Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II, Part 67

Author: Norton, Wilbur T., 1844- , ed; Flagg, Norman Gershom, 1867-, ed; Hoerner, John Simon, 1846- , ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 868

USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II > Part 67

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Having built a school system from a one- room district school to a complete city sys- tem from the kindergarten to the high school, so that today Granite City is regarded as hav-

ing one of the best school systems in this part of the state, puts Professor Frohardt in a class almost by himself, as not one out of a thousand school men has passed through so unique an experience. Nevertheless, he feels very humble over his favorable record. Just recently one of the most prominent ladies in Madison county, speaking of his un- usual success remarked, "You certainly must feel proud of your achievements in your line of work." "No," he remarked, "I do not feel proud, but I feel humbly grateful to a kind Providence who has given me many friends and made it possible for me to suc- ceed." He feels a firm conviction that each one in this life has his God-given mission to fulfill, and that unless God's blessings accom- pany our efforts, they will be little avail. "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."

KARL ESPENSCHIED, One of the oldest and most progressive farmers of Alhambra town- man Fatherland, and is well worthy of his great birth-land as of the country which he adopted as his home in his youth and in which he has so prospered as an agriculturist and a citizen. He was born in Germany in 1836, a son of Peter and Phillipine (Spies) Espen- schied, and in 1853 immigrated to the United States with his parents. After a voyage of forty-two days he landed at New York, going thence to St. Louis (where he remained a year) and finally locating in Alhambra town- ship, Madison county. The other children of the family were Elizabeth, Fred (now de- ceased), Jacob, Phillipine, Louis, Katharine, Peter, Henry and Fred.

Like other young men in similar circum- stances, Karl worked for various farmers of the township and county, but finally his indus- try and hard-headed management enabled him to purchase one hundred acres of land, which formed the basis of his homestead and future prosperity. His father had died in 1855, two years after the family came to America, and he had remained at home with his widowed mother, managing the farm and caring for her until his marriage, in 1859, to Miss Lena Schmidt ; nor did his care then cease, although his responsibilities were more divided. Mr. Espenschield's wife was of a well known family, her brothers and sister being Martin, Fred, Andrew and Mary Schmidt all of whom obtained their education at the Marine school. Lena Schmidt, as Mrs. Espenschied, proved a stanch helpmate to her husband, and their affairs so prospered that the family es-

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY

tate increased in extent from year to year until it now consists of 310 acres of land, thor- oughly cultivated, beautified by shade and fruit trees and a large and attractive brick! residence, and its value as a fine piece of coun- try property further increased by the erection of adequate and modern farm and stock build- ings.

Born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Karl Espenschied have been the following children : Henry, Louisa, Katharine, Charles, Fred, Caroline and Phillipine. They were educated in the Seibert school. As regards Katharine, it may be stated that she married William Mug- ler and bore him four children: Sophia, Will- iam, Caroline and Charles; that she is now a widow and, with her four children, makes her home with her grandparents.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Espenschied are active and leading members of the German Evan- gelical church of Marine, and can revert with just pride to the long and honorable succes- sion of events which have formed their mar- ried lives of over half a century in Madison county. Doubtless the source of their deepest pride is found in their children and grand- children. Among the latter are Caroline and Sophia, both capable teachers and most at- tractive girls -- Miss Sophia having taught very successfully for one year at the Hickory Grove school in Morrow township. Mention of the relatives must also include reference to Richard Weissenborn, a nephew of Mr. Espenschied, who is a resident of St. Louis, and a well known contractor of brick work. Evidences of his skill and good taste abound in the residence which has lately been com- pleted, as Mr. Weissenborn came from the Missouri city specially to construct it. Within the ample walls of this Espenschied home- stead are often gathered numerous friends and relatives ; so that it is the center of much of the best social and church life of the town- ship. Mr. and Mrs. Espenschied are most genial hosts and altogether exert a wholesome and elevating influence on their home com- munity.

EDWARD W. HILKER. Builders of cities have ever been given higher meed of praise than conquering generals who destroyed them. Since man first learned to hew the shaft and lay the architrave the builder has been in the vanguard of progress, for without his skill and efforts habitations for business or for resi- dence could not exist. It was an opportunity such as this that was recognized as existing at Madison, Illinois, by Edward W. Hilker, who

at once laid out extensive yards, stocked with all kinds of builders' supplies, and who in these preparations for others' building has builded for himself an extensive business. Mr. Hilker's activities in Madison date back to 1892, when he moved there from St. Louis. Madison was in its infancy then, but it gave promise of a robust and vigorous maturity, and foreseeing this Mr. Hilker determined to grow with the city. He secured an admirably located tract of ground in the center of the city and put in a complete line of structural supplies, such as brick, lime and cement, add- ing to these warehouses for feed and bins for coal.

