USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II > Part 12
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served in both houses of the State Legislature. After the close of the war he was again elected State Senator, and was a prominent member of the Constitutional Convention that met in 1876. He was receiver of the land office at Milan, Missouri, having been appointed by President Pierce. He lived to the good old age of seventy-nine years, passing away at his home in Sullivan county, Missouri, June 16, 1890. He married Armilda Collins, who came from Virginia, her native state, with her parents to Missouri when young, locating in Macon county in pioneer days. She died in 1876, at the comparatively early age of forty- five years. To her and her husband twelve children were born, of whom five sons and two daughters are now living.
Having acquired his elementary education in the public schools of Missouri, Westley W. Halliburton subsequently attended Mount Pleasant College, in Huntsville, Randolph county, Missouri, and later was graduated from what is now the medical department of Wash- ington University, in Saint Louis, there receiv- ing his diploma with the class of 1878. The Doctor immediately located at Alton, Illinois, where he has since been actively and success- fully engaged in the practice of his profession, having gained a large and exceedingly remun- erative patronage. Dr. Halliburton has served as surgeon, for the Chicago & Alton Railroad and for the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Rail- way ; as county physician ; as a member of the Alton pension board for the United States government, and as medical examiner for the New York Life and other insurance com- panies. He is connected with various medical organizations, being a member of the Madi- son County Medical Society; of the Illinois State Medical Society; and of the American Medical Association.
WILLIAM DICKMANN. The Honorable Wil- liam Dickmann, representative of the forty- seventh district of the Illinois legislature, has engaged in many occupations and has made them all succeed. He is proud to consider himself a farmer and it is such men as he that elevate the farming profession. He possesses many natural abilities and he has cultivated each one most carefully, so that today there is no man in the county who is more universally respected. He has done much for the county and in particular for his own township. He is not one of the men who believe that any fool can farm. He knows that it takes brains and education to get out of the soil all that is pos- sible for it to yield. He was born with the
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brains and he has lost no opportunity to edu- cate himself along every possible line. He realizes that education is the most permanent capital a man can have. It is something that he can give away and still possess. It is use- ful to him in any walk of life. It not only helps him to earn dollars and cents but the satisfaction that he derives from simply know- ing things is incalculable. There are men who are ignorant and do not know it. They have a contempt for education. Such men are hopeless and it is no use trying to do anything with them. There are others who know little and are ashamed of it, but they have not enough get-up about them to change affairs. There are still others, like Mr. Dickmann who, although far from ignorant, are always eager to learn something more each day. Such are the men who bring things to pass.
William Dickmann was born in Madison county, Illinois, February 25, 1866, the son of George Dickmann, a native of Germany and who died in 1872. He had married Mary Harmon, daughter of William Harmon, who came to Illinois in 1850 and moved onto a farm and became a very prominent man in the community. He died on the 15th of April, 1888, and his daughter, the mother of William Dickmann, died in 1896.
When William was only six years old he had the misfortune to lose his father. His mother took him home to her father, who lived on a farm in Madison county. His grandfather brought him up as carefully as it was possible for any boy to be reared. He sent him to the public school until he was ten years old and then he attended the parochial school at Ed- wardsville until he was confirmed into the Catholic church. He went back to school after his confirmation and received a good common school education and a thorough ground work on general subjects, laying a solid founda- tion for later special training along other lines. William lived with his grandfather until he came of age and he had learned how to farm during that time. After he left home he farmed for a time and he has been engaged in various pursuits, but has returned to the cultivation of the soil. He also has charge of the elevators at Peters, Illinois.
He married Miss Eva Beatty, a popular young lady from Mitchell, Illinois. She was educated in the public school and is a most practical, companionable, motherly woman. They have seven children, Alice, Willie, Katie, Stella, George, Eva and Rubie. Both Mr.
Dickmann and his wife are members of the Catholic church at Edwardsville, Illinois.
