USA > Illinois > Douglas County > Historical and biographical record of Douglas County, Illinois > Part 15
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Mr. Means was married in 1884 to Miss Ella M. Chesnut, of Delavan, Minnesota. To them have been born one child. a son, Cyril. aged fifteen years. Mr. Means is a son of Thomas N. and Jane ( Quiett ) Means, natives of Ohio and Tennessee, respectively. His grand- father, William Means, was of Scotch-Irish descent. In manner Mr. Means is approacha- ble and unassuming, and is highly respected by all who know him.
STEPHEN REDDEN.
Stephen Redden was born in Bracken coun- ty. Kentucky, April 14, 1818, and was a son of James Redden, who having a large family of children growing up resolved to give them a better chance by going west. Consequently he made a flat-boat, and, with his family and several of his neighbors and their families, he embarked on the Ohio river for what was then considered the far west. Stephen Redden was at that time four years old. At Louisville they would not trust the flat-boat to carry them over the falls, but were put ashore and either walked or were conveyed in some other man- ner to Portland, just below the falls, where the boat landed and took them on board. They landed at Evansville, Indiana, sometime in the fall of 1822, and after disposing of the flat-boat and investing in an ox team Mr. Redden and
family started for the land of promise, the Prairie state, while the other families cast their lot with the Hoosier state. It was no uncom- mon thing for them to meet bands of blanketed lilians and see droves of deer, or to be "hulled to sleep" at night by the "music of the wolves," on their journey from the Ohio river to the small village of Terre Haute, Indiana, which at that time consisted of a tavern, a few saloons and stores, and a horse ferry to cross the Wa- bash river. They located on Big Creek, Edgar
county, where they remained until 1830, when they removed to Coles county, now Douglas county. Here Stephen Redden grew to man- hood at the hard labor of making rails and breaking the new prairie soil with ox teams, but occasionally taking a little pastime with his trusty rifle and his faithful dogs, and many no- ble bucks dropped at the crack of his rifle and many a sheep's life was saved by his dogs get- ting the wolf before the wolf got the sheep. In
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his later days, while suffering in his last sick- three hundred and four acres of land in Sar- ness, lie would forget the racking pains while gent township and forty acres in Bowdre town- telling of his hunts in his boyhood days. At ship. that time there were no schools that he could attend and all his education was received by reading from the light of hickory bark burned in the old fire place. He never learned to write, JOHN T. IRWIN. but his mark on any note was worth one hun- dred cents to the dollar.
He was married to Vashti Winkler in March, 1840; he made rails all day and was married in the evening. His wife was born in Warwick county, Indiana, February 2, 1818, and was a little over two months okler than him. He bought eighty-four acres of land a short time after he was married, at twenty-two dollars per acre, and by frugality and strict economy he paid for the land and built a house in which he lived until his death. His beloved wife departed this life March 2, 1878, leaving him without any children. His home was deso- late, but Providence ruled that it last but a short time, and he was again married, this time to Mrs. Mary A. Tinkle, of Charleston, Illinois, November 3. 1880. She has been to him a loving wife, a faithful companion, and during his last sickness a trusted nurse, prolonging his days by her untiring and constant attention. Uncle Steve, as he was familiarly known, was strictly honest in his dealings. He peacefully fell asleep in the arms of his Saviour at eleven o'clock A. M., April 17, 1897, at the ripe age of seventy-nine years and three days. His widow. Mrs. Mary A. Redden, has two children liv- ing by her first husband : Aaron T., in Kansas, and Malissa, wife of II. B. Morgan, of Mur- dock. Mrs. Redden resides a great deal of her time at South Haven, Michigan. She owns
John T. Irwin, retired farmer, and for many years a highly respected citizen of the county, is a son of George and Jemima ( Russell) Ir- win, and was born in Lawrence county, Ohio, May 28, 1824. His father was a native of
Montgomery county, Ohio, and his mother of Cabell county, West Virginia. George Irwin was born October 23, 1799, and died May 23. 1871. lle followed the occupation of farming principally ; emigrated from his native county to Lawrence county, Ohio, in the year 1818. He was a son of Thomas Irwin, who was a na- tive of Ireland, and served in the war of 1812.
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John Russell ( maternal grandfather ) was born in Virginia and was a weaver by trade.
