USA > Illinois > Hancock County > Biographical review of Hancock County, Illinois : containing biographical and genealogical sketches of many of the prominent citizens of to-day and also of the past > Part 19
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R. E. GILLIAM.
R. E. Gillham, one of the substantial farmers of Wilcox township, and a native son of the county, was born in Rocky Run township. January 13, 1855, and is a son of John and Ann ( Woodworth) Gillham. The father was born in Kentucky in 1832. and the mother was a native of Missouri. When a young boy he came to Hancock county, settling in Walker township, and throughout the greater part of his life he
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followed the occupation of farming. He marriage she had three children. ... spent six years in California, where he en- gaged in general agricultural pursuits and also worked in the gold mines. He then returned to his old home in Hancock county and was identified with its agri- cultural interests up to the time of his demise which occurred in June. 1888. His wife passed away in January, 1800, and both were laid to rest in Warsaw come tery. Of their five children jour vet sur- vive, namely: R. E .. of this review : James, of Texas; Lemuel, also in Texas; and Dr. Charles W. Gillham, of Warsaw, Illinois.
The early educational privileges of K. E. Gillham were obtained in the district schools of Rocky Run township, and were supplemented by a course of study in the Warsaw high school. Nothing occurred to vary for him the routine of farm life in his boyhood days, and the practical train- ing which he received in the work of the fields proved of the utmost value when he started out in life on his own account. He was married January 14. 1875. 10 Miss Anna M. Pell, who was born in Michigan. August 13. 1855. and is a daughter of John and Sarah Ann ( South- well) Pell. both of whom were natives of England. The mother, born Septem- ber 21. 1835. was educated in London. and when eighteen years of age crossed the Atlantic to the new world. Mr. Pell. who chose farming as a life work, fol- lowed that pursuit for many years in Lewis county, Missouri, where he passed away, after which his widow became the wife of Jacob Sack, who is still living in Warsaw. Mrs. Sack, however, departed this life February 23. 1902. By her first
whom survive, namely : Mrs. Com Halsey Bell, of Warsow : In second mir riage there are William Sack. als of Warsaw : and Emma, the wife of Thomas Daugherty, of Warsaw. Robert Southwell, an uncle Di Mrs Gillham on the maternal side. Was it soldier of the Civil war, enlisting from Canton, Missouri, when he was eighteen years of age to drive a team. He was advanced to the position of clerk and served throughout the war.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Giltham has been blessed with three children, all of whom were born on the homestead farm and the family circle yet remains un- broken by the hand of death. Cora E ... the eldest, born November 1. 1875. is the wife of George Schaffner living in Rocky Run township; and they have two chil- dren, Carl Merle and Mary Jeannette. Mary .A., born May 24, 1882, is with her sister. Herschel Edwin, born July 2. 1892. is now a student in the Warsaw high school.
Mr. and Mrs. Gillbam began their do- mestic life upon his father's farm, where they resided until about fourteen years ago, when the father died and Mr. Gill- ham then purchased his present place of section 28. Wilcox township, comprising one hundred and eighty acres of rich and productive land, on which he is still living. He carries on the work of tilling the soil after most progressive modern methods and each step in his business career has been a forward one. He likewise raises stock and good grades of horses: cattle and hogs will be seen in his feed bit- and pastures. In the midst of a busy
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life he has found time and opportunity to keep well informed on political ques- tions and issues of the day, and he gives his allegiance to the democracy. He has served as school director, as highway commissioner and as trustee of the schools. In his business career he has made a record such as any man might be proud to possess, for it is characterized by sterling honesty and unfaltering fidelity to a high standard of business ethics. He started at the bottom round of the ladder of life and has steadily climbed upward. Personally he is a large hearted man. genial in disposition and kindly in manner and both he and his wife are esteemed by many friends throughout the township.
SAMUEL R. JONES.
