USA > Illinois > Macon County > Decatur > City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, volume II > Part 3
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Mr. Moran was born in Jersey City, October 2, 1868, and is a son of Mark W. and Mary (Doyle) Moran. On both sides of the house he is of Irish an- cestry, the mother having been born in Ireland and the father in Scranton, Penn- sylvania, of parents who came from the Emerald isle. Mark W. Moran from seven years of age has been identified with coal mining. He began as a breaker boy in the mines of Pennsylvania, passing through the various stages of advance- ment, and for forty years has been superintendent of the Decatur Coal Com- pany's mines. He came to this city upon the invitation of the company, in 1870, as they desired him to superintend the sinking of a shaft in a coal mine, and he has ever since his arrival served in the capacity of superintendent.
The subject of this review attended the convent schools for several years and at the age of twelve years began his business career by working in a coal mine. After four years' experience under ground, he entered a grocery store in the city, his father buying a half-interest in the business after two years. Three years later the interest was disposed of and our subject gained his first experience in the undertaking business under John A. Reeves, driving a hearse at seven dollars and a half a week. Six months later his wages were raised to ten dollars per week and after he had still further demonstrated his qualifica- tions he received fifteen dollars per week and also was given fifteen per cent on business secured. The name of the firm became Wykoff & Reeves and five years later Mr. Moran purchased the interest of Mr. Reeves, becoming sole owner of the business in 1892, although it was necessary for him at the time to borrow fifty-five hundred dollars from the bank in order to consummate the purchase. When Mr. Moran assumed charge he had only one employe upon the pay roll and his salary was ten dollars per week. To show the condition of our subject's finances, it may be stated that at the close of his first week's operations he found it necessary to borrow six dollar in order to meet the pay roll. Today he is one of the substantial moneyed men of Decatur, a stockholder of the Citizens National Bank, one of its large property owners and an acknowledged
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
leader in the National Funeral Directors Association. The present happy con- dition of Mr. Moran's affairs presents a striking contrast with the condition of fifteen or twenty years ago when he was struggling to secure a footing among business men in the community. Having once made a start, he pushed rapidly to the front. The territory of his operations is not confined to Decatur but extends as far as thirty miles in all directions from the city. For years past he has had charge of a number of the largest funerals in this part of the state and as a funeral conductor it is doubtful whether he has a superior in Illinois.
On September 17, 1891, Mr. Moran was united in marriage to Miss Katie A. Leahy, of Decatur, who became an efficient undertaker herself and assists her husband when there is call for a woman's services. Five children have been born of the union: Louis, now connected with the Citizens National Bank; Linus; Ambrose; Imelda; and James J., Jr.
Mr. Moran is identified with the republican party and an active worker in its cause in Decatur and Macon county. His religious belief is indicated by his membership in the Catholic church and fraternally he is connected with a num- ber of beneficiary organizations. He has attained his success by an innate ability and an adaptation to a calling that requires tact and judgment, with both of which qulities he is abundantly supplied. His vocation also demands pleasing manners and business sagacity. In these respects also Mr. Moran excels. That he is popular throughout a wide region in Illinois is attested by the frequency with which his name is heard. Of a generous and sympathetic disposition, he has made a host of friends whom he truly cherishes and it requires no prophet to declare that the subject of this review will long continue to be a prime fa- vorite in Decatur and Macon county.
PETER COFER.
Peter Cofer, residing at No. 412 East Condit street in Decatur, merits and receives the respect of his fellow townsmen. Loyal and courageous in the time of the nation's internal strife, energetic and progressive in the subsequent peace- ful period, he has won for himself a creditable position among the residents of Macon county. He was born in Oberplace, Germany, on the 24th of August, 1837. His father, also a native of that country, was a farmer by occupation and remained in Germany until called to his final rest. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Holt, also spent her entire life in Germany. Of their family only two are now living, the sister of our subject being Marie, who still remains in the fatherland.
Peter Cofer was educated in the schools of Germany and remained upon his father's farm until twenty years of age, when he determined to seek a home and fortune in the United States and crossed the Atlantic to the new world. He made his way to Milwaukee, where he was employed at various occupations and afterward spent two years in Chicago. He then removed to Sullivan, Illi- nois, where he resided until 1898, when he came to Decatur and here has since lived.
