USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume II > Part 68
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In the political life of Illinois before the war David J. Baker was a conspicuous figure. His opposition to slavery in Illinois resulted in a personal collision between him and Gover- nor Reynolds on the streets of Kaskaskia. He assisted in the organization of the Republican party in 1854, and during the rest of his life was one of its prominent representatives in Illinois. His legal record is written perma- nently in the supreme court reports of this state, his services having been employed in many of the important cases that came before the chief tribunal.
In 1844 he took up his residence at Alton and for ten years adorned the bar of the city and county. His last years were spent in re- tirement at his old home in Middletown, where his death occurred. In a resolution prepared by the members of the supreme court, Sidney Breese, then chief justice and one of his close friends and associates, said: "He was a ripe scholar, a genial gentleman, a faithful friend, a true patriot and a Christian, and well worthy of the honors this day done to his memory." Mr. Baker was married twice. His first wife was Sarah T. Fairchild, who was born in Ge- neva, New York, and who died in 1859. His second wife was Elizabeth Swanwick, of Chester, Illinois. By his first wife there was a large family, numbering among them some of the distinguished men of the state. As al- ready mentioned, the son David J. Jr., became chief justice of the state of Illinois; E. L. Baker was United States consul at Buenos Ayres, and others were prominent in military life and the law.
One of these was the late Henry Southard Baker, whose career as a lawyer and in public
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affairs reflected honor upon Alton as his home city. Born at Kaskaskia, November 10, 1824, he received part of his education in Shurtleff College and later graduated from Brown Uni- versity. He studied law under his father's instruction, and on being admitted to the Illi- nois bar began practice at Alton in 1849. From the beginning of his career he took an active part in politics, and with the example of his illustrious father before him was a vigorous opponent of slavery. In the eventful political life of the fifties he was one who helped shape the future destinies of the state and nation. In 1855 he was elected to the state legislature as an anti-Nebraska Demo- crat, and his vote practically elected Lyman Trumbull, his fellow townsman, to the United States senate. He was a committee secretary at the national Republican convention of 1860, and in 1864 was a presidential elector. In 1865 he was elected judge of the city court of Alton and continued in that office until 1880. Judge Baker retired from active practice in 1888, but his influence as a citizen of the high- est character did not cease until his death, which occurred in Alton, March 5, 1897.
Judge Baker's first wife was Emily Blair Bailey, a native of Illinois, and her father at one time practiced law in Alton. She died in 1862. Judge Baker married for his second wife Mary F. Adams. There were three chil- dren by the first marriage and four by the sec- ond. Henry S., Jr., Sidney Breese and Jennie B. were children of the first wife. Henry S. Baker, Jr., is one of the ablest representatives of the Madison county bar, and is of the third generation of the name that has been identified with the law in this county and state. He was born in Alton in 1859, was admitted to the bar in 1883, and for the past thirty years has prac- ticed at Alton and has been honored with sev- eral local offices. Sidney Breese Baker, named for his grandfather's friend, Judge Breese, is also a native of Alton, and for a number of years has been actively identified with the river transportation interests.
HARRY BINNEY. Prominent among the great class of men who quietly build the pros- perity of our country, and at the plow can yet be said to turn the wheels of every factory in the land-the farmers-is Henry Binney, of Olive township, Madison county, Illinois. He was born in the township where he now lives, on September 16, 1870, the son of W. P. and Christine ( Webster) Binney and the grandson of John Binney. Both his father and grand- father were native sons of Great Britain and
bore many of the qualities that have made England's manhood famous. W. P. Binney immigrated to the United States when he was a boy of sixteen years of age, accompanied by a brother, locating first in St. Louis, whence they had come via New Orleans. The broth- ers did not stay long in St. Louis, but removed to Macoupin county, Illinois, in which place they followed the great basic industry of agri- culture.
