USA > Illinois > Clay County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 52
USA > Illinois > Richland County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 52
USA > Illinois > Marion County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 52
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Mr. Standiford was born in Hardin coun- ty, Kentucky, September 5, 1846, the son of Archibald B. and Eliza Jane (Courtright) Standiford, who were also natives of that state, as were their parents before them. The grandfather of the subject served for seven years in the Revolutionary war under George Washington, and when the strife came to an
end returned to Kentucky to engage in agri- cultural pursuits. The father of the sub- ject was born in 1804. He was also a sol- dier, having served three months in the Black Hawk war. Shortly after his return to his home in Hardin county, Kentucky, he was wedded to Eliza Jane Courtright, and in the year of 1850 they started overland to Illinois, enduring many hardships before they arrived at their objective point, Jasper county. Here Mr. Standiford purchased eighty acres of land, of which seventy acres were of timber, while the remainder had been cleared. Their dwelling was a rude log house, and there was also on the land a sort of makeshift of a stable. The clearing of the timber land was a herculean task, but Mr. Standiford finally succeeded in getting forty acres thereof under cultivation. The subject was then four years old, and the family remained on the place until the death of the father, September 16, 1866, aged sixty-two years. The mother survived him by several years, she dying in Indian Territory, August 20, 1903, at the ripe old age of ninety- five. When the subject became old enough to do hard work, he hired out to neighboring farmers, but finally de- cided to return to Kentucky. He re- mained in that state two years. His em- ployer owned a store in Nashville, Tennes- see, and he worked at that place for about a year, at the end of which time he was called back to Jasper county, his father having met with an accident. He then worked on the farm until December, 1862, when he enlisted in the Forty-sixth Illinois Regiment, Com-
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pany F, Col. John J. Jones, commanding. At the close of the war he was mustered out at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, January 21, 1866. After drawing his pay at New Orleans he returned home to Jasper county. The subject received a gunshot wound in the knee at Fort Blakely, Alabama. He participated in many battles, among them being at Yazoo City, Vicksburg, Meridian Hill, Champion's Hill, Jackson, seige of Richmond, Spanish Fort, and Fort Blakely. During these bat- tles his regiment was under command of General Sherman. In January, 1865, he was transferred under A. J. Smith, Fourteenth Corps, when he engaged in the battle of Mo- bile, and then moved to Dolphin Island to guard the gunboats, after which he went to Baton Rouge, where he remained until he was mustered out.
After the death of the father of Mr. Stand- iford, in 1866, the wife and mother sold the farm, and lived with her children until her death. The subject is the third of seven chil- dren, all of whom grew to the years of ma- turity, and married, two of them now being dead. After the war, Mr. Standiford learned the milling business, and after five years returned to Kentucky, where he married Laura Ann Smith, March 14, 1871. He con- tinued in the milling business, operating large water mills for the parents of his wife. At the end of five years they removed to Arkansas, where he purchased a farm, upon which they remained for nine years, when they went to Macoupin county, Illinois, where Mr. Standiford took a position in a flour mill. His wife died February 26, 1881,
aged forty-five years. Three children had been born to the couple, two girls and one boy, the latter dying in infancy. After the demise of his wife the subject engaged in the business of selling fruit trees in Southern Illinois and Missouri, which he continued for fifteen years. He finally settled in No- ble, Richland county, and after a residence there of three years moved to Dundas, Pres- ton township, where he married Mrs. Lottie McCarty (nee Evans), April 11, 1900, his bride being the widow of Robert S. McCar- ty, and daughter of Miller and Elizabeth (Hough) Evans. She was born in Ross county, Ohio, July 17, 1850, her father dying when she was eight years old. She had lived on the farm with her mother until her marriage to Robert S. McCarty, October II, 1868, and as a result of this union there were four children.
Although he had but three months' school- ing in Jasper county, in a log house where rough planks served for desks, and this in the days when if a pupil could write a fairly legible hand, he was considered eligible for the position of teacher, he accumulated much knowledge in after life, spending all of his leisure time while in the army learning to read and write.
