USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II > Part 2
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George C. Uzzell, a son of this pioneer and father of the county superintendent, was a farmer most of his active life, and died at Bethalto, October 20, 1908. During the Civil war he enlisted in the Seventy-seventh Illinois Infantry and served to the close of the war, spending thirteen months of that time in the Confederate prison at Tyler, Texas. His widow is still living, her home being at Beth- alto.
Professor Uzzell accepted good educational advantages and in 1883, at the age of seven- teen, taught his first term of school at Foster- burg. His subsequent professional career has been connected with the' schools of Bethalto, New Douglas, Alton and elsewhere, and he was actively engaged until his first election to the office of county superintendent in 1906, and was re-elected in 1911.
He is a Republican in politics, and is a mem- ber of the First Methodist Episcopal church at Alton, in which city he has his residence. His fraternal relations are with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Sons of Vet- erans.
In August, 1888, Professor Uzzell married Miss Malinda L. Neuhaus, daughter of Phelps and Mary (Isch) Neuhaus. Of their four
children, two are living: Mabel E., who has been assistant county superintendent since her graduation from Shurtleff College in 1911, and Robert K., aged thirteen.
EBENEZER RODGERS, secretary and treasurer of the Alton Brick Company, is one of the aggressive and enterprising business men who are aiding in the upbuilding of the city, and as such is well entitled to representation in this volume devoted to the sterling citizenship of Madison county. The concern with which he is so prominently identified is one which con- tributes materially to the industrial and com- mercial prosperity of the community and Mr. Rodgers has by his executive ability and sound judgment in no small measure built up its for- tunes. He is a native son of the county, his birth having occurred August 12, 1873, on the home farm cast of Upper Alton. He is the son of Edward and Ella ( Hewit) Rodgers, prominent and honorable citizens. More ex- tended mention is made of the former on other pages of this work.
Ebenezer Rodgers received his preliminary education in the common and high school of Upper Alton and in 1887, when fourteen years of age, he entered Bingham's Military School, in North Carolina, where he pursued a three years' preparatory course and then spent one year in the University of North Carolina, situ- ated at Chapel Hill, Orange county. Upon returning to the scenes of his boyhood after finishing his education he spent the years 1891 and 1892 upon the farm, but, although fitted by training for what Daniel Webster has designated as the most important labor of man, it did not prove sufficiently congenial to warrant his adopting it as his life work. At the beginning of the year 1893 he first entered the world of business, in the employ of the Alton Brick Company, of which his father, Edward Rodgers, is the main owner. He be- gan in the capacity of a bookkeeper and served as such until 1895, becoming incidentally ac- quainted with the business in all its details. In the year mentioned he was elected secre- tary and treasurer of the concern and now owns a part interest in the same. In addition, Mr. Rodgers is identified with another enter- prise of wide scope and importance, being president of the Fernholtz Brick Machinery Company, of St. Louis. His connection with this prosperous concern is of ten years' dura- tion. He is president of the Alton Board of Trade and is ever ready to give his support to all measures likely to result in benefit to the community. He is, in truth, an able exponent
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of the progressive spirit and strong initiative ability that have caused Alton to forge forward so rapidly within the past few years.
Mr. Rodgers was happily married in 1893, his chosen lady being Annetta Schweppe, daughter. of H. M. and Angie (Rand) Schweppe, the former a retired clothier and merchant of prominence in Alton. They share their delightful home with three children, --- Charlotte, Ebenezer and Hewit Rand. Mr. Rodgers is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his wife is a valued member of the Unitarian church.
HON. E. M. WEST. In the consideration of matters relating to the formative period in Ed- wardsville's history few things of real import can be touched upon without recalling the late Edward M. West, for he left the impress of his personality in almost every division of civic interest. Social, religious, business, financial and political circles knew him to their advan- tage, and to each he added something desirable and of lasting effect.
Edward Mitchell West, was of historic stock, a native of Virginia. He was a son of Tilghman H. West and Mary A. (Mitchell) West. His ancestors came from England to Maryland before the Revolutionary war. His father's grandfather held a patent from the British government, and when war was de- clared returned to England, but his grand- father, Benjamin West, and his mother's father, Edward Mitchell, entered the service under General Washington and continued until the close of the war. In his youth Edward M. West, who was born on May 2, 1814, liked nothing better than to listen to the stories of the war related by these patriots.
