USA > Illinois > Brown County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 43
USA > Illinois > Cass County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 43
USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 43
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Charles M. Tinncy was reared and educated in Pekin, Illinois, being a graduate of the
high school of that place. Hc also attended college one year at Oskaloosa, Iowa. After that he studied law in the office of W. D. Maus, of Pekin, being admitted to the bar in 1873. He then commenced the practice of his profession in Virginia, where he has since resided. He conducted a law practice until 1880, when he bought the office and good will of the Virginia Gazette, a weekly paper. He has since had charge of this paper, and in connection with it has a job printing office. Politically he is a Republican.
Mr. Tinney was married in November, 1886, to Annie E. Craft, a native of Penn- sylvania and a daughter of J. B. and Pliebe (Dunanay) Craft.
HRISTIAN PILGER, a live man and old citizen of Beardstown, was born in Waldeck, Prussia, in 1836, and came of a good old German family. His father, Fred Pilger, was at one time city Mayor, as had been his father and grandfather before hin. The same office is now held by one of the sons in the town of Berich, where the family has lived. The father and inother of our subject, were good Lutherans and lived and died in their native country. They had a family of eleven children, five of whom came came to this country, three of whom are yet living. He came to Beardstown in June, 1855, a young man twenty years of agc. He was engaged as a bench tailor for some years, when in 1873, he, with Henry Garın started in business as merchant tailors. He enlisted in August, 1862, in Company A, One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Captain John M. John- son and Colonel James W. Judy, command- ing. He was engaged in the battles of
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Vicksburg, Jackson, Mississippi, Nashville, thence down to New Orleans, across the Gulf of Mexico to Mobile, and was in all the bat- tles of that section. In all this military duty our subject escaped wounds or capture, but twice suffered sunstroke. Hc was Cor- poral of his company when discharged, August 13, 1865. Since his return he has been a live member of the place. In 1882, Mr. Pilger's business was carried on for two years under the name of Pilger & Huge, at which time Mr. Pilger assumed sole charge of the business until 1889. Mr. Pilger is now engaged in the real-estate business, is a Notary Public, and carries a number of lines of insurance. He is agent for the Equitable Building & Loan Society, of Peoria, and is City Clerk of Beardstown. Hc has been very successful in life, and has antassed a good property in this city. The spot on which his office now stands was formerly the old house site of Mr. Thomas' Beard, who first settled here, established the ferry, and later laid out the town. Mr. Pilger was for years the proprietor of the Pilger block on the corner of State and Main streets. He is a worker for the Boys in Blue, and is a char- ter member . of the McLane Post, G. A. R .. No. 97, of Beardstown, was its first Quarter- master, and has held the position nearly ever since. The Sons of Veterans of this place also named their camp in his honor. He has been for many years a member of Cass Lodge, No. 25, A. F. & A. M., and has taken an act- ive part in it.
He was married in this city to Miss Mar- garet Schuman, born in Baden, Germany, and came to this country when eighteen years of age. Her parents also came to Beards- town and died here consistent members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. and Mrs. Pilger arc parents of but one daughter, an accomn-
plished young lady, a leader in social circles and now the wife of William F. Stanley, foreman in the paint shop of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company of this city.
B RYSON M. BLACKBURN was born in Ohio, on the line between Butler and Hamilton counties in 1828. His father was James Blackburn, of the same place, born in 1805, and his father, Bryson Black- burn, came to Ohio from Pennsylvania at an early day, with his wife. Three brothers lad preceded him, and the oldest of the fam- ily had been killed by the Indians in the same State. The latter left a family. One of the re- maining brothers sought to avenge the blood of his brother, named Patterson Blackburn. He was finally lost in the West, after having been in the Lewis and Clark expedition. James Blackburn, the father of our subject, was one of three children. His brother, Hamilton, and his sister, Polly, who mar- ried John Mattson, a nephew of William Henry Harrison. The mother of our subject was Neppie Sparks, of Maryland, though born in Kentucky. She was a daughter of Matthew and Prudence (Conway) Sparks. They were farmers who came to Schuyler county in 1830, when Rushville was a very small hamlet. Mr. Blackburn was a tanner and currier, who started a small tannery and soon built up a good business, which he sold ont in a few years at a handsome profit. He again embarked in business with a partner who proved a rascal and bankrupted him. He then started anew by taking up eighty aeres of land near Plymouth. This was mili- tary land, and after making a home and im- provements here he found that his title was
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not good; so lost it. Having studied medicine under the then famnous Dr. Thomas, of Cin- cinnati, he began practicing and soon liad a large practice. In 1835-'36 the cholera became epidemic, and he returned to Ruslı- ville, against the wishes of his wife and chil- dren, to assist the sick.