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
Mr. Cofer was a resident of Sullivan at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war. He had watched with interest the progress of events in the south and when Fort Sumter was fired upon his patriotic spirit was aroused and he enlisted as a member of Company E, Twenty-first Illinois Infantry, on the 25th of May, 1861. The company was commanded by Captain Love. He served for three years and reenlisted as a veteran, becoming a member of the same com- pany and regiment, with which he served until the close of the war, being mus- tered out at San Antonio, Texas, on the 16th of December, 1865. He received his final discharge at Camp Butler, Illinois, January 25, 1866. He had been for more than four years a faithful defender of the Union cause and had partici- pated in various important engagements, including the battles of Perryville, Fredericksburg, Stone River, Chickamauga, the siege of Corinth, the Atlanta campaign, Kenesaw Mountain, the siege of Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin, Nash- ville and many skirmishes. On one occasion he was struck by a spent ball but otherwise escaped injury and at all times his military career was charac- terized by the utmost fidelity to duty, to which he never wavered though it stationed him on the firing line or upon the lonely picket line.
In September, 1866, Mr. Cofer was united in marriage to Miss Carolina Sawyer, who was born in Kentucky, April 7, 1843. Her parents were also na- tives of Kentucky, removing thence to Sullivan, Illinois, where the father died. The mother afterward became a resident of Decatur, where her death oc- curred. It was in this city that Mrs. Cofer passed away on the 22d of Sep- tember, 1907. In the family were seven children. John F., who was born at Sullivan, January 30, 1868, is now in Canada. He married Ida Bowler, of Emden, and they had eight children: George, Ralph, Blanche, Glenn, Elven, Arthur and Amelia, all of whom are living; and Earl, who has passed away. Laura M., born May 2, 1873, in Sullivan, was married April 28, 1895, to Lincoln Powell, of Arthur, Illinois, who was born November 27, 1860, and died June 14, 1902. They were the parents of two children: Eva, born February 6, 1896, at Arthur; and Buell, born May 16, 1899, at Arthur. Charley, the third member of the family, was born at Sullivan, June 22, 1874, and married Nellie Hewett, of Lovington, Illinois. They have three children-Helen, Mildred and Hewett-and the family home is at Duquoin, Illinois. Frank, born at Sullivan, March 10, 1885, is living in Omaha, Nebraska. Omar C., born in Sullivan, March 17, 1888, resides in Jerome, Idaho.
For the support of his family Mr. Cofer long followed the occupation of farming and his labors were practical and progressive, bringing him in time a comfortable competence that now enables him to live retired. He is a mem- ber of Ionia Lodge, No. 312, A. F. & A. M., and of Dunham Post, No. 141, G. A. R. He also holds membership in the Cumberland Presbyterian church, while his children are members of the Central Christian church of Decatur. His political allegiance has ever been given to the republican party since he became a naturalized American citizen. During the period of his residence in Moultrie county he was for four years bailiff and also served as school director. Otherwise he has held no offices, preferring to concentrate his time and energies upon his business affairs. He is a man of good judgment and of enterprising spirit and his interest in the welfare and progress of his community has been
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
manifest in many tangible ways. As a soldier of the Civil war the country owes to him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid and in matters of citizen- ship he has been as loyal to the country in times of peace as when he followed the old flag upon southern battlefields.
FREDERICK J. DUDLEY, M. D.
Dr. Frederick J. Dudley, practicing medicine and surgery in Decatur, where his ability is accorded recognition in a large patronage, was born in Niagara county, New York, in January, 1858. His father, John A. Dudley, is a native of Guilford, Connecticut, and has devoted much of his life to stock-raising. He is now in his eighty-third year and makes his home in Whitewater, Wisconsin. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Henrietta M. Wright, was born in the Empire state about 1830. They were the parents of five sons, of whom one died in infancy. One son became a prominent attorney of the state of Washington, where he died when about twenty-seven years of age. Three of the number are still living: I. W., who is engaged in railroad business; Dr. Dudley, of this review; and Frank A. Dudley, who has been interested in the building of large hotels in Peoria, Illinois, Syracuse, New York, and other places. He is also the senior member of the firm of Dudley, Grey & Noonan, leading attorneys of Niagara Falls.
