USA > Illinois > Douglas County > Historical and biographical record of Douglas County, Illinois > Part 28
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JOHN C. HOSTETLER.
John C. Hostetler, who is engaged in the agricultural implement business, including buggies and wagons, and recently elected allerman from the third ward in Tuscola, was
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born in Douglas county. August 27, 1866, in Arcola township, was born in Montgomery and is a son of D. C. and L. M. Hostetler, natives of Indiana. The father settled in Bowdre township some time in the 'fifties, and died in Tuscola, in 1895. in the sixty- fourth year of his age. His mother is still living. Mr. Hostetler was married in 1889 to Miss Laura A., daughter of H. C. Jones, whose sketch is found on another page. They have one child, Leon.
Mr. Hostetler operated a planing and re- pair shop previous to entering into his present business, which he sold out in 1896. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Order of Red Men, and is one of the popular and promising young business men of Tus- cola.
JOHN L. GOFF.
John L. Goff served as sheriff of Douglas county from 1887 to 1891, and at the time of his death, in 1892, he held the office of super- visor. He was married to Miss Josie R. Rice, a daughter of Martin Rice, deceased, of Ca- margo (see sketch). Mrs. Goff owns a half section of land, part of which is in Camargo and a part in Tuscola townships. She resides in Tuscola.
THOMAS CRADDICK.
Thomas Craddick, a typical Kentuckian and a self-made man, now residing on his farm
county, Kentucky, April 13, 1856, and is a son of Michael Craddick and Catherine ( Welch ) Craddick, who were natives of Ireland. His father emigrated from Kentucky to Arcola township 1869 and died in 1890. His mother died in 1896, and they are both buried in the Arcola cemetery. Mr. Craddick's farm cou- tains one hundred and fourteen acres of land. He has never been married. Socially he is very popular and in business one of the sub- stantial men of the township.
GEORGE W. HENSON.
George Warren Henson, deceased, was born September 5, 1821, at Cynthiana, Kentucky. Ile was a son of Gideon and Nancy ( Shumate)
Henson. Ile was the ellest of a family of six children and of Scotch-German descent. With his father's family he left the state of his na-
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tivity in 1834 and emigrated to Vermilion coun- a member of one of the oldest and most prom- ty, Illinois, and there remained until 1844, when inent families in the county, and will undoubt- edly make his mark in the business world. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in Newman township. he came into the section of country which is now Douglas county and immediately began the improvement of a farm.
He married Miss Eliza P. Sargent, a native of Illinois. To this union were born eleven children, six of whom are living, two sons and four daughters.
The county of Douglas, by the death of Mr. Henson, lost one of its most prominent citizens and honorable men. Politically he was a Democrat. He was a Mason, a pioneer of the county, and a man possessing a spirit of charity and enterprise. His death occurre 1 May o. 1881, at his residence near Camargo, Illinois.
FRANK W. HAMMETT.
Frank W. Hammett, cashier of the First National Bank of Tuscola, and one of the county's young men of recognized ability, was born on a farm in Camargo township, Douglas county, Illinois, February 12. 1862. (See sketch of his father. James R. Hammett. ) Mr. Hammett grew to manhood on his father's farm and was principally educated in the Uni- versity of Illinois. For some years after leay- ing college he was engaged in the manufacture of tiling at Camargo and Long View. In March. 1891. he accepted the position of book- keeper in the First National Bank of Tuscola. and was promoted to cashier of the same bank in August, 1898.
He is a Knight Templar in Masonry; is
W. H. HANCOCK.
1: 11. Hancock, who is one of the most successful broom-corn brokers and business men of Tuscola, was born in Chicago, March 29, 1864, and is a son of W. S. and Sarah ( Bell ) Hancock. His father was born in Ox- ford, Ohio, and his mother in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. His father is now living a re- tired life in Chicago. W. H. Hancock was raised to manhood in Chicago and educated in the Cook county normal school. His first position of any importance was that of con- ductor on the Pullman car lines, and he con- tinued as such for seven years, running over thirty-six different railroads. For seven years he was engaged in the broom-corn business with his father in Chicago.
In January. 1895, he was married to Miss Tillie Brogan, a highly accomplished young lady of Muscatine, lowa. They have two children. John Henry and May.
