USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 87
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David Weaver was twice married. He married first Naomi Sicer, who passed to the life beyond in 1886. She bore him nine children, as follows: Mrs. Matilda Whitson, of Johnsonville; Louis 11., the special subject of this brief biographical sketch; George II., engaged m farm- ing and stoek raising in llickory Hill township; Cynthia J., wife of John Tibbs, of Johnsonville; Franklin, a farmer and stock-grower in Berry township; Theodore, also engaged in agricultural pursnits in Berry township; Nettie, wife of Owen Galbraith, of Saint Louis, Mis- souri ; and Arthur and Everett, twins, who died in infancy. Ile mar- ried for his second wife Mary J. Taylor, who survived him.
Lonis H. Weaver was brought up on the home farm, receiving very limited educational advantages, his father putting his boys to work at an early age, so that his education was largely acquired after his mar- riage, under the instruction of his wife, or by reading. Ile did his full share of work as a youth, remaining at home until his marriage, when he settled on a farm of eighty acres, to which he subsequently added
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another eighty acres of land. This farm Mr. Weaver sold, but he has other landed interests, owning, with his brother, eighty acres in Wayne county, and being owner of three hundred and twenty acres in Kansas, and one hundred and twenty aeres in Missouri.
In his political affiliations Mr. Weaver is a Republican, and has faithfully performed his duties as a citizen in various capacities. For twelve years he was school director; for three years he served as high- way commissioner; was township tax collector one term; and for one year was a member of the county board of supervisors. In 1902 he was elected county sheriff, and served four years. Embarking in the livery business in Fairfield in 1906, he carried it on successfully until selling ont in August, 1911. In 1910 he was elected a member of the county board of supervisors from Grover township. On June 30, 1911. he was appointed chief clerk of the Southern Illinois Penitentiary, at Menard, and is filling the position with marked ability and fidelity.
On March 20, 1884. Mr. Weaver was united in marriage with Nancy A. Dickey, a daughter of William R. Dickey, and into their home eight children have been born, namely : David Arthur, born in 1885, married and has one child. Dorothy ; Mrs. Edna Cates, of Fairfield ; Mrs. May Goodall, of Saint Elmo, Illinois, has one child, Madeline; Etta. attend- ing the Fairfield high school ; Chloe; Edith ; and lda; and a child in- named, which died in infancy.
PROFESSOR ANDREW EMANUEL LIBKE, since 1909 superintendent of schools in West Salem, and identified with the profession since 1900, was born on a farm immediately south of West Salem, on April 9, 1877. Hle is the son of Charles A. Libke and Catherine ( Breining) Linke.
Charles A. Libke was born in Edwards county, February 23, 1854, and was the youngest son of Frederick Libke, a native of Germany, and the only one of the family to be born in America. Frederick Libke immigrated from Germany in 1852 and settled in Edwards county on a farm near West Salem. He had a family of eight children, all of whom were born in Germany with the exception of the youngest son, Charles, who is the father of Andrew Emanuel Libke of this review. One of the children died and was buried at sea while the family was making the passage from the Fatherland. and three of the number are now living .- Charles A., Frederick and Mrs. Luey Felderman. Charles Libke owns a fine farm of one hundred and ten aeres near West Salem, where he has lived the greater part of his life. He was twice married. Ilis first wife was Catherine Breining, born November 12, 1552, in Ly- coming county, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Jacob Brein- ing, a native of Germany, who first settled in Pennsylvania, later moved to Missouri and finally established a home in Wayne county, Ilinois. She died on November 13, 1894, having reared a family of nine children. They are: Andrew E. : Mrs. E. A. Moody, living at Port Stanley, On- tario. Canada : Mrs. Daisy Elliot, living on a farm near West Salem; Samuel, a resident of the state of Washington: Harry, living in West Salem: Nora, married to Harry Voigt, living in West Salem; Lloyd, who lives at home; and Lora and Roy, who died in infancy.
