USA > Illinois > Macon County > Decatur > City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, volume II > Part 52
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One of his first patients was Mrs. William Wilson, who subsequently be- came his mother-in-law. Becoming acquainted with her daughter Mary, they were married on the 14th of November, 1878. Mrs. Lonergan was born and reared in Mount Zion township, Macon county, and unto them were born four children, of whom Bertie died at the age of four years, while John M. passed away at the age of seventeen. Ellis C., who had completed the first year's work in Millikin University, died October 30, 1905, at the age of eighteen years. He was a natural artist, who delighted to do sign writing and cartoon work, and his father still has in his possession a fine specimen of his penmanship in a scene
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showing the canals and houses of Venice. It is a perfect reproduction of the original copy and was made while he was attending the Walnut public school. The only surviving child of that marriage is Bertha May, a graduate of the De- catur high school. The wife and mother died on the anniversary of their marriage, November 14, 1901. Dr. Lonergan was again married, November 27, 1902, when Mary E. Dresback became his wife.
On locating at Casner, Illinois, Dr. Lonergan formed a partnership with Dr. Dawson and the relation was maintained until November, 1883. He then prac- ticed alone in Casner until 1895, when he came to Decatur, where he lived until his death. Here he owned a good drug store, which he successfully conducted and at the same time was accorded a liberal patronage in his profession. He was also examining physician for the Equitable and for the New York Life Insur- ance Companies. Broad reading and investigation kept him in touch with the onward march of the profession. He was quick to adopt any new method or reme- dial agency which he believed would prove of value in the restoration of health and he had a well equipped office, enabling him to do advance work in his pro- fession. He held membership in the Macon County Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. At the time of his death he was a member of the board of health of Decatur.
Fraternally Dr. Lonergan was connected with Ionic Lodge, No. 312, A. F. & A. M .; Macon Chapter, No. 12, R. A. M .; and Decatur Council, No. 21, R. & S. M. He was likewise a member of Casner Lodge, No. 463, I. O. O. F., of which he served as noble grand. His political support was originally given to the demo- cratic party but he could not indorse its attitude upon the money question and later voted with the republican ticket. He believed that local option should settle the temperance question and was himself a strong temperance man who did every- thing in his power to suppress the sale and use of intoxicants. On many occasions he voted for the men whom he knew would favor the cause of temperance, re- garding the use of spirituous liquors as one of the evils of the race. He and his wife held membership in the Second Presbyterian church and were advocates of all measures which tend to uplift humanity or promote the welfare of the com- munity. In all of his work Dr. Lonergan was actuated by conscientious purpose and high and honorable principles, and his close conformity to the ethics of the profession gained for him the high and unqualified regard of his brethren of the medical fraternity. Dr. Lonergan met his death December 31, 1910, by suffoca- tion in a fire in the St. James Hotel in Pana, Illinois.
PRESTON T. HICKS.
Preston T. Hicks, filling the position of county surveyor of Macon county, his home being in Decatur, was born in Warren, Illinois, on the Ist of June, 1871, his parents being William S. and Rosetta Hicks, farming people who came from England to Illinois in 1842 and cast their lot with the pioneer settlers of this state. Their son Preston was educated in the public schools and was graduated from the high school of Warren with the class of 1887. Further educational ad-
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vantages were offered him and he pursued a four years' course in civil engineer- ing in the University of Illinois at Champaign, completing the course in 1892. Since leaving college he has devoted his attention to the profession of civil en- gineering and surveying and during the past five years has been located in De- catur, acting as commissioner of special assessments for the city of Decatur for two years, while in November, 1908, he was elected county surveyor. He has won for himself a favorable reputation throughout central Illinois as a drainage engineer, having in charge during the past two years about forty drainage dis- tricts.
