USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 80
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On January 1. 1856. Mr. Seudamore was married to Miss Elizabeth .1. Lewis, the daughter of Wilson and Mary ( Romine) Lewis. She was born March 28, 1838, and died April 27, 1900. They reared a family of eight children : Frances A., who died in 1902: Ada C., married B C. Tolbert. living in Wayne county ; Alvin G. : Mollie R., the wife of F. Q. Jacobson. living in Wayne City : Eva, married to V. C. Pitman : John W. : Bertha, the wife of T. W. Ashbrooke ; and Edna O. Mr. Seudamore is the grand- father of twenty-three children and the great-grandfather of three.
GATHER C. WALSER, Civil war veteran, one-timed carpenter, and for many years a prominent business man and financier of West Salem. ranks high among the leading men of Edwards county. \ native of the county, he has since his boyhood been up and doing in the interests of humanity and of the commonwealth and nation. Ever a citizen of the
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most impregnable integrity, his life has added much to the well being of the community in which he has made his home for so many years, and many of the leading industries and financial concerns of the county have felt his influence and his help, and are in a great measure guided by his acknowledged wisdom and business sagacity.
Mr. Walser was born on a farm near West Salem on January 22, 1843, and is the son of Brittain and Jane N. (Ihutchins) Walser. Brit- tain Walser was born May 3, 1799. He was a native of North Carolina of German descent, who migrated to Illinois in 1830. His father, Jacob Walser, was at one time made a prisoner by the British and pressed into the training service, but he made his escape. Brittain Walser was one of the early pioneers of Edwards county, and he saw frontier life in Illinois when it was indeed worthy of the name. Ile passed the re- mainder of his days on his farm near West Salem, and died there on December 26, 1876, in his seventy-seventh year. ITis wife, Jane N. Hutchins, was born April 3, 1805, at Salisbury, North Carolina, and she passed away at the family home in West Salem on March 28, 1875. Nine children were born to these parents, namely: James, deceased ; Margaret, deceased; Sarah, now seventy-nine years of age; Hiran H., a Civil war veteran, was captain of Company E, Sixty-third Illinois, and died in June, 1885, at the age of forty-nine; Laura E .; Susan, de- ceased ; Gaither C .; Frank B., a Cival war veteran of Company 1, Sixty- sixth Illinois, also deceased; and Mary Jane, married to S. A. Harris.
Gaither C. Walser received a somewhat limited education, such as the schools of a half a century ago were apt to afford, and was reared on his father's farm to the age of nineteen, at which time he took em- ployment in a general merchandise establishment. He remained there until the war broke out, or until January 31, 1863, when he enlisted in Company I, Sixty-sixth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. He served un- til the close of the war, and during the term of his enlistment saw a deal of active service. He went to the front and participated in the Atlanta ยท campaign of one hundred and twenty days; he marehed to Savannah with General Sherman, and through the Carolinas. He fought at Ben- tonville and Goldsboro and was in the Raleigh campaign. With the news of Lee's surrender, they continued their march to Washington, and in May, 1865, took part in the Grand Review. From Washington the regiment was sent to Parkersburg, thence down the Ohio river to Louis- ville, then to Springfield, where he was finally mustered out on July 18, 1865.
Peace restored and civilian life being again resumed, Mr. Walser took up earpentering, and followed that trade for several years. In 1882 Mr. Walser entered the grain trade, and continued in it for many years, with great success. In 1899 he was appointed postmaster of West Salem and has served continuously in that office up to the present time. In 1909, he, with other West Salemites, established the First National Bank, in which he is a stockholder, a director and the viee- president. He is also vice president of the Bone Gap Banking Company at Bone Gap, this county.
Mr. Walser is Republican in his political allegiance, and is staunch and firm in his beliefs and opinions. IIe is a member of West Salem Post No. 222 Grand Army of the Republic, and holds membership in the Moravian church, of which his first wife's father was the founder.
