USA > Illinois > Clay County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 62
USA > Illinois > Richland County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 62
USA > Illinois > Marion County > Biographical and reminiscent history of Richland, Clay and Marion counties, Illinois > Part 62
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
They were the parents of five sons and two daughters, namely: May is living in Buckley, Pierce county, Washington; Mag- Buckley, Pierce county, Washington, as does also Alexander, who is a merchant; John, the fourth child, married Mary Hulsey, and he is in partnership with his brother in a store at Buckley, Washington; William who was a mill man at Buckley, Washing- ton, was killed in 1900; Archie died at Pa- toka; James, the subject of this sketch and Alexander are twins and the third and fourth members of the family.
Mr. McNicol, our subject, received only a limited schooling and he remained at home until his marriage in the fall of 1865,
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to Ella J. Simcox, a native of Kentucky, hay and oats. No small part of his income the daughter of W. K. and Agnes Rebecca is derived from live stock, for he is a most excellent judge of stock and some fine vari- eties of Poland China hogs and Red Poland cattle are to be found about the place. He carries on a general farming business with that rare discretion which always insures success. Simcox, natives of Kentucky. They came to Marion county, Illinois, in about 1866, and settled in Patoka township. The sub- ject's wife passed to her rest April 6, 1902. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. McNicol, one of whom is deceased. They are: William, a farmer in Foster township, While our subject has never aspired to office he has held several local public po- sitions. He is an independent voter, pre- ferring to cast his ballot for the man he be- lieves will best serve the public, rather than for the party. He is a faithful member of the Christian church of Patoka. Mr. Mc- Nicol's life has been one of industry, scrupulous honesty and integrity. who married Lola Caldwell; Archibald, who has remained single, is a ranchman in Montana; Mary is the wife of C. H. Ar- nold of Sterling, Colorado; Jessie is the wife of Luther Caldwell, of Foster town- ship; Agnes is the wife of Cyrus E. Arnold, of Foster township; Maggie is living at home, as are also James and Warren; Ruth is deceased.
After his marriage the subject located in Foster township, Marion county, where he has since resided, having purchased land here. In 1876 he went to Benson county, North Dakota, and took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land, where he remained for six years, engaged in farm- ing and stock raising, which he made a suc- cess. He sold out there and returned to Foster township, this county, where he pur- chased land, now owning an excellent farm of three hundred and fifty-nine acres, all in Foster township. It is under a high state of improvement and is regarded as one of the model farms of Marion county, being in- every way in first class condition and showing that a man of rare soundness of judgment and business ability has managed it. He raises abundant crops of corn, wheat,
ALBERT G. PORTER.
Among the enterprising and progressive citizens of Marion county, Illinois, is the gentleman whose name forms the caption of this ketch, who has engaged in various lines of business activity in this county and is known as one of the leading liverymen of the locality, at present managing an exten- sive livery stable in Kinmundy, while he maintains a fine home there, and the years of his residence has but served to strengthen the feeling of confidence of his fellow citi- zens. Although yet a young man, scarcely one-third of the years usually allotted to human life having passed over him, our sub- ject has shown what a rightly directed prin-
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ciple, coupled with honesty and integrity, can do toward winning definite success.
