USA > Illinois > Shelby County > Combined history of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of their scenery and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 47
USA > Illinois > Moultrie County > Combined history of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of their scenery and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 47
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On the 1st of March, 1852, lie was united in marriage to Eliza- beth Hogue, a native of Terre Haute, Ind. By this union there have been six children living, two sons and four daughters ; their names are Alice, wife of J. T. Herrick; Cora, wife of Charles Waldron ; Lola, Clinton, Eben, and Kitty. Politically, Mr. Keeler, since attaining his majority, has always been a democrat, and in all gene- ral elections votes the ticket without scratch or blemisli.
SAMUEL H. WEBSTER.
THE subject of the following sketch has been for a long number of years one of the prominent and active business men of Shelby- ville.
The Webster family, on the paternal side, are of English descent. Russell B. Webster, the father of Samuel H., is a native of Massachusetts. He emigrated to Ohio in 1821. In 1823 he removed his family to Cleveland, which was then a small straggling village of a few houses.
He still lives where he settled in 1823, a hale, hearty, active man of over four-score years. He married Orpha Hunter. She is also a native of Massachusetts. She is still living, and of about the same age as her husband. They are residents of Lorraine co., Ohio, and have been since they first settled in' that state, except a few years of residence in Shelbyville, while their sons were absent as soldiers in the war.
There were eight children in the family,-seven sons and one daughter; the latter died in childhood. There are five sons yet living. The subject of this sketch is the eldest son. He was born in Lorraine county, Ohio, September 15th, 1825. His youth was passed in the common schools of his neighborhood and in the high school of Wellington, Ohio. Early in life he engaged in business for himself. His first business was buying and shipping produce to the west, particularly to Chicago, when that city was yet in its infancy. From the age of nineteen until twenty-five, he was en- gaged in selling notions through the country, traveling with two- horse team. In 1856 he concluded to come west and try his fortunes in Illinois. He came to Shelbyville and engaged in general merchandizing in connection with E. H. Jagger. This co partnership continued until 1862, when the firm of S. H. Webster & Co. was formed, which continued until 1872, when Martin Web- ster, brother of S. H., withdrew, The firm name continued, and is in existence yet, and recognized as one of the substantial business firms of Shelbyville. The firmn is largely engaged in pork-pack- ing, handling and shipping grain and produce, and dealing in agricultural implements. This has been their business for twenty- five years.
Politically, Mr. Webster was originally an old line whig. On the formation of the republican party, he joined that political organiza- tion, and from that time to the present has been an active and leading member of the republican party in Shelby county. In September, 1878, he was appointed postmaster of Shelbyville, and now conducts the official business therewith connected in a manner entirely satisfactory to the citizens of Shelbyville and vicinity. In 1848 he was appointed postmaster of Wellington, Ohio, by General Taylor, President of the United States. On the 21st of January, 1856, he was united in marriage to Miss Lucy A. Jagger. Four children have been born to them, all of whom are living. Their names are : Mary L., wife of Dr. Westervelt of Shelbyville; Charles M, assistant postmaster; Leveret S., and Ada Webster. His family are members of the Presbyterian Church. He is not a member of any church organization. He is an earnest advocate of the cause of temperance.
Mr. Webster is one of the oldest business men in Shelby- ville. He came here in May, 1856-twenty-four years ago-and commenced active business, and has continued uninterruptedly to the present ; and in all these years he has borne the reputation of an honest, upright and honorable man, conducting his business in such a manner as to gain the confidence and estecm of the commu- nity in which he has so long resided. It is with pleasure that we liere present him in this brief biographical sketch.
HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
160
arche Shelton.
Mr. SHELTON is an old resident of Shelby county. His ancestors on the paternal side, three generations back, emigrated from Eng- land to America, and settled in Virginia. His grandfather's mo- ther was a native of Ireland. On the maternal side, the father of his grandmother was a Frenchman, and his great-grandmother on the same side a native of Wales. Claiborne Shelton, the paternal grandfather, was born and raised in Virginia. He moved to Ohio, and settled in Gallia county, about the year 1812, where he remained until November 19, 1827, when he removed to Madison county, Indiana, and remained there until his death, in the year 1838.