Almost half a century before President Lin- coln's Emancipation Proclamation Mr. West's father, becoming convinced that the institution of slavery was a wrongful restraint of human beings, voluntarily manumitted his slaves. In 1818, the year that Illinois was admitted to the Union, he removed with his family to this state, and settled four miles west of the city of Belleville, which at that time contained six houses.
Romantic indeed was the inception of the career of Edward M. West. Like Cincinnatus he was working in the fields at the time, but no delegation of august citizens waited upon him to invite him to a place of power. Instead, a barefoot boy of twelve, he was hoeing corn in a field when there passed down the road near him Governor Ninian Edwards, engaged in conversation with two other gentlemen, one a
lawyer and the other a Federal official. They were talking of General Jackson and Henry Clay as having risen from farmers to men of the highest standing and influence in the na- tion. The boy heard, and then and there de- termined that he would bend every effort to- ward attaining a position that should be digni- field, useful and desirable. From that day until he had passed middle age he never swerved from that purpose, and his success might well serve as an inspiration to the younger genera- tions.
Leaving home the next year, he went to Springfield, where at first a multiplicity of du- ties claimed his time. For two years he worked in the recorder's office, entering all the deeds from Sangamon county, working at odd hours in the postoffice and cultivating the gar- den' of his employer. In 1833 he obtained a place in the United States land office in Ed- wardsville as clerk. There he worked fourteen hours each day for a wage of twelve dollars a month. Of this amount he rigidly set aside one-third as a savings fund, and in 1835 was enabled to open a small store, although his principal capital was industry, honesty and re- liability. As the years rolled by his business increased and finally became the largest in the place.
There had been no bank in Edwardsville since 1824, and the need of such an institution was keenly felt. In 1867 Mr. West, in con- junction with his son-in-law, Major William R. Prickett, erected a large building and opened therein the banking house of West & Prickett. It is flourishing today, and is prom- inent today as one of Madison county's largest banking institutions, Mr. West's grandson, W. Lester Hadley, being vice-president of the in- stitution, now known as the Bank of Edwards- ville. The bank has a splendid record, having passed unscathed through every national crisis. In 1873, one of the most trying times for fi- nancial institutions, when banks were failing on every side, the bank of West & Prickett con- tinued to pay and to discount as usual, and at the close of the panic period had larger de- posits than at the beginning, due to the assured public confidence in its' managers.
Mr. West felt a keen interest in political matters. He was in the early days a Whig and when that party vanished, became a Democrat. He was a delegate to state conventions and en- joyed participating in the debates, where his forensic ability commanded attention and ad- miration. In the State Constitutional Conven- tion of 1848 he personally drafted many of the
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articles. He served for a time as commanding officer of the Fifteenth Battallion of Illinois National Guard. In the Methodist church he was a life-long figure, and his activity in Sun- day-school work extended over a period of fif- ty years. He could and did preach excellent sermons, and for many, many years performed practically all of the protestant marriages cele- brated in the vicinity. People came for miles to have him officiate, so earnest, sincere and in- spiring was his employment of the marriage ceremony. He employed his leisure hours in well-selected reading or conversing with men of letters. On the shelves of his well-chosen library were found the best authors. In recog- nition of his literary attainments the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by McKendree, the oldest college in the state.
Mr. West was married in 1835 to Miss Julia A. Atwater, in whom he found a worthy com- panion and wife for fifty-two years. Three of their children arrived at maturity, Virginia, wife of Major William R. Prickett, deceased : Mary, widow of the late W. F. L. Hadley ; and Nora, wife of Oscar L. Taylor, of St. Paul. Some years after the death of his wife Mr. West was married to Martha K. Mitchell, who survives him. His own death occurred Octo- ber 31, 1887.
