USA > Illinois > A history of southern Illinois; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 88
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JESSE E. MILLER. A public official of Southern Hinois who through faithful and efficient discharge of his duties has won the confidence and esteem of the people of his community is Jesse E. Miller, who is now serving his fifth term as clerk of Alexander county. Mr. Miller, who is a well-known farmer and lumberman of Cairo, is a native of Alexander county, having been born near Elco, January 6, IsGl, a son of Milford Green and Mary A. ( Walton) Miller. His grandfather. who was of German parentage, had two other children to come to Illinois and rear families, Daniel and Mrs. Barbara Mowery.
Milford Green Miller was born in 1-20 in Rowan county, North Carolina, and was there married (first) to a Miss Caulde, who died. leaving him one son, George, now a resident of Diswood, Hinojs He married (second ) Mary A. Walton, who was of German and English descent, and they began their married lives on a North Carolina plan- tation, but in 1857 came to Illinois and settled in the rural community
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of Elco. There Mr. Miller spent the remainder of his life in agricul- tural pursuits, and in bringing up his children to sturdy man and womanhood, and fitting them, by education and otherwise to take hon- orable positions in life. He died in 1892 at the age of seventy-two years, his widow surviving until 1909 and being eighty-four years old at the time of her death. Their children were as follows: Margaret, who became the wife of Henry Whitaker and died in Alexander county ; Sidney B., postmaster of Cairo; Clinton Eugene, residing in Miller City, Illinois; Susie 1., who married J. S. MeRaven, of Marion, Illi- nois ; JJesse E .; and Mary J., who married William Brown, of Cairo.
While coming through the years of his minority Jesse E. Miller attended the country schools and the Southern Illinois Normal Uni- versity at Carbondale. He followed his inclination to teach school and engaged in the work in 1879, continuing therein for nine years. Hav- ing thus added materially to his intellectual equipment and acquired a little capital, he engaged in the merchandise business at Elco, and was appointed postmaster of the town. In 1898, when a vacancy oe- curred, he was appointed county clerk, and at the succeeding four elec- tions he was returned to the office by comfortable majorities. In his politieal affiliations, Mr. Miller is a Republican, as was his father, ex- ercised his prerogative as a party man from early manhood, mixed with adherents of the faith at political gatherings, and served as a dele- gate to conventions and as a member of his county political com- mittee. Although many years have been devoted to official life, he has ever maintained a personal interest in the management of his farms, and for some years has been a dealer in timber and railroad ties, also handling the product of various local lumber mills.
'Mr. Miller was married near Elco, Illinois, September 1, 1889, to Miss Fluanna Short, daughter of Franeis A. and Fluanna (Sowers) Short, whose other children were: Ilenrietta, the wife of Clinton E. Miller, of Miller City; Ida, who is deceased ; Eli A., of Pulaski county, Illinois; and George W., residing at Elmodena, California. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have had the following children : Blanche F., a graduate of the Cairo high school; Jesse S., who died June 10, 1908, at the age of thirteen years; and Frank M., Edward E. and Dorothy R. With his family Mr. Miller attends the Methodist church, of which he is a member and trustee and in the support of which he has been liberal.
BENNETT JAMES. Since his removal to Waterloo in 1897 Bennett James has deservedly been recognized as one of the most valued and representative of its citizens. He is engaged in the real estate, fire in- suranee and grain business and has made a success of the combined industries. Mr. James has had a varied experience in business, having been a farmer, school-teacher, merchant, postmaster and levec com- missioner, and even this list does not represent a complete ennmera- tion of his previous fields of activity.
Bennett James was born in Mitchie precinct, Monroe county, March 10, 1853, and is not only the son of one of the pioneers of this part of the state but the descendant of a family whose founding in America antedates the Revolutionary war. The family is of Welsh origin and its first American settlers located in Maryland. The subject's great- grandfather, Joseph Austin JJames, was born in Maryland and there married, and subsequently immigrated to Kentucky. There he resided with his family for a space and then came to Illinois, making his home in the vicinity of Chalfin Bridge. After a year or two he removed to Missouri, settling at Florissant, in St. Louis county, and he died some years later in Perry county, Missouri. Of the eight children born to
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him and his brave pioneer helpmeet, JJames 1. James, the grandfather of him whose name heads this review, was the youngest, his birth oc- curring in Kentucky in 1794.
