USA > Illinois > Clay County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 47
USA > Illinois > Richland County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 47
USA > Illinois > Marion County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 47
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of whom grew up and six are now living. Upon his marriage, John Beck and his wife rented a farm in Crawford county in the year 1875, and on account of unfavorable cir- cumstances removed that same fall to Rich- land county. It was at this time that he traded for the saw-mill referred to before. He then moved into Decker township and later bought twenty acres in Preston town- ship which he afterwards sold and returned once more to German township. In January of 1882 he moved to his present farm which then consisted of forty acres. Since that time he has built the house and barn now standing and otherwise changed the face of the land and brought it to its present ad- mirable state of cultivation.
John Beck was the sixth of ten children born to his parents, seven of whom grew to maturity. His father died in April of 1881. aged eighty-four years, and was buried in Goss cemetery. John was not able to obtain an extended education in his young days. However, he attended the subscription school and went for several terms to the free school in Richland county, learning to read, write and spell, also obtaining a knowledge of arithmetic. To John Beck and wife six children were born ; three girls and two boys grew up; one child died in infancy. In regu- lar order they were: Dorothy Viola is the wife of George W. Gerber, a carpenter of Claremont township; Sidney Paul married Maggie Byrd and resides on a farm in Shelby county ; Bertha May is the wife of E. W. Craig, a farmer of German township; Clara Agatha and Frederick Stephen are both sin-
gle and live with their parents on the farm. All are fairly prosperous.
In politics the subject of this sketch is a Democrat and has for the greater part of his life taken an interest in local politics. He has been for six years Commissioner of High- ways in German township, and School Di- rector for the long period of twenty-one years. Active as he has been in the pub- lic life of his community, he has never aspired for a political office of any kind. He and his wife and family are all members of the the St. James Lutheran church in Claremont township. He is himself one of the original founders and builders of that church. He has served as church treasurer for about twenty years, as a deacon for several terms, and as a teacher of the Sunday school class for the past thir- ty-five years, and is now an elder. It is need- less to say he has ever been active in all things pertaining to his church. In the town- ship in which he has lived the best part of his life .he is favorably looked upon as an- upright and honest man and as an industrious farmer whose success is well deserved.
REV. WILLIAM JACKSON SIMER.
This sterling and honored citizen of Omega township, Marion county, is the owner of one of the best farms in this com- munity and is a local minister of the Gospel of much popularity, having for many years performed a grand service among the people
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whom he has elected to serve, burying the when his name was announced to appear on friends who pass over the mystic river, mar- a program he was always insured a large and interested audience, and his powers as an orator and his ability as a political worker were soon recognized by party lead- ers and he was invited to speak in other communities. rying the young, beginning life's more seri- ous walks, and in many ways assisting in ameliorating the condition of the public at large and his character has from his youth up been unblemished by shadow of wrong, so that the community regards him as one of its most valuable citizens.
William Jackson Simer is a native of Marion county, having been born here Sep- tember 9, 1849, and is therefore fifty-nine years old at this writing (1908). His father's name was Jason R. Simer, a Ten- nesseean, who came to Illinois when fifteen years of age and worked by the month until he was married at the age of twenty-five years to Amelia Gaston, who was born near the Marion County Home and who was called to her rest in 1866, at the age of forty years. Jason R .. Simer married a sec- ond time to Ruth Carpenter in the year 1870. Seven children were born to him by his first wife, our subject being one of the number; and three children were born of the second union.
Our subject worked out among the neigh- bors until he was seventeen years of age, having attended the local schools in Jef- ferson county, later the Huff school, in the meantime during the winter months, and received a good foundation for an education by diligently applying himself to his studies, and he has now become a well read man by constant home study and personal observa- tion. When twenty-five years old he be- gan to make public addresses on local po- litical issues and so well did he speak that
Our subject has always been more or less interested in farming pursuits and he early in life gave marked evidence of being a man of affairs, and he began to work for him- self when seventeen years old. He now owns a fine farm of two hundred and three acres, forty acres being in timber, the rest being under a high state of cultivation.