Mr. Walser has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Sarah A. Houser. daughter of Rev. Martin Houser, who was the founder of the Moravian church in West Salem, and who also is distinguished by being the founder of the village of West Salem. She was born at Hope, Indiana, October 26, 1842, and died on March 7, 1875, on the eleventh
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anniversary of her wedding. She left four children, viz. : Gertrude L., married to John C. Stone, is the mother of two children, Lucille and Sydney ; her husband is professor of mathematics in the State Normal at Mount Clair, New Jersey, where they reside. Conrad is an attorney at Little Rock, Arkansas ; he is married and has three children,-Maurice, Quiney and Mildred Agnes. Eva is married to Rev. Samuel Allen and lives in Jamaica, West Indies: she has five children .- Walser Allen, a student in Nazareth, Pennsylvania; Dorothy ; Constance; Russell and Miriam. Emma, now Mrs. Allbright, lives in Bloomington, Illinois, and has four children-Bernice May, Norma Aline, Helen and Robert William.
On November 21, 1875, Mr. Walser married Mary J. Lopp, born Inly 24, 1843, in this county, a daughter of George Lopp, a native of North Carolina, of which state he was an early pioneer. Three children were born of this union, two of whom are now living. They are: Ethel, wife of Prof. Iloward Kingsbury of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and they have two children, Charles Howard, and an infant son: Stewart L. is as- sistant postmaster in West Salem, and Charles is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Walser are members of the English Moravian church.
FRANK JOUN RADDLE. The name of Raddle is a well known one throughout Jackson county. It is the name of one of the county's most prosperous villages, named in honor of Frank John Raddle, a man who in his long and useful career here has seen it grow into a busy commercial center and whose activities have been the medium through which it has attained its present prosperity. One of the leading business citizens of this section, he served for many years as postmaster at this point, and now, as a member of the grain and contracting firm of Raddle & MeCann. he is carrying on an industry that is doing much to promote the best interests of his native community. Mr. Raddle was born at Raddle, No- vember 29, 1862, and is a son of Thomas and Annie ( Korando ) Raddle, natives of Austria.
Thomas Raddle was born in Austria. December 29, 1819, and in 1854 brought his family to the United States, settling in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, where for some years he was occupied at his trade of shoemaking. Subsequently he purchased a large tract of land in Jackson county, on the present site of the village of Raddle, and here the remain- der of his life was spent in agricultural pursuits. He and his wife were the parents of six children, of whom three are now living: William, who makes his home in the state of Arkansas; and Mrs. Mary Lester and Frank John Raddle, who are twins. The mother of these children died in 1870, at the age of forty-four years, and her husband survived her until Derember 2. 1908.
Frank John Raddle was reared to agricultural pursuits, and followed farming as a vocation until he was twenty-two years of age, at which time he decided to enter the mercantile field. Establishing himself in business with a little stock of groceries and ammunition valued at $150. he so conducted his affairs that it rapidly grew to be a business worth $5,000, and supplied a large trade all over this section of the county. In 1885 he was appointed postmaster at Raddle, which had been named in his honor, and he continued to hold that office for twenty conserntive years, or until he sold the store, since which time he has been engaged in the grain and tie contracting business with his brother-in-law. Charles McCann, and is at present handling large contracts for the llinois di- vision of the Iron Mountain Railroad. He is the owner of most of the land, comprising several thousand acres, surrounding Raddle, and in ad- dition owns considerable property at Herrin, including a number of
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store buildings. He has been road commissioner and is at present levee commissioner, offices to which he was elected on the Republican ticket, the party of his choice and that of his father, and to which he has always given his allegiance. He has proven as competent an official as he has been an able business man.
On January 4, 1897, Mr. Raddle was married to Miss Mollie McCann, the daughter of James MeCann, of Grand Tower, Illinois, and three children were born to this union, all of whom are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Raddle are members of the Catholic church, and he holds member- ship in the Knights of Columbus, and is also identified with the local lodge of Elks. As a citizen Mr. Raddle has ever taken a lively interest in every enterprise calculated to build up his native city and county, and few men have a wider circle of friends and acquaintances throughout this part of the state.
HARRY H. CLARK has been eashier of the Bank of Wayne City since its organization in 1902, and is recognized in this eity as one of the able and progressive young business men of the place. The bank, which was organized in July, 1902, as before stated, is operated by Goddard & Hall as a private financial institution, with a capital of $10,000. Present deposits amount to about $52,000. The proprietors are H. T. Goddard, of Mt. Carmel, and T. W. Hall, of Carmi, Illinois. Mr. Clark has been in charge of the bank since its opening.