Mr. Blackburn was one of eleven children: Robert, Bryson, Prudence, Orville, John, Amanda, Amelia, Ann and Thomas: the other two died in infancy. Mr. Blackburn had but a limited district schooling, but he endeavored to improve himself and taught school one winter. He has followed farming and car- pentering all his life, for which he liad a natural talent.
He was inarried in Huntsville, Illinois, in 1852, to Susan Brumfield Overstreet, a daugliter of Buckley and Nancy Overstreet. Her parents came from Kentucky and Vir- ginia. She was born in Kentucky in 1829, and came to Illinois in 1836. Her parents died in Huntsville, he aged sixty-eight, and she seventy years.
Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn have buried four children in early childhood. They have six still living: Kate, wife of Warren Whitson, of Brooklyn; Frances A., a maiden at home; Fred W. married Sophia Wells and resides near Brooklyn, on a farm of 500 acres; Nep- pie, wife of Elmer Brown, resides at Brook- lyn; Mary M., the wife of George Kruter, lives in McDonough county; and R. H. is a young man at home.
Mr. Blackburn bought his present house and farın in 1854. He has 110 acres of very fertile land. He considers himself a poor financier, although an industrious man. He voted with the Democrats until the Civil war, and did not vote for president until Hayes. He is a stanch Prohibitionist now.
He has served the town in some of the minor offices. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Church, and are well known and and influential citizens.
ICHARD J. OSBORN, of Lee town- ship, was born in Adains county, Illinois, November 2, 1838. His father, David N., was born in Connecticut in 1806, and his father died in early life. David learned the slivemaker trade, and worked at it many years in the East. He married Martha Stafford, of Maryland, in Ohio, whither he had come by degrees, working at his trade as he went from town to town, always in a westerly direction. They came with one child to Adams county, Illinois, in 1837. They possessed some means and bought 160 acres of unimproved land, on which they built a small log house, and in which Richard was born. They re- sided in Adams county fourteen years, and then sold and came to Lee township, Brown county.
When they built their first home the near- est neighbors were five miles, and Mr. Osborn had never seen them, but that did not pre- vent them from comning to help him. When they reached Lee township, they bought 160 acres of prairie and eighty of timber. They paid $2,400 for these lands, which included a cabin and seventy-two acres broken. This was his life-long home, though he died at Mound Station in 1883, in his seventy.eighth year. He left a widow and six children. She still survives|him, making her home with Rich- ard. The latter has been reared to farm life, and obtained only a fair amount of schooling. After Mr. Osborn married he settled here, where he has 198 acres of prairie land and forty of timber. He grows a mixed crop,-
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corn, wheat and grass. He keeps about fif- teen head of horses and thirty of cattle. Hc turns off about seventy logs a year, and has a small dairy in operation. He bought his first eighty acres in 1879, and has added to it from time to time. In 1860 he went to Denver, Colorado, and on to the gold mines forty miles west. He went witli an ox team over the plains and followed mining in com- pany with one other. While there he inet with a sad accident, by which he lost his left hand and his left eye. It was caused by an accidental discharge of powder, February 11, 1861, hence his trip was not a financial suc- cess.
He was married in 1882 to Ella Long, of Brown county, Illinois. She was the daugh- ter of Andrew and Elizabeth (Buxton) Long. They are both natives of Illinois and farmers of this township. Mr. and Mrs. Osborn have two daughters, Edith M. and Alta P. Mrs. Osborn is a inember of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. Mr. Osborn is a Republican, first, last and all the time. 'He is School Treasurer of Lee township, and has been Town Clerk. He and his wife are worthy people, and are higlily esteemned by all who know them.
AVID DODDS was born in county Down, Ireland, January 15, 1829, a son of John Dodds, a native of the same county and a descendant of Scotcli an- cestors; the father was a fariner by occupa- tion, and spent his entire life in his own country ; he died in 1863. The mother of our subject was Martha McElroy Dodds, a native of the sanie county as her husband, and a daughter of John McElroy, of Scotch extraction; she died in 1866, in county Down.