At the age of ten years Dr. Dudley accompanied his parents on their re- moval westward to Whitewater, Wisconsin. He was reared upon the home farm and early formed habits of industry and integrity because of the lessons strongly impressed upon his mind by his parents. He supplemented his early education acquired in the public schools by study in Milton College, a school conducted by the Adventists at Milton, Wisconsin. As a youth he was inter- ested in medicine but the opportunity to study did not come to him immediately following the completion of his literary course. Financial conditions in the family made it imperative that he provide the funds for his college training. He therefore learned shorthand, afterward engaged in teaching stenography and also served as an amanuensis in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He likewise acted as under-court reporter and through these avenues acquired a sum sufficient to enable him to take up the study of medicine which he pursued in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. He was graduated with the class of 1894 and immediately thereafter began practice in Cerro Gordo, Illinois, and was a lead- ing practitioner in Piatt county until 1909, when he came to Decatur. Although he is one of the more recent additions to the medical fraternity of this city he has, nevertheless, established himself as a capable and successful representative of the profession here. His methods have ever been progressive and he keeps in touch with the advanced thought of the profession. He purchased the first automobile in Piatt county and was the first in that county to use it in practice. He has had four different cars, the original one being an Oldsmobile, while at the present time he drives a Mitchell. He has been examining physician for a number of lodges, also for the Peoria Life Insurance Company, of which he
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
is a stockholder. He is likewise a director of the Cerro Gordo State Bank and possesses excellent business qualifications as well as professional skill.
Dr. Dudley married Miss Nellie Knapp, a native of Wisconsin, and they have two children: Ethel, now the wife of Leonard Wise, of Rocky Ford, Colo- rado; and Erwin, a student in Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago. The son is a graduate of the high school of Cerro Gordo, Illinois, also attended St. John's Military School for two years and has pursued a two years' course in the Millikin University of Decatur. He is now a junior in Hahnemann.
Dr. Dudley belongs to the Elks lodge at Decatur and the Odd Fellows lodge and Modern Woodmen camp at Cerro Gordo. He is also connected with the Loyal Americans and the Court of Honor at Cerro Gordo and he attends the Grace Methodist Episcopal church. His has been an active life and in his pro- fession he has been actuated by high ideals, performing every duty with a sense of conscientious obligation. He deserves much credit for what he has accom- plished as he started in life empty-handed and is a self-educated as well as a self-made man. He now belongs to the Illinois Homeopathic Society and the American Institute of Homeopathy, the national organization of this school and American Medical Association and Decatur Medical society. His ability is pronounced and his service has been of marked value to the communities in which he has resided.
T. J. PRENTICE.
T. J. Prentice, well trained in commercial fields, is now president of the Linn & Scruggs Dry Goods & Carpet Company of Decatur, in which connection he is at the head of the leading establishment of this character in the city. His birth occurred in Hamilton, Missouri, April 10, 1870, and his education was acquired in the public schools of that city and in a business college at Gales- burg, Illinois. He entered business life in the capacity of assistant cashier in the First National Bank of Hamilton, Missouri, where he remained until 1895, when he went to St. Louis, entering the house of Scruggs, Vandervoort & Bar- ney, the leading dry-goods establishment of that city. He entered their service as bookkeeper and worked his way upward through intermediate positions, in- volving larger and larger responsibilities, until he became secretary of this im- portant company. He was associated therewith until 1908. He assisted in organizing and arranging everything in the new building in St. Louis before coming to Decatur. On the Ist of January, 1907, however, in connection with J. R. Holt, he purchased the stock and business of the Linn & Scruggs store in Decatur and has since continued the business under the old firm name. The trade has increased to a considerable extent under the present management and they have continued the old reliable business principles of the house which has ever been based upon such old and time tried maxims as "there is no excellence without labor" and "honesty is the best policy." Mr. Prentice keeps in close touch with the trade, follows the most systematic methods in the conduct of the business and ever maintains a high standard in the personnel of the house, in the quality of goods carried and in the nature of the service rendered the public.
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
On the 13th of September, 1892, occurred the marriage of Mr. Prentice and Miss Minnie B. Johnson, of Hamilton, Missouri, and they have one son, Thomas J., Jr. Mr. Prentice is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church and also belongs to the Decatur and Country Clubs.
His interests are broad and varied and in relation to the public welfare he stands as the champion of material, social, intellectual and moral' progress. In business circles he enjoys the unqualified esteem of colleagues and contem- poraries by reason of his progressive methods and his conformity to the highest standards of commercial ethics.
RICHARD LOUIS EVANS.