It is not for his material attainments nor for his exceptional culture, however, that his friends love to dwell upon the memory of Edward M. West, but upon the thought of his human side. It seems like a platitude to refer to him as a gentleman of the old school, and yet no other phrase conveys the proper ex- pression. Erect, dignified in bearing, there was no austerity in his manner. The courtli- ness of hundreds of years of nobility gave grace to his salutations, the kindliness of a warm heart breathed in his every word. With a charm of deference toward womanhood, an ineffable courtesy to all mankind, he was the embodiment of the polished savant, the cos- mopolitan citizen of the world. There was no gathering in which he was not at home, no situ- ation of which he was not master. The purity of his thoughts and life created an atmosphere about him that marked his place in the com- munity, and caused those with whom he asso- ciated to feel the lasting benefit from his com- panionship. There are few in the present day like Edward M. West.
HON. W. F. L. HADLEY. Not only the city of Edwardsville and Madison county but a large area of central Illinois felt a sense of dis- tinct loss at the death on April 25, 1901, of
Hon. W. F. L. Hadley, of Edwardsville. A man who was universally beloved and who had everything to live for, still young in years and surrounded by all that contributes to human happiness, it seemed hard that he should be called to solve the unending mystery of the ages before attaining the period commonly ac- cepted as the zenith of human life.
William Flavius Lester Hadley was a native of Madison county, born on a farm in the Mis- sissippi river bottom near Collinsville, on June 15, 1847. He was a son of William and Dia- dema (Mckinney) Hadley, who came to the county from Kentucky in 1817. The senior Hadley was a pioneer in every sense of the word. Owing to the limited educational ad- vantages of the early days and the demands upon his time he received in all but six weeks of schooling, the remainder of his education being acquired in leisure moments. He cleared away the forest, broke the virgin soil and planted his crops upon week-days and on Sun- days filled the pulpit of the Methodist church at Collinsville, following preaching for many years. He was born in Adair county, Ken- tucky, November 23, 1806, being a son of John Hadley, who was born in Maryland in 1776. The latter served in the war of 1812. He married a Miss Guthrie in Kentucky and they settled near Collinsville.
Finishing the course in the common schools of the neighborhood at the age of sixteen, W. F. L. Hadley, the subject of this sketch, was sent to McKendree College at Lebanon, Illi- nois, where he graduated in June, 1867. He remained on his father's farm for three years and in the fall of 1870 entered the law depart- ment of the University of Michigan, graduat- ing the following year. He opened an office in Edwardsville at once. In 1874 he formed a partnership with Judge William H. Krome, now president of the Bank of Edwardsville, and their association continued until the lat- ter's election to the office of county judge, in 1890. In 1892 Mr. Hadley and Charles H. Burton formed a law partnership, which con- tinued until Mr. Hadley withdrew in 1899. and he later became president of the Bank of Edwardsville.
It was natural that the personality and at- tainments of W. F. L. Hadley should attract widespread attention outside the channels of business and professional endeavor, and he was called upon to give his time and efforts to the public service. His political career was the rise of one unaided by machine manipula- tions, but elevated by the honest support of his
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W Fr. I. Hadley
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constituents. In the fall of 1886 he was the nominee of the Republican party for the office of state senator for what was at that time the Forty-seventh district of Illinois, and he was elected by one of the largest pluralities ever re- corded in the district, receiving more than eleven hundred votes over his opponent. Dur- ing the first session he served on the commit- tees on judiciary, mines and mining, revenue, elections and military, and was made chairman of the penal reforms and militia committees. In the second session he was chairman of the judiciary committee and member of a number of others. Much important legislation came under his scrutiny, and his name is associated with many measures which were wholly to the public interest. Among the latter were bills extending the powers of the railroad and warehouse commission to the investigation of accidents and inspection of bridges, and also for the increasing of powers of the county courts. The health of his family constrained him to decline renomination, but he lost none of his interest in Republican politics, was a delegate to many conventions and in 1888 was delegate-at-large from Illinois to the conven- tion which nominated Benjamin Harrison for the presidency.
In 1895 Frederick Remann, representative in Congress from the Eighteenth district of Illinois, died. Judge Cyrus L. Cook, of Ed- wardsville, was nominated by the convention, but died shortly before the election. Mr. Had- ley consented to take the vacant place on the ticket, and although but two weeks remained in which to make a campaign he swept the district like a whirlwind, and was elected by a plurality of nearly thirty-three hundred. He was renominated for the succeeding term, but was compelled to go to Colorado by failing health and the election went against him.
