USA > Illinois > Brown County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 29
USA > Illinois > Cass County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 29
USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 29
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the Matthewson family is of Irish descent. Mrs. De Witt's first marriage was to Will- iam Waddell, and of this union was born one child, Clementine. Mr. Waddell died in Fulton county, Illinois, at the age of thirty- three years.
After his first marriage, Mr. De Witt set- tled in Ruslıville, and clerked for his father- in-law until 1844, when he engaged in busi- ness for himself, his partner being Mr. Greer; he conducted the business with differ- ent partners until 1850, when he sold out and removed to Littleton township, where lie and his brother-in-law conducted a general store for four years; the firmn was then changed, Mr. De Witt retaining his interest for another period of four years; the old firm then resumed business, and in 1862 he sold out. He now resides on the farm which was given his wife by her father, and devotes much of his time to agriculture; he has added to the original tract, and built the residence they now occupy.
Mr. De Witt received his elementary edu- cation in the district school, but it was through his own efforts that his advanced studies were carried on; he was under theo- logical instruction only one year, but during that time made great attainment. For more than fifty years he has been a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and during that half century he has accomplished much work for the Master. He has per- formed the marriage ceremony 130 times, and has as often been called to administer the last sad rites of burial. In the affairs of the State, as well as of the church, he has taken a prominent part; he has been Post- master, Collector, and Deputy Marshal, to take the census of one-half of the county, in 1870; and in 1874-'75, he was a member of the State Legislature from Schuyler county,
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representing the people with great credit to himself and to their best and highest inter- ests. Politically, he adlieres to the princi- ples of the Republican party. In all the walks of life lie has borne himself with that dignity and rectitude worthy of his calling, and has made a record that will bear the scrutiny of ages.
ANCY P. SECKMAN was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, August 18, 1814. Her father, James Taylor, and her mother, Katie. Bishop, were both born in Maryland, near Snow Hill. They went to Kentucky, when young, were married there, and were well-to-do farmers. They moved to Illinois in the fall of 1832, when this daughter was nineteen years old. They brought ten children with them in a prairie schooner, being twenty-one days on the route. They hired a man to bring them with his five-horse team, and they brought three liorses and saddles of their own. They had a most delightful time, a continual picnic of twenty-one days, from the time they left the old Kentucky home until they arrived at grandfather Taylor's in Morgan county. They bought 160 acres in what is now Scott county, and this they made their permanent home. They had two more children in Illinois, making twelve in all, and all but two grew to adult age, Mrs. Seckman being the eldest. The mother died at the age of sixty-five, on the farm in Scott county; the father lived many years after, but finally passed away at the ripe old age of eighty-five years, leaving a fine estate to the ten remaining children.
Mrs. Seckman had very little schooling in the every-day school, as they were then termed. She was married in her twenty-
second year to Jonathan W. Seckman, born near Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1810. His father was William Seckman, and his mother, Su- sau Wright, both from farmer families of Olio. They came to Illinois after this son came. Jonathan came here a poor young man, and began working for the low wages of those times. He drove teams and bioke prairie, and worked and earned and saved, until in his thirtieth year he had two horses, six oxen, and several head of horned cattle, and some hogs. He was married to our sub- ject, March 31, 1844, and began domestic life on an island in Menard county, on lands his father owned. They purchased forty acres in 1842, in Cooperstown township, near the present home of Mrs. Seckman. He traded a good house and his last horse for it. He worked out by the day and paid for the use of a six-horse team, with which he tilled the land for the first crop. Their life on the island for the three years they were there, was a living death from fever and ague, and when they left for Brown county they were reduced in means, having but $40. They bought a log house on an adjoining claim, which they moved on their small farm. The timber was large and dense on this land, and he built his old house on and over several large stumps. They moved into this abode, January 1, 1842, and in about two years he bought eighty acres adjoining. In 1865, they built the present commodious frame house in which Mrs. Seckinan now resides. Here he died, August 8, 1885, aged seventy-five, leaving his widow with seven living chil- dren. They had buried one daughter when an infant, and one son, John William, aged twenty-eight. He left a wife and son. Mr. Seckmau owned at his death 720 acres of land, and several lots in Mount Sterling. These lands are well-stocked and well-
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improved. He was well and favorably known in this section. His life of toil was not only successful financially, but he left a good record to his devoted wife. His father had been a preacher among the United Brethren, and he also left a large estate to a large and honorable posterity.
