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 72
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 72
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 72
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crat politically. Religiously he is a member of the Lutheran church, while his wife is an Albright. He is industrious in his habits, earnest in everything he undertakes to do, and eminently social.
ISAIAH BERNINGER
WAS born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, December 21, 1835. His father, Aaron, also a native of Berks county, was a carpenter and mill-wright by trade. His grandfather was one of the soldiers in the war of 1812, and as such was, the last few years of his life, on the pension rolls of his country. The maiden name of his mother was Hannah Rhodes. He was the second in a family of four boys. In his youth he was apprenticed to the trade of wagon making. In the year 1856 he came to Lancaster, Wabash county, where he engaged as a clerk in the mercantile business for Judge Hershy, in whose employment he remained eight years, when he prosecuted wagon making and farming He was mar- ried to Sarah Ann Higgins, daughter of John Higgins, March 17, 1859. By her he has had eleven children, seven of whom are living and four dead. He is a pro- nounced and representative Democrat. As a man of sound judgment he has the confidence of his fellow citizens who have kept him in office as justice of the peace since 1873. He takes great interest in school and church, and has time and again been elected director in his school" district. He is an active, working member of the Christian church. His parents both died in the year 1876. Aaron, his father, in the month of January, and Hannah a month afterwards. Mr. Berninger is an excellent citizen, an honest man, a good neighbor, and a man beloved by all who knows him.
GEORGE STOLTZ
WAS born in Alsace, now tributary to Germany, then to France, February 18, 1817. His father, Adam Stoltz, was a shepherd in his native land; a farmer here. To himself and Eve his wife were born eight children, of whom George was the third. The family crossed the ocean en route to America in 1828, and were fifty-one days on the sea. Arriving in New York, they made their way to Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, where they resided until 1834. In the spring time of that year, two of the sons, Adam and George came to Wabash county whence their father and family followed them in the fall. George worked at the carpenter's trade, a vocation he followed fifteen years, and which even yet, although farming is his main reliance, he pur- sues. His first venture towards becoming a landed proprietor was in 1850, when he entered an eighty acre tract of the government. He was married to Margaret Hinkle, daughter of Peter Hinkle, March 14, 1841, who located in Wabash county in 1830. Mrs. Stoltz was born February 1, 1821, in Davidson county, North Carolina. Her parents were seven weeks, less two days
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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
in coming by team from North Carolina here. To Mr. and Mrs. Stoltz have been born the following children : Henry, born December 16, 1841; Andrew, May 24, 1843; Peter, September 10, 1844; George, May 23, 1846; Mary Ann, Decomber 6, 1846, (died); Susan Maria, March 22, 1849 ; Sarah Elizabeth, November 30, 1850; Franklin, May 14, 1852; Jacob, May 19, 1854; John Hamilton, June 6, 1856 : Margaret, May 17, 1858; Lora, May 2, 1860; Clara Ellen, December 11, 1862. Mr. Stoltz is an aident Democrat and a member of the Lutheran church.
PHILIP H. MARX.
GERMANY has furnished many of the most industrious, earnest, and law-abiding citizens, that go to make up the cosmopolitan population of the United States. Their children tenaciously adhere to those habits of in- dustry and frugality that characterized their ancestors. Every community furnishes examples of the thrift inci- dent to such training as they receive. Mr. Philip H. Marx is an example of this class. His father, Michael Marx, was born in Germany, and came to this country, locating first in Pennsylvania in 1828, thence to Wabash county in 1836. He was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, April 21, 1832. Steadily and with marked success he has pursued his chosen vocation of farming. Starting out in life with but little means he is now the possessor of a well cultivated farm of near four hundred acres. He was united in marriage to Margaret Stephens, daughter of George and Margaret Stephens, March 5, 1857. The parents of Mrs. Marx, in common with his own, were of German extraction. They lived a number of years in Ohio, where Mrs. Marx was born, thence to Indiana, and from there came to Wabash county a few years prior to the date of the above marriage. To them have been born five children : Samuel C., William M., John H., Catharine and Mary. Mr. Marx is an outspoken Democrat. His devotion to the party's cause has remained unshaken since cast- ing his first Presidential ballot, which was for James Buchanan in 1856. He and his family are faithful, zealous members of the Lutheran church. His beauti- ful home place consists of three hundred and seventy- four acres of land in a high state of cultivation.
