Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 59

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. L. McDonough & co.
Number of Pages: 490

USA > Illinois > Edwards County > Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 59
USA > Illinois > Wabash County > Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 59
USA > Illinois > Lawrence County > Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 59

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

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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

joined his father, who had preceded him here the year before. He determined to follow in the footsteps of his father and adopt medicine as a profession. He accord- ingly commenced the study under the direction of his

father and assisted the latter in his office.

He con-

tinued his studies at home until 1843, when he entered the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, and attended lectures. He received his diploma in 1845, and then commenced the practice in Mt. Carmel. His practice soon grew. large and lucrative, and his professional services extended over a wide scope of territory. Not infrequently he would ride sixty miles in twenty-four hours, making calls upon and attending his patients. In short, Dr. Sears was personally known in almost every household in Wabash and surrounding counties. In connection with his practice he opened a drug store, and for many years was engaged in that business. He also engaged in other enterprises at different times, but all were such as did not interfere seriously with his profes- sion. Few physicians in the state have been so long in the practice as Dr. Sears. In the long years passed by he has achieved much success, both professionally and financially. His busy life has brought its just rewards in securing to him a competency and independence in his declining years.

On the 5th of May, 1841, he was united in marriage to Miss Eliza J. Gibson, of Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the daughter of Alexander and Martha (Sturges) Gibson. By the union of Paul and Eliza J. Sears, there have been three children-two sons and one daughter. Alfred Alexander, the eldest son, studied medicine, and was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia. He died Dec. 13, 1867. Charles Nathan, the youngest son, also read medicine, and had taken one course at the same medical college. He died Aug. 18, 1864. Both were bright young men, and gave evidence of future use- fulness and adornment to the profession. Clara A , the only daughter, is the wife of Hon. S. Z. Landis. Both the doctor and his wife are members of the M. E. Church. Politically he has uniformly acted and voted with the Democratic party. Among the people with whom Dr. Sears has passed the greater part of his life, and who know him best, all accord him the reputation of being an honorable, public-spirited citizen, and honest man, and a kind-hearted, obliging neighbor.

JOHN SCHRODT.

ONE of the most successful farmers of Wabash county is the subject of this sketch. He was born in Rhine Hesse, Germany, May 4th, 1830 John Schrodt, his father, was also a native of that country. In 1838 he emigrated to America, landing at New Orleans. He came up the river to Illinois, where he was met by Mr. Seiler, who brought him and his family to Wabash county. Here he bought ninety acres of land in section

36, T. 1 S., 13 W. It was not improved. They lived in a school-house until such time as they could build their house, which they moved into the July following. Here Mr. Schrodt lived, made a fine farm, and remained until he retired from active life. He died January 2d, 1866. His wife survived him, and died in 1878.

There were six children, four of whom were born in Germany, and two here in Wabash county. All of them are living except Catherine, who was the wife of Michael Broedel. She died April 21st, 1883. John, the subject of this sketch, is the eldest son. He was in his boyhood when his parents came to Illinois. Here he grew to man- hood, and was reared to habits of industry and economy. He received a fair knowledge of the rudimentary branches of education in the subscription schools of an early day. He remained at home, assisting his father, until he was twenty-one years of age. He then made a start for himself. His father gave him eighty acres of land, twenty-four of which were cleared ; it is the same tract upon which his residence now stands. He first, however, started upon thirty acres of land which he had rented.

Soon after he married and built a house which still stands near his present residence. Upon that place he has lived, working hard, living economically, and man- aging his business well-so that the original eighty acres have grown to fifteen hundred. Eight hundred acres are cleared up and under cultivation. It will be seen that Mr. Schrodt possesses more than ordinary good business judgment, united with industry and energy. To accumulate that body of land unaided, the fruits of his own toil, is conclusive evidence that his life has been a busy as well as a successful one.

On the 8th of July, 1851, he was united in marriage to Miss Ann Maria Broedel, who was born in Bavaria, Germany. She came to America with her parents in 1849. She died Feb. 19th, 1882. There were twelve children by that marriage, six of whom are living. Their names are : Mary E., George W., Philip, BenjaminF., Laura E. and Michael D. All those that are deceased, died in infancy, except Catherine, who was the wife of H. F. Goeke, who was killed in the cyclone that visited Mt. Carmel, June 5th, 1877. She left no children. Mr. Schrodt, after the death of his wife, married Catherine Sterl. Both are members of the Lutheran Church. Po- litically, Mr. Schrodt was originally a democrat, and voted for Franklin Pierce in 1852. He was opposed to slavery, which naturally carried him into the republican party, and he has acted with that organization till the present. In 1867, Mr. Schrodt visited the land of his birth, where he went to seek rest and recruit his health. He remained abroad one year, and returned well pleased with his trip, and much improved in health.