Jesse Shelton, the son of Claiborne and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Pittsylvania county, Va., April 9th, 1797. He emigrated with his father's family to Ohio, and, in 1827, to In- diana, where he remained until February, 1857, when he came to Illinois, and settled in Prairie township, this county, where he at present resides. He is still a vigorous man, although in the eighty- fourth year of his age. In June, 1817, while yet a resident of Gallia county, Ohio, he married Margaret Blakc. She was born in Greenbriar county, Virginia, Oct. 25, 1800. Her parents removed to Ohio about the same time as did Claiborne Shelton. She died in Prairie township, Nov. 18, 1878.
By this marriage there were ten children, seven boys and three girls-six of the former and one of the latter are living. The sub. ject of this biography is the eighth in the family. He was born in Madison county, Indiana, Oct. 6th, 1833. Like all farmer boys, his youth was employed at work on the farm, assisting his father, and in at ending the district schools and learning the rudimentary principles of an education during the winter months. In this man- lier lie passed his youth until his seventeenth year, when he hired to a carpenter, and worked at the carpenter trade for four years.
In this time he married, and soon after went to farming in Madison county, Ind., and continued in that business until a few years ago. In March, 1857, he removed to Shelby county, Illinois, and pur- chased land in Sec. 12, T. 9 (Prairie township), which was partially improved. He remained on that tract for one year, when he sold it and purchased in sec. 14 in same township, and there made his home until 1877, or until elected treasurer of Shelby county, when he removed to Shelbyville. The date of his marriage was Septem- ber 19, 1853. He married Miss Lucinda Seward. She is a native of Hamilton county, Ohio, but was a resident of Coles county, Ills., at the time of her marriage. This union has been blessed by eight children, six daughters and two sons. Mrs. Shelton is a member of the Christian Church. In politics, Mr. Shelton adheres to the de- mocratie party since 1856, when he cast his first presidential vote for James Buchanan for president He is among the active and safe counsellors of that political organization in the county. During his residence in Prairie township he held several local offices. He was collector for three years, and represented his township in the board of supervisors for three terms. In 1877 he was no ninated by the democratic party for the responsible office of county treas- urer, and in November following was elected. In 1879 he was re- nominated and elected by an increased majority, and now holds the office and attends to the duties thereof in a manner that reflects credit upon himself and honor upon his friends, who urged his claims and supported him in the last two elections. In the collec- tion and disbursement of the county's funds, he is a faithful public servant, exact and methodical, and careful in the discharge of every duty imposed upon him. He is a plain, unpretentious man, striving to do unto others as he would have others do unto him. He has many warm friends.
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HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
W. A TROWER.
THE Trower family on the paternal side are of English and Scotch descent. The ancestors came to America in an early day and settled in Virginia. The family have been cultivators of the soil and professional men, of the latter principally physicians. Sol- omon Trower was born in Virginia and removed with his family to Mercer county, Kentucky, about the year 1808. His father ac- companied him ; both died in that county ; the great-grandfather at the great age of one hundred and nine years ; he was a soldier of the revolutionary war. John W. Trower married Nancy Robert- son of Albemarle county, Virginia. John W. Trower, jr., the father of William A., was the offspring of that marriage. He was born in Mercer county, Kentucky. He went back to Virginia and there married Jane W. Breedlove, a native of Albemarle county. She died in Shelbyville, Ills., in the year 1874. About the year 1837, John W. Trower came west and settled in Coles county, where he remained nine years, then removed to Wisconsin, and the next year came to Shelbyville, Ills., and remained here until his death which occurred Aug. 31st, 1855. He fell a victim to the cholera. which was raging here at that time. He was a physician and practiced his profession until his death. By the union of John W. and Jane W. Trower there were five children-four sons and one daughter. Three of the children have survived the parents. The subject of this biography is the second in the family. He was born in Albe- marle county, Virginia, October 11th, 1833. He received a limited education in the district schools of Illinois. While yet young he went to McLean county, Illinois, and worked on a farm for four years. He then returned to Shelbyville and clerked for a number of years. He then received the appointment of postmaster, in which he continued