JOHN HIGGINS,
OR " Uncle John," as he is familiarly called, was born in Alleghany county, New York, January 14th, 1813. His father, John Higgins also by name, was a ship-car- penter, originally from Connecticut. Ilis grandfather was a revolutionary soldier. The family were among the pioneers of Wabash county, having come hither in 1816. In those early days, subsistence was scanty. His father paid as high as twenty-five cents per pound for bacon. Upon being questioned as to why he would do so when the woods were full of game, he replied that
he " wanted something greasy." In the family were three sons, one of whom, William, is dead, and George is living in Richland county. John Higgins was mar- ried to Julia Keracher, a native of Berks county, Penn- sylvania, where she was born, December 29th, 1816- on the 31st of January, 1833. To them were born twelve children, Delia, Jan. 9th, 1834; Mary C., March 12th, 1836; Betsey, Dec. 31st, 1837, died Jau. 14th, 1839; Daniel, Sept. 23d, 1839, died May 14th, 1857 ; Sarah A., March 9th, 1842; Susannah, Feb. 17th, 1844 ; Judah, April 7th, 1846, died Dec. 13th, 1870; George W., April 5th, 1849, died Aug. 12th, 1850; Maria, April 5th, Nancy, Sept. 9th, 1857, and Ellen. Upon the breaking out of the Black Hawk War, Mr. Higgins was anxious to go, but his father needed his services, be- ing engaged at the time in the erection of the first brick building, perhaps erected in the county. During the late war he was almost alone in his avowal of Republican principles in his immediate vicinity, a faith to which he has constantly adhered. He is a most devoted member of the Christian Church, in the success of which he takes great interest.
DR. EDWARD L. McJILTON.
A PHYSICIAN in the enjoyment of a fine and lucrative practice, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, July 2d, 1842. His parents, Daniel an d Amelia McJilten were both natives of Maryland, as were also the grand- father and great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch To avoid the wrath of the British crown, the last referred to crossed the sea in company with Thomas Addis Em- mett, brother of the martyred Robert Emmett, and thus in America, the asylum for the oppressed, found refuge from an awaiting death. The maiden name of the doc- tor's mother was Tyson. The Tysons were originally French Huguenots, then Quakers or Friends, after drifting from France to England and America. Pass- more, a name familiar to history, was the name of his grandfather on his mother's side. The doctor's father died when he was but one and a half years of age, 80 that he was reared by a widowed mother. In the family were four sons and two daughters. Two of the sons, James, a teacher, and John, a carpenter by trade, are living in Ohio. Thomas, a lawyer of large practice and fine reputation, lives in Newark, New Jersey. The sisters are Mrs. Prof. Locke, of Lockeland, Ohio, and Mis. Lobaugh, also of Ohio. Edward J. was educated in Ohio. For some years he alternated teaching and study. In 1857, he entered the Ohio Medical College, from which institution he graduated in 1870. He came to Lancaster in 1868. In 1869 he was married to Judith Higgins, who died within a year. In 1871 he married Maria Higgins, a sister of his first wife, and daughter of John Higgins, by whom he has one child, Essie Josephine. Since first coming to Lancaster, the doctor practiced hia profession a year in Evansville, Ind. Ae did valiant service in behalf of the cause of the Union, during the
FARM RESIDENCE OF G.W. KEEN , SEC.32, T.2, R.IS, LANCASTER PRECINCT , WABASH CO.ILL:
FARM RESIDENCE OF ROZANDER SMITH, SEC.12, T.I. R. 14, (LANCASTER PRECINCT) WABASH CO. ILL.
LIBRARY Of THE UNIVERSITY IF LAH
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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
war, having enlisted in Co. "I," 110th Ohio Reg. Vol., under Col. Keifer, in August, 1862. He participated in every battle with his Regiment from Gettysburg until the close of the war. He was mustered out in June, 1865. He is an earnest, ardent Republican, proud of the opportunity which was his, of casting his first ballot for Abraham Lincoln, the martyred President.