Albert G. Porter was born in this county October 14, 1880, the son of Emmett D. and Rachael (Henry) Porter, the father a native of Ohio, and the mother of Illinois. There were seven children in this family, all of whom lived to maturity. The father of the subject was a soldier in an Ohio regi- ment during the Civil war and after being mustered out returned to Ohio and soon thereafter came to Fayette county, Illinois, and after remaining there for a time came to Marion county. He engaged in the hard- ware business while living in Fayette county and when he came to Marion county, he went into the livery business and after man- aging the same for about two years he sold out and became agent for a marble works establishment. Later he handled fire insur- ance and became adjuster of claims, holding his position, official and otherwise, until his death, having faithfully served the company to the entire satisfaction of all its members for a period of thirty years, which is a sure criterion of his ability and integrity. He was fifty-six years old at the time of his
death. The mother of the subject, a woman of many beautiful traits of charac- ter, is still living in 1908, at the age of fifty- nine years. There were four children in this family, all of them reaching maturity and all but one are married and have fam- lies. They are Harry E., who is at the time of this writing thirty-six years old, and a traveling salesman; he is married and has one child. Charles H., the second child of
the parents of the subject, was in busi- ness in the city of Chicago. He is now in the fruit and poultry business at Los Angeles, California, having made a pro- nounced success of this business from the first. One sister, Nellie, is now the wife of Gus Elbow, of Oklahoma City, and the mother of one child. Her husband is an at- torney. Our subject was the fourth child in order of birth. He attended the common schools in Kinmundy, until he was nineteen years of age, and received a fairly good edu- cation, which has since been greatly strengthened by home study and by coming in contact with the world. He also attend- ed a business college in Centralia, Illinois, after leaving the public schools and thereby received a good business education. He also read medicine for one year, and then attended to various matters until 1908, when he opened up a livery business in Kin- mundy, which he is at present conducting. having built up an extensive business.
Our subject was united in marriage on March 3, 1907, to Maud L. West, a native of this county, and the daughter of Charles H. and Rosa (Dillon) West. Mr. West is a native of Indiana. He was a farmer and stock raiser, having made the raising of Hereford cattle a specialty for a number of years. but is now living in honorable re- tirement, making his home in Kinmundy, having sold his principal farm, but he still owns several orchard farms, consisting of hundreds of acres.
Mr. and Mrs. Porter have one infant son. They own their nicely furnished home. The
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mother of the subject also owns her home church in Kinmundy, the deed having been and is living by herself. Mr. Porter is a young man to whom the future holds out much of promise, being industrious, quick to grasp an opportunity, and it would be hard to find among the younger generation of business men in Marion county, a worthier subject than he.
GUSTIN L. EAGAN.
The family of which the subject of this sketch is an honored representative has been known in Marion county since the pioneer period and the record they have made has been one of which Mr. Eagan can justly be proud, for his ancestors left a priceless heri- tage to their posterity, the memory of names and deeds which time can neither obliterate nor dim.
Gustin L. Eagan was born in Marion county, Illinois, in 1857, the son of Henry and Margaret (Hatten) Eagan. Grand- father Isaac Eagan, who was born in Ten- nessee, came to Illinois, settling in Kinmun- dy, when a young man. He drove a stage coach through Salem and to the south, and later became a farmer and lived until about the age of seventy-five years. He was the father of nine children, eight of whom lived to be men and women. His wife was also about seventy-five years old when she was called to her rest. They were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Grandfather donated ground for the local
made to the trustee of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and their successors, for the use of this denomination. The Presbyterians are now seeking to take the property from the hands of the original grantees to be used by the Presbyterian church. Grandfather Eagan was a Demo- crat, a man of industry, leaving consider- able property of value which reverted to his heirs.
Grandfather Hatten was a native of North Carolina and lived and died in that state. Grandmother Hatten moved to Ma- rion county, this state, where she settled, after her husband's death. She lived to be about sixty-five years old. There were four children in the Hatten family, one of them becoming a soldier in the Civil war, having served in an Illinois regiment, serv- ing out his time and receiving an honorable discharge.
The subject's father was born in Marion county and always lived here. He was a wagon-maker, also manufactured plows, for many years making all the wagons and plows used in this part of the country, fol- lowing his trade periodically all his life, also owned a small farm. He was called from his earthly labors when forty-eight years old, the subject's mother being only a year older than her husband when she was called to the spirit land. They were Cumberland Presbyterians, and were the parents of ten children, eight of whom lived to maturity. Henry Eagan was a Democrat in his po- litical beliefs.