Born November 28, 1872, near Crossville, Illinois, in White county, Harry II. Clark is the son of H. H. Clark, also a native of White county, born there in 1843, who is a retired farmer now living his declining years in Carmi. He is the son of George Clark, a native of Vermont and an early pioneer of White county. HI. H. Clark, Sr., was a soldier in the Union army during the war of the rebellion, serving in the Eighty- seventh Illinois for three years. He married Sidney A. Britton. the daughter of W. B. Britton, a native of Kentucky, who migrated to Illi- nois in early life, and they reared a family of nine children, including : Lela, now deceased ; Lulu R., a teacher in the Jacksonville schools ; Harry H., of Wayne City: George W .; Sylvia, a teacher near Jacksonville; Jessie, a clerk in Jacksonville National Bank; Cecil, a student in Jaek- sonville College, as is also Genevieve, the youngest of the family.
The boyhood and youth of Harry H. Clark was passed in attendance upon the common schools of his home community. He later entered the old Enfield College, after which he was graduated from the Normal at Valparaiso. Thereafter he tanght school for eight years in White, and was principal of the Carmi high school for two years, spending in all four years in various capacities in the Carmi schools.
In 1902 he eame to Wayne City to take charge of the new Wayne City Bank then organized, and he has remained a citizen of this place eon- tinuously since that time, and has fulfilled his full share of the duties of a eitizen during his residence here. In addition to his banking duties he, together with Goddard & Hall, is interested in a fine farm near Wayne City, of one hundred and sixty aeres in a most fertile spot, and they make a specialty of the breeding of Shetland ponies. Mr. Clark now has a handsome herd of fourteen ponies on the place, and under his man- agement the farm is kept well up to the standard of productiveness in all lines. In a fraternal way Mr. Clark is a member of Orel Lodge. No. 759. A. F. & A. M., and is worshipful master of that lodge. He is also a mem- ber of the Odd Fellows, lodge No. 558.
In 1903 Mr. Clark was united in marriage with Miss Zura Hollon, a daughter of A. W. and Nancy (Fleming) Hollon, of Wayne City. Of their union two children have been born. They are Leland, aged five, and Howard Kenneth, two years old.
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THOMAS M. DICKEY, manager of the Southern Illinois Lumber Com- pany, has been identified with the lumber industry in one capacity or another since 1904, and his connection with Wayne City began in 1907, and has continued since then to the present time. In that time he has won to himself a reputation that places him in the foremost ranks of the citizenship of the city and gives him a social and business prestige that is especially valuable.
Born on July 24, 1873, Thomas M. Dickey is the son of J. L. and Elizabeth A. (Reed) Diekey, who reside on their farm six miles from Wayne City. The father was born in 1851, in Georgia, and is the son of Thomas W. Diekey, born in 1832, in North Carolina, and who still resides on his farm in Wayne county. He migrated from Georgia to Wayne county, Illinois, in 1863, and served as a scout for the Union army during the war. He took an active part in the battle of Chicka- manga, and an interesting fact in connection with that event is that the Diekey farm was a part of the battlefield, and the home of the Dickey family was literally riddled with bullets, being the center of the activities of the day. The mother of Thomas M. Dickey was Elizabeth A. Reed. She was a daughter of John and Rebecca Reed and was born October 12. 1852. The Reed family were among the earliest pioneer settlers of Wayne county and took up government land when they settled there, and where they are still prominent.
J. L. and Elizabeth Dickey were the parents of twelve children, of whom eight are yet living. They are: Rebecca, married to W. T. Bremer, and living in Wabash county; Thomas M., of Wayne City: Fannie, the wife of H. G. Harris, lives near Fairfield: George lives in Wayne City; Nellie M. : Mary, the wife of Ebe Withrow, living near the old homestead ; Melissa, still in the family home, and Ralph.
Thomas M. Dickey was educated in the public schools of his com- munity and in Old Hayward College. After his graduation from the latter named institution he taught school for five years, and in 1898 be- came deputy sheriff of Wayne county, serving until 1900, when he be- came deputy circuit clerk, which office he filled with a high degree of satisfaction until 1904. He then became employed by the Fairfield Lum- ber Company and continued in their service until 1906. In January. 1907. he came to Wayne city and operated the De Witt & Dickey Lumber Company, this concern being merged into the Southern Illinois Lumber Company on January 1, 1909. Since that time Mr. Dickey has been man- ager of the company in Wayne City and the firm is making rapid prog- ress under his able management. In addition to his lumber interests. Mr. Diekey has been more or less concerned in the breeding of live stock, spe- cializing in the standard breeds, and he owned a Farm of eighty acres, which he sold in 1911. He is a member of the Soutern Illinois Lumber- men's Association, and in a fraternal way is a member of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Modern Woodmen of America. His political affiliation is with the Republican party, and he has always taken a live interest in the political matters of his city and county, and has been active in the interests of the party to which he gives allegiance. He is a member of the Christian church.