It was during his stay in Macoupin county that Mr. Binney was united in marriage with Miss Christine Webster, who later became the mother of the immediate subject of this re- view. She was a native-born daughter of Scotland and came to the United States with her parents when she was a lassie of seven years. The family lived for several years in St. Louis before coming to Macoupin, where Christine met and married W. P. Binney. The first years of their married life they spent in Macoupin county, soon afterward moving to Olive township, Madison county, to the farm where their son Harry now lives. To their happy union were born twelve children, of whom the following survive at this date (1911), namely : John; Walter; Joseph, Thomas ; Charles ; Bessie, now the wife of Dr. Elliott, of Blackwell, Oklahoma; Mattie, now Mrs. Thomas Williamson, of Edwardsville ; Harry ; Robert ; and Jessie, the wife of G. W. Benn, of Dallas, Texas, with whom the mother has lived since the death of her hus- band in 1905.
On the eighteenth of February, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Harry Binney to Miss Carrie Elliott, of Alhambra, Illinois, the daughter of William Elliott. After their mar- riage the young couple came to Mr. Binney's father's farm and Mr. Binney has farmed on the home place ever since. This union has been blessed by the birth of three children, namely : Harry Elliott Binney, now four years old : Myron T., aged two ; and Meredith, a child of one year.
In his church relations Mr. Binney is a Presbyterian, having been reared in that faith, while his wife is a Methodist. Politically he is found in the ranks of the "Grand Old Party." Besides the seventy-four acres which he owns Mr. Binney farms 160 acres of Olive township land.
J. ALBERT YATES, the well known merchant of Collinsville, Illinois, made a very modest beginning. The men of his acquaintance are so accustomed to thinking of Al Yates, as they call him, being away at the top notch
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that they almost forget he was not born that way. We fall into or climb up to close fitting positions in the activities of life according to our varying sizes and values. All cannot be generals; most of us find our places in the ranks of soldiers. In either capacity there is full incentive for our best endeavors as well as fitting recompense for the highest grade of service. Civilizations in their earli- est stages maintain a premium on brawn and perseverance. As they grow older physical supremacy gives way to intellectual. America is rapidly emerging from the rule of muscular force and untutored intelligence to the sway of trained minds. In this age men who labor are valued by the amount of cash they can produce. The amount of wealth produced is generally governed by the intelligence brought to bear upon it. Mr. Yates is a born leader. It would be impossible to keep him within the ranks. He has produced and is producing cash. He has acquired and is ac- quiring prominence among the men of his county. This condition has not been brought about by accident, but is due to Mr. Yates' natural business abilities, united with an un- bounded capacity for work.
James Albert. Yates was born in Crawfords- ville, Indiana, March 30, 1865, the son of B. F. and Margaret (Garrett) Yates. His father was born in Kentucky and his mother in Virginia. They had three children. In 1865 they moved from Indiana to Missouri, where they farmed for nearly five years. They then felt that for the sake of their chil- dren it would be better for them to move into town, so they bought a store and estab- lished a trade in the grocery and hardware line.
When Al was a baby he went with his parents and his older sister to Missouri, where they lived on a farm until he was five years old. Then the family moved to Clarksville and he was educated in the public schools. When he was sixteen he left school and at the same time his home and Clarksville, start- ing out to make a career for himself. He came to St. Louis, Missouri, and gained a position as office boy in the wholesale grocery firm of Brookmire & Rankin. He made good and was promoted until he became traveling salesman in 1884. He traveled until 1892, when the firm sold out to the Bauer Grocery Company. Al Yates went with the new firm, being one of their best salesmen and traveled for them until 1896. By this time he had had enough of the wandering life and wished
to become permanently located. In 1897 he moved to Collinsville, Illinois, and invested his savings in the general merchandise busi- ness. He organized a company which went by the name of the Hustler Mercantile Com- pany, and it surely was rightly named. Mr. Yates was the president and general manager of this concern and he made things hum for six years, at the end of which time he felt drawn towards his old grocery business. He disposed of his interests in Collinsville and again went to St. Louis. He bought out the Kaiser Lindemann Wholesale Grocery Company and reorganized it under the name of the Yates Grocery Company. After three years he sold out to the Myer Schmidt. Gro- cery Company, retaining a share in the busi- ness. At the close of a year he sold out his interest in this firm. He went back to Col- linsville and purchased the stock and good will of Ambrosius & Son, organizing the firm under the name of Yates, Ambrosius Mer- cantile Company and he is now the president of this prosperous business and is the acting manager. In 1911 he purchased the entire stock and good will of the Hustler Mercantile Company, and moved the stock to the build- ing of the Yates-Ambrosius Company. He is a stockholder in the State Bank at Collins- ville. He is an active and important member of the Business Men's Club of his town, and is a man who has made his mark in the busi- ness world.