In 1870 Mr. Irwin removed from Ohio to Illinois, and settled on a farm of three hun- dred and twenty acres, two miles north of Ca- margo, where he continued the pursuits of the farm until 1894. In that year he retired from active business and removed into the village of Camargo, where he and his wife reside in one of the most beautiful homes in the village. When he retired he divided his property among his children.
On September 11. 1845. he wedded Miss Lettie Wiseman, who was born in Monroe county, Virginia, and was a daughter of Isaac and Sarah ( Ramsey) Wiseman. Her grand- father. Isaac Wiseman, was probably a native of Virginia. To John T. Irwin and wife have been born eight children, four of whom are now living: William T., who resides in Chi- cago: Lewis K., who resides on part of the old homestead: Ilarriet, wife of Dr. W. H. Burt- nette : and Ida May, wife of Charles D. Ham- mett, of Tuscola. They have four dead : Sarah J .. Mary E., Jane and Ella. Mrs. Irwin was born May 6, 1827. They will have been mar- ried fifty-five years their next wedding anniver- sary. John T. Irwin's early advantages for an education were very limited. he having attended only fourteen days in all at school. He has served as supervisor of Camargo township, and he has been superintendent of roads.
On July 4, 1861, be volunteered in an in- dependent company of Ohio cavalry. These were ninety-day men called out to serve until they were superseded by a company of regulars. On July 22, 1863. he joined the Ninety-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as first lieutenant of
Company D, and in the following October he was wounded in a skirmish near Mt. Pleasant. Maryland, which disabled him for further act- ive service. He was licensed to exhort in the Methodist Episcopal church in 1865.
CHLAS. L. McMASTERS. .
Chas. L. MeMasters, dealer in grain, coal and seeds, and a popular young man of Tus- cola, was born on a farm three miles north- west of Tuscola, in Tuscola township, March 26, 1867. and is a son of S. L. and Hannah
( Maris ) MeMasters, who were natives of Parke county, Indiana. In 1869 his father sold his farm and removed to Sand Springs, Kansas, where he followed farming and stock raising until his death in May, 1870, after which his mother, with three children, two sons and one
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daughter-Charles being the younger-re- moved to Winfield, Cowley county, Kansas, where she resided until the spring of 1877. thence moving to Joplin, Jasper county, Mis- souri, where she died October 3. of the same year. In March, 1878, Charles, being only in his eleventh year, returned to Tuscola to live with his uncle, James Davis. Here he went to school until February, 1886, when he be- came a clerk for Davis & Finney, in the grain business, and remained their bookkeeper and confidential clerk up to 1888, when Mr. Davis died. The firm was then succeeded by Finney & McMasters, which business continued up to 1891, when Mr. McMasters bought the inter- est of his partner and since then has been alone. He is now in the midst of what promises to be a most successful business career. Ile buys and sells about two hundred and fifty thousand bushels of grain annually, and also deals in coal for the local trade.
Mr. McMasters has thrice been elected to the office of city treasurer, belongs to the Masonic and Red Men fraternities and is de- servedly popular in business and social circles.
JOHN LINDSEY.
John Lindsey, owner of the Evergreen farm, two miles west of Tuscola, was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, April 2, 1834. and is a son of Thomas and Mary ( Blackburn ) Lind- sey. They were both natives of Ireland, and after their marriage came to this country in about 1820. They were both descendants of
Scotch-Irish ancestry and were members of the Presbyterian church. The father died in 1873. aged about sixty-five years; the mother died when our subject was about twelve years old.
Mr. Lindsey was reared on a farm and re- ceived a common-school education, and was en- gaged in farming in Ohio up to September 14, 1855, when he emigrated to Illinois and locat- ed on a farm in Edgar county, which he rent-
ed some three or four years. He then bought forty acres and tilled this until 1874, when he removed to Kansas and remained there for about two years and a half, at the end of which time he returned to Illinois and located near Ficklin, on a farm of one hundred and thirty- four acres, which he bought and still owns. He resided on this farm until 1885, when he came to his Evergreen farm, which contains one hundred and sixty acres.
In 1853 he was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Ebert, who was also born in
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Fairfield county, Ohio. She is a daughter of Daniel and Mary ( Gaul) Ebert. To their mar- riage have been born ten children. John Lind- sey is one of the devout and useful members of the Methodist church. He is a pleasant, affa- ble gentleman, has accumulated a considerable competency, and resides in a beautiful home where he is surrounded by the modern con- veniences and comforts of life which fittingly crown an active and successful career.
