USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 69
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WILLIAM H. THRASH, sheriff of Clay county since 1910 and one of the prominent farmers of his section of the state, is a native of Clay county. IIe was born on the farm of his father on Inne 10. 1861, and he is now the owner and operator of that farm, which came to him upon the demise of his honored parent. The farm is one of the most up-to- date and well kept in the county, and is a matter of much pride to its owner, as well it may be.
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Mr. Thrash is the son of Larkin and Sarah ( Humes) Thrash. Lar- kin Thrash was born in White county, Illinois, in 1818, and passed his life in pursuit of the farming industry. He settled in Clay county in early life and on the government land which he filed on when he came here he worked and prospered and finally died, his death occurring in November, 1911. He was always a hard-working man and his success was in proportion to the efforts he expended on his place, in later years being prominently known as a farmer and stock-raiser of much ability and prosperity. He was a Democrat all his life, and all his political labors were in behalf of that party. He was the son of Thomas Thrash, a native of Virginia, who settled in White county, Illinois, where Lar- kin Thrash was born, and there spent the remainder of his life. The maternal grandfather of William H. Thrash was John Humes, born in Ohio, but later moving into Indiana, where he eventually passed away. Ile also was a farmer.
Mr. Thrash, of this review, was edneated in the common schools of Clay county, being permitted advantages such as were common to the country youth of his period. Ile remained on his father's farin and as- sisted with the condnet of the flourishing business of which his father was the head. He has made his residenee at the farm, which eventually came into his ownership on the death of his father in November, 1911, until a short time ago when he moved into Louisville, that he might more conveniently discharge the duties of his office as sheriff of Clay county, to which office he was elected in 1910, on the Democratic ticket in a Republican county, a fact which is most eloquent of the high stand- ing and general popularity of the man in his eounty.
In 1883 Mr. Thrash married Miss Belle Rusher, a daughter of Moss Rusher, a settler in Illinois in the early days of her statehood. He was a veteran of the Civil war and was a useful citizen of Louisville for many years, where he plied his trade as a harness maker with a high degree of success up to the time of his death, in 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Thrash are the parents of seven children : Flossie, Charles W., Nellie., Clarence, Arta, Ruth and Esti.
Mr. Thrash is a member of the Odd Fellows and the Red Men, and in his political affiliations has always been a sturdy Democrat, and has been a leader in Democratic politics in Clay county for years.
JUDGE CICERO J. LINDLY, who is now engaged in the general practice of law at Greenville, the judicial center of Bond county, has been a resi- dent of Southern Illinois from the time of his nativity and is a scion of one of the prominent and honored pioneer families of this section of the state, with the development of whose resources the name has been closely identified. Judge Lindly has been a power in connection with political affairs in Southern Illinois, has served as a member of the state legisla- ture and as county judge, as well as railway and warehouse commis- sioner, and was at one time a prominent candidate for Congress. He has gained secure prestige in his chosen profession and is one of the representative members of the bar of Bond county, where he controls a large and substantial practice and where he commands unequivocal popular esteem.
Cieero J. Lindly was born on a farm near St. Jacob, Madison county, Illinois, on the 11th of December, 1857, and is a son of John J. and Mary A. (Palmer) Lindly. That the Lindly family was founded in Southern Illinois in the early pioneer epoch of the state's history is evident when it is stated that John J. Lindly likewise was born in Madi- son county and that the date of his nativity was 1831. There he was reared and educated and virtually his entire aetive career was devoted
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to the great basic industry of agriculture, in connection with which he gained distinctive success and prosperity. He lived retired for many years prior to his death, though he continued to give a personal super- vision to his various farms and other important real-estate interests. In 1867 he established his home in the village of Lebanon, St. Clair county, where he passed the residue of his long and useful life, a citi- zen honored for his sterling character and marked ability, and he was summoned to cternal rest in 1909. He was a man of broad views and strong mentality, was a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Re- publican party and his religious faith was that of the Baptist church, of which he was a zealous member, as was also his first wife and is like- wise his widow, who still resides at Lebanon. As a young man John J. Lindly was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Palmer, who likewise was representative of a sterling pioncer family of Madison county, and they became the parents of four children,-Joseph, Madison, Cicero J., and Mary A., the only daughter being now the wife of a Mr. Taylor. A number of years after the death of his first wife Mr. Lindly wedded Miss Ella P. Pierson, a native of New York, and she survives him, as has been previously noted in this paragraph. The two children of the second marriage are Cleda, who is the wife of William Wade, of Paris, Illinois; and Albert, who is a resident of this state.
