USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 86
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At Marion, Illinois, on the 7th of February, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Shaw to Miss Clara White, a native of Carbondale. Illinois, and a daughter of Daniel White, who was long a prominent blacksmith in the latter place. Mrs. Shaw was one in a family of seven children. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw have two children, Harry and Edgar, both of whom are now attending school at Sparta.
ELBERT EPLER. One of the most conspicuous of the younger gen- eration in Edwards county, is the popular gentleman whose name intro- duces this article. For several years past Elbert Epler has been netively identified with the business and industrial interests of Albion and vi einity. as a capitalist and grain and live stock dealer. His useful carder
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has conferred eredit upon the community and his marked abilities and stirring qualities have won for him more than local repute, and today he holds distinctive precedenee as a progressive and successful man who has inaugurated and carried to successful termination large and im- portant undertakings.
Mr. Epler was born November 3, 1878, on a farm in the vicinity of Mt. Carmel, in Wabash county, the son of S. F. Epler, who was born in 1849, in the state of Pennsylvania. The subjeet's grandfather. Daniel Epler, was born in Germany and immigrated to Illinois about the year 1861, settling on a farm in Wabash county. S. F. Epler resided in Wabash county until 1882, when he went to Colorado and for three years lived upon a raneh. In 1885 he returned to Belmont, Wabash county and there lived for fifteen years, and in 1900 he came to Albion, where he embarked in the grain and seed business. He is now retired and spends his winters in California, thus enjoying in both seetions of the United States their most attractive offerings in the way of elimate. He married Aenith Mundy, daughter of William Mundy, of Wabash county, and her demise occurred in 1908. The elder Mr. Epler and his admirable wife reared the following five children: Elbert, eldest in point of nativity ; Effie and Goley, who are still at home; Jessie, wife of Mr. Moffit, of Cloverdale, Indiana ; and Melvin, at home.
To the public schools of Albion is Elbert Epler indebted for his preliminary edneation and after finishing their curriculum he became a student in the Southern Collegiate Institute, where he took a deeper draught at the Pierian Spring. At the age of twenty years he tried his wings as a business man and engaged in the grocery business, with which he continued to be connected until Jannary 1, 1912, when he dis- posed of his interests in this line. He did not confine his operations to the one field, but for the most of this period was also identified with the grain and seed business, in which his father had found suecess.
In March, 1909, Mr. Epler formed a partnership with L. W. Wil- son in the live stock and grain business, in which they are associated at the present time. They own two excellent farms in partnership, on which they raise stock, one of these consisting of one hundred and twenty aeres, being located in Wabash county and the other of ninety aeres, being in Edwards county. The firm of Epler & Wilson purchased the Leader Department store in 1911, but disposed of it at the beginning of 1912.
Mr. Epler is director in the Albion Vitrified Brick Company and is the largest stockholder in the same. He is also director and the treas- urer of the Albion Shale Briek Company, a $200,000 corporation. Nor does that complete the list of important enterprises with which he is identified, for he is a director and the president of the Albion Eleetrie Light & Gas Company, which was organized in 1911, with a capital of $20,000, and is now in successful operation, supplying light service to the city's business houses and residenees. He has several times been asked to accept local office and is at present city alderman. He is a Republican, having loyally endorsed the policies and principles for which the "Grand Old Party" stands sponsor for as many years as he has been of age sufficient to exereise the right of voting. His lodge affilia- tions are with the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks of Mt. Carmel and the Modern Woodmen of Albion. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.
In 1903 Mr. Epler was happily married, the lady of his choiee be- ing Ada Painter, of Albion, daughter of Washington Painter, one of Albion's old resident and a merchant in calling. Mr. Epler and his
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wife have three children, namely: Elbert, Jr., aged eight years: and twin daughters, named Mary Adeline and Margaret Ruth, born in September, 1908.
Mr. Epler is active in Republican polities and is of that excellent type of citizenship known as the "boosters," and as a progressive eiti- zen, he is doing much to push Albion to the front.
ORIA M. MCCANN, who is assistant principal of the high school at Browns, Illinois, which position he has held for the past year, is still a very young man, being not yet twenty-three years of age. Neverthe- less, he has held positions of trust in an educational way for the past four years. and it is a foregone conclusion that he will make most un- questionable progress in his ehosen profession if he continues as he has done for the past few years.