His success was instant, and in 1903 he laid out new and larger buildings, which dwarfed those in which he made his start. The vast increase in the use of cement for buildings, sidewalks, retaining walls and the like, caused his business to grow to great proportions, and he supplies much surrounding territory. In 1906 the plant was removed to Granite City, Sixteenth and State streets, where the build- ings are seven in number, including a coal pocket with a capacity of twenty cars and the the only one in Southern Illinois, a lime house, cement house, hay warehouse, grain elevator, plaster house and an office building. The plant also maintains switching facilities for twenty cars, and each and every department is modern in its slightest detail.

To this exalted position Mr. Hilker has ad- vanced from a minor clerkship. A son of August and Caroline (Fritz) Hilker, he was born in St. Louis, Missouri, December 18, 1866, and was there educated in the common schools. Beginning his active career at the age of sixteen years, he was employed as a clerk in the various dry goods stores of his native city, including the concerns of William Barr, Flower and Jessup & Davis. For four years he was with Charles Bauer, successor to the firm of Overstolz & Schroeder.

Politics has been a deep study with Mr. Hilker, and he has been consistently active in Republican ranks. In 1896 he was appointed postmaster by President Mckinley, and was reappointed by President Roosevelt, serving continuously in that capacity for thirteen years. He served one term in the city council, has been a member of the Republican county executive committee, and has other affiliations of a prominent nature. He is an Elk and a Mason of high rank.

Mr. Hilker married in 1891 Matilda B. Rup- penthal, a lady of refinement and culture, who

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY

was born, bred and educated in the city of St. Louis.

JOSEPH B. PEARCE, the popular mayor of Alhambra, Madison county, Illinois, and a re- tired farmer and stockman, belongs to a famı- ily which has been prominent in the state for upwards of a hundred years. All law-abiding people pride themselves on placing their very best citizens in positions of power in munici- pal offices, and a man of the calibre of Mayor Pearce is not apt to be permitted to remain in the background.

Mr. Pearce's birth occurred on the tenth day of March, 1847, in Olive township, Madi- son county, Illinois. His grandparents, James and Lucinda (Allison) Pearce, were natives of Kentucky, where they lived until after their marriage and until after the birth of their son, William W., who made his first appearance into the world on the twentieth day of June, 1815. When he was but an infant the family migrated to Illinois, where the children grew up, received an excellent education and proved to be a credit to the careful training of their parents. The family passed through many privations and experienced many hardships peculiar to pioneer life. William W. early manifested a taste for trading in live stock, his first proud possession being a pair of matched calves, which he traded for a pre- emption right and improvements on eighty acres of land. The "improvements" consisted of five acres of broken and fenced-in land, on which was'a log cabin. Two years after enter- ing this he was enabled to farm this whole tract of land. Very few settlements were es- tablished at that time, and the whole country abounded in wild game, deer, turkey, etc. Mr. Pearce turned a natural love of the chase to a moneyed account, found a ready market in St. Louis for all the game he could shoot, and the profits thus gained he used for the pur- chase of more land. In this manner he entered about one thousand acres of land. He became a man of prominence in the com- munity and occupied a seat in the Illinois legis- lature, as did his brother, Dr. F. M. Pearce. When a young man William Pearce was united in marriage to Miss Barbara Allen Vin- cent, named in honor of the old-time poem which was so dear to the hearts of her family. She was a life-long resident of Madison county, as her birth occurred in Olive town- ship in 1818, and in that same part of the county she passed the residue of her days. She became the mother of five children,-Lu-

cinda, Martha, William W., Joseph B. and Louise.

Joseph B. Pearce remained at home with his family until the fall of 1878, when he left the parental roof, but did not leave the township for a couple of years. In 1880 he purchased forty-four acres of land in Alhambra town- ship and he gradually evolved the beautiful home which he owns today. The house itself is attractive and is surrounded by an extensive lawn and fine shade trees. From time to time Mr. Pearce has added to his holdings until to- day he is the owner of a fine farm two miles north of Alhambra, three hundred acres of fine land on the cast half of section 35, town- ship 6, range 6. This farm is superintended by Mayor Pearce's two sons, Allan V. and Roger, and they cultivate wheat, corn and oats, and also raise live stock.