Judge Cieero J. Lindly passed his childhood days on the old home- stead farm and was about ten years of age at the time of the family re- moval to the village of Lebanon, where he fully availed himself of the advantages of the excellent public schools, after which he pursued a course of study in the law department of MeKendrec College. That he made rapid and substantial advancement in his absorption and as- similation of the science of jurisprudenee is shown by a document in his possession. This is a letter issued by the court at Mount Vernon, Jefferson county, stating that he had passed the required examination before the same but that his license to practice law was withheld by reason of the fact that he had not yet attained to his legal majority and thus become eligible for admission to the bar. After leaving college Judge Lindly was for a time engaged in the work of his profession in the office of Ex-Governor Fletcher, in the city of St. Louis. In 1880 he assumed connubial responsibilities, and soon after his marriage he re- moved to a farm south of St. Jacob, Madison county, where he remained until the 2d of July, 1882, when he purchased a farm south of Green- ville, Bond county, where he continued to devote his attention to diver- sified agriculture and stock-growing until 1900, when he established his home in Greenville. ITis activities and influence had in the meanwhile transcended the limitation of his farm, which fine property he still owns, and he had become an influential factor in publie affairs.
Unswerving and ardent allegiance to the Republican party has ever characterized Judge Lindly and, with admirably fortified convictions coneerning matters of economic and political import, he has proved an effective advocate of the principles and policies for which the "Grand Old Party" stands sponsor. In 1884 he represented his native state as presidential eleetor on the Republican tieket, and in 1888 he was a dele- gate to the national convention of his party when General llarrison was nominated for the presidency. In 1886 he was elected county judge of Bond county, and he continued to preside on this beneh, with marked ability and favor, for a term of years. In 1890 he was nominated for the office of state treasurer and in the ensuing eleetion was defeated by only forty votes. In the same year he was the candidate of his party for representative in the United States congress, but was defeated by nor- mal politieal exigencies, as the distriet was strongly Democratic. In
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1891 he received in the state legislature all of the Republican votes for representative in the United States senate, the contest being recorded as one of the prolonged and spirited order and his opponent having been Hon. Palmer, who received one hundred and two votes to one hundred given in support of Judge Lindly. In 1896 Judge Lindly was appointed a member of the state railway and warehouse commission, and he re- tained this offiee for five years, as did he also that of chairman of the lower house of the state legislature, in which body his service was marked by earnest and loyal efforts to conserve wise legislation, the esti- mate placed npon his work being shown most conclusively by his reten- tion of the office for three consecutive terms, during the last of which he was chairman of the Republican committee of the house. In 1908 Judge Lindly assumed charge of organizing forces and perfecting the plans for the issuing of bonds by the state in the amount of twenty million dollars, and in behalf of this important measure he made an earnest and effective canvass of the entire state. Since the completion of this work he has been engaged in the general practice of his profession at Green- ville and his large and important business is based on his well proved ability as a trial lawyer and conservative counsellor of broad informa- tion and mature judgment. He has been a delegate to every Republican state convention in Illinois since 1884, and has been an effective and valned campaign worker, with high reputation as a public speaker on political issues.
Judge and Mrs. Lindly are members of the Christian church in their home eity and are prominently identified with the leading social activities of the community. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he has attained to the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scot- tish Rite and he has held various official chairs in the different Masonic bodies with which he is affiliated, including the Illinois Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons. He has also served as grand master of the Illinois Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and as grand representative of the same for two terms. He is identified with the Masonic adjunct organization, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and also with the Greenville lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On the 20th of December, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Lindly to Miss Alice J. MeNeal, of Greenville, and they became the parents of three children, all of whom died before attaining to adult age.