Professor MeCann was born October 31, 1889, on a farm one mile south of Albion, and is a well known figure in Edwards county. He is the son of Rev. W. H. and Ellen ( Bass) MeCann. The father was born in St. Clair county, and is a son of John McCann, a native of Louis county, Kentucky, who was one of the early settlers of St. Clair county. Rev. McCann is a minister of the Baptist faith and has preached the gospel since 1876. He was first located near Thompsonsville and in 1881 removed to Edwards connty, where he has since given his services in various parts of the county. He is now supplying four churches- Keenes, Barnhill, Pleasant Grove and Unity, and for several years he supplied Wayne City and Mill Shoals. Rev. MeCann owns a fine farm of two hundred aeres, which he conducts personally, and is as successful in his farming operations as with his ministerial duties. He is a man of excellent character, as is implied by his high calling, and possesses many traits of natural worth, which, combined with the high order of Chris- tian charity that is his, have made him a valuable factor in the life of the communities with whicht he is associated in his work.
Five children were born to Rev. and Mrs. McCann. They are : John, a farmer of Edwards county; Henry R., connected with the insurance business in Benton, Illinois; Jennie B .; Oria M., of this review, and Daisy C.
Professor MeCann was reared on the farm home of his father, and as boy and youth attended the public and high schools of Albion. Later he attended Ewing College for two years and pursued a course of study at the Southern Illinois Normal at Carbondale, Illinois. In 1907 he began teaching. For three years he was employed in a school near Albion, and for the last year has been assistant principal of the high school at Browns, Illinois, a position which he has filled in a manner highly credit- able to the pedagogie profession.
WILLIAM HI. CISNE. Among the prominent families of Wayne county none are better or more favorably known than that of Cisne, members of which have been identified with the growth and development of Southern Illinois for more than sixty years, and in whose honor the flourishing city of Cisne was named. One of the leading representatives of this family is William HI. Cisne, who for a number of years has been engaged in the real estate and insurance business at Cisne, and who was formerly extensively connected with agricultural affairs. Mr. Cisne was born on his father's farm in Wayne county, Illinois, May 13, 1556. and is a son of Levi M. and Jane ( Ray) Cisne, a grandson of Emanuel Cisne, and a great-grandson of Girard Cisne of Ohio.
Levi M. Cisne was born in Monroe county, Ohio. December 28. 1530. Vol. II-37
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and migrated to Southern Illinois about 1852. He was a prominent farmer and a man of wide influence, being active in securing the promo- tion of the Springfield & Illinois Southeastern Railroad, and indueing the people of this section to vote subsidies to the railroad which was completed in 1879. In the front rank of progressive farmers, himself the owner of four hundred acres of valuable land, and a man greatly interested in church work, he was justly considered one of his locality's foremost citizens, and when the town of Cisne was laid out on what is now the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad it was named in his honor. His death occurred January 27, 1892. Mr. Cisne's wife was a daughter of Major Ray, who came to Southern Illinois in 1851.
William H. Cisne received a common school education and was reared on his father's farm, on which he remained until he was twenty- four years of age. In 1880 he engaged in the seed and implement busi- ness in Cisne, with which he was connected until 1895, and in that year became a commercial traveler, his work during the next four years taking him through the states of Michigan, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and Arizona. On returning to Cisne, he again identified himself with the seed and implement business, but in 1900 accepted the cashiership of the Customs House in Chicago, a position which he held for three and one-half years, . without the shortage of a cent, an irregularity-or any complaint from his superior officers. Since 1904 he has been engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Cisne, doing a large volume of business and being the representative of some of the leading old line companies. For a number of years he was the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Wayne county. but in 1911 disposed of it, although he still owns twenty-six head of cattle, two spans of mules and two teams of horses, and re- cently purchased eighty acres of the finest land in the locality of Cisne, the price being $70.00 per acre. His handsome modern residence is located in Cisne. Mr. Cisne has been identified with Republican polities since he was nineteen years of age, and has had many personal friends among the leaders of the party, ineluding the late Mark Hanna, Ex- Senator'Mason, and others. For twelve years he has served as central committeeman and is regarded as one of the influential Republicans of his eonnty. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and the Modern Woodmen.
