USA > Illinois > Mason County > Centennial history of Mason County, including a sketch of the early history of Illinois, its physical peculiarities, soils, climate, production, etc. > Part 18
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that the duties thercof have been faithfully and efficiently dischar- ged. A pleasant personal acquaintance of many years has existed between the writer and the subject of whom we write, and it af- fords us pleasure to record him a gentleman of fine natural endow- ments and acquired abilities, an enviable reputation, professional and social, and has contributed much to the very rapid prosperity of the town of his adoption; and by his strict attention to business and fidelity to the interests committed to his care, he has been re- warded financially, and by the confidence and growing esteem of his personal and business friends.
HUGH FULLERTON, EsQ.
Major Fullerton has been a resident of Mason county since IS52, to which he emigrated from Ohio. He was admitted to the bar, and engaged in the practice of law, Oct. 8, 1845. He was com- missioned 2d Lieutenant in Co. I, 6th Reg. Ill. Vol., in the war with Mexico, and served during the war. After the close of the Mexican war, Feb. 2, 1852, he located in Mason county, and was elected State's Attorney for the judicial district composed of the counties of Woodford, Tazewell, Mason, Cass and Menard. Was commissioned, March 25, 1857. He raised Co. C, 2d Reg. Ill. Cav., for the war of the rebellion, and was commissioned Captain thereof, Aug. 27, 1861. He was promoted to Major of the same regiment, Sept. 27, 1862. (See roster in this work, in the military department.)
When the town of Havana adopted a city organization, he was elected first Mayor of the city.
Major Fullerton is one of Havana's substantial citizens, and has accumulated a fine property, and is in the law business with E. A. Wallace, and being an able and efficient attorney is engaged in a very extensive and lucrative practice.
He enjoys excellent health, is vigorous and robust in his organi- zation, and bids fair for many years of life, and the enjoyments of this world's best allotments to the human race.
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FRANCIS DORRELL,
Was born in the State of Pennsylvania, Feb. 1, 1808. In 1812, with his parents, he came to Ohio. He was married, Feb. 23, 1832, to Huldah Denman, of Hamilton county, Ohio. They re- moved to Sangamon county, Ill., in 1835, and to Mason county in 1849, and settled on the farm, where Mrs. Darrell, at the age of three score years and ten, still resides; an amiable and estimable lady, who has passed through the numerous vicissitudes of an early frontier life, but has been favored by long life and prosperity, and is happy in the enjoyment of its blessing.
During the war of the rebellion, a son had entered the army and taken sick. Mr. Darrell went to his relief, at Bolivar, Tenn., was himself taken seriously ill, and not having the care and kindness that a home afforded, nor even what might have been done in the soldier's camp, he returned homeward, but never reached there, having died in Havana, Jan. 15, 1863, much regretted by his many friends. The funeral was conducted under the ritual of the Masonic order, of which he was an honored member.
The family are among the most respected citizens of Mason county, and merit the good will of their numerous friends.
RICHARD LANE,
Was quite an early settler in Mason county, and among those substantial farmers who contributed much to its advancement, and have now gone to their reward, leaving descendants, who are among our best citizens.
Richard Lane was born in Tennessee in 1796, came to Illinois at an early day, and to Mason county in 1844, only three years after its first organization. He married Rachel Drake, who is still living, at the advanced age of seventy-five years. They had ten children; two sisters and a brother still reside in Mason county. Mr. Lane died in 1871.
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PETER ALFRED LORANCE,
Was born in North Carolina, June 1, ISO1, and emigrated to Illi- nois in 1S2S, and consequently a very early resident of central Illi- nois. He originally settled in Cass county, and came to Mason county the Ist of April, 1845. He married, during his residence in Cass county, in 1832, Miss Mary Robertson, who had emigrated to that county in IS26. She is still living with her son at Long Branch, in this county, and has passed the allotment of three score years and ten. He was for many years in the work of the local ministry, was very earnest, and' somewhat eccentric. They had six children, only three of whom arrived at maturity, viz: two sons and a daughter. One of these sons died in the army. The daughter is a resident of Menard county. The other son, Jacob A., resides at Long Branch, and on him the aged mother, in her decling years, leans for support, and leans not in vain. Space for- bids a repetition of the trials and experiences of each of these early pioneers.
R. P. GATTON.
In the life of Mr. Gatton, we have but few brief data, and hence this notice must be extremely brief, much more so than his posi- tion in the community in which he lived would justify.