It should be mentioned that his father was a lock- smith, and afterwards carried on blacksmithing. He did not not do much work on the farm; therefore, the lead, to some extent, depended on John, the eldest son.

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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

ABRAHAM UTTER.

ELIZABETH UTTER.

ABRAHAM UTTER (DECEASED).

THE Utter family is of German ancestry. Henry Utter, the grandfather of the present family, was born in Allegheny county, New York. He there married his first wife. She died, leaving four children. He subsequently married Rachael Hendricks, whose father was a revolutionary soldier. Henry Utter was a soldier of the war of 1812, and rose to the position of major, and was ever after known as "Major Utter." In 1817 he came west to the territory of Illinois and settled in the old town of Palmyra, the first county seat of Wa- bash, then a part of Edwards county. The next spring he went out to Bald Eagle prairie, and there bought land, improved it, and remained there until his death. He was a millwright by trade. Abraham Utter was the second son of Henry and Rachael (Hendricks) Utter. He was born in Allegheny county, New York, March 11, 1812, and was in his fifth year when the family came west. His eldest brother, John, was a soldier in the Black Hawk war. Abraham remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age, when he went to Schuyler county, Illinois, where his brother was living, and there peddled fanning mills. Four or five years later he returned to his home in Wabash county,

and in 1836 purchased the interest of the other heirs in the homestead, and soon after purchased a place near Centreville, improved it and remained there fifteen years, then bought the place where his widow now lives, near Mt. Carmel, and there remained until his death, which occurred Sept. 15, 1872.

In his life Mr. Utter was of an industrious and ener- getic nature. He was possessed of much good business judgment and foresight, and succeeded in accumulating a large amount of property. He was of a quiet dispo- sition, of reserved manners, speaking little but quick to decide for or against any business proposition. He loved his home and was domestic in his habits and tastes, and kind and indulgent to his family. He was a member of the Christian church from 1862 until his death. On the 28th of March, 1839, he married Miss Elizabeth Penston. She was born in Atlantic county, New Jersey, May 22, 1820. Her parents, John and Sarah (Lake) Penston, were natives of the same state- They came to Wabash county, Illinois, in 1823, and settled in Mt. Carmel, but soon after moved to Bald Eagle prairie. Mrs. Utter still survives her husband. There are nine children, the offspring of the union of Abraham and Elizabeth Utter, whose names in the

Of THE UNIVERSITY

FARM RESIDENCE OF THE LATE ABRAHAM UTTER 3/4 OF A MILE NORTH OF MT. CARMEL, ILL.

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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

order of their birth are: Mary, who is the wife of R. S. Gordon, born May 18th, 1840. They have three child- ren living, named Amy Ellen, Robert Abraham and Walter Spafford. Josiah, the eldest son, died in his second year. Henry, born June 7th, 1845. He was a soldier during the late war, and was a member of Co. I, 5th regiment Ills. cavalry. He married Miss Harriet Lanterman, and they have three children, whose names are Effie, Edward Everett and Minnie C. Edwin, born Nov. 21st, 1850, and died in 1856. Lewis, died in early childhood. Robert Carrol, died in infancy. John Charles, born Dec. 14th, 1859. He was educated and graduated from Eureka College in Woodford county,

Illinois, studied medicine and graduated from the Miami Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a resi- dent and practising physician in South Pueblo, Colora- do. Elizabeth, the youngest of the family, was born Sept. 15, 1862, and was united in marriage March 7th, 1883, to Samuel Beamon. Mrs. Utter is a member of the Christian church.

HON. ROBERT BELL.

