USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II > Part 63
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EDMUND C. BARDSLEY. The line of de- marcation between the indoors man and the outdoors man is a thin and wavering one, at times almost indistinguishable. There is no indoors man who has not a subconscious self that wants out doors more or less of the time. E. C. Bardsley has been more or less of an outdoors man all of his life, hav- ing now returned to the land, though in a dif- ferent connection from that with which he started in. He lives in the busy world in that he is intensely interested in its advancement and has done and is doing his utmost to fur- ther that end. On the other hand, he lives close to nature and can understand to a modified degree its inscrutable workings. He is a public benefactor and a private ideal- ist. He has the refinement that contact with people brings and the simplicity that is de- rived from communion with nature.
He was born in Helvetia township, Madi- son county, Illinois, January 23, 1875. His father, Edmund W. Bardsley, is a native of New Jersey. He married Mary Marcoot and spent most of his life on a farm. In 1883 he moved to Pocahontas, Illinois, where he only stayed five years. In 1888 he moved on
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to a farm near Grand Forks, Illinois. In 1895 he moved into Collinsville, where he still lives with his wife.
Edmund was the third son of his parents. He lived in his native township until he was eight years old, not yet having started to go to school. These eight years were spent on the farm, gaining health and strength and in- cidentally learning a great deal about the methods of farming. When he was eight years old he went with his parents to Poca- hontas, Illinois, where he attended the district school. When he was thirteen years old the family again moved, this time to a farm near Grand Forks, Illinois. He again entered the district school, working on the farm in the summer time. After he had finished his schooling he stayed on the farm until he was twenty years old, when he moved to Collins- ville with his parents. He learned to be an electrician, working at this business until 1906, when he went into the feed and farm implement business. He is still connected with that business. Towards the close of 1909 he began to dabble in real estate and since that time has made real estate trades in Collinsville and in Troy.
In 1902 he married Odessa Jacobs, of Troy, Illinois, where she spent her whole life previous to her marriage: She graduated from the Academy in Troy. One child was born to the union in 1909; they named the little girl Edna.
Mr. Bardsley is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, where he is an earnest worker. He is a member of the city and township school boards, on which he has done excellent work. For the past two years he has been financial secretary of the Mer- chants' Association. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias, holding membership in the Von Moltke Lodge, No. 297. He is also a member of Modern America fraternal order. In politics he is a Republican, having already done very efficient work for his party. Mr. Bardsley is a man who is interested in many things, but perhaps that is the reason he is such a companionable man to be with. There is hardly any subject which does not arouse enthusiasm in him, education, religion, politics, business, all being subjects in which he is vitally interested. Since he first came to Collinsville he has done much for the city and for his native county.
PHILIP SCHWAAB. America has been likened to a great melting-pot into which all the nations of the earth are cast in a constant tide of immigration, the result being the
American citizen, virile, progressive, with his fine ideas of freedom and independence. It is generally acknowledged that one of the most desirable elements which enter into the great crucible is the German, the nation hav- ing everything to gain and nothing to lose from the assimilation of this brainy, honest and generally admirable stock, which has given to the world so many of her greatest geniuses. To the Fatherland is Collinsville and Madison county indebted for one of their excellent citizens, Philip Schwaab, city treas- urer of Collinsville. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, March 3. 1861, and is the son of William Schwaab, a German school-teacher, and his wife, whose maiden name was Helen Loe. The father died in 1905, and the mother died in 1911. These worthy people were the parents of seven living children, Philip and Fred being the only ones to cross the Atlantic to seek their fortunes in the newer country. Fred is a resident of Boston and is a station- ary engineer.