He was born Dec. 24, 1816, and made his home in Bath, in April, IS41, and engaged as a salesman in a general dry goods trade. He engaged in the business of general merchandise with Gen. J. M. Ruggles, in 1849, and afterwards with Dr. O'Neal. He was married in 1841. He died December, 1873. The family are still residents of Bath, and Mr. Gatton and family have ever been justly regarded as one of the most highly esteemed of the many pleasant families of that town.
.
PAUL G. BIGGS.
Is the proprietor of the town of Bigg's Station, on the I., B. & W. Railroad, cast of Havana. It was surveyed and platted April
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19, 1875, and is now an important shipping point on that line of railroad.
He was born in August, 1843, in Clinton county, Ohio; emi- grated to Illinois with his parents in 1856, and settled in Havana, and removed to his present location in 1873, and opened the first business house in the place.
In conformity to universal experience, Paul, like every other de- scendant of Adam, "found it was not good to be alone," and with rare judgment and good sense, (an article not usually brought into requisition in such cases,) selected as "a help-mate for him," Miss M. A. Springer, of Peoria county, Illinois. They were married January 8, 1872. Cheerfully, happy and contented, they are float- ing down the stream of time together, the banks of which, in their case, seem to be lined only with flowers. No rude storms or ad- verse winds seem to ruffle the smooth surface; no rock to strand, no bars to obstruct their passage, so onward pleasantly they glide.
JOHN S. COOK.
Mr. Cook, though not a resident of Mason county, has for twenty years been with us and of us, and we would be direlect of duty to omit an active, energetic representative man, so prominent- ly identified with the interests of Mason county. He was born at Sackett's Harbor, Jefferson county, New York, June 15, 1828. He had excellent opportunities of early education and personal im- provement, and threw none of these away. In 1854 he went to California. He did not make a million of dollars in that land of gold, and on his return settled in Illinois in 1856.
He became identified with the interests of Mason county in I859, when the Illinois River Railroad was first built (now P., P. & J. R. R.) and operated. He was the first General Passenger and Freight agent of that important line of railroad, and has been the only one to the present date. Much of its successful financial man- agement is due to his fine business abilities. A lion's share of the good feeling which the people along its line hold towards it is due to his courteous and gentlemanly intercourse with all with whom his business relations bring him in contact. Active and correct in the business department of that important corporation, over which
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he has presided with such success, it is not strange that he has made hosts of friends, as well as a most successful railroad official.
DR. CHARLES CHANDLER.
Though not a resident of Mason county, Dr. Chandler has been engaged in the practice of his profession within her limits for forty- four years, and has had a pioneer experience vouchsafed to but few. Though the doctor is now past seventy years of age, (his "three score years and ten" anniversary occurring two days before the centennial of our country,) he is yet a most healthful, hale and vigorous personage. The robust frame, fine physical organization and great activity of mind and body, furnishes a most beautiful case where dame Nature bestows a certificate of good conduct and fidelity to her laws on their possessor.
Dr. Charles Chandler is a son of John and Hulda (Howard) Chandler, and was born at Woodstock, Conn., July 2, 1So6. He married Mary C. Rickard, who died at Chanderville, Illinois, December 28, 1840, a daughter of Peter Rickard, of Thompson, Connecticut.
He is a graduate of the Medical College of Castleton, Vermont, with the degree of M. D. In 1829 he located at Scituate, Rhode Island. He started for the great west in IS32. On his arrival at Beardstown he found the Black Hawk war raging farther to the northwest, and not caring to take his wife and daughter into those surroundings, then a feature of western life and the Indian frontier, and being pleased with the rich lands along the Sangamon river, he invested two hundred dollars in one hundred and sixty acres, where the town of Chandlerville now stands, on the Cass county side of that stream. He laid out the town in IS48. The late President Lincoln was his surveyor. The very many incidents re- lated to the writer, at various times, by Dr. Chandler, would fill a volume, and our very brief space forbids their rehearsal. His home, a cabin, was the resting place of the frontier traveler, the resort of the hunter, and the source of relief sought by the sick or the wounded pioncer resident. The doctor's practice extended over a territory now included in the limits of eight counties. He had frequent calls to Havana in 1832-'33-'34-'36, etc., and as set-
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tlers occupied the territory from there south to the Sangamon, he was the indispensable and welcome visitor to the home cabin of the pioneer, relieving their suffering and doing them good, and often without remuneration or hope of reward. The present Hon. L. W. Ross, of Lewistown, stopped at the doctor's cabin on his way to school at Jacksonville. General Hardin and Lockwood on their way from Springfield, to attend the courts farther north and west, made his cabin their hotel. Hardin often made the Doctor's home his headquarters in hunting expeditions along the Sangamon and Illinois rivers.