Samuel R. Jones, whose home is pleas- antly and conveniently located on sections 23 and 24. Carthage township, has one hundred and sixty acres of land that is well improved and in its conduct he dis- plays thorough and practical knowledge of the best methods of tilling the soil. . \ native of Indiana, he was born in Putnam county, January 1. 1840, and there spent the days of his boyhood and youth, living upon the home farm of his parents, Carter 'T and Eliza ( Roberts) Jones. Both Mere motives of Kentucky and in early life became residents of Indiana. Sub- seguem to their marriage they resided in Putnam county, where Carter T. Jones engaged in farming for a number of year's
Later he returned to Kentucky. locating in Shelby county, where he remained for four years, when he came to Illinois, tak- ing up his abode in Sonora township. Hancock county, where the father pur- chased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. This he improved, making it his home until his death. which occurre:l when he had reached the age of seventy- two years. He was a member of the Methodist church and was actuated by high and lofty purposes and manly prin- ciples. His political support was given to the democracy but he had no aspira- tion for office. His wife died in Indiana at the age of forty-five years and he later married Miss Mary Gilmore in Putnam county, Indiana. She died in Chicago at the home of her daughter in 1904. Of the six children by the first marriage only two are living. Samuel R. and William R., of Oklahoma. By the second mar- riage four are living, one son having died in childhood. Those living are James .A .. of Oakwood, Robert, of Washington. Myra, now Mrs. Jeolidon, of Chicago. and Frank, of Kansas.
Samuel R. Jones obtained his education in the common schools of Putnam county and as a young man assisted in the work of the home farm, remaining under the parental roof until 1863. which year wit- nessed his arrival in Illinois. He first settled in Fulton county, where he pur- chased a small farm, residing there for four years. He then removed to Cham- paign county, Illinois, where he lived for two years, and in 1860 he came to Han- cock county, purchasing eighty acres of land in Sonora township, which he farmed for some time. He sold this and bought
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR. IFNOX THO .FEST, TIONS
Sothe Way
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upon his seventy-fifth birthday. he said. "I have never been conscious of but one ambition and that I have had all my days. I have always wished to found a family ; 1 mean this of course not in any aristo- cratic, still less in any plutocratic sense. but I have hoped to leave behind me chil- dren and children's children-and the greater the number the better 1 would be pleased-with whom intelligence, honor and thrift would be matters of instinct and tradition. I would prefer a certainty of this in the future to any amount of personal distinction for myself. if the choice were left to me."
From such a stock sprang John Hay. author, journalist and diplomat, and cer- tainly the father's ambition found reali- zation in the life of this honored son. The other members of the family, too. were a credit and honor to his name, but in this review we have to deal more en- tirely with the history of John Hay, who rose to distinction through the inherent force of character through the recog- nition of opportunity and to a greater extent. through the unfaltering de- votion to duty and to high ideals of citizenship which were ever recog- nized as among his most salient char- acteristics. lle was born in Salem, Indiana. October 8, 1838, and was fortu- nate in that his youth and boyhood were passed amid the environments of a home of culture and refinement, his parents typi- fying the very best in manhood and womanhood. They realized the value of ochication and spared no effort or expense on their part to provide their sons and daughters with every advantage in this direction. He was but three years of age
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at the time of the removal of the family from Salem to Warsaw, Illinois, and he began his education in the "little brick" schoolhouse which still stands on Fourth street in Warsaw and until within recent years was yet in use for educational pur- poses. During his early school days he was a diligent and studions boy, with a taste for languages and composition and versifying, and his sister. Mrs. Mary Woolfolk, who still lives in Warsaw said. "In his boyhood he had the habit of stringing words together into rhymes." He attended the little brick schoolhouse until he reached the age of thirteen, learn- ing literally all there was to learn from Mr. Holmes and his successors. He sup- plemented his studies in lessons of Greek and Latin from his father. At the age of thirteen he was sent to Pittsfield, Illi- nois, to attend a private school for a year and a half as a preparation for entrance at Brown University, and when fifteen years of age he became a student in that institution, where he passed his examina- tion in Greek and Latin so creditably that his examiner made special inquiry as to where he had received his preparation. He answered with great pride that his tutelage in ancient languages was from his father. His education, however, was not one continuous round of study but for various reasons suffered interruptions. Viewed from a financial standpoint per- haps John Hay might be termed a self- made man, for in his early youth his father was in somewhat limited financial circumstances, owning to the pecuniary assistance which he had given to his friends and which left him in a somewhat crippled financial condition. In his youth.