ROZANDER SMITH
WAS born in Utica, New York, April 9th, 1817. His father, Ramsler E. Smith, was a carpenter and farmer, a native of New York, as were his parents of England. His mother's maiden name was Mary Osgood. In a family of four children, Rozander was the only son. They were pioneers in the vicinity of Lancaster, having located there in 1820, or rather near old Palmyra. For years Ramsler E. followed his vocation of carpenter, working at his trade in Albien, Edwarda county, Pal- myra, Lancaster and Evansville, Indiana, where he died, in 1841. Mary Smith, the mother of the subject of this sketch, died in 1822, and was among the first whose bodies were consigned to the tombs in the Lancaster grave-yard. Rozander attended the first school ever taught in Lancaster, in a log cabin, whose windows were made of greased paper. He married Rebecca Hubbard, daughter of Sidney Hubbard, of Richland county, Dec. '27th, 1846. She died August 26th, 1860. Of eight children born to them, all are dead save one, Benjamin Franklin by name. Mr. Smith was married to his present wife, Cinthia Ann Snider, daughter of Peter Snider, April 14th, 1869. By her he has three children living, William, Levitt and Edgar Rozander. Rozander Smith has occupied his present homestead since 1847. His farm consists of four hundred and twenty acres, a quarter section of which he entered of the Government. He commenced life without a dollar, worked for wages, which he systematically saved, and laid out in land. His purchases were at first small. He has been a Justice of the Peace for sixteen consecutive years, and for four years was Associate Justice of the County Court. He ia a Democrat as he himself expresses it, "straight out." His religious convictions are in common with the Uni- versalists. His grandfather, Benjamin Smith, was for many years a Revolutionary pensioner, having served his country in 1776. He died in Edwards county, in 1841.
DR FAY K. WALLER.
PROMINENT among the rising young physicians of Wa- bash county may very appropriately be mentioned Dr. Fay K. Waller, of Lancaster. He was born in Zanes- ville, Muskingum county, Ohio, Oct. 2nd, 1848. His father, J. L. Waller, was for a number of years a mar- ble cutter. After his coming to Illinois, which he did in 1864, he commenced preaching, for which nature had 80 well fitted him. He is now the Presiding Elder in the Mt. Carmel District. He was ordained by Bishop
Simpson. His father, also an M. E. preacher, was or- dained by Bishop Asbury, and his grandfather hy John Wesley. This last one referred to among the doctor's ancestors, lived to the great age of one hundred and ten years, when he died in Coshocton county, Ohio. The maiden name of the doctor's mother was Frances E. Gammon. Dr. Waller enlisted in Co. A. 2nd Virginia Regiment, Col Albia Tomlinson commanding, in 1861, although but thirteen years of age at the tin e He was part of the time bugler and part orderly to the colonel. The boy of the regiment, as he was denominated, kept with them until the close of the war, being mustered out in July, 1865. In September of the same year he came to Illinois, where for two years he engaged in farming in Richland county. In 1867 he commenced reading medicine with Doctors West and Spalding, of Ingraham, with whom he continued three years, when he entered Miami Medical College, .in Cincinnati, Ohio, from whence he was graduated Feb. 26th, 1878. During the eight years intervening between the time of his first attendance upon lectures in Miami College and gradu- ation from that institution, he was engaged in the practice of his chosen profession in Crawford county. He came to Lancaster in October, 1878, where he formed a co-partnership with Dr. Friend. He was united in marriage with Catherine S. McClure, daughter of Richard and Mary McClure, May 15th, 1877. She died August 22d, 1878. The doctor was married to bis present wife, Martha A. Leeper, daughter of Jolin and Catharine Leeper, October 1st, 1879. Mr. Leeper is a minister in the M. E. church. By this union have been born two children, Glen Leeper and Orla L., both bright and intelligent. The doctor is a most pronounced and outspoken Republican. He is a member of the Masonic Order and of the Knights of Honor. As a physician he is attentive, and is a constant and close student. His ancestry can be traced back to Sir William Wallace, 1630.
AUGUSTINE J. RODGERS
WAS born on the farm he now occupies, Dec. 5, 1842. His father, Patrick Rodgers, a native of Ireland, came to America about the year 1830, and soon thereafter made his way to Wabash county. In common with many of his nationality he was a railroader. When the O. and M. R. R. was being built he became a con- tractor, and the very day he had completed a contract for grading two miles near Clement, June 4th, 1854, he died. Malinda Gupton, the maiden naine of the mother of Mr. Rodgers, was a native of North Carolina. She lived some years in East Tenn, then came here in 1825. She died Dec. 28, 1863. Augustine J. never had the opportunity of attending a school where seats had backs, nor indeed of attending any kind Jong. He was married to Julia M. Gard, daughter of Justus Gard, Feb 19,1868. The Gards were among the pioneers of Wa- bash county. At one time they were a large and influential
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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
family, whilenow only a few representatives of the name remain. To Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers were born seven children with their names and dates of birth as follows: Lillie, Dec. 27, 1868, died Nov. 13, 1870. Sidney Clarence, Aug. 3, 1870. Alonzo Marcellus, Jan. 21, 1873. Maggie May, Sept. 24, 1874. Charles Delbert, Oct. 1, 1877. Effie and Ida (twins) Sept. 4, 1879. Effie died June 21, 1880. Mr. Rodgers is an uncom- promising democrat in his political views. Religiously he is a member of the United Brethren church. He had one brother, James, who died Oct. 26, 1879, and two sisters, one the wife of N. G. Cunningham, the other of Belmont Tapley.