Mr. Standiford is a Republican and cast his first vote for Lincoln. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post 449, Chesterfield, Illinois. He and his wife are both active members of the Methodist church in Dundas, both of them having been allied with this denomination for more than four decades. They are in comfortable circum-
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stances, owning a pretty home, and four lots in the town of Dundas. The subject draws a small pension.
THE BAR OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SIXTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.
JAMES C. ALLEN.
At the request of the President and Ex- ecutive Committee of the State Bar Associa- tion of Illinois, I have attempted to prepare a paper in response to that request.
. In 1844, while residing in another and adjoining state, I had occasion to visit some of the courts in what at that time was called the Wabash Circuit, and while attending some of their courts, formed definite im- pressions from what I heard and saw of its members while on these occasional visits. These impressions were much strengthened after I became a citizen of the state and a member of the Wabash Bar, from associa- tion with its members, in the courts and in social life.
. My first visit to an Illinois court was at Palestine, in Crawford county. I found the · venerable justice, William Wilson, one of the Supreme Judges of Illinois, presiding over the Circuit Court, and found at the bar E. S. Janey and Augustus C. French, repre- senting the local bar. Wickliff Kitchell, the first local member of the bar, had a short time before that removed to the western part of the state. O. B. Ficklin, then of Mt.
Carmel; Justin Harlan and Timothy R. Young, of the Clark county bar; Usher F. Linder, of Coles county, and Aaron Shaw, of Lawrence County, were in attendance on the court. These men were at that time re- garded as good lawyers and some of them as very able advocates.
Of Judge Wilson, the presiding judge, I can only say that he impressed me as a man of sound judgment ; well versed in law as it was written in the books; courteous to the members of the bar; possessing the fine so- cial qualities ; always urbane and pleasant in his bearing toward others. He drove to the buggy in which he traveled the circuit a white mule, to which he was somewhat at- tached, of the good qualities of which he often talked to his companions while passing from one court to another. Justin Harlan says that, while riding with him from Paris to Danville, the Judge, in speaking of the good qualities of his white mule, said one of its qualities was never to leave the beaten track over which it had once traveled, and no matter what inducement or obstruction might lie in the way, it never required any guidance. While thus discoursing on the subject, the mule, not feeling the power of the line and tempted by the green grass that grew on the roadside, left the beaten track and wandered some distance from the road, gathering as it went mouthsful of luxuriant grass. When the Judge's attention was called to the fact he attributed its dereliction in this regard to want of proper food the night before, arguing that a man, however honest, when hungry would sometimes steal
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a meal. The Judge, while .thoroughly equipped as a judicial officer, was somewhat deficient in his orthography, and many sto- ries were told by the clerks and bar as to his deficiency in this line in making entries in his docket.
Justin Harlan, a native of Ohio, a sound lawyer, deeply versed in its elementary principles, while not an orator in the general acceptance of the term, possessed fine con- versational powers, and before court or jury was a formidable opponent. His sound judgment and personal qualities made him popular in the profession. After the consti- tution of 1848 was adopted he was elected to the circuit bench and filled that position for two full terms with great acceptance to the bar and the people of the Circuit, and only left the bench when age and increasing infirmities rendered it, in his opinion, proper to retire.
Timothy R. Young, a native of New Hampshire, a citizen of Clark county, was a well educated lawyer and a man of much promise in his profession, but early in life he was elected to Congress from his district, and having great taste for the life of a farmer, at the end of his first term in Con- gress he left politics and the bar and became an "honest farmer". He lived till a good old age, more than four score years, and died respected and honored by all who knew him.
E. S. Janey, a native of Alexandria, Vir- ginia, came to Crawford county and settled at Palestine shortly after the state was admitted into the Union. He was a gentleman of lib-
eral education; well versed in the element- ary principles of the law ; was twice elected to the General Assembly of the state from Crawford county. After several years of successful practice he quit the profession and turned his attention to farming.
Augustus C. French, born in New Hamp- shire, came to Paris, Edgar county, and was shortly afterwards appointed Register of the land office at Palestine, and made that his home until later in life, when he removed to Lebanon that he might have the benefit of the college at that place for the education of his children. Mr. French was more of a politician than lawyer, and after a second term as Governor of the state he abandoned the practice of law, although he possessed qualities that well fitted him for the bar.
