USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II > Part 17
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During the war, when frequent depreda- tions were caused by Missouri horse thieves, he with William H. Cotter organized the Horse Thief Detective Society and was its president for eight years. He was a war Democrat, an ardent advocate for retrenchment and reform in municipal, state and national affairs, and was prominently identified with the Grange movement. In the improvement of agricul- ture his name deserves a lasting record in Madison county. For many years he was president of the Madison County Agricultural Fair Association, and represented the county at the National Agricultural Congress in St. Louis in 1872. For several years he was chair- man of the Democratic central committee, and in 1869 was his party's candidate for county
judge. His death on January 4, 1876, took away one of the county's foremost citizens. He married Esther A. Burroughs, and they were the parents of six children, four of whom reached mature age: Dent E., Edward W., Daniel C. and Mary E., the latter of whom married Rev. Benjamin W. Wiseman, of the Baptist church.
Dent E. Burroughs was reared on his father's farm in this county and took a three years' course in the Illinois State University. His first business experience was as a clerk for W. D. Harnist, the druggist; he taught school two years at Peters, and was then en- gaged in farming until 1892. Purchasing the interest of Mr. Trares in the drug store of Trares & Judd, he began the business with which his name has been successfully identi- fied to the present time. The firm is now Bur- roughs & Whiteside, one of the most popular commercial establishments of Edwardsville.
In politics Mr. Burroughs is a Democrat. He was formerly active in the local company of the Illinois National Guard, being elected second lieutenant in 1880 and later first lieu- tenant and captain, finally resigning his com- mission. Throughout his active career he has been identified with the agricultural interests of the county and has conducted a well im- proved farm in addition to other affairs. He is president of the Commercial Club of Ed- wardsville, is the first vice president of the State Retail Merchants Association, is the president of the Edwardsville Investment Company, owner of the Wildey Theater build- ing ; has been president of the Board of Edu- cation of Edwardsville; and was a member of the city council, representing the Second ward. He is a member of the Methodist church.
On February 27, 1884, he married Miss Alice Louise Whitbread, daughter of James and Minnie Whitbread, of this county. There were four children by this marriage: John Edward, of Omaha; Minnie Esther; William Dent; and Louise; the last three still residing with their parents.
ERNST BRANDT. Not a little of the indus- trial supremacy of the great commonwealth of Illinois is due to her large number of citi- zens who have added the splendid Teutonic qualities to her strength, and one of Madison county's citizens of this admirable stock is Ernst Brandt. He was born in Olive town- ship in 1860, and is one of the ten children of John and Christina Brandt, natives of Ger- many. Upon first coming to America Mr. and Mrs. Brandt settled in St. Louis,
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where Mr. Brandt worked at his trade as a cooper for seven years. He then came to Olive township and purchased forty acres of land. By unremitting industry and with the help of his children and his thrifty wife, Mr. Brandt accumulated three hundred acres in Illinois and three hundred acres in Washington. Two of his children died in youth but the others grew up and settled in Madison county. One son, Edward, is a hardware merchant in Spo- kane, Washington, but with that exception all live in this section of Illinois. The parents were devout members of the German Evan- gelical church and brought up their children in the same faith.
Ernst Brandt followed the custom of re- maining at home and assisting his father until his marriage, in 1887. At that date he was wedded to Sophia, the daughter of Henry and Minnie Shoemaker, both born in Germany. Sophia was born in 1865 and was one of five children, two of whom died in infancy. The others were named for their parents, Minnie and Henry. Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Brandt be- gan their wedded life on a farm of one hundred and fifty acres situated north of Alhambra. Both of them toiled with the vigor and the en- thusiasm of youth to obtain the prosperity which was theirs. Mrs. Brandt was a born homemaker, and she and her husband not only improved their home but beautified it. They had no children of their own but when Mr. Brandt's sister Caroline died leaving a family of eleven little ones, five of the orphans found places in the hearts and homes of the generous aunt and uncle. There were five sons, Otto, William, Walter, George and Edmund An- schutz, and one daughter, Amelia, who were brought up as though in the home of their par- ents. As they grew up the children have as- sisted in the duties of the home and rendered the loving service due to those who have been in all respects father and mother to them.