In 1876 Mr. Cisne was united in marriage with Miss Viola Brock, daughter of J. C. and Rebecca Brock, of Wayne county, and one son, Fred Leo, has been born to this union. He is an employe of the Navy Department at Washington, D. C.
Mr. Cisne is now one of five direetors promoting a railroad propo- sition known and chartered as the Terre Haute & Southwestern Rail- way Company, and one of the finest propositions in the country.
JAMES CHARLES CARLYLE. Ohio has sometimes been suspected of priding herself upon the production of a particularly fine type of citizen and while it is not the province of this article to prove the truth or falsity of the matter, nevertheless Albion is in possession of a native son of the Buckeye state who has done much to substantiate this good opinion in local eireles, namely James Charles Carlyle, superintendent of the Albion Vitrified Brick Company. Mr. Carlyle has resided here since 1907 and no small part of the success and progress of the con- cern with which he is identified is traceable to his ability. As his name indicates, he is of Scotch origin, his father having been born in the historic old city of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1818. Believing that
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the newer land across the Atlantic presented greater opportunity for an industrious young man, he severed the ties that bound him to the "land o' cakes" and in 1841 came to these shores in quest of his share of opportunity. Ile located in East Liverpool, Ohio, where he worked at the potter's trade. becoming an expert clay worker. In 1847 he went to Toronto, Ohio, and engaged in sewer pipe manufac- turing, having the distinction of making in the year mentioned the first sewer pipe ever manufactured in the United States. He con- tinued in this line of endeavor for an extended period and built up a large plant in his forty years activity in this line. lle saw it grow from small beginning to an immense concern which sold for nearly $300,000. After retiring from business the elder gentleman removed to Winchester, Kentucky, where he passed the declining years of life and passed to the Great Beyond. Ile married Anna Hamilton, of Knoxville, Jefferson county, Ohio, who survives him, this venerable lady residing at the present time in Winchester, Kentucky, her years numbering eighty-two. The subject is one of a family of three chil- dren. Anna is the wife of Dr. J. W. Cochran, of Brie, Pennsylvania, and George Edward is in Portsmouth, Ohio, where he is president of the Carlyle Paving Briek Company, one of the large and important Ohio river industries.
James Charles Carlyle received his education in the public schools of Steubenville, Ohio, and graduated from the high school at the age of eighteen years. Shortly thereafter he went to Cleveland. Tennessee. and engaged in fire briek manufacturing, at that early age acting in the capacity of superintendent of a factory. He remained in the south until 1891 and then went to Cincinnati, where for a year and a half he was commissary agent for the Pullman Car Company of the Queen City. In 1892 he went to Winchester, Kentucky, where he accepted a position as president of a briek manufacturing plant and remained there until 1897, in which year he located in Brazil, Indiana. llis residence at that point in the Hoosier state was of nine years' dura- tion, or until 1906, when he located at Brooklyn, Indiana, where he became superintendent of the Indiana Drain Tile Company, a position he held for one year. In 1907 he located in Portsmouth, where he was in business with the Carlyle Paving Brick Company for one year. In August, 1908, he came to Albion, where he accepted his present posi- tion and in the fortunes of the enterprise which is justly valued by Albion as a potent factor in its advancement he has played an im- portant role. Fraternally this gentleman is identified with the Modern Woodmen and his faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In October, 1896, Mr. Carlyle laid the foundation of a happy house- hold and congenial life companionship by his union with Ella Hall, daughter of James E. and Ann Rebecca Hall, their marriage being celebrated at Winchester, Kentucky, the home of Mrs. Carlyle Both of her parents were natives of Virginia and both are deceased. the father having passed away on July 4, 1902, and the mother on January 31, 1912. These worthy people were the parents of seven children, the following six surviving: Luella ( Hillis), of Greencastle, Indiana ; James Edwin. of Sheffield. Alabama : Anna, living in Albion ; Alice .I. (Johnson) of Winchester, Kentucky; Nancy F. (Wilson) of Columbia. Missouri; and Ella. The eldest daughter. Mary Elizabeth, is de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Carlyle share their delightful home with two children,-Glenn Wilson and Edwin Pant. Mrs. Carlyle is very promi- nent in church and Sunday school work, and both are popular mem- bers of society and aligned with the best interests of the community.