WHEELER BROTHERS. Situated in the heart of the Mississippi valley is Dixon Springs, one of the most delightful summer resorts of our coun- try. Owned and operated by the Wheeler Brothers, Charles Bourquin Wheeler and Fred Leon Wheeler, it is located in Pope county, Illinois, on the Golconda branch of the Illinois Central Railroad, six miles north- east of Reesville, and a little less than two miles from Dixon Springs Station. The Wheeler Brothers, who are gentlemen of great enterprise and keen foresight, are putting forth every effort to render this pic- turesque spot, of the Ozark Mountain Range especially attractive, not only to those desiring henefit from the sparkling waters of the various mineral springs that here abound, but to the youthful or aged that feel need of the tonie given by the invigorating atmosphere of the place. and for all who are seeking the best possible locality in which to enjoy a summer onting.
The medicinal value of the waters of these springs have been known for many decades, the Algonquin Indians, who made occasional trips to the territory south of the Tennessee river to wage war upon, the Iro-
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quois tribe of savages, using this spot as a camping ground and naming it "Kitche Mus ke Nee be," a term signifying "Great Medicine Water." In 1848 William Dixon, an early pioneer of Pope county, obtained a grant to this traet of school-land from Governor French, and here ereeted his old cabin home, which was built of logs of his own hewing. The cabin still stands, apparently as strong as when it was erected, the two large fireplaces telling of the primitive life of the first settlers. An old log church standing near by was the first place of worship in the vieinity and the scene of many an historical event. The natural seenery hereabout is unsurpassed for romantie beauty and picturesque effeets in any part of the world, seenes of enchanting loveliness, and matchless grandeur abounding, bold eliffs and beetling erags overhanging Tenny- sonian babbling brooks, while huge fern and ivy fringed boulders orna- ment the mountain sides. The silvery beech trees, fragrant, health- giving eedars, and massive oaks are frequented by frolieking squirrels and warbling birds that here put forth their most joyous songs, mak- ing the groves and forests resound with musie. Here Nature speaks in no unmistaken tones to the botanist and geologist, telling tales of inter- est to the former and of weird volcanic eruptions to the latter, rehearsing the grand story of ereation which is constantly going on.
Among the places of interest visited by the many guests especial mention may be made of Album Roek, Red Men's Retreat, the Wolf Pen, Lover's Leap, the Ghost Danee, Pluto's Cave, Spring Lake, Rainbow Lake, the Devil's Workshop, Honey Comb Roek, and The Canyon, all of which have been so significantly named that little description is needed.
The waters of the springs are rich in mineral properties, as certified by Mr. W. F. Langelier, chemist, State Water Survey, University of Illinois, who has made a complete analysis of each spring, finding com- binations of sulphates, chlorides, carbonates, while potassium, sodium, magnesium, caleium, iron, alumina, siliea, chloride, sulphate and nitrate are of especial curative value, iron being a powerful blood restorer. People suffering with rheumatism, dyspepsia or kidney disease in any form, malaria or stomach troubles, find not only speedy relief, but per- manent eure from the use of the waters of these springs, many a guest going home after here receiving treatment a rejuvenated being, physi- eally and mentally.
The Dixon Springs Hotel, owned by Messrs. Charles B. and Fred L. Wheeler is leased and managed by Martin Lonis Wheeler, and Doctors Walker and Fisher, the attending physicians, are men who stand high in their profession. The hotel is in thorough repair, and the furnishing and equipments are modern and up-to-date in every respect. Clean and roomy tents have been installed for the use of those preferring to sleep out of doors, and in the bath house mineral or soft water baths, either hot or cold, can be had at any time of the day.
Charles Bourquin Wheeler, the oldest of the Wheeler Brothers, whose firm name appears at the head of this sketch, was born, in 1867, in Mclean county, llinois, about fifteen miles from Bloomington, being one of a family of twelve children. His father, David Wheeler, the third in direet line to bear that name, was of New England birth and ancestry. having been born and reared in Maine. He married and, after living for a few years in Illinois, migrated still farther west, settling in Kansas in 1877.
Brought up on a farm, Charles B. Wheeler attended school until six- teen years old, when he entered a mercantile establishment in Kansas as a clerk. After nine years in that capacity he became traveling salesman for a Chieago firm, the R. P. Smith & Sons Shoe Company, with which he was associated seven years. Since that time he has been similarly em- Vol. III-30
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ployed with the firm of Robertson, Johnson & Rand, the largest shoe house in the country, and one of the most prominent business firms of Saint Louis, its annual business amounting to nearly fourteen million dollars.