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Gustin L. Eagan, our subject, was edu- cated in the public schools, which he left when eighteen years old, and began the blacksmith's trade. Following in the foot- steps of his father, he soon became a very skilled artisan and upheld the high reputa- tion for first class work that his worthy father had so long borne. At this writing, Mr. Eagan is proprietor of the Hotel Ea- gan, one of the most popular and conve- nient places for the accommodation of tran- sients to the city that can be found in the county, being known as a place of home- like comfort, and where courteous treat- ment is extended to all. As a result of these facts this house has become widely known to the traveling public, and Mr. Eagan en- joys a liberal patronage. Besides this line of business he still successfully conducts his blacksmith shop, enjoying, as usual, a lib- eral patronage from Kinmundy and sur- rounding country. He has been able to lay by a comfortable competency for his old age.
Mr. Eagan was united in marriage in 1889 to Jennie Darney, a native of Ohio, whose father died in Illinois, after which event the mother of Mrs. Eagan moved back to Ohio, where she died. Mr. Dar- ney came to America from France. He was a soldier, having seen service in the Franco- German war. The family of our subject and wife consists of four interesting chil- dren, named as follows: Beulah, who was born in 1891, is the wife of F. H. Spillman, and the mother of one child; Mascelline, who was born in 1893, graduated from the
local schools in 1907; Lawrence was born in 1895, and is living at home; Henry was born in 1897, died in infancy.
In his fraternal relations he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, and faithfully served as Alderman for a number of years. He has also been Trustee, Collector and Super- visor. Mr. Eagan was Mayor of Kin- mundy from 1906 to 1908. In all these of- ficial capacities he discharged his duties with great credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He is held in high favor by the people of Marion county, where he is well known and where he labors for the advancement of the gen- eral good.
SEYMOUR ANDREWS.
Nearly a century has dissolved in the mists of time, the most remarkable century in all of the history of the race of mankind, since our honored and venerable subject first saw the light of day. Heaven has bounte- ously lengthened out his life until he has seen the crowning glory of this the most wonderful epoch of all the aeons of time, rewarding him with an unusual span of years as the result of virtuous and consist- ent living in his youth and years of his man- hood, until now in the golden evening of his life, surrounded by comfort and plenty as a result of his earlier years of industry and frugality, Mr. Andrews can take a ret-
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rospective glance down the corridors of the relentless and irrevocable past and feel that his has been an eminently useful, successful and happy life, a life which was not devoid of obstacle and whose rose held many a thorn, but with indomitable courage he pressed onward with his face set in deter- mination toward the distant goal which he has so grandly won; a life of sunshine and shadow, of victory and defeat, but nobly lived and worthily rewarded as such lives always are by the Giver of all good and pre- cious gifts, who has given our subject the longest span of years of any citizen in Ma- rion county, Illinois, a great gift, indeed, of which Mr. Andrews is duly grateful. He was one of the hardy pioneers, a member of the famous band of "forty-niners" who crossed the trackless plains that stretched to the "sundown seas," whose courageous feats have been sung in song and exploited in story, for "there were giants in those days."
Seymour Andrews was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, January 17, 1825, the son of Nelson and Jane (Gaston) Andrews, the former a native of Oneida county, New York, where he was born in 1799. There were ten children in his family, an equal number of boys and girls, of whom our sub- ject is the oldest in order of birth. The sub- ject's mother, who was born in South Caro- lina, was one of a family of eight chil- dren. Nelson Andrews came west with his parents in 1819, and settled in Jefferson county, Illinois. They built a raft in Olean, New York, constructed a
rude cabin on it and floated down the Mo- nongahela river to Cincinnati. This was in 1818. They stopped and made shingles and sold timber and rafts. They made a flat boat there and floated to Shawneetown, where they hitched their two ponies onto a large wagon and drove to the vicinity of what is now known as Dix, Jefferson county. Arra Andrews, brother of Nelson Andrews, who is the father of Seymour Andrews, made the first plat of Salem and surveyed it. Jane Gaston's father, Samuel Gaston, the grand- father of Seymour Andrews, was one of the first commissioners appointed by the gov- ernment to locate the county seat of Clinton county, which is Carlyle, Illinois.
During the days of Nelson and Jane An- drews a company of Rangers visited this part of the state between the years 1820 and 1825. They drove out the Goings family from Jefferson county by whip. Members of this family were said to be noted coun- terfeiters, horse thieves and harbored all such people at their home near that of Sam- uel Gaston, the maternal grandfather of our subject.
