Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical, Part 70

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 70
USA > Illinois > Richland County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 70
USA > Illinois > Jasper County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 70

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Noble .- There is no room in Richland County for any consider-

Granderbi

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

able town other than the county-seat. It possesses the advantages of the public business, a central location, the best railroad facilities and equal manufacturing advantages with any other point in the county. It is, therefore, likely to maintain its position without fear of a rival within this limited area. The location of the Ohio & Mis- sissippi Railroad, however, stimulated the enterprise of land owners, and wherever opportunity offered, a town was platted along its line. Of these, in Richland County, Noble has proven the most suc- cessful. This was laid out in Noble Township, on the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 16, and the northeast quarter of Sec- tion 17, both in Township 3 north, Range 9 east. This was projected by Alfred Kitchell, Esq., and was laid out parallel with the railroad which at this point runs in a southwesterly direction. It originally consisted of twenty-one blocks, of sixteen lots cach, and this has been found sufficient to accommodate its growth to date. It has a population of some 600 inhabitants and was incorporated under the general law, in 1862. A dozen business houses, besides the hotels and various shops, constitute the business of the town. A large flouring mill did a good business at one time, but it is now doing a limited custom work. A considerable business is done in buying and shipping grain, and the local merchants find considerable trade in the surrounding country. The village is located in the midst of a fine agricultural region, and from 1865 to 1875, did a very large grain business. Since then business interests have flagged until the recent agitation in regard to the location of the Terre Haute & West- ern Railway through the village. It is hoped, in the event of the building of this road, that business will again take on its old pros- perity. The past two years have been remarkable for the amount of apples marketed here. During this year more than one hundred car loads have been shipped from this station. Two churches, the Meth- odist and Union, are found here. The first was built in 1861, and is a frame building 32x40 feet, and cost about $1,000. The other church known now as the Baptist Church, was commenced in 1866, as a Union Church, the Baptist and Christian denominations contributing to its erection. It was completed about 1870, and is an ordinary structure erected at a cost of some $600. A good, two story, brick school- house was erected in 1865, at a cost of some $5,000. The school con- sists of three departments. Noble Lodge of F. & AA. M., and Noble Lodge of the I. O. O. F. are located here.

Claremont .- This village is another railroad town, laid out in 1853, by Jacob May. The original town consisted of fifty-five lots,

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

and was situated on the Trace road, on Section 4, Township 3, Range 14, and Section 34, Township 4, Range 14. Asmall addition was made by W. Schifferstein, on the north side of the road, in the same year, but the railroad eventually being located considerably to the south of this location, the proprietor made two additions in 1854, to reach the road. It at first did considerable business. A large flouring mill was built, a hotel and several stores; but of late years, it has lost much of its early thrift, and is only a small village of some 200 inhabitants. The mill is idle, though there is still some trade in grain and in the few stores gathered here.

Parkersburg .- In the southeastern part of Madison Township is the village of Parkersburg. This was laid out in 1859, by John D. Parker, on the line of the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Rail- road. For a time it was the terminus of this road and for a time it did a large business for its size. Business houses of good dimen- sions were erected, but with the completion of the road its glory departed and it is now chiefly conspicuous for the evidences of the business that once existed. It first consisted of some seventeen lots, but it has been extended by additions, from time to time by the proprietor, until it now numbers some sixty or seventy-five lots.

Fairview, in the northeast corner of the same township and on the same line of road, was laid out by Shadrach Ruark, quite early, but no record .was made of the plat, and in 1848 it was replatted. It contained some sixty-five lots and assumed consider- able proportions upon paper, but it is little more than a post-office with the usual mercantile attachment. The post-office is known as Calhoun.

Wakefield was laid out by Pleasant M. Stanley and Thomas Wakefield, in 1853, in the northwest corner of Denver Township It consisted originally of forty-eight lots, but it has since been vacated. Wilsonburg, on the line between Denver and Noble Town- ships, Stringtown, in the northern part of German Township, and Fransonia, in the northeastern part of Decker Township, have not been platted and are merely post-offices.

Dundas, is eight miles north of Olney, in Preston Township, on the Danville, Olney & Ohio River Railroad, and the P., D. & E. road, the two lines running parallel through the county to Olney. This little village was laid out by Alexander Stewart, James Kin- kade and W. W. Kermicle, in 1877. The original plat consisted of sixty-four lots, and quite a little village has gathered at this point. A church, several stores, and shops and several members of the pro- fessions make up the business and social show of the place.

