Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical, Part 48

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : F. A. Battey & Co.
Number of Pages: 860

USA > Illinois > Cumberland County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 48
USA > Illinois > Richland County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 48
USA > Illinois > Jasper County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 48

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J. M. CATT was born in 1838, in Jasper County, Ill .; was reared a farmer, and educated in the common schools. He enlisted, August 2, 1861, in Company K, Thirty-Eighth Illinois Infantry, commanded by William T. Carlin, and served in the Department of the Cumberland in the Atlanta campaign, and fought in the battles of Fredericktown, Mo., Shiloh, Perryville, Ky., Stone River, Mur- freesboro, Nolensville, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Lookout Mount- ain, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Pine Mountain, where Rebel General Polk was killed; Peach Tree Creek, siege of Atlanta, Bald Knob, Marietta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station, Nashville and Franklin ( where ten rebel Generals were killed). After a service of four years and seven months he returned home, and in 1868 was joined in marriage with Miss Margaret E. Chambers, daughter of Rev. George and Mary (Perey) Chambers. The result of the union was five children, viz: Milton C., Flora, Jobe W., Martha E., and Jacob M. He is father of two other children by a former marriage-George J. and Joseph A. His father, Job Catt, was of German descent, born in Pennsylvania, and removed to Ohio in an early day, where he mar-

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ried Mary Stout, daughter of Joseph Stout. They reared a family of nine children, as follows: Margaret, Mary, John, Charles, Rachel, Catharine, Josiah, Elizabeth, J. M .; four others, not named, died in infancy. He was one of the early pioneers of Jasper County and was here when the Indians were yet numerous.

C. M. DAVIS, editor of the Mentor, at Newton, was born in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, in 1847. At the age of seven he came to Illi- nois, and was reared on a farm in MeLean County, until fifteen, when he removed to town and clerked in a store until 1874. He then established the Enquirer at Le Roy, conducted that journal seven years, then came to Newton and issued the first number of the Men- tor, November 3, 1882. It is the only paper of the name in the United States, and has been a success from the start. In 1880, Mr. Davis married Miss Belle Brewer.

A. A. FRANKE, physician and surgeon, is the son of Dr. John G. and Gertrude (Fisher) Franke, and was born in Newton, this county, in 1852. He was educated in the schools of Jasper, and at Teutopolis, in Effingham County; graduating at the age of sixteen. He then served as clerk in his father's drug store in Newton until twenty-three, in the meanwhile studying medicine under his father's tutorage. In 1876, he entered the Louisville Medical College, and subsequently the Kentucky School of Medicine, from which he grad- uated in 1877, and soon after began practice in his native town, where he has built up a large and lucrative practice. In 1880, he mar- ried Miss Lizzie P., daughter of Fuller and Sarah (Harris ) Nigh, carly settlers of Jasper County. He is the father of one daughter-Clara B. His father, Dr. John G. Franke, was a native of Westphalia, Prussia, was born February 17, 1817, and died in this county, March 15, 1883.

JAMES E. FREEMAN is a native of Ohio. He was born in 1842, in Preble County. While young he went with his parents to Shelby County, Ind., and came soon after to Jasper County, III. In 1861, he entered Company K, Thirty-Eighth Illinois Infantry, com- manded by Colonel William P. Carlin. After his service he attended school, in 1864, in Indiana; after which he served as railroad agent until the fall of 1865. In 1868, he married Miss Frances Jones, daughter of William Jones, who was one of the first settlers in this county, and for many years County Recorder, Assessor, Justice of the Peace and Supervisor of Wade Township after the township was an organization. Mr. Freeman has [four children-Willie E., Guy S., Edna, and Lulu. His father, Gustavius Freeman, was a

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native of Culpepper County, Va., where he was born in 1814. While young he removed to Bedford County, that State, and at the age of nineteen to Preble County, Ohio, where he married Miss Sarah Stover, a native of Shenandoah County, Va. He removed to Shelby County, Ind., in an early day, and to Jasper County in 1852, where he entered and bought a traet of land containing some 400 acres. He reared a family of ten children as follows: George W., Esther E., Elizabeth J., Sarah, James E., William H., Joseph C. (who was a soldier in the late war), Francis M., David P., and Mary J. Mr. Freeman owns a farm of 700 acres, and is truly a representative farmer. He is a Knight Templar, and is identified with the Demo- cratie party.

