USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II > Part 56
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George Kaufman. who is to be the owner of the Kaufman home, fitted himself for a busi- ness career in Bryant & Stratton's Business College at St. Louis in 1907 and 1908. With this equipment he entered the service of the Toledo, St. Louis and Kansas City Railway Company as a telegraph operator. While in this positon he did an extensive business in buying and shipping grain at Kaufman. He was also at that time a member of the Mer- chants' Exchange of St. Louis, from 1901 to 1907. In August, 1907. he resigned his posi- tion with the Clover Leaf Railway and entered the employ of the Big Four as opera-
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MARY JEHLE KAUFMAN BORN JANUARY 1, 1840 DIED MARCH 21, 1905
GUSTAVE ADOLPHUS KAUFMAN BORN APRIL 20, 1833 DIED JANUARY 22, 1910
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tor, his headquarters being at Mattoon, Illi- nois, with J. M. French superintendent.
George Kaufman has enjoyed the broaden- ing influences of travel and has visited the principal cities and the places of historic in- terest in the east. In all respects he is fitted to succeed to the position of head of the Kauf- man home and to continue the traditions of that honored name, both as hospitable house- holder and as a man of business.
Since the death of their parents, George and Augusta Kaufman have continued to live on the place where they were born and where they grew up with the other children, Albert, William, Bertha and Amanda. In the home where every flower and tree is eloquent as a reminder of the departed ones, the brother and sister live, serene in the companionship of each other and honored by the esteem of the entire community. George Kaufman feels himself fortunate in having the companionship of his sister, a woman who could not be spoiled by the indulgences which are the por- tion of daughters of wealthy men. Hers is a nature too rich to be warped by the gifts of riches and in the great day when the books are opened there will surely be written in the let- tering which is more imperishable than gold the name, Augusta Kaufman.
LEMUEL A. COOK. Possessing much finan- cial ability and excellent business judgment and tact, Lemuel A. Cook is rendering appre- ciated service as cashier of the First National Bank of Madison, Illinois. This bank was organized in 1906, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, and now has the following named gentlemen as officers: Frank Troeck- ler, president ; C. F. Good, vice-president ; and L. A. Cook, cashier.
A native of Kentucky, Mr. Cook was born in Calloway county, October 17, 1868, a son of Edward and Susan (Lassiter) Cook, na- tives of the same county. The father was a farmer by occupation, cultivating the soil suc- cessfully. The mother died in 1902.
Brought up on the home farm, Lemuel A. Cook assisted in its management during his early manhood, making a specialty of raising tobacco. Not content with rural life, he found employment in the woolen mills at Mayfield, Kentucky, where he remained for ten years. Going from there to Saint Louis, Missouri, he was similarly employed in that city until 1905, when he accepted the position of cashier of the Ironton Bank, at Ironton, Missouri. Leaving that institution in 1909, Mr. Cook came to Madison, and has since served ac-
ceptably as cashier of the bank with which he is now associated.
He married, in 1895, Mattie Coffman, of Paris, Tennessee.
JULES PARIS. A highly respected and ad- mirable citizen of Highland, Madison county, is Jules Paris, who was born in Colmar, Al- sace, France in 1840 (since 1870 a province of Germany) ; the son of John Baptist and Jeanette Paris. The father was a lawyer and was of French descent. There were eight children in the family, Jules being the young- est in order of birth. They received an ex- cellent education in the schools of France. At the age of sixteen young Jules decided to cross the Atlantic in search of the opportunity of which he had heard such good report, and he and his brother Louis Paris came to this country, taking up their residence in the city of St. Louis. Louis was engaged in the mil- linery and fancy goods business. Jules re- mained in America the first time for two years, learning the language and customs, and then returned home on a visit. He stayed for several years in his native country and there fell in love with a young girl, Miss Fanny Baudinot, of Mulhouse, Alsace, whom he wished to marry. There was an obstacle to their union, however, for she had been reared a Protestant and Jules, a Catholic, and the rules of the church prevented such a mar- riage. Their love was. stronger than church and creed and they crossed the sea and in 1866 were married in this country. Their union was solemnized in St. Louis, where Jules was bookkeeper for his brother. He re- mained thus engaged until March, 1871, when he and his wife with their modest savings came to Highland and purchased ten acres, upon which they erected a brick house. The iand was advantageously situated and the price paid for it was nine hundred dollars. Upon this pleasant homestead they have ex- pended much care and money to improve and beautify it, the love of home being character- istic of their race.
