USA > Illinois > Douglas County > Historical and biographical record of Douglas County, Illinois > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
eighteen years he joined Company C. Eight- eenth Indiana Infantry, was mustered into the service and was out four years and two months. There are few soldiers who served longer in the Civil war than Dr. Burtnett, although he has never applied for a pension, nor would accept one if it were tendered him. In politics he is the same as he is in all other affairs of life, strictly independent. He is inclined to favor the Republicans of the anti-monopoly type, but in 1896 he voted for Bryan. In 1868 Dr. Burtnett located in Douglas county, in the practice of his profession, and in 1872 he lo- cated at Camargo, where he has continued to reside. In 1894 he established his presert drug. store, and since that time he has not done so much active practice as formerly.
Dr. William 11. Burtnett was graduated from the Miami Medical College, at Cincin- nati, in the class of 1867, and subsequently he took a special course at Indianapolis. On Jan- uary 31, 1879, he was married to Miss Hattie, a daughter of John M. Irwin, of Camargo ( see his sketch). She is a native of Lawrence county, Ohio. They have had two children, but both are deceased. Dr. Burtnett is a man of marked individuality ; is perfectly frank and outspoken on questions in line with his con- victions and which he believes to be honest and right, and is universally popular with all who understand him.
JAMES JONES.
James Jones, ex-county treasurer and pres- ent deputy treasurer, and also the present chair- man of the Douglas county Republican central committee, was born in Franklin county, In-
1 34
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
diana. January 24, 1837. In 1858 he came to Ilinois and settled in Whiteside county and en- gaged in farming. Two years later he re- moved to this county and bought a farm in Arcola township, where he resided up to the time when he traded his farm for one in Tus- cola township; upon the latter place he lived and farmed successfully up to the year 1884. That year he was elected by his party treasurer of Douglas county and most efficiently served in this capacity for one terin.
James Jones is one of the most universally popular men in the county. He has been a successful man of business affairs and the same methods used in his own every-day business life he applies in dealing with the public; he is very approachable in manner and of strictest integrity and probity.
WILLIAM H. FRY.
William H. Fry. of West Ridge, who is the grain agent at that place for T. D. Hanson & Co. a position he has filled most acceptably to his employers and the general public for the past eight years, was born in Camargo town- ship. Douglas county. Ilinois, February 14 1869. lle is a son of Daniel and Millie An ( Braughton ) Fry, who were born respectively in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. llis grandfa- ther. Henry Fry, who was born in Pennsyl- vania, came west and became one of the pioneer settlers in Camargo township. Daniel Fry. who came at the same time, was born in 1830 and died in 1881 ; his wife died in 1893 in the forty-first year of her age. To their marriage were born four children : William H. : Mrs. M. Entler, residing near the Mt. Gilead church :
James W. and G. W. G. W. Braughton (grandfather ) was of English ancestry, a na- tive of Kentucky, and settled in Camargo town- ship at about the same time the Fry family lo- cated there.
William H. Fry was reared on the farm, and after attending the graded school of Ca- margo was one year at the Bloomington nor- mal : leaving there he entered DePauw Univer- sity, at Greencastle. Indiana, where he contin- ued his studies for three years. After leav- ing college he taught for three years in Douglas
county, at the end of which time be accepted his present position at West Ridge. On De- cember 1. 1899. he engaged in mercantile busi- ness also at West Ridge, and accepted the po- sition of postmaster under the administration of President Mckinley.
On February 22. 1892, he married Miss Cora A .. daughter of W. H. Dodson, a justice of the peace of Tuscola. Mr. Fry owns twen- ty acres of land in Camargo township, besides
-
$35
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
property in the village of West Ridge. He is near the village of Chrisman, where they resid- a Knight of Pythias, and he and his wife are members of the Christian church of Tuscola. Mr. Fry is one of that useful class of young men in every county whose intelligence, sturdy integrity and restless energy add stability and force to its business affairs.
JAMES A. KINCAID.
James A. Kincaid has through his own indi- vidual effort and unaided by friends become one of the most successful farmers and stock raisers in Newman township. He was born of humble but honorable parentage in Marion
county. West Virginia, August 22, 1853, and is a son of Alpheus M. and Sarah (Johnson) Kincaid, who in about 1865 emigrated from their West Virginia home and settled on a farm
ed on a rented farm for three years, when they removed to Newman township. Alpheus M. Kincaid has been dead for over thirty years, and his wife died March 9. 1900. John Kin- caid (grandfather) was born in Rolan county, Ireland, and entered land in West Virginia. Barnett Johnson was born in New England. and also entered land in West Virginia.
