Josiah A. and Margaret ( Wilson) Fyke. The former was born in Tennessee and came to Marion county about 1840. Ile took up government land and settled down to the life of a farmer. His wife was the first white ehild born in Marion county, the date of her birth being 1822. Her family, the Wilsons eame to Marion county about 1818, being pioneers from North Carolina. They took up government land and, being industrious and able people, developed the land into great and prosperous farms. Josiah Fyke and his wife raised a large family of children. He spent all of his life as a farmer, and died in 1878.
John J. Fyke is a self made man. His father was too busy to sympa- thize with his ambitions, and although he gave him what aid he could in obtaining his edneation, yet he had a large family and a small income. and there was little to spare for the education of his young son. Conse- quently John Fyke learned the true value of an education in working for it. He attended MeKendree College at Lebanon, Illinois, for a time. and then he began the study of medicine with Doetor Davenport, of Salem. Illinois. After accomplishing considerable work under the tutelage of the older man, he entered a medical college in Chicago, and after spend- ing some time there he went to St. Louis, where he matriculated at a similar institution. He won fame as a scholar, ranking among the first. in his elass in both the St. Louis and the Chicago sehools. He began to practice in 1866, and sinee that time he has been in almost constant ser- vice. He is still practicing in Odin, Illinois, and what the people of this town would do without this old friend and adviser would be hard to say. lle is a Mason and has served in all the chairs of his chapter. In his religious affiliations he is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Doctor Fyke married Miss Minerva Phillips, a daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Chadwell) Phillips. Thomas Phillips and his wife were both natives of Tennessee, and had come to Illinois in about 1855. Here they settled down as farmers and save for the years during which Thomas Phillips served in the army during the Black Hawk war he spent his life as a farmer.
Edgar E. Fyke received his elementary education in Odin, Illinois. and when he was ready to take up his professional studies his father sent him to the city where he had spent a large part of his school days. St. Louis, Missouri. Here he entered the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, from which he was graduated in 1889. He then returned to Odin, where he went into practice with his father. This was a wise move on his part. for in addition to the advice that the older man could give him from his wider professional experience, the influence of the strong and upright character of his father was a steadying inthence on the young man just starting out, eager with enthusiasm. He spent five years in association with his father and then came to Centralia, where he spent
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fifteen years in practice. During this time he has not allowed the ad- vance made in his profession to slip by him, but has endeavored to keep abreast of the times, not only by reading and studying the modern medi- cal literature, but by taking post-graduate courses. During the year of 1900 and 1901 he was in New York City doing post graduate work, and his patients have greatly benefited by this work of his.
He is no longer an active practitioner, but he still evinees great in- terest in medicine and in the related sciences. At present most of his time is given to his duties as manager of the Marion County Coal Com- pany, which owns one of the most valuable mines in the state of Illinois. Ile himself owns a large block of this stock, and is also the owner of other large properties. He has a half interest in the Red Cross Drug Store. which is a very profitable business. In his political views Doctor Fyke is a Democrat, and while he has never held office he is always an enthusi- astie worker in behalf of the party. Like his father, he is a prominent Mason, and has passed through all the chairs of the Chapter, being in addition a Knight Templar. He is, in short, one of the best known and most popular men in Centralia. A man whose opinions are listened to, and whose views are respected.
In 1896, Doctor Fyke was married to Helen Morrison, the daughter of N. B. Morrison, of Odin. He was an early settler of Odin, and had man- aged to amass considerable property by the time he was ready to retire from the business world. He died quite recently, at the age of eighty- seven. Three children have been born to Doctor and Mrs. Fyke, Jean, who is in the high school, and Helen and Lavinia, who are also both in school.