Fred Leon Wheeler, of the firm of Wheeler Brothers, was born in Marion, Kansas, in 1879, and was there educated. He, too, is traveling in the interests of the Saint Louis firm, Robertson, Johnson & Rand, being a most active and successful salesman on the road.
These brothers have wisely invested their money in land, being owners, as before mentioned, of Dixon Springs, on which they have made improvements of great value, cach year adding to its attractions as a health and pleasure resort. In connection with this beautiful place they own a farm of one hundred acres, on which, in addition to its many scenic points of interest, many of the vegetables and dairy productions found upon the table of the well-kept hotel are raised. These brothers have spared neither pains nor expense in the improving of their valuable property, and in adding to the attractions of their summer resort have recently had constructed a rustic bridge, which is quite unique. Eighty feet in length, it is built in three sections, and is supported by huge cypress logs, fifty-five feet in length, resting on stone piers, being amply strong to sustain the weight of a moving train of cars. Dixon Springs has its own water works, the water being furnished by the famous spring number seven, "Ma Mi No Mo", meaning in English "The Great Spirit Water", it being conveyed to the hotel through two thousand, four hundred feet of two-inch pipe. This spring is lined with white vitrolite, a substance said to be many times harder than marble, and its waters are declared by chemists to be absolutely pure.
Messrs. Charles B. and Fred L. Wheeler are both prominent members of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, having taken the Scottish Rite and York degrees, and both belonging to the Consistory. Mr. Charles Wheeler is likewise a member of the Knights of Pythias. Although these brothers agree one with another in most things, they differ in their political beliefs, Charles being affiliated with the Republi- cans, while Fred is an ardent supporter of the principles of the Demo- cratie party.
CHARLES D. FITHIAN. Among the rising young lawyers of Southern Illinois none are more able and promising than Charles D. Fithian, state's attorney. In choosing the profession of which he has already proved an ornament Mr. Fithian is following in his father's footsteps, for the elder gentleman was favorably known lawyer of Jasper county. The son, although of the younger generation, has achieved distinction as a learned and erudite lawyer, and doubtless many honors lie before him.
Mr. Fithian was born at Marshall, Clark county, Illinois, on the 21st day of August, 1882. His father, T. J. Fithian, was born in Jas- per county, February 9, 1858. Here the early life of the elder gentle- man was passed and in the common schools.of the locality he obtained his education. Like the usual incipient lawyer of his day he received his preparation in a law office, and he was admitted to the bar in 1887. Previous to that he had engaged in farming and also was employed for some time in a printing office. When he began his practice it was at Newton, and here he remained active in his profession until his de- mise, in 1904. While in the printing business he was foreman of the Eastern Illinois at Marshall, Illinois, the birthplace of the subject. In politics he was a staunch adherent of the Democratic party and for some time held the office of eity attorney. He was married in 1879 to
Cxtuction
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Jennie Leffler, of Jasper county, and three children were born to them, Charles D. being the eldest in order of birth. The others are Cecil and Mrs. Don Haven. T. J. Fithian was a member of the Presbyterian church and he took no small amount of pleasure in his fraternal association with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was the advocate and supporter of all important and proper improvements and stood high in the estimation of all who knew him. His widow is still living and resides at Newton, where she is generally admired for her many fine qualities of mind and heart.
When very young Mr. Fithian's parents removed with him to New- ton and here the greater part of his life has been passed. He received his edueation in the local schools, taking advantage of their higher department, and having come to a decision as to his life work he ma- triculated in the law department of Valparaiso University, at Val- paraiso, Indiana, and was graduated from that institution in June, 1902, receiving the well-earned degree of LL. B. In that same year he was admitted to the bar in both Indiana and Illinois. Upon finishing his professional preparation Mr. Fithian returned to the community dearest to him and entered into a partnership with Judge II. M. Koser- man, who now holds the office of eounty judge. This association con- tinned from 1904 to 1906, and subsequently he engaged for a period in independent practice. In 1905 he was elected city attorney, but in 1908 resigned to aeeept the office of state's attorney, which office he has ever sinee held with general satisfaction. He has recently entered into a new law partnership with C. A. Davidson, former state senator, their association dating from January, 1911. The subjeet is a Dem- oerat of the staunehest and most loyal type, and he has ever manifested perfeet willingness to do anything legitimate for the success of the party's causes. He is a nephew of George W. Fithian, ex-congressman from the Nineteenth Illinois district.