Mr. Brandt has been three years school di- rector and has given the cause of education his earnest consideration. In his politics he holds the advanced and liberal view that it is the duty of the voter to give his support to the man who will best serve the community, re- gardless of his political affiliations.
In 1906 occurred the great sorrow of Mr. Brandt's life, when his wife was taken from him by her comparatively early death. She had shared with him the cares of a busy and a useful life; she had helped him to attain the comfort and prosperity they were to have en- joyed together and she had made herself one
with him, too, in the affections of their friends and neighbors, by their common qualities of sympathy and genuine kindness of heart. Like him she was an honored member of the German Evangelical church, in which she is no less missed than in the circle of her many friends.
Since Mrs. Brandt's death her husband's duties and responsibilities for the care of the five children have been doubled. However, their presence is a comfort to him in his sor- row. His niece, Carrie Anschutz, acts as his housekeeper and the boys help with good will in the many tasks of the farm. The bread cast upon the waters is returning to him not merely in service, but in the things that cannot be hired or bought, grateful affection and loving care.
Surrounded by the children of his adoption, Mr. Brandt lives comfortably in his beautiful home in the northwest corner of the township, where the beautiful shade trees and well kept lawns speak of ease and repose. Not only in his home circle but wherever he is known, he is valued for his unswerving honor, his pro- gressive ideals and his incorruptible integrity.
CAPTAIN WALTON RUTLEDGE. Distinguished not only for his able assistance in developing and promoting the mining interests of Madison county, but as a veteran of the Civil war and as a citizen of great worth and integrity Cap- tain Walton Rutledge ranks high among the esteemed and valued residents of Alton, which has been his home for upwards of half a cen- tury. A native of England, he was born April 18, 1835, in the county of Durham, where his ancestors and kinsmen have for generations been associated with the mining affairs of that part of the country.
His father, William Rutledge, a life-long resident of county Durham, was instrumental, in his capacity of a mining engineer, of de- veloping several valuable mines. He married Mary Ann Miller, who spent her entire life in the county of Durham, and of their four- teen children but four came to America, as follows : John, for several years a mining en- gineer in Madison county, Illinois, died at North Alton; Joseph and Robert, who were in this country during the Civil war, but subse- quently returned to England and secured good positions in their native county : and Walton.
Educated in the Mining School of county Durham, Walton Rutledge became skilled as a mining engineer, and after coming to the United States, in 1854, worked in the Pennsyl- vania anthracite mines for two years. Com-
Thas Lexan.
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ing from there to Alton, Illinois, he operated as a mining engineer until 1863. In September of that year he enlisted for one hundred days in Company D, One Hundred and Thirty-third Volunteer Infantry, and served as first ser- geant of his company until receiving his honor- able discharge at the expiration of his term of enlistment. Returning then to Alton, he raised a company of soldiers, of which he was com- missioned captain, it being Company I of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry, with which he was connected in his official capacity until the close of the conflict. Being then honorably discharged with his regiment, Captain Rutledge resumed work as a mining engineer in Alton, continu- ing until 1881. when he was made mine in- spector, an important position which he has since filled in a most creditable manner. The Captain has the distinction of having been the author of the first mining law passed by the Illinois Legislature, and it is said that more of his ideas have been incorporated into the min- ing laws of this state than those of any other one man. Previous to his appointment as mine inspector, Captain Rutledge served as county surveyor of Madison county.
In 1857 Captain Rutledge was united in marriage with Marie Eno, who was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, a daughter of Daniel Eno, who came with his family to America, and after living for a time in Alton, Illinois, purchased a farm in Madison county, Illinois, and there spent his remaining years. Mr. and Mrs. Rutledge are the parents of six children, namely : William A., Elmer Ells- worth, Susan Ella, John J., Mary Ann and Herbert W. William A., of Saint Louis, a mechanical engineer, married Martha Gros, and they have two children, Marie and Susan Ella. Elmer Ellsworth Rutledge, a civil engi- neer, who has served as city and county sur- veyor and is now in the employ of the Stand- ard Oil Company married Emily Mook, and has one daughter, Mildred. John J. Rutledge, a mining engineer, is one of the three mining engineers in the employ of the United States Government. He married Ella Gates, and they have three children, Alton G., Alma and Marie Eno. Mary Ann Rutledge, the second daugh- ter of Captain and Mrs. Rutledge, married L. La Pell, who is in the United States civil serv- ice at Washington, D. C., in the department of agriculture. They have one child, Rollin. Herbert W. Rutledge, who is also employed in the same department at Washington, mar- ried Rose Schrimer, of Baltimore, Maryland.