Philip Schwaab received his early educa- tion in the public schools of his native land; at the age of twelve he left the public institu- tion and became a student in the Latin school, where he continued until the age of sixteen years. Following the conclusion of his edu- cation he became a clerk in a law office for three years, and it was primarily to escape military service that he left for the United States, in 1880. Upon arriving here he went to New Madrid, Missouri, where his cousin was operating a saw-mill, and he there re- mained for two years. The year 1882 marks his first identification with Collinsville, and thus almost thirty years of his life have here been passed. His first occupation was as a coal miner and his connection with mining in its various phases continued until December 7, 1910. For nearly eight years he served as secretary of Miners' Union, No. 685, and for twenty-four years he has acted as secretary of St. Joseph's Benevolent Society. He is a Republican in his political convictions and has ever proved willing to do everything in his power for the support of its causes. It was on the labor ticket that Mr. Schwaab was elected city treasurer and his elevation to this office has proved a satisfactory arrangement to all concerned. He is a most faithful and competent official, and his books are models, being kept in the neatest and plainest style. He is a communicant of SS. Peter and Paul's Catholic Church and is one of the trus- tees of the Catholic Knights of America. He is a considerable property owner pos-
Cup Boynton
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sessing not only the desirable place upon which he makes his home, but two others as well.
Mr. Schwaab laid the foundation of a happy marriage by his union, April 18, 1887, to Mary Verharst, daughter of Peter and Mary Verharst, and a native of the State of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Schwaab have five children living, as follows: Philip, Jr., born in December, 1888; Joseph, in 1892; Mamie, in 1898; Arthur, in 1900, and Raymond, in 1902.
WILLIAM PARKER BOYNTON. An able and influential member of the Madison County Bar, William Parker Boynton, of Alton, Illi- nois, is distinguished not alone for his skill and astuteness as a lawyer, but for the hon- ored ancestry from which he traces his de- scent. Mr. Boynton cherishes with much pride his family "Coat of Arms." The rec- ords in his possession show that not far from the North Sea, in the eastern part of York- shire, bordering on the town of Bridlington, England, still stands the ancient village of Boynton, where for several centuries the fam- ily lived, and from whence the name is de- rived.
The family at an early period sent forth branches into neighboring villages. East Hes- lerton and Wintringham were for several gen- erations the abode of that branch whose de- scendants, William and John, in 1638 settled in New England. Although the village of Boynton must have existed long before the Norman Conquest, it is not until 1067 or a year after the "Battle of Hastings" that the name is met with as a surname. In that year Bartholomew de Boynton was seized of the Manor of Boynton, and was succeeded by his son, Walter Boynton, who was living in 1091. Thereafter we meet with Bruis de Boynton, whose name appears in a document dated II29, A. D.
From 1159, A. D., when Sir Ingram de Boynton, Knight, was living, William Parker Boynton, VI, the subject of our sketch, traces an unbroken line of descendants representing twenty-seven generations, and covering a con- tinuous period of over seven hundred and fifty years, the chronological order being as follows :
Sir Ingram de Boynton I, Knight, living in II59, his son,
Thomas de Boynton I, his son,
Robert de Boynton I, living in 1205, his son,
Ingraham de Boynton I, living in 1235 and 1258, his son,
Walter de Boynton I, living in 1273, his son,
Ingraham de Boynton I, living in 1272 and I307, his son,
Sir Walter de Boynton II, Knighted in 1356, being in the service of the Prince of Wales in Brittany, his son,
Sir Thomas de Boynton II, Knight, his son,
Sir Thomas Boynton III, Knight, his son,
Sir Henry Boynton I, Knight, living in 1405 and fought with the Earl of Northum- berland against Henry IV, his son,
William Boynton I, his son,
SirThomas Boynton IV, Knight, living in 1408, his son,
Sir Christopher Boynton I, Knight, seated at Sadbury, in Yorkshire, his son,
Sir Christopher Boynton II, Knight, also of Sadbury, his son,
Robert Boynton II, of East Heslerton, dying in 1526, his son,
James Boynton I, of Wintringham, dying in 1534, his son,
Roger Boynton I, of Wintringham, dying in 1558, his son,
William Boynton II, of Knapton, Wint- ringham, dying in 1615, his son,
William Boynton III, of Knapton, Wint- ringham, his son,