In the fall of 1878 Mayor Pearce was mar- ried to Miss Annie Sharp, a daughter of Henry and Margaret J. Sharp. Henry Sharp was one of the prominent characters in the old pio- neer days. He was born in a fort near Car- lyle, Clinton county, where his parents had temporarily located, having migrated from St. Clair county, Illinois, and he was the first white child born in what is now Clinton county. At the time of his nativity the state was one vast wilderness, in which elk, deer, bears, panthers and other wild animals abounded. Grandfather Sharp was a soldier in the war with the Indians in 1812. Father Sharp obtained his education in a log cabin, and at the age of nineteen he commenced to teach in that same school. He was a student of McKendree College of Lebanon, Illinois, and was always seeking for knowledge. Be- tween the years of fourteen and twenty-three he was never known to retire until after eleven o'clock, unless his father insisted, and the eve- ning was occupied by reading and study. In 1842, on the twenty-third day of October, Mr. Sharp married Miss Margaret Mills, of Ken- tucky, and during the fifty-three years of their wedded life Mr. Sharp maintained with pride that no unkind word had ever passed between them. Mr. Sharp was an independent thinker and outspoken in the expression of his con- victions ; his life was such that it commanded the respect of the community in which he lived. He was a justice of the peace for twenty-five years in Bond county and after he removed to Alhambra township he was elected to the same office, and continued to hold that high position until his death, which occurred

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY

at his home in Alhambra, December 30, 1895. His widow still lives, at the age of eighty-nine, and is a remarkably well preserved woman, enjoying life in the home of her daughter, whose thoughtful attention and loving care contribute much towards her happiness in the setting sun of life. Her children are,-Mary, wife of John McAlister, of Keysport, Illinois ; Milton M., of Greenville, Illinois ; Thomas C., who resides in East St. Louis ; Betty (Mrs. L. J. Harris), living in Boulder, Illinois; and Mrs. Pearce. Mayor Pearce's wife is a lady of fine, prepossessing appearance, a woman of culture, whose presence adds grace to her hus- band's official position. Mayor and Mrs. Pearce are the parents of five children,-Allan V., who married Miss Della Hauskins, of Alhambra township, a daughter of Edward and Lizzie Hauskins; Davis, who died in in- fancy; Betty, who married Dr. C. A. Dodson ; Morrison and Roger. Roger, on the tenth of October, 19II, married Miss Emma Giersch- ner, of Alhambra township.

Mrs. Betty Dodson is the mother of little Lucian, a bright, attractive, three-year-old boy. Mother and son maintain their home with Mayor Pearce. Mrs. Betty Dodson is a graduate of Hardin College of Missouri, in both music and scholastic subjects. A skilled musician herself, she has also successfully taught music for several years. She believes that one of the most honored callings of life is to impart knowledge to others and has just re- ceived the appointment of principal of the Al- hambra school for the year 1912.

In his political sympathies Mayor Pearce is a Democrat, but he is broad in his views and every time he votes for the man who will best serve the public, regardless of the party to which he may claim allegiance. For years Mr. Pearce was one of the members of the move- ment to incorporate the town of Alhambra, and since they succeeded in their efforts, in 1884, he has been incumbent of the following offices, --- supervisor of the township, assessor for several terms, school director and trustee, and for several terms he has filled the posi- tion of mayor of Alhambra, which office he now holds. The fact that he has been retained in these public places of trust is an indication that his service has been such as to reflect credit on the community. Mr. and Mrs. Pearce are deeply interested in spiritualistic views and each year attend the camp of that body at Clinton, Iowa. It must be a source of satisfaction to the Pearce family to realize the high esteem in which they are held by the

townspeople. In this age of graft and jeal- ousies it is truly refreshing to see a town so kindly interested in its mayor. The people seem to feel that he belongs to them.

THOMAS CALVIN CLARKE. Distinguished not only as one of the oldest native-born citi- zens of Madison county, but as one of the longest established merchants of Edwardsville, Thomas Calvin Clarke has been a dealer in groceries, flour and feed for forty-five or more years and is widely known as a man of undoubted integrity and sterling worth. He was born March 2, 1839, in Fort Russell town- ship, in the old house on the old farm upon which his grandfather had settled in 1804. This was two miles northwest of Edwards- ville. He is a son of Robert W. Clarke, and comes of substantial Irish ancestry, his grand- father Clarke having immigrated from Ire- land to America when young, locating in Penn- sylvania.