They had a family of thirteen children, eleven of whom grew to maturity, and five of whoni came to America; Betty, Sallie, Ann, Mar- tha, John, William, James, Samuel, Robert, Thomas and David; John, James, Samuel, Thomas and David came to the United States. Our subject was reared and educated in the county of his birth, and in his youth began to assist on the home farmn. He remained with his parents until 1851, when he bade farewell to home and friends and native land, and sailed across the seas to the New World; the voyage consumed five weeks, and after landing at New York he continued his jour- ney to Ohio, and located in Mahoning county. He remained there. working by the month, for more than eight years, and then came to Schuyler county and settled in Bainbridge township.
When the great Civil war arose, Mr. Dodds espoused the cause of his adopted country, and August 5, 1861, enlisted in Company G, Twenty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was with his regiment until April, 1866, and participated in the capture of Forts Hy- man and Henry, and in the engagements at Shiloh; Grand Gulf, Champion Hills, the Hatchie, Vicksburg, Forts Beauregard and Blakely and Spanish Fort, and some others of less note. He was honorably discharged, and returned to his home, where he resumed farm- ing. In 1867 he bought the land he now oc- cupies.
Mr. Dodds was married in 1874, to Mrs. Martha Herron Collister, a native of county Down, and a daugliter of James and Nancy (Murray) Herron. Mrs. Dodds was first married in Ireland, to Joseph Collister; they emigrated to America in 1856, and the fol- lowing year came to Schuyler county. Mr. Collister became a member of Company D, One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Volun-
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teer Infantry, and after the war settled in Bainbridge township, where lie lived until his death, in 1873; they had one daughter, Maggie, who married Thomas Suddith.
Mr. and Mrs. Dodds were both reared to the faitli of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Dodds is a member of the Republican party, and is an ardent supporter of its principles; he belongs to Colonel Henry Post, No. 131, G. A. R.
AMUEL H. PETEFISH was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, April 30, 1824, son of Jacob Petefislı, a na- tive of the same State. His grandfather, Christian Petefish, was born in Germany.
When a young inan, Christian Petefish en- tered the army. He came to America as a Hessian soldier during the time of the Revo- Intionary war. His sympathies, however, were not with the British Government, and after the battle of Princeton he joined the Colonial ranks and fought for independence until peace was declared. He then settled in Virginia, where he reared his family and spent the remainder of liis life.
Jacob Petefish was reared and married in the Old Dominion, and resided there until 1835. That year, with his wife and eight children, he started for Illinois. They made the journey with a four-horse team, brought their cooking utensils along, cooked and camped on the way, and arrived in what is now Cass county in October. Mr. Petefish purchased a tract of land in what is now Vir- ginia 'precinct, engaged in farming, and re- sided liere till the time of his death, in 1849. The maiden name of his wife was Elizabetlı Price, she, too, being a native of Virginia. Her deathı occurred in 1854. They reared a
family of eleven children. The names of the sons are as follows: William, Jacob, Sam- uel H., Jolin A., Andrew J. and Thomas B. Andrew J. was a soldier in the late war, and died in the service. Of the daughters we re- cord that Mary wedded Reuben Fultz; Sarah married Robert Maxfield; Elizabeth was tlie wife of Levi Conover; Ellen married Joseph Crum; and Diana became the wife of Daniel Short.
Samuel H. Petefish was eleven years old when he came to Illinois with his parents, and has witnessed almost the entire growth and development of the county. At the time they settled here, much of the land was owned by the Government; it was many years before the whistle of the locomotive sounded in Cass county; the people lived chiefly on wild game and the products of their own land. The pioneer wives and mothers cooked by fireplaces, they dressed their families in liomespun manufactured by their own hands, and many were the hard- ships and privations they endured. In the primitive log schoolhouses, with their rude furnishings, the children of these pioneer families conned their lessons in the three R's.
The subject of our sketch attended school in the winter and worked on the farm in sumn- mer. When he was twenty-one his father gave him and his brother, Jacob, a tract of unimproved land, upon which they com- menced life as. independent farmers. The father furnished them a team and they at once set about the improvement of their land. A year later they made a contract with a neighbor for 350 acres of land near by, the greater portion of it being improved. The contract price was $3,500. They were to take possession one year later, at which time they were to pay $1,000, and then yearly payments of $500, with interest at six per
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cent. After farming together three years' they divided their land. Samuel H. was very successful, made liis payments as they becaine due, and continued farming till 1857, when he rented his land and went to the Ter- ritory of Kansas, going via the Illinois, Mis- sissippi and Missouri rivers. He resided in Leavenworth and Atchison about one year, and in April, 1858, returned to Cass county. In 1859 he located on his farm, and there resided, engaged in agricultural pursuits, un- til 1867, since which time he has made liis home in Virginia. He is still, however, in- terested in agricultural pursuits, being How one of the largest land-owners in the county, owning upwards of 1,500 acres.