Mr. Dickmann is a member and is presi- dent of the C. K. of I. at Mitchell and he is also a member of the Knights of Columbus at Edwardsville. In politics he is a Democrat and he is a very active worker in that party. He has served for twenty years as road over- seer and for ten years as supervisor. On No- vember 8, 1910, he was elected to represent Madison county in the forty-seventh sena- torial district and he is its present representa- tive. He is a member of some important com- mittees and he has introduced several bills for the good of his county. It is a most nat- ural thing for Mr. Dickmann to be intensely interested in the welfare of the county in which he was born and has lived practically all of his life. He has a very happy home, built on his two hundred and sixty-five acres of ground, which had belonged to his grandfather before him and where he knows every inch of the soil. He has been interested in the erection of several buildings in the town. He is a man who is very well known throughout the coun- ty and he is respected and liked by all who know him. He has by no means reached the limit of his abilities and whenever he feels that he can do anything to benefit his county and state, he will not fail to undertake it.
BOWMAN FAMILY. The founder of the Bowman family in Alton was Horatio Blinn Bowman, who located in this city during the '30s, and in January, 1839, established the dry- goods business which has been conducted un- der the Bowman name for over seventy years. He continued in active business for many years. His large brick home in Middletown was when built one of the best residences in that district, and here he spent his last years in retirement, his death occurring September 19. 1889.
The Bowman family in America originated with Nathaniel Bowman, who was born in England and settled in Massachusetts before 1630, and was among the proprietors at Wa- tertown in 1636. (II) Francis, his son, was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1630, and died in 1687. (III) Captain Joseph, born in 1674, and died in 1762, was a captain of militia, a justice of peace and magistrate at Lexington. (IV) Captain Thaddeus was born at Lexington in 1712 and died at New Brain- tree in 1806. (V) Major Joseph, born Feb- ruary 18, 1740, and died January 3, 1818, was a soldier of the Revolution and his record is
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in the war department archives. He enlisted at the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775, was commissioned second major February 7, 1776, and was later promoted to the rank of major. (VI) General Isaac, father of Horatio B., was born at New Braintree, December 27, 1773, and died at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1851. He moved to Wilkesbarre in 1795, became brigadier-general of Pennsyl- vania troops, and held many offices of trust and honor. Several of his sons were educated for military career, and served with official distinction in regular and volunteer armies in the Mexican, Civil and Indian wars. (VII) Horatio B. Bowman represented the seventh generation from the first American settler, and was the only member of the family to come to Alton. Two of his sons, Horatio J. and Edward M., are prominent business men of Alton.
Horatio J. Bowman was born in Alton in 1850. He acquired the business established by his father in 1839, and the H. J. Bowman Dry Goods Company has for many years been one of the principal enterprises of the mer- cantile district.
Mr. H. J. Bowman married, in 1881, Miss Virginia Job, daughter of the late Z. B. Job. They have had six children, namely: Mrs. Allice Bowman Milnor, deceased; Maurice Monroe, deceased; H. J. Bowman, Jr .; Lucia L. Bowman; Virginia Bowman; and Freder- ick B. Bowman.
ZEPHANIAH B. JOB, who died at Alton, No- vember 19, 1907, at the venerable age of nine- ty, was a resident of this county seventy-five years. As a business man of varied interests and owner of extensive tracts of land, he ac- cumulated a fortune. His business energy and judgment was unequaled among his con- temporaries, and his services as a citizen were characterized by the utmost fidelity to. duty and a vigorous discharge of all responsibilities.
He was born near White Hall, Virginia, March 13, 1817. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, where Jacob Job, the father, was born. The latter moved to Virginia in 1814, and in 1833 came west to Missouri, lo- cating in Lincoln county. Having entered land in the American Bottoms in Madison county, he located here in 1836, and lived here, a farmer, the remainder of his life. In politics he was a Democrat and was a member of the Unitarian church. By his first marriage Jacob Job had five children,-John, Jacob, George, Moses and Mary. His second wife was Mary
Bell, a native of Tennessee. Her family came originally from Maryland, and its most con- spicuous representative was the candidate of one branch of the Democratic party for presi- dent in 1860. Mary (Bell) Job died in 1856, the mother of three children :- Zephaniah B., Jeremiah and Mary E.