Robert W. Clarke was born in Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, near Blairville, Oc- tober 22, 1794. Following the march of civili- zation westward, he came to Madison county, Illinois, in early manhood, and having pur- chased a tract of wild land in Fort Russell township, devoted his energies to the redeem- ing of a farm from the primitive condition in which he found it. Succeeding well in his arduous task, he was there engaged in tilling the soil until his death, in 1845, at the com- paratively early age of fifty-one years. He was active in public affairs and belonged to the old-line Whig party. He married Emily Newman, who was born in Fort Russell town- ship, Madison county, Illinois, January I, 1809, a daughter of Joseph Newman, and of the nine children that blessed their union, Thomas Calvin, the subject of the sketch, is the sole survivor

Joseph Newman, maternal grandfather of Mr. Clarke, was born in Pennsylvania about the year 1755, and was the second pioneer in Fort Russell township, having settled there in 1804 with his wife, nee Rabb, and four chil- dren: Zadock, Maria, John and Andy. His father was born in Ireland, but he came to this country from England. It is believed that he married an Englishwoman, which is perhaps the reason that the southern New- mans claim to be of English descent. When he came to America he settled in Pennsyl- vania, where he reared a large family, seven of whom were sons. Six afterwards settled in the southern states and at the time of the Revolutionary war all of the sons lined up for

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY

independence and did their part toward win- ning it.

Joseph Newman was a millwright and boat- maker. He helped build a mill on the head waters of the Ohio river and constructed flat boats for his brother-in-law, John Rabb, who carried on a milling business at that early day, shipping flour from there to St. Louis at a time when St. Louis belonged to Spain. He and his family left their native state for the purpose of trying their fortunes in the wilds of the west. They reached Cincinnati, Ohio, from which point the mother and children, in company with other families who were push- ing westward, came across the country ( through the wilderness, as it was then called ) on pack horses. Among the families of these hardy few were the Fords, one of whom- Thomas-afterward became governor of the state of Illinois.

When his wife and children had started on, Joseph Newman constructed a small flat boat at Cincinnati to convey his goods and chattels, and thus made his way down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to St. Louis. He then joined his family when they came to what is now Fort Russell township, and they settled on section 34, about two miles northwest of where Edwardsville is now situated. He be- came a prominent citizen and served as the first road overseer in the county. On the first day of January, 1809, was born to Joseph Newman and his wife a daughter named Emily Newman, who was probably the first white child born in Fort Russell township. About the year 1815 Joseph Newman and his son John built a saw and grist mill on Indian creek in section 28. John Newman was an in- novator. He constructed the first frame house in the township, and was the first to start a store and sell goods in the township, or indeed in section 14. His wife died about 1816 and his own death occurred on August 9, 1826. His remains were the first to be in- terred in the graveyard located on the Bur- roughs farm, this being about three hundred yards east of the spot where he first built his pole cabin in 1804.

The subject's father, Robert W. Clarke, was born at or near Blairville, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, October 22, 1794. His father had settled there long before the Decla- ration of Independence. He was Irish and his wife was of the stock commonly called Penn- sylvania Dutch, and they had five children- James, John, William, Jane and Robert W. The brother James was a prominent church

member, a Democrat, and somewhat active in politics and he was talked of for governor of the state in 1841. William was lost on the warship "Wasp," in the war with England in 1812. Robert W. learned the carpenter's trade, and he was a Whig and a church member. He went west in 1823, locating in St. Louis, and working in the carpenter's business there until 1825. In that year he went to Edwards- ville, Illinois, and there on the thirtieth day of August he was married to Emily Newman, a. daughter of Joseph Newman, Rev. Thomas Lippencot performing the ceremony. He en- gaged in farming throughout the remainder of his life. They became the parents of nine children, only four of whom lived to mar- riageable age. These were Jane, Matthew, Thomas and Charles S. The sister died in 1871, at the age of forty-three years, leaving a child who died a few years ago. Matthew died at Alton, Illinois, March 13, 1877, aged forty-one, leaving two daughters and one son. They are all married, have families of their own and live at Alton. The youngest brother, Charles Springer, was a veteran of the Civil war and a mail carrier at Lawton, Oklahoma. He died there March 28, 1911, when about sixty-six years of age, and is buried in Wood- lawn cemetery, Edwardsville, Illinois. He left five children, two girls and three boys. The oldest boy is married and has a family of three children. He follows his father's occu- pation, being a mail carrier at Lawton, Okla- homa.