During the campaign in the fall of 1908 considerable interest and sentiment was aroused over the newspaper statements that if Mr. Hicks was elected he would win a bride-Miss Frieda R. Ruebsamen, whom he married on the 4th of November, 1908, the day after the election. As county surveyor he has intro- duced an innovation, highly prized by the people, in the way of a complete record and card-index system, by means of which the maps and record of any par- ticular survey may be referred to at a moment's notice. This is very important to his constituents, as it often saves them the trouble and expense of a new sur- vey. Mr. Hicks believes that the records of his office are just as important and deserve fully as much attention as the deed records. He has proven most capa- ble, prompt, systematic and faithful in office and his course is winning for him high commendation. In his political views he has always been a republican since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. His fraternal relations are with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias and in both orders he is held in high es- teem as a worthy representative of the basic principles of the societies.
BERT WELSH.
Bert Welsh, for about ten years engaged in farming and now living on the family homestead in Milam township, Macon county, was born in Moultrie county, Illinois, April 16, 1879, a son of Robert and Catharine (Reedy) Welsh. The parents were natives of Ireland and came to America after their marriage, set- tling in Moultrie county. Later they removed to Shelby county, Illinois, and in 1891 located in this county. In 1906 the father retired to Dalton City and there he departed this life two years later at the age of sixty-eight years. He was a successful farmer, a man of unsullied reputation, and a citizen who contributed to the extent of his ability toward the upbuilding of the county. The mother is now living in Dalton City and is sixty-one years of age. There were eight chil- dren in the family, the subject of this review being one of twins.
Educated in the common schools, Bert Welsh was reared under the genial influences of a happy home and he early became familiar with all the details of farm work. About ten years ago he began farming upon his own account and after taking unto himself a life companion he cultivated land in Shelby county, although he still continued to live at the home place. After the retirement of his father he turned his attention to the farm in Milam township, where he now has charge of one hundred sixty-one and one-half acres and cultivates the cereals,
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also raising stock for the market. The place is well supplied with good buildings, substantial fences and other appliances necessary to a well regulated farm and is known as one of the most valuable properties in the region.
In 1906 Mr. Welsh was united in marriage to Miss Matilda Doolin, who was born in Piatt county, Illinois, January 4, 1886, and is a daughter of John and Catharine (Bresnahan) Doolin. She is also one of twins and is the youngest of a family of nine children. Two children have brightened the household of Mr. and Mrs. Welsh, Robert L. and Mary C.
Mr. Welsh gives his adherence to the democratic party, believing that its prin- ciples are most conducive to the welfare of a free people. He and his wife are earnest members of the Roman Catholic church of Dalton City and are liberal contributors toward the various charities of which it is the dispenser. Mr. Welsh has found in his wife a sympathetic companion who presides over a happy home and has made it a center where friends and acquaintances may always expect a welcome greeting. No young man in Macon county has ever begun life under more favorable circumstances and there is every reason to believe that he has entered upon a career which will prove not only of great benefit to himself and family but to the entire community.
ROBERT BIVANS.
Robert Bivans, a soldier of the Civil war and a farmer and merchant now living retired at No. 965 East Cantrell street, Decatur, was born in Franklin county, Ohio, May 14, 1842, and is the eleventh in order of birth in a family of twelve children. His parents, Thomas and Ann (Gundy) Bivans, died when he was so young that he has very little recollection of them, and after. his father's death he made his home with an uncle for a time. He subse- quently took up his residence with his grandfather, Josiah Bivans, who removed from Delaware to Ohio in 1810, and during the war of 1812 served as a vol- unteer soldier, enlisting in Franklin county, Ohio. He was honorably dis- charged and was given a land warrant from the government about 1856, but this he sold for a small sum of money to Thomas Mourman, who was moving to Washington county, Iowa, and located on a tract of land not far from Wash- ington, now the county seat of that county. Josiah Bivans was a son of Heze- kiah Bivans, a native of Wales, who on coming to this country located in Dela- ware.