Mr. Job was a resident of Madison county from his nineteenth year. Several brief terms at the schools of that period gave him only the rudiments of an education, which he im- proved by self-study in after years. At the age of twenty he became a flatboatman on the Mis- sissippi, and made several trips to New Or- leans. Like his father, he was a pioneer, with the initiative that enters new enterprise, and this characteristic led him, in 1849, with a com- plete outfit of wagons and teams, to cross the plains in eighty-four days to California. With other members of the family he established a trading post at Colona, and was also a miner, conducted a livery stable and ranch, and had a varied if not profitable career as a "forty- niner."
He returned to Madison county in 1851, and in 1854 erected the residence at the northeast corner of Henry and Ninth streets in Alton where he lived for half a century. His first investment in land was about seventeen acres in Chouteau township, bought with some of his early savings, and this tract has never passed out of the possession of his family. He be- came the owner of several thousand acres in this county and elsewhere, having bought it originally for its timber. In 1861 he estab- lished a mill for the manufacture of lumber and carried on the business a number of years. Coal mining was another of his business ac- tivities. Mr. Job was one of the associates in the company which promoted the building of the first railroad between Alton and St. Louis.
In 1856 Mr. Job was elected sheriff of Madison county and served two years. Dur- ing this time his courage and fidelity to duty were put to test in a spectacular scene. A large mob attacked the county jail, determined to lynch three prisoners charged with the mur- der of an inoffensive peddler. But the crowd was awed by the resolute sheriff who stood guard at the entrance of the jail, and by a strategy they were dispersed and the pris- oners saved from violence. Afterwards two of the prisoners were convicted of the capital crime, and Mr. Job carried out the sentence. In 1858 he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature. He was also a mem-
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ber of the Alton city council, but refused the higher honors of politics. As a public-spirited business man he contributed his most impor- tant service in promoting the success of many large enterprises in his city and county.
In 1851 Mr. Job married Miss Amanda Montgomery, daughter of William Montgom- ery (whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work). They reared four children, namely : Virginia Job Bowman; Alice E. Job; Fred- erick William Job, one of the leading lawyers of Chicago, and Zephaniah B. Job, Jr.
CAPTAIN SIMEON RYDER, a famous ship- master, for many years a prominent citizen of Alton, was born at Chatham, on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 24, 1795. Ilis an- cestors were among the English pilgrims who settled in Massachusetts in early colonial days. His father's name was Simeon and his moth- er's name was Patience.
His grandfather was Stephen Ryder, with whose history there is connected a story of. perhaps unparalleled affliction. He died Jan- uary 18. 1766, of small pox imported in a package of clothing from the West Indies. Himself, wife and ten children were all strick- en with the disease. All died except the Captain's father, then a lad of eleven years. The father of Captain Ryder was raised in the family of an uncle, having been deprived of his natural protectors, and when of age engaged in business. His first wife was Miss Molly Godfrey, by whom he had five children ; after her death he married Miss Patience Cro- well by whom he also had five children, of whom the third was the subject of this sketch.
Captain Ryder was educated in the Chat- ham schools and received a fair English and mathematical education. He also studied as- tronomy and navigation, his greatest ambition from childhood having been to become a ship master, which position he considered the most enviable one in the world. His aspirations were realized carly as we find him at eighteen years of age the master of a vessel, the young- est sea captain that ever sailed out of a New England port. His ship was always a school of navigation and he educated many sailors to become competent shipmasters. The Cap- tain did not neglect the business phase of edu- cation and studied mercantile rules and book- keeping while at sea. He began his career as a fisherman on the Grand Banks and coast of Labrador, selling his catch in the Medi- terranean and other ports. During his career he sailed almost around the world as master and supercargo. When twenty-two years of
age he met with an adventure of a thrilling character. It happened during the Spanish- Carthaginian war. His vessel, a new fast clipper, was chartered by Peter Harmony of New York, to make a voyage from New York to Cadiz, Spain, with an assorted cargo valued at $100,000 and some $20,000 in Mexican coin. After discharging his freight and ob- taining a return cargo he set sail for New York. When about forty miles out a piratical craft bore down upon him under full sail. It seems it was known in port that he had dis- charged a valuable cargo and, it was supposed had received a large amount of money in ex- change. The pirate ship was full of men in disguise with their faces blackened, and fully armed. Captain Ryder and his crew were unarmed, except a shot gun and a pair of pistols, and could make no resistance. The pirates boarded his ship, bound him and his crew, and put ropes round their necks under threats of hanging them to the yard arm if they made any resistances. They first searched the cabin for money, but not find- ing any proceeded to loot the ship, taking everything of value including $6,000 worth of silks, leaving only a few barrels of salt pork, ship's bread, etc. Then, having exacted a promise from the Captain under threat of death, that he would not return to Gibralter, they returned him his watch and compass and departed. Captain Ryder then made his way to New York glad that his life and those of his crew had not been sacrificed in a hope- less resistance. For years after he could never refer to this encounter with pirates without manifest wrath and indignation.