GEORGE K. GOSNELL was born in 1827, in Harrison County, Ky. When a small boy he was taken by his parents to Rush County, Ind., where he was reared to manhood upon his father's farm. He was joined in marriage to Miss Sarah Campbell in 1851; a native of the same county, and born in 1829. A year after marriage they came to Jasper County, III., where he entered 320 acres of land, which he improved and on which he now resides. He also owns 240 acres of land in another tract. The result of his marriage was nine chil- dren, as follows: Louisa A., William C., Nancy J., Larkin, John, Zelda, Mary, Richard, and Susan. The Gosnells are of German descent; both his paternal grandparents, namely, Benjamin and Susan (King) Gosnell, being natives of Virginia. Mr. Gosnell is the eighth child of his father's family. Mrs. Gosnell's parents, John and Nancy (Townsend) Campbell, were early settlers of Shelby County, Ind., and reared a family of eleven children, Mrs. Gosnell being the youngest. Mr. Gosnell is an enterprising farmer, and a Republican in politics.

HION. JJOHN H. HALLEY, Ex-Judge of the Second Illinois Judicial Circuit, is descended from an old Irish family which traces its ancestrial line back to the carly history of the United Kingdom. Ilis grandparents, on both the maternal and paternal side, were early settlers in Virginia, which State was the place of his parents' birth and his own nativity. Judge Halley was born in Bedford County, July 9, 1828. His early years were spent upon his father's planta- tion and in the schools of the neighborhood, where he gained the rudiments of his education. At the age of twenty-three he entered Emory and Henry College, a prominent literary institution of Vir- ginia, which graduated him in 1854, with honors. Having adopted the law as his profession, he entered the office of John Good. Esq.,

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a prominent attorney of Liberty, as a student. Here the young man brought such ability and industry to the pursuit of his studies that he accomplished in one year the course allotted to three, and was admitted to the practice of law in 1855, soon after which he removed to Lewis County, Mo., where he opened an office and began his life work. Dissatisfied with this location he removed, in 1856, to Putnam County of the same State, where he rapidly achieved an eminent success, building up a large and lucrative practice. In 1858 he was chosen to represent his county in the State Legislature. At the end of his first term the breaking out of the war summoned him to a larger and more active sphere, and he tendered his services to his State as a soldier. He was at once commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel and assigned to the staff of Gen. John B. Clark, where he served with distinction until a year later, when he was detailed by the Confederate government as a recruiting officer, with the rank of Colonel. He was stationed at Minneapolis, Ala., at Grenada, Miss., at Little Rock, Ark., and in southeast Missouri. In this capacity his abilities had an ample scope, and he rendered efficient aid to the cause he had espoused. He was subsequently called to fill other positions of responsibility, the duties of which he discharged with fidelity and rare ability. After serving to the end of the struggle he came to Jasper County, III., and resumed the practice of his pro- fession. Here, in 1874, he was called by the public voice to repre- sent the county in the State Legislature, and was re-elected in 1876. Resigning this position in 1877, he accepted an election to the Judi- cial bench, a position more congenial to his tastes, discharging the duties with great acceptance and distinguished ability, until an act of the legislature of that year caused a change by re-districting. Judge Halley was first united in marriage to Miss Lucy Thompson, a daugh- ter of John J. and Elizabeth Thompson, of Missouri, by whom he had six children. On July 21, 1883, he was next married to Miss Annie Howard Stuart, of Texas, a daughter of Rev. C. B. Stewart, D. D., of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. JJudge Halley occupies an enviable position among the brethren of his profession in southern Illinois; is a leading member of the Jasper County bar. In politics he is devoted to the principles of the Democratic party. He is a Knight Templar.

CAPT. B. W. HARRIS is of Scotch descent. His father, Ben- jamin Harris, was a native of Albemarle County, Va., and there married Miss Elizabeth Ware. He removed to Ohio about 1834, and to Jasper County, III., in 1836, where he entered some 500 acres of

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VILLAGE OF NEWTON AND WADE TOWNSHIP.

land, on a part of which the town of Newton is now situated. He was widely and favorably known, having served as Justice of the Peace for several years, and built the first court house in Newton. He made a trip to California, and on his return home died in Jasper County, in 1851. His wife died in 1858. His children were as fol- lows: Henrietta, Benjamin, Mary, Elizabeth, William, Samuel, B. W., Sarah and Joseph. Capt. B. W. Harris was born in Virginia, in 1833, and was three years of age when he came to this county, where he was reared, and subsequently married, in 1853, Miss Julia E. Jones, a native of Randolph County, Ill., and born in 1833. The result of the union was three children, namely: Winnie, Frank and Charlie. Her father, Robert Jones, was a native of Kentucky, where he was born January 11, 1800; he also was an early settler of Jasper County, Ill. He married Elizabeth Chastain, who was born in Vir- ginia, October 4, 1797, and died in Jasper County, October 19, 1874. Mr. Jones died in 1875. Capt. Harris entered the service in 1861 as First Lieutenant of Company K, Thirty-Eighth Illinois Infantry, commanded by Col. Carlin, and served until the close of the war, leaving the army with the rank of Captain. He assisted in the organization of the State militia in 1880, and is now Captain of the Newton Guards.

