USA > Illinois > Clay County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 56
USA > Illinois > Richland County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 56
USA > Illinois > Marion County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 56
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In addition to directing the affairs of an ever-growing banking business, Mr. Henry is active as a stock buyer. He is reputed to be an excellent judge of stock. and it is said he pays a good price for anything he fancies.
As a public man, Mr. Henry is thorough- ly clean and conscientious. He has a sane conception of public interests ; never allows himself to be swayed by prejudice or party feelings; and is an alert student of the needs of the day. He is broad-minded and tolerant, and the many occasions he has had during his public career to display his pub- lic spirit have indelibly marked him as a most desirable citizen. His integrity and practical common sense combine to give him a high place in a community where he is most popular. He has a praiseworthy
ambition to be of further service to his town and county, and many prophesy for him a higher place in public life than he has heretofore attained.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Henry are prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal church and lead a happy domestic life.
JAMES MARSHALL KINKADE.
The old-fashioned notion that hard work, patient industry, and far-sightedness make for success in the various avenues of life does not seem to be accepted so unreserved- ly in our day. The spread of pessimism engendered by many phases of our complex life is in a great measure responsible for the lack of faith in the old idea. However, if we observe conditions closely we will find that the intelligent individual, who leads a practical and industrious life, will reach a point of success commensurate with his ef- forts. The life of the subject of this sketch will afford us an instance of this.
James Marshall Kinkade, of Preston township. Richland county, Illinois was born October 22. 1845, in Hardin county, Ken- tucky. He was the son of James and Mar- tha A. Kinkade, his mother's maiden name being Veach. Both were natives of Hard- in county, as were their parents before them and both came originally of Irish stock. In the fall of 1850, then being five years of age, the subject of our sketch came with his parents from Hardin county,
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Kentucky. The journey was a formidable one in those days. The wagons of the pio- neer had to be requisitioned; the Ohio had to be crossed by ferry at Louisville, Ken- tucky, camping out was a necessity. Added to this were the usual strain and restless ex- pectation which always attended such journeys. They landed eventually in Shel- by county, Illinois, where his father rented a farm remaining on the same for two years. Then they moved to Richland county, where one hundred and sixty acres of government land was purchased at the then current price of one dollar and twenty- five cents an acre. The place was then in the original state of wildness and its ap- pearance bespoke years of hard and unre- mitting labor to bring it to perfection. Un- daunted, the elder Kinkade set about the task, and at once started building a house for his family upon the property, in the meantime placing them for safety under the roof of the log cabin of another family at the next settlement. The house erected was a frame one, being the first of that de- scription built in what is now Preston township. Having added barns and other buildings he moved the family into their new home. This was at a period eight or ten years before the district had been sur- veyed. There were no roads. People drove haphazardly about over cow-paths and trails. Upon the official survey being made, the elder Kinkade was elected Super- visor and as the township was as yet un- named the process of christening it was left to the father of the subject of our sketch.
He named it Preston township which name it bears today. In the period we are refer- ring to the antiquated horse-mills were in use. It was customary for people to bring "grist to the mill" on horseback, utilizing the horses on their arrival to grind their produce. Whole wheat flour and that of the coarse variety were in use at that time. The process of evolution asserting itself. later on the windmill superseded the horse as motor power. Old time methods ruled in the agricultural line. In the planting of corn it was usual to hitch three yoke of oxen to the plow. At every third furrow corn was dropped in and the soil turned over upon it. The subject of our sketch re- members this process perfectly and many youthful days spent in assisting his father in the operation. As another instance of the backwardness of agricultural life at this time the threshing machine had not yet ap- peared on the scene. Threshing was done in this manner: The sheaves of wheat were laid upon the ground in a circle and horses were ridden around over them. When one side was threshed, or more liter- ally, trampled out, the sheaves were turned and the process repeated. The elder Kin- kade continued to improve the farm all through this time, fencing and erecting out- buildings. He obtained his timber supply from a plantation of eighty acres which stood in his land.