James A. James was educated in the college at Beardstown, Ken- tueky. He chose as his vocation that of a farmer, and soon rose above the status of the mediocre citizen, being active in public affairs for many years. He was a colonel in the Black Hawk war, was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1848 and served for four years in the senate of his state. He married Susan O'Hara, and they be- eame the parents of ten children, Austin James, the father of Bennett, being the second born.
Austin JJames was born in Monroe county, near the Randolph coun- ty line, December 30, 1823. Ile received the earlier part of his edu- cation at Harrisonville, whenee his family had moved : later he was entered at St. Mary's College in Perry county, Missouri, and ulti- mately became a student in the University of Missouri. After finish- ing his education he assisted his father on his farm, and for a short time, beginning with 1846, was identified with mining industries in eentral Iowa. In 1847 he returned to Harrisonville and enlisted in a company organized for service in the Mexican war and continued en- gaged in warfare almost until the termination of that conflict. Upon the return of peace he exchanged, like so many of the young citizens, the musket for the ploughshare, the vicinity of Harrisonville being the scene of his agricultural work. In 1849, at Mitchie (at that time called "Hardscrabble") he bought a farm on the Mississippi river, and the old homestead and three hundred and fifty acres of the orig- inal traet of nine hundred acres remains in the family to the present day. He was married on April 14, 1852, to Caroline E. Walker, for- merly of Monroe county, but at that time residing at Dubuque, Iowa. Ile died on November 18, 1892, and is survived by his wife, who is still strong and active at the age of seventy-nine years, and resides in Waterloo with her daughters, next door to the family of her son Ben- nett, where both families have resided for the past fifteen years. Mrs. James is one of the few representatives yet living of the old fashioned active, industrious housewife of fifty years ago and is descended from one of the oldest and best families connected with carly settlement of Southern Illinois. Her brother, Thomas Walker, was editor of one of the early newspapers of Belleville, where Mrs. James lived for many years, when it was a small village compared to what it now is. Six children were born of this union, as follows: Bennett. William, Mary, Frank. Thomas and Carrie. Frank and Thomas are deecased. Wil- liam (whose wife is a nice of Colonel William R. Morrison, drcensed ) is a physician of large practice at Chester and division surgeon of the Iron Mountain and Cotton Belt Railways. Mary is the primary teacher in the Waterloo high school and Carrie is a stenographer for the Estey Piano Company of St. Louis. Austin James was a loyal Democrat in polities and for several years served as justice of the peace. In Istit he was elected to the state legislature and in 1872 his record in the state assembly was approved by re-election. He served as postmaster at Mitchie from 1857 until 1891. when, advanced in years, he removed to Harrisonville, and there he died a year later, lamented by hosts of friends and former associates who knew him as a good and able man. and one whose judgment was to be relied upon at any and all times
The early life of Bennett James was passed on a farm and his edu- eation was secured in the public schools and in the Christian Brothers College at St. Louis. At about the age of twenty-one he left college and himself became a pedagogne, teaching school in his old home town,
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Mitchie. In 1876-7 he went to California, and there for some time acted in the capacity of deputy sheriff to his uncle, Bennett James, whose namesake he is, and who held the office of sheriff there. The following year he came back to Mitchie and again became an instructor, teaching school in that loeality until 1882. From that year dates his mercantile experiences on any extended seale, although he had already become somewhat acquainted with mercantile life before going to Cali- fornia, and condueted a store at Lilly's Landing, a mile south of Mitchie, under the firm name of T. & B. James. He had charge of the river boat landing known as James' Landing, and ran his store very successfully from 1882 to 1887, handling grain at his landing, and from 1891 to 1897 conducted the local post office in connection with the store, succeeding his father as postmaster. In 1897 he left Mitchie and went to Harrisonville, where he lived for a short time and then took up his residence in Waterloo, which place has since represented his home. Here he embarked in the real estate and grain business on a larger scale, and his success has been above the ordinary. He is agent for the Nanson Commission Company of St. Louis and helped them to secure their right-of-way contracts for the fine line of grain elevators this firm has along the line of the St. L., I. M. & S. Railway in Monroe, Randolph, Jackson and Union counties. He is agent for the large landed interests of William Winkelman, Baer Brothers and others, and has charge of some three or four thousand acres of land in the bottom part of the county, collecting rentals from thirty-five or forty tenants, and it is safe to say that he is as well known in the western part of the county as any man who might be mentioned. He is also in the fire insurance business, and writes a niee line of fire insurance in Waterloo and the western part of the county.