On October 12, 1904, Mr. Fithian abandoned the ranks of the bachelors, in which he had been a popular member, and was united in marriage to Jennie Mae Shouse, of Newton, Illinois, and they now share their pleasant abode with a little daughter. Angela Regina. They are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Fithian belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America.
CAPTAIN NAPOLEON B. THISTLEWOOD. For upwards of forty years a power in the business and political life of Southern Illinois, Hon. Napoleon Bonaparte Thistlewood, of Cairo, is now representing the Twenty-fifth Illinois distriet in Congress, and in the couneils of the nation is pursuing such an active and honorable eonrse as to win the hearty approval of his constituents, his ability and courtesy being un- doubted. A son of Benjamin Thistlewood, he was born March 20, 1837, near Milford, Delaware, where the immigrant aneestor of the American family of Thistlewood settled on coming to this country from Seotland in early colonial days.
Benjamin Thistlewood, whose father. James Thistlewood, was a life- long resident of Delaware, was born in 1807. and died in his native state September 25, 1881. He led a busy, uneventful life, carrying on farming on a modest seale, in the meantime grinding the grain raised by his neighbors upon the burrs of his water mill. He east his first presidential vote in favor of General Jackson, and after the formation of the Repub- liean party was one of its most ardent adherents. His first wife, whose name was Eliza Marvel, died at the age of forty-two years, having borne him five children, as follows: Mrs. Annie E. Vinyard, who spent her
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entire life in Delaware; Napoleon Bonaparte, the subject of this brief biographical record; Philip J., of Cairo, Illinois, who at his death, which was caused by a railway accident, left a family ; Benjamin F., who died in Delaware, also leaving a family ; and Mrs. Mary Vinyard, of Milford, Delaware. A few years after the death of his first wife Benjamin Thistlewood married a Miss Hammon, and among the children they reared were the following named : Mrs. Sarah Nelson, Mrs. Wilhelmina Jacobs, Theodore, and Albert, all of whom are residents of Delaware.
Growing to manhood on the old home farm, Napoleon B. Thistlewood laid a substantial foundation for his future education in the rural schools of his native town, in the meantime assisting his father on the farm and in the mill, and developing his natural mechanical talent by keeping in repair the old dam used to conserve the water power that moved the mill's machinery. As a young man he began his career as a sehool teacher in the country schools of Delaware, and, foreseeing the develop- ment of the Mississippi valley, came, as soon as he had saved enough money to pay his way, to Illinois, locating at Collinsville in 1858. After teaching school in that vicinity for three years, Mr. Thistlewood accepted a position as teacher in Mason, Effingham county, Illinois.
Abandoning the desk in 1862, Mr. Thistlewood enlisted in Company C, Ninety-eighth Illinois Mounted Infantry. His regiment, which be- came a part of General Reynolds' Division of the Army of the Cumber- land, went into active service, as cavalrymen, near Murfreesboro, Ten- nessee, and on June 24, 1862, fought at the battle of Hoover's Gap or Tullahoma. The next engagement of importance in which the regiment participated was at Chickamanga, Georgia, and the following was in Farmington, the same state. Subsequently, after one hundred days of fighting, Atlanta, the Confederate stronghold, surrendered, and the gal- lant Ninety-eighth Illinois Regiment turned back with General Thomas, and after spending a short time at Gravel Springs started on the Wilson raid. In the battle at Selma, Alabama, in the spring of 1865, Captain Thistlewood, who had been promoted from the ranks to the head of his company, was wounded, but was able to command his company at the assanlt upon Columbus, Georgia, the last engagement fought east of the Mississippi during the Civil war. Being honorably discharged from the serviee July 7, 1865, at Springfield, Illinois, the Captain, who with the exception of a brief period had been a member of General Wilder's famous brigade, returned to his former home in Effingham county.
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