In 1830 the captain abandoned the sea and located in New York where he engaged in the commercial shipping business which he conducted successfully for four years and then removed to Alton in 1834 with a capital of some $50,000. Here he built a large stone warehouse and engaged in the wholesale grocery, dry goods and hardware business, and was for the next twelve years one of the leading merchants of southern Illinois. He also built other business houses, and erected a fine brick mansion on Second street which was his home until his death. In addition to merchandising he engaged in real estate in- vestments and other enterprises. But his crowning achievement in the business world was his primacy in the building of one of the first railroads in the state, the Alton & Terre Haute. After a struggle of seven years he got a charter through the legislature and
SIMEON RYDER
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pushed forward the construction of the road. He was elected president of the company and brought the road to completion in 1854 con- tinuing at its head for some years later. It seems singular that a man who had spent a great part of his active life in ocean transpor- tation should have been a leader in rapid tran- sit by land. The same fact is noticeable in the career of Captain Godfrey, of Alton, a former shipmaster, who was the chief pro- moter and builder of another pioneer road, the Alton & Sangamon, in which enterprise, by the way, Captain Ryder was also interested. In later years Captain Ryder was president of the Alton Marine & Fire Insurance Com- pany, and a director of the Illinois Mutual.
From the time of his arrival in Alton throughout his active life Captain Ryder was one of Alton's most useful and enterprising citizens, and to no one is more credit due for the upbuilding of the city during its early struggles for a place on the map. A fine warehouse which he erected on the corner of Second and Alby streets stands on the site of the first building erected in Alton. That was a rude shack of loose stones and roofed with bark, probably built by a French voyageur or explorer and soon after deserted. The cap- tain was a strong character, a leader of men and one accustomed to command. Some- what arbitrary, perhaps, at times, a trait which followed him ashore from the quarter deck, but always kind and just. During the war for the Union he was a loyal supporter of the government and gave liberally of his means for its upholding. He believed in a strong central government. He was first a Federalist ; then a Whig and last a Republican. Religiously he was a descendant of the Pil- grims, but in later years embraced the creed of the Swedenborgians.
Captain Ryder was twice married, the first time to Miss Nickerson, of Chatham, Massa- chusetts, April 23. 1818, by whom he had one daughter, who became the wife of H. B. Bowman, of Alton. His first wife died in August, 1828. He was married the second time to Miss Pettit, of Hampsted, L. I. By her he had one son, Simeon W. Ryder.
Captain Ryder was a man of fine physique and dignified appearance, strong intellectually as well as physically. He was a student and thinker, and through a wide experience of mankind in both his own and foreign lands had acquired a thorough knowledge of human nature. He was one of the builders of Al-
ton and also one of the developers of the re- sources of the state, and a leader in the con- structing of its lines of transportation. Both city and state owe much to his energy, en- terprise and foresight. He was guided through life by the highest principles of honor and integrity. After a long career of use- fulness he passed to the better life on the 28th of August, 1877, at the good old age of eighty-two. He rests from his labors and his works do follow him.
As stated his daughter became the wife of H. B. Bowman, a pioneer dry goods mer- chant and honored citizen. She was one of the loveliest women Alton has ever known. Her life was like a benediction. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman left two sons Horatio J. and Edward M. Bowman, who are now two of the leading citizens of Alton, whose influence is widely felt and always exerted for the good of the community. The old sea captain of Cape Cod is honored in his grandsons, and they, in turn, have a priceless legacy in the record of his splendid manhood and great achievements.