Andrew Emanuel Libke was a student in the Little Brick district school just south of West Salem as a boy and was graduated from the West Salem high school with the class of 1998, after which he studied in the Southern Collegiate Institute at Albion. In 1900 he began teach- ing. for six years contining his labors to the country distriets, four of which were in his home distriet. In 1906 he became assistant principal of the West Salem high school, and in 1909. so well had he fulfilled his duties, he was appointed to the position of superintendent of the
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schools of the town and principal of the high school. The high school has an average attendance of twenty-six students, while the schools of the town have an enrollment of two hundred and seventy-five, and he has a corps of six teachers as assistants. His success in his ehosen line of work is in every way worthy of the approbation of his fellow men, who have expressed their pleasure and appreciation by giving him po- sitions of higher importance with each succeeding year.
Professor Libke is connected with a number of fraternal orders, among them the Ben HIurs, the Odd Fellows and the Rebekahs. IIe has been financial secretary of the Odd Fellows for the past eight years. He is a Republican in his political faith, and firm in his convictions, although not in any sense a politieian.
In 1905 Professor Libke was united in marriage with Miss Carrie J. Lopp, the daughter of Jaeob and Eliza Lopp, of West Salem. Mrs. Libke also taught a number of terms in the village and country schools before her marriage, and has filled a number of vaeaneies, assisting her husband sinee her marriage.
BENJAMIN F. THOMAS. A man of broad mentality and high sehol- arly attainments, Benjamin F. Thomas, of Fairfield, oeeupies a place of prominence among the leading attorneys of Wayne county, his habits of industry, well trained mind and professional skill and knowledge having gained for him noteworthy suecess at the bar of Southern Illi- nois. A native of Wayne county, he was born August 18, 1873, in Jas- per township, where his early life was spent.
The father of Mr. Thomas, Jason H. Thomas, was born near Salem, Ohio, July 9, 1827, and now, in 1912, is living on his farm of one hun- dred and five acres, which he improved from its original wildness. Coming to Wayne county in 1854, he followed the trades of a tanner and eabinet maker for many years, also being successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits. During the Civil war he enlisted in Company D, Eighty-seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until the elose of hostilities.
Acquiring his preliminary education in the common sehools, and afterwards graduating from Harvard College, Benjamin F. Thomas subsequently studied law, and in February, 1898, was admitted to the har. On March 21, 1898, he formed a professional partnership with Thomas H. Creighton, of Fairfield, with whom he is at the present time associated, being junior member of the firm of Creighton & Thomas. In November, 1900, Mr. Thomas was elected state's attorney by a ma- jority of seventy-three votes, and at the same time gained the distine- tion of being the first state's attorney ever eleeted on the Republican tieket in Wayne county. The administration that followed was an ex- cellent one, and in November, 1904, Mr. Thomas was re-elected state's attorney by a majority of four hundred votes, the increase in the num- ber of ballots cast in his favor bespeaking his popularity with all elasses of people. During his eight years as state's attorney Mr. Thomas made a notable reeord, achieving over fourteen hundred convictions in the time ; ridding the county of boot-leggers; thoroughly cowing the tough element by his strenuous work as prosecutor; at the expiration of his term turning over to the school funds more money than ever has been by a state's attorney before or sinee ; and through his wise and efficient labors converting Wayne county into a law-abiding community. The abilities of Mr. Thomas receive hearty recognition not only in his home city, but throughout the county. Ile is highly esteemed and profes- sionally and financially has attained marked suecess, being a large land
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owner and having a financial interest in a number of prominent busi- ness ventures.
Mr. Thomas married Miss Minnie Farmer, of Noble, Illinois, and they have one daughter, Marjorie.
CHESTER ARTHUR MCCLURE. A well-managed and up-to-date mer- eantile establishment is one of the most valuable institutions a com- munity can possess and contributes in marked degree to its prosperity and standing and also to the pleasure and convenience of living. One of the most successful and enterprising of the mercantile businesses of Edwards county is that of which Chester Arthur MeClure is proprietor and manager. He is following in the footsteps of his honored father, who from 1883 until his death in 1905 operated a general mercantile store in this place. The subject is of pioneer stock in this section and may point to an ancestral record distinguished for its patriotism and good citizenship, and in these qualities he shares, being a veteran of the Spanish-American war and a young man whose hand is extended toward all public-spirited measures.
Mr. MeClure was born at Dexter, in Effingham county, September 19, 1885, the son of G. W. MeClure. The grandfather was a native of Maryland and of Scotch-English descent. However, he early left his native heath and came to the west, and his son. the subjeet's father, was born within the boundaries of Edwards county. The first of the McClures in Illinois was among the forty-niners, making the trip over- land to California in that year, but soon returning and devoting his energies to Illinois agriculture, finding far greater peace and happiness in the tilling of the soil than in the quest of gold. When the Civil war cloud broke, plunging the nation into sorrow and devastation, he en- listed and served under the flag of the cause he believed to be just as a member of an Illinois regiment.