Among the names that deserve an honorable place in the history of Macon county is that of Richard Louis Evans, who was a valiant defender of the stars and stripes when the Union was in danger and as a business man and later as first librarian of the Decatur public library he demonstrated his ability to per- form his part in times of peace. He was born at New Albany, Indiana, May 30, 1838, and was a son of John and Eliza (Clark) Evans, the father being a shipbuilder at New Albany.
The subject of this review received his preliminary education in the public schools and became a student at Asbury (now De Pauw) University, Green- castle, Indiana, from which he was graduated in 1859, at twenty-one years of age. Soon after his graduation he entered the United States naval ser- vice, with which he was identified for four years and four months, receiving his honorable discharge August 14, 1865. He was acting master's mate on the United States steamship Benton of the Mississippi squadron and later was as- signed to the gunboat Abeona, where he remained until the boat was put out of commission with the close of the war at the navy yard at Mound City, Illinois.
At the close of the war Mr. Evans came to Decatur and was for several years salesman in the dry-goods store of A. Ruth, who conducted business on Merchant street. He next entered the railway postal service and for three years filled the position of postal clerk, running between Bloomington and Centralia, Illinois. We next find him connected with the book and stationery store of W. Scott Glore, of Louisville, Kentucky, but in 1874 he returned to Decatur and on August 6, 1875, was chosen the first librarian of the Decatur public library and immediately assumed the duties, for which he was remarkably well quali- fied. He had charge of the library and reading room until the time of his death, which occurred November 17, 1881, and through his able management the library became the most popular institution in the city.
On May 22, 1867, Mr. Evans was united in marriage at Decatur to Miss Alice E. Glore, a daughter of Millburn and Sarah (Clark) Glore. Her father, who was a native of Virginia, went to Kentucky when a boy and became a mer- chant at Brownsborough, where he married Miss Sarah Clark, of that place. They came to Decatur with their family in 1858, and were the parents of eleven children, of whom Alice E. was the ninth in order of birth. She was
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
educated in the public and private schools of Decatur, and when her husband was appointed librarian she became his assistant. Upon his death she was elected librarian and has since occupied that position. Under her able manage- ment the library has grown steadily in all directions and meets the demands of a constantly increasing population.
Although Mr. Evans passed from mortal view nearly thirty years ago, his memory is warmly cherished by those who knew him. He left an enduring monument by his efficient services as librarian, establishing the system upon which the library has since been conducted, making it one of the most useful institutions of the kind in central Illinois. Politically Mr. Evans adhered to the republican party. He was a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also of the Christian church, in which he served in an official capacity and as teacher in the Sunday school. In his life he manifested many noble traits of character that gained for him the confidence and esteem of all with whom he was associated.
CHARLES N. DENISON, M. D.
Dr. Charles N. Denison was well known in Macon county throughout the years of his residence in Argenta and in Decatur. Through his professional service as well as in other relations of life, he gained a wide acquaintance and was the loved family physician in many households. He held to high ideals in his practice and ever made it a point to keep in touch with the advancement of the profession. In his later years his attention was given to general agricul- tural pursuits and in that field of business he displayed the same reliability, en- terprise and integrity that characterized him in his professional life. Then came a period in which to enjoy the fruits of his former toil and at length he was called to his final home, his passing being deeply regretted by his many friends throughout the county. He was born in Middlesex County, Connecti- cut, September 15, 1836, and there lived to the age of eighteen years. On leav- ing New England, he at once made his way westward to Illinois, settling first at Bloomington, while subsequently he came to Macon county and for a few years was engaged in teaching school here. He took up the study of medicine under Dr. W. J. Chenoweth, one of the well known physicians of Decatur, and afterward pursued a two years' course at the College of Medicine and Surgery in Cincinnati, thus becoming well qualified for the onerous and responsible pro- fessional duties which devolved upon him. He put aside all business and per- sonal considerations, however, when the Civil war was in progress that he might aid his country in preserving the Union. He enlisted in 1861, joining the Eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry under Colonel Richard Oglesby. He entered the service as assistant surgeon and later was made surgeon of the regiment, in which capacity he served until the close of the war, when he was honorably dis- charged. He did important service for the wounded and sick soldiers and many have reason to remember him with gratitude for his kindly ministrations and ready professional aid.