James A. Kincaid, by hard work and good management, has achieved a success far above the average farmer. He owns eighty acres of valuable and well improved land and has only recently erected a fine residence at a cost of over three thousand dollars. In 1874 he was united in marriage to Miss Caroline F. Anderson, a daughter of Elijah Anderson, who was one of the pioneers of the Brushy Fork neighborhood, having migrated from Indiana. He was born in Posey county, Indiana, and married in Ver- million county, that state, to Sarah S. James His death occurred some eight years ago, and he and his wife are buried at Albin cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid have four children living: Sarah, Nora V., Rosa Lee, Caroline Elizabeth and James A. A son, Moses Ewen, died September 12, 1876. Mr. Kincaid is a member of the Modern Woodmen, and is well and favorably known as an intelligent and up- to-date farmer.
DANIEL ATTO.
Daniel Atto, an honest and hard working farmer of Newman township, was born near
136
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
Bedford, Lawrence county, Indiana, July 15, years he has taken an active interest in school 1844. Ile came to Newinan township in 1861 and was for three years a tenant farmer before
he purchased his farm 'of forty-seven acres, which he yet owns. While our subject was yet small, his parents removed from Lawrence to Greene county, Indiana, where he remained until he was eighteen years of age, when he mi- grated to Illinois with his mother and her fam- ily. His father, Joseph Atto, a native of Natchez. Mississippi, was left an orphan at an early age. At the age of five years by some means he was sent north stopping at Evansville. Indiana, and was taken by Isaac Mitchell, who raised and educated him. In 184t he wedded Fannie, a daughter of Isaac Mitchell, who was a native of Virginia, and who lived and died near Bloomfield. Indiana. Daniel Atto has been a busy man all his life, had few school advantages, but knew well the advantages of an education and has seen that his children have amply received what he lacked. For many
matters and for eighteen years past has served as president of the school board.
In 1866 he was united in marriage to Miss Phebe Ogdon, who was born in Illinois, a daughter of Alexander and Adaline Ogdon, who were born in Virginia. Five children have blessed their union: Ira: Ora. who is in his twenty-third year and is one of the bright young school teachers of the county; Barney, Aha and Lucy. Mr. Atto is a stanch Repub- lican in his political opinion, and occupies a high place in the respect and esteem of the peo- ple among whom he has dwelt for so many years.
M. D. BARTHOLOMEW.
Michael D. Bartholomew, a reputable and highly intelligent farmer of Bourbon township. has been numbered among the residents of
137
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
Douglas county since 1861. He and his esti- mable wife are among the pioneer settlers who have lived to witness the phenomenal growth and development which has placed Douglas county in the front rank as one of the most prosperous and highly cultivated portions of the great state of Illinois.
Mr. Bartholomew is a native of the state of New York. He was born in St. Lawrence county, August 21, 1825. His parents were Luman B. and Lydia ( Daniels ) Bartholomew. The family was well and favorably known where they resided. In 1843 they emigrated to the West. Soon after reaching their new home in MeHenry county, Illinois, the father died and the family were thrown upon their ANSON H. GREENMAN. own resources. The subject of this sketch was then eighteen years of age. He continued Anson 11. Greenman is probably as well known in Tuscola and its environment as any other citizen in the county. With the exception to reside in .Mellenry county, sharing the hard toil and privations incident upon the life in a new and unsettled region, until 1847. For the next nine years Vigo county, Indiana, became his home. Here, in 1854, he was united in mar- riage to Sarah Durham, a native of Vigo coun- ty, and a daughter of Daniel Durham. Their marriage proved a happy and congenial one. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew are of En- glish ancestry. The grandfathers of the sub- ject of this sketch rendered honorable and dis- tinguished service in the Revolutionary war ; the genealogy of the family is traced back to the earliest settlers of America. Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew have been greatly prospered in their Douglas county home. They now own over five hundred acres of fertile and well cul- tivated land, situated in Bourbon and Arcola townships. They are both members of the of four years he has continuously held the office United Brethren church at Chesterville. Mr. of township assessor since the year 1881, and
Bartholomew has well and acceptably per- formed the duties of township treasurer for a period of twenty-eight years. He has been su- pervisor and held minor offices of trust. Of the five children, two, Luman and Isaac Bar- tholomew, are well known and prosperous farmers of Bourbon township. One of the daughters, Miss Eliza, is a successful teacher. Two beautiful and interesting little grandchil- dren complete the family circle.