Emily E. Priesker, of Chaflin Bridge, and the two children born of this union are Charles A., a resident of St. Louis and postal clerk on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; and Alfred W., who is a printer, lo- cated at Centralia, Illinois. The elder son married Nellie Klinkhardt, of Hecker, Monroe county, Illinois, and the younger married Celia Schmitz, of Waterloo. Mr. James' wife died in 1885, and in 1889 he married Katie F. Clear, of Harrisonville, of which marriage there is no issue. They maintain a pleasant and hospitable home and are held in the highest esteem in this section, where their many fine qualities are too well known to require comment.
Mr. James is a man of mueh influence among his fellow citizens, who hold his opinion of weight and highly esteem his views on all matters affecting the public welfare. Like many of the older settlers, he takes much interest in the early history of his state and particularly the part the James family took in the early settlement of Illinois, and he prizes with more than ordinary interest a copy of General James' "Three Years Among the Indians," the only copy perhaps of this book in existence this day. For 19 years Mr. James has held the office of levee commissioner in Harrisonville and Ivy Landing. lovee district Number 2. He has also been a notary public for the past fifteen years and was a member of the city council for two terms. He is a faithful member of the Catholie ehnreh, is one of the trustees of the Waterloo church and is connected with those orders having the partienlar sanc- tion of his church, namely: The Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Knights of Illinois. lIe is of pleasing personality and very popular, claiming a eircle of friends of generous proportions.
RALEIGHI MARTIN SHAW. In the march of the ages mankind is learning that the greatest heroes of the centuries to come are not the
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heroes of blood, but the heroes of utilitarian brawn, of indomitable character and of keen, purposeful brain. In connection with the last class, at least, one is prone to think of a young man whose comparatively brief life has shown some hint of what he may accomplish in the pro- fession which he has chosen and perhaps in the service of a common- wealth not necessarily bounded by the limits of his county. For at at the age of twenty-four Raleigh Martin Shaw gives promise of an unusually brilliant career.
The best blood of our land is that which has grown rich in red corpuseles and steady in its ebb and flow through the sane and whole- some life of the farm. Successful and well-to-do agriculturists are the parents of the young barrister who is the subject of this sketch. The father, Hutchins Shaw, first saw day in Union county, Ohio, on Oc- tober 27, 1844. The same county was the birthplace of Mary Alice Amrine, whose natal day was September 4, 1852, and who was united in marriage with Mr. Shaw on December 25. 1870. Their first home was in Sumner, Illinois, from which place they later removed to their residence in town which is still their home. They are people of general education, supplemented by marked intelligence. They are members of the Christian church, of which congregation Mr. Shaw is an elder. He is a Democrat by political preference and a man interested in all pro- gressive movements.
Raleigh Martin Shaw was born at Summer, Illinois, on Angust 8, 1888. Ilis education began in the rural schools of that community. ITis boyish ambition then led him to complete the course of the high school of Sumner. Desiring a practical training in the laws and cus- toms of properly conducted business, he next sought the training to be gained from the commercial courses of Valparaiso University, at Valparaiso, Indiana. Five years of application of the technical knowl- edge thus gained have given the young man most valuable experience. But the deeper aspects of legal principles, the usefulness of a life frankly devoted to the highest legal interests and the opportunities it offers to one having both talent and preference for public life led Raleigh Shaw to a study of the law. His researches in this subject were pursued in the College of Law of the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, Ilinois. Ilis scholarship was throughout his course of a partienlarly high order and he was honored by his fraternity with the title of Justice. In 1912 he was graduated from this institution, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Since his return to his native community he has received the most signal honor of being made nominee for the office of prosecuting attorney.