The names of Mrs. Seckman's living chil- dren are: James R., a farmer of Nebraska, has five children; Kittie J., wife of William Shultz, of Nebraska, has twelve children; Charles H., farmer on part of the old home- stcad, has six children; George D., also a farmncr on the homestead, ten children; Jon- athan, farmer in Brown county, eight chil- dren; Joseph L., also on the homestead, seven children; Archie, also on the homestead, in the house with his mother, four children.
Mrs. Seckman says that she is a mnonu- ment of God's mercy and love. She has had great health and strength during life, has worked hard in the house and field, has helped inake fence, stack grain, and has done every- thing in the house from rocking the cradle to spinning and weaving. She is now as strong and vigorous as ever, and her mind is as strong as ever, and in every respect she is a remarkable old lady.
ARIUS N. WALKER, ex-Judge of Cass county, Illinois, and a resident of Virginia, is a native of the Old Do- minion, born in Fauquier county, February 16, 1834. Of his life and ancestry we re- cord the following facts:
Solomon Walker, junior and senior, father and grandfather of the Judge, were also Vir- ginians by birth, and the former was a na- tive of Fauquier county. The latter suffered
privations and hardships in the various cam- paigns of the Revolutionary war, being in the service seven years, and never fully re- covered his health afterward. He spent his last years in Culpeper county, Virginia. The maiden name of Grandmother Walker was Frances Taylor. Her father was a na- tive of England, and when but a small boy was kidnaped by sailors, brought to America and bound out until twenty-one years of age. He spent his last years in the State of Virginia. Solomon Walker, Jr., learned the trade of tanner, and followed his trade in connection with farming in Fau- quier county, remaining a resident of that place until 1855. Then he sold his inter- ests there and came to Illinois, locating in Virginia precinct, Cass county, on a farın hc purchased a mile and a half east of the present courthouse site. He engaged in agricult- ure and remained a resident there till after the death of his wife. He spent his last years at the home of his son, Judge Walker, where he died, in 1889, in the eighty sixth year of his age. His wife, Emma Wilkins, was born in Prince Williamn connty, Virginia, daughter of Thomas Wil- kins. She died on the home farm in 1879. Nine of her children reached adult years.
Judge Walker was rearcd and educated in his native State, and when a mere boy he commenced to assist his father in the tanyard and on the farm. He is a natural mechanic, and while a resident of Virginia worked a portion of the time at the millwright tradc. He came to Cass county with his parents in 1855, and lived at home until he was twenty- three years old; was then employed at farm- ing and carpenter work. April 15, 1862, he started with others for Oregon. They went by rail to St. Joseph, at that time the ter- minus of the railroad, and thence by boat to
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Sonora, - Missouri. There they equipped themselves with ox .teams and provisions, and on the 12th of May started on their journey across the plains, arriving at the present site of Baker City, Oregon, August 23. He remained at Auburn, near Baker City, till February, wlien he went to Placer- ville, Idaho Territory, and engaged in min- ing, remaining there until the fall of 1864. Then he went to San Francisco, and from there went to New York, via Panama; thence to Cass connty, Illinois. Soon after- ward he bought a farm in Virginia precinct, which he sold the following fall, came to Vir- ginia and engaged in work at the carpenter's trade. In the fall of 1868 he purchased a tin and stove store, and carried on that business until 1873, when he was elected Police Magistrate of Virginia, and devoted his at- tention to the duties of tliat office. In 1880 he visited the Rocky mountains. He went as far as Western on the railroad and thence by stage to Leadville, Colorado. Five months later he returned to Virginia and has since resided there.
Judge Walker was married in the fall of 1861, to Elizabetlı Adams, who was born in Morgan county, Illinois, daughter of Will- iam and Mildred (Bryant) Adams. She died in 1873. In January, 1876, he married Martha E. Clark, a native of Schuyler county, Illinois, her parents being Thomas and Annie Clark. He has two children liv- ing by his first marriage: Emma E. and John L.
Politically, the Judge has always affiliated with the Democratic party. He served as Police Magistrate from 1873 to 1882; has also served as Alderman and Mayor. In 1882 he was elected County Judge, was re- elected in 1886, and served two full terms. He is a member of Saxon Lodge, No. 68, I.