In 1877 Mr. Paris found his circumstances good enough to enable him to purchase the forty-six acres adjoining his home place and in 1880 he came into possession of thirty- seven acres more lying along beautiful Park avenue, which land was later laid out in fine lots and proved a most profitable investment. Mr. Paris has been proved a good manager and an industrious and progressive citizen, and his success has been the logical outcome of these qualifications. He resided in his first
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home from 1871 to October 17, 1906, and then removed to a fine, attractive home on Park avenue, in which to spend the remainder of his days. He has had his share of adventures and experiences and knows what it is to be near death. While living in St. Louis a dread cholera epidemic broke out and Mr. Paris fell victim, at one time being so low with the scourge that the measure for his coffin was taken. He rallied, however, but was very weak and the doctor advised him to go to the country, which accounts for the fact that Madison county gained his citizenship. Here he regained his health in splendid fashion.
To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Paris were born five children, one of whom died in in- fancy. The others are Matilda, Olga, Julius and Helen. They were educated in the public schools and have become good citizens. Ma- tilda married August Haubach, proprietor of a Chicago jewelry store, his residence be- ing on LaSalle street. Olga first married Peter Flynn, and by that union is the mother of two daughters, Lora and Eva. Mr. Flynn was killed in a street car accident in St. Louis in 1903 and his widow married Elmer Blay- des, inspector of the Laclede Gas Light Com- pany and residing in St. Louis. Lora Flynn married Walter Niehaus, of St. Louis, and their little boy is Mr. Paris' only great-grand- child. Helen Paris married Robert Kauf- mann, a farmer residing near Trenton, Illinois, and their two children are Pearl and Julius. Julius B. Paris is a resident of St. Louis and is assistant physician in the Paris Medical Laboratory, St. Louis, Missouri.
Mr. Paris has seen many changes and much improvement in his country and has assisted in bringing about much of this, and he has the satisfaction of seeing his children grow into useful citizens. He was reared in the Catholic church, the family being devout and the mother being sponsor of bells in her church, and having the honor of her name be- ing cast in the bells. This was at Walheim, her home town, the name having the pleasant meaning of Valley Home. The old stone mansion in which she was born still stands today in an excellent state of preservation. Its walls are three feet thick and the date of its erection, 1260, A. D., is chiseled in the stone over the door. The subject's nephew, Armand Zeller, justice of the peace of High- land, visited the old home place in 1910, and brought back to his uncle a fine collection of pictures, among them being the old house of his mother and the old church.
Mr. Paris has a wide circle of friends and admirers. With the atmosphere of "the land of liberty" he has breathed in freedom of thought and a width of judgment; he thinks and acts for himself and his only religion is the Golden Rule. Now retired, he enjoys the pleasures of his pleasant home and the esteem of his neighbors. In politics he is affiliated with the Republican party and, although often solicited to accept public positions of trust, has always declined, fearing that his personal freedom might be restricted. His old home- stead is now a part of Highland and one of its streets bears the name of Paris. He can look back over a well-spent life and has no regrets that he made America his home. As one of Madison county's admirable citi- zens he is well entitled to representation in this volume.
JOHN E. LEE, M. D. Travelers who cross from Missouri to Illinois on the great Mc- Kinley bridge are impressed, as soon as the cars reach terra firma for their outward journey through the Prairie state, with the busy scene of activity that surrounds them. The eastern approach of this great structure rests in the historic city of Venice, like the other Venice of historic note, looks out upon the waters. With the American Venice, how- ever, the dimpled Adriatic is replaced by the majestic "Father of Waters," the mighty Mis- sissippi, on whose eastern bank the city is laid out. This bustling, thriving community can not expect that any municipal ills may linger long, for it has chosen as its chief executive a physician. Doctor John E. Lee was in IQH elected mayor of the city, and at once took the reins of office with a firm grasp that betokened good for the community.