DR. WILLIAM FRIEND
WAS born in Elizabeth county, Kentucky, December 2, 1828. His father, Ephraim Friend, was a farmer, and a native of Kentucky. His mother, whose maiden name was Rachel Murphy, was a North Carolinian, and was taken by her parents to both Virginia and Tennes- see before locating in Kentucky. The family moved to Wayne county, Illinois, in 1829. In all there were nine children, of whom Doctor Friend was the third, in the order of their birth. Ephraim Friend died Jan. 24, 1880. It is supposed that the family sprang from one of two brothers who came from England to Pennsylvania about the year 1600. They were a family of pioneers, and its representatives are found much scattered. William Friend lived in Wayne county until 1850, when he moved to Jefferson county. In his earlier manhood he taught school. His first reading of medi- cine was with Dr. H. T. Edwards. He was engaged nearly two years in a drug store as clerk, first in La Salle, then in Fairfield. In the spring of 1854 he located in Lancaster, where he has since resided. He was married to Evelena Bailey, daughter of Elias Bai- ley, a prominent citizen, formerly of Maryland, where he had been a ship' carpenter, March 13th, 1855. By her he has two children living, Kate and William Marshall. The doctor is an earnest democrat, and as such has been recognized as a leader among his fellow- citizens. He served as a member of the state board of equalization from 1868 to 1872. As a practitioner he has been eminently successful. In surgery he has performed many operations requiring great skill. Per- haps he is oftener consulted than any other physician of his county. He is noted as being cool in any emergency, and is possessed of excellent judgment. He was twice elected president of the Wabash medical society, in whose affairs he takes deep interest. He has acquired a reputation of being the young physicians' friend, aiding and befriending them, whenever occasion offered. The doctor is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being a knight templar in Gorin commandery, Olney.
CHARLES SEIBERT.
THE Seiberts are of Dutch extraction. The ancestors came from Holland and settled in America .prior to the
revolutionary war, and took part in that memorable struggle. Solomon Seibert. the grandfather, was born in Berks county, Pa., in 1778, and was a tanner by trade, but he also followed farming. He came to Illi- nois in 1834 and settled one half mile east of the village of Lancaster, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, forty of which were improved, and there lived until his death, which took place July 27, 1852. He married Mary Scheirer March 25, 1800. She died July 27, 1835. There were nine children by that union, three of whom are living, viz. : Reuben, Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Genther and Catherine, wife of William Wise. Jacob, the father of Charles, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, Nov. 30, 1811. He grew to manhood in his native state, and came to Illinois in 1832, where he followed farming, but subsequently took up the trade of carpenter. He remained in the neighborhood of Lancaster until his death, which took place Dec. 13, 1862. He married Miss Catherine Fritz, of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1834. She was boru Sept. 11, 1811, and was the daughter of Henry Fritz. She died Nov. 11, 1880. There were seven sons and two daughters born to Jacob and Catherine Seibert, the youngest of whom died in infancy. Charles Seibert is the eldest of the family. He was born one mile west of the town of Lancaster, Wabash county, Ills, Nov. 10, 1834. He received a fair knowledge of the elementary branches in the subscription schools of his neighborhood. He commenced working at the carpenter trade with his father when twelve years of age, and continued at it for six years, then the next two years worked at millwright- ing, and then resumed his first trade. Subsequently he became a builder and contractor and erected many buildings throughout the northern part of the county. He continued in that trade until 1870, when he engaged in general merchandising. in which he still continues. On the 12th of August, 1858, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Ginther, who was born Nov. 19, 1836, in Berks county; Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Ginther. There have been twelve children born to Mr. and Mrs. Seibert, eight of whom are living. The names of these latter, in the order of their birth, are: Mary Abigail, Jacob O., Daniel F., Ida S, Webster, Lyman L., Flory I. and Cora Belle .. Both he and his wife, two eldest sons and two eldest daughters are members of the Lutheran church.