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therefore. John Hay accepted a positionas General Clark F. Carr, who after newspaper carrier for the Warsaw Sig- val and his first literary productions. written when a boy, appeared in that paper. he being encouraged to do the work by its editor, the late Thomas Gray. Later, as before stated, he had the advan- tages of a course of study in Brown Uni versity, from which he was graduated in 1858, and there he was a general fa- vorite with class-mates and instructors. promising, studious, quiet and reserved. Jet exceedingly loyal and steadfast in friendship.
served as minister to Denmark, and It eral Carr gives an account of they must meeting in his recently published bank, The Illini. Describing a visit to l'itt- field and his meeting with Mr. Hay. Get eral Carr writes: "A bright, rose faced young man arose and greeted ns. I had never seen a young man or boy who charme me as he did when he looked at me with his mischievous hazel eyes from under a wealth of dark brown hair." lle had just completed writing something at the time the party entered the new spaper office." Mr. Carr continues. "We all joined in urging him to read what he had written and he did so. I can give only the substance of the editorial from memory but I doubt whether its author ever wrote a better one when editing the New York Tribune.
It was during his student days that he produced certain poems and writing's which in later years made him a world- iamed author, although it was not until several decades later that his innate mod- esty permitted him to give these writings to the public in published form. Mr. Hay was graduated from the university in John Hay took up the study of law in the office of his uncle. Milton Hay, one of the most distinguished attorneys that ever practiced at the bar of Illinois, and a las partner of Abraham Lincoln in his office at Springfield. Becoming a student in that office. Mr. Hay thus formed the ac- quaintance of the martyred president. The story of friendship has become a mat ter of history. The young man was ml vited to continue his law studies in Mr. Lincoln's office and he entered heartil into the work of supporting the Minois presidential candidate during the cam paign of 1800. That his effective ser- vice was appreciated by Mr. Lincoln is shown by the fact that on going to Washington the president invited Mr Hay to become assistant secretary to John 1858 with high rank in scholarship. Dur- ing the period between his return from college and his entrance into public life his friends perceived in him an undercur- rent of seriousness and religious enthu- siasm. He had been reared in the Baptist church but had leaning toward the l'res- byterian faith and he appeared to have entertained the idea of entering the minis- try. At the time when his family wished him to become a student of law he said to one of his intimate. "They would spoil a second class preacher to make a third class lawyer out of me." However, he fell in with the plan of studying law but before beginning his studies he passed sometime at Pittsfield. Illinois, where John Nicolay had a newspaper office. At this time he made the acquaintance of G. Nicolay, and from that time forward
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he was the able assistant of Mr. Lincoln in important work having direct bearing upon the administration and the nation. He was entrusted with the bearing of messages too momentous to commit to paper. Although a warm admirer of President Lincoln, it was with a certain reluctance and regret that he had turned from law to enter politics, but the great leader of the Republican party had recognized his discernment, his judg- ment, his tact and discretion, and realized that his services might prove of utmost value to him in Washington. He was constantly with Mr. Lincoln in close con- ference throughout the four years of his administration save for the brief period when he served. more as the president's personal representative, on the staffs of Generals Hunter and Gilmore and was brevetted lieutenant colonel therefor. Speaking of this period in the life of Mr. Hay. Grandon Nevins has written "No man in the president's official house- hold was more overworked than the young major. He slept when he could and ate when he had the chance, and when he was not at the front he lived at the White House always at the call of the president."
Mr. Hay was but twenty-six years of age at the time of Mr. Lincoln's death but so thoroughly had he proved his worth that it was decided to retain him in the employ of the government and he was sent abroad first as secretary of the legation at Paris under Minister Bige- low, in which capacity he served from 1865 until 1867, while during the snc- creding year he was charge d'affaires in Vienna and later secretary of legation
at Madrid under Minister Sickles. where he served until 1870.