In 1901 he married Miss Josephine Hadley, a daughter of W. C. Hadley, of Collinsville. She received her education at the public schools of Collinsville and at the Monticello Seminary. Mr. and Mrs. Yates have three children: Bertha E., born in 1904; Albert, Jr., born in 1907; and Wilbur Clay Hadley, born in I9II.
Al Yates is a Mason, being a member of Collinsville Lodge, No. 712, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is also a mem- ber of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Knights of Pythias. He is a Demo- crat in politics, but, unfortunately for the town, has never taken any active part in pol- itics. It is possible that his friends may in- duce him to become a candidate for office in the near future, in which case his party would be the gainer. He is interested in the improvement and upbuilding of Collinsville and is a member of the Collinsville Improve- ment Association. During the twelve years which have elapsed since Mr. Yates first went to Collinsville he has accumulated large in-
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terests in the town. In his private life he is as great a success as he is in a business way. Ile is very popular among his friends, and there is no man in Collinsville whose acquaintance is more extensive. He is a power not only in Collinsville, but in the. whole of Madison county.
CHARLES T. KURZ. The history of a nation is nothing more than a history of the indi- viduals comprising it, and as they are char- acterized by loftier or lower ideals, actuated by the spirit of ambition or indifference, so it is with a state, county or town. Success along any line of endeavor would never be properly appreciated if it came with a single effort and unaccompanied by some hardships, for it is the knocks and bruises in life that make success taste so sweet. The failures ac- centuate the successes, thus making recollec- tions of the former as dear as those of the latter for having been stepping-stones to achievement. The career of Charles T. Kurz, editor and publisher at Highland, Illinois, but accentuates the fact that success is bound to come to those who join brains with ambition and are willing to work.
Charles R. Kurz was born at Hessen-Darm- stadt, Germany, the date of his nativity being the twenty-third of February, 1861, and he is a son of Philip and Barbara ( Huebner) Kurz, both of whom are now deceased. Philip Kurz was engaged in the grocery business in Ger- many during the greater portion of his active career, and he and his wife became the parents of two children, of whom the subject of this review was the second in order of birth. Charles T. Kurz was reared to maturity in his native land, and at the age of fourteen years he was confirmed in the German Lutheran church. Subsequently he attended a prepara- tory school at Lindenfels and for a time he was also a student in the gymnasium at Bensheim. In 1885 he decided to seek his fortunes in America and accordingly, after bidding farewell to native land and the friends of his youth, he embarked for the United States, landing in the harbor of New York city and proceeding thence to Butler county, Pennsylvania. He was or- dained to the Lutheran ministry in 1886 and his first pastorate was in Butler county, Penn- sylvania. In 1887 he went to St. Louis, Mis- souri, where he was for two years a most suc- cessful and popular teacher in the public schools. On the first of April, 1888, Mr. Kurz assumed charge of the German Lutheran church at Marine, Illinois, where he continued
as a minister of the gospel until the first of November, 1898. During that decade his work was dignified by great devotion to the cause of humanity and religion and he is everywhere honored and esteemed as a man whose broad human sympathy and innate kindliness of spirit make him eminently well worthy to preach the Gospel.
In 1898 Mr. Kurz decided to launch out into the newspaper business, with which line of enterprise he has continued to be identified during the long intervening years to the pres- ent time. On the fourth of September, 1900, he established the Leader at Highland, Illi- nois, having previously, purchased the Union from J. S. Hoerner. These two papers are both weeklies, the former being an English publication and the latter a German paper. Both have a phenomenal circulation at High- land and throughout Madison county. Mr. Kurz also owns and publishes the Schweizer- freund, a semi-monthly paper, the same being set up in German, as the name would indicate. The papers are all three conducted on Re- publican principles and they exert a powerful influence throughout this section of the state. Mr. Kurz is strictly a self-made man and as such his splendid success in life is the more gratifying to contemplate. He owns the plants in which his papers are published. has extensive real-estate interests in Madison county and is a stockholder in a number of representative banks in the county. He is a Republican in his political proclivities, and through the medium of his papers is a power- ful factor in the local councils of that organi- zation. Mr. Kurz is decidedly a loyal and public-spirited citizen and no measure ad- vanced for the good of the general welfare ever fails of his most ardent support.