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

Glenwood was simply a paper town. It was laid out by W. B. Crouch, a real estate agent of Cincinnati, in 1874. It was situated on the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, in Section 13, Township 3 north, Range 8 east, just west of Noble village, in the township. It con- sisted of sixteen blocks and 200 or 300 lots. These were sold under misrepresentation and resulted in the death of one of the proprie- tors, who was shot by one of the victims of the swindle.

The editor desires in closing this sketch to express his indebt- edness to those who have aided him in procuring the data for it, and to especially acknowledge the time and care bestowed on the sketch of the Masonic Fraternity by Sir Knight G. H. B. Tolle, and to Rev- erends H. Schlencher, E. Schwartz, Father J. W. Merscher, Capt. William Rhode, J. Von Gunten, Gen. Eli Bowyer and G. W. Frit chey for the notes on their respective church organizations.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

OLNEY CITY AND TOWNSHIP.

COLONEL W. E. ALCORN was born in Baltimore, Md., April 17, 1818, andis the son of James and Margaret (Carnahan) Alcorn. The former, a native of Ireland, came to America with his parents when four years of age. He served thirty-two years in the United States Navy, as Sailing-Master and Captain ; he assisted in sinking the Government ships near Fort MeHenry, to keep the British from capturing them ; his navy service ceased at the election of Gen. Jackson for President, owing to a difference of opinion po- litically, after which he went to Alexandria, D. C., where he manu- factured sails for ships, for a number of years ; he finally received a pension of $10,000; he then moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, at which place he died in 1847, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. His wife also died in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1863, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. Our subject, in 1828, shipped on board the ship " Eagle," of Boston, and went to Europe, and returned, and then shipped on a brig and went to the West Indies, and followed seafaring until 1840, at which time he went to steamboating, and has navigated the principal rivers of the United States. In 1850 he engaged in manufacturing all steamboat appliances, and continued at this a number of years. In 1866 he came to Richland County, Ill., and located on a farm of 850 acres near Noble, where he lived until 1880, when he moved to his fine residence near Olney. In the late war he served as First Lieutenant in the "One Hundred Days Service." He has been married twice ; first, in 1847, to Miss Ann Row, a native of Indiana ; she died in 1862, the mother of six children. The only living one is James W. He next married, in 1864, Mary J. Vandolah. To them have been born ten children-George S., Philip S., Grant, Henry Clay, Annie A., Laura, Clara. Ethel, Bessie, and JJohn (de- ceased). Col. Alcorn is a radical Republican.

HION. JAMES C. ALLEN, one of the respected citizens of the county, was born in Shelby County, Ky., on January 29,1822, and is the seventh of ten children born to Benjamin and Margaret (Yonel) Allen, both natives of Virginia. Benjamin was educated and married in his native State, where in early life he engaged in the manufacture of sickles. Afterward, he engaged in blacksmith- ing and farming. In 1802 he removed to Shelby County, Ky., and thence, in 1830, to Parke County, Ind., where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1847. From early life he was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he was for over thirty years an elder. James C. Allen, our subject, received his early edu-

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OLNEY CITY AND TOWNSHIP.

