Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Morgan County, Part 171

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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have since resided. Adam Kilian, who was a stone-mason by trade, died in 1874, and his widow passed away in 1882. -

After attending the public school of his neigh- borhood, Joseph Kilian learned the carriage- maker's trade with the firm of Hellenthal & Richards. For a time he then conducted a res- taurant, and carried on farming for four years. In 1903 he engaged in the manufacture of car- riages and buggies, and is located at Nos. 229 and 231 East Morgan Street. The firm handles both factory and hand-made vehicles of various kinds, and does an annual local business amounting to nearly $9,000.

On September 4, 1876, Mr. Kilian was united in marriage with Bridget Redman, a daughter of Daniel and Ellen (Delaney) Redman, and their union resulted in nine children, as fol- lows: George D., his father's business partner; Helen, (Mrs. William C. Thornbarrow), Rock- ford, Ill .; Grace, (Mrs. J. H. Mallen), Jackson- ville, Ill .; May, who is a member of the family circle; Lillian; John; Edward and Leo, who are engaged in study, and Joseph, Jr., who died at the age of three years. Mrs. Kilian died on April 6, 1903.

In politics, Mr. Kilian is a supporter of the Democratic party. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the K. O. T. M. and the Knights of Illi- nois. Mr. Kilian is a man of energetic and persevering disposition, devotes himself dili- gently to his business, and is regarded as strictly upright in his dealings.

KING, Allen Mason, M. D., physician and sur- geon, Jacksonville, Ill., was born in that city August 12, 1876, the son of Dr. William H. H. and Louise (Allen) King. After attending the public schools and Whipple Academy, he en- tered Illinois College, pursuing his studies in that institution until his junior year. Having determined upon a career in medicine, in 1897 he entered the Barnes Medical College, St. Louis, from which he graduated, and for one year fol- lowing studied and practiced in the Milwaukee (Wis.) City Hospital. Going thence to Philadel- phia, he spent one year in post-graduate work in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, which conferred upon him a post- graduate degree. Since June, 1903, he has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Jacksonville, occupying his father's old offices on West State Street.

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In connection with his private practice, Dr. King is an instructor in the Passavant Memo- rial Hospital Training School for Nurses. He is identified with the Morgan County Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Jack- sonville Medical Club.

Early in life Dr. King manifested a distinct predilection for surgery, and for a number of years before entering the medical college as- sisted his father and read medicine and surgery under his painstaking direction. To these causes may be attributed the success which al- ready attended his practice, particularly as a surgeon, and his early recognition by his older and more experienced contemporaries.

KING, William Henry Harrison, M. D., (de- ceased), physician and surgeon, Jacksonville, Ill., was born in Chicago, Ill., November 6, 1842, and died in the sanitarium at Battle Creek, Mich., November 14, 1897. His parents were Willis and Abigail (Taylor) King, his father, who was born in Sheffield, Conn., in 1800, removing to Chicago in 1838, and in 1845 locating at Jack- sonville, where he engagd in the lumber busi- ness. His death occurred in Chicago in 1849. His wife was a niece of Gen. Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States.

The genealogical record of the King family shows that James and William King, the founders of the family in America, were sons of William King, of Uxborough, County of Dev- onshire, England, who, during his last fishing voyage, was cast away and drowned on the Banks of Newfoundland. The record of the de- scendants of William King is not known posi- tively. James King, the first American ances- tor, married Elizabeth Emerson, a descendant of an honorable English family. He settled in Ipswich, Mass., where his eldest son, James, was born about 1692. The records of the town of Suffield, Conn., show that James King, the elder, received a grant of land in that town in October, 1678; and he may have located there some time prior to that date. On June 23, 1698, James King married Elizabeth Hurley, and one of their sons, Ebenezer, who was born Decem- ber 8, 1706, married Abigail Seymour, March 30, 1727. His descendants are the most nu- merous of any branch of the family. Amos King, the seventh son of the second James King, was born May 6, 1715, and was educated to "the

practice of physic." He died in 1745, leaving no family.

It was the hope of Dr. King's mother that he might become a minister of the Gospel, but his tastes lay in a different direction. After attend- ing one of the public schools of Jacksonville, in 1859 he entered Illinois College, with the expectation of taking the complete course. But the study of natural history, the investigation of the structure, food and habits of animals and birds, created in him a profound interest in medicine and surgery. When the Civil War broke out, however, nothing could prevent him from leaving college at once and offering his services to the Federal Government. On Janu- ary 15, 1862, at Jacksonville, he enlisted in Company E, Thirty-second Illinois Volunteer In- fantry, but on account of his youth he was at once made Hospital Steward. Having secured a furlough for the purpose, he attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, during the winters of 1862 and '63; and, both during the intervals between terms and after being gradu- ated January 24, 1865, he returned to the front. On February 3, 1865, he was promoted to the post of Assistant Surgeon; and September 2d, of that year, he received a commission as Sur- geon. He accompanied General Sherman on the memorable "March to the Sea," and participated in the Grand Review at Washington. The sole casualty he suffered occurred while he was in camp at Holly Springs, Miss., where his leg was fractured by a falling tree. This injury was the cause of the limp in his walk, and gave him con- siderable trouble during the years immediately following the war. At its close he was detailed for service in the Wyoming Indian campaigns; but, being mustered out at the end of the year 1865, he returned to Jacksonville to begin the practice of his chosen profession.