At Marine, Illinois, on the seventeenth of September, 1800, Mr. Kurz was united in marriage to Miss Emma Thurnau, who was born and reared at Marine and who is a daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Thurnau. Mr. and Mrs. Kurz are the parents of two sons, Armin, who was graduated in the Highland high school and in the Barnes Business College, at St. Louis : and Waldemar, who is now attend- ing school at Highland. Mr. and Mrs. Kurz are very popular in connection with the best social activities of Highland, where their citizenship is characterized by all that tends to promote progress and improvement.
CHARLES MESSERLI. Alhambra township has no better representatives of thrift, honesty and practical ability than Charles Messerli, of
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that well known family which has done so much for the advancement of agriculture and good citizenship in this section of Madison county. He inherited a part of the old Mes- serli homestead, and his business-like manage- ment of his farming and his fruit interests have enabled him to invest in other valuable tracts, until he now owns 527 acres of produc- tive. and highly improved agricultural and horticultural properties. On his homestead he has developed one of the finest orchards in the county, comprising over one hundred apple and seventy-five peach trees; and has also fairly in bearing condition a thrifty young ap- ple orchard of five hundred trees.
Gottleib Messerli, the father of Charles Messerli, was the founder of the family for- tunes in Madison county. He with his good wife were both born in Bern, Switzerland, coming to this country in 1849. More ex- tended mention is made of the lives of the mother and father of Charles Messerli in a biographical sketch of William Messerli, a brother of Charles.
Charles Messerli was born on the old family homestead on January 26, 1863. He assisted his father with the work of the farm until the death of the latter, at which he inherited a large portion of the estate. He afterwards added so materially to it that, as stated, he is now the proprietor of large tracts of some of the finest farming and fruit lands in the county, and is a most worthy representative of the Swiss-American citizen.
On December 18, 1900, he was united in marriage with Miss Emma Wiesenmeyer, a daughter of Leonard and Mary (Vetter) Wiesenmeyer, natives of Germany, who at an early day came to Highland, where they wedded and prospered in worldly things, as well as in the accumulation of happiness and respect. In his young manhood the father was a cooper, afterward becoming a farmer. Sixteen children shared their lives, ---- William, now deceased, as are also Rosa and John; Joseph; Philip; Henry; Mary; Leonard; Lena; William; Ida; Albert, Katie; Minnie ; one who died in infancy, and Emma, now Mrs. Messerli ..
Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Messerli, as follows: Linda, who re- ceived a special award of honor for perfect attendance and punctuality at school in IgII ; Leila and Paulina, who barely missed the same honor ; Elmer and Leonard, twins; and Ollie, The parents are justly proud of their children, and they themselves are highly esteemed by Vol. II-23
their neighbors and townsmen for the hospi- tality, kindness, helpfulness and eagerness to aid in the furtherance of any movement of general benefit to the community.
J. G. SEITZ. One of Madison county's ster- ling citizens is J. G. Seitz, who is postmaster at Upper Alton, discharging the duties of that office with promptness and fidelity. He holds the record for length of time in which he has been postmaster here, and this is indeed well warranted, Mr. Seitz having ever proved an admirable servant of Uncle Sam. He is a native son of the state, his birth having oc- curred in 1860, at Tallula, Menard county. He is a son of Peter and Anne Seitz, both now deceased. Peter Seitz was a blacksmith by occupation and he removed from Illinois to New York state, where he was residing at the time of his death.
Mr. Seitz, immediate subject of this review, was educated in the common and high schools of Ellenville, New York, and in youth learned the trade of a glass blower, engaging in this work in Ellenville and Brooklyn. In 1887 he determined to return to his native state and removed from Brooklyn to Upper Alton from that date until 1902 working as a glass blower for the Illinois Glass Company. Upon his ap- pointment as postmaster of Upper Alton by President William McKinley, Mr. Seitz aban- doned his previous work to pay his entire at- tention to the duties of that office. His first appointment came on April 17, 1902, and he was reappointed by Presidents Roosevelt and Taft. He is one of the stanchest of Republi- cans politically and an active party worker, ever being ready to do anything in his power to support its causes. This is not the only of- fice in which he has given efficient service, for he has acted as town trustee and special tax collector, and served ten years as a member of the Upper Alton school board, which is indeed appropriate, since he is the unfailing cham- pion of the best education possible. Mr. Seitz is also popular and prominent in lodge circles. He is a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 25, A. F. & A. M .; of No. 15, R. A. M., being high priest of the Chapter. He is likewise affiliated with the Modern Woodmen, the Modern Americans and the Mystic Workers.