Mr. Seibert takes an active interest in church affairs, and has been treasurer of the church for twenty years. He is also conspicuous as a Sunday-school worker, and has been connected with the Sunday-school for forty years as a scholar and superintendent. Politically, lie has been a Democrat since 1856, when he cast his first vote for James Buchanan. Mr. Seibert is recognized as the leading business man of Lancaster, possessing that combination of push and energy which has made him a man in whom the confidence of a community may be safely reposed.
RESIDENCE OF A. PIXLEY JUN?
INTERIOR OF STORE .
PIXLEY 1881
STORE OF A.PIXLEY JUN® ESTABLISHED 1862, WEST SALEM, EDWARDS CO. ILLINOIS.
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SALEM.
EDWARDS COUNTY.
ALEM PRECINCT derived its name from Sa- lem, an old Moravian town in North Carolina. It occupies the northeastern part of Edwards, and is bounded on the north by Richland, on the east by Wabash county and Bonpas creek, on the south by Albion, and on the west by Shelby precinct. Territorially it extends west from Bonpas creek, and includes the eastern tier of sections of Range 10 East, and north from the southern boundary of Town 1, and embraces the southern tier of sections of Town 2 North. The surface is generally level, and was originally divi- ded about equally between timber and prairie. In the northern part were the " barrens," as they were called, covered with a low growth of brush, over which deer could be conveniently brought down by the hunter. Mills Prairie in the eastern, Buck Prairie in the south- eastern, and Long Prairie in the western part, are fer- tile areas, and centres of considerable wealth. Timber is quite abundant, and much of it of recent growth. The hard varieties of wood are well represented. The soil is fertile and well adapted to the growth of wheat, which is the staple product. The other cereals receive a share of attention, and fruit, especially apples, is largely raised. The production of honey was among the important early industries of the people, which necessarily gave way before the march of agriculture. Corn was the chief product, but much attention was paid to the production of pork. Castor beans, at a little later date, claimed a share of attention, and tobacco was extensively cultivated for a number of years preceding the close of the late war. Water supply and drainage are derived from Bonpas and Walser creeks. The latter enters the precinct at section 24, T. 1 N., R. 10 E, and flows southeasterly, entering into Bonpas at section 34. Most of the original settlers were from North Carolina, but there is at present a large German element.
Permanent settlements began to be effected about the year 1820. Prior to. this date a few frontiersmen had pushed their way into the wilderness many miles and many years in advance of civilization. Among these, tradition informs us of three brothers, Daston, whose rifles broke the stillness of the primeval forest as early as the year 1800. Their cabins occupied respectively the W. half of the S. E. quarter, and the E. half of the
S. E. quarter of section 10, and N. half of the N. W. quarter of section 15, T. 1 N., R. 14 E. Ransom Hig- gins, who claimed to have made the first wagon tracks west of the Wabash river, arrived in the precinct as early as 1820 or '21, and was one of the most useful as well as one of the earliest pioneers. He was a man of activity, energy and enterprise. He settled on Bonpas creek, and there, on the S. E. quarter of the S. W quar- ter of section 3, about 1821 or '22, he erected a water- mill, the first thing of the kind in the precinct. He was a representative man, and the earliest justice of the peace, holding the office before the year 1833. Isaac Greathouse was a Kentuckian by birth. In his native State he married Sarah Russel, and began farming, which he followed about ten years, and then about 1814 or '15, with his family, came to Illinois. The Indian hostilities drove him along with others into the fort at Mt. Carmel. After a period of six or eight years, he returned to his native State, but left it again in 1821, with his family, and came to Illinois, settling perma- nently on the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 13. His children were David Preston, Enoch, George, Dorothy and Eliza. He was a plain, industrious farmer, and never aspired to office or position of public trust. Francis, his son by his second wife, is now a prominent and influential farmer, living on -section 13. David and Preston, now dead, married, settled down and always lived in the precinct. Enoch, the oldest of the pioncer children, is a wealthy farmer residing in section 18, T. 1 N., R. 11 E. The Greathouse family is one of the oldest and most numerous in the county. Lot Sams was a native of North Carolina, but had lived in Tennessee and Kentucky. From the latter State he came to Illinois about the year 1815, with his family, on pack-horses. He first settled in what is now Shelby precinct, on the S. W. quarter of section 35, T. 1 N., R. 10 E., where he remained five or six years, and then moved to the S. W. quarter of section 25, where he died October 24, 1863. By thrift and energy he accumulated a considerable amount of property. Samsville, a little hamlet of six or seven families, bears his name. A post-office was established here in 1864.
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