cation in the log schoolhouse of olden time. Afterward he attended a high school at Rockville, Ind. Most of the time until he was nineteen years of age he was employed on his father's farm. He then commenced reading law in the office of Messrs. Howard & Wright of Rockville, Ind., and in August, 1843, he was admitted to the bar as a lawyer. In December following, he moved to Sul- livan, Ind., where he was engaged in the practice until the autumn of 1845, when he was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Indiana, holding the office two years. In 1847 he removed to Palestine, Crawford County, Ill., where he resided about twenty-nine consecutive years. In 1850-51, he represented Crawford and Jasper counties in the lower house of the State Legis- lature. In 1852, he was elected to Congress from the Seventh Congressional Distriet of Illinois, and was re-elected in 1854. In 1857 he was elected Clerk of the House of Representatives, serving during the Thirty-Fifth Congress. In 1860 he was the Democratic candidate for Governor of Illinois, but was defeated by Richard Yates. In 1861 he was elected Judge of the Seventh Judicial Cir- cuit, which position he held until the fall of 1862, when he was elected Congressman-at-large for Illinois. In 1861, Gov. Yates tendered him the command of the Twenty-First Illinois Infantry, which was afterward commanded by .Gen. Grant; and in 1862, President Lincoln tendered him the command of a brigade. Hav- ing no military taste or training, he declined both offers. In 1870, he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Illinois, and in June, 1873, was elected JJudge of the Second Judicial Circuit. Removing to Olney in 1876-where he has since resided-in 1877 he was appointed one of the Appellate Judges for the Fourth Dis- triet of Illinois. He held this office until 1879, when he resumed the practice of his profession. The Judge is the President of the Toledo, Texas & Rio Grande Railway, now being constructed. He was first married, January 22, 1845, to Ellen Kitchell, youngest daugh- ter of the Hon. Joseph Kitchell. To this union were born three children, all deceased. Mrs. Allen died in May, 1852. He was next married in June, 1857, ¿to Julia A. Kitchell, daughter of Harvey Kitchell. Seven children were born to this union, all of whom are still living. Both the Judge and his wife are members of the Pres- byterian Church. His first wife was also a member. In politics the Judge is a stanch Democrat, although during the late war he was known as a " war Democrat." His life has been an unusually active and eventful one.

ELLIS W. ALLEY, grocer, was born in Franklin County, Ind., May 1, 1857, and is the second child of five born to Joseph W. and Emma (Foster) Alley, natives of Franklin County, and of Irish extraction. Joseph W. was educated and married in his native State and county, and there followed agricultural pursuits until 1868, when he removed to Denver Township, in this county. He bought a farm and resided there until his death,on December 29, 1875. He and wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church,

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-RICHLAND COUNTY :

and he belonged to the I. O. O. F. Ellis W. received a good com- mon school education. and was employed on his father's farm until he was twenty-one years old. From 1878 until 1882 he was engaged in teaching during the winter. while he still worked on a farm in the summer season. As a teacher, Mr. Alley succeeded admirably. On January 1, 1883. he opened a grocery store at Olney, Ill .. and is at present doing a thriving business there. He is vet unmarried. In politics he is a Republican, and is a very enterprising and much- esteemed young man of Olney.

SOL. BACHARACH, dealer in clothing, was born in Bavaria, on May 29, 1838, and is second in a family of seven children born to Moritz and Fannie ( Rosenfeld) Bacharach, both Bavarians. Moritz was educated in his native country, and also married there. He learned the tanners' trade, and followed it in connection with the wholesale leather trade. for many years. In 1851 or 1852, he emi- grated with his wife and family to the United States, and settled in New York City, where he resided until the end of his days, on June 10. 1883, at the age of seventy-four. Mr. Bacharach was em- ployed, after coming to this country, in the manufacture of cigars, and in a general mercantile trade. He invented an improved street urinal and an improved garbage box. Sol, our subject. re- ceived limited advantages in the subjects of learning. in Bavaria. but being ambitious, he labored earnestly to acquire a knowledge of things pertaining to business, and has succeeded in acquiring it. When twelve years of age. he commenced learning the tailors' trade, but after two years was compelled to abandon it on account of ill health. He came to New York with his parents. clerked in a clothing store. and remained there until 1854. He was then em- ployed in the same capacity at Shelbyville, Kv., Keokuk. Iowa, Quincy, Ill .. Cincinnati. Ohio, and in July of the year 1863. came to Olney. where he opened an independent clothing store. His busi- ness is very successful and extensive, and he carries a stock amount- ing to from $15,000 to $20,000: average sales annually being $25,000. In 1875, Mr. Bacharach erected a handsome brick block. one of the first erected in southern Illinois, and here conducts his business. In 1869, August 23, he married Bertha Bacharach, who bore three children. of whom one. Alice, is living. Mrs. Bacharach died April 19, 1875. On February 6, 1876, Mr. Bacharach married Clara Foreman. of Chicago, and to this union three children have been given. Mr. Bacharach is a member of Olney Lodge. No. 140, A. F. & A. M., Richland Chapter, No. 38, R. A. M., and Olney Council. No. 55, R. & S. M. He is also a member of the I. O. O. F., and of Olney Lodge, No. 76, A. O. U. W., of which he is a charter member, and also of the Etz Chaim Lodge, No. 205, I. O. B. B. He is a Republican, and a very prominent business man.