Susan Ella Rutledge, the older daughter, lives with her parents.
Captain Rutledge was reared in the Episco- pal faith, but the family attend the Baptist church. The Captain is a member of Alton Post, No. 441, G. A. R .; of Piasa Lodge, No. 27, A. F. & A. M .; of Alton Chapter, No. 8, R. A. M .; and of Belvidere Commandery, No. 2, K. T.
CHARLES LEXOW. It is not often that one man is found who can fill so many offices at once as does Mr. Lexow. He is township as- sessor, justice of the peace, notary public, treasurer of the township, etc. In addition to these various offices he is a farmer on a large scale. The most independent man in the world to-day is the farmer,-the producer. Upon his land he can grow everything necessary for himself and family, at the lowest cost of pro- duction. The remedy for the evils existing in our overcrowded cities to-day is the move- ment back to the soil. Mr. Lexow is a man who has made everything he possesses, aided only by his natural abilities and by the educa- tion which he received. That is a capital which has stood him in good stead and he real- izes to the full the value it has been to him.
He was born in Germany, August 12, 1862, the son of Carl and Augusta ( Wise) Lexow, both of whom were born, married and died in their native land, Germany. Charles attended the public schools in Germany and graduated from the high school. Then he went to a commercial college and took a business course. At the end of this course he took a position as bookkeeper and continued the work for three years and a half. At that time he felt that he was going to be drafted to serve in the army and, feeling a great aversion to military service, he embarked on the Red Star line for the United States. He came direct to Madi- son county, Illinois, and when he reached here he had very little money in his pocket. He soon spent what ,little he had and had not yet found any congenial work. He had made up his mind, however, that he would take anything that would bring him in a little money. He got a position as hostler for Dr. Gillick and filled this office for three months. At the end of that time he got employment in the Lewis Heagan dry goods store and served as clerk for a year and a half. Next he came to Mitch- ell and was employed as clerk and assistant post-master. In 1887 he had saved up enough money to start in business for himself. He opened a hotel and store and ran them both for a period of eighteen years. He made a suc-
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cess of the store and hotel and was able to buy some land near Mitchell, Illinois. This he cul- tivated and soon bought more. He now owns three hundred and fifty acres and, during the past six years he has been managing his land himself in addition to performing the duties pertaining to his other offices.
On September 21, 1887, the year that he started in business for himself, he married Helen Reinemann, a young lady of German birth. Her parents were natives of Germany and when Helen was two years old the family came to this country, in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Lexow have four children living : Charles C., a graduate of the high school and commercial college. He married Louise Sido. The sec- ond child, Lena B., graduated from school at Mitchell and attended the Ursuline Academy. She is living at home. Bertha is ten years old and is going to school, and next is George.
Mr. and Mrs. Lexow are Catholics and are in St. Elizabeth parish. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. In poli- tics he is a staunch Democrat and has always been very active in political affairs ever since he came to this country. He was chairman of the township committee for twelve years. For eight years he has held the position of town- ship clerk. He has been assessor for seven years and township treasurer for twenty-one years. He has been a notary public sixteen years and he is now a justice of the peace. He has various financial interests in the county, besides his farm. A man can be elected to of- fice without necessarily being a very desirable person, but he cannot hold the same office year after year and have one honor after an- other showered upon him without having made good. Mr. Lexow won the confidence of the people in his community years ago and he has never done anything to shake that confidence. He is a man whose reputation both private and public is irreproachable. His character will bear the closest investigation and the results will show it to be without blemish.