In 1899 Mr. Diekey was united in marriage with Miss Emma F. Fuh- rer, of Wayne county, a daughter of Frederick and Eliza Fuhrer. Two children have been born of their union : Daisy M .. now eleven years of age, and Fuhrer Dickey, eight years old).
WILLIAM M. DEWITT is one of the more prominent and prosperous merchants of Wayne City, where he has conducted business since 1996. first in a lumbering way and later branching out into other lines of
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business. He is now the proprietor of two stores, one the purveyor of dry goods, clothing, etc., while the other deals in hardware, farming implements and like materials. The combined stock of the stores ag- gregates probably $40,000. Altogether he ranks prominently among the successful business men of the city, and is in every way deserving of the high reputation he bears.
Mr. DeWitt was born on September 3, 1858, in Ilamilton county, Illinois, and is the son of Clinton and Penelope (Allen) DeWitt. Clin- ton De Witt was a native of Ohio and the son of Jefferson DeWitt, also of that state, who migrated to Hamilton county, Illinois, in 1854. IIe was born in 1837 and died in 1875, and his wife was born in 1838, her death occurring in March, 1911. Clinton and Penelope DeWitt reared a goodly family of ten children,-six sons and four daughters. They were named: Rufus; Wm. M .; Rado; Alice; Mary; Thomas; Amazon ; Jasper; Joseph; and Nellie.
William M. DeWitt was reared on the farm of his parents and at- tended the common schools of his district. When he was twenty years of age he began farming and continued that until 1896 in Hamilton, with a fair degree of success. He then came to Wayne county and engaged in the lumber business, later turning his attention to the mer- cantile field. He is now the proprietor of two fine stores in Wayne City, one devoted to dry goods and clothing lines, while the other is a hardware store, as mentioned in a previous paragraph. Mr. De Witt regularly employs twelve persons in the eare of his two stores, and they are doing a thriving business in and about the city. The business tact and ability of Mr. DeWitt was never better employed than in the con- duet of a business on his own responsibility, and he is making a large and worthy success of the small business which he established here some years ago. He is a director of the Southern Illinois Lumber Company, and is a member of the Modern Woodmen. His church affiliation is with the Missionary Baptists, as was that of his parents.
In 1880 Mr. DeWitt married Miss Nellie Irvin, a daughter of Abram Irvin of Hamilton county. They have reared a fine family of eight children, four of whom are regularly employed in the business estab- lishments of their father. They are: Ethel, Charles J., Ernest Judson, Amy, Alma, Lois, Morris and Herman.
I. L. GARRISON, M. D., is an example of the type of man who is not afraid to launch out into a new field of labor after having given a mat- ter of twenty years' service in another line of work, and in his case what might be regarded by many as something of an experiment is proving to be a decided success. Giving up his work as an educator, in which he had already found distinctive success, Dr. Garrison turned his attention to the study of medieine, which had long held manifold attractions for him, and in 1910 he entered upon the active practice of his profession in Wayne City, where he is making rapid progress in his bid for recognition among the people of his community. A native of Wayne county and favorably known in this city all his life. his future is an assured one, and will be in every way worthy of one of his character and high standing. Ile has ever been a man of importance in Wayne county, in a political and social way, and as an educator of no small ability it has been given to him to do much for the advance- ment of the county in an educational way.
The scion of an old and honored family, I. L. Garrison was born January 31, 1868, in Wayne county on a farm near Keenville. He is the son of George and Sarah (Wells) Garrison, natives of Wayne county. George Garrison was born in 1839, and was the son of Samuel
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Garrison, born in 1788, a native of North Carolina and a pioneer set- tler of Wayne county, coming here in the 'twenties from Kentucky. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and served in Captain Doherty's com- pany in the Seventh North Carolina Regiment. He was discharged from the service October 13, 1814. He was the son of lames Garrison. born in 1747, and a soldier in the Continental army during the war of the Revolution. He served in a North Carolina Regiment under Cap- tain Alexander Gordon, with Colonel Joseph MeDowell in charge. His enlistment took place at Wilkes county, North Carolina, and he was afterwards a pioneer settler in Greene county, Ilinois.