Thomas Calvin Clarke was left fatherless at an early age, his father dying when he was six years old, and his mother ten years later. He did not attend school until he was sixteen, his sister teaching him the elementary branches at home. After the age mentioned he attended the county schools two winters and the third winter he became a student at McKendree College at Lebanon, Illinois. On the twenty-sixth day of September, 1858, Mr. Clarke and Mary Jane Lelia Lewis, a daughter of Benjamin Lewis and Nancy Turner, were married by Rev. Babbet at the residence of Martin Turner, four miles northwest of Ed- wardsville. Mrs. Clarke was born at Ver- sailles, Illinois, May 1, 1842, and in 1851 went from there to Quincy, Illinois, and in 1856 to Edwardsville. Her father was born in Vir- ginia, February 8, 1807, and died at Quincy, Illinois, July 20, 1851. Her mother was born October 12, 1809, in Logan county, Kentucky, and her mother was Nancy Maradeth Ber- nard, of the well-known Bernard family of

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY

Kentucky. Mrs. Turner died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Amanda Crocker, at Dia- mond, Missouri, a few years ago.

Shortly after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Clarke started housekeeping in Alton, Illinois. The former spent the first winter clerking in a furniture store at $25 per month and in the spring he bought a small farm and went to farming in Fort Russell township. He sold this in 1864 and removed to Edwardsville, where he embarked in the teaming business, remaining thus engaged for about two years. On December 26, 1866, he bought out a small grocery business and he has continued in this business for forty-five years. His business has grown and he holds, by reason of his fine character and honest dealings, secure place in popular confidence and esteem.

Mr. Clarke's first wife died on February 17, 1874, aged thirty-one years and nine and a half months, leaving one son, Charles Robert, then eight years old, now forty-five years of age. He is a locomotive engineer, now living in Chicago, is married and has a family of his own, consisting of a son, aged twenty, and a daughter, aged eighteen. The subject was a second time married, September 7, 1876, Mrs. Anna S. McCorkell becoming his wife, and Rev. E. A. Hoyt officiating. She was the widow of J. L. McCorkell and the oldest daughter of George S. and Sophronia Rice. Her birth occurred on the fifteenth day of February, 1839, three miles northwest of Venice, Illinois. This worthy lady met a tragic death when, on the morning of April 15, 1891, she was shot in her bedroom by a negro burglar. She died two days later and was interred in Woodlawn. Her age at the time of her death was fifty-two years, two months and two days. She left one son, Roger Newman Clarke, then eleven years old, who was born September 8, 1879, in Edwardsville. He is a civil engineer and is in the south with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Rail- way Company. He is unmarried.

Mr. Clarke is a worthy, conscientious and public-spirited citizen and well deserving of representation in this work.

BAKER FAMILY. . David Jewett Baker, the founder of the family in Illinois, and who died at Alton August 6, 1869, at the age of seventy- seven, was one of the distinguished public men during the first half century of the state's political history. He was born at East Had- dam, Connecticut, September 7, 1792. His parents were Bayze and Johanna Baker. Both his grandfathers served in the Revolutionary

war. The family moved to New York in 1800, where David J. Baker was reared on a farm, prepared himself for college, and in 1816 graduated from Hamilton College. Several years later he was admitted. to the bar. By flatboat down the Ohio and thence on horse- back he arrived at Kaskaskia while that old town was still the Illinois capital. For several years he held the office of probate judge of Randolph county. In 1830 Governor Edwards appointed him United States senator to fill a brief vacancy. In 1833 he was appointed, by President Jackson, United States attorney for Illinois, and reappointed by Van Buren in 1837. In 1848 he was the unsuccessful candi- date, against Lyman Trumbull, for judge of the supreme court, but a number of years later one of his sons, David J. Jr., became chief justice of the Illinois supreme court.

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Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II, Part 67

Author: Norton, Wilbur T., 1844- , ed; Flagg, Norman Gershom, 1867-, ed; Hoerner, John Simon, 1846- , ed Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 868

Author: Norton, Wilbur T., 1844- , ed; Flagg, Norman Gershom, 1867-, ed; Hoerner, John Simon, 1846- , ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago ; New York : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 868