Mr. Hadley in his public service presented an unusual figure, a politician "sans peur et sans reproche." He was unsullied by any of the things which are constantly occurring in politics and which few who engage therein en- tirely escape. His acute sense of honor caused him to weigh carefully all matters whether concerning himself or others, and his record was unblemished.
His life was rounded and made perfect by the loving companionship of his wife, who was in every way a helpmeet. The marriage of W. F. L. Hadley and Miss Mary West oc- curred on June 15, 1875. She was a daughter of Edward M. West and of Julia (Atwater) West. The West family is of English stock,
and was established in Maryland prior to the Revolution. The fine literary taste of the par- ents, together with their innate culture and refinement was transmitted to the children, and at every step of his life's journey W. F. L. Hadley found his wife at his shoulder, fully comprehending all the situations which he met, appreciative of his wishes and able to counsel and advise with him with a trained mind, as well as to give him the sustaining joy of her presence. Since the death of her hus- band Mrs. Hadley has kept intact their beauti- ful home in the West End of Edwardsville and devoted her life to a continuation of the deeds of kindness and beneficence in which she and her husband always found pleasure. They have six children : Julia, wife of R. D. Griffin ; W. Lester, Winifred, Edward West, Douglas and Flavia. All of the children have their home in Edwardsville with the exception of Douglas, who is married to Miss Josephine Weir, of Edwardsville, and resides at Mc- Alester. Oklahoma.
In summing up the career of W. F. L. Had- ley one is impressed by the depth of his char- acter, the sweetness of his life and the breadth of his sphere of usefulness. His public ser- vice was of the pure and self-sacrificing kind that is much sought but seldom attained. His personal contact with citizens was never char- acterized by an act of injustice or an unkind word. His home life was a thing apart, sacred in its tenderness and nobility, the personifica- tion of the ideal husband and father. The scythe of the Grim Reaper cut the flower of his manhood and removed that kindly, courteous presence, but as Aldrich says --
" __ His modesty, his scholar's pride, His soul serene and clear These neither death nor time shall dim."
ADOLPHUS PHILIP WOLF, assistant cashier and a director of the Bank of Edwardsville, has been identified with the business life of his city and the county for over forty years. A native of the county and having spent most of his life here, his success and reputation are based upon the sound foundation of personal integrity and business ability.
Mr. Wolf was born at Edwardsville, June II, 1841. His father, Frederick A. Wolf (whose father was also named Frederick), was born on the river Rhine in Bavaria, No- vember 30, 1813. In 1832, when eighteen years old, he came to America and his first expe- rience was as clerk in a Pittsburg hotel. He
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later moved to Belleville, Illinois, and in 1838 to Edwardsville, with which city the. family name has been honorably identified for seventy-five years. The brick house which he bought the year after his arrival was after- wards remodeled into the fine residence of his son Frederick W. and is thought to be one of the oldest houses of Edwardsville. Frederick A. Wolf was a Democrat until 1856, when he joined the Republican party. In religion he was a Lutheran. His death occurred in 1898, when he was eighty-five years of age. He married at Belleville in 1838 Caroline Henri- etta Fix, who was born in Bavaria March 17, 1819, and died in Edwardsville, May 18, 1877. Her father, Philip Fix, was an Alsatian by birth, was one of Napoleon's cavalrymen and with that general on the Russian campaign, immigrated to America in 1837, locating in 1838 at Edwardsville, where he lived till his death, March 10, 1865. Frederick A. Wolf and his wife were the parents of five children : Frederick W., Adolphus P., Otto E., Dr. Theodore R., and Matilda, wife of James R. Brown.
Adolphus P. Wolf was reared on his father's farm near Edwardsville, and attended the pub- lic schools. At the age of seventeen he went to Philadelphia to learn the trade of coach making. The Civil war broke out while he was there, and April 21, 1861, he enlisted in Company. F of the Nineteenth Pennsylvania Infantry. This regiment was quartered at Baltimore to take the place of the Sixth Massa- chusetts, and after four months returned and was mustered out. After this experience he returned to Illinois, and on August 11, 1862, enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Seventeenth Illinois Infantry. He aided in recruiting this regiment. He was color guard of his company at the engagements of Fort Ripley, Pleasant Hill, Tupelo, Nashville and Mobile, and was in many other minor conflicts. His army service continued to August 5, 1865, when he was mustered out at Camp Butler. His long and arduous life as a soldier incapaci- tated him for hard work for two years, and during that time he studied at Bryant & Strat- ton's Commercial College in St. Louis. In March, 1869, he permanently located at Ed- wardsville.