DAVID COOPER.
David Cooper, an old and universally re- spected citizen of Tuscola, who has long led an unselfish and benevolent life, was born in
Greenbrier county. West Virginia, in the year 1813. He is a son of Francis and Elizabeth ( Miller ) Cooper, who were both born in the
same county. Simeon Cooper (grandfather ) was also a Virginian by birth, and was in the Revolutionary war. Henry Miller, his moth- er's father, was born in Germany, and was among the old settlers of the Old Dominion. He was also a Revolutionary soldier.
David Cooper grew to manhood in his na- tive county, his early schooling being almost en- tirely neglected. At theage oftwenty-seven years he emigrated to Lawrence county, Ohio, and was there engaged in farming up to 1856, when he removed to Kansas, remaining there but a short time, when he went to Nodaway county, Missouri, and lived there for seven years. In 1862 he returned to Illinois, and settled in Champaign county, and some twenty years ago located on a farm of two hundred acres in Tuscola township, which he still owns. In 1886 he retired from the farm and removed to Tuscola. On April 11, 1839, he was united in marriage to Miss Virginia Asbury, who was a native of Greenbrier county, West Virginia, and was a daughter of William Asbury, also a na- tive of the same county. She is still living and is in the eighty-third year of her age and the sixty-first year of her marriage.
David Cooper, or, as he is familiarly known as "Grandpa Cooper" has been a devout and consistent member of the first Methodist Episcopal church, second, the United Brethren, then joined the Free Methodist church, of which he has been a member about twelve years, making in all about seventy years a member of the church, a most remarkable record of a remarkable man. Without family influence or outside help of any kind Mr. Cooper has not only succeeded in life, but has unselfishly helped others to succeed In about 1888 he was
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chiefly instrumental in the building of the Free Methodist church, in the northwest part of the city. It is a frame edifice, 36×46 feet, with a seating capacity of about three hundred. Rev. Jenkins, of Arcola, is the pastor. The member- ship is composed, in the language of Mr. Coop- er, "of the plain, common people." He is the trustee and local elder, and occasionally gives the congregation one of his sermons on "old time religion." The Sabbath school in con- nection with this church numbers about eighty children. Mrs. Kate Lamb is the class leader of the church. David Cooper has given thon- sands of dollars toward the building of church- es. While living in Champaign county he gave one thousand, five hundred dollars toward the building of the Methodist church located on his farm near Pesotum. It has since been bought by the United Brethren people and moved to the village of Pesotum.
CHARLES W. WOOLVERTON.
Charles W. Woolverton, for many years noted as a lawyer in Douglas county and throughout central Illinois, was born at Bel- videre, Illinois, February 27, 1847, and died November 10, 1895, in the forty-ninth year of his age. In June, 1888, he married Mrs. Eliza- beth C. Remine, who was at that time the offi- cial court reporter of the then judicial district composed of Douglas, Coles and Edgar coun- ties.
Mr. Woolverton was a graduate of Mc- Kendree College, and soon after his graduation 9
he began the practice of law at Tuscola, becom- ing a member of the firm of Bundy & Wool- verton. He remained with Mr. Bundy for ten years, until the death of the latter in 1885. From this time up to his death he was alone in the practice. Col. Woolverton was the son of Charles W. and Amanda ( Ilolland ) Woolver- ton, who died when Charles W. was an infant. His father was a millwright by trade, but to his mother much of his success in life was due, she being a woman of fine intelligence and will-
power. In finishing the sketch of Mr. Wool- verton, we will substitute the words of the emi- nent Doctor Hurd, late pastor of the Presby- terian church, instead of our own:
"Charles W. Woolverton was born at Bel- videre, Illinois, and at the time of his decease had nearly completed his forty-ninth year. His youth was marked with the most industrious and earnest efforts towards self education, in which he was dependent largely on his own re- sources, and to which effort was added neces-
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sary exertion which he manfully rendered on behalf of his widowed mother and family. He wrought his way through the entire course of prescribed studies, and graduated from Me- Kendree College, at Lebanon, Illinois. While engaged in teaching he pursued the studies pre- paratory to the legal profession until he was admitted to the bar. His first experience as an attorney was in connection with the office of the well-known lawyer and representative, Thomas E. Bundy, some years since deceased.