THE Bell family, of which the subject of this sketch is a member, were among the pioneers and early settlers of Illinois. On the paternal side they are of Scotch- Irish ancestry. Members of the family emigrated from the north of Ireland to America some time prior to the Revolutionary war. They settled in Rockbridge county, Virginia, and from them have sprung a numer- ous progeny. The grandfather, Robert Bell, was a soldier of the Revolution. He entered the army under Washington while yet in his sixteenth year, and re- mained in the service during the entire term of the war, and was present when the war closed with the surrender of Cornwallis' forces at Yorktown. After the war he married a Miss Mary Caldwell, who was of Scotch descent. She died in Virginia. Robert Bell remained a resident of his native State until 1818, when he came west to Illinois, which State had just been admitted to the Union, and settled in what is now known as Wabash county, then a part of Edwards, at a point now known as Friendsville Precinct. He was a farmer, and followed that avocation until his death, which occurred in 1837. The offspring of his marriage with Miss Mary Caldwell were three children named George, Jane, who was the wife of E. S. Wallace, and Hiram Bell. The latter was the father of Robert Bell. He was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, March 3, 1798, and was yet in his early manhood when the family came to Illinois. He received a good education and adopted surveying as a business. After the family settled in Illinois his time was much occupied in his profession, and he did most of the surveying in this and surrounding counties. In 1824, when the county was organized, he was appointed circuit clerk by Judge Wilson, who subsequently was Chief Justice of the State. Mr. Bell held the office of circuit clerk continuously from 1824 to 1860. He also

held the office of county clerk until December, 1853, and was county judge several years ; in fact held all the offices up to such time as the increasing business of the county demanded a division of the labor. He was familiarly known as General Bell, having held the posi- tion of Brigadier General in the militia forces of the State. He died July 11, 1867. He married Miss Eliz- abeth, daughter of Victor and Rebecca (Tucker) Buchanan, a native of Gallatin county, Kentucky. Her parents removed to Illinois in 1819, and settled in Lawrence county, then a part of Edwards. Mrs. Bell was born August 24, 1802. She still survives her hus- band, and at present is a resident of Mt. Carmel.

There were eight children by the union of Hiram and Elizabeth Bell-four of whom are still living-Robert, Rebecca Jane, wife of Robert Cravath, a civil engineer living at Green Bay, Wisconsin ; James Hiram and Clara Virginia, wife of N. M. Pilsbury, a hardware mer- chant, living at Fremont, Nebraska. Among those who died was Victor B. Bell, the eldest child, a member of the Illinois Legislature in 1852-'54, and a prominent lawyer, who practiced his profession in Mt. Carmel, and afterwards in Chicago and Washington City, and died in New Orleans, September 15, 1867, having never mar- ried.

Hon. Robert Bell, was born in Lawrence county in 1829. He received his primary education in subscription and select schools of Mt. Carmel, and his literary training in the Indiana State University. He studied law under the direction and in the office of his brother, Victor B. Bell, and commenced the practice of his profession in Fairfield, Wayne county, Illinois, in 1855. In 1857 he returned to Mt. Carmel and continued the practice. In 1864 he formed a law partnership with Hon. E. B. Green, which still continues. The law firm of Bell and Green is well known through- out southern Illinois. They have a large practice in this and surrounding counties, and in the Appellate and Superior courts of the State, and in the Circuit and Dis- trict courts of the United States. In 1869 Mr. Bell was appointed County Judge by the Governor, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Thomas J. Arm- strong.

Judge Bell belongs to the progressive order of men. Enterprises, having for their object the increase of the material wealth of the town or county, find in him an active and enthusiastic supporter. He was President of the Illinois Southern Railroad Company, which was merged into the Cairo and Vincennes in 1867, and assisted materially in having the latter road built. He was also President of the St. Louis, Mt. Carmel and New Albany, now the Louisville, Evansville and St. Louis Railway, and while president of the former organ- ization, succeeded in having built and equipped that section of the road between Princeton, Indiana, and Albion, Illinois. The flourishing town of Bellmont, on this road, midway between Mt. Carmel and Albion, was named after Judge Bell ; and the station and post-office

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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

at the works of the Mt. Carmel coal company, on this railway, were named Maud, after a young daughter of Judge Bell who died in the spring of 1880.

Politically Judge Bell was originally a Democrat, his first vote for President being cast for Pierce in 1852. In 1860 he was a Douglas Democrat. During the war of the Rebellion he was a warm Union man, and made many speeches in aid of the recruiting soldiers, and supported all measures that had for their object the suppression of the Rebellion. His strong Union senti- ments naturally led him into the Republican party, and during and since the civil war he has affiliated and acted with the latter political organization, and has been recognized as one of the Republican leaders of the State. From 1868 to 1872 he was a member of the Republican State Central Committee for the State at large. In 1878, he was the Republican candidate for Congress in the 19th District. In 1879 he was sent to California by the United States Treasury Department as a special revenue agent to investigate alleged frauds in the revenue districts of the Pacific coast. In 1881 he was appointed by President Garfield as a commissioner to examine a section of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in New Mexico. Judge Bell is an honored member of the ancient and honorable order of A. F. and A. M., also of Royal Arch and Knight Templar masonry.