JAMES M. HICKS, son of Ellis and Mary E. (Wilson) Hicks, was born in Jasper County, May 30, 1859. He attended school at the log schoolhouse of his neighborhood until his nineteenth year, and there laid the foundation upon which' he has since erected the superstructure of a thorough education. He began teaching a dis- trict school at the age of nineteen, and in the meanwhile attended the Normal School at Newton. In 1880 he entered the Circuit Clerk's office as assistant to W. G. Williams. His father, Elias Hicks, was born in Kentucky in 1835, and came to Jasper County in 1850, and here married the daughter of Joseph and Nancy ( Watson) Wilson. James M. Hieks is an honored member of the I. O. O. F.

H. S. HINMAN, M. D., was born in Bartholomew County, Ind., in 1847, and is the youngest of eight children born to Hon. T. M. and Emily (Jetter) Hinman, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and South Carolina. At the age of five he was brought by his par- ents to Richland County, Ill., where, until 1865, he spent his life on a farm with the exception of six months passed in the army during the summer of 1864. He became proficient in music and proved one of the most successful teachers in southern Illinois. In 1867 he married Miss Rose A. Me Williams, who has borne him the following

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children-Ulysses G., Rolla P., Hattie B., Pearl T., Ali (deceased Lola and Oris B. In the spring of 1867 he began preparing him self for his profession, teaching in the meanwhile until 1869. In 1870 he removed to Olney, took charge of 'a school in the vicinity and read medicine under Dr. E. Bowyer. In 1873-74 he taught the Oak Grove school, and in the spring of 1874 took his first course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, and on his return taught the graded school at Claremont. In Janu- ary, 1875, he formed a partnership with Dr. Battson. He graduated in 1878, and in the spring of 1879 he removed to Rose Hill, and in 1880 to Newton. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, an active worker in the Sunday-school and a successful prac- titioner.

THOMAS HUNT, son of John and Elizabeth (Brooks) Hunt, natives of Ohio, was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, December 14, 1827. When a boy he went with his [parents to Rush County, Ind., where he remained until the age of twenty-one. He married, in 1849, Miss Louisa Price, a native of Kentucky, and daughter of John and Mary (Cotney) Price, natives of the same State. Soon after the marriage they came to Jasper County, where he entered ninety. acres of land, on which he now resides. Mr. Hunt started out in life without a cent, but now owns a farm of 240 acres. He has two children, viz .: John M., and Sarah J., wife of Frank Andre, a prom- inent young farmer. John Hunt, father of our subject, was born, reared and married in Ohio. He reared the following children, viz .: William, James, Thomas, Jane, Rachel, Amaziah, Milton and Eliza- beth. James Hunt, grandfather of Mr. Hunt, was an old Revolu- tionary soldier under Gen. Washington. He was an Englishman, while the Brooks family are of Welsh origin. They were among the first settlers of Ohio. Mrs. Hunt's parents were natives of Fleming County, Kentucky. They were married in that State, and removed carly to Rush County, Ind., when the county was yet a wilderness. They reared eleven children, viz .: Elizabeth, William T., Benjamin, Louisa, Lydia, Elihu, Elisha, Lucinda, Sarah A., Frank and Eliza. Her mother died in 1848; her father in 1875.

HALE JOHNSON, attorney-at-law, was born in 1847 in Tippe- canoe County, Ind. He was reared a farmer, receiving his education in the common district school and the academy at Ladoga until eighteen years of age, when he went with his parents to Marion County, where he taught school in the winter season and worked upon the farm in the summer. He began reading law in 1871 with W. Hubbard, of Kin-

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VILLAGE OF NEWTON AND WADE TOWNSHIP.

mundy, Marion County, Ill., now of Chicago. After reading for three years he was admitted to practice in June, 1875. Soon after his permission to practice he located at Altamont, Effingham County, where he remained two years. He then located in Newton, where he is a member of the law firm of Gibson & Johnson, and Shup & Johnson in the real estate business. He entered the service in 1864 as a private, but was discharged after bearing arms six months. He married, in 1871, Miss Mary E. Loofbourow, a native of Ohio, born in 1848, and daughter of Orlando and Frances ( Delaney ) Loof bourow, natives of the same State, of which her grandfather was one of the first settlers. The result of this union was five children, viz .: Jesse, Frank, May Bell, Fannie and Ruby. John B. Johnson, father of our subject, was born in 1821. IIe studied medicine and graduated at two colleges, viz .: the Alepthu and Eclectic. He served as a sur- geon in the Seventy-Second Indiana Regiment, and has been in con- stant practice for thirty-five years. He now resides in White County, Ark. Mr. Johnson has been highly successful professionally, and is conceded to be one of the leading lawyers of Jasper County.