The business career of Mr. Petefish has been a remarkably successful one. He first · became interested in banking in 1864, being one of the original stockholders in the Farm- ers' National Bank. In 1870, the firm of Petefish, Skiles & Co. was formed, whichi firm has since conducted a banking business in Virginia. He is also a inember of the firm of Petefish, Skiles & Mertz, of Chandler- ville, this company having been formed in February, 1881; the firm of Skiles, Rearich & Co., bankers of Ashland, established there in August, 1881; the firm of Bloomfield, Skiles & Co., Mount Sterling; and is a stock- holder in the Schuyler County Bank, of Rush- ville. He is the owner of several business blocks in Virginia, and it was he who platted and named the addition to Virginia, known as Grand Villa. Besides his farms in Cass county, he owns 200 acres of fine farming land in Crawford county, Iowa, also 778 acres in Decatur county, lowa.
Politically, Mr. Petefish was for many years a Democrat. At present he is a Pro- hibitionist in principle and practice, and votes with that party.
Mr. Petefish is a man of family. March 18, 1848, he wedded Nancy M. Hudson, daughter of Peter and Melinda (Huffman) Hudson. They have two children living, Mary E., wife of E. D. C. Woodward of Vir- ginia, and Louis A. Such is an epitome of the life of one of Virginia's most prominent and popular citizens.
ILLIAM STEVENSON, of township 17, range 10, section 26, Little In- dian post office is an honored pioneer of Cass county. He was born in Scott county, Kentucky, December 2, 1813, a son of James and Mary (Elliott) Stevenson, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter of Kentucky. To them were born nine children, of whoin tliree are living at this writing (1892), viz .: Sarah, now Mrs. W. A. Bennett, of Spring- field; Louisa, wife of Mr. Anthony Boston, residing near Jacksonville, Illinois; and Will- iam of this notice. Those deceased are Wesley, Eliza J., Harriet, James, Robert and Augustus. In 1829, Mrs. Stevenson died, and the same year Mr. Stevenson brought his family of children to Illinois, settling in Morgan county, on the three inile strip that afterward became a part of Cass county.
Our subject spent his boyhood in his native State, and there received such educational ad- vantages as the common schools of the time afforded, which was supplemented by a few months' schooling after coming to Illinois. While a resident of Kentucky he was well acquainted with that somewhat noted soldier and philanthropist, Colonel Richard Johnson, who claimed the honor of having slain the celebrated Indian chief and warrior, Tecumseh, at the battle of Moraviantown in 1814.
William Stevenson was reared on a farm and farming has been liis occupation all
.
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through life. On February 11, 1836, he was united in marriage to Miss Frances, danghter of William and Rachel (Roe) Berry, who came from Virginia to Cass county in 1832, and settled on a farm near the Stevenson homestead.
Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson were the parents of seven children, four of whom are still liv- ing: Mary Eliza, died in 1838; Thomas, in 1839; Rachel became the wife of William E. Martin, and died in 1879; Robert Roe, inarried Mary J. Scott, and resides in Jack- sonville, Illinois; Sarah Cornelia is the wife of John J. Bergan, a prosperous merchant of Virginia city, Illinois; Joseph B. wedded Dora Vandeventer, and lives in Springfield, Illinois; and Charles married Mary Epler, and resides on the home farm. Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson also reared two orphan chil- dren.
In 1884, when in his seventy-first year, Mr. Stevenson contested for the prize of a gold-headed cane offered by the county fair association for horse-back riding, which he won, and shows with a commendable pride.
On February 11, 1886, Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their married life, which joyous event was participated in by all the living relations. Many handsome and valuable testimonials of affection were presented to them on this oc- casion by their admiring friends.