In 1899 he associated himself in partner- ship with W. Avery Howard (a notice of whom is found elsewhere ) in the broom-corn brokerage business with their office in Tus- cola. The firm is one of the most active and responsible engaged in the business. During the last year they handled about fifteen hun-
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dred tons of broom corn. He and his wife stand high in the social circles of Tuscola, where they expect to make their future home.
WILLIAM A. WISEMAN.
William A. Wiseman, a well known physi- cian of Camargo, where he has been in success- ful practice for several years, was born at Waterloo, Lawrence county, Ohio, Jannary I, 1853, and is a son of Abner and Martha J. (Irwin) Wiseman. His father was a native of Virginia and his mother of Ohio. Isaac Wise- man's grandfather was also born in Virginia and his maternal grandfather, George Irwin, was born in Virginia.
Dr. Wiseman was reared in his native com . ty, where he attended the public schools and subsequently, in 1878, became a student at De- Pauw University, where he pursued a regular college course for three years and a half. In 1882 he commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. C. Patterson and in 1883 went to Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and was graduated therefrom in the class of 1886. While at Philadelphia he took special courses in skin diseases and also in gynecology and gained practical experience at the Philadelphia Lying- in Hospital. In the spring of 1886 he located at Camargo in the practice of his profession and here he has built up a successful practice.
In political opinion the Doctor is a con- sistent Prohibitionist, and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen and Court of Honor. In 1875 he was married to Miss Emma C. Car- rel, of Dennison, Ohio. They have three chil- dren : Eva C., Omer D. and Meda A.
IRA M. MULLIKEN.
Ira M. Mulliken, junior member of the well- Inown firm of Barr & Mulliken and one of the rising young business men of Newman, was born in Champaign county, Illinois, Decem- ler 17, 1865. Ilis father, James W. Mulli- ken, was a native of Johnson county, Indiana,
and removed to Champaign county in about 1852. His mother, Catherine, was a daughter of Rev. Samuel F. Miller, who was born in 1815, and at present resides in Arcola. (See sketch of W. H. Bush, of Hindsboro. ) In about 1868 the father of l. M. Mulliken re- moved to a farm near Hindsboro, where the latter remained until he arrived at the age of twenty-one years, when he went to Arcola to reside, and there worked at the carpenter's trade. He attended Lee's academy at Loxa. Illinois, for six months, then subsequently at- tended the embalming college at Indianapolis. From 1893 to June 1, 1896, he was a member
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of the undertaking firm of Mike. Miller & Co., at Charleston, Illinois. In the latter year he removed to Newman to accept a partnership with James Barr ( see sketch ).
On September 4. 1893, he was married to Miss Ida A., a daughter of John W. Allison, of Arcola. They have one child, a daughter, Frances Marie. He is a member and noble grand of the I. O. O. F. ; elder in the Christian
church, and superintendent of its Sunday school. He is also chief patriarch of the 1. O. O. F. encampment ; member of the Masonic fraternity, and clerk of the school board of Newman. The firm of Barr & Mullikin own two large stores in Newman, Mr. Barr super- intending the furniture and undertaking estab- lishment on the west side of the square, and Mr. Mulliken manages the hardware and tin shop and does the undertaking work on the north side. They carry a large stock and do quite an extensive business, drawing trade for miles around them.
ALBERT W. WALLACE.
Albert W. Wallace is president of the First National Bank of Tuscola, one of the leading banking institutions of central Illinois. The First National Bank was organized in Novem- ber, 1800, with a paid up capital of one hun- dred and thirteen thousand dollars. Its first president was William P. Cannon ( a brother of Congressman J. G. Cannon) and W. H. Lamb was the first cashier. Mr. Cannon re- mained president until 1872, when he was suc- ceeded by Henry T. Caraway, who remained president up to January 1, 1898, when he was succeeded by Mr. Wallace. Mr. Lamb re- miained cashier up to July 1, 1898, when he was succeeded by the present cashier. F. H. Ilam- mett. The bank was reorganized in the fall of 1890 and the capital stock reduced to sixty thousand dollars. The directors of this bank are among the wealthiest men of the county.