HENRY HEEPKE. The best start in life that a man may have is the untarnished name of his forebears, and in this heritage the son of Fred and Sophia (Leeseman) Heepke is indeed for- tunate. Fred, the father of Henry Heepke, was a native-born son of Prussia in the Ger- man empire, the date of his nativity being December 3, 1833, and the names of his par- ents, William and Wilhelmina ( Fehrmann) Heepke. Fred Heepke remained in the father- iand until his twenty-seventh year. He then immigrated to the United States, landing first
at Brooklyn, New York, where he remained a few years before coming to the state of Illi- nois. Here he found employment as a farm hand, working in several places at the wage of eight dollars a monthı.
In 1861 he was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Leeseman and in the following year he bought a farm of his own. This union was blessed by the birth of two children, Henry, the immediate subject of this review, and Emma, now Mrs. Charles Bartels. Mrs. Fred Heepke passed to her eternal reward on the 30th of May, 1906.
On March 28, 1889, was solemnized the mar- riage of Henry Heepke to Anna Bartels, the daughter of Charles and Philipina (Stahlhut) Bartels. She was born February 15, 1865, the year which marked the closing of the sangui- nary civil war, and was educated in the public schools of her native district. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Heepke five children have been born, as follows: Emma, born March 3, 1890; Mary, born October 16, 1891; Fred, born February 5, 1893; Henry, born November 8. 1894; and William, born Janu- ary 19, 1900. Both Mr. and Mrs. Heepke are members of the German Evangelical church, and attend the church of that faith at Edwardsville, Illinois.
Politically Mr. Heepke gives a hearty sup- port to the men and platform of the Republi- can party, and has himself been honored with a place on that party's ticket several times-and has made a successful race for the office of township clerk, in which position he has served the community ably and well.
Mr. Heepke owns eighty acres of farm land in Fort Russell township, a half interest in one hundred and sixty acres located in Wood River township, and another half interest in one hundred and sixty acres located in Jersey county, Illinois. He has made quite a repu- tation as a general farmer and stockman who directs his work in the light of the best and most productive methods known to the most enlightened farmers. His position in the com- munity is one of eminence reached by the con- stant practice of high dealing in all the rela- tions of life, and he is regarded by his neigh- bors with genuine affection and respect. Mrs. Heepke passed to her eternal reward on the 26th of December, 1901.
GEORGE PAUST. The agricultural success of Madison county is due largely to the character- istics of the men who are engaging in farming. George Paust is possessed of a spirit of energy
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and progressiveness, and his efforts have been crowned with prosperity.
George Paust was born March 14, 1873, in Massac county, Illinois. He is a son of Fred- erick and Fredericka (Strosic) Paust, natives of Germany, where they were educated; each came to America separately and settled in St. Louis. There they became acquainted with each other and subsequently were married. They became the parents of ten children, three sons and seven daughters, whose names are as follows,-Julia, Louise (deceased), Cornelia, Alfred (deceased), Lydia, Amelia, Arthur, Laura, Ida (deceased), and George. Mr. Paust followed the occupation of farming in Massac county and later moved to Madison county, where he remained until his death, in 1888. He was prosperous in his undertakings and was able to give all his children the ad- vantages, of a thorough general education sending some of them to the district school and all to the German Lutheran school.
George Paust was the sixth of the family in order of birth; he spent the first few years of his life in Massac county and then accom- panied his parents to Madison county, where he received his education. When he had reached the age of fifteen years his father died and it was necessary that the young man should assist in the work about the farm. He re- mained at home, the support of his mother and sisters, until 1898, at which time he pro- cured a farm of his own near Edwardsville. There he lives today, his ten years' experience on his mother's farm aiding him to make a success of his own.
In 1898 Mr. Paust married Miss Willhel- mina Rost, a daughter of Carl and Augusta (Lange) Rost, the former a native of Ger- many and the latter of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Rost reared a family of twelve children-four sons and eight daugh- ters,-Maria, Louise (deceased), Amelia, Katharine, Augusta, Elizabeth, Lydia, Carl (deceased), Daniel, John, August and Willhel- mina, the latter the wife of Mr. Paust and the fifth child in order of birth. Mr. and Mrs. Paust commenced their wedded life on the farm near Edwardsville where they still re -- side, attending to the duties in fields and house, and also occupied in the rearing of their four children-one son and three daughters,-Nor- man, Edna, Bernice and Alma. Edna and Bernice are interesting students of the Quer- cus district school.