About this time Mr. Hay gave proof of public-spirited citizenship and lofty patriotism in refusing a very advanta- geous offer from Horace Greeley then editor of the New York Tribune, saying that he did not think it proper to turn his work over to other hands until it was completed. When he again found him- self in his native country free to accept the proffered position extended by Mr. Greely he became editorial writer for the New York Tribune. In the meantime. however, he was for a few months con- nected with the Springfield ( Illinois ) Journal, after which he succeeded Charles Dana as editor of the Republican at Chi- cago. For five years he was connected with the New York Tribune. where he demonstrated his right to rank with the leading journalists of the country and also as an author of considerable literary merits and ability. It was at this period in his career that he published the well known poems, Jim Bludso and Little Breeches, together with other verses which were given to the public under the title Pike County Ballads. His retire- ment from the Tribune was followed by his removal to Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained for some years, and he declined a most remunerative position offered him as editor in chief of the New York Herald, then published by James Gordon Bennett. Ile was again for a brief period. however, actively connected with journal- ism. having charge of the New York Tribune in 1881. during a brief absence of Whitelaw Reid in Europe. Much of his time during fifteen years was devoted
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to the compilation and writing, in collabo- ration with John G. Nicolay, of the vol- mme entitled. Abraham Lincoln. \ llis- tory, which is undoubtedly the most er- haustive, most accurate and authentic bi- ography of the martyred president. . As a financial venture it was a brilliant ste- cess and moreover, it will always remain the one authoritative work of the life of Abraham Lincoln. The writings of Mr. Ilay have embraced a wide field. as he was the author of various works, political and otherwise, and many attribute to him the authorship of a novel which appeared anonymously in 1803 under the title of The Bread Winners. His influence as a journalist is immeasurable. In this field of labor, however, he became recog- nized as one of the master minds of the nation, a man of great erudition and learning, of broad investigation and origi- nal thought. He never looked at great questions effecting national and interna- tional relations from a narrow, contracted or partisan standpoint. He viewed the whole subject broadly and the correctness of his conclusions, time has demonstrated and wisdom has acknowledged.
From his retirement in Cleveland, Mr. Hay was called in 1870 to serve as is- Sistant secretary of state under Evarts and continued in this office to the end of the administration. It was sixteen years later that he was again in political office. having, in March, 1807. been appointed by President Mckinley ambassador to England. His diplomatic service is a matter of history. Perhaps one secret of his success lay in the fact that he recog- nized while handling the affairs of in- ternational importance he had to treat
with the individual and he displayed a courtesy and a deference for the opinions of others, while rigidity uphold- ing his own honest convictions and News. that won for him the warmest per- mail regard and esteem. He managed inter- national affairs during the Spanish- Amer ican war with a delicacy and tact com- bined with force and discretion that gained for the United States the support of England, while England held in check the other powers of the world. The then Prince of Wales, now reigning sovereign in England, recognized his great ability and power and accorded him not only ad- miration but strong personal friendship. Near the close of the Spanish-American war he returned to this country and be- came secretary of state in the cabinet vi President Mckinley, in which position he was continued by President Roosevelt. thus serving when stricken by death. \1- though he secured the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty brought about by reference of the most far-reaching ques- tion in the recent Venezuela dispute (priority in payment for a belligerent claimant ) to the international court of The Hague and arranged for the peace- able adjustment of the Alaskan boundary question, he is known throughout the world principally for the breadth and foresight of his policy in Asia. His long experience in the diplomatic service coupled with his native abilities, his si- perior attainment- and his wholesome hu manity, of which he always possessed an abundant store, made him not only a val nable man to the nation but to all the world. He achieved much for his com try but more for all mankind and raised
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diplomacy out of the slough of deceit and hypocrisy, placing it upon the high plane of sincerity, integrity and plain dealing and relegating to things obsolete and de- testable and precepts and maxims of Tal- leyrand, so long accepted as the essentials of the successful diplomat.
There were other phases in the life record of John Hay that perhaps were not so well known. While in Europe in the early days of his legation service he mastered the French language, which he spoke with fluency, and he became a lin- guist of such superiority that one of the leading educational institutions of Amer- ica offered to him the chair of languages. He was always a man of studious habits and the breadth of his reading and the extent of his knowledge were marvelous but it was not these distinguishing char- acteristics alone which won for Mr. Hay the position which he held in public re- gard. There has been perhaps no man in Washington or in diplomatic circles more greatly loved because of his per- sonal traits than John Hay. Nevins has said. "To know John Hay was to love him. His was one of those extremely sensitive matures, which, combined with firmness, go to make up the ideal man. Of all the ambassadors and ministers sta- tioned at Washington, not one, from the Japanese minister, Mr. Takahira, to Mr. Takahira's deadly political enemy. Count Cassini, but was on terms of intimate friendship with the American secretary. and it was not merely these foreign dip- tomate who were drawn irresistibly to- ward this magnetic man, his cabinet associates, his subordinates in the state department, his social acquaintances-
every one-regarded him with deep affec- tion. No man in all Washington was the object of more general affection than was Mr. Hay."