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RAAB DYSART KEEN. Wayne county is justly noted for its old families, and among these none are more highly honored than that of Keen. Its members have always been found in the front rank of the county's successful men in the various walks of life, and have con- tributed to the growth and development of its interests in no incon- siderable manner. John Keen, Sr., a son of Ford Keen, of Virginia, was the founder of the family in Southern Illinois. He was born in Sumner county, Tennessee, and migrated to Wayne county in 1831, becoming one of the pioneers of this section, where he took up gov- ernment land and at one time was the owner of 3,000 aeres. His death occurred September 5, 1895, when he was eighty-eight years of age. Mr. Keen was married (first) to Catherine Book, a native of Kentucky, and a daughter of Harry Book, an early pioneer of Wayne county, and she died December 19, 1867, having been the mother of ten children, as follows: William, who is deceased; James; Samuel; John, deceased; A. P., a farmer, operating north of Keenes; a child who died in infaney; Edmund, a farmer near Keenes; B. F., who is deceased; G. W., a farmer near Keenville; and Mrs. Jane ( Webber) Fisher, of Keenes. John Keen, Sr., married for his second wife Alma E. Atterbury, and four children were born to this union : Leathie Clark, of Keenville; Mrs. Alice Webber, also of that place; Mrs. Laura Crask, of Bluford; and Sallie, who is deceased.
Samuel Keen, son of John Keen, Sr., was born November 25, 1840, in Hickory Hill township, Wayne county, and was reared on his father's farm. When he was twenty years of age he took charge of 1,000 aeres of his father's land, but is now engaged in carrying on operations on a property of 1,250 aeres, owned by himself and wife, and one of the best farms in the township. He is prominent fraternally as a member of the Odd Fellows, and has also taken a leading part in Democratic politics, holding various minor local offices and aeting in the capacity of supervisor for six years. In 1865 he was married (first) to Amanda J. Scribener, daughter of Joel and Ley Seribener, and of the seven children born to them three are still living: Edmund F., Nora B. and Samuel R. Mr. Keen's first wife died in 1904, and in 1906 he was married to Miss Alice M. Clark, of Boyleston, Illinois.
James Keen, one of the leading agriculturists of his part of Wayne county, was born February 15, 1839, at old Keenville, and is a son of John Keen, Sr. Reared to agricultural pursuits, he has followed the voeation of farmer throughout his life, and is now the owner of a finely- cultivated property embracing 900 aeres. He has been a staneh and active Demoerat sinee attaining his majority, and has served in a num- ber of local offices, such as township assessor and collector, has also acted in the capacity of township and county supervisor,. and in 1881-2- was a member of the state legislature. On October, 18, 1871, he was married to Miss Sarah Jane Ellis, daughter of Alfred Ellis, and she died July 16, 1875, having been the mother of two children : Horatio, deceased, and a child who died in infaney. On October 29, 1881, Mr. Keen was married to Miss Rispah J. Whitney, daughter of Nathan and Mary Jane (Moore) Whitney, and there were two children born to this union : Raab Dysart and Rispah Catherine, the latter the wife of Dr. William A. Dulany, a well-known physician of Keenes. The family is well known in Methodist Episcopal church eireles.
Raab Dysart Keen, son of James and Rispah J. (Whitney) Keen, was born September 15, 1882, on his father's farm, and secured his education in the common schools and the Southern Illinois Normal University. In 1906, when the Bank of Keenes was organized by James and Samuel Keen, James Strouse, Jacob Gregory and E. F. Keen, with
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a capital of $200,000, Raab D. Keen was placed in charge of its affairs, which he ably managed until January 1. 1912. Since that time he has been condueting his father's farm of 900 acres, and has demonstrated his ability as a farmer as well as a financier. He is one of the pro- gressive young agrieulturists of Wayne county, and is carrying on his operations along modern methods. Following the example of his father, he has identified himself prominently with Democratie politics, and is at present central committeeman of Four Mile township and an influential worker in the ranks of the organization. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. He has numerous friends throughout the township, and is known as a worthy representa- tive of the old and honored family to which he belongs.
In 1906 Mr. Keen was united in marriage with Miss Otie L. Damon, daughter of J. C. Damon, who is engaged in the milling business at Keenes. Mr. and Mrs. Keen have two children: Helen, born in 1907; and Rispah Susan, born in 1911.