138
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
is now a candidate for re election without op- position.
Anson 11. Greenman was born in Noble county, Indiana. November 11, 1840, and is a son of Anson and Olive ( Cunningham ) Green- man. The former was born in Canada, and the latter in Ohio. Mr. Greenman, at an early age. at the death of his parents, was bound out, and went through the hardships that generally be- fall an orphan under similar circumstances. At the time of his country's peril he volunteered his services in the Civil war, and joining Com- pany B. Eighty-fourth Indiana, as a private, August 1, 1862, under Captain Ellis, of Mun- cie, and Colonel Trussler, of Connersville, In- diana. He was four times wounded and of late has suffered from one wound rece ved at t. e battle of Franklin. He also participated in the battles of Resaca, Nashville, Tennessee, and .At- lanta, Georgia. The Eighty-fourth Indiana participated in twenty-six battles and sk.r- mishes. In 1865. after being mustered out. Mr. Greenman settled on a farm in ouscola town- ship, and moved into Tuscola city in Febru- ary. 1891, and never cast a vote any where else : he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
In 1866 he was wedded to Miss Mary E. Gish, a lady of fine intelligence, who has borne him four children : John L., employe of the Illi- nois Central Railroad Company; Ollie, em- ployee of the Mt. Pleasant (lowa ) Hospital for the Insane: Dora, wife of James High- land, of Champaign, Illinois, and Emma, who is at home. Mr. Greenman is a pleasant, genial gentleman, an ardent Republican and an active worker for the success of his party.
I. S. MARTIN, M. D.
William S. Martin, M. D., a well-known physician of Tuscola, was born in Putnam county. Indiana, August 2. 1837. After leav- ing the common schools he taught school for eight years. During the last three years while teaching school he studied medicine under Doc- tor Price, of Westfieldl, Illinois. He then went to New York and entered the Bellevue Medical
College, the recognized leading school of the United States, taking two full courses, the first in 1871 and the last in 1877, in which year he was graduated.
llis father was William H. Martin, who was born in Bath county, Kentucky, in 1800, and died in 1897. At the age of twenty-one he located in Putnam county, Indiana, where he resided until 1860, when he removed to De- Witt county, Illinois, and there remained eight years, then removing to Tuscola. Ilis life was
139
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
marked by deep religious sentiment and by the ine, who is the wife of E. A. Link, a piano highest sense of Christian duty. When twelve manufacturer of Chicago, and Nellie, wife of Horace Wortham, who resides in Tuscola. Dr. Martin's first wife died in 1894, and in 1896 he was married to Miss Laura E. Smith, a very estimable lady of Tuscola. years of age he united with the Methodist church, whose discipline he took at all times as his standard and rule of faith. In about 1827 he was married to Elizabeth Walton Dills. Will- iam Martin ( grandfather ) was a Virginian by birth, removed to Kentucky, and thence to Putnam county, Indiana, where he died. He was a minister in the Methodist church for many years. Ilis wife was Mary Cook, of English parentage, and a relative of Captain Cook. Dr. Martin's maternal grandfather, John Dills, who was a descendant of Holland ancestry, and of a prominent and early settled family in the vicinity of Cynthiana, Kentucky.
Dr. Martin in 1887 took a post-graduate course at the Chicago Medical College, and in 1895 took a post-graduate course in the New York Post Graduate Medical College, giving more particular attention to diseases of the nose and throat. He is a member of the State and the American Medical Associations, and keeps himself thoroughly in touch with the progress and advancement of his profession. Dr. Mar- tin ranks high as a physician and surgeon. His office is the best supplied with instruments for surgical operations of any town in central 1lli- nois, as well as bath rooms and electrical ap- pliances for the successful treatment of chronic diseases, of which for the past few years he has made a specialty.
In 1861 he was united in marriage to Miss Katherine Thompson, of Manhattan, Indiana. To their marriage were born five children, three daughters and two sons, the latter dying early in life. The daughters are: Margaret, single, who resides at home with her father; Cather-
Dr. Martin owns one of the most elegant homes in Tuscola, and has a splendid office : and also owns two farms, one of one hundred and ten acres adjoining Tuscola, and a fruit farm in Marion county. He has served as mayor of the city and is a member of the Pres- byterian church. Dr. Martin's splendid intel- lectual gifts, deeply rooted in his character, shine forth without any effort on his part to dis- play them, and he is a man of fine personal appearance who favorably impresses all who come in contact with him.