"Mr. Woolverton as a lawyer, as a man and as a citizen is well known in Douglas county and beyond. By the same incessant industry, and honorable attention to the fiduciary trusts and duties of his profession, he has won a large success, and a distinction which, with the prom- ise of life preceding his last fatal sickness. would have ripened into eminence among his peers. Even as a young lawyer he was able to execute in two instances the largest bond for the discharge of important financial trusts which had ever been executed in Douglas coun- ty, and his fidelity in all commercial and civic relations was so well understood that up to the time of his departure from our midst large trusts were committed to his hands. Of ir- reproachable character as a man, he leaves large numbers who will deeply feel the loss of his in- valuable worth among us. The members of the bar, honoring his memory on this occasion, are sincere mourners with those most nearly and deeply afflicted. The large fraternity who have known him as a member, as a brother and as a man, attend in charge of the interment of his body to-day with regret and with love unfeigned. As his chosen pastor for nearly five years I have been conscious on many Sab-
bath mornings of an intent and interested lis- tener to such views of truth that I have at- tempted to present, and the knowledge and ex- pectation of this has been a help and a stimu- lant such as few perhaps realize. The warm grasp of his hand whenever and wherever ! chanced to meet him, with his inquiries and words of sympathy, notwithstanding his habit- ual reserve, have prepared me to feel that 1 have lost a friend and to have still decper sym- pathy which words cannot express for those most nearly bereaved. Mr. Woolverton was re- served in the expressing of his feelings and sentiments."
The funeral cortege was a lengthy one, and the number of distinguished men in attendance was unusually large, all of which der ionstrated the high esteem in which he was held by his fel- lowmen. The pall bearers were Messrs. P. M. Moore, United States Marshal W. B. Brinton, Rice Ervin, Thomas W. Roberts, James A. Richmond and P. L. Dawson. The remains were laid beside those of the late John J. Jones, both of whom were warm friends in life. The floral offerings were very fine, and some lovely pieces came from those who held him in noble esteem.
The deceased during his twenty years prac- tice of law had built up a large clientage, and his many duties and responsibilities made him a very busy man. At the time of his death he was attorney for the 1. D. & W. Railway ; also for the Corn Belt Building & Loan Association, the bank of Banghman. Bragg & Co., and was manager of the large estate of John J. Jones, and several other large estates, besides having on hand many important cases in court at all times. He did business on a large scale, and
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the people sought him because of his integrity it may be, by hidden generosities of our na- and honesty in his dealings with them.
Ife was a member of the following Ma- sonic bodies, to-wit : Camargo lodge, No. 440, A. F. & A. M., Camargo, Illinois; Tuscola Chapter, No. 66, R. A. M., Tuscola, Illinois; Tuscola Council, No. 21, R. & S. M., Tuscola, Illinois; Melita Commandery, No. 37, Tuscola, Illinois.
EULOGY OF HON. HORACE CLARK TO THE LATE COL. C. W. WOOLVERTON.
The painful duty, at the request of the Douglas county bar, is imposed upon me of officially announcing to this court that one of the members has passed away ; one to whom we were bound by strong ties of personal esteem and friendship, and by ties of professional as- sociation as a practicing lawyer ; one who hon- ored our profession, and was honored by it.
That such a duty should come is painful, yet fate-bound and impossible to escape there- from. With the dread realities before us, and with power to recognize the same, in our manly strength yielding to the inevitable, it is a pleas- ing task to speak honest words of eulogy of the dead and words of sympathy to the living. It is always thus with us, when grim death en- ters our circle and with apparent ruthless hand plucks those who seemingly can least be spared. With the spirit of frankness we say it is al- ways so, for when, perchance, one of less de- gree is claimed for that bourne of eternity, there comes as a belief, it seems to us, virtue and merits forgotten and unheralded like the still, undisturbed repose of true worth, magnified,
ture, suddenly drawn upon in all of the inten- sity of deep-seated sorrow, and through the gloom see, as bright lining, the nobler elements of the true man.
This custom is not of mere form, but of deep merit ; an opportune time for contempla- tion of true worth and true manhood, yielding fruitful lessons for the present and enduring thoughts to guide us on into the otherwise ob- scure and unknown future. So the dark pall of death brings the white-winged dove and proclaims the brightest subjects.