Seymour Andrews was married to Mar- tha C. Hendrixon, of Jefferson county, Illi- nois, August 15, 1844, and they are now, 1908, the oldest married couple in this coun- ty, having enjoyed a harmonious wedded life of over sixty-four years; they are both in fairly good health and enjoying a se- rene and comfortable old age. The follow- ing children were born to them: Harvey T., deceased; Elizabeth J., deceased, married John Morsman and had one son, Charles, a
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dentist in Minnesota; Truman B. mar- ried Amanda Mcclellan and has three children, all married; Sidney W. married Belle Mathews and is living in Arkansas, where he is postmaster at Walnut Ridge, and is the father of two children; Margaret married G. J. Goetch, of Centralia, Illinois. and she is the mother of two children; Ida L. married T. L. Baltzell, who lives in Los Angeles, California; Altha married G. C. Matsler, of Centralia, and lives with her par- ents, her husband being a telegraph operator on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- road; the eighth and ninth children both died in infancy.
As already indicated Mr. Andrews crossed the plains to California before the days of the trans-continental railways. This was in 1850 and the trip was made with an ox team, in company with John Parkinson, James Parkinson and Preston Mccullough. They left Walnut Hill April 3, 1850, with four yoke of oxen and arrived in California after much hardship and adventure August Ioth, the same year, having been on the road over four months. They wintered four miles from the famous Sutter mill and crossed the old ditch where gold was first discovered many times.
Having been a hard worker and an indus- trious man all his life, Mr. Andrews always made a comfortable living and was enabled to lay up a competency to insure his old age free from want. He has faithfully and ably served his community as Justice of the Peace for the past sixteen years. He is also a notary public and handles a successful line of fire insurance.
The parents of the subject belonged to the Christian church, but our subject is not a member of any orthodox church. Howev- er, he is a believer in the principles of the golden rule and in good to all men. In poli- tics he cast his first Democratic ballots in 1848 and 1852, but upon the organization of the Republican party became a stanch supporter of the same and has always main- tained the same political faith.
SAMUEL L. DWIGHT.
One of the central figures of the judiciary of southern Illinois is the honorable gentle- man whose name forms the subject of this review. Prominent in legal circles and equally so in public matters beyond the con- fines of his own jurisdiction, with a repu- tation in one of the most exacting of pro- fessions that has won him a name for dis- tinguished service second to that of none of his contemporaries, there is today no more prominent or highly esteemed man in Ma- rion county, which he has long dignified with his citizenship.
Samuel L. Dwight was born March 15, 1841, at Mount Vernon, Jefferson county, Illinois, the son of Lewis and Mahala Pen- nington (Casey) Dwight. The subject's mother was the daughter of Governor Za- doc Casey, of Illinois. She was born while her father was a member of the Legislature at Vandalia, capitol of Illinois at that time. He originated the bill to create the county of Marion, naming the same after his fa- ther's Revolutionary commander, Francis
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1
Marion, of historic fame. Lewis Dwight was born in Massachusetts and educated in that state. However, he graduated at Yale University, after which he came to Jeffer- son county, Illinois, and taught school for a number of years. He died at the age of seventy years, after a very useful and ac- tive life. Samuel L. Dwight was reared with the family of Governor Casey and was educated in the public schools of Mount Ver- non, Illinois, having taken one year's course of study at McKendree College. Being am- bitious from the first, he applied himself in a most diligent manner to his studies and became well educated. Early deciding to enter the law as a profession, he began the study of the same with Tanner and Casey at Mount Vernon. But when our national horizon was darkened with the clouds of re- bellion in the early sixties our subject left Blackstone behind, severed home ties and offered his services in defense of his coun- try's integrity, having enlisted in Company I, Sixtieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and so gallant were his services that he was mus- tered out at the close of the war as captain of the same company. He served one and one-half years, having taken part in many engagements and faithfully performing what service he could.