Reared in a home where all that is ideal in the family relation found ex- emplification. it was not surprising that John Hay, like his father. found his greatest source of pleasure at his own fire- side. He was married in 1874 to Miss Clara L. Stone. a daughter of Amasa Stone. a wealthy and prominent citizen of Cleveland, Ohio, and his reply "All through life." to the question of a friend on the night of his bachelor dinner: "How long is the honeymoon going to last, Hay?" proved most true. The mar- riage was blessed with four children and those who knew Mr. Hay most intimately recognized the fact that his great sorrow over the death of his son. Adelbert. who was killed by falling from a window in New Haven on the eve of the Yale com- mencement, proved a blow from which he never recovered. He withdrew him- self from social life from that time sa' e when it was demanded in his official capacity. He spent his evenings with Mrs. Hay, between whom there existed a most ideal companionship. His daugh- ter. Helen, is now the wife of Payne Whitney, while Alice is the wife of James W. Wadsworth, Jr., and it was to Mr. Hay a matter of great rejoicing that his daughters as he expressed it. "had been sought by two American princes of whose titles to nobility 1 am prouder than I would be of those that come from royal ancestry." For several months prior to his demise Secretary Hay was in ill health and sought relief through travel and med-
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ical attendants in Europe. He returned to Washington to take up again the active work of the business of his department and the discussion with the president of important pending questions. But the tide of life was ebbing fast away and at his summer home on Lake Sunapee. Neu Hampshire, his labors were brought to a close on the first of July, 1905, when he was in the sixty-seventh year of his age. No man in public lite perhaps has had so few enemies. Even those opposed to him politically entertained for him the warmest personal regard and admiration. It is said that he never forgot a friend : the playmates of his boyhood, the as- ciates of his early manhood, those with whom he labored in diplomatic circles. in journalism, and in the department of state were alike remembered through all the years with their added responsibili- ties and honors. His life record finds embodiment in the words of Pope:
"Statesman, vet friend to truth ; of soul sincere.
In action faithful and in honor clear : Who broke no promise, served no private end.
Who gained no title and who lost no friend."
HENRY WEBER.
Henry Weber, who for many years was an active, energetic and prosperous farm er of Hancock county, spent the last year
of his life in honorable retirement Will labor in Carthage, passing away of l'e 230 of October, 1005 As the day with it's morning of hope and promise. it- noontide of activity, its evening of ac complished and successful efort, ending in the grateful rest and quiet of the night. " was the life of this man. Born m Appanoose township, Hancock county, il the 17th of September. 1858, he spent his entire life in this part of the state. Hi- parents were Samuel and Rost ( Bertchi ] Weber, both of whom were natives of Switzerland, coming to America about fifty years ago. The father, who was born in March. 1810, was a baker by trade, learning and following that pur suit in his native country, but in flan- cock county he turned his attention to farming. He died about 1892. at the age of seventy-six years, his remains being interred in a cemetery in this county. Both he and his wife were devoted Chris- tian people, holding membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. After the father's death the mother remained upon the home farm with her children until they were all married and then went to Fort Madison, Iowa, to live with one of her daughters. Eleven children survive the father, namely: Rosa, the wife ni Charles Buerich, of Manier. Ilmois: Fred, who is living in Denmark, lowa: Carrie and Will. twins, the later living near Nauvoo, while the former is the wife of David Seguin, of Fort Madison, lowa. Elizabeth, the wife of J. Mckaig, of Fort Madison : Mary, the wife of Va Conles. of Fort Madison: Henry of this review : Albert, of Headlin, Missouri: Sophia, the wife of Herman Hesse of Neota. Minor :
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