JOHN E. ROGERS.
John E. Rogers, of Tuscola, was born near Jacksonville, Morgan county, Illinois, October 5. 1838, and is a son of John and Anna Beasley Rogers, who were natives of Kentucky. John Rogers, his grandfather, born in Kentucky, was one of the early pioneer Baptist preachers in the neighborhood of Jacksonville. His ma- ternal grandfather, Joseph Beasley, was prob- ably a native of Virginia.
Jolin E. Rogers, with his remarkable en- ergy and foresight, has attained a prominence in his calling few men reach, and in the com- mercial growth and development of Douglas county, as to its lands, he stands uniquely alone. His enterprises have been great and have in-
140
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
volved a stupendous amount of money in ac- complishing them; but time has proven his good judgment and the great good he has done
the county since he begun his work of dredging and draining. For eight years he has been a resident of Tuscola, and for twice that number of years has been extensively engaged in drain- ing the county. In dredging, draining and re- gaining swamp lands his contracts extend as far south as New Orleans, where he has per- formed several contracts with the state of Louisiana and is still engaged in that section.
In 1859 Mr. Rogers married Angeline . 1. Brooker, of Sangamon county, Illinois, who is of English parentage. They have never had any children of their own, but have three adopted ones. Mr. Rogers is a Knight Templar in Masonry and bears an enviable reputation as a neighbor and friend, a courteous gentleman and a public-spirited citi- zen in the community in which he lives. In all his relations of life he has been honorable and just, scrupulously prompt in meeting his en- gagements and in performing his contracts.
WILLIAM EDGAR RICE, M. D.
Among the leading physicians of Tuscola and Douglas county there have been none more active and aggressive in accomplishing good results in the practice of their profession than Dr. Rice. He was born in Clermont county, Ohio, January 23, 1865. He was reared on . farm and attended the country schools, after which he attended Wesleyan University at Del- aware. Ohio, and subsequently entered the State University at Columbus, Ohio, in both colleges pursuing scientific studies. After leav- ing college he took up the study of medicine. matriculating at the Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, from which well-known institution he was graduated in the class of 1891. In the same year he opened an office at Greenville, Ohio, but remained there but a short time, com- ing to Tuscola that year. With his well-known
ability and energy for hard work, it is useless to state that he was not long in getting into a successful and lucrative practice. He remained
141
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
alone in the work of his profession up to Oc- tober, 1898, when, his practice having become very extensive, he formed a partnership with Dr. Walter C. Blain. ( See sketch of Dr. Blain. )
Dr. Rice is a member of the Ohio State Medical, Miami County ( Ohio) Medical, and . the age of fifteen years, when he entered the the Douglas County ( Illinois) Medical So- cieties. He is also a member in good standing of the Knights of Pythias and the Uniformed Rank, Knights of Pythias, and has been a rep- resentative to the grand lodge of that order for the past six years ; is also a member of the I. O. O. F. ; a member of Tuscola lodge, No. 332, A. F. & A. M .: Tuscola Chapter, No. 66, Royal Arch Masons, and Melita Commandery, No. 37, K. T., and a Woodman ; also a member of the city board of health of Tuscola, and a member of the Methodist church. Dr. Rice is surgeon for the I. D. & W. Railroad Company and local surgeon for the Illinois Central.
His father, George W. Rice, was by occupa- tion a farmer, stock raiser and tobacco grower. and a native of Kentucky, but reared in Ohio. His mother before her marriage was Miss Kate (. Frazier, born in Ohio. In 1890 Dr. Rice wedded Miss Sarah P. Rust, of Ohio. To them has been born one child, Mary Katherine, aged seven years.
S. H. BAKER.
S. H. Baker is classed among the success- ful and enterprising young business men of Arthur. He is a member of the well-known grain firm of Baker & Cahill ( see sketch of
latter on another page), which partnership was formed February 1, 1895.
Mr. Baker was born on a farm in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1862, and re- mained on the farm, receiving the advantages of the common schools until he had arrived at employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany and filled the positions of telegraph op- erator and ticket clerk at different points on the middle division, on the main line between
Harrisburg and Altoona. In 1880 he came west and located in Illinois, remaining one year, when he returned to Pennsylvania and re- entered the service of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company in the capacity of telegraph operator and ticket clerk on the Schuylkill division at Pottstown, Montgomery county. In 1888 he came back to this state and located in Piatt county, and was station agent at Mil- mine, on the Wabash system, continuing there up till 1892. In that year he changed to the employ of the C. & E. I. Railroad Company
142
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
and was their station agent at Arthur up to his going into the grain business in 1805.