James Marshall Kinkade remained at home on the farm until his twenty-first year. Afterwards, as something of a change he hired out with neighboring
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farmers. When past his twenty-third birth- day he married Margaret J. Upton, on Feb- ruary 28, 1869, at which time he erected the home he now lives in on the family prop- erty, and having purchased forty acres from his father settled down to farm. His parents continued to live in the nearby home until the fall of 1884, when they bought town property in Dundas, Preston township, whither they moved, and where they remained until their demise. The el- der James Kinkade was born October 26, 1817, married April 9. 1838, as before stated, in Hardin county, Kentucky, and died August 23, 1893. His wife preceded him February 3, 1891. Both are buried in Dundas cemetery, Preston township. Dut- ring their married life they reared nine chil- dren, five boys and four girls, of which James Marshall Kinkade was fourth in or- der of birth. Seven of the family grew to maturity, while one died at the age of ten years.
The mother of James Marshall Kinkade was born August 11, 1816, in Hardin county, Kentucky. On her marriage she left the home of her parents who were also natives Kentuckians, and who died in their native state. She was one of seven chil- dren, all of whom grew up.
Margaret J. Upton, the wife of the sub- ject of our sketch, whom he married in 1869, was born in Richland county, Preston township, October 11, 1852, and was the daughter of Isaac and Cynthia Upton, na- tives of Ohio, whose parents originally came from Kentucky. Her parents married in September, 1851, in Mercer county,
Ohio. In 1851, her father and grandfather went to Iowa in search of land, when not finding a suitable location they turned their faces toward Richland county, Illinois, in which they settled on one hundred and sixty acres, paying the government price of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. Upon settling in Illinois they sent to Ohio for their families. They remained in the new location for three years when they sold out and purchased another one hundred and sixty acres of prairie and eighty acres of tiniber which they settled on and where Grandmother Upton died, Grandfather Up- ton surviving her a few years and dying upon what is known as the Hill farm. He had reached his seventieth year. The younger people, Isaac and his wife, re- mained on the farm at Dundas, Illinois (Preston township) until the time of their death. Mrs. Upton died at the age of thirty-one, in the year 1866. Her husband survived her several years, dying Decem- ber 13, 1889, aged fifty-seven years, two months and two days. The couple were the parents of six children-five growing to maturity, one dying in infancy. The wife of the subject of this sketch was the oldest of her family.
During his iong farming life, James Marshall Kinkade prospered, and he now owns one hundred and five acres of rich farm land and which has been painstakingly improved and admirably cultivated under his supervision. He leads a very happy family life and has had three children born to him. Two grew to maturity while one died in early life. Qf his children, Luella
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became the wife of Allison T. Phillips, a well known accountant in Casper, Wyoming, and James I. has been an employee of the Illinois Central for several years on which road he is a brakeman.
In early life James Marshall Kinkade ob- tained a better education than many in the township. He spent a term of six months in the subscription schools, after which he attended the free common schools until his twenty-first year. In his school-boy days he was considered a very apt pupil; and his early training has been of much benefit to him in after years.
In politics he is a Democrat and is an ardent admirer of William Jennings Bryan. He has been quite active in township af- fairs where his ability and practical com- mon sense have received recognition. He has been for some time Road Commissioner, an office for which he is well fitted and which he still holds. He served a term of nine years as Treasurer of schools in Preston township. In religion his wife is a member of the Missionary Baptist church at Dundas, Preston township, Richland county, Illinois.
ROBERT HAMILTON CHAPMAN. .
The blue blood of the Hamiltons, who were so prominent in those troublous days when the American forefathers were sac- rificing their life's blood for that priceless boon-liberty, flows through the veins of
Robert Hamilton Chapman, he being a de- scendant of the distinguished Alexander Hamilton, who was so closely identified with the early history of the republic as secretary of the treasury in President Washington's cabinet. Being a man of great energy, with a determination to ac- complish perfectly whatever task he set out to perform the subject of this sketch can look back over a very busy career. Al- though he has been a resident of Noble township, Richland county, but a short time he has many friends who admire him for his sterling qualities.
Mr. Chapman was born in Kent county, Michigan, March 11, 1853. His father was Anthony Chapman, who moved from New York to Michigan in 1828. His mother's maiden name was Adeline Hamilton, and she was a native of New York. Four chil- dren were born to the couple, viz: Malina (Potter) ; Edwena (Doris); Robert, the subject, and Amherst Cheney.