To-day we make no draughts upon our charity in speaking of the subject of the reso- lutions which I have the great honor on be- half of our living brothers to present to this court. Well we know and realize that to your honor personally our words of praise and com- mendation will meet with a hearty response. Around the lifeless form of Charles W. Wool- verton has been drawn the mantle of death, and we raise the veil with reverence to look upon his life and character with words of truthfulness to speak of him. Knowing the youthful struggle with poverty, and ambition of the American boy of Illinois birth, we see his elastic form and reliant journey up the steps of learning, and while possibly chiding his hard lot, side by side with his more favored companions, with de- termined mien, nerved by the opposition, he marches alongside his competitors with long- ing hope of ultimate success. As year quickly follows year we find him with self reliance, without assurance, in the foremost ranks of his profession as a lawyer, and his pathway, among struggles and disappointments, strewn with monuments of professional success. In look-
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ing back through those years of untiring labor we see snecess written upon his every effort. With physical strength and courage the citi- zen stands with all the embellishment of the practicing lawyer and able jurist. And among those who speak his praise and his worth are many who in every day life received the en- couraging word and the helping hand, and joined with these are the expressions of hearty gratitude of his young professional brethren. With sturdy, honest and untiring labor and fidelity came to him remunerating trusts and such a competence as to place the loving ones who mourn his loss beyond the reach of want or dependence. His home has lost a jewel, his wife and daughter a kind husband and father and a genial companion, and his surviving mother a son whose every effort was responsive to her wishes. The community has lost an upright citizen and the Douglas county bar has lost a brother worthy of our profession. With the unbounded confidence of all courts before whom he appeared his professional honor was ever beyond question. He was a close practi- tioner, eloquent and forcible, seldom indulging in invectives or sarcasm. Yet his power and force of character always inspired the court and jury, as it did himself, with confidence in the justice of his canse, and he was at all times a formidable adversary.
In the forty-ninth year of his age, in the very prime of mental and physical life, with sturdy qualities of honest heart and hand, and in full manhood of usefulness, our brother Charles W. Woolverton, by infinite and un- known Providence, has been cut down. With bowed heads to the inevitable, we must be re- signed, and as ont of the eternity we today
and now seem to hear voices whispering from the "shadowy silence of the grave" we join with reluctance our voices in a long and last fare- well to our friend and professional brother.
R. S. FOSTER.
R. S. Foster, one of the oldest citizens of Tuscola, was born in Clermont county, Ohio, March 4. 1818, and is a son of Israel and Mary ( Kain ) Foster, who were natives respectively of Berkley county, Virginia, and Clermont county, Ohio. His mother was a daughter of Daniel Kain, who was born in Williamsburg,
Ohio, and was a member of one of the early pioneer families of that section. His father, Israel Foster, was born in 1793, and in 1827, with his family, moved to Bracken county, Ken- tucky, where he engaged in farming on the Ohio river, twelve miles below Augusta, the county
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seat of Bracken county. He died in 1878, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, while on a visit to his daughter in Keokuk, Iowa. He was a sol- dier in the war of 1812.
R. S. Foster received a common-school edu- cation and after leaving school he was engaged in farming in Bracken county, residing at Fos- ter, when, in 1878, he removed to Douglas county, where he has since resided. Mr. Fos- ter has been twice married, first, in 1838, to Miss Elizabeth Tuttle, of Maine, whose death occurred in the same year of her removal to this county. His second wife was Mrs. Eliza E. Roberts whose maiden name was Maxwell. She was a native of Bracken county, Kentucky, and at the time of her marriage was a resident of Foster. Mr. Foster owns two hundred and seventy-two acres of land in Arcola township, which is one of the finest farms in the county. He is devoted to the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he is a stanch Republican. For the past few years Mr. Foster has been confined to his home with rheumatism, getting out only occasionally. He has lived a long and useful life-a man of strictest integrity and fearless in voicing his convictions upon any subject.
WV. H. BURTNETT, M. D.
William H. Burtnett, M. D., physician and druggist of Camargo, and a veteran of the war of the Rebellion, was born in Gallia county, Ohio, January 6, 1843, and is a son of John Burtnett, who was a native Virginian. His mother was Mary Gilmore, a daughter of Matthew Gilmore. He was reared and edu- cated in his native county, and at the age of
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