On the 17th of November, 1858, at Madison, Connec- ticut, he was married to Miss Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Samuel N. and Martha (Brace) Shepard. Mrs Bell's father was a Congregational minister, and was pastor for thirty-one years of one of the largest churches in Connecticut. Mrs. Bell was born at Madison in that State, and was educated at New Haven, Hartford, and at Maplewood Seminary, Pittsfield, Mass.

There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bell nine children, five of whom are living, and the names of those who survive are : Emily Rosa, Collins Shepard, Edward Green, Catherine Elizabeth and Bertine.

Judge Bell has a high reputation as an orator, and many of his speeches and addresses have been published. He has also written several short poems, that have been printed in some of the leading newspapers in the United States.

HON. JACOB ZIMMERMAN

Is a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, born September 27th, 1831. He is the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Steelsmith) Zimmerman. The family, on the paternal side, were originally from Germany, -on the maternal, of Welsh extraction. His parents emigrated to Ohio in 1840, and settled in Stark county. Four years later they removed to Wyandotte county, in the same State, and there the father died. His wife and the mother of Jacob Z. still survives him, and is a resident of the latter county. Jacob Zimmerman received a good English education in the public and select schools of Upper Sandusky. At the age of eighteen he resolved to

adopt the printer's trade as the business of his life, and with that idea in view, entered the office of the Wyan- dotte Pioneer, in Upper Sandusky, and in that office was "printer's devil," worked at the case, sub-editor and general utility man. He remained there about one year, and then went to Tiffin, Ohio, and worked at the case. Six months later he came west to Illinois, and stopped in the town of Marshall, in Clark county. There be found work in the office of the Illinois State Democrat, then owned and edited by Nathan Willard. He continued with the Democrat eight months; then, in connection with a Mr. Summers, purchased that paper and the Marshall Telegraph, and consolidated them, and pub- lished a neutral independent paper named the Telegraph. In 1852 James C. Robinson, a distinguished lawyer and prominent politician of Illinois, then a resident of Mar- shall, but at present a citizen of Springfield, purchased Mr. Summers' interest in the paper, and became a part- ner of Mr. Zimmerman's. They changed the name to the Eastern Illinoisan, and converted it into a strong de- mocratic newspaper. The latter partnership continued four years, when Mr. Z. sold his interest to his partner, and from Marshall went to Urbana, the county seat of Champaign county, and there, in connection with Mr. George N. Richard (with Mr. Z. as editor), published the Constitution, an able and influential democratic newspaper.

While connected with the Illinoisan in 1855, he estab- . lished a paper at Greenup-the first democratic sheet published in Cumberland county-and conducted it in conjunction with the former paper. The democratic party of Clark county was in a disorganized condition when he assumed editorial control of the Illinoisan, ow- ing to dissatisfaction with the delegate convention sys- tem of making nominations. To heal the dissensions, Mr. Z. drew up a plan of making nominations by primary elections, submitted it to a mass meeting, and secured its adoption. This was the origination of the primary election system of making county nominations in Illinois at least, if not in the county at large, and so satisfactory did it prove in that county, that it has since been adopted throughout nearly the entire State, and largely through- out the whole county.

In 1860 he sold out the paper at Urbana and came to Mt. Carmel, in this county, and here took editorial charge of the Democrat, and conducted it as a Douglas paper through the presidential campaign of 1860. His labors as editor and publisher of newspapers practically ceased in November, 1860. Since that time he has, oc- casionally, temporarily assumed editorship of the local journals. As a newspaper and political writer, Mr. Zim- merman was far above the average. He wielded a sharp and vigorous pen, and many times proved to his political and newspaper contemporaries that he was a formidable antagonist to encounter in a pen-and-paper controversy. Articles from his pen were clear, concise and to the point, and showed a thorough knowledge of the subject 'in hand. After his retirement from the newspaper busi-

LIBRARY Of THE UNIVERSITY OF

RES. AND OFFICE OF DR. P. SEARS MT CARMEL, ILLINOIS.

WESTOVER FARM.CONTAINING OVER 200 ACRES. THE PROPERTY

RES. BUILT BY A. GIBSON NOW THE PROPERTY OF MRS. DR SEARS .

IS Nee CLARISSA A.SEARS $40F A MILE WEST OF MI CARMEL, ILL.

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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

ness, he engaged in farming and improving his property in this county, and that has been his chief occupation to the present.