The subject was wedded to Ida Kent. December 23. 1876. She was born in Wil- liams county. December 23. 1856. Her father lineally came from Irish stock, and was born in 1810. Her mother was Sarah (Kearns) Kent, and was of German ances- try. Her father was a pioneer in Ohio, and when he settled in Williams county, it was in a very wild state, being practically a wilderness. He entered upon the task of clearing this land, with vigor, and eventual- ly converted the unbroken forest into fruit- ful fields. Incidentally he made "good In- dians" out of several very bad Indians. Mr.
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Kent helped build the first court-house that was erected in Williams county.
Mr. and Mrs. Chapman are the parents of five children, namely; Robert, born May 20, 1878, is a prosperous farmer and car- penter in Alberta, Canada; Pearl (Mrs. Bil- lings) was born October 17, 1879, resides in Noble township, her husband being man- ager of a tile and brick factory. She has three children, Hazel, Myrtle and Claude. George, born August 31, 1882, is a black- smith, of Alberta, Canada, where also re- sides Ruby ( Mrs. Davis), who was born July 9. 1886, has two children, Daisy and Dorothy. Barney Kent, born April 20, 1888, is also a resident of Canada.
Mr. Chapman was a carpenter, farmer and lumber dealer until he removed to Lake Arthur, Louisiana, in 1888, where he con- fined himself to his first named trade. In 1892 the family made another change, re- moving to Richmond, Texas, where Mr. Chapman combined the pursuit of agricul- ture with mechanical labor. The great Gal- veston storm and tidal wave of 1900, which created so much devastation, moved him to dispose of his interests in Texas, and to re- move to Noble township, where he worked as a blacksmith until 1901, when he de- cided to try his fortunes in Alberta, Can- ada, where the majority of his children were living, and shortly upon his arrival there he acquired a homestead. After five years' residence in Canada the family re- turned to Noble, where they purchased a de- sirable farm on which they have placed many improvements in the way of modern machinery for its cultivation.
Throughout his life Mr. Chapman has been imbued with the war spirit, and his first attempt to serve his country was dur- ing the civil strife, when he tried to enter as a drummer boy, but much to his chagrin was refused on account of his tender years. He volunteered for Spanish-American war service at Rosenburg. Texas, 1898, but failed to pass the examination, hence he has given up all hope of ever satisfying his thirst for military glory. He has been a life- long Democrat. He is the possessor of a modest competence, and he and his wife live in a very comfortable dwelling, happy in the knowledge that they will be able to live a life of ease in the declining years of their life.
ELI W. JONES.
The honored subject of this sketch has lived to see Marion county develop from the wild prairie and primeval forests in- habited by wild animals and a few pioneer settlers to its present magnificent prosperity, its elegant homes, comfortable public build- ings, fertile farms and thriving cities; and he has played no small part in this great work of transformation.
Eli W. Jones was born in Marion county, Illinois, April 20, 1839, the son of James and Laura (Luelen) Jones, the former hav- ing been born in October, 1795, in Georgia, near where Atlanta now stands. He came to Illinois in 1814 and was in the War of 1812, having served two short terms guard- ing the surveyors when the state was sur-
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veyed. He was in Captain Schurtz's com- pany. He married in Bond county, Illinois, at Keysport, in 1823, and came to Marion county soon afterward, where he settled among the earliest pioneers and where he lived until his death, August 29, 1865. He devoted his life to farming. He was a very pious man, a member of the Methodist church and an exhorter. He entered gov- ernment land in this county which he im- proved and put a part of it in cultivation. There were some Indians here at the time. He was a Democrat until the time of Frank- lin Pierce, when he turned Republican. He was always opposed to slavery. He never took much interest in politics, but devoted his time to the farm and the church. The mother of the subject was born in Kentucky, December 1, 1806, and died February 26, 1885.
Eli W. Jones spent his boyhood days much like the other boys of his time, in as- sisting with the work on his father's farm and attending school in the country district for a short time during the winter, receiv- ing a meager education.