Dr. Lee is the youngest Mayor but one in the county, being distanced for that distinc- tion by a margin of four months by his neigh- bor executive, Mayor F. A. Garesche, of Madison. He was born in August, 1875, in Hancock county, Illinois, his father, Patrick Lee, being a pioneer settler of that county who there engaged prosperously in the pur- suit of agriculture up to the time of his death, in 1906. He married Bridget Dunn, who is now a resident of La Harpe, Hancock county, Illinois. The son, John E. Lee, was reared on the home farm, and there received excel- lent educational advantages. After being graduated from the local high school he at- tended the Bushnell Normal School. Sub- sequently he entered the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, whence
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he was graduated with the class of 1902, re- ceiving the degree of M. D.
Selecting Venice as the field for his prac- tice, Dr. Lee opened an office there soon after his graduation, and in the pursuit of his call- ing met with eminent success, his natural tal- ents and acquired knowledge and skill win- ning for him a large and renumerative prac- tice. He is a member of the Madison County Medical Society, and follows closely the workings of the state and national associa- tions. For four years he served as county physician of Madison county.
The doctor's interest in the general affairs of his city is evidenced by his selection as mayor. In business and financial affairs he is a close observer and an active participant. He is one of the directors of the First Na- tional Bank of Madison, and in his varied capacities is esteemed as a live, wide-awake and progressive citizen. His social affilia- tions are with the Knights of Columbus and the Woodmen of America.
EDWARD CHESTER PARSONS. A good citi- zen, well and favorably known in Granite City, which has long been the scene of his ac- tivities, is Edward Chester Parsons, proprietor of the White Kitchen, a pioneer and a soldier of the Civil war, being, in fact, one of the youngest veterans of the war between the states. Mr. Parsons was born at White's Cor- ners, Erie county, New York, in 1847, and is the son of Chester and Cornelia (Smith). Par- sons, natives of the Empire state. The father, a millwright and cloth dresser, was born in Moravia, New York, the son of. Warren Par- sons, a miller. Warren Parsons was a public- spirited man and for years was sheriff, in the days when the laws were enforced with what would now be considered frightful severity. While in the discharge of his official duties he saw a man in Auburn, New York, flogged to death, which so aroused him that he gathered the sheriffs and prominent men together and drew up a remonstrance against public flog- ging. He was chairman of the committee which drew up resolutions against such mode of punishment, the same being presented to the New York legislature, with the result that flogging was abolished. The children born to Chester Parsons and his good wife were Elizabeth and Edward, Amanda and Julia, the two latter deceased and laid to rest beside their parents at Ann Arbor, Michigan. The children obtained their. education in the schools of Ann Arbor, Michigan, their parents
having removed there from the east when Ed- ward was six years of age.
Edward Chester was a high-spirited and patriotic young fellow, who believed that the integrity of the Union should be preserved at all costs. Although very young at the firing of the guns from Sumter, he determined to participate in the struggle and so ran away from home and enlisted, in Detroit, Michigan, in Company B, of the First Michigan Cav- alry. The regiment soon went to the front, where it joined the Army of the Potomac at Washington and took part in the battle of Gettysburg. At that engagement Mr. Parsons was taken prisoner and subsequently incarce- rated in Libby, Andersonville, Danville and Blackshire prisons, for fourteen months en- during the horrors of Southern prison life. At Florence, on December 18, 1864, he was paroled, and in May, 1865, he crossed the plains with General Custer's men to fight the Indians. He was subsequently discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and entered the scouting service, being thus engaged for four years, during which time he was in command of that celebrated character, Buffalo Bill, and of Wild Bill, Rattlesnake Pete, Barkhorse Joe, Red Larry, Bill Stanley and other fa- mous American scouts. The scouting service consisted chiefly in protecting the settlers and immigrant trains and quieting the outbreaks of the Indians. Although young, it is prob- able that few young Americans had had his share of adventure, or had seen as much of this country of ours. When his scouting serv -. ice was over he removed to the vicinity of the Mississippi river and exchanged the musket for the meeker implements of a professional cook. He engaged in that business on the Father of Waters and then on the Great Lakes.