William Boynton IV, was born at Knapton, WVintringham, in 1606, and his brother, John (born in 1614), in the year 1637, joined an expedition fitted out under the auspices of Sir Matthew Boynton, and others, who had made extensive preparations for a settlement in New England. The cause of the Puritans, at that time becoming much brighter under the direction of Oliver Cromwell, Sir Matthew Boynton remained behind and cast his for- tunes with that famous leader, and later proved of great service to him. The re- mainder of the party embarked at Hull in the autumn of 1638 and landed at Boston the same year. Many of the families were wealthy, and purchased a tract of land sit- uated between the towns of Newbury and Ips- wich, in what is now Essex county, Massa- chusetts, and founded the town of Rowley, naming it in memory of the old town of Row- ley, in Yorkshire, England, which had for many years been the home of their pastor, Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, who accompanied them to their new home. William Boynton IV, was
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
assigned a lot on Bradford street. He subse- quently bought additional land, and as his children grew to years of maturity, gave each a farm. He is spoken of in the town records as a planter and weaver, and in his deeds as a tailor. He taught school in Rowley from 1656 until 1681, and is believed to have been the first school teacher in the place. His son,
Joshua Boynton I, was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, March 10, 1646. During the Narragansett war he served under Major Ap- pleton, and was with Captain Brocklebank when the latter was slain by the Indians, at Sudbury, in April, 1676. His son,
William Boynton V, was born May 26, 1690. Living first in Byfield Parish, New- bury, he later removed to Kingston, New Hampshire, early in the year 1730. His son, John Boynton II, was born in Meredith, New Hampshire, May 4, 1756. He was captain of a military company. Sometime after 1805 he moved to Windsor, Province of Quebec, where he died in 1841. His son,
Noah Boynton I, was born in Wheelock, Vermont, February 28, 1802, but was reared and educated at Quebec. He married Lu- cinda Vinton, at Windsor, in 1826. There- after returning to the United States, he lived with his family for sometime at Galena, Illi- nois, later removing to Jerseyville, Illinois, where his death occurred, January 30, 1884. His family included six sons and three daugh- ters.
John Edson Boynton III, the youngest son of the parental household, was fifteen years of age when the Civil war began. He, to- gether with three of his brothers, two brothers-in-law and a nephew, responded to President Lincoln's call to arms. John Edson Boynton entered the army as a re- cruit in Company H of the Thirty-first Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry, serving in the Twelfth Army Corps, First Division of the Third Brigade, under "Fighting Joe" Hooker. Later he served as dispatch carrier under General Henry W. Slocum, and was with that noted officer in Sherman's "March to the Sea," and through the Carolinas, and finally participated in the Grand Review at Washing- ton, being honorably discharged some weeks later at Louisville, Kentucky. On August 2, 1876, John Edson Boynton was united in mar- riage with Maria L. Beatty, who was born in New York city, on August 27, 1849. Four children were born of this union, including : Chester, a son, and Lucile, the only daughter, who died in infancy, and William Parker
Boynton VI, and John Edson Boynton IV, the latter a mechanical engineer by profession and now professor at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania.
William Parker Boynton VI, was born at Jerseyville, Illinois, August 31, 1878. While attending the public schools he worked with his father in the manufacturing of jewelers' tools, inventions which the latter was then placing upon the market, and soon acquired a liking for mechanics. He served a short ap- prenticeship as delivery boy for a local groc- eryman, and later worked in the car shops of his native city. In the spring of 1898 Mr. Boynton graduated with honors from the Jer- seyville High School, responding for his class at the annual banquet tendered by the Alumni Association of his alma mater.
It was then his intention to become an elec- trical engineer, but receiving a kindly invita- tion from his uncle, General Edwin E. Bry- ant, Dean of the College of Law of the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, to come to Madison and act as his private secretary and study law, Mr. Boynton accepted, and in the fall of 1898, entered upon a course of legal study. In June, 1901, he received the degree of Bache- lor of Law from the University of Wisconsin and a license to practice both in that state and in the Federal Courts. During the summer of 1901 he pursued still further his studies, in the office of state's attorney George M. Seago, at his old home in Jerseyville, being admitted to practice in Illinois in October of that year.
Mr. Boynton remained at home until about the first of May, 1902, when he came to Alton, his father's old home, to begin the practice of his chosen profession. Of a pleasant tem- perament and an obliging disposition, he made friends from the beginning. His standing as a man of sterling worth and integrity has never been questioned. He honors well the reputation inherited from a distinguished line of ancestors.
On June 25, 1907, Mr. Boynton was united in marriage with Miss Jessie M. Harris, daughter of William L. and Elizabeth Harris, of Alton, Illinois, a bright and popular teacher in the Alton public schools. But grief as- sumed the part of promised joy, and the hap- piness of wedded life terminated in her death, which occurred February 20, 1908.