until 1855, when he resigned to accept a situation as clerk. In the spring of 1859, he went to farming and continued there engaged until 1861, when he was elected Sheriff of the county to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Sheriff shaw. Under the then existing law relating to the office of Sheriff he could not be re-elected ; he therefore served out the unexpired time, and at the close he purchased the Leader printing office. He conducted that journal for a number of years, and then sold out. He was ap- pointed postmaster in 1866 under Andrew Johnson, and held the office for one year, when the Senate for political reasons re- fused to confirm the appointment. One year later he was re-ap- pointcd, the Senate concurring, and he held the office until 1869. The same year he was elected Mayor of the city of Shelbyville, and remained in that office until 1871, when he resigned his Mayor- alty and purchased the Leader office and again took up journalism, in which profession and business lie has remained to the present. Mr. Trower has made a success of the newspaper business. He is admirably fitted for it, particularly in the business management. He is a sharp, terse, vigorous writer. While his articles may not show scholarly attainments, yet they are directly to the point, and the reader is not left in doubt as to the writer's position upon any sub- jeet. Politically Mr. Trower has been a life-long Democrat. He is a respected member of the order of A. F. & A. M. and of the beneficiary order of A. O. U. W. He is temperate in his habits, and an advocate of the cause of temperance. On the 30th of October, 1856, he was united in marriage to Miss Cordelia, daughter of Letton Smith. She was born and raised in Shelby county, Ills. By this marriage there were six children, five of them living. Their names in the order of their birth are Mary F., Edith, Jennie, Maud and Tom B. Trower. Both Mr. and Mrs. Trower are members of the M. E. Church. Mr. Trower is an old resident of Shelby county, and has been identified with its progress, and has contributed much
to its material wealth, by the publication of his journal, which has always under his management spoken for the county, and advoca- ted all enterprises, that have contributed to its increase and benefit. In the community where he has long resided and is known by all, none are more respected for their worth as a man and citizen than Mr. Trower.
JAMES E. FRAZER.
THE Frazer family, of Shelby county, to which the subject of this sketch belongs, is of Scotch-Irish descent, the forefathers of whom came to America about the close of the Revolutionary war, and settled in Virginia. John Frazer, the grandfather, was born in that state. He removed from there to Kentucky, where he re- mained until 1828, when he came to Illinois, and settled at a point then known as Cochran's Grove, in Shelby county ; he re- mained there until his death, which took place in 1855. He mar- ried a Miss Jones ; she was a native of Virginia. By this marriage there were eight children, five sons and three daughters. Albert G., the father of James E., was the second son ; he was born in Caldwell county, Kentucky, April 1, 1809. When his father came to Shelby county, he did not accompany him here, but stopped at the Salt Licks, near Shawneetown, Illinois. He remained there until 1830, when he came to Cochran's Grove, and there re- mained until his death, which occurred October 10, 1869. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits during his life ; he was also very fond of the chase and hunting, and for the first twenty years of his married life his family were not without a saddle of venison iu the house, the trophy of his unerring rifle and prowess as a hunter. He only relinquished the sport, of which he was passionately fond, when age compelled him to respect nature's commands, and game became scarce from the rapid settling up of the country. He was a soldier of the Black Hawk war, and was a comrade and mess- mate of the immortal and martyred Lincoln. He married Rhoda E. Curry, daughter of John Curry, of Tennessee ; he came with his family to Illinois about the same tiine as the Frazers. Mrs. Frazer was born in Tenuessee ; she died at the residence of her daughter in Sullivan, Illinois, October 25, 1880. There were born to Albert G. and Rhoda Frazer seven children, four sons and three daughters. The names of the living are: Thomas P .; Nancy, wife of W. G. Patton, of Sullivan, Illinois, and the subject of this sketch. The latter is the youngest member of the family. He was born in Cochran's Grove, (Ash Grove township) Shelby county, Illinois, December 29, 1846. Like all farmers' boys, his youth was passed at work on the farm in the summer and fall months, and in at- tending the district schools during the winter, where he received the rudiments of a fair English education. He also spent a short time in the schools of Shelbyville, after which he returned to the farm and continued at work there until called by the people of Shelby county to fill the responsible and honorable office of county clerk, when he removed to Shelbyville. On the 31st of May, 1866, he married Melinda, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Richmond, residents of Richland township, Shelby county, Illinois. Mrs. Frazer was born in Ohio, but was a resident of this county at the tinie of her marriage. By this union there have been six children, four of whom are living, viz : Rosalind, Ida May, Albert F. and William G. Frazer,-all yet beneath the parental roof. Both Mr. Frazer and his amiable wife are members of the Unitarian churel. He is a member of the ancient and honorable order of Fremasonry, and also a member of the benevolent and beneficiary order of United Workmen. Politieally, Mr. Frazer comes from a Demo- cratic family, and he has since attainiug his majority been a firm