Rev. Mr. Simer has always been an ac- tive church worker and Sunday school worker, especially so since 1880, and he is now filling the pulpit each Lord's day at Lovel Grove, Smith's Grove, Bethel in Clay county, and at Brubaker, giving a fourth of his time to each charge, all of which he has built up and greatly strengthened.
Our subject has been twice married, his first wife's name being Sarah E. Easley, to whom seven children were born, four of whom are living, the family being com- posed of six sons and one daughter. His second wife was Mary Alice Farson, to whom two children were born, both living. Their names are Clay and Frank. The names of his children by his first wife fol- low: The first child died in early infancy ; Leroy, who married Goldin Allen, and who had three children, two living, a son and a daughter; Hershel, who married Jennie Tate and who has four children, two sons and two daughters; Charley, who married
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Ama Hultz; Hugh, who married Minnie Jennings, and who has one son; Margaretta and Rollie.
Mr. Simer takes a great interest in public affairs and is serving his third term as Su- pervisor of Omega township in a manner that reflects much credit upon his ability and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He is greatly interested in the cause of edu- cation, and he has taught six successful terms of school in his own neighborhood, gaining considerable praise as an able in- structor and his services were in great de- mand. He is a very versatile man on almost any topic and he is ever ready for any good work. He has a large, well arranged and carefully selected library, consisting of the best books of modern and early days on a wide range of themes among which much of his time is spent. He has always been a close student of the Bible, having an ardent desire to know and comprehend the same, being anxious to know and do the will of the Heavenly Father, and to follow His teachings at all times. In matters affecting the general welfare Rev. Simer has been most active and influential.
JACOB EYER.
The well known farmer, Jacob Eyer, of German township, Richland county, Illinois, is the son of one of this county's earliest set- tlers. He was born on May 10, 1829, near Rhinebier, Germany, on a farm. At the
age of six years he was brought by his par- ents to the United States, crossing the broad Atlantic is a sail-boat which served to carry both passengers and freight. His father brought a large amount of property with him including a wagon made in Germany. The voyage lasted six weeks and encountered the usual experience of the travelers in early days. They landed in New York harbor in the spring of 1837, and came to Ohio, where, in Stark county, the Eyers settled upon forty acres. Father Eyer built a log house, but sold the place two years after, the family then starting in wagons overland for Illinois, several other families accompanying them. They forded the Wabash river at Palestine, and the Eyer family settled in what is now German township, Richland county. Pre- viously Jacob Eyer's father had entered Il- linois and entered the one hundred and twenty acres of timber land they settled on. In those early days Richland county went by its old title of Lawrence county. For the land the elder Eyer had paid the government price of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre and also one hundred dollars to a man named King, who held a squatter's claim on the place. This sale was negotiated before the family migration to Illinois took place. The family settled in German township in the fall of 1839, two years before Richland county was laid out, the members of the fam- ily moving into the lob cabin vacated by King and started to improve the land. A large log house was built, the timber was cleared, and the place was put into a good state of cultivation. Our subject's father died in
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1850, having passed the age of fifty years, his mother surviving for many years, died in 1891, aged ninety-one. Both are buried in the old Lutheran church cemetery in Ol- ney township. The elder Eyer reared eight children, of whom Jacob was the third in order of birth.
Jacob Eyer remained with his parents un- til his twenty-first year, when he hired out during the summer and in winter time made his home on the farm with his mother. On the 3d of April, 1855, he married Catherine Eyer, who was born in the same part of Ger- many as the subject, on the 26th of Septem- ber, 1831, the daughter of Jacob and Mar- garet Eyer, both of whom lived and died in Germany. Catherine Eyer came to this country at the age of twenty-three and land- ed at New Orleans. She ascended the Mis- sissippi river to Evansville, Indiana, going thence to Richland county, Illinois. About one year afterwards she married the subject of our sketch. She was the younger of two children born to her parents. After their marriage Jacob Eyer and his wife remained at the family home with the former's mother for six months. About this time he built a log house upon forty acres he had previously entered, paying the price of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. They settled on the place and for seven years worked hard; then they became able to buy more land in the township and built the large frame house they now live in. Since that period much land has been ac- quired and Jacob Eyer now is the owner of two hundred and forty acres of fine farm
land, all of which is in German township, well improved, all but ten acres of the farm being under a high state of cultivation.
Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Eyer are the parents of nine children, of whom three died in childhood; the living members of their fam- ily are; John is single and remains at home with his parents. Phillip, who is also single, has interested himself in drilling wells and resides in the state of Washing- ton. Joseph married Vatie Scherer, and re- sides in Dwight, Illinois, engaged in the hardware business. He has four children. Lizzie is the wife of John Metzger, a sales- man for a Chicago wholesale drug house. They are the parents of two children and reside in Hewe, Illinois. Christian, Rena, George, Frederick and Daniel are deceased.
Jacob Eyer attended about three terms of subscription school. In his school days teachers were hired for terms of three months and were paid at the rate of eight dollars per month. He learned to read and write English, and also spell. The schools were of the usual primitive character of such institutions in the Middle West in those days. His education was limited as there was necessary work to be done on the family farmstead. He had two younger brothers, John and Phillip, who served through the Civil war. Both joined the Sixtieth Illinois Regiment under the com- mand of Captain Coconaur. John came home from the conflict on sick furlough and died soon after. Phillip died in St. Louis, Missouri, and is buried there.
In politics Jacob Eyer is a Democrat, for-
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merly taking quite an active interest in township and county affairs. He has served as school director for many years, and has been a Road Overseer. He helped the cause of education by generously giving the district the land, and by helping to build the brick school-house which now stands on his farm in German township. He worked for two years helping to survey and build the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, now the Baltimore & Ohio, which was finished in 1855. It went at that time as far west as St. Louis. Our subject and his wife and family are all members of the St. James Lutheran church in Claremont township. He was for many years an elder of the church. He is also known as one of the first organizers and a builder of the old log church erected in Olney township. He and his wife and family are very active in church circles.
SAMUEL G. COPPLE.
Mr. Copple is one of the leading business men in Omega township, Marion county, having successfully managed a store and carried on other lines of business in a man- ner that shows him to be a man of unusual business ability, but having the honored an- cestry behind him of which he can boast, we do not wonder that he is a man of rare force of character, for in the genealogical history in both the paternal and maternal lines, there is much data signally germane to a compilation of this sort.
Samuel G. Copple was born in Washing- ton county, Indiana, April 24, 1849, the son of Abraham and Rozan (Hanger) Cop- ple, the former having been born in Indiana April 2, 1827, and was the father of nine children, seven girls and two boys, three of whom lived to maturity, the subject of this sketch being the oldest in order of birth. Abraham Copple left Indiana in 1875, and came to Marion county, Illinois, where he farmed on a parcel of land which he pur- chased, and also rented additional land. He was called from his earthly labors in Omega, this county, February 17, 1892. He mar- ried Rosannah Hauger September 21, 1847, and they first moved to Sullivan county, In- diana, then to Marion county, Illinois, where Abraham lived for over thirteen years. His three surviving children are: Samuel G., our subject; Alice M., and Ma- hala M., who is now deceased.
The early education of the subject of this sketch was gained in the district schools of his native county, which were taught from two to three months each year during the winter, in log school-houses, the windows of which were made of greased paper for panes. He was compelled to walk four miles to school. During the remainder of the year he worked on his father's. farm. When he had reached maturity he married Mary C. Sill, the daughter of Commodore and Sarah (Beard) Sill, of Jackson county, Illinois, and she, too, received her education in the district schools of the country which she attended three months out of the year. Sarah Beard was born in Tennessee, No-
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vember 6, 1820, and died at the home of her daughter, Mary C., at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. Commodore Sill was born in 1822 and lived to be past fifty. They were the parents of nine children, five boys and four girls, of whom four are now living, namely : Marguerite J. Sellers, whose home is in Sandoval, Marion county ; Ace- nith A. Walker, of Jackson county, this state; Ransom M. Sill, living at Blue Mound, Marion county ; Mary C. Copple, living at Omega, this county; Alice Sill lives in Blue Mound, also; Mahala Solomon died and was buried in Texas. The father of the subject's wife was born in Pennsyl- vania, from which state he moved to Indi- ana, then to Illinois, where he bought a farm in Marion county.