Aaron Shaw, a native of the state of New York, came to Lawrenceville, Lawrence county, Illinois, shortly after the organiza- tion of the county. He was a fair lawyer in point of ability ; was appointed and elected by the General Assembly, State's At- torney for the circuit, an office in which he exhibited great skill in the conduct of crimi- nal cases. He possessed a sharp and inci- sive voice, and became a "terror to evil- doers" while he held that office. He was twice elected to the House of Representa- tives of the state from his county; one term on the circuit bench, and one term to the Congress of the United States from his dis- trict. While State's Attorney he accom- plished from a jury a verdict of "guilty" without a single witness upon the stand, a fact which is without parallel in modern
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criminal jurisprudence. Upon a call of the people's witnesses, no one appeared; he then called a jury and read the indictment, and stated that twenty-three grand jurors had sworn on their oaths that the prisoner was guilty and asked what was the use of intro- ducing further testimony. Defendant's counsel had nothing to say ; the jury retired and returned a verdict of guilty, very much to the astonishment of the court and bar. It is useless to say that the verdict was prompt- ly set aside by the court. Mr. Shaw had a good share of civil practice on the circuit. He was a good financier; accumulated a nice property to leave to his family when he died. He was.cordial with his friends, but rather unforgiving toward his enemies.
Orlando B. Ficklin, a native of Kentucky, came to Wabash county and settled at Mt. Carmel, where he remained for several years. Afterwards he located at Charles- ton, Coles county, where he spent the re- mainder of his life. He was, when I first met him, in the prime of life and manhood; a profound lawyer in the full tide of pro- fessional success on the Wabash circuit. He was a man of infinite humor and enjoyed the society of the judges and his associates at the bar as well as that of his very general acquaintance outside his profession. His knowledge of the law and his knowledge of human nature made him a successful law- yer. He was not only a good lawyer but a politician of considerable note in the state. While quite young he was elected to the Legislature from Wabash county. He was three times elected to Congress from his dis-
trict, and might have remained there longer, but his taste and inclination led him back to the bar. He was plain in speech, logical in argument, and at times, when aroused, he exhibited great power over minds of courts and juries. He had a host of friends, in- cluding all who knew him, except such as professional jealousy might alienate. In the later years of his life he consented to go to the Legislature from Coles county, and though age was telling on him, his last great speech in that body in seconding the nomi- nation of Gen. John C. Black for the of- fice of United States Senator will be long remembered by those who had the pleasure of hearing it. He lived his four score years and died full of honors, to the regret of all who had known him in his active and useful life.
Usher F. Linder was a native of Kentucky, and a near relative of the celebrated John J. Hardin. He came to Charleston, Illinois, in the thirties, and practiced law in the Wabash circuit and courts of the state until a few years before he died, when he re- moved to Chicago. He was a lawyer of fine ability and obtained a first class reputation as such in Southern Illinois. He possessed two characteristics seldom found in the same individual. He was both a wit and a hu- morist. When addressing the court on some controverted question of law he was clear, logical and forcible. He was imaginative, and when inclined, was wonderful in tropes and figures; was an adept in posing and facial expression, could be ridiculous or sub- lime, as moved by the spirit within. He pos-
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sessed a musical voice and could play upon the passions and emotions of a jury or an audience at his pleasure. As an orator, I think he excelled any member of the bar in Eastern Illinois in his time. He was all this when his surroundings were agreeable, but he had some failings that often destroyed the effect of his speeches. O. B. Ficklin, who knew him as well, perhaps, as any other man, once said of him: "That if it were not for his personal vanity and want of moral courage he would have been the greatest man in Illinois". An attack upon either his personal habits or arguments would render him for the time being helpless and incap- able of parrying the blows. He was a Whig in politics while that party was in existence, then for a time became a Free Lance, but eventually allied himself with the Demo- cratic party. He was twice elected to the General Assembly of Illinois and was an active member in that body. He died at his home in Chicago after more than half a cen- tury of active professional life.