Jacob Gundy, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. He was born in Pennsylvania, October 13, 1765, of Hol- land-Dutch parentage, and in middle life removed with his wife and children to Franklin county, Ohio, locating on a farm ten miles southwest of Colum- bus, where he reared his ten children, five sons and five daughters. He was the first man elected justice of the peace in his locality, now known as Pleasant township, Franklin county, and held that office for many years. His decisions which were recorded by him with a goose quill pen, are now a curios'ty, after a lapse of about a hundred years. His wife died on the home farm in 1835
ROBERT BIVANS
MRS. ROBERT BIVANS
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and soon after her death he came to Illinois accompanied by all his children with the exception of Mrs. Ann Bivans and Mrs. Polly Yates. He settled on a farm in Vermilion county, about fifteen miles north of Danville, where he passed away September 24, 1845, and was buried in the Gundy cemetery, near Myersville, where his grave is marked by a large block of granite, with the following inscription: "Jacob Gundy, Sen., was born October 13, 1765. Died September 24, 1845. Aged 79 years. Was a Revolutionary Soldier."
The boyhood of our subject was spent on a farm, and he attended a sub- scription school, where he gained the rudiments of an education. At seventeen years of age he came to Illinois with an uncle, Thomas Gundy, and made his home in Vermilion county for several months, after which he went to Christian county and remained with a brother, Thomas Bivans, for one winter. He began his active career by farming on shares but feeling the need of more education, he attended school for one winter in Macon county, and also in Ful- ton county. After laying aside his text-books, he again became identified with farming interests and worked by the month until August, 1862, when he en- listed in Company E, One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, as a soldier for the Union. The regiment participated in a number of impor- tant engagements. Private Bivans was doing detached duty at regimental head- quarters, but on September 19, 1863, while the battle of Chickamauga was in progress, he obtained a musket from a wounded soldier of the Fortieth Ohio Regiment, and became an active participant in the fight. On the evening of the following day he was severely wounded in the right elbow and was sent back to the Chattanooga field hospital, remaining there for a number of days and receiving no surgical attention until the next Friday. On the following Monday he was moved across the Tennessee river to another field hospital, and four days later a surgeon reset the bones, and thus saved the arm. although the elbow joint had been shot away. This was one of the remarkable surgical cases of the war, a medical journal of Cincinnati in 1864 reporting four similar cases, although two of the patients died. Our subject was obliged to undergo very great suffering, and his weight fell from one hundred and fifty pounds to one hundred pounds. The operation upon Private Bivans did not prove an entire success, the shattered portions of the bone not having been entirely re- moved. Erysipelas set in and the physicians thought it extremely doubtful whether he had sufficient strength to carry him through. Just at this time it was necessary to move the hospital to a new location about a mile distant, and the patient was set out in the street, where he was covered with a blanket. The attendants felt quite sure that he would die. However, he revived some time before morning and was carried on a cot to the new hospital. After about a month his appetite began slightly to return and he was sent to a field hospital at Bridgeport, Alabama. When he was being carried into a tent at this place, a surgeon who had some time before suggested an operation upon the arm, happened to pass along but did not recognize the identity of the patient on account of the emaciated appearance of the latter. This surgeon gave orders that special attention should be given to the new arrival. He remained at Bridgeport about six weeks and three furloughs were issued in his name, but his condition was such that he could take no advantage of the first two. Mr.
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Bivans has three daguerreotypes which will be preserved as valuable heirlooms by his descendants. The first represents him as he appeared, full of health and energy, when he entered military service, the second as he appeared, with a brother at his side, upon his return, and the third represents the dressing of the wound. He also retains the emergency apparatus in which his arm was suspended. It was cut from a sapling by one of the hospital nurses at the Bridgeport, Alabama, field hospital, and suspended over the shoulder by leather taken from the harness of one of the government mules. This rude sling he was obliged to wear day and night for more than a year. His suffering brought on many complications, causing an abscess which destroyed his left lung. Had not Dr. Enoch W. Moore, former regimental surgeon, tapped his chest, he would not be living today. He received his honorable discharge from the army in 1865, at Quincy, Illinois, and his first work consisted of painting fences and wagons. He was obliged to use his left hand and could earn only fifty cents a day. Later he became a contractor at Macon. By good management he saved money, becoming identified with real-estate interests, and finally erected a building which he rented. However, his arm still troubled him greatly, and twice he was put under the influence of morphine to have it removed but the operation was never completely accomplished. One day while in the drug store with A. W. Biddle, a former comrade, he experienced new pains in his arm and asked Mr. Biddle to assist him in removing a piece of bone from his arm. The wound then began to heal and his suffering came to an end.