In his extensive travel and his practice, the present facilities were not dreamed of. There were not only no railroads, but no roads. The route was made by the points of the compass, over the broad expanse of prairie and forest grove to the settler's cabin, alarming in his passage the herd of deer or pack of wolves. So scattered were his patients that in his visits to them, sixty, and even as high as ninety miles a day travel has been made, taking fresh horses as . necessity required. His remarkable health and endurance did not fail him, and to-day he is, as said in the beginning, a model of health and vigor possessed by but few younger men. During these early days an intimate acquaintance existed between him and Mr. Lin- coln. It began in the following incident:
At an early date, and soon after his residence where Chandler- ville now is, the Doctor was hastening to the Springfield land office, by the shortest route, and on his fastest horse, and at that horse's best speed, for the purpose of entering a piece of land that another party had started to enter the same morning, by a longer route, a slower horse and more moderate speed; also, a less vigor- ous rider. Dr. Chandler had proceeded to within some miles of Springfield, when he overtook three men on horseback, who en- quired of him the cause of his extreme haste. He explained the case to the strangers, when one of them, a tall, dark-complexioned man, proposed to take the Doctor's tired horse and ride it slowly to Springfield, and give him his fresh animal, on which to hurry on to the land office. His caution prevented him from taking a stranger's horse into his possession on this frontier at that time, and he pushed on with his own jaded animal, without even asking the names or residence of those who offered so disinterestedly to assist him. He reached the land office, entered his land, looked
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about the streets for his would-be friends, but of no avail. He could not find them or their horses. He returned home, and the next day he desired the services of a surveyor to run out his lands, and was informed that a young man named A. Lincoln, at Salem or Salisbury, was a good surveyor; he sent a messenger for him. The surveyor returned with the messenger, and imagine Mr. Chandler's surprise to find him the stranger who had so kindly offered him his horse the day before. From that time on they were friends, each enjoying the other's successes in life with a personal interest, and on the inaugeration of Mr. Lincoln in the . Presidential chair, no man in the union enjoyed his elevation to that position more than Mr. Chandler. He visited Washington on that occasion, and was the guest of the new made President, his early frontier friend.
JOHN HURLEY, SR.
Came from New Jersey in 1834, and settled in De Witt county, . Illinois, and removed from there to Mason county in 1843; engaged in farming, and by diligence accumulated a fine property, and was a good substantial citizen. He died February 5, 1865, aged seven- ty-five years.
JOHN HURLEY, JR., son of the above, came with his parents and has since resided here. He was born May 26, 1824. He built the first house on the prairie between Havana and McHarry's mill. He still resides at his old home, and is one of the substantial men of the county, who by his industry and economy is laying up a fine property, and enjoying the fruits of his labors. May his shadow grow larger as he grows older.
J. F. CAPPEL, EsQ.
Born August 17, 1833, in Adams county, Ohio; removed west in 1852, and located in Mason county, Illinois, and has since been a resident thereof. Was admitted to the bar in 1860; engaged in banking in 1866, a business which he continues to the present time. In 1856 he married Mary L., daughter of Hon. R. McReynolds,
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an old and honored citizen of Mason county. Mr. Cappel served Mason county as master in chancery for twelve years, and a notary public for a much longer time, and is one of the leading men in the business interests of the county and city, and one of the substantial citizens.
JOHN W. PITMAN, EsQ.
Born December 11, 1832, in Estill county, Kentucky, came to Illinois in 1842, and settled in Fulton county; was educated at Lombard University, at Galesburg; graduated in June, 1856; was admitted to the bar in 1859; removed to Havana in 1863.
In June, 1860, Mr. Pitman married Miss N. A. Haley, of Gales- burg, a most amiable and estimable lady, who died at Havana in August, 1870, leaving a family of two boys. During his residence in Havana its citizens have been largely his debtor for his efficiency and valuable services as a school officer, which place he has so competently and faithfully filled.