Our subject and wife have only one child, a son, named Charles E., who is married to Etta Kline; they have one son.
Mr. Copple is the owner of sixty acres of good land, which is highly improved and lies in and near Omega. It is a valuable and most desirable farm. He has been in the general merchandise business for over twenty years at Omega, and he has built up an excellent trade on general lines, handling a fine quality of goods and giving his nu- merous customers the best goods possible for the money, so that he seldom loses a customer, all of whom he treats with uni- form courtesy. His store is a credit to the community and would be conspicuous in a much larger place. He also manages in a most successful manner the hotel at Omega, which has become known to the traveling public as a comfortable place for transients,
where generous treatment is always accord- ed the friend or stranger alike. Our sub- ject also conducts an up-to-date feed barn, and manages a telephone line, and he is re- garded by everyone as an enterprising and accommodating gentleman. Although these various lines of business occupy most of his time, he does not neglect his duty to his county or state, but his support can always be depended on in the promotion of good government and honesty in politics. Re- ligiously his parents were members of the Christian church and he has followed in their footsteps. Mrs. Copple is a member of the same, as was her mother. Mr. and Mrs. Copple set a worthy example in all religious and mortal matters before their children and the community where they live.
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CATHERINE BOATMAN.
The part women played in assisting the early settlers can not be underestimated. By nature not as robust physically as their male companions, hardships and privations leaned more heavily upon them, but the women of that day who came with their husbands and families into the loneliness of what was then the wilderness were equal to the occasion. They helped to dispel the gloom, the sense of hopelessness which occasionally fell upon the settlers in their relentless labor.
A woman of such caliber was the subject of our present sketch, the hardships and ad- ventures of whose early career would prove material for a volume.
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Catherine Boatman (nee Hanes,) of Ger- man township, Richland county, Illinois, was born September 9, 1827, in York county, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Daniel and Susanna (Phillips) Hanes. Her grandmoth- er Phillips being the daughter of Eva Eliza- beth Reame and John Phillips, died at the age of eighty-seven years. They were all na- tives of Pennsylvania. Catherine Boatman's mother was born in York county, Pennsyl- vania, and her father in Philadelphia. Her father remained in Philadelphia until seven- teen years of age with his parents; he then went out on a farm and also taught school un- til his marriage to Susanna Phillips, which was solemnized on August 13, 1822, in Lit- tle Rock church, York county, Pennsylvania. They farmed in that state until 1830, when they decided to move to Stark county, Ohio. Catherine, the subject of our sketch, being then three years old. Some time after they again moved to Portage county, Ohio, re- maining there three years, when they re- turned to Stark county, which was their abid- ing place for nine years. Then they decided to migrate to Illinois. Together with Uncle Peter Sager, his wife and three children: grandfather John Phillips and his wife; Ja- cob Beck, his wife and family ; and their own children, three families in all, consisting of twenty-two people, they started on October 18, 1842, on an eventful overland journey fraught with much danger and hardship. They arrived in Richland county, Illinois, on November 18, 1842, a month later, after encountering a snow-storm and many of the customary hardships. As an instance of en- durance on the part of the subject of this
sketch, it is recorded that she walked almost the entire way from Ohio with the exception of about fifty miles. Of the twenty-two par- ticipants of that journey, but four survive. They are Mrs. Sallie Goss, Mrs. Cassie Goss, Miss Susan Beck and John Beck.
When Catherine Boatman first landed in Richland county, her family first lived with Uncle Dave Phillips for a time, after which they moved to what was known as the Tegue farm, where they lived one year, at the end of which her father entered forty acres in section 21, German township, paying one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. The farm at the time of his purchase was all tim- ber. He first made a small clearing on which he built a hewn log cabin which still stands, and into which he moved his family. During their first winter there the necessary cooking operations were per- formed in the stump of a huge tree, which stood close by the door of the cabin.