SIMPSON JOHNSON was born in Trimble County, Ky., in 1835, and was married in March, 1856, to Barbara Campbell, daughter of William and Ellen (Pegs) Campbell, and born in Carroll County, Ky., in 1835. Two children were the result of this union, viz .: George W. and Martha. Previous to his marriage he had been a farmer, and for six months a school teacher during the winter; he then opened a furniture and hardware store in Newton, continuing in the business for eight years; he next engaged in the banking and book business, but closed out the banking branch, and is now con- ducting a book and instrument trade. He built the opera house at Newton-40 feet front and 100 feet deep. Thomas JJohnson, father of Simpson, was a native of Kentucky and of Swedish descent. He married Martha Wilson, who bore him the following children: Simp- son, John W., Eliza, Susan, Margaret and Emeline.

WILLIAM B. JONES was born, in 1837, in Randolph County, Ill. He came with his parents to Jasper County in 1849, and was reared upon his father's farm, where he yet resides. He married, November 22,1860, Miss Anne Rogers, daughter of Marcellus and Dicey ( Barret) Rogers, natives of Virginia. The fruit of this union was seven chil- dren, viz .: Adelaide C., John G., Nellie L., Anna M., Charlie, Harry R. and Curtiss. At the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861, Mr. Jones entered the service as a private in Company D,'Eighth Illinois Infantry, and served in the Department of the Mississippi under

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McPherson. During his service he lost a foot by a circular saw while sawing timber to repair a road leading from Vicksburg to Jackson. His father, Slaughter Jones, was a native of Virginia, where he was born in 1802. When young, he left his native State to seek his fortune in the West, and while on his way met Lavina Kelley, in company with her parents, on their way West from Ken- tucky. He subsequently married her in Randolph County, Ill. He served as a private in the Black Hawk war under his brother Gabriel, who was Colonel of a regiment. After the war he entered land here, from a warrant issued to him for his services. He continued to reside in Jasper County until his death, in 1882, his wife having preceded him in 1873. They reared a family of eleven children, seven boys and four girls. Mrs. Jones' father, Rev. Samuel Barret, preached in Rush County, Ind., for forty-five years. He married Clarissa McComas, daughter of Col. William MeComas, who served in the war of 1812, under Harrison. Mr. Jones is a Republican in politics, a Mason, and a member of the Knights of Honor.

C. D. KENDALL, son of Cyrus and Lucy (Aubrey) Kendall, natives of Orange County, Vt., was born in Erie, Penn., where he was educated until seventeen, when he came first to Kane and then to Fayette County, where he taught school during the years 1851, 1859 and 1860; he then moved to Clay County and read law under W. W. Bishop, who afterwards defended John D. Lee, in the Mount- ain Meadow massacre case, and then wrote a history of Lee's life. Mr. Kendall was admitted to practice, but before his diploma reached him he had enlisted in Company D, Eleventh Missouri Infantry, and rapidly rose to be Second Lieutenant, when he was transferred to Company K, same regiment. In 1864, he was commissioned Captain and afterward detached as Quartermaster on the Staff of General L. F. Hubbard, now Governor of Minnesota. He was wounded at Corinth the night of October 3, 1862, and at Nashville, December 16, 1864. January 22, 1862. he married Miss Rivilla C. Miller, a native of Ohio, and daughter of Thomas and Abby (Sparks) Miller, who died in 1875, the mother of four children-Harry Frederick, Cyrus Don (deceased), Bertie Rivilla (deceased), and Helva Aubrey. In 1878, the Captain married Mrs. Susie Barnes, daughter of Henry and Susan (McCoy) Books, and to this union were born Mary Estella and Claudia Vere. Captain Kendall, on his return from the war, engaged in merchandising a short time at Flora, Ill. In 1865, he was elected County Clerk of Clay County, and served four years. He then engaged in the mercantile trade in Louisville; sold out in

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1881, and came to Newton. His grandfather, Frederick Aubrey, was a surgeon in the British navy, from which he was discharged on account of disability, when he came to America and took part in the Revolutionary war. His discharge from the English navy is still in the hands of Captain Kendall.