Mr. Shaw is affiliated fraternally with the Modern Woodmen of America and is a member of the Phi Alpha Delta fraternity, the latter being emphatically a mark of his popularity and high standing while in college. The young lawyer's many friends are extremely desirons of seeing him elected to the office for which he has been nominated. in which case he would be the youngest prosecuting attorney of whom Lawrence county has ever been able to boast. In any event it is easy to prophesy that Raleigh Martin Shaw has an exceptionally trilliant future before him.
HENRY THOMAS GODDARD. In visiting a town for the first time one often has a man pointed out as "one of our big men." and upon ask- ing what he has done, receives the reply. "He is president of such and such a bank." MMthough such a position means that the man must have ability, especially in a financial way, yet in the minds of thinking men, the presideney of a bank does not entitle him to the title of "big Vol. III-38
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man." Today is the day of responsibility, when the world is gradually being brought to the realization that men are members of society and not individual and independent units, and that each man bears upon his shoulders some part of the civic, political, and social problems of the whole country. For this reason, Henry Thomas Goddard, of Mt. Carmel, Illinois, is entitled to the title referred to above. For in spite of the duties which entail upon him through his presideney of the First National Bank, he has found the time to take a deep and active interest in local affairs. in educational matters, and in all questions pertaining to the public welfare. lle is a man who thinks upon the problems which the country is facing. and does not rely on the news- papers or the words of politieal agitators; therefore he is in a posi- tion to keep a cool head in a time of need.
Henry Thomas Goddard was born on the 20th of June, 1852, at Marion, in Williamson county, Illinois, the son of James and Winnifred (Spiller) Goddard. His father was born in Franklin county, Vir- ginia, in 1818, and his mother was a native of Williamson county, Illi- nois. Mrs. Goddard was a daughter of William and Winnifred (Ben- son) Spiller. both of whom were natives of Tennessee, having been born in Robinson eounty in that state. They came to Illinois and were among the first settlers of Williamson county. James T. Goddard and his wife lived for a time in Bainbridge, Williamson county, Illinois, where he was engaged in the mercantile business, thence coming to Marion, Illinois, and continued in the same business. The more re- mote aneestors of Henry T. Goddard were Seotch-Irish, his forebears having immigrated from Scotland, first to Cork in Ireland, and thenee to the United States. We do not wish to take away from the glory of Mr. Goddard's achievements, but still. one always expects more of a man with Scotch-Irish blood in his veins than of other men, and Mr. Goddard's characteristics mark him strongly as being of this eombina- tion. His grandfather, James Goddard, was a native of Virginia, and served in a Virginian regiment during the War of 1812. He later moved to Williamson county, Illinois, where he died. His wife, Mrs. Maria (Davis-McHaney) Goddard, was a second cousin of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, and was an aunt of General John T. Davis.
The preparatory educational training of Mr. Goddard was obtained in the Marion schools, and then he was sent to the Normal University at Normal, Illinois, and later to Notre Dame University, the well known institution at Notre Dame, Indiana. Upon leaving school he went to work in his brother-in-law's dry goods store at Marion, and as soon as opportunity offered he entered the banking business, for he always felt an inclination in this direction. He was connected with the Exchange Bank in Marion for ten years, learning the business from the ground up. Therefore when he left Marion in 1890 to accept the position of cashier of the First National Bank of Mt. Carmel, he was thoroughly capable of filling this very responsible position. The work was even harder than is that of the average cashier's, for the bank had just been organized, and the responsibility for much of its initial success rested upon Mr. Goddard. How well he filled his posi- tion is shown by the fact that in February, 1904, he was elected presi- dent, and has held this post since that time. His judgment on finaneial matters is highly respected, and he has proved that he has powers of organization and exeentive ability above the average. He is president of the Bank of Wayne City, at Wayne City. Illinois, and is chairman of Group 9, of the Illinois Bankers' Association.