A. W. Wallace, who has been connected with the First National Bank for years, is a son of AAndrew G. Wallace, whose death occurred in July. 1878. The ancestry of the Wallace family is traced back to Scotland. Andrew (i.'s grandfather emigrated from Scotland to Ireland, and from there to America, settling in Pennsylvania near where the three states of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania came together. Ile had five sons, three of whom moved away from their Pennsylvania home. One of these was William Wallace, the young- est child, who came to Hardin county, Ken- tricky, and from there removed to Davis coun- ty, Indiana, where Andrew G. Wallace was born March 31, 1824. He was the second child by his father's second wife, whose maiden name was Vashti Winkler. When two years old his
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father moved from Davis county to Vermillion county, Indiana, and there settled down as a farmer. After a residence of about ten years, the family, in 1833 or 1834, came to Coles county, and located on Gresey creek, just south of the line which now divides Douglas from Coles county. The country was thinly settled both in Vermilion and Coles counties, where Mr. Wallace's boyhood was spent, and but scanty advantages were afforded for ob- taining anything like a good education. He was compelled to rely mainly on his own re- sources, but his quick perceptive faculties and industry enabled him to pick up a large amount of information, thus fitting himself for the duties of his after life. In 1841 the family moved north, in what is now Douglas county, and kept the widely known "Wallace stand," west of Hickory Grove, which received its name from the family. In 1842 his father died. Mr. Wallace was then in his eighteenth year, and the charge of the family fell upon him, his older brother having previously left home. He remained on the homestead and continued to farm until 1854. On November 22, 1845, he married Harriet E. Busby, a native of Ohio, whose family had come to Illinois in 1836. At this time his younger brothers and sisters were grown up and were able to take care of them- selves. His mother died in 1848. In 1854 Mr. Wallace removed to Camargo and began busi- ness there as a cattle dealer. After a residence of four years there he removed to Tuscola, then just springing into existence, the fourth house indeed having been built by Mr. Wallace him- self. Here he kept a hotel for about two years. From the inception of the plan of forming a new county out of the north of Coles, Mr. Wallace was deeply interested in it, and he may
be said to have been the prime mover in the project. The petition presented to the Legis- lature during the session of 1858-9, in gain- ing which the bill was passed organizing the county, was drawn up by Mr. Wallace. He subsequently used all his influence to secure a favorable vote, on the question being submit- ted to the people of Coles county. In the spring of 1858 he was elected justice of the peace of Tuscola, the first ever elected in the town. In the year of 1859 he was elected first circuit clerk of the county. To this position he was re-elected in 1860, again in 1864 and again in 1868, thus serving four consecutive terms, per- forming the duties of the office to his own credit and the satisfaction of the people. In June, 1859, he was appointed master in chan- cery, a position which he still holds. For the last twelve years Mr. Wallace has been exten- sively engaged in the money loaning and real estate business. He possesses a complete set of abstracts and has every facility for the trans- action of business in that line. Mr. Wallace was one of the pioneers of Tuscola and one of the founders of the town. With one exception he is the oldest resident. lle was the first per- son in the town who could sing a religious song, the other inhabitants in some way being de- ficient in their musical acquirements. Mr. Wal- lace and his wife, with Mr. Thomas Woody and his wife, organized the Methodist church of Tuscola, of which he was a faithful and consistent member and for a long period class leader. To his exertions was largely due the building of the present church edifice. For twenty-five years in all Mr. Wallace served the people in various capacities-sufficient evidence of his popularity and the confidence reposed in him as an honest and faithful officer. He
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lad ten children, all of whom are living. In returned to his farm where he remained until his younger days he was a Whig. On the dis- 1804. when he became the deputy under his half-brother. James Jones ( see sketch). who was then serving as county treasurer. He con- tinued in this position during the regular term of four years. In the fall of 1898 he was elected to this office, when his half-brother. James, became deputy treasurer. solution of that party he became a Republican. and was as steadfast in his adherence to the principles of that party as he was en- thusiastie in its support. During the war he was active and liberal in the support of the Union cause, sacrificing both time and money. Few men were more closely associated with the progress of the county, and few were better citizens.
HENRY C. JONES.