DARIUS BAIRD, hardware, was born in Medina County, Ohio, August 18, 1837. and is the third of nine children born to Asa H. and Lucy (Tanner) Baird, both natives of Vermont, and of Irish and English descent respectively. Asa HI. settled in Medina County.

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and married there, when a young man. Ile followed contract- ing on public works, and also agriculture to some extent. In 1837 he removed to Lawrence County, Ill., bought a farm and saw- mill, and during this time built and graded the bridges of twelve miles of the State road. In 1841 he came to Olney, and built the Commercial House, continuing in the hotel business until his death. He kept the stage stand for the Saint Louis & Cincinnati Stage Company. He owned an eighty acre farm upon which the southwest part of Olney now stands. He built the first perma- nent court house of the county, and was for several years County As- sessor and Deputy Sheriff. He and wife were members of the Christian Church. Darius was poorly educated. His father died when he was about ten or twelve years old, and he and his brother assisted their mother in managing the farm and hotel for several years. In 1860 he went into a store at Olney, and remained one year as salesman. He then engaged in the livery business until 1866, and in 1867. went to Lathrop. Clinton Co .. Mo., and en- gaged in the hardware business. Mr. Baird remained there until 1875, when he returned to Olney, and has since been following an extensive heavy hardware trade here. He carries a large and well-se- lected stock in his line, and is extensively patronized. He was married in 1862,to Rose A. Mc Williams, of Noble County, Ohio. Three children were given to them, one of whom is living. Mr. Baird and wife are Congregationalists. He is a Republican, and an old settler of our county.

SAMUEL J. BAKER, photographer, was born in Orleans, Orange County, Ind., on January 31. 1855. and is the ninth of eleven children born to John and Sarah A. (Dillard) Baker, natives of Woodford County, Ky., and of Orange County, Ind., and of Holland and English descent respectively. When three years old, in 1815, John was taken to Orange (now Washington) County, Ind., and received his schooling in log schoolhouses only. He was married April 6, 1837, to Sarah A. Dillard. He was a stone mason. studied law, and also served as Justice of the Peace and Auditor, each one term. In 1859 he removed to Vincennes, and still lives there, and where he practiced his profession until 1864, and also was Judge of the Third Judicial Court of Indiana. Mrs. Baker died March 31, 1871. In August, 1875, Mr. Baker married Lida Carnahan. He is a Protestant, also a Democrat. Samuel J. was well educated, at Vincennes, Ind., assisted his father on the farm. and at seventeen began to learn photography. He has followed that business ever since, at Princeton, Ill., Troy, Ohio, and in 1877 located at Olney, and took charge of the gallery formerly owned by his brother-in-law. Mr. J. Rush, who died on the first day of that year. Myra B. Rush, his widow, and our subject's sister, still owns an interest in the bus- iness. Their gallery is finely located and conveniently arranged, and is one of the best in southern Illinois. Mr. Baker is a Baptist, and his sister a Presbyterian. Mr. Baker belongs to Richland Lodge, No. 180, Olney Encampment, No. 61, I. O. O. F., in which he is Past Grand of the Subordinate Lodge.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-RICHLAND COUNTY :

DR. ORRIS A. BATTSON was born in Sullivan County, Ind. Ind., January 25. 1827. is the second in a family of four children given to Jonathan M. and Rachel (Marney ) Battson, natives of Kentucky, and Knox County, Ind., and of English and Scotch descent, respect- ively. Jonathan M. was educated, married, and carly followed the carpenters' and builders' trade, in his native State. In about 1816 he removed to Carlisle. Sullivan Co., Ind., where he still fol- lowed his chosen profession, until his death, which occurred in 1858. He was several years a Justice of the Peace in Sullivan County, and was also a Captain in the State Militia. Mr. and Mrs. Battson were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Orris A. received a good education at Bloomington and Greencastle universities, and at the age of nineteen began the study of medicine with Dr. A. M. Murphy, at Carlisle. Ind. In 1846-47 he attended the medical de- partment of the University of Louisville. Ky., and in 1847 com- menced the practice of the profession he had chosen, in his native county, Sullivan, where he remained one year. In 1848 he came to Claremont, Richland Co., Ill., and continued practicing, finally succeeding in establishing a very lucrative business. In 1881, Dr, Battson concluded to change his residence again, and located here at Olney, where he is firmly established in a paying practice. In 1850 the Doctor was married to Harriett Snyder, a native of Lawrence County, Ill., and a daughter of John Snyder, a pioneer of this county. They have had seven children, five of whom are now liv- ing. Dr. Battson was for two years a member of the Board of Supervisors of Richland County. In politics he is a stanch Re- publican, and a respected pioneer of the county.