As to his publie offices Mr. Goddard has served as city treasurer. as
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alderman, and as a member of the board of education, and in each of these positions proved to be a sincere and efficient friend of the people. Ile is also a member of the board of trustees of the Southern Normal University, at Carbondale, Illinois. Fraternally Mr. Goddard is a member of the Masonie order. of the Elks and of the Knights of Pythias. For several years he served as district deputy grand master of the Masons and is now a member of the committee on mileage and per diem of the Grand Lodge.
The marriage of Mr. Goddard to Mary E. Houts, daughter of C. ... and Mary J. Houts, took place at Marion, Illinois, on the 4th of Sep- tember, 1873. The father of Mrs. Goddard was a pioneer Methodist minister of Illinois and Missouri, and was a co-laborer with Peter Cart- wright, his ministry extending over a period of forty-seven years. Ilis wife was Jane ( Randle) Ilouts, and was a descendant of the famous Randolph family of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Goddard have four chil- dren, as follows: Lora Houts Goddard: Queile Houts, who is now Mrs. Roberts: Roy Houts Goddard : and Henry Houts Goddard.
Mrs. Goddard, like her husband. takes a keen interest in public affairs, and is a prominent figure in charity, elub, social and fraternal affairs. She is past grand matron of the Order of the Eastern Star of Illinois, is a member of the State Board of Charities, was actively con- meeted with the Reviewers' Matinee, a local literary and civie improve- ment club, and is now president of the Woman's Club of Mt. Carmel.
WHITTENBERGS. The Whittenberg family came to this country from Wittenberg, Germany, in colonial times and settled in Pennsylvania soon after the Revolutionary war. One branch of the family, Henry Whittenberg, great-grandfather of the present generation of Johnson county Whittenbergs, removed from Pennsylvania to Tennessee when but a young man and settled in Blount county. This sturdy pioneer, although thoroughly American by birth, was of the broad shouldered and imperturbable German Vype. Tis made his home for life amid the wilds of that mountainous country and there he reared his family of five sons. The eldest, Henry Whittenberg, remained in that country and today a number of Whittenbergs, descendants of his, are living in Blount county, Tennessee. The second. third and fourth sons, namely. Mathew. Joseph and Daniel. removed to Washington county, Ilinois, in 1835, where they lived to ripe old age, and their minnerons descendants are yet living in Washington, Franklin and Williamson counties, Illinois. The fifth and youngest son, William Whittenberg, was married to Nancy Smith, daughter of John M. Smith, a Methodist clergyman of Blount county, Tennessee, in 1822. removed to Henry county, Tennessee, in 1835, and three years later, in 1838, made a visit to his brothers in Washington county, Illinois, with the purpose of locating near them. Ile left Washington county, Illinois, for his home in Henry county, Tennessee, intending to return with his family, it was never seen or heard from by any of his family or relations. It was supposed that he was murdered or that he met with some fatal accident. In Isto lis family, consisting of the widow and eight children, came from Henry county, Tennessee, to Johnson county, Illinois, and settled in Grants. burg township, where the children grew to maturity, and where the widowed mother continued to live until old age and the marriage of all the children caused her to make her home with her oldest son, John S. in whose home she died in I868.
To William Whittenberg and Nancy (Smith) Whittenberg. right children were born, John S. Sarah, William P., Polly Ann, Harrison,
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Matthew and Daniel Webster, all born in Blount county, and Malinda, the youngest, born in Henry county, Tennessee.
JOHN SMITH WHITTENBERG, the oldest son of William and Nancy (Smith) Whittenberg, was born in Blount county, Tennessee, in 1823, and with his widowed mother and his family came to Johnson county, Illinois, in 1840. The first few years in Illinois were very trying times to poor people in a strange land. There was hard work, small wages and scareely enough food to satisfy the growing family. The mother was a woman of strong character, strong in physique, profoundly re- ligious, well educated for those times and favored with a good measure of common sense. She was a capable leader for her growing sons and daughters. There were no free schools, but the family home was a school and in this home were taught the most valuable lessons to be learned in life. After the work of the day was done the children were given instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic. The Bible and a few works of biography were the books most used. John S. was eager for knowledge and read with delight all the books he could get. He was peculiarly fond of the Scriptures and studied them diligently. At an early age he was lieensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal church, to which calling he gave a good share of his time throughout his long and useful life, remaining only a "local preacher."
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