In 1869 Mr. Bivans was appointed postmaster of Macon. About the same time he formed a partnership with Mr. Biddle in the drug business, continuing until 1874, when he sold out. In 1871 he and his partner acquired the build- ing in which they carried their drug stock. The same year, on the very day in which the Chicago conflagration was raging, this building with its contents was totally destroyed by fire. There was no insurance, and almost his entire earthly possessions were wiped out of existence. Mr. Biddle put up a new building, but before they resumed business Mr. Bivans stipulated that they should keep no intoxicating liquors in stock, and under this plan the business proved a grand success. In 1873 he traded his property in Macon for a farm in Blue Mound township, but about a year later he bought out a drug and grocery establishment, which he conducted without liquor. In 1876 he sold out and went upon the road as a commercial traveler, but after one and one- half years returned to Macon and began renting land and trading in town property. He also became a stockholder in a canning factory and cultivated sixty acres of tomatoes and fifty-five acres of sweet corn. In this work he was quite successful. For one year he acted as general agent for the Orange- Judd Farmer Company, receiving during this period one hundred and sixty dollars per month. Originally he received a pension of eight dollars a month from the government, and by various acts of congress it was advanced to twelve, fifteen, eighteen and thirty dollars, and he now receives forty-six dol- lars per month on account of injuries received in the line of duty.
On the 25th day of May, 1871, Mr. Bivans was united in marriage to Miss Flora A. Sweney of Fulton county, this state, a daughter of Major K. and Elizabeth (Ten Brook) Sweney. Two children have blessed the union: Albert
ROBERT BIVANS Taken at Richmond, Kentucky, December, 1862
THOMAS AND ROBERT BIVANS Taken at Macon, Illinois, in June, 1864, while home on a furlough
ROBERT BIVANS Taken at Macon, Illinois, in 1867
Splint made at Bridgeport, Alabama, in February, 1864
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Waldo, of La Grange, who married Mary Rockwell and has one son, Kenneth Rockwell Bivans; and Fannie A., who is now a student in the law department of the University of Chicago.
Mr. Bivans cast his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. He continued as a supporter of the republican party until 1884, since which time he has been an earnest advocate of prohibition, believing that county local option would solve many of the problems which are now facing the state and the nation. He is a stanch member of the First Methodist Episcopal church, in which he acts as steward and class leader. Socially he -affiliates with Lodge No. 467, A. F. & A. M., of South Macon. He was a true soldier in times of danger, and he has been a patriotic citizen, always attempting to per- form his duty to his fellowmen. As a result he has gained the respect of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances who admire in him those qualities which contribute most to the upbuilding of worthy character and of good cit- izenship.
In 1908 Mr. Bivans was the prohibition candidate for state representative from the twenty-eighth senatorial district, comprising the counties of Macon, Logan and De Witt. He made the race for the legislature on the following declaration of principles, which were printed on twenty-eight thousand of his cam- paign cards : "I am in favor of the extention and strict enforcement of the local op- tion law and for state prohibition as soon as possible ; the district primary ; initiative and referendum; search and seizure law; abolition of gavel rule; civil service; good roads; and for letting the interested taxpayers vote on the kind of roads they will have and how they will construct them. Public officials should bear in mind that they are servants of the people. I am opposed to accepting free transportation from railroad companies or corporations. I am opposed to al- lowing Chicago or any other city to annul the laws of the state. The legislature will be the battle ground on the liquor question, and if your candidates do not state publicly how they will vote on county local option and state prohibition, they are not worthy of your support. I am a Civil war veteran, and if elected I will defend your homes and the interests of this district as faithfully as I did the flag at Chickamauga." Mr. Bivans was not elected but according to the election returns, he had the honor of polling the largest vote ever cast in the district for a prohibition party candidate for the legislature although it was a presidential year and party lines were closely drawn.