George Garrison, the father of Dr. Garrison of this review, was a sergeant in Company K. Forty-ninth Ilinois Volunteer Infantry of the Union army during the Civil war. He served three years and three months and was honorably discharged at the close of hostilities. He was one of the eight children of his parents, Samuel and Martha Garri- son, and their names were Isaac, Samuel, William, Preston, Gregg. George, Elizabeth and Mary Eliza. Of that number two sons, Samnel and George, are yet living. George Garrison settled down in Wayne county to the quiet life of a farmer, and reared ten children. They were named Martha, who is now deceased; Dr. Barney E .. a resident of Wayne City; Mrs. Melissa Morrison, of Jefferson county; Charles. deceased ; Leota, married to William Tyler and lives in Saskat-
chewan, Canada ; Lillie Powers, who lives in Albion, Ilinois; Mrs. Minnie Talbot, of Jefferson county: Dr. I. L., of Wayne City ; Gregg, in Wayne county; and George Everett. The wife and mother, Sarah (Wells) Garrison, was born in 1837. She was the daughter of Barney E. Wells, a native of Jefferson county, and Elizabeth Alvis, born in Virginia. The Wells family were at one time largo slave hollers in the Virginias, and were the proprietors of extensive plantations. They settled in Sonthern Illinois in the 'twenties, and there Barney and Elizabeth Wells reared a family of fourteen children. They were : Edmund, Leffington. John, Matthew. James Il .. Mary, Martha, Eliza- beth, Sarah, Melissa, Virginia, Carolina and Hulla. One son, James HI .. still lives and is a resident of Jefferson county, at the age of sixty- five years. Three daughters of the seven yet survive,-Sarah Garrison. Carolina Bradford and Melissa Byers.
I. L. Garrison received his elementary schooling in the common schools of his district. and was later an attendant at Old Hayward College at Fairfield, graduating from that institution in 1899 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He began teaching soon thereafter and continued in that wholly commendatory line of work for sixteen years. During the summer vacations he taught at Hayward Normal. For three years he was principal of Fairfield high school and from 1903 to 1906 he was superintendent of the Fredonia ( Kas. city schools, in- strueting in the branches of science. Latin and French. In the fall of 1906 he entered the medical department of Washington University at St. Louis, and in June, 1910, was graduated from that worthy insti- tution with the degree of M.D. He has since been engaged in active practice in Wayne City, and has already established a valuable prac. tice in this city. He is a member of the Wayne County Medical Asso- ciation. He is a Republican in his political convictions and has taken an active part in affairs of a political nature in his city and county. Fraternally Dr. Garrison is a member of the Odd Fellows and of the Masons. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In 1889 Dr. Garrison was married to Miss Charity Ardilla Fonther of Wayne City, a daughter of Richard and Anna ( Williams) Feather. Dr. and Mrs. Garrison have three children: The oldest, Lena Novella.
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is married to Byron J. Bixley, of Bridgeport, Illinois, and Marie is a student in the Bridgeport high school. Berlin Clyde is in the common schools of Wayne City.
GEORGE HOFFMAN personifies one of the earnest and strenuous mem- bers of the medical profession of Randolph county. He is an Illinois man, having been born at Maeystown, Monroe county, March 8. 1871. His father, Jacob Hoffman, settled in that locality as a young man and passed his life as a merchant, having been engaged in the field of domes- tie commerce some fifty years. His interest in agriculture was also con- siderable and his business and social achievements made him one of the widely known citizens of his county. Jacob Hoffman was born on the river Rhine in Germany, in 1828, and he accompanied a brother to the United States several years prior to the inception of the Civil war. He married Sabilla Jobb, a daughter of Jacob Jobb, a countryman from Mr. Hoffman's old home in Europe, and five children came to bless this union. In 1882 Mr. Hoffman was called to eternal rest and his cher- ished and devoted wife, who long survived him, passed away in 1907. He was a stanch Democrat in politics but his interest in civil matters was extended only to the exercise of his right of franchise. Jacob and Sabilla (Jobb) Hoffman became the parents of the following children : Jacob, a farmer in Monroe county, Illinois; Louis, a furniture dealer at Murphysboro, this state; Charles, a furniture dealer at Pinkney- ville, Illinois; Dr. George, the immediate subject of this review; and Catherine, the wife of August Querhein prior to her death in 1895.
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