En Quien
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
When the war was over, Dr. Denison returned to Illinois, settling in Cerro Gordo, where he engaged in the practice of medicine for a short time. He was married in 1867, at Latham, Illinois, to Miss Drusilla A. Ellis, a native of In- diana, who was there reared. Following their marriage Dr. Denison and his wife became residents of Newberg, Illinois, where he continued in the practice of his profession until his removal to Argenta, being one of the first to locate here. In 1881 he removed to Decatur, that his son might have the advantage of the better schools of the city. His wife died in Decatur in 1886 and the follow- ing year Dr. Denison returned to his old home in Argenta. He then retired from his professional duties and took up stock-raising and farming until 1907, when he retired from all business. For his second wife he chose Mary McNeal. He died in Argenta, July 25, 1910, and was buried with Masonic honors, as he was long a faithful and exemplary representative of the craft having taken all the degrees in Masonry several years before except the thirty-third. His widow and son Charles A. Denison still survive him.
CAPTAIN ROBERT P. LYTLE.
No resident of Decatur has been for a longer period or more continuously connected with the postoffice of the city than Captain Robert P. Lytle. As postmaster and assistant postmaster he has been active in the management of the mail service in this city for almost thirty years, and his record in this con- nection is characterized by the same spirit of loyalty that marked his service as a soldier on the battlefields of the south during the Civil war. His long residence in Decatur, his close association with its business and official interests, his ac- tivity in politics and his loyalty to his friends and to every cause which he espouses, have made him so uniformly esteemed and respected that the record of his life cannot fail to prove of interest to the readers of this volume.
The Lytle family was founded in America in colonial days and John Lytle, the great-grandfather, joined the colonial army soon after the outbreak of the Revolutionary war. He was the father of John Lytle, Jr., and the grand- father of Andrew Lytle, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1806, and in early life learned and followed the tanner's trade. He afterward took up the occupa- tion of farming and, in keeping with the military spirit that has frequently been manifested in the family, he joined the Pennsylvania Militia and served as an officer. He was married in his native state to Miss Nancy Mckay, who was born in Pennsylvania and died in Waterford, that state, in 1892. She had long survived her husband, who passed away in 1876.
Their son, Robert P. Lytle, was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, July 8, 1837. One seeing him in the postoffice, active in the exercise of the duties which devolve upon him, would hardly suspect, however, that he has reached the seventy-third milestone on life's journey. The exercise and activity keep him alert, and his interest in affairs of public moment has never in the least abated. He began his education in the schools of his native city and later spent a year as a student in the Waterford Academy, at Waterford, Pennsylvania. He
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
started in business life as a clerk in a general store, owned by the Sharon Iron Company at Clay Furnace, Pennsylvania, where he remained for three years. Removing to Buffalo, New York, he there qualified for active service in the business world by pursuing a course in a commercial college in the winter of 1857-58. He then came to Illinois and secured the position of bookkeeper in a general store at New Boston, Mercer county, but when the call to arms came his patriotic spirit was aroused and the Union soon numbered him among its loyal defenders. He was enrolled on the 20th of August, 1861, at Springfield, as a member of Company G, Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry, under the com- mand of Captain Southward and Colonel N. B. Buford. The regiment was sent to Cairo, Illinois, in September, and assigned to the brigade command of Gen- eral John A. McClernand. Captain Lytle participated in a number of engage- ments and skirmishes including the battle of Belmont, Missouri, November 7, 1861. Later the regiment was detached from McClernand's brigade and, assigned to the gunboat flotilla, participated in the siege of Island No. 10. His military history has been written as follows: "He took part in the siege of Corinth in June, 1862, was at Nashville, Tennessee, from September 11th to November 23d, and during this time participated in the battle of La Vergne, followed by the battle of Stone River. On the 19th and 20th of September, 1863, he was in the battle of Chickamauga and in the battle of Missionary Ridge on the 25th of November, 1863, at which place he was wounded in the right leg and right arm. In consequence he was sent to the hospital. When he had partially recovered from his wounds he rejoined his regiment at Loudon, Tennessee, and participated in the battles of Rockyface Ridge, Resaca, Burnt Hickory and Kenesaw Mountain. In the last engagement, June 27, 1864, he lost his left arm. On the 20th of September, 1864, he was honorably discharged with his company and regiment and, being mustered out of service at Camp Butler, Springfield, Illinois, returned to Pennsylvania."
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