After his career in the army Mr. Dwight, in July, 1866, left the farm at Mount Ver- non, Illinois, and resumed the study of law, this time under his uncle, Colonel Lewis F. Casey, who had married an aunt of Samuel E. Dwight, and the daughter of Governor Casey.
Our subject was admitted to the bar in 1868, and he entered into partnership with Colonel Casey, with whom he continued in a most successful manner until the death of Colonel Casey early in the eighties, the pres- tige of this firm having gradually grown until their practice was equal to that of any other firm in the county.
In 1870 Samuel L. Dwight was elected a member of the lower house of the Twenty- seventh General Assembly and served to the entire satisfaction of his constituents for one term. After the death of his former law partner he carried on the business of the firm successfully, practicing law in all the local courts until 1897, when he was elected to the bench of the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Illinois, and so faithfuly did he discharge the duties of the same that he was re-elected to the office in 1903 for another term of six years, and is, therefore, at this writing, 1908, still holding the position. His tenure of of- fice has been marked by a remarkable clear- ness of decision and fairness to all parties, his decisions having seldom met with disap- proval at the hands of a higher tribunal, for he came to the bench well qualified for its exacting duties and responsibilities and from the beginning his judicial career was char- acterized by such a profound knowledge of the law and an earnest and conscientious de- sire to apply it impartially that he was not long in gaining the respect and confidence of the attorneys and litigants and earning for himself an honorable reputation among the leading jurists of the state. From the first his labors were very arduous and many
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important cases were tried in his court, in addition to which he was also frequently called to other circuits to sit on cases in which larger interests were involved.
The happy and harmonious domestic life of Judge Dwight dates from September 4, 1872, when he was married to M. Irene Noleman, the cultured and accomplished daughter of Capt. R. D. Noleman and Sarah A. Jennings, the mother of Mrs. Dwight having been the daughter of Charles W. Jennings. R. D. Noleman was for many years a leading citizen and business man of Centralia.
Fraternally Judge Dwight is a member of the Masonic Order, the Knights of Py- thias, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Modern Woodmen. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Epis- copal church. Their beautiful home is fre- quently the gathering place for numerous friends and admirers of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight.
Judge S. L. Dwight is ready at all times to make any reasonable sacrifice for. the cause in which his interests are enlisted. He is not only an able and reliable coun- selor, with a thorough acquaintance of the principles, intricacies and complexities of jurisprudence, but his honesty is such that he has frequently advised against long and expensive litigation, and this, too, at the loss of liberal fees which he could otherwise have earned. His treatment of the case he has in hand is always full of comprehension
and accurate, his analysis of the facts clear and exhaustive, and he seems to grasp with- out effort the relation and dependence of the facts, and so groups them as to enable him to throw their combined force upon the point they intend to prove. He is, withal, a man of the people, proud of his distinction as a citizen of a state and nation for whose laws and institutions he has the most pro- found admiration and respect.
DOUGLAS C. BROWN.
Every human being either submits to the controlling influence of others or wields an influence which touches, controls, guides or misdirects others. If he be honest and suc- cessful in his chosen field of endeavor, in- vestigation will brighten his fame and point the way along which others may follow with like success. Consequently a critical study of the life record. of the gentleman whose name forms the caption of this para- graph may be beneficial to the reader, for it has been one of usefulness and honor.
Douglas C. Brown, the well known prin- cipal of Brown's Business College of Cen- tralia, and also superintendent of the Cairo and Marion business colleges, the largest and most modern institutions of their kind in southern Illinois, was born in Clay county, this state, January 28, 1860, the son of Wil- liam and Lucy (Murphy) Brown, the sub- ject being the second child in a family of
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four children. The parents of these chil- dren died when Douglas C. was but a child and he was reared by an uncle, John A. Flick, with whom he remained until of age. His early education began at Xenia, in Clay county, which was continued at Danville in the Normal School, later at McKendree Col- lege, Lebanon, Illinois. In all the schools he attended he made a splendid record for scholarship. Having been ambitious from the first, he applied himself in a most assiduous manner to his text-books and always stood high in his classes.
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