T. J. MARTIN is a native of Floyd County, Ky., and was born February 8, 1823. At the age of fourteen he went to Missouri and worked in a tobacco factory; during the Mexican war he served as wagon-master in the army; after the war he came to Paris, Edgar Co., Ill., engaged in business, and married Miss Elizabeth Blackburn, daughter of Colonel Blackburn, and to this union were born four children-Henry W., James B., John W., and William. In 1850, Mr. Martin settled in Newton. His second marriage was to Miss Mary E. Chittenden, a descendant from one of the oldest families in Vermont. Her great-grandfather, Thomas Chittenden, was the first Governor of that State, and her grandfather, Martin Chittenden, was elected Governor in 1813, and served several terms. Ireman Chit- tenden, father of Mrs. Martin, was the eldest son of Governor Mar- tin Chittenden.

J. H. MAXWELL, physician and surgeon, is of Scotch-Irish extraction, and was born in this country December 26, 1835. He was educated in the common schools and the Seminary at Paris, Ill., until sixteen years old, after which he worked on a farm in summer and attended school in winter. He read medicine for three years with Dr. S. York, who was a distinguished surgeon of the Fifty- Fourth Illinois Volunteers, and was assassinated at Charleston in 1864. In 1865, Mr. Maxwell entered the Ohio Medical College, finally graduating in 1871. He entered the army in 1861, as Hos- pital Steward in the Thirty-Eighth Illinois Volunteers, and was ad- vanced to the position of Assistant Surgeon. In 1864, he was appointed, for meritorious service, surgeon to the Army of the Cum- berland, under General Thomas, but declined the office. In 1866, he married Miss Mary Hayes, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Martin) Hayes, natives of Kentucky.

BENJAMIN MILLER was born in 1814, in the State of New Jersey. When a small boy he went with his parents to Pennsylva- nia, and soon after to Clermont County, Ohio, and from there to Hancock County, Ind., where he married, at the age of eighteen, Elizabeth Lemay, a native of Virginia, and a daughter of James and Nancy (Huggard) Lemay. The result of this union was fifteen chil- dren, born in the following order: Nancy C., born January 26, 1833;

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James A., December 14, 1834; Abraham, January 30, 1837; Pollie J., January 20, 1839; William T., May 24, 1840; Susan C., June 3, 1842; Hannah A., February 5, 1844; George P., February 15, 1846; Henry F., September 17, 1848; John Wesley, September 18, 1850; Sarilda E. and Matilda F. (twins), February 13, 1852; Benjamin J., April 27, 1854; Theodore, November 9, 1856, and Henry F., January 5, 1861. Mr. Miller has been twice married; his second marriage being to Mary J. Eagleton, of Terre Haute, Ind., daughter of John Farr, a native of Pennsylvania, and one of the pioneers of Indiana; where both parents died soon after their removal from Pennsylva- nia. The result of Mr. Miller's last marriage was two children, Lucy and one that died unnamed. Mr. Miller is widely and favorably known throughout the county. He owns a fine, well improved farm, the result of his own labor, he having begun life poor. He is a Republican and sent two of his sons to the army, namely, William and George.

OGDEN MONELL, son of Robert B. and Parmelia (Squires) Monell, was born September 15, 1833, in Chenango County, N. Y. When quite young his parents removed to Hudson, Columbia County, where he spent his youth. He was carefully educated at Hartford, N. Y., and at Stockbridge, Mass., with a view to his entering the legal profession. In 1850, Mr. Monell, being of a somewhat roving disposition, shipped as a sailor on board the ship " Great Britain," bound from New York to China, via San Francisco. After a long and tedious voyage around Cape Horn, the vessel arrived in San Francisco Bay, and the gold excitement being at its full height, the whole ship's company deserted, and engaged in the search for the hidden treasure. After an absence of over four years, in which he made several voyages on the Pacific Ocean, he again doubled Cape Horn in the whale ship " Boston," and landed at New Bedford, Mass. After remaining at home a short time he came to Illinois. and from there went to Minnesota, which was then a territory, where he acted as Sub-Indian Agent, at the Crow Wing Agency, and was after- ward the first Sheriff of Crow Wing County, that State. In 1858, he returned to Boone County, Ill., where, December 25. 1858, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Pearsall, a daughter of John and Clarinda Pearsall. Two children. George R. and Alber P., were the result of the union. In the spring of 1860, he came to Jasper County, III., where, in 1861, he was chosen Supervisor of North Muddy Township, which office he resigned and entered the .

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Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical, Part 48

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : F. A. Battey & Co. Number of Pages: 860

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : F. A. Battey & Co.
Number of Pages: 860