Mr. Pitman's abilities as a lawyer are above medium ; he enjoys a lucrative practice, and is highly esteemed by his numerous friends.
THE HOWELL FAMILY.
Nathan Howell came to the State of Illinois in 1840 from the State of Pennsylvania, and settled in Mason county. His son Charles preceded him three years, having located here in 1837. The next son was William, who is now in the west. Levi, the next son, and Mrs. Mary Gardiner, a sister, reside east of Havana. Alfred is dead, also Elizabeth and Levina. B. F., the next son, is a wealthy farmer near Havana, and Theodore, the youngest, is now a resident of Missouri. B. F. Howell is now aged forty-seven years. The first corn ground at the Simmons' mill was raised by the Howell family. B. F. has been one of the most prosperous of the prosperous farmers in Mason county. He has plowed every season since 1840, a term of thirty-six years, and not lost a week by sickness, a fine comment on his habits and care, and an admirable climate. His many friends would be glad to see him continue to
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plow for a century more to come, for no man plows any better, as his farm's appearance and management abundantly testify. No farm in Mason county is kept in better order and condition.
DR. HARVEY O'NEAL.
Dr. O'Neal was born May 19, ISIS, in the State of Kentucky. He emigrated at any early day to Cass county, Illinois, and from there to Mason county in 1844, since which time he has been a res- ident thereof. He was educated for his profession at Kemper Col- lege, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1842-'43.
His first marriage was to Miss A. M. Beesley, in November, 1844. She died in 1850. His second marriage was to Miss E. M. West, daughter of Col. A. S. West, then of Bath, September, 1851. (See biography of Col. West on another page.)
Dr. O'Neal has been engaged in the practice of medicine in Ma- son county for twenty-five years, but has now retired on a farm, enjoying the fruits of his labors. He has been a skillful and suc- cessful practitioner, and retired on a very comfortable property and income, and bids fair for many years of this world's best enjoy- ments.
Like all prominent residents of our common country, he has fre- quently been selected by his neighbors to fill important official positions, and the frequency of the calls is the best commentary on the manner in which the incumbent's duties have been performed.
A. D. HOPPING.
Mr. Hopping was born in Lower Canada, Dec. 4, 1809, and re- moved to the State of Indiana in 1815, when that State was quite primitive and thinly settled. He came to Illinois in I851, and set- tled in Mason county, on the farm where he now resides. Dur- ing his residence in Indiana, in 1839, he married Miss Elizabeth Covington, and thus far together they have, in the goodness of an over-ruling providence, been permitted to enjoy the successes of their mutual efforts.
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For many years they have been identified with the Baptist church. Mr. Hopping has served two terms as a justice of the peace, and has been township treasurer for sixteen years. His bus- iness has been farming, and his practical business abilities have made it a success, and his broad and well cultivated acres will corroberate this assertion.
JOHN R. CHANEY.
Like the subject of the preceding sketch, Mr. Chaney is one of Mason county's most substantial men and successful farmers. He was born in Kentucky, Nov. 4, 1811, and removed with his parents to Tennessee, and then to Greene county, Illinois, and then to Mason county, in March, 1839. The family consisted of five brothers, viz: John R., William, James, Riley and Granville, all farmers.
Mr. Chaney married, in 1837, Missouri Gregory, and forty years nearly have they shared each other's joys and sorrows, but we infer that the former has been largely predominant in their lives. He has been identified with the Baptist church over forty years, and with the Democratic party since his age permitted an identification with any party whatever. He was one of the first county com- missioners of this county, and has filled various and almost contin- uous township and school offices since that time.
Reliable and substantial in all the relations of life, and his inter- course with his fellow men, successful in his business transactions, he promises many long years more of prosperity and happiness to himself, his family, and many friends.
W. W. STOUT,
Was born at Oxford, Ohio, in 1832, removed to Indiana at an early date, and to Illinois in 1852, and engaged in printing a county paper, (see Mason county papers, on another page) in company with a Mr. Wheedon, under the firm name of Wheeden & Stout. In Sept., 1857, he married Miss Eunice Covington. His army ser- vices are given in the military department of this book. He died
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Sept. 4, 1869. His wife and family of intelligent children reside in this city, in their pleasant home.
WILLIAM E. MAGILL, 1
Was born in the State of Pennsylvania, June 9, 1816. Removed west, in 1837, and settled in Griggsville, Illinois, and removed to Springfield, Illinois, in 1840, and to Mason county in 1842.