The subject's father, after his marriage, removed to Dexter, Ef- fingham county, and there started a general mercantile business, which was destined to meet with the best of fortunes and which he operated in Dexter for three and a half years, until 1883. He then removed his business to Bone Gap, in whose future he had all of confidence, and this business he operated until his demise, its growth being continual and substantial. This fine citizen was Republican in politics. Fra- ternally he was an Odd Fellow and a Mason. He was active in church work and served in the affairs of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was a member as steward, trustee and class leader. In 1880 he married Susan J. Walser, daughter of James Walser, a pioneer of Edwards county, she having been reared on a country estate about a mile and a half east of West Salem. Three children were born to their union,-Chester A., a child who died in infancy and Flossie .1., wife of George W. Porter. of Bone Gap.
Mr. MeClure of this review received his first introduction to Min- erva in the public schools of Bone Gap and Effingham and had his higher training in the Southern Collegiate Institute. Subsequently he completed a business course in the Austin Business College at Effing- ham in 1900. Previous to that he served in the Spanish-American war, being mustered into the service on June 28, 189s, as a member of Com- pany G, Ninth Ilinois Volunteer Regiment. He was on detached duty at brigade headquarters under Brigadier General Douglas and Briga dier General Kribben, being stationed at Jacksonville. Savannah and Havana, Cuba. lle was mustered ont May 20. 1899, with the rank of mounted orderly.
Upon the return of peace Mr. MeClare came back to his home town,
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and after the business course at Effingham, mentioned previously, he went to Detroit and engaged in the machinist's trade, working at the Bayer plant of the Chicago Pneumatie Tube Company. He was sub- sequently employed by various automobile companies, the Packard Company, ete., and was also in the employ of the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. He resided for a considerable period in Detroit, from Angust, 1901, to September 14, 1905. Upon the demise of his father Mr. MeClure took charge of the business of that gentleman and he has shown the same good judgment and honorable and effective busi- ness methods displayed by the elder gentleman. The stock carried at the present time is an excellent one and exeeeds $6,000.
Mr. MeCInre is a prominent lodge man and finds pleasure and profit in fraternal association with his fellows. He belongs to the Masonic lodge, No. 866, at West Salem; Monitor Lodge, No. 235, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Bone Gap; the Modern Woodmen of America, No. 648, of whose counsel he is a member; Ben Hur and the Rebekahs. In religious faith he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. On June 13, 1909, Mr. MeCure was happily married at Mt. Carmel, the lady of his choice being Claribel J. Inskeep, daughter of Dr. J. E. Inskeep. They have one danghter, Catherine Wilbur, born May 26, 1910. They are among the most popular and highly regarded of the young people of the community and maintain a pleasant and hos- pitable home.
IION. DOUGLAS W. HELM. Metropolis possesses a citizen of more than state-wide fame, in whose achievements the city, Massae county and the fifty-first senatorial district feel a possessive pleasure, for Hon. Douglas W. IIelm, to whom reference is made, has represented all these eivic divisions and is as proud of them as they are of him. Senator Helm is a member of the law firm of Courtney and IIelm at Metropolis, and is for the third term representing the fifty-first senatorial distriet in the general assembly of Illinois as its member of the upper house. Senator Helm represents the counties of Massae; Pope, Johnson, Saline and Hamilton, succeeding ex-Congressman Chapman in the state sen- ate. Ile entered upon his legislative duties as a member of the forty- third general assembly and was appointed on the judiciary committee, being also made chairman of the committee on judicial department and practice. He was also made a member of the appropriations committee and at the historie "Lorimer" session of the legislature he was made chairman of the committee authorized to investigate the election of William Lorimer, of Chicago, to the United States senate. This bore his name, being called the "Helm Committee." Senator Helm was a participant in the initial fight for a primary election law for the state. Ile stood out for a law that would not fall before the serutiny of the supreme court, and supported the best measure that could be had at the various sessions at which the subject was considered.