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HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
belicver in the principles and tenets of the Democratic party, and upon all state and national occasions, when called upon to exereisc the right of suffrage, has uniformly voted the Democratie tieket. In 1878, as intimated above, his worth as a man and his fidelity to his party received recognition by being nominated and elected county clerk of Shelby county, an office lie now fills with honor to himself and credit to his numerous friends who urged his nomina- tion and supported him at the polls. In the exercise of his duty as elerk he is a careful, prudent and entirely competent official, and looks carefully after the county's interests. At the same time he treats all those with whom he comes in contact with a gentlemanly politeness that is born in the man, and as a matter of course, comes natural and unrestrained to him. Born and bred in the county of Shelby, he is well-known, and wherever known, is respected for his worth as a inan and a eitizen.
HON. WILLIAM CHEW.
THE ancestry of the Chew family are of Welsh and Seotch ex- traction on the paternal side, and Scotch on the maternal. There were two brothers, Welshmen, who eame to America and settled in Virginia, soon after the first settlement at Jamestown. From these brothers have sprung the Chew family in America. A portion of the family at a later date removed to Pennsylvania and settled near Philadelphia, where they resided during the revolutionary war. It is related by the historians of that period that in one of the nunier- ous engagements between the Patriot and British forees in 1877, the latter were driven from the ground, but on their retreat they took possession of Chew's house and from it successfuly resisted the attacks of the Patriot forces. Colly Chew, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Virginia, and a soldier of the revolutionary war, and was also under Gen. Anthony Wayne in the Indian wars. In the war of 1812 he was a captain in Gen. Hull's command, but fought his way out of the Fort, before the sur- render, and saved his company from a disgraceful defeat. He was in his day a great Indian fighter, and a comrade and friend of Adam Poe, whose exploits as an Indian fighter are well known to . cvery student of American history. Colly Chew eame west to Ohio about the year 1830, with his son, Morris R. Chew, and in 1844 eame to Illinois and settled in Shelby county, and remained here until his death in 1847. He was in the eighty-fifth year of his age. He married a Reese who was of a prominent and wealthy family of Virginia. Morris R. Chew, father of William, was the only son of this marriage. He was born in Virginia and removed to Ohio as above stated, and came to Shelbyville in 1844. He settled in Ohio in Clinton county, and there followed the trade of Saddler and Harness- inakcr. A short time after his arrival there he was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, a position he held for a long number of years. While yet a resident of Ohio he came to Shelby county and purchased land. After his arrival here in 1844, he re-engaged in the Harness trade and carried it on extensively for a number of years, then sold out and moved into the country on a farm, and there continued until his death, which occurred in 1877. He mar- ried Matilda Crumley, a native of Virginia. She died in 1850. By this marriage there were ten children, six of whom have survived the parents. The subject of this sketch is the fifth in the family He was born in Clinton county, Ohio, September 3d, 1836. His youth was spent at home in going to school and assisting his father until his seventeenth year, when he practically started in life for himself. He went to work on a farm until he had earned and saved sufficient money to purchase a team of oxen and twenty-two inch