JUDGE JOHN S. STONECIPHER. Starting on practically nothing, with the determination to secure in some way first an education and then sue- cess in his profession. Judge John S. Stoneeipher, by means of hard work and the firm resolution to let nothing hinder his progress forward, is now one of the most successful lawyers in Marion county and his reputation for honesty and the ability to win his cases has given him the largest practice of any lawyer in Salem. The fine judicial qualities of his mind. his keen sense of justice and his vast store of legal lore so won the confi- denee of his fellow citizens that he was elected county judge. His suc- cess as a lawyer has its parallel in his career as a banker and financier.
John S. Stonecipher was born in July, 1868, the son of Samuel and Mary (Ross) Stonecipher. His father was a well known and popular farmer of Marion county, but was not a native of this county, having been born in Knox county, Tennessee, in 1814. In 1834 he and his wife came to Illinois and settled in Marion county, on land which is still the property of Judge Stonecipher. Here he spent the remainder of his life, living past the century mark. He was an ardent Democrat, and a stanneh member of the Missionary Baptist church. His parents were both natives of Tennessee, where they lived and died. Mr. Stonecipher was a remarkable man, with a fine mind and great nobility of charac- ter. His loss was keenly felt throughout the whole county, and the inter- est and pride which the section takes in the achievements of his son is in some measure dne to their regard for his father.
The county schools gave Judge Stonecipher his first taste of the fruits of learning, then he entered Ewing College, where he spent two years. The next two years he studied at Carbondale and then went to Valpa- raiso, where he took his degree in law in 1890. Back to his home town he went, equipped for the practice of law, but without a cent in his poe- kets to buy the fittings necessary for an office. How this was to be earned was the next question. It was a stiff problem, and it had a rather unusual
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solution. The post of deputy sheriff becoming vacant he stepped into it, and served in this capacity for two years. In this way he got consid- erable inside knowledge of the practical workings of the courts of justice, at the same time being able to earn a little money. At the end of the two years L. M. Kazy took him into his office, and here it was that he began to build up the practice that eclipsed that of any man in Salem. Some time after this he hung out his shingle and went into aetive practice for himself. His success was phenomenal, his elear and forceful man- ner of speaking, the ease with which he was able to see the flaws and weak spots in his opponent's arguments, the lightning speed with which he attacked these, all made him a lawyer to be depended upon. In 1906 his ability was recognized in his election to the office of county judge, in which position he served for one term.
Much of his time during his latter years has been occupied in his business as a banker. In 1911, on the 24th of July, he started the Citi- zens Bank, a private institution owned and controlled by himself. The experience that made him attempt such an enterprise he had obtained some years previously in the very active part which he took in the organization of the Salem State Bank, of which he was vice-president until he established the Citizens Bank, when he resigned. He yet holds the largest block of stock in the Salem State Bank and his word has great weight in the policy which they adopt. At one time he was trustee of the Sandoval Coal Company and is at present owner of a one- fourth interest in the mines.
Politieally he has always been an active worker in the Democratic ranks, and has helped to win many battles for them. Both he and his wife are members and attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church in Salem, and fraternally he is a member of the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World.
In 1904 Judge Stonecipher married Amy Bachmann, a daughter of Adam Bachmann, who was born in Germany. He came to the United States quite early in life, and started out to earn a living with absolutely no money. He is now the wealthiest man in Marion county, and is president of the Salem National Bank. Judge and Mrs. Stone- cipher have two children. Frank G., who is in school. and a little girl, Maude L.
The career of Judge Stonecipher speaks for itself. Such success as his could not come from anything save a power within himself, the in- stinet to fight against all odds and to meet defeat with the steady de- termination to conquer next time. Although his legal practice brought him in money, yet he threw himself with as much enthusiasm into a case which meant little or nothing in a pecuniary way as into one that in- volved large sums. His clients were always inspired with hope. by his calm belief in the fortunate outcome of their cases, a faith that was rarely disappointed. Faith in him and in his integrity having taken so firm a hold on the minds of the people it is no wonder that the bank which he started is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful institu- tions of its kind in the county, or that he occupies one of the highest places in the respect of the community.
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