In 1877 Mr. Parsons laid the foundations of a happy married life by his union with Miss Emma C. Cochran, an estimable young woman of Peoria, Illinois, born in 1853, to Roswell and Mary Cochran. The father's oc- cupation was that of a farmer and the chil- dren of the household were Roswell, Freder- ick, Edward, Anna, Laura and Luella. Mr. and Mrs. Parsons began their married life at Galesburg, Illinois, and from that place re- moved to Quincy, and subsequently to Kan- sas City, to Manhattan, Kansas, and to Denver and Georgetown, Colorado, then back to Peoria, then to Kansas City, then to Birds- port, Missouri, thence to Columbus, Ken-
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tucky, and then to Granite City, where they have ever since maintained their residence. At the end of these perigrinations Mr. Par- sons found the "wanderlust" (as the Germans call it) fully appeased. In some of the places mentioned Mr. and Mrs. Parsons conducted restaurants and the former was for a time employed as captain of the sailing-crew of the Government U. S. Construction Works, which plied the waters of the Mississippi.
Into the home of the subject and his wife were born the following children: Emma, Mary A., Chester F., Warren E., Roswell C. and Eliza. They were educated in the lower and higher departments of the Granite City schools. Emma, now deceased, became the wife of Michael Jacobs, a plumber of Granite City, and became the mother of one child, Elizabeth. Mary married Fredrick Eggley, of Granite City, foreman of the rolling mill, and of their children two died in infancy, Ed- ward, Clarence, Iola, Frederic and Bertha sur- viving. Chester, employed as craneman, mar- ried Agnes Luden, and they reside at Gary, Indiana, and they have a daughter, Irene. Warren, also a craneman, married Margaret Baress, and they have a daughter, Alice, Roswell Parsons, aged eighteen, has followed in his soldier father's footsteps and is on the cruiser Helena, of the United States fleet, on the Asiatic station. He is an enthusiastic sailor in Uncle Sam's navy. Eliza died in in- fancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Parsons, like their forebears, are members of the Episcopal church. The head of the house has numerous fraternal re- lations, he being a member and a past chief of the Tribe of Ben Hur, of which Mrs. Par- sons is also a member, and he is a member of the Moose and. the Odd Fellows. He also belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic. Although not a Mason himself, he has in his possession, nicely framed, a Masonic apron of white silk which is one hundred and four years old. This was worn by his grandfather, Warren Parsons, at Auburn, New York.
Mr. Parsons located in Granite City in 1893, when the place boasted but ten houses. His first work here consisted in laying water pipe. In 1894 he organized the fire depart- ment and in 1895 he was elected its chief. He was head watchman at the stamping works, from 1894 to 1903, when he resigned and since then he has engaged in the restaurant business. His business methods have been so fair and honest as to gain him the confidence of the community, and his life has been so
closely connected with the history of Granite City that without chronicling his biography this Centennial History would be indeed in- complete. The home of the subject and his wife at Nineteenth and State streets is a hos- pitable abode and has been the scene of many happy gatherings. In politics he is a Republican and he renders loyal allegiance to the flag under which he did service for some of the best years of his life.
CHIARLES R. KISER, M. D. Some men are endowed with ubiquitous qualities which en- able them to exercise their talents in widely diverse channels of activity, but few have the strength, energy and indomitable will coupled with the acquired science to follow each of these lines successfully and rise to promise through each route. In the southwestern por- tion of Madison county, where cities have grown up so thickly that their boundary lines are coincident, Dr. Charles R. Kiser, of Madi- son, is known as such a man, for he is not only distinguished in the practice of the noble profession of medicine, but is markedly suc- cessful in finance and business.
Inheriting from his father business and me- chanical genius, Charles R. Kiser was given a superb classical education on which to rear such superstructure as his tastes directed, and which would serve as firm foundation for whatever lines of endeavor he might decide upon. He was born in Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio, November 7, 1866, a son of Henry H. and Mary Ann (Rohrer) Kiser. His father was noted as a manufacturer of operative machinery, gasoline engines, station- tionary engines, and centrifugal pumps being his specialty. He carried on a substantial business in Ohio, but is now living retired in Dayton, Ohio. The mother is also living.
The preliminary education of Charles R. Kiser was acquired in the public schools of Dayton, and he subsequently entered the Ot- terbein University at Westerville, Ohio, where he was graduated with the degree of B. A. in 1892. In 1895 he graduated from the Medical College of Ohio, located at Cincinnati, and spent the following year as interne in a Cin- cinnati hospital. Beginning the practice of medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Kiser re- mained in that city until February, 1898, when he located in Madison, Illinois, which has since been his home. There he built up a practice that is extensive and highly remunerative, his professional skill and ability being widely known and appreciated. He is a member and was president of the East Side Medical Asso-
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ciation, a member of the Madison County Medical Society, of the Illinois State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Asso- ciation.