HON. W. F. BECK. editor of the Olney Times, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, July 31, 1848, and when but little more than three years old, in 1852, was brought by his parents to the United States. They first settled at Circleville, Ohio, where they remained two years ; then they came to Olney. Richland County, where Mr. Beck was successfully engaged in merchandising, until his death. Mrs. Beck is still living, and resides at Olney. Hon. W. F. Beck received a good common school and academic education, in youth, and afterward graduated from Finley & Nicholson's Commer- cial College. Soon after this, he engaged in merchandising at Ol- ney, and speedily became one of the successful and leading dealers of the city. In 1881 he purchased the Olney Times, the Demo- cratie organ of the county, of which he is at present editor and pro- prietor. At the age of twenty-two he was elected Clerk of the city of Olney, and was successively re-elected to that office for seven years : afterwards he was elected one of the councilmen of the city. In 1879 he was elected one of the Board of County Commissioners, of which body he was appointed chairman, and in November of the same year, was appointed Master in Chancery of Richland County. Mr. Beck is a charter member of Olney Lodge, No. 76, A. O. U. W,, instituted in May, 1877, of which Lodge he was the first Master Workman. In 1879, he represented his Lodge in the Grand Lodge

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OLNEY CITY AND TOWNSHIP.

of the State, and has been a member of that body ever since. In 1881 he again represented his Lodge in the Grand Lodge of the State. As a member of the Grand Lodge, he has served on the railroad, legislative and finance committees. As a member of the legislative committee, he helped to frame and secure the adoption of the law creating the office of Grand Medical Examiner. In 1882 he was elected Grand Overseer, and is at present Grand Foreman of the State, that being the second highest office in the Grand Lodge. He is also a member of Olney Legion, No. 18, Select Knights. A. O. U. W., of which order he is at present V. C. Mr. Beck is also a charter member and was one of the first officers of Marmion Lodge, No. 52. K. of P., of Olney, Il. He is also a member of the Grand Lodge of that order, has served on various important committees, and held the office of G. I. G. In addition to the above, Mr. Beck is also a prominent Mason, being a member of the four Masonic bodies of the city, and of Peoria Consistory, Scottish Rites, or S. P. R. S., in which he has advanced next to the highest, or thirty-second degree of Masonry.

JAMES M. BELL was born June 3, 1841, in Washington County, Penn .; the family lived there till he was eight years old ; they then removed to Ohio ; in 1850 they removed to Richmond County ; the following year his father entered 120 acres of land, where he died in 1871, aged seventy-one years. Eighty acres of this land, with the homestead, he deeded to his son James M. In 1861, our subject enlisted in Company D, First Missouri Engineers. This regiment was engaged in repairing and making roads, also building fortifications. He was promoted to Corporal, November 1, 1862, served three years. and participated in the siege of New Madrid, the fight at Island No. 10, the siege of Corinth, the advance of Gen. Grant's army to Oxford, Miss., siege of Vicksburg, siege of Atlanta, and battle of Jonesboro. He returned to Olney, September 1, 1864, and has since followed farming. He was married December 22, 1870, to Mary E. Bolinger, of Calhoun. They have two chil- dren, Viola W. and Mary J.

CHRISTIAN BOHREN, born December 25, 1817, in Swit- zerland, is the son of Fred Bohren, who was also born in Switzer- land, and who died when Christian was small. The latter was brought up by his brother and sister ; he learned the carpenter and cabinet-making trade, and in 1849 immigrated to America, stopped at Louisville about three months, and thence moved to Saint Louis. In the fall of 1849, he came to Olney, where he has since lived, and has followed his trade ; the past fifteen years he has been engaged in farming. Ile owns twenty-five acres in the city where he re- sides, also a store building, which he rents. He was married, Febru- ary 27, 1852, to Susan Van Alman, who was born in Switzerland. He has two daughters by his first marriage-Anna, wife of Christ. Yorke, and Susan, wife of Christ. Hazlen.

JOHN BOHREN, blacksmith, born in Switzerland, JJanuary 2, 1844, is the son of John and Elizabeth (Knoose) Bohren, both born

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-RICHLAND COUNTY :

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Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical, Part 70

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