O. O. F., and Washington Lodge of Mutnal Aid. Mrs. Walker is a member of the Presbyterian Church, while the Judge is a Baptist.
ILLIAM T. TYSON, a widely and favorably known citizen of Bain- bridge township, Schuyler county, Illinois, an honored veteran of the late war, and one of the inost prosperous farmers of the State, is a worthy representative of a prominent family of distinguished patriots, who sealed their devotion to their country long before she became a distinct nation, and who, by their united and continued efforts, have contributed in no small measure to her steady advancement to her present glorious position among the countries of the world.
Zephaniah Tyson, the distinguished grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Virginia in 1771, and was thius by birth placed on the arena of the most stirring events of that age. It is not surprising, therefore, that he should have developed tliat surprising precocity which the time itself tended to foster. Born of patriots, breathing the air of patriotismi, and drinking in those noble sentiments which have filled the hearts of heroes since the world began, he early put by the pastimes of youth, assuming with ease and pleasure the responsibilities and cares of a nian and a soldier. At the age of nineteen years lie enlisted in the Indian war, and served under that able and celebrated patriot, General Wayne. Again, in the war of 1812, he was still found figliting under the starry flag; and later took part in the battle of Tippecanoe, under General Harrison. Amidst all tliese warlike engagements, lie found time to cultivate the friendship of the little god of
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love, who directed liis shafts from behind the bright glances of Miss Margaret De Loug, an amiable and intelligent Virginian, and a de- scendant of an old and esteemed family of that State. In 1830, he removed to Illinois, which was then a new and sparsely settled country, where he settled on a farm on the southeast quarter of section 3, township 1 north, range 1 west of the fourth principal meridian, where he continued to live until his deatlı in 1849, at the age of seventy-eight years, uni- versally and sincerely lamented.
George Tyson, an able son of a great father, was born in 1807, on the Muskingum river, in Ohio. In those times, the young apparently matured much earlier than in our present indolent age, for we find this youth leaving home and starting in pursuit of his fortune long before he was fully grown. He weut to Cincinnati, where he found work, and where he soon afterward purchased a flat-boat, with which he commenced trading and traf- ficking with the natives on the Ohio river. In 1829, he married Miss Lucinda Bellamy, a native of Culpeper county, Virginia. Soon afterward he sold his flat-boat, and with the proceeds purchased a team, with which the young couple unade the trip overland from a point on the Ohio river to Schuyler county, Illinois, where they settled on a farm in the southeast quarter of section 11, township 1 nortlı, range 1 west. Fortune smiled on their industrious efforts, and in time Mr. Tyson accumulated considerable property, having 480 acres of choice agricultural land, besides owning a steam saw and grist mill. In 1866, lie went West and lias never been heard from since. The faithful wife and devoted mother survived her husband's probable death ten years, expiring September 10, 1876, in her sixty-seventli year, leaving a bereaved family and many friends to mourn her loss.
William T. Tyson, the subject of this no- tice, was born April 2, 1841, in a log house, situated forty rods front liis present large and comfortable residence. His early life was spent on the home farm, and he attended the country schools of his vicinity, where he re- ceived a good common-school education, sufficient to enable him to teach several schools in his township. At the age of six- teen, lie accompanied liis parents to Moniteau county, Missouri, where his father bought a farm of 160 acres on the Pacific railroad, and ran a woodyard in connection with his farm, there being an abundance of excellent timber on the land. In the fall of 1858, young William accompanied his parents to Henry county, Missouri, where his father bought 300 acres of excellent prairie land, on the west half of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 21, in township 43, of range 28. Here the family continued to reside until the breaking out of the Civil war, when the mother and younger children returned to the old homestead in Illinois. It was then that young William displayed that patriotism for which his family was famous, by raising the first flag ever lioisted in the county after the nomination of Abrahamn Lincoln. He raised a pole fifty feet high. to which was attached a flag fourteen by twenty- one feet, witli a rail resting on the top of the pole. He was several times ordered to take it down, but as often refused to do so.