Daniel Hanes continued to clear his land and to sow and plant wheat and corn as fast as he could get the soil in condition. In the course of time he built a frame addition to the the log house, in which abode they lived un- til their death. Catherine's mother died April 21, 1864, aged sixty-five. Her father sur- vived about four years, dying August 9, 1868, at age of seventy. Both are buried in Goss graveyard, where grandfather Phillips is also laid. Daniel Hane's parents both died in Portage county, Ohio. He had three chil- dren: John, who died at the age of eighty- two; Cassie, who died at the age of seventy- nine, and Catherine, who was the youngest. He also took charge of and raised his broth-
RICHLAND, CLAY AND MARION COUNTIES, ILLINOIS. 409
er's son, George Hanes by name, who is now dead.
Catherine remained on the farm with her parents until her marriage to John Boatman, on November 11, 1847, in Richland county. Her husband was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, July 12, 1817, the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Goss) Boatman, natives of Penn- sylvania. His grandfather Boatman was a native of France and died at the advanced age of one hundred and three years, his grandfather Goss also died at the ripe old age of ninety-six. John Boatman's parents were married in Columbiana county, Ohio, having both come there with their parents from Pennsylvania. He came to Richland county from Akron, Ohio, with his brother George, the pair walking every step of the way with a package of clothes on their backs and a gun on each one's shoulder. After en- countering adventures and privations on the way they arrived in Richland county in April, 1847. George Boatman bought land on which he settled and on which he died in 1884. John bought forty acres from Jacob May in German township, for which he paid him one hundred and twenty-five dollars. It was timbered land and he set to work and cleared, cultivated, and built a house upon it. He later annexed some forty acres of ad- joining land and at the time of his death owned a well cultivated property of eighty acres in area. He died September 13, 1896. aged seventy-nine years, two months and one day. His parents, subsequent to his ar- rival in Illinois, moved to the state where they remained a year, thence moving to Mich-
igan where they died. Catherine Boatman and her husband had thirteen children born to them, one of whom died in infancy. There were seven boys and six girls. In regular or- der they were: Mary, wife of Stephen D. Best, is a widow and lives at home with her mother; Elizabeth is the wife of Jacob Scherer, of Preston township; David mar- ried Delithe English and lives in South Bend, Indiana; Lydia, the wife of Louis Schulte, lives in Claremont township; Susie is the wife of Joseph Wilson, of Preston township; Simon, who is single, lives on the homestead; Isaac lives in German township and is married to Emma Fritz ; Maggie is the wife of James Henby, of Preston town- ship; William P. married Mellie Peet, and they live in South Bend, Indiana; Stephen married Rella Krieg and lives at South Whitley, Indiana; John lives at home. He married Julia Wachtel, deceased; Milton is married to Lucy Sager and lives at home; they have one child, Elsie Catherine Boat- man. Catherine Boatman died February I, 1909, aged eighty-one years, four months and twenty-two days. Mrs. Boatman was buried February 3, 1909, and the funeral sermon was preached by her nephew, Rev. Isaiah Boatman, of Eaton Rapids, Michigan. She reared twelve children, all of whom are still living. She had thirty-three grand- children and twenty-five great-grandchil- dren; the eldest grandchild, David I. Scher- er, being thirty-seven years old and the youngest, Elsie Catherine Boatman, was born July 21, 1908.
Catherine Boatman went to the subscrip-
...
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tion schools in Ohio in her young days, where is recognized as one of the representative she did not go very high. She learned to druggists of the county, being engaged in business in Centralia and enjoying an ex- tensive wholesale and retail trade. read, write and spell, that being the extent of her education. She could not find time to be a regular attendant. She and her family were among the earliest settlers in Richland county. She could well lay claim to being its "grand old woman." In her early days the country possessed is quota of wild and fero- cious animals, and the picturesque figure of the Indian had not faded from the vicinity.
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