In the summer of 1845 I had occasion to visit Mt. Carmel while the Circuit Court was in session. I found a young man who had located in Mt. Carmel, a graduate of a Maryland college, Charles H. Constable, a rising young lawyer, who afterwards be- came an important factor at the bar of Southern Illinois. He was a young gentle- man of pleasing manners with a highly cul- tivated mind and fine social qualities, of sober and industrious habits, as I judged from the preparation of his cases in that court. He afterwards acquired a good reputation on
the circuit as a safe counselor and an able advocate, Modest and unassuming in his demeanor, he became popular with his brother lawyers. In 1849 he left Mt. Car- mel and took up his residence at Marshall, Clark county. He attended all of the courts of his circuit, as was the custom of that time with members of the bar, and in 1859 was elected to the Circuit bench, where he pre- sided until his death. . His character for honesty and integrity was unimpeachable, and, possessing a judicial mind, he was a very popular judge, but he was stricken down in the midst of his usefulness before age came to impair his powers.
While at the Wabash court I met and made the acquaintance of Battice Webb, of Carmi, a Virginian by birth, a man then in the prime of life and enjoying in his circuit a lucrative practice. His father had been a noted lawyer of Southern Illinois. I was im- pressed with the idea that the son had a bril- liant future before him, judging from his gentlemanly bearing and his evidently pro- found knowledge of the law, but he lived but a short time thereafter, and died la- mented by all who were fortunate enough to have made his acquaintance.
In the fall of 1845 I had occasion to visit Greenup, then the county seat of Cumber- land county. Circuit Court was in session in a little school-house in the south part of the village, Judge Wilson still presiding. I met Alfred Kitchell, a son of Wickliff Kitchell, a former Attorney General of the state. Al- fred Kitchell was a graduate of the law school at Bloomington, Indiana. He lo-
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND REMINISCENT HISTORY OF
cated at Olney shortly after the village (now city) was adopted as the county seat. He had succeeded Judge Aaron Shaw as State's Attorney on the circuit. He made a vigor- ous prosecutor. His belief in the necessity of enforcing the law and his observance of the ethics of the profession rendered him popular with the courts and the people. He was elected for a term to the Circuit bench, .but refused a re-election, preferring to re- turn to the bar, having extensive property interests in and around Olney. He did much for the improvement of the county seat. Much to the regret of the people of Olney and vicinity, he sold his possessions in that place and located at Knoxville, Illinois, where he resided until his death in 1869, much respected and honored.
At this same term of court I met a law- yer from Springfield, who had been called to defend a man indicted for "an assault to kill." When I entered the court-room the the evidence had just been concluded and the State's Attorney was opening the argu- ment for the prosecution. After its conclu- sion a gentleman of angular build arose to address the jury on behalf of the defendant. He had an earnest look in his face, but I was not impressed with his opening remarks. Later he seemed to gather up his mental forces and I listened with interest to his plain, common sense argument. He was not eloquent, but evidently knew how to touch the chords that move the hearts of the av- erage juror, and when he concluded I felt that he was no common man. Upon inquir- ing I learned that it was Abraham Lincoln,
whose fame afterwards reached the boun- daries of the civilized world, and who fell a martyr to his love of country and of human rights.
I have thus given a brief sketch of the prominent members of the bar of the Wa- bash Circuit in 1844-5 from first impres- sions, as well as a more extensive acquaint- ance after I became a member of this bar in 1847. After this I made the acquaintance of a number of prominent members of the bar throughout Southern Illinois, of whom I cannot give notice in this article on ac- count of its length.
GEORGE C. WILSON.
The day of the pioneer in this country is gone, and we are in the midst of a settled stability and permanency. Nevertheless, as we look about us, we find a few represeti- tatives of the early days, who become at once the center of interest because they carry in their minds recollections of our hardy forefathers. In this connection we make reference to one of the sturdy farm- ers of this county, George C. Wilson. This gentleman was born in Pike county, Ohio, on November 9, 1840, being the son of Samuel and Eliza (Foster) Wilson, the former having been born on April 15, 1804, and the latter on the 17th of May, 1806 The other children of the family were John, born August 10, 1828; Richard, born August 18, 1831; Harriet, born February 12, 1833; Rachel, born May 5. 1836; Sa-
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rah, born July 18, 1838; George, our sub- ject; Tilton and Thornton, twins, born May 27, 1843; Margaret, born September 20, 1846.