This sentiment of love for his country cul- minated in his enlistment in the United States service as a private in Company D, Cass County Regiment of Cavalry, Missouri Home Guards, on June 27, 1861, to serve three years, or during the war; and was dis- charged at Harrisonville, Missouri, February 28, 1862, by reason of General Order No. 25, paragraph three, Headquarters Depart-
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ment of Missouri, December 14, 1861. He participated in several engagements, the most important of which were Parkersville and Harrisonville, Missouri, July 18 and 19, 1861. He was selected for Second Lienten- ant of the company, and lacked but a few votes of being elected. He was one of the soldiers who helped to gnard the first wagon train of provisions to Lyon's army, after the battle of Wilson's creek, Missouri. Soon after his discharge, he started for Illinois, and was obliged to cross the entire State of Missouri fromn west to east at a very danger- ous time of the war.
On August 12, 1862, Mr. Tyson re-en- listed in the army as a private in Company D, 115th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, for three years or during the war. During his service he did his full share of marching, fighting, scouting, picketing, digging and suffering, as well as participating in the for- aging and picnicking, of which Uncle Sam's boys are generally believed to have had a large amount. During this terin of service lie took part in a number of prominent engagements. He was in the battle of Franklin and Harpeth river, April 10, 1863. He was in Rosecrans' campaign from Murfreesboro to Tullahoma, Tennessee, from June 23 to 30, 1863. He participated in the battle of Chickamauga, September 18, 19 and 20, 1863; and was in the Dalton raid, under General Palmer, from February 21 to 27, 1864. He was also in the charge on Tunnel Hill, Georgia, May 7, 1864, and took part in the battle of Resaca, May 15 and 16, 1864.
He was one of that brave little band of forty-two inen who formed Company D, under Captain Hymer's command, who held their own against such fearful odds at Buz- zard's Roost gap, Georgia. They were sta- tioned at the block house at that point, in
July, 1864, where on August 15, they were attacked by Wheeler's cavalry; but Company D opened such a fire of shot on the attacking party that the cavalry were obliged to retire. Again, on October 13, Hood's army of 40,- 000 came to the block house and opened fire on the inmates with musketry and artillery, 133 cannon balls being fired at the fort. This little band of Spartans, however, held the at- tacking party in check for ten hours, when they were finally forced to surrender. In this engagement, five were killed, six wounded and thirty-seven taken prisoners. The pris - oners, ainong whom was the subject of this sketch, were marched to Cahaba, Alabama, where they were confined for ten days in Castle Morgan, which was named in honor of the daring Confederate raider, John Morgan. Owing to the crowded condition of the pris- on, they were sent to Millen, Georgia, where they were when General Sherman sent General Kilpatrick's Cavalry, on November 22, to rescue thein if possible. The preced- ing evening, however, they were loaded on the cars and sent to Savannah, and thence on down the coast to Thomasville, Georgia, and froni there across the country to Anderson- ville. In this famous, or rather infamous, prison, Mr. Tyson was confined for three months: at the end of that time he was sent to Vicksburg, where lie was paroled, ex- changed, and loaded on the Henry Ames, one of those magnificent floating palaces for which the lower Mississippi was famous in ante-bellum days. He was in this way trans- ferred to St. Louis, and there paid off, and given a thirty days' furlough to go home. At the expiration of this time he returned to Springfield, Illinois, where he received his final pay and discharge, on June 14, 1865. As typical of the appreciation in which Mr. Tyson was held by his cominanders, may be
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mentioned the remark of Captain Hymer, who said to him: " I know you were one of my best soldiers, and were always in the line of duty." Mr. Tyson was on detached ser- vice in the Signal Corps, at Wartrace, Ten- nessee; and while stationed at Tullahoma, that State, was headquarter clerk for General Jesse H. Moore. While in Kentucky, Mr. Tyson was a guest of the great Kentucky statesman, Cassius M. Clay, at that time ab- sent in Russia, but whose absence was amply compensated for by the cordiality and hos- pitality of Mrs. Clay, hier daughter and daughter-in-law, with whom he had tlie pleas- ure of dining.
By the spring of 1867, Mr. Tyson had saved up $500, with which he purchased 160 acres of land in section 11, township 1 north, range 1 west. This event foreshadowed an- other, which transpired in the fall of the same year, and which was but the fulfilling of the saw, to provide a cage before getting the bird. He was married November 10, 1867, to Miss Sarah J. Scott, an estimable lady, and a resident of Schuyler county, Illinois. Their happy married life, however, was destined to be of short duration, for on February 22, 1878, the faithful wife and mother expired at home, in the midst of her family and friends. She was widely known and greatly beloved on account of her practical Christian virtues and kind heart. They had four chil- dren: Jesse C., Laura, Leora and Stella, the latter of whom died in infancy; there are now two grandchildren.