Mrs. Stevenson died at her home July 13, 1891, after a happy married life of fifty-five years, being in the eighty-eighth year of her age. She was a woman possessing many excellen- cies of character, a faithful wife, loving mother, kind neighbor, and devout Christian, whose many acts of kindness endeared her to a large circle of friends. By reason of a ro- bust constitution and good habits she attained nearly fourscore ycars, and passed away as
peacefully as the coming dawn, in the full consciousness of an immortality beyond the grave.
Mr. Stevenson has been a resident of Cass county for sixty-three years, and has resided on the same section of land since 1829. He has not only witnessed the wonderful change in the country but has actively participated in transforming the wilderness and unbroken prairie into fertile farms. Every enterprise for the material or moral advancement of the community has received his cordial support. He and his family are Presbyterians, and have contributed liberally in support of the church. He was a Whig until the forma- tion of the Republican party, when he joined that organization and has since supported its principles. He has never sought public of- fice, preferring the quiet pursuits of farm life. By honest industry he has been success- ful in acquiring a handsome competence. He has assisted his children to good starts in life and still owns a fine farm of 375 acres, which which is supplied with good buildings and all modern conveniences. In addition to his duties of superintending his farm, he was until recently agent for the Jacksonville Southeastern Railroad which runs through his farın, on which Little Indian station is lo- cated. He was for twenty-four years agent for the Wabash, Peoria, Pekin & Jackson- ville and the Jacksonville & Southeastern Railroad Companies, but resigned that posi- tion in August, 1892.
OHN LISTMANN, of the firm of Rup- pel & Listmann, extensive dealers in boots and shoes, located at 108 State street, Beardstown, Illinois, was born in Frischborn, Kreis Lauterbach, Hesse-Darm-
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stadt, Germany, October 26, 1853, and grew up in his native place, and passed a full course in the public schools. In 1867 he and a sister with their parents started from Bremen for America, landing in New York city after a safe trip on the steamship At- lanta. The little family came on and made a settlement at Springfield, Illinois, where an elder son and two daughters had preceded them. The family settled at the capital for some time and then the parents located near Burlington, Iowa, where they both died, at the age of about sixty-seven and sixty-eight years respectively. The father who was a native of Hesse- Darmstadt and tiller of the soil died in the fall of 1878; and the mother, whose maiden name was Wienold, lived a few months after her husband's death; then she too died, in the early part of the year 1879.
Our subject is the youngest of a large family of whom but four are living. He con- tinued to perfect his education, principally by self-study, and succeeded in attaining the ability to speak and write both the German and English with fluency. He learned the trade of shoemaker and formed a partnership in February, 1879, with Adam Ruppel, also a practical boot and shoemaker by trade, and these two gentlemen have carried on the busi- ness successfully ever since. . Mr. Listmann had been in the employ of H. Fayart, Spring- field, Illinois, and Ruppel Bros. and Adam Rupple, Beardstown, for some time before entering into the partnership above referred to. He is a stockholder in several building and loan associations, and is identified with the growth of the city. He has a host of friends. He is a Republican in politics and is an active member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Fourth Street), and was a delegate to the General Synod of the
Lutheran Church, when it held its session at Altoona, Pennsylvania, in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Listmann take great interest in the social and religious work of their church.
He was married in Beardstown, to Marie Lammers, October 20, 1881. She was born, reared and educated in Beardstown. She was the daugliter of Alexander and Henrietta (Christianer) Lammers, natives of Prussia and Hanover, Germany. They were married in Beardstown. They are now both deceased Mr. Lammers died in February, 1879, and was eighty years of age.
Mr. and Mrs. Listmann have three chil- dren, Cora, Alice and Phoebe.
SWELL SKILES, capitalist, Virginia, Illinois, was born in Ross county, Ohio, October 26, 1828. His father, Harmon Skiles, a native of Pennsylvania, went to Ohio when a young man and settled on Picka- way Plains, being one of the early settlers of that section of the country. In those days many of the more extensive farmers had dis- tilleries on their farms, and made their own corn into whiskey, it being much more easily transported to the distant markets in that way. Mr. Skiles had a large distillery on his farm. He removed from Pickaway Plains to Wash- ington Court House, where he died in 1851. He was twice married. His first wife, nee Mary Thompson, died in January, 1829, leaving two sons, Ignatius and Oswell. By his second wife he had two daughters, Elea- nor and Susan. Oswell Thompson, grand- father of the subject of our sketch, was one of the pioneer settlers of Pickaway Plains. In 1827, he started westward and came to Cass county, Illinois. He located on North
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