The Senator's public life began almost as soon as he had finished his classical and legal education. He entered polities as a Republican in his home town and was elected city attorney of Metropolis. In 1888 he was elected state's attorney of Massac county and was twiee re- elected, filling the office for three full terms. He was appointed by Governor John R. Tanner as trustee for the Southern Illinois Normal, being the first graduate of that school to receive such distinction. Gov- ernor Yates subsequently selected him as a member of the Ilinois Com- mission of Claims, and he resigned from the Normal board. Ile had not
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completed his term on the Commission when elected to the State Senate. and resigned for the purpose of accepting the latter honor. His trained mind, keen sense of perception and indomitable will have served him in the successive steps of his publie positions, and he is known as a champion of the right who never fears a foe or admits defeat, but adroitły turns the latter into victory. No public servant of any com- munity stands higher among his constituents than does Senator Helm among the people of Southern Illinois. He has served them long and well, honestly and faithfully, and they honor him accordingly.
The Senator is a native of Johnson county. Ile was born July 23, 1860, and went from the public schools to the Southern Illinois Nor- mal University at Carbondale. He graduated from the Wesleyan Law School at Bloomington in 1883. He took the bar examination the fol- lowing year at Mt. Vernon and entered upon practice with his present partner, under whom he had read law. Senator Helm is a son of Robert A. Helm, who gave his life to the service of his country while a member of Smith's battery of light artillery, attached to the Sixth Illinois Cavalry. The father was born in Tennessee, a son of Thomas Helm, who came to Ilinois when his son was a youth, and who died on a farm in Johnson county. His father, the great-grandfather of Senator Helm, was Thomas Helm, a soldier of the Revolution, who was killed in the battle of Guilford Court House. Ile was a Virginia soldier and his family eventually followed the trend of immigration to Tennessee, whenre his son later brought his own family to Ilinois. Thomas Ilelm, Jr., was married to a Miss Cowden, whose father was killed in a cavalry charge during the War of the Revolution. so the traditions of the relationship through many branches are coupled with the memories of the heroic dead whose love of country was greater than their love of life. The issue of the Helm-Cowden union consisted of four children, who are now all dead. They were: Robert A., Thomas, Leroy and Elizabeth, the latter of whom became the wife of Lee Walker. Robert A. Helm married Mary I. Rice, a daughter of Thomas Riee, who came originally from North Carolina, where his father was proprietor of an old time inn. Senator Helm is the only surviving issue of his parents. His mother died in 1908, at the age of seventy.
On April 13, 1884, Senator Helm married in Johnson county, Illi- nois, Miss Mary Howell, a daughter of Henry C. Howell, who was a volunteer soldier in the Union army during the Civil war. Mr. Howell was himself married in Johnson county, his wife being Margaret John- son, a grand-daughter of one of the very earliest settlers of that county. Mrs. Hehn was born in Johnson county in 1863, and the children from her marriage with the Senator are Roy R., Lloyd L., Herbert and Verna May. The children have made splendid records as students. Roy Helm graduated from the University of Illinois with the degree of LL. D. and from the law department of the University of Chicago, where he made a record as a brilliant and deep student. He is en- gaged in the practice of law in Metropolis, his wife having formerly been Miss Mabel Moore, and a member of his graduating class at the State I'niversity. Lloyd Helm will finish his course in the University of Illinois in 1912, with the degree of A. B. Herbert will graduate from the Metropolis high school in 1912. and his sister is still pursuing her studies.
DR. HERMAN LA SCHAEFER succeeded his father in the practice of medieine in West Salem in 1891, and in the years that have elapsed
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has most ereditably carried on the reputation of that worthy gentle- man. Born in West Salem, Edwards county, on January 20, 1869, Dr. Schaefer is the son of Dr. Herman M. and Albertine (Hedrick) Sehaefer. The father was a native of Germany, born in that country in 1820. Ile immigrated to America in 1848, previous to which he had served in the Franco-Prussian war in the capacity of army surgeon. When he located in West Salem, then a mere village with the sur- rounding country but thinly settled, he began the practice of his pro- fession, which he continued throughout the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1892, at West Salem. His wife was a daughter of George Hedrick, a native of North Carolina, who was an early pioneer of Edwards county. She was born near West Salem in 1833, and she passed away in 1898. Thirteen children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Ilerman Schaefer, of whom seven are still living. The names of the children are: George, Paul, Louisa, all three deceased; Mrs. Anna Brown; Mrs. Lney Dollahon; Mrs. Clara Rominger; Mrs. Lora Clod- fetted; Henry, deceased; Mrs. Emily Lilkis; Aliee; Herman; Ellen, deceased ; and Charles, also deceased.