In 1842 the family removed to Illinois, where George was married October 20, 1864, to Mary J. Leckrone, the daughter of Mathias and Julia (Johnson) Leckrone, the former having been born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, June 18, 1815, and the latter in Licking county, Ohio, Janu- ary 24, 1821. The following list gives the children of the Leckrone family: William, born November 10, 1838; Mary J., Decem- ber, 1840; John, May 1, 1843; Harvey, August 29, 1847, born in Illinois; Sarah, January 25, 1852; George, July 30, 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have become the parents of the following children: Theo- dore Edgar, a teacher, and who is now an acting Justice of the Peace, was married to a Miss Appleman; Samuel M., married to Myrtle Maxfield; Harry E. married Louise See, and is now practicing medicine at Cen- tralia, Illinois; Frank O. married Carrie Coombs and is now filling the pulpit of the Methodist church at Bunker Hill; two children, Harvey and Emma, are deceased.
Mr. Wilson has followed farming all his life and has been not only successful but progressive as well. He has taken good care of himself in every way, never having used tobacco or liquors in any form. Look- ing back over the vista of his years he often speaks of the little log cabin of his early days and the pioneer experiences of the times. A precious as well as interesting family relic in this home is a chair made in
1846 by his father, who was a tanner. The bottom is made of calf-skin, sewed with whang; and the leather is as good as new today. Mrs. Wilson takes pleasure also in bringing out a china plate given to her by her mother upon her marriage to Mr. Wil- son. Those were the days of the loom and the spinning wheel, and the old wheel now set aside as a family treasure was kept busy
for many a year by the skillful hands of Mrs. Wilson herself. She spun all the clothing for the men, and has today a quilt of three colors, red, white and blue, spun by her own hands. There was no need in those days for schools of manual training, as each household was a school in itself, and one not excelled by the later day insti- tutions. No roads nor bridges were in es- istence at that time, and experiences with all kinds of wild game were quite common. Wild forests and untilled land occupied the places where the neighboring towns now stand, and Mr. Wilson speaks of the time when he had to go to Salem to vote. Doctor Wilson, brother of our subject, at one time hauled his oats to St. Louis and sold them for fifteen cents per bushel.
Mr. Wilson adheres to the tenets of the Republican party, and together with his wife, affiliates with the Methodist church.
GEORGE MADDEN.
Mr. Madden is one of the veterans left to us who, in the stormy and turbulent days of the Civil war, participated in Sherman's
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famous march to the sea; and this was but an event in the military portion of his career. At the close of the Civil war, on obtaining a creditable discharge, he settled down and began his career as a farmer, in which sphere he has attained prosperity and no little recog- nition in public life.
George Madden, of Richland county, Pres- ton township, was born July 25, 1842, on a farm near Ashland, Ohio. He was the son of John Thomas and Mary ( Poff) Madden, Pennsylvanians, who came with their par- ents to Ohio when quite young. John Thomas Madden was the eldest child of his parents' family. He remained with his parents on their Ohio farm until his marriage to Mary, the daughter of George and Mrs. Poff, his marriage occurring sometime about 1834. He then moved to several small places near Aslı- land, where he worked at his trade of shoe- maker. In the fall of 1844 he came to Illi- nois in search of land. Here he settled upon eighty acres, or rather took them as a squat- ter's claim and started in to improve the spot. However, another party rode into Pal- estine and registered the land as his hold- ing, which John T. Madden had failed to do. He thereby lost the farm and the imn- provements made thereon. In the course of the three or four following years he bought eighty acres on Sugar Prairie in Richland county (Madison township). Here he re- mained and his family came to join him the following spring. The journey, as were all the journeys of the period, was made over- land, and the usual trials and hardships at- tendant upon long land journeys encoun-
tered. The land on Sugar Prairie was in its primitive condition. John T. Madden started in to erect a log house and log stable and en- closed the place with fences. At this period the elder brother of the subject of our sketch hauled all the rail for fencing with a yoke of cattle. John T. Madden meanwhile worked at his trade of shoemaking, having his shop on the farm, leaving his ons to do the farm- work. John T. Madden remained here until the death of his wife, which event occurred in the fall of 1876, at the age of sixty-five years. She is buried in Richland cemetery. In time the farm was well improved, and good buildings erected.
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