When the national government was in need of loyal supporters to defend its in- tegrity it found no more willing patriot than our subject, who enlisted in 1861 at the beginning of hostilities in the Twenty- sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, being as- signed to Company H, under command of Colonel Loomis and Capt. A. B. Morrison. He faithfully and gallantly served for four years when he had a leg shot off, having been shattered by a minie-ball in Sherman's
last big fight, which fact causes him to wear an artificial leg. He never missed a battle or a march until losing his leg. He was in the famous march to the sea, in the battle of Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, the battle of Missionary Ridge and out of fifty-seven smaller engagements was never defeated. He is remembered by his gov- ernment for his gallantry with a pension of forty-six dollars. He was never in the hos- pital a day while in the army until he was wounded. He spent ten days in the ambu- lance beore finding a hospital.
Mr. Jones was united in marriage to Mary Rymon, August 28, 1860. When he went away to war he left a little baby, three months old. His wife was born December 31, 1839, the daughter of Justus R. Rymon, who was born November 14, 1808. The mother of the subject's wife was Martha Dickens in her maidenhood. She was born July 26, 1816. Mr. and Mrs. Rymon were married May 4, 1836. Mr. Rymon was a preacher and a doctor and was a prominent man in his community. He was called from his earthly labors February 24, 1878, and his wife passed to her rest January 1, 1881.
The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jones: J. T., a well known physician of Salem, Illinois, who is at pres- ent unable to practice on account of failing health. He married Carrie E. Bennett and they are the parents of two children. Logan M., the subject's second child, was born November 1, 1864, and died in 1873 ; Flora was born May 10, 1868, and died Novem- ber 9, 1873.
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Our subject was for many years a breeder of fine horses and hogs and the owner of some high grade imported stallions and others of fine variety.
Mr. Jones has always been a loyal Re- publican, having cast his first vote for Abra- ham Lincoln. In 1872 he was elected Cir- cuit Clerk of Marion county, being the first Republican clerk the county ever had. This shows Mr. Jones's great popularity in his own county. He faithfully served in this capacity, giving entire satisfaction to all concerned. He has also served his town- ship as School Trustee, was the first Town Clerk of Foster and is at present Justice of the Peace. He is regarded as being en- tirely fair in his decisions. He served as Supervisor of Patoka township for one term of two years. He is well known politically, and he is held in high favor by all who know him.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HEAP.
Benjamin Franklin Heap, living in sec- tion 23, Olney township, was born January 26, 1847, in this township. He is the son of Isaiah and Rachael (Powell) Heap, the former a native of Guernsey county, Ohio, where he was reared. When a young man he came to Richland county, Illinois, and entered government land in Olney town- ship, where he lived until his death, April 27, 1881, having improved a farm. He was among the pioneers of that section. Isaiah Heap was a soldier in the Union
army in the Civil war, for about a year, having been a member of Company E, Sixth Illinois Cavalry. His wife survived him, dying February 23, 1905. She was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1824. and when two years old was taken to Win- chester, Guernsey county, Ohio, where she was reared. When ten years old she was left an orphan. In 1840 she came to Rich- land county, Illinois, with James Wilson and family, who were relatives. She entered land with a warrant issued to her by her father for services in the War of 1812. She joined the United Brethren church in 1842, at a log school-house, a short distance from her home and in the winter of 1877 united with the Methodist Episcopal church at Calhoun. She lived to see four genera- tions of her family living. She was a woman of beautiful characteristics.
Benjamin F. Heap, our subject, was reared on the old homestead, where he re- mained assisting with the work until eight- een years old, attending school in the winter months. Like his father he was patriotic, and on March 28, 1865, enlisted with the former, becoming a member of Company E, Sixth Illinois Cavalry. A year earlier he quit school and offered his services, but was rejected on account of his youth. He was mustered out at Selma, Alabama, and was discharged December 25. 1865. He was on the march most of the time during his service in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida. After the war he was sick about a year as a result of his exposure in the service, then he began work as a farm
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hand, later renting land and began for him- self. He now owns a farm of eighty acres, three and one-half miles south of Olney, where he has lived many years and which he has improved and which produces ex- cellent crops from year to year under his efficient management. He devotes consid- erable time to the manufacture of brooms, finding a ready market for his product which is of fine quality and excellent work- manship. He raises large quantities of broom-corn on the farm.
family of long longevity. Her grandfather lacked but a few days of being one hundred years old when he died.