He was married in 1840 to Miss Laura Hoyt, of Griggsville, his present estimable wife. Mr. Magill is an educated farmer, of large experience, and has accumulated a good property. His influence and position in his neighborhood is indicated in these facts, that for twenty-two years he has been a justice of the peace, and for ten years township treasurer. He was among the first men in this county to engage in the "farmers' movement," and has been prom- inently identified with it.
COL. ROBERT S. MOORE.
Col. Moore was born in Greene county, Kentucky, in 1828, and came to Illinois with his parents in 1837, and settled in Sangamon (now Menard) county, and engaged in farming. In 1854 he mar- ried Miss Isabella Trent, of that county. Their family consists of a son and daughter, of very unusual intelligence.
On the beginning of the war with Mexico, Col. Moore joined in the service of his country in 4th Illinois infantry, company F, under Capt. Thomas L. Harris, afterward promoted to Major. Col. E. D. Baker raised the regiment. He did good service as a sol- dier at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, etc. Cornelius Ruark, of Peters- burg, and Dr. J. P. Walker, of Mason City, were his messmates while in that service. After his return from Mexico he located his land warrant in Mason county, and became a resident of the north end of the county in April, 1849. Since then he has been a perma- nent resident, was the founder of Spring Lake, but Havana has been his home since 1854. Since his residence in Havana he has been a large dealer in grain, being the principal of the firm of Moore,
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Pratt & Cheek. Was formerly in the dry goods business and farming.
In the beginning of the rebellion he again went into the army in the 27th Illinois infantry (see roster of that regiment,). After the battle of Corinth he returned home and raised the 85th Illinois infantry, and was commissioned Colonel thereof. No army officer had the good will and confidence of his command more than did Col. Moore. Genial and companionable in his associations with all, it is not strange that he was a universal favorite not only in the army but among his friends, and all are Col. Moore's friends. In religious belief he is a Presbyterian. In politics his inclinations lean somewhat towards the democratic party.
HON. ROBERT MCREYNOLDS.
On the death of our old friend, Judge McReynolds, in 1872, we wrote the following obituary, which was published at that time, and we can pay no more appropriate tribute to departed worth, than to insert a copy of the same here:
OBITUARY.
Beautiful is the grey morning as the sun arises from his misty bed, "rejoicing as a strong man to run a race," and sheds his illumi- nating beams over the earth, dispelling the darkness and gloom. Beautiful in his meridian splendor, when from his zenith height he pours his health-giving light over more than half this immense globe. Beautiful, as he descends below the horizon, gilding the earth, clouds and sky with many shades of crimson and gold. Beautiful is the majestic river, as it pours its ceaseless tide in the unabating fullness towards the great ocean. Beautiful are the ever- green-clad hills, the mountain slope, the deep chasm, in which pours the vexed, turbulent stream, to find a more placid bed. Beautiful the peaceful valley in the stillness and quiet of Sabbath rest, broken only by the bleat of flocks, the low of herds, or the Sabbath bell. Beautiful the infant reposing on its mother's breast or in its cradled slumber of blest unconsciousness, symbolized by the rising sun. Beautiful the life of that man or women, arrived at maturity, filling the place alloted by the Creator, shedding be-
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nignant blessings on all that may come within the circle of their influence for good, like the sun in the zenith. More beautiful still is the departure of the good man, gradually and peacefully as the setting sun, not to another hemisphere, but to another world.
From his declining sky he looks back on a life spent in the in- terests of God and humanity, casting haloes of coloring, gorgeous to the beholder, on the objects of his attention in his course through life. Nature has bestowed on him a diploma for fidelity to her laws, by extending the years of his pilgrimage-aye, beyond the three score years and ten alloted to her less faithful subjects. She has bestowed on him many badges of honor and insignia of her partiality to faithful servants, in the blessings of home, family and friends, that rise up to call him blessed, in that health which enables its possessor to enjoy the comforts of this world, even to old age. Beautiful that head of hoary hairs, the crown of honor to the aged as they ripen for the tomb and immortality. Beautiful the peaceful and triumphant crossing of the dark river, beautiful beyond comprehension the arrival on the other shore. Thus lived, thus died, Hon. Robert McReynolds, in this city, on Thursday, Nov. 14, 1872.
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