Henry Clay Jones, the affable and genial treasurer of Douglas county, was born in Franklin county, Indiana. December 2, 1842. a son of Calvin and Hannah ( Case ) Jones. He was reared to manhood in his native county. and in 1860 removed to Douglas county. In 1862 he joined Company K, Seventy-ninth Illi- nois Infantry, and served as a private soldier in the Civil war until June 12, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Nashville. Tennes- see. He was wounded in the leg in the battle of Liberty Gap, which prevented him from keeping up with his regiment until the battle of Missionary Ridge, in which he participated. During the time between the battles of Liberty Gap and Missionary Ridge he caught cold in the wound and was confined in the hospital for three months. After his release he rejoined his regiment and was with it in every fight un- til the close. After the war Mr. Jones returned to Douglas county and engaged in farming. at which he continued for six years, when he removed to Arthur and bought grain. He then
On February 25, 1866. Mr. Jones married Miss Harriet E. York, who was a native of Ohio, and a daughter of Abner York. To their marriage were born three daughters: Eliza- beth, wife of R. C. Hostetter. of near Marshall- town, lowa; Lanra, who is the wife of John Hostetter, a brother of R. C., and resides in Tuscola, and Nettie. Mrs. Jones' death oc- curred in 1897. Mr. Jones is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, also a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He owns a beautiful farm of two hundred and fifteen acres just south of Tuscola. As an official and an every day citizen Mr. Jones' record in Douglas county is unimpeachable. His word is equal to his bond, which can be said of few, in this rumbling, blundering age of the almighty (lollar.
JAMES A. WILLIAMS.
James A. Williams, who has won his own way in the world and reached a degree of suc- cess beyond the average of men at his age, was born in Monongahela City, Washington coun- ty. Pennsylvania, August 1. 1862. He is a son of John S. and Elizabeth ( Van Vorhis), na- tives of the same county. James Williams wed ded Nancy Van Allen and they were among
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the carly settlers of Washington county, the latter having been born in Allegheny county, l'ennsylvania. His grandfather, Abram Van Vorhis, was one of the carly farmers of that section and also traded in stock considerably. He was of Holland extraction.
James A. Williams grew to manhood on a farm and never attended school after he reached the age of thirteen years; at that age his mother died and he was thrown upon his own re- sources. In about 1885 he decided to try his fortunes in the west, and after arriving in Illi- nois settled in Tuscola township, where he be- came a farm hand; at this he continued until he was twenty-two years of age. By industry and good management he now owns two hun- dred and forty acres of well improved land in Douglas county, for which he has been offered eighty-five dollars an acre. Subsequently he bought the store at West Ridge, which he sold to W. H. Fry in December, 1899. He pre- viously owned one at Allerton, which he bought in 1894 and sold in the following year.
In September, 1886, he was united in mar- riage to Miss Amy McGrath, and they have three children : Ida, Charles and Earle. Mr. Williams resides on one of his farms, a short distance south of West Ridge, where he gives his personal supervision to its management. lle is a member of the Modern Woodmen of Camargo, and a Republican in politics.
SHILOAH GILL.
Shiloah Gill, an old Mexican soklier, and one of the pioneer settlers in Bowdre township, was born at Gill's Mills, Bath county, Ken- 17
tucky, September 11, 1827, and is a son of Samuel C. Gill, who was a son of Capt. Thomas Gill, a Revolutionary soldier and a son of the Irish waif ( see history of the Gill family in America, by Thomas F. Gill). Samuel C. Gill was born in the state of South Carolina No- vember 22, 1783, and was reared on a farmn. He was wedded to Sarah Malone, a daughter of Jonathan and Mary Malone, the latter of whom lived to be nearly one hundred years old. The family came from Tennessee and set- tled in Montgomery county, Kentucky, later removing to Boone county, Indiana, where she lied. Samuel Gill and wife were very poor, their stock of goods consisting of one bay pony, one dollar in money and a feather bed. They packed all on the back of the pony and settled in Bath county, Kentucky. He built a mill, one of the first built in that section. He after- ward entered large bodies of land in Putnam Montgomery, Boone and Henry counties, In- diana, and also entered several tracts in what is now Douglas county. It looks as if this old gentleman foresaw everything and selected the creme de la creme of the land. He became very prosperous. For twenty-five years he served as justice of the peace, and by virtue of that office he was also one of the justices of the Bath county court. His first wife died in 1847 and in 1849 he married Elizabeth Reed. In about 1845 Samuel C. Gill sold the old mill, but stip- ulated in the deed that the place should ever be known as Gill's Mill.
Shiloah Gill grew to manhood on the farm and while attending school volunteered for the Mexican war and was soon ordered to the front. He was in the ranks of Capt. James Ewing and served through the whole war, handling a musket in many of the principal
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battles of that conflict. He was in the ranks when Gen. Scott marched triumphantly into the city of Mexico, and after the treaty of peace of llidalgo. Guadaloupe, he returned home with his regiment by way of the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans.