CHARLES L. SCOTT. For the past ten years Charles L. Scott has been identified with the communal life of Grayville, and has served the city and county in many ways. In his first years of association with this place he was engaged as principal of the North Side School of Grayville, but in 1901 he engaged in the hardware business, in which he has since continued with a most pleasing degree of success. Ife has taken an important part in the political life of the county, having rep- resented his distriet in the legislature on more than one occasion, and ordinarily holding positions of importance in the administration of affairs of the city,
Mr. Scott was born on January 26, 1876, on a farm in Edwards county. Ile is the son of Joseph K. Scott, born in Kentucky, in 1837. The father of Joseph K. Scott was James, a native of Virginia, and a pioneer settler of eastern Kentucky, who migrated to Edwards county in about 1862 and lived on a farm there with his son, Joseph K. The farm of which Joseph Scott became the owner was a tract of about two hundred aeres, sitnated midway between Grayville and Albion. He married Mary J. Coles, the daughter of William Coles and his wife. Rachael, Mrs. Scott still lives in Albion, although her husband died in 1885. They reared seven children, five sons and two daughters, here named in the order of their birth: Laura, who married a Mr. Brews- ter, is now deceased; John K. lives on the old homestead : Charles L., of Grayville, Illinois: Katie, married Mr. Harris, and lives in Ellery. Edwards county ; Ella is in Albion with the mother : Josephine married Mr. Schroeder and lives on a Farm near Grayville: Rachael died in infancy.
Charles L. Scott was educated in the public schools of Edwards county. After his graduation from the high school he spent two years in study at the Danville (Ind.) Normal, and in 1899 was graduated from the Southern Collegiate Institute of Albion. When he was eigh- teen years of age he began teaching between his college courses, and he continued in that profession until 1901. He was principal of the North Side school of Grayville for three years, as stated in a previous para- graph, which was the last position he held in that line of work. In 1901 Mr. Scott became associated in the hardware business with Joseph Robinson, under the firm name of Robinson & Scott. They began with a small capital, Int the business has grown since then until today the total investment is in excess of $25,000. Aside from his business, to which Mr. Scott gives close and careful attention, he has been promi- nent in a political way for a number of yours. He is a Democrat in
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his party belief. but served as a non-partisan member of the Grayville city council for four years, and in that position did excellent work for the city. Hle served as president of the school board for two terms, and has ever been an important factor in the growth and upbuilding of the school system of the community. In 1908 Mr. Scott was elected a member of the forty-sixth general assembly, and was re-elected to the forty-seventh assembly in 1910. He is at the present writing a can- didate for re-election. Mr. Scott is possessed of all the qualities which might be calculated to fit him for the position of a legislator, and his services to his distriet have been of a most unquestionable order since he has represented them in the legislature. Fraternally he is affiliated with a number of societies, among which are the Modern Woodmen, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Mystic Workers of the World and the Knights and Ladies of Security.
In 1899 Mr. Seott was united in marriage with Miss Flora Johnson, daughter of Thomas Johnson. Two sons have been born to them, Marion Joseph and Joseph Thomas.
LOUIS H. WEAVER. A splendid representative of the self-made and self-educated men of Wayne county, Lonis H. Weaver has won note- worthy success in life through his own efforts, meeting every obstacle intelligently and courageously, and as chief clerk of the Southern Illi- nois Penitentiary is rendering efficient service, spending a large part of his time in Menard, although he claims Fairfield as his home. A son of the late David Weaver, he was born February 11, 1862, on a farm in old Arrington township. His paternal grandfather, George Weaver, was born in Pennsylvania, of German ancestry. Left an or- phan when young, he settled in Ohio, from there coming, in 1852 to Illinois, locating in Indian Prairie township, near JJohnsonville, where he spent his remaining years.
David Weaver was born in Orange county, Ohio, December 3, 1830. In 1850 he migrated to Southern Illinois. locating near Johnsonville, Wayne county. Energetic and persevering, he became one of the lead- ing farmers and stock raisers of his community, at one time owning fifteen hundred acres of land. During his earlier life he followed his trade of a cabinet maker in addition to farming, making furniture for the new-comers, and making all of the coffins required by the people for miles around, taking the lumber employed in their manufacture in the rough and hand dressing it. Prior to his death, which occurred in April, 1910, he gave to each of his children a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, retaining three hundred and forty aeres in his own name.
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