In 1880, Mr. Tyson was appointed Census Enumerator for Bain bridge township,to which position he was reappointed on May 20, 1890. Hc is in very comfortable circumstances, and owns as fine a farm as there is in the country, which is provided with good improvements and is moderately and well stocked.
In politics he has always been a Republi- can, and is opposed to oppression in any form.
A duty done is always a source of pleasure and pride to the one performing it. This is essentially true at all times and at all places, but how much more so must it be when the performance involves danger and perhaps death; when, as in the late war, the cham- pions of justice and freedom were baptized with fire and witlı blood. It is then that duty assumes lier heaven-born spirit, and pours into the heart the balm of unspeakable joy and tliat peace which passeth under- standing.
DWARD N. TREADWAY, a farmer of Beardstown, was born in Hamilton county, Olio, February 23, 1825. His father was Edward Treadway, a native of Maryland, of English stock. He grew up as a farmer in Maryland, and married Elizabeth Anderson, who was reared and educated in Hartford county, Maryland. She came of Scotch ancestry. He and his wife mnoved to Hamilton county in 1816, and later came to Illinois, into Cass county, and settled in what is known as the Monroe precinct. This was in 1829. Tlie wife died about two years after the family settled in this county, being then only in middle life. Her husband spent his last days with his children, and died in 1859, being then about seventy-five years of age. He and his wife were recognized as very early pioneers of the county.
Mr. Treadway has lived in this precinct since he was ten years of age, and has become known as one of the old settlers. He is a fariner on the same land which he went upon when he became of age. It is in sections 29
19
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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF CASS,
and 30, and consists of 160 acres, and is known as the Sangamon bottoms. It is all improved He also owns 120 acres of timber land which is very valuable.
He was married in this county, to Sarah Phelps, of North Carolina, the daugliter of William and Margaret (Measles) Phelps, who were born, reared and married in North Car- olina. They came North with their family and settled in the precinct of Beardstown. Mr. Phelps is yet living, a hale, hearty old gentleman, but Mrs. Phelps died some years ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Treadway attend the Method- ist Episcopal Church in this city, and are worthy, good citizens with a host of friends. They are the parents of five living children: Martha Predshaw, now living on a farm in tliis county; William, at home assisting his father; Hans, living in McDonough county; Anna and Bertha at home. Mr. Treadway is a consistent Democrat.
- ILLIAM H. COLEMAN, general farmer and stock-raiser, running the large cattle farm of 320 acres, and also owner of nearly 600 acres in the precinct of Philadelphia, all in Cass county, has lived in the county for thirty-two years, has always been engaged as a farmer and has always been quite successful. He began here as a poor man, and worked for $10 a month for the first four years, and after that began to farm on the Calcf farm, which lie has since run as a renter, and out of liis savings he has pur- chased the large farm of 600 acres which lie also runs on his own account, in connection with his rented farm, making nearly 1,000 acres that are under his control. He has been a hard-working man and has made all he lias since he came to this county in 1860.
He was born in Westphalia at Menden, in Prussia, Germany, in 1840. He was reared in his native country, and after lie came to this county he attended the public schools through the kindness of his benefactor, S. L. Calef, whose place he has worked on since 1860. He reveres this kind gentleman and his wife as he would his parents, and his long resi- dence on their farm show what their opinion is of his honesty and faithfulness.
Mr. Coleman is the son of Gotlieb Coleman (spelled in the German Kuhlmann), and the latter came to the United States in 1870. He made his home with his son, William, un- til liis death in 1886. He was then eighty-two years of age. He was a good old man and an active member of the Lutheran Church. He had married a German lady who lived and died in her native country, being only thirty- two years of age. Her maiden name was Mary Markman. She left six children at her death, of which William and a brother Henry, now a married farmer in Virginia precinct, this county, are all that are now living. Will- iam and his brother Henry came to the United States when young and single, coming in the spring of 1860 from Bremen, Germany, to New Orleans in a sailing vessel, Mary Margaret, with 636 passengers on board. After a thirty-nine days' voyage, they landed in New Orleans and came up the Mississippi river on a steamer to St. Louis, and from there to Beardstown, where they have both since lived, and have become good and successful farmers and reliable German citizens.
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