Three children have been born to the sub- ject and wife: Carrie, who was born April 22, 1871, is the wife of Owen Hudson, of Vancouver, Washington; Mark O. was born March 8, 1874, is a carpenter in Rich- land county ; Karl L., born September 22, 1876, is a veteran of the Spanish-American war, and a farmer in North Dakota. He served one year in Cuba with Company H, Fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
Mr. Heap was united in marriage March 6, 1870, to Mary D. Wilson, who was born Mr. Heap is a stanch Republican and a member of the Ed. Ketchell Post, No. 662, Grand Army of the Republic. He is honest in his dealings with his fellow men and one of the well known citizens of the county. March 19, 1847, in Guernsey county, Ohio, then living in Coles county, Illinois. Mrs. Heap is the daughter of William J. and Mary (Powell) Wilson, the former a na- tive of Virginia, who emigrated to Ohio with his parents, his wife having been born in Pennsylvania and moved to Ohio with her parents when seven years old. The subject's JAMES S. MORTON, M. D. great-grandfather Powell was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and Grandfather Concentration of purpose and persistently applied energy rarely fail of success in the accomplishment of any task however great, and in tracing the career of Dr. Morton, a well known physician of Vernor, Marion county, it is plainly seen that these things have been the secrets of his rise to a po- sition of prominence and respectability. Moreover he possesses genuine love for his work and regards it as a privilege to carry comfort and aid to the sick and suffering. Powell was a soldier in the War of 1812. The latter also had three brothers, David, John and Benjamin, in the War of 1812. Two brothers of Mrs. Heap, Abel and Wil- liam Wilson, served in the Civil war, Wil- liam dying in the service of the Seventh Illinois Cavalry, at Little Rock, Arkansas, about a year after his enlistment. The par- ents of Mrs. Heap emigrated to Coles coun- ty. Illinois, in 186t. where her father died at the age of sixty years. The mother died Dr. James S. Morton was born in Clin- ton, Alabama, September 8, 1864, the son of in Wright county, Iowa, at the age of eighty-four years. Mrs. Heap is from a Samuel and Julia (Bizzell) Morton. His
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father was born in Belfast, Ireland, March 28, 1827, and came to the United States in 1852, landing in New Orleans, soon af- terward coming on to Clinton, Alabama, where he remained for a short time when he began the study of medicine, later attend- ing the University of Pennsylvania from which institution he graduated with honor, after which he returned to Alabama and became one of the state's most able physi- cians. He came to Patoka, Illinois, in 1868 and went to farming, five miles northwest of that town. He came to Vernon in 1872 for the purpose of resuming the practice of medicine which he continued with much success until his death July 10, 1906. He was one of a family of ten children and he came to America unaccompanied. The mother of our subject was born near Golds- borough, North Carolina, in 1841. The parents of our subject were married in 1860, and to them the following children were born: Andrew B., who became a physician, died at the age of thirty-eight; James S. was the second in order of birth; John died in infancy; Eliza P., who is thirty-eight years old at this writing, married William Binnion. They have three children and are living in Vernon, Illinois. Samuel, the third child of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Morton, died when three years old; George died in in- fancy ; Anna is thirty-five years old, is single and living with the subject.
Doctor Morton received his early educa- tion in Vernon, this county, where he at- tended the common schools and made a splendid record. Being ambitious to follow in the footsteps of his worthy father in the
medical profession, he went to Valparaiso, Indiana, where he took a course in the uni- versity from 1880 to 1883, after which he entered Rush Medical College in Chicago in 1884, from which institution he graduated with high honors in 1887, and he has been engaged in practice in Vernon, Illinois, ever since, being the oldest doctor here.
C. R. DAVIS.
Any volume which ventures to give any- thing like a comprehensive enumeration, biographically, of the prominent citizens of Clay county, Illinois, must necessarily be incomplete without inclusion of the life his- tory of C. R. Davis, the popular editor and proprietor of two newspapers of large cir- culation-The Toledo and The Louisville Republican. In his sphere of endeavor he has earnestly sought to expound and incul- cate the higher ideals of citizenship; and not even the modesty characteristic of him has prevented his obtaining recognition as a moulder of public opinion in his section of the state.
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