On October 2, 1849, Mr. Gill married Sarah Ann, a daughter of William Anderson, of Bath county. Kentucky, where they remained until 1854, when they emigrated to Douglas county and settled on three hundred and twenty acres. where he now lives, and which was deeded to him by his father : he has since added two hun- dred and sixty acres more. His wife died about 1872. His second wife was Eliza Kensil. Her death occurred in 1874, and he was again mar- ried. September 1, 1875, this time to Mrs. Sarah (Dodge) Coots, who was born within six miles of Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio. The hospitality of Mr. Gill and his wife is well known and highly appreciated.
HARRISON GILL.
It is fitting that in the biographies of the early settlers of the county some mention should be made of Harrison Gill, who entered among the first land here and lived near Camargo.
The grandfather of Mr. Gill was born in Ireland. He came to America and settled in Virginia. His son. Samuel Cresswell Gill, re- moved from Virginia to Kentucky and settled in Bath county. Here, on the Licking river. he built Gill's mills, a noted point in that part of that state. He married Sarah Malone, by
whom he had a large family of children, of whom Harrison Gill was the oklest, born in June, 1808.
On arriving at the age of twenty-one he found himself in possesion of a few hundred dollars, which his father advised him to invest in western lands. He accordingly traveled on horseback to Illinois, first to his uncle, Thomas Gill, in Cumberland county. He found his uncle busy shingling the roof of a house, and he told young Gill if he would help him finish the shingling he would go with him to Coles county in search of land. The first point above Charleston where they found any one living was Major Ashmore, at the mouth of Brushy Fork. North of that he came to an Indian camp, a French and Indian trading point, where Hugo, or Bridgeport. now is. His uncle mischievously informed the Indians that Gill was a young Kentuckian who had come for the purpose of taking to himself an Indian wife. lle selected his land, the northwest quarter of section 35 and the west half of the southwest quarter of the same section. The railroad res- ervoir, east of Camargo, is now on these tracts. He returned immediately to Palestine and made his entry. The patents for the land, now in the possession of George C. Gill, of Camargo, were signed on the 8th of March, 1830, and bear the signature of Andrew Jackson. This was the first land regularly entered in the ter- ritory composing what is now Douglas county. Most of the land is still in his possession. He returned to Kentucky soon after selecting the land.
At the age of twenty-eight he married Georgia Ann Landsdowne, a native of Vir- ginia.
Mr. Gill was elected sheriff of Bath conn-
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ty, Kentucky, in 1860, and from 1862 to 1864 was judge of the county court.
In early life Mr. Gill was a Whig. On the breaking out of the war he became a Union man. Mainly through his instrumentality the Twenty-fourth Kentucky Regiment was re- cruited at the Springs in 1862. In the fall of the same year the Springs was also the head- quarters of Gen. Nelson, who ordered all the home guards of Kentucky to rendezvous at that point for the defence of the eastern portion of the state.
From the fall of 1863 to the fall of 1869 Mr. Gill resided near Kentucky, having been driven from his home on account of his Union sentiments.
P. II. MONAHAN.
P. H. Monahan, the father of the broom corn interests of Arcola and a highly esteemed citizen of that place, was born in county Gal- way, Ireland, February 19, 1837. His parents were John and Mary ( Shiel ) Monahan, natives of the same county. At the age of thirteen years young Monahan emigrated from his na- tive land to America and settled in Pittsfield. Massachusetts. Later he came west and lo- cated in Arcola, which at that time was a mere hamlet. Here Mr. Monahan was married to Hannah Quirk, who was a native of Douglas county and a sister of the late John Quirk, of Arcola. To Mr. and Mrs. Monahan have been born four children: Marie, now residing in New Mexico: Thomas, the present mayor of Arcola, and Henry and Katie.
P. H. Monahan has served in the town
council and was chairman of the board. His mother died in 1862, and his father died when Mr. Monahan was only three months old. He is one of the old landmarks of Arcola, having resided here nearly half a century, and is un1- versally respected by everybody.
WALTER. C. BLAINE.
Walter C. Blaine was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, in the class of 1895. He commenced the prac- tice at Murdock, where he remained until Oc- tober, 1898, when he formed a partnership with Dr. William E. Rice, of Tuscola.
Dr. Blaine is a native of Champaign, Illi- nois, and was born June 2, 1866. Ile gradu- ated from the Champaign high school, and after four years attendance was graduated from the University of Illinois, at Champaign, on cer- tificate. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, member of the Woodmen, and a mem- ber of the Douglas County Medical Society.
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