ALBERT G. TUXHORN, who died at his home in Edwardsville, February 4, 1911, was for years a leader in everything that concerned this community. Taken away after a brief illness, when in the prime of his activities and powers, his death was a public calamity and was so felt by hundreds of friends and business associates.
Mr. Tuxhorn was born at Edwardsville, September 18, 1861. At the age of sixteen he began earning his own living, and was first em- ployed by the contractor building a grain ele- vator at the old Kehlor mill. When this was finished he secured a place as miller and was thus employed until after he reached his ma- jority. In 1884, with his brother Charles, who had been working at Litchfield, was started the firm of Tuxhorn Brothers, with their savings and borrowed capital. This hardware and tin business was opened in January, 1885, and grew and developed to one of the largest stores in southern Illinois. Mr. Tuxhorn was noted among his associates for his industry, and this quality added to his natural business talent and integrity resulted in a substantial fortune.
The scope of his business and civic activities during the last thirty years could not be writ- ten in detail. He was a stockholder in the First National Bank from its organizaton and a director at the time of his death. He served as president of the Retail Merchants' Associa- tion, and did active work in the Commercial
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Club. He served a number of years on the board of education and was instrumental in the early work toward securing the new high school building. For many years he managed the old Opera House, and was one of those most active in bringing about the erection of the Wildey Theatre. He was one of the pro- moters and incorporators of the Edwards- ville Water Company in 1898, aided in the preliminary investigations and helped solicit subscriptions for the original stock to build the plant. The firm of Tuxhorn Brothers later took the contract to construct the plant and carried it through in a most satisfactory manner. Mr. Tuxhorn's energy and public spirit made him an invaluable citizen in carry- ing out those plans which are at the basis of a modern city's progress and solid prosperity, and for this reason his death meant an actual loss to the civic enterprise of Edwardsville. He served as vice chairman of the Illinois com- mission at the Jamestown exposition, and has been a member of many committees to arrange for local celebrations and other occasions. Mr. Tuxhorn meant much to Edwardsville as a city. In its business life he was one of the strong figures, his active, vigorous personality not only carrying his own establishment to a high position, but he gave freely of his time to the aid of other enterprises, established or contemplated. He was public spirited in the sense of the word that is broadest, giving of his substance and of himself whenever there was a worthy call.
On May 24, 1898, Mr. Tuxhorn married Miss Edith Metcalf, daughter of A. W. Met- calf (see following sketch). They were the parents of three children: Hilda, Bruce and Albert George. Mr. Tuxhorn's parents, Charles H. Tuxhorn and wife, are still living in Edwardsville, and a brother and three sisters survive him-Charles (see sketch) ; Emma, wife of Rev. S. A. John, of Ann Arbor, Michi- gan ; Mattie, wife of Captain Henry F. Weidy; and Clara.
HON. ANDREW W. METCALF, who became a member of the Madison county bar in 1853 and was thereafter for many years actively identi- fied with the political and business affairs of the county, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, August 6, 1828, a son of Andrew and Drusilla (Hurst) Metcalf. Both were of English an- cestry and natives of Virginia, and the father held several county offices and was an old line Whig in politics.
Andrew W. Metcalf was educated at Madi-
son College in Ohio, and after leaving school began the study of law at Cambridge, that state, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1850. In boyhood he had manifested a dispo- sition for study and discussion of serious problems, and acquired a broad knowledge in reading the books of a circulating library. He began the practice of law in Wisconsin in 1851, soon afterward moved to St. Louis, and in March, 1853, located at Edwardsville, where he was admitted to the Illinois bar. He had at that time but thirty-five cents in money, and in order to meet expenses took a position in the circuit clerk's office. Three months later he took charge of the law business of George T. Brown, who was then starting the Alton Cour- ier. From Alton he returned to Edwardsville and opened a law office and began a successful career as a lawyer. By the accidental dis- charge of a gun in November, 1856, he lost his left arm, and the accident caused a vital change in his subsequent career, which was thenceforth guided by the principles of reli- gion. He became a faithful and efficient worker in the Methodist church, of which he was trustee and deacon and superintendent of the Sunday-school and was the lay delegate at various conferences.
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