HENRY DAUT.
Henry Daut, conducting business in Decatur as a florist, in which connection lie has secured a liberal and gratifying patronage, was born in this city October 20, 1876. His parents were Jacob and Katherine (Krueck) Daut, both of whom were natives of Bavaria, Germany. The father came to Illinois in 1866, resid- ing in Harrisburg for two years, after which he removed to Henderson, Kentucky, and later went to Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked in the Weber piano factory. He was married in Evanston, Illinois, in 1873. He was living in Chi-
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cago during the time of the memorable fire of October, 1871, and continued to niake his home in that city until 1874, when he removed to Decatur, where for several years he was employed in the rolling mills. He then began raising garden produce for the market and in the latter part of 1889 also established a florist and nursery business. In this undertaking he was successful and con- ducted a profitable enterprise for a number of years but at length became ill and in 1899 passed away at the age of sixty years. Later his widow and their two sons conducted the business established by the father, and the mother still makes her home in Decatur.
Henry Daut pursued his education in the public and German Lutheran schools of this city. He was trained to habits of industry, economy and diligence and in his boyhood materially aided his mother in the conduct of the florist and nursery business and in the raising of vegetables. In 1907, however, the estate was divided and since that time Mr. Daut has been alone in the raising of flowers and nursery stock. He is the owner of two acres of land and he conducts both a wholesale and retail business, making large shipments throughout the United States. He has regular customers in New York city, Chicago, Seattle and other points both east and west and the business is now one of the profitable enter- prises of this character in Decatur.
On the 29th of November, 1898, Mr. Daut was married to Vlaga Freineck, who was born in Berlin, Germany, April 21, 1876, a daughter of Charles and Augusta Freineck, now farming people of Macon county. She was four years of age when she accompanied her parents on their removal to Pennsylvania and about twenty years ago came to Macon county. Mr. and Mrs. Daut have three children; Mary, Frank and Lucy.
Mr. Daut maintains his residence, greenhouse and nursery at No. 546 West Harrison street. His success is attributable entirely to his capable direction of his business affairs, his sound judgment and close application. He understands the practical and the scientific methods of raising both flowers and nursery stock and that he draws his trade from such a large territory is an indication of the fact that he bears a most substantial business reputation wherever he has become known. In politics he is a republican and in religious faith both he and his wife are Spiritualists.
CECIL M. JACK, M. D.
Among the young medical practitioners of Decatur and Macon county, Dr. Cecil M. Jack may be regarded as peculiarly favored. Possessing every ad- vantage of a classical and professional education and associated in practice with one of the most widely known physicians of central Illinois, he possesses unusual opportunities for attaining an enviable position in his chosen profession. Al- though he has engaged in practice only since 1902, his conscientious attention to his duties and his intimate acquaintance with the best modern methods have made his name favorably known throughout the region and his best advocates are his patients.
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Dr. Jack is a native of Decatur, born November 15, 1876, and is a son of Samuel S. and Josephine (McKee) Jack. He was educated in the public schools of Decatur, graduating from the high school in 1895. He then attended the Uni- versity of Michigan and was graduated from the literary department in 1899. Having decided to adopt the medical profession, he pursued his studies in the famed medical department of the same university and was graduated with the degree of M. D. in the class of 1902. A postgraduate course in the medical schools and hospitals of New York, London and Vienna, in 1905-6, greatly added to his practical knowledge of medicine and surgery. He has met professionally many of the most noted physicians and surgeons of the world and being a close observer and a constant student, he has been steadily adding to the foundation ac- quired in earlier years. Since 1906 he has been junior member of the firm of Brown & Jack, a sketch of the senior member, Everett J. Brown, appearing else- where in this volume.
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