Dr. Schaefer was edueated in the common schools of West Salem, and then entered the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, in 1888, and was graduated from its medieal department in 1891. He commenced the practice of his profession in the same year, and upon his father's demise in 1892 continued in the practice already estab- lished by him. In addition thereto he has drawn to himself a elientele that is representative of the best in West Salem, and he has in every way demonstrated his fitness to carry on the work of his father. He is local surgeon for the Illinois Central Railroad.
Dr. Schaefer is a member of the County, State and American Medi- eal Associations, and is a elose and careful student of all that tends to advance him in his profession. He is a Republican in his political faith, and is a member of the Moravian church. In a fraternal way he affiliates with the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Modern Wood- men.
Dr. Schaefer has been twice married. In 1894 he was married to Miss Hattie Hallbeek, a daughter of P. J. Hallbeek. She died in 1897. His second marriage took place in 1907, when he married Inez Seibert, a daughter of Daniel Seibert, of West Salem.
JOHN M. LANSDEN, of Cairo, Illinois, was born in Sangamon county, February 12. 1836. His parents, Seoteh-Irish people, were Rev. Abner Wayne Lansden and Mary Miller Lansden, the former born in Iredell county, North Carolina, October 1, 1794, and the latter in Roane conn- ty, Tennessee, February 12, 1809. Her name was Mary M. Gallaher. They were married at her father's home in Roane county, January 29, 1829, but resided in Wilson county, Tennessee, until 1835, when they came to Sangamon county. She died there September 3, 1842, in the thirty-fourth year of her age. Twelve years after her death he married Sarah L. Lowrance, of Jerseyville. They removed to Sa- line county, Missouri, in 1869, where his two daughters had recently gone. He died there September 8, 1875, in the eighty-first year of his age.
John M. Lansden worked on his father's farm fifteen miles south- west of Springfield, and attended the village and district schools, and afterward prepared for college at Virginia, Cass county, Illinois, and in September, 1858, entered the freshman class of Cumberland Uni-
John M. Lansden
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versity, Lebanon, Tennessee. He carried along the first year the work also of the sophomore year, and at the end of the second year entered the junior class in the regular classical course. From thence he stood third in mathematics and second in all other studies. Owing to the disturbed condition of the country following the election of Mr. Lin- coln to the presidency, he left Lebanon in January, 1861, five months before the time for graduation, and entered the senior class of Illinois College at Jacksonville, and there graduated in June of that year. He taught school for two or three years, and then entered the law school at Albany, New York, where he graduated in the latter part of May. 1865. Ile obtained his license in that state and upon it he obtained license in Illinois and began the practice of the law in the same year.
He became a resident of Cairo in 1866, and from that time up to the present he has continued in the practice of his profession without interruption. He has taken almost no part in politics, although usually acting with the Democratic party. Besides practicing in the state and federal courts of his own state, he has for almost twenty-five years practiced in the state and federal courts of Kentucky and, now and then, elsewhere. He was admitted to the United States supreme court at Washington in 1896. He was elected city attorney in 1870, and mayor in 1871 and 1872. He has been a member of the following law firms during the many years of his practice: Olney, MeKeaig & Lans- den, O'Melveny & Lansden, Linegar & Lansden, Mulkey, Linegar & Lansden, Lansden & beek, and now of the firm of Lansden & Lansden. the junior member of which is his son, David S. Lansden. Recently he wrote a history of the City of Cairo, which was published by R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, of Chicago, in 1910.
In 1867 he married Effie Wyeth Smith, of Jacksonville, a daughter of David A. Smith, a well known and distinguished lawyer of central Illinois. She died Jannary 31, 1907. The and his family have always been identified with the Presbyterian church, as were their ancestors. His father was a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church for fifty years. Two of his father's brothers were ministers of the same church, and three of his mother's brothers were ministers of the Pres- byterian church. One of them, the Rev. James Gallaher, was chaplain to the house of representatives at Washington some sixty years ago, and the author, also, of three or four interesting books.
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