Fraternally Mr. Boynton is a member of Fleur de Lis Lodge, K. of P .; Robin Hood Camp, M. W. A .; Alton Lodge, B. P. O. E .; and the Sons of Veterans. In politics he has always adhered strongly to the Republican
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
party, and has frequently taken the stump in its behalf. In city politics he has for a num- ber of years been an active figure, where he is known as an earnest and ready debater and a tireless campaigner. For three successive elections Mr. Boynton espoused the cause of Hon. Ed. Beall for mayor, and was largely in- strumental in procuring the big majorities by which that popular candidate was three times chosen chief executive of Alton. From 1905 to 1911, for a period of six consecutive years, Mr. Boynton filled the office of city comptrol- ler, with great credit to himself and honor to the city.
Enjoying the confidence of a large acquaint- ance, possessed of a keen intellect, a ready wit, fluent of speech, attentive to business, a diligent student, a hard worker, sober, honest and industrious, Mr. Boynton has built up a splendid practice. Apart from his numerous law books he possesses a fine library of the world's best literature. He is especially fond of poetry, history and travel. In the line of recreation his chief delight is hunting and boating, but he never allows these pastimes to interfere with his work. Mr. Boynton has acquired an enviable reputation as a forcible and entertaining speaker. His services in this capacity, especially on public occasions, are much sought after. He is at his best when talking to the "Old Soldiers." Commenting upon a recent "Memorial Day Address," a lo- cal paper said : "Mr. Boynton has been known to make some delightful speeches, but he out- did anything he had before attempted. In- spired with patriotic fire, with a moving pathos at times, those who were within hear- ing distance of him were entranced by the flow of words, the beauty of thought ex- pressed and the speaker's manifest sincerity and earnestness."
ALEXANDER C. POWELL. One of the ablest young civil engineers of Madison county is Alexander C. Powell, who is connected with various Illinois coal companies, among them the Lumaghi Coal Company. He stands for all that is best in good citizenship and is the scion of a family well and favorably known in this section. Alexander C. Powell was born April 25, 1876, the son of A. M. Powell, at one time a practicing physician at Collins- ville, Illinois, and his wife, Louise (Davison) Powell, the latter of old Virginia stock. The mother was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, and came from that state with her parents, who took up their residence in Missouri some time previous to the Civil war. The sub-
ject's paternal grandparents were also of Vir- ginia stock, but his father was born in Ken- tucky. That gentleman, when of age, mi- grated to Missouri and was there married for the first time in Saline county. To this union two children were born, but both are now deceased. The subject is one of the six children born to the second marriage, five of whom are still living, as follows: Nan, wife of J. E. Combs, of St. Joseph, Missouri; Kate L., wife of W. E. Hadley, of Edwards- ville, Illinois; Margaretta, wife of L. H. Kraft, of Collinsville; and Alexander C. and Maury D., both of Collinsville, Illinois.
A. M. Powell was a graduate of the St. Louis Medical College, and after receiving his degree in the famous institution which has prepared so many men noted in the pro- fession he came to Collinsville, Illinois, where he conducted an apothecary's shop in connec- tion with the practice of medicine and sur- gery. In subsequent years he engaged in the practice of medicine in association with his son by his first wife, McDonald Monroe, who was at one time in his career a staff physisian in the Missouri State Penitentiary. He pre- ceded his father to the Great Beyond, his de- mise occurring in 1897, while A. M. Powell survived until 1906, practicing until the last and being beloved as the kindly friend and efficient doctor of hundreds of families.
In his boyhood Alexander C. Powell at- tended the public schools in Collinsville, fin- ishing his course in the same in 1894. He then studied civil engineering under the direc- tion of E. G. Helm, who at that time was civil engineer of East St. Louis. After three years' study he was employed as instrument man by the International Construction Com- pany, which at that time was engaged in build- ing the straight line from East St. Louis to Edwardsville. Ambitious to become pro- ficient in the field he had chosen to enter, he matriculated in the Valparaiso (Indiana) University, and continued in that institution until February, 1900, giving his full time to perfecting his knowledge of civil engineering. He then returned to Collinsville and since, for more than a decade, he has been em- ployed by the Lumaghi Coal Company and also in city work in various cities throughout the state. He is also employed by a number of other coal companies and his services are highly esteemed by all. He engages, in short, in municipal as well as civil engineering.