The Doctor was one of the prime movers in the organizing of the Tri-City State Bank, and is its president. The institution is located di- rectly across Madison avenue from the Doc- tor's office and residence, and is one of the most thriving and substantial financial bul- warks of that part of the county. The Doctor is officially connected with other enterprises of note and his good offices may always be de- . pended upon in connection with anything that promises for the good of his home city or county. Dr. Kiser was married in St. Louis, to Nora M. Taylor, and they have one child, Helen Louise Kiser. The Doctor be- longs to Triple Lodge, No. 835, A. F. & A. M. at Venice, and is a Thirty-second degree Ma- son, affiliated with Mississippi Valley Consis- tory at East St. Louis, and a member of Moo- lah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He has a taste for Masonic work and participates in conferring the degrees of the Scottish Rite at the semi-annual reunions. He is also affili- ated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Royal Arcanum, and the Tribe of Ben Hur. He is surgeon for Alton, Granite & St. Louis Traction Company and assistant sur- geon for the Illinois Traction Railway Com- pany, and is president of the local Building & Loan Association of Madison, Illinois.
CHRISTIAN AHRENS. On the first of June of the year 1857 there arrived in St. Louis a family of seven, three daughters and two sons with their parents. They were not only new comers to the city, but to the country as well, as they had just arrived from Germany. Christian and Christina Whitta Ahrens came to Madison county and settled near Worden. The parents' hopes of a competence and a good education for their younger children were destined not to be fulfilled, for in less than a year both of them had succumbed to the rav- ages of the unaccustomed climate and were buried in the land where they had hoped to gain so much.
Christian Ahrens was but fourteen years of age when he was thus left homeless, and he and his sister Dora came to Venice township and there obtained work of the farmers. Hard work was not the exception at that time, but the rule, and so the young orphans did not consider their lot particularly sorry. The country was new and nearly everyone was poor --- certainly all were, when measured
by our present standards of comfort. Ten years after coming to America Christian Ah- rens established his own home, with Minnie Meyer Ahrens as its mistress. Mrs. Ahrens was a widow previous to her marriage to Mr. Ahrens and by her union with him was the mother of six children. Four of these lived past the period of infancy, Dora, Lewis, Lena and William.
In 1879, after he had been married for twelve years, Mr. Ahrens purchased a hun- dred acres of land in Venice township and re- sided upon it until 1892, when he sold it to Mr. Niedringhaus. Granite City now stands upon the ground which Mr. Ahrens tilled for a dozen odd years. When he disposed of the Venice township property he bought another place near by, in Edwardsville township, and this he farmed with the same energy which had enabled him to achieve his former success. After a year on the new farm Mr. Ahrens left it in charge of his son Louis and he and his wife moved to Edwardsville. The boy was like his father, a successful agriculturist, and his parents had no cause to regret entrusting him with the management of the place. He married Miss Dolly Moody, and they are the parents of five children: Christian, Lottie, Della, Louise and August.
The other children, too, have grown up, and since finishing school in Granite City have taken up their work in life. William is em- ployed in the flour mill of Edwardsville. His wife was formerly Miss Kate Diebolt, and they have two children, Mildred and Edward. The girls, Lena and Dora, are both married, the former to Mr. William Smith, a member of the firm of the Edwardsville Dry Goods Company, and the latter to Charles Hess, a farmer of this county. There are two chil- dren in the Hess family, Della and Christian. Mrs. Smith has three children, Alvin, Wilma and Augusta.
In 1903 Mrs. Ahrens passed to the other life, leaving an enviable record as a friend, a wife and a mother. Two years later Mr. Ah- rens wedded Mrs. Christina Ruwisch. She was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1847, and by her first marriage was the mother of six children. These are: Mrs. Edward Streiber, of Granite City ; Mrs. Fritz Kinneman, of St. Louis; Mrs. William Kneuffing, of Granite City; Henry Ruwisch, a retired farmer of Nameoki township; George Ruwisch, also a farmer, living on the home place; and Otto, who resides in East Alton, where he is em- ployed by the Cartridge Manufacturing Com-
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