Mr. Seitz laid the foundation of a happy home life by his marriage on July 21, 1887, Miss Theresa Frances Mehany, of Lockport, New York, daughter of James and Susan Me- hany, deceased, becoming his wife. Their one daughter, Thelma May, was born May 30, 1897.
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RUDOLPH F. PRIMAS. It is all very well to ask what a man's past has been, but after all the present is what counts. Today is the price- less gift of man, giving him the chance to act. To the unsuccessful today means the chance to retrieve yesterday and the day before-the past. But greatest of all it is the time for pre- paring for the future. To the ambitious men all things are possible, future success and fail- ure are within the grasp of every man. Every one who seeks success must prepare himself to work out that success. It does not come unasked, but must be wrought out by ambi- tion, preparation and work. R. F. Primas, the successful business man of Glen Carbon, has achieved success and is looking forward to still further efforts crowned with results.
Rudolph F. Primas was born in Edwards- ville township, December 1, 1883, the son of William Primas, a native of Austria, where he was born in 1836. He was educated in the schools of Austria and there learned the trade of a cooper. When he was seventeen years old he made up his mind that he would try his fortunes in the United States, and landed here in 1853. He located in Madison county and followed his trade for a while in Edwardsville, Illinois. In 1862 he moved on to a farm near what is now Glen Carbon, then nothing but farm and timber land. He lived on this farm until the time of his death, June 13, 1903. He married Mary Shashack, who was also a na- tive of Austria. When she was twelve years old she came to America with her parents. Previous to her marriage she had been em- ployed in St. Louis. She was the mother of six children, as follows: Joseph; Julia, wife of Walter Stamen; Rudolph; Joseph M .; An- tonia, wife of Ed. Smith ; and William.
Rudolph, the second son and third child, was educated in the public schools of Glen Carbon until he was sixteen years old, when he began to work on his father's farm. At the expiration of one year he had decided that the farm was not the place where he would make the greatest success in life. He came to Glen Carbon and gained employment. He worked for others until 1903, when he launched out into the business world for himself. Since then he has built up a good business and succeeded in making money.
On the first of June, 1909, he was married to Lvdia Stich, of Edwardsville, where she was born February 1, 1891. She spent her whole life in her native town, where she re- ceived her education. On April 25, 1910, she gave birth to a son, Aurie.
Mr. Primas is a member of the order of Eagles at Collinsville, being one of its leaders. He is a Republican in political preference and in April, 1911, was elected trustee of the vil- lage. He is doing good work in his official capacity. Both Mr. and Mr. Primas were brought up in the Catholic faith. Personally Mr. Primas is most affable and pleasing in his manners. He is honored and respected by all who know him.
HENRY HOELTER, the successful business man in Chouteau township, Madison county, is a self-made man and the members of the community say he has done a remarkably good job. For a man to make a success of his life under any circumstances is a subject for congratulation, but when he has all the difficulties to encounter that Mr. Hoelter has ' overcome he may justly be proud of himself. As a matter of fact, however, Mr. Hoelter is a very modest man in regard to his own at- tainments and capabilities.
He was born June 24, 1877, in Madison county, Illinois. His grandfather was born in Germany, where he was educated and mar- ried. He was a farmer in his native country, but felt that he would have more chances to get ahead in America. He therefore left his fatherland and brought his wife and three children to the United States, settling along the Mississippi in what was then known as Old Madison county. Casper was the second of his three children and he went to the schools in Old Madison for a short time and then began to work for the different farmers in the neighborhood. He married Christina Haberg, of German birth, like himself. She is now fifty-three years old and lives with one of her sons in St. Louis. Her husband died in 1891. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Casper Hoelter, all of whom are living, as follows :- Casper, junior, Henry, Barney, Charles and Josephine.
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