Mr. Powell established an independent household when, on November 20, 1905, he
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was united in marriage to Estella Boso, daughter of Thomas B. Boso, of Mackinaw, Illinois. This happy union has been blessed by the birth of one child, Catherine, aged five years. Mr. Powell is a member of the ancient and august Masonic order and enjoys popularity in fraternal ranks, being also affili- ated with the Modern Woodmen of America. He is liberal in his political views, in local matters esteeming the better man and the better measure far above mere partisanship, while in national politics he is Republican. In evidence of the confidence in which he is held as a citizen and a skilled workman is the fact that for five years he has held the office of city engineer.
ALEXANDER W. CRAWFORD. Prominence in public and business affairs has been charac- teristic of the Crawford family of Madison county for the last half century. One of the best known men in the public affairs of this part of the state is Mr. A. W. Crawford, the general manager of the Collinsville Electric Company. His father, Robert W. Crawford, who was a native of Ireland, resided for many years in the vicinity of Godfrey. Forty years ago he was one of the influential lead- ers in Democratic politics, and served as sheriff one term and as county commissioner two terms. His wife was Ann (Squire) Crawford, a native of England.
Mr. A. W. Crawford was the oldest of their six children, and was born at Godfrey, Feb- ruary 8, 1861, was reared on a farm two miles from that town and received his early edu- cation in the district school. He began his business career as a traveling salesman, con- tinuing for two years. He has been an ac- tive and successful business man for a num- ber of years and has been identified with many large enterprises. His public career has been of still larger scope. He is one of the Democratic leaders of southern Illinois. His first important local office was township supervisor of Godfrey township, serving in that capacity two terms. For twelve years he was secretary of the Democratic county ex- ecutive committee, and for eight years was chairman of the senatorial district commit- tee for Madison county. During Cleveland's first administration he was postmaster at God- frey, and under the second administration of. that president was appointed United States live-stock inspector at St. Louis.
He resigned this office to engage in the coal business in Williamson county, Illinois, where he was a resident one year, and then moved
to Girard to take the superintendency of a coal mine there. He was elected mayor of Girard and served two terms, and while a resident of that city was elected a member of the state board of equalization for the twenty- first district. This important position he still holds. For a number of years Mr. Crawford's chief business interests have consisted in coal mining and coal lands. He has bought and sold several thousand acres of coal lands, and is still interested in one of the large mines of Montgomery county, of which he is superin- tendent. He is a resident of Hillsboro, Illi- nois, and is general superintendent of the Collinsville Electric Company and directs one of the most important public corporations of the county.
Fraternally Mr. Crawford is a member of the lodge and chapter of the Masonic order at Girard, and is also affiliated with the order I.lks. His first wife was Miss Jennie Stewart, of Godfrey, who died in 1893. Their three children are: Alexander M., in the coal business at Hannibal, Missouri; William P., a traveling salesman; and Mrs. Leroy A. Maxwell, of Alton. At his second marriage Miss Maude A. Boyd, of Godfrey, became his wife. They have three children: John T., aged eleven; Mary A., aged eight; and Sue H., aged six.
CHARLES H. F. JOHANN, the enterprising florist of Collinsville, is a native of Madison county and has been engaged throughout his active career in the cultivation of a farm and the culture of fine plants and flowers.
Henry Johann, as he is more popularly known in this vicinity, was born near Collins- ville, July 12, 1859. His parents, Charles and Mary (Auhann) Johann, were both born in Germany, where they were reared and where they married, and thence came to this country and located in Collinsville township, where they spent the rest of their lives. There were three children in the family, Henry, Hannah and Louise. Hannah is the wife of Henry Buse, and Louise is the wife of Charles Jung- haus.
The forty-acre farm where he now lives and where he has his greenhouses is the place on which Mr. Johann was reared. He at- tended the district school until he was thir- teen years old, and then had to quit and go to work. His father died when he was ten years old, and thus from an early age he was a worker both for himself and others. Through honesty, upright dealings, and a thorough knowledge of his business and skill
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