In 1885 Mr. Baker was united in marriage to Miss Alice Dobson, a daughter of Robinson Dobson, of Milmine. To their marriage have been born three children : Florence and S. Il. Baker, Jr., living, and Jesse, dead.
S. 11. Baker comes of sturdy Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, and is a son of Jesse and Susan ( Zeiders) Baker. The father was born in Montgomery county, near Philadelphia: the commissioner, was clerk of the school board mother in Perry county, near Liverpool, Penn- sylvania. His grandfathers were Peter Baker and Henry Zeiders, who were members of old and respectable families of the Keystone state.
The firm of Baker & Cahill, who carry on business for themselves as dealers in grain. coal, seeds and mill feed, do an annual business of about fifty-one thousand dollars. Mr. Baker is a member and secretary of Arthur lodge. No. 825. Free and Accepted Masons, and is also an active member and one of the oklest trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church, which was organized in 1894. He has attained his present position in the business world by industry and close attention to the details of his every day's work ; is public spirited and in favor of all improvements calculated to benefit the community in which he resides.
ELI F. CAHILL.
Eli Foster Cahill, member of the well- known grain firm of Baker & Cahill, of Arthur. was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, October 2: 1851, and is a son of Granson and Ellen
(Goff) Cahill. He was reared on a farm in central Kentucky and came from that state to Moultrie county in 1874. In 1894 be and his partner succeeded C. A. Davis in the grain buying business, and the firm of Baker & Cahill is rapidly becoming one of the most in- portant in the county. Mr. Cahill owns one liundred and sixty acres of land northwest of Arthur, in Moultrie county, and while residing on the farm he served three years as highway
for nine years and for eleven years served as school director.
In 1878 our subject was united in marriage with Mrs. Emily Robertson, of Moultrie coll- ty, Illinois, and they have one child. Nellie. Mr. Cahill is a member of the Masonic frater- nity and of the Christian church, and is a pleasant and courteous gentleman, well known, wide-awake and progressive, and is in the vigor of manhood, with prospects of many years of usefulness in store for him.
143
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
D. N. MAGNER.
D. N. Magner is classed among the reliable and successful business men of the county. 1Ic located at Arthur in 1873, and has since been identified with the best interests of the village,
and is the pioneer of Arthur in the lumber, coal and cement business.
N. Magner, then nine years old, came to Paris, Illinois, and upon the first call for troops in 1861 he volunteered in Company H, Ninth Illi- nois Infantry, and served for three years and four months. He was wounded at the battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, was taken prisoner at the battle of Corinth, and partici- pated in sixty-six engagements during the war. For fourteen years he was in the railway mail service, on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Rail- road and Vandalia line. In 1873 he started in his present business, but in 1880 he sold out to C. A. Reeves. Ile bought the business back in 1804, and since that time has been carrying on a most successful business. Mr. Magner has been president and trustee of the village board, and is a member of the G. A. R .. 1. O. O. 1. and Masonic fraternities.
In 1862 he was wedded to Miss Mary Thom, of Hillsboro, Illinois. They have three children living: Margaret, Mary and Ruth. He and wife are members of the Christian church of Arthur.
Our subject was born in Rush county, Indi- ana, October 30, 1843, and is a son of Z. H. and Margaret ( McCorkle) Maguer. His fa- ther is a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, COL. WESFORD TAGGART. and his mother of Bourbon county, Kentucky. His father, who was born in 1803, and died in Col. Wesford Taggart, a resident of Tus- cola, who for many years has been well and favorably known throughout Douglas county, was born on a farm near the village of Nash- ville, Brown county, Indiana, November 17, 1833. Ilis father was Capt. James Taggart, who served in the Mexican war as captain of Company E, of Senator James H. Lane's regi- ment, of Indiana, and was killed in the battle of August, 1868, was formerly a merchant at Paris, Illinois. His mother died in 1855, aged fifty years. James Magner (grandfather) was a native of Maryland and a son of a Revolutionary soldier. The Magner family, which came from Ireland, has resided in Amer- ica since about the year 1650. James McCorkle was a Virginian by birth, emigrated to Ken- tucky as a pioneer and died there. In 1853 D. Buena Vista in the year 1847. Col. Taggart's
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.