On the 25th of December, 1856, he married Miss Be- linda B., daughter of Thomas S. and Sarah D. (Cavalier) Hinde. She was born in Wabash county. Her father was one of the pioneers of Illinois, and the original pro- prietor of the town of Mt. Carmel. Mrs. Zimmerman, at the time of her marriage, was a resident of Marshall, Clark county Illinois, where she lived with her sister, who was the wife of Judge Charles H. Constable. She died in May, 1865, leaving two children, one of whom is yet living, named Frederick Hinde Zimmerman.

On the 13th of April, 1874, Mr. Z. married his present wife. Her maiden name was Emma Harris. She is the daughter of John and Mary(Brooks) Harris. The Harris family were also old settlers of Wabash county. By the latter marriage there are two children, whose names, in the order of their birth, are : Herbert and John H. Mr. Zimmerman is an honored member of the Order of Free- masonry, and belongs to the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Kuights Templar orders.

Politically, he has been a life-long and thorough-paced democrat. He is most soundly indoctrinated in the tenets and principles of that political organization, and believes that on the ultimate success of its principles rest the future hopes, prosperity and perpetuity of a repub- lican form of government in the United States. In 1878. his zeal in the cause of his party, and worth as a man and citizen, received honorable recognition by being elected to represent his district in the Third General As- sembly of the State. While a member of that body he secured the passage of a bill appropriating fifteen thous- and dollars for the erection of a court-house in Mt. Carmel.

Mr. Zimmerman is a live, energetic, progressive busi- ness man. He was one of the organizers of the Coal Mine Co. west of Mt. Carmel, and the present and pros- pective development of the coal interests of Wabash county is in a great measure due to his energy and in- vestigations.

HON. EDWARD B. GREEN

Is a native of Blair county, Pennsylvania, born Dec. 29, 1837. His father, Thomas Green, was born and reared in Fairfax county, Virginia. He was of English ances- try, and the family were among the early settlers of the Old Dominion. During the war of 1812 he enlisted and served as a soldier in the army operating in Canada and on the northern frontier. At the close of the war he settled in what is now known as Blair county, Penn- sylvania, then a part of Huntingdon, and there followed farming until his death, which occurred in 1875. He married Miss Martha Galbraith, who was descended from Scotch-Irish stock. Her ancestors were among the early settlers of Pennsylvania. She was born and raised in Blair county, where she lived at the time of her mar- riage. She still survives her husband, and at the present 32

time is a resident of Clarion county, in her native State. By the marriage of Thomas and Martha Green there were twelve children, ten of whom are still living. Ed- ward B. is the youngest of the family. He received his primary education in the public schools of his native county. Being of a studious nature and possessing ear- nest application, he soon fitted himself for the profession of teaching, in which he engaged while yet in his seven- teenth year. The profession gave him enlarged oppor- tunities for study and self culture, and he soon became proficient, particularly in languages. During the last year and a half of his residence in Pennsylvania he oc- cupied the Chair of Professor of Languages in the Aca- demy at West Freedom, in Clarion county. In October, 1858, he came west to Illinois, and settled in Paris, in Edgar county. He had determined to adopt the profes- sion of law as the business of his life, and with that idea in view, entered the law office of his brother, Amos Green and James A. Eads, prominent attorneys of Paris, Illinois, and commenced the study. He read the stand- ard text-books and prosecuted his studies diligently until June, 1860, when he repaired to Carlyle, in Clinton county, then the residence of the late Sidney Breese, one of the justices of the supreme court, and was by him examined, and upon his recommendation was admitted to the bar. On the 20th of the same month he came to Mt. Carmel, opened a law office, and commenced the practice, and continued alone until 1864, when he formed a law partnership with Hon. Robert Bell. That part- nership still continues, and has existed for a period of almost twenty years. The law firm of Bell & Green is widely known throughout Southern Illinois. They have a large and lucrative practice in this and surround- ing counties, and in the circuit, appellate and supreme courts. Mr. Green has confined himself strictly to the legitimate practice of the law. Upon the very thresh- old of his professional experience he recognized the fact that the law was a jealous mistress, who required of her subjects their undivided attention, severe and con- tinuous application,-careful, patient investigation, if they would succeed and become eminent in the profes- sion. Being impressed, and acting upon those well- known facts, he has found no time to engage in other than the legitimate practice, nor has he given any branch or department special attention, but has confined him- self to the general practice.

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Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 59

Author: Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. L. McDonough & co. Number of Pages: 490

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. L. McDonough & co.
Number of Pages: 490