plow and commenced breaking prairie. After a few years of hard work he had accumulated sufficient money to enable him to go to school to get an education, in which he was sadly deficient, and felt great need of. He commenced under the tuition of Prof. Jerome of Shelbyville Seminary, and remained there three years, and then attended the State University at Springfield for one year, and commenced reading law in the office of Moulton & Chaffec, and in 1869, at the spring term of the Circuit Court at Vandalia, he was ad- mitted to the bar. He commenced the practice in Shelbyville in connection with Frank Penwell, which partnership continued two ycars. He then formed a law partnership with W. W. Hess, which continued until 1877, or until the latter was elected County Judge. From that time to the present he has been alone in the practice. Politically Mr. Chew is a sound and thorough Republican, and is elassed among the stalwarts. His first presidential vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and in all subsequent eleetions he has voted the ticket of his first choice. He has been for a number of years chairman of the Republican County Central Committee. In 1874 his serviecs to his party, and worth as a man, received suitable and honorable recognition in being nominated and elected a member of the 29th Gen Assembly of Illinois. While a member of that body he was on the Committee on Education, and drafted the bill on Compulsory Education, which was defeated by a small vote. He also drew the bill to compel all clerks of courts of record to account for all fecs received by them and to make publication thereof, giving the names of the parties who were entitled to the same, and if not called for within six months from such notice and publication, the same to revert to the general school fund, thereby lightning the burden of taxation. The bill was defeated by two votes in the house. On the 28th of December, 1870, he was united in marriage to Miss Annie Hcaden, a native of Shelbyville and daughter of Dr. William Headen, one of the pioneers of Shelby eounty. One child, a son, has been born to hallow and bless this union. His name is William Headen Chew.
DR. ENOS PENWELL.
JOHN PENWELL, the ancestor of the present family in America, was a native of Ireland. Removed to England, and from there emi- grated to America in 1732 and settled in Philadelphia. From there meinbers of the family removed-some to Delaware and others to New Jersey. A. C. Penwell, the father of Enos, was born in the latter state. In 1804 he came west and settled at Rising Sun in Switzerland county, Indiana. He lived in different parts of the state and died in Galien, Michigan. He married Elizabeth Whit- inger, who was of German descent. The marriage was solemnized in Wayne county, Indiana. Enos Penwell is the fourth in a family of five children. He was born in Wayne county, Indiana, March 22d. 1821. In his youth he received a very limited education in the common schools. When he arrived at the age of eighteen he taught school, and at the end of the term became a pupil himself. In this way he continued teaching and attending school until his twenty-fourth year, and at the end of that time had so improved that he was in possession of a good English education. He then concluded to mark out some course for the future. After due con- sideration, he determined to adopt the profession of medicine as the business of life. He then read the standard works, of the best authors, and placed himself under the tuition of Dr. Daniel Meeker, a prominent and widely known physician of Laporte, Indiana. In due time he entered the Indiana Medical University, at Laporte, and graduated from that institution with the degree of M. D., in 1848.
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HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
After his graduation he went to Edwardsburg in Cass county, Michigan, and began the practice, and continued there five years. On the 18th of September, 1853, he came to Shelbyville, Illinois, and here resumed the practice and continued to the present. The life of a physician and the practice of medicine, in the early days of Illinois, was by no means a sinecure. Dr. Penwell was frequently called to visit patients who lived a distance of twenty miles. No matter what the season of the year or the condition of the weather, he was always ready to go. He is possessed of a strong and vigor -. ous constitution and a generous love of his profession, and neither time, nor the fatigues incident to extended practice, (scattering over a large area of country,) have been able to make much of an impression upon his healthy and robust framc. On the 9th of June, 1842, he married Martha Holloway, of South Bend, Indiana. She died August 8, 1857. By this union there are three sons and two daughters. Frank Penwell, the eldest son, is a practicing attorney, and a resident of Danville, Illinois. He enlisted for three years in the late war, and was sergeant in the 12th Indiana Battery. Hc was but eighteen years of age when he entered the service. George V. is one of the prominent and substantial business men of Pana, Illinois. Orville J. is employed as a clerk in Shelbyville. Helen was the wife of Wm. M. Rich, now deceased, and Mary E., is the wife of A. R. Launey, Photographer, Shelbyville, Illinois. On the 9th of December, 1858, he married Mrs. Mary DePugh, nee Cole- man. He had two daughters by this marriage, named Pauline and Hilda. Mr. Penwell is a member of the M. E. Church ; practically he is a Republican and an advocate of temperance.
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