For many years Mr. Wolf took an active part in the commercial enterprise of this city. He was first identified with Judy, Wolf & Burroughs, hardware and agricultural imple- ments. In 1872 he became sole proprietor of this establishment, but his brother Frederick
was later associated with him, until they sold out in 1881. With his two brothers, Otto and Frederick, he became interested in coal mine development, under the title of the Wolf Coal Mining Company, whose property was sold to the Madison Coal Company in 1891. In March, 1892, Mr. Wolf again engaged in the hardware business, and about the same time became interested in the Madison County State Bank, which was afterwards consolidated with the Bank of Edwardsville. He has been actively connected with the management of this institution to the present time.
In a career of engrossing business duties Mr. Wolf has been a public-spirited citizen. He has served several terms in the city council and as a member of the school board. In poli- tics he is a Republican. He affiliates with the local lodge and chapter of Masonry, with the Knights of Pythias, and the Grand Army Post, Edwardsville, No. 461.
Mr. Wolf was married at Edwardsville, De- cember 23, 1869, to Miss Alvina Kinder, daughter of William and Sarah ( Barnett) Kin- dler. Four children have been born of their union : Charles F., Carrie, William A. and Ru- dolph.
H. SIMON HENRY, sheriff of Madison county, was the only candidate on the Demo- cratic county ticket in 1910 to win election to office. The county is normally Republican, and to overcome this opposition a Democrat must have great personal popularity and in- spire confidence in his special fitness for of- fice. On December 5. 1910, Mr. Henry as- sumed the duties of office for the term of four years, and his record justifies the choice of the people.
Mr. Henry is a native of Illinois, born at Pittsburg March 8, 1875, and is a son of Henry and Lydia (Jaris) Henry, who later became residents of St. Clair county. Up to the time he was ten years of age Mr. Henry received some schooling in the country schools, but from that time began making his own way in the world and had little opportunity for ad- vantages, save such as come from meeting the practical difficulties of life. He worked for a number of employers and in different lines of business, and became known as a man who could be relied upon to accomplish what he undertook. He was elected in 1910 to the of- fice of sheriff. Fraternally Mr. Henry affili- ates with the Improved Order of Red Men, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Knights of Columbus of Edwardsville.
He married Miss Anna Jenkins, a daughter
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of William Jenkins, an old resident of Madi- son county. They are the parents of four children : Della, Vera, Rosie and Iola.
JOSEPH F. KESHNER, cashier of the First National Bank of Edwardsville, is an expe- rienced banker and has been identified with this line of business since he was a boy in his 'teens. He has been connected with the First National Bank since 1897.
Mr. Keshner was born at Carlyle, Clinton county, Illinois, July 18, 1873, a. son of Peter and Mary Elizabeth (Dyer) Keshner, his mother being a daughter of Captain J. A. Dyer, a prominent citizen of Missouri.
Educated in the Carlyle public schools, when he was thirteen years old he became office boy for the well known firm of Schlafly Brothers, bankers of Carlyle, and was promoted to larger responsibilities and remained with the firm eleven years. In 1897 he came to Edwards- ville as assistant cashier of the First National Bank, and was promoted to cashier in 1901. While a resident of Carlyle he served as city treasurer. He is a Democrat in politics, a member and trustee of St. Mary's Catholic church and a member of the Knights of Co- lumbus.
In 1909 he built a fine home on East Park street, where he and his family reside. He was married in Edwardsville to Miss Edith H. Schwarz. They have three children : Mary M., Helen and Charles Joseph.
ROBERT ALLEN HAIGHT, superintendent of the Alton public schools, has been almost con- tinuously identified with the schools of this city for about forty years, and for about a quarter of a century has been superintendent. The most important history of public educa- tion in the city has been made since he taught his first term, and the fine modern school sys- tem, with its excellent equipment and facili- ties, has been developed during his superinten- dency. His record of service in this city has few parallels in the state.
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