In his political views Mr. Paust always aligns himself with the Republican party, and
in his religious connection he is an honored member of the German Evangelical church, deeply interested in the promotion of every good work advanced by the different branches of religious activities. Mr. and Mrs. Paust are both industrious, conscientious people, and they are respected and esteemed as good, kind neighbors by the members of the community in which they reside.
CYRUS EDWARDS, a brother of Governor Ninian Edwards, was born in Montgomery county, Maryland, January 17, 1793, the ninth of fourteen children of Benjamin and Mar- garet (Beall) Edwards. The family is of Welsh ancestry, and settled in Virginia dur- ing colonial times. Benjamin was born in Virginia in 1750, a farmer by occupation, was a member of the Maryland convention which ratified the federal constitution, and was a member of the legislature and represented his district in Congress. In 1800 the family moved to Kentucky, where he died at the age of seventy-four.
Cyrus Edwards had a limited education in early life, but afterwards gained a little knowl- edge of Latin and Greek in an academy. At the age of nineteen he began the study of law under his brother, Presley Edwards, and in 1815 was admitted to the bar at Kaskaskia, the territorial capital of Illinois, his brother Ninian being territorial governor at the time. During 1815-19 he was at Potosi, Missouri, engaged in practice over many counties of that state, and then returned to Kentucky, where he married Miss Nancy H. Reed.
In November. 1829, he located at Ed- wardsville. In 1832 he was elected a member of the legislature, and continued in the house or senate until 1840. In 1860 he was con- sidered the only Republican strong enough to carry Madison county, and was elected to the legislature, during which session he was in- strumental in securing the election of Lyman Trumbull to the United States senate.
In 1837, when the Whig candidate for gov- ernor, he owed his defeat to the illegal voting of Irish laborers on the Illinois & Michigan canal. Many important movements of his time bear the impress of his efforts and judg- ment. He was the author of the 2-mill-tax clause in the constitution of 1847.
In 1835 he was instrumental in securing the charter for Shurtleff College, and donated real estate, money and services to the institution, and was president of its board of trustees for thirty-five years.
Two years of his life were devoted to rais-
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ing of the local fund to assist in building the Terre Haute & Alton railroad (now the Big Four). Against the ridicule of many, he or- ganized and brought to completion the "Alton and Upper Alton Horse railroad," and always took much pride in this achievement. For many years Mr. Edwards made his home at Upper Alton, and was one of the most highly esteemed of the many prominent men who made their home there during the last century. His death occurred on August 31, 1877. He was a member of the Baptist church of Upper Alton.
His first wife died January 16, 1834, the mother of eight children. The last of these to survive was Isabella, who married Dr. Webb C. Quigley, of Alton, and became the mother of several children now living in Alton.
In November, 1837. Mr. Edwards married Sophia Loomis, a daughter of Rev. Hubbel Loomis (see following sketch). There were four children by this marriage :- William Wirt, Mary Beall, Margaret E. and Elias I ..
Mary Beall Edwards married the late George K. Hopkins, whose death occurred in 1901. Mr. Hopkins was a wholesale druggist and during the '6os was a member of the firm of Quigley Bros. & Company, whose establish- ment was at Second and State streets. Later the firm was Quigley, Hopkins & Company, and later Mr. Hopkins transferred his business to St. Louis. Mrs. Hopkins, who has spent all her life in Madison county, represents one of the most historic names of the county and state, and her knowledge of the past and its noted personalities has a wide range of inter- est and historical value.
REV. HUBBEL LOOMIS was born at Colches- ter, Connecticut, May 31. 1775, a son of John Loomis. He prepared for the ministry, grad- uated from Union College in 1799, and in 1831 settled at Upper Alton, where he resided until his death, December 15, 1872, at the venerable age of ninety-eight. He was one of the founders of Shurtleff College, for many years a member of the faculty, and that institution is partly a memorial of his life. He possessed the New England conscience and courage of his convictions, and was one of the few who openly sustained the course of Lovejoy in Al- ton. He was both a theologian and student of science, especially of methematics. In his early career he was identified with the Congrega- tional church, but most of his life he labored in the interests of the Baptist denomination.
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