Dr. King began his professional career badly handicapped, but undaunted. Having no means of his own, he made with his own hands the furniture necessary for the equipment of his office on East State Street. After a short season of discouragement, during which he was an in- terne at the Indiana State Insane Asylum, at In- dianapolis, in 1873 he became Assistant Physi- cian in the Sanitarium of Dr. David Prince, Jacksonville, and having established a growing private practice, located on West State Street. In 1877 he opened an office in his residence on West State Street (now occupied by his son,

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Dr. Allen M. King), where he practiced during the remainder of his life. It was not long be- fore his skill and kindness of heart earned him an extensive general practice and a special patronage in the department of surgery. In 1875 his public spirit as a citizen and his foresight as a surgeon led him to rec- ognize in the humble beginning of the Jack- sonville Hospital (now the Passavant Memo- rial Hospital), an institution of great future advantage to the town and to the medical pro- fession. For several years from its inception he was the only physician in the city who ex- hibited any practical interest in its welfare, or gave any attention to the needs of its inmates, many of whom he treated without any hope or expectation of financial reward. Notwithstand- ing his laborious and frequently exhausting pri- vate practice, Dr. King soon found himself in a position where he was able to indulge his taste for natural science and American archæ- ology, and during his life he accumulated a splendid museum illustrating those branches, and representing an expenditure of fully $25,- 000, besides untold labor.

Dr. King's excessive labors finally resulted in a general breaking down of his health, and necessitated the abandonment of his profes- sional duties for nine months, during which he made a tour around the world in company with two of his intimate friends. Upon his re- turn, his desire to increase the facilities of the hospital which he had founded led him to take up the work immediately, and its successful ac- complishment appeared to have become the ab- sorbing passion of his life. He was chairman of the committee which had in charge the erec- tion of its new building, and not only threw himself into the work with characteristic en- ergy, but even contributed of his private means to the extent or $14,000. The commodious new building was opened to the public January 1, 1897, after which Dr. King was prevailed upon to take a Colorado trip for the benefit of his nervous troubles. Returning, somewhat bene- fited, he was seized wth paralysis, while per- forming a surgical operation, and afterward removed to the Battle Creek (Mich.) Sani- tarium, where, as stated, he died November 14, 1897.

Dr. King was a charter member of the Mor- gan County Medical Society, organized in 1866, in which he served as Treasurer from 1871 to

1881, with the exception of the year 1873, when he was its President. He was also Surgeon for over twenty years of the Chicago & Alton sys- tem, acting in the same capacity, at various times, for the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis, the Jacksonville, Louisville & St. Louis and the Wabash Railroad Companies, and was Local Ex- aminer for about twenty life insurance compa- nies. In politics he was a stanch Republican, and especially during the years of presidential elections took an active interest in the promo- tion of his party's interests. He was the author of innumerable charities; but none ever knew of them from his own lips, as he despised notoriety and self-aggrandizement.

Dr. King was united in marriage May 25, 1875, with Louise Allen, daughter of John and Emily (Chandler) Allen. Her father, a graduate from the medical department of Dartmouth Uni- versity, and for many years a physician and surgeon of Petersburg, Ill., was born in Chelsea, Vt., March 30, 1801; removed to Illinois in the early days, and died at Petersburg in April, 1863. He was a son of Sluman Allen, who was born October 24, 1760, served in the Fourth Connecticut Regiment during the Revolutionary War and died in 1834. Isaac Allen, the father of Sluman, was also a soldier of the Patriot army.

The children of Dr. King and his wife are: Allen M. King, M. D., a practicing physician and surgeon, of Jacksonville; Abigail and Har- rison-all of whom reside at home.

The most faithful labors of Dr. King's life, and those which leave behind him the fragrance of a blessed memory, were devoted to the foun- dation and building of an institution of the highest utility for his fellow-men. Aside from the beneficences incidental to the work he per- formed in connection with Passavant Memo- rial Hospital, his private charities were inces- sant and manifold. Underneath his bluff and independent exterior there reposed a heart so kind, so gracious, so thoroughly attuned to the spirit of the Golden Rule, that he could not re- sist the impulse to perform a kindly act for one in distress whenever the occasion arose. Few men are so absolutely free from cant, hypocrisy and selfishness. Hundreds of the poor and needy of Jacksonville will revere his memory while they live, for it was to such as they that he proved the greatest friend in need. He was the good Samaritan who poured oil upon the

I.l. Stevenson

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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY.

wounds of the stricken traveler, not pausing to criticise or to inquire through whose fault he had fallen by the wayside. He entered into the lives of those in distress with .the sympathy and personal help which the claims of common humanity exact from kind and generous souls.

KINMAN, Edward M., engaged in the practice of law and the abstract business, at Jackson- ville, Ill., was born on his father's farm three miles northwest of that city, April 2, 1856, the son of William and Ann (Shinn) Kinman- the father born near Vincennes, Ind., in 1812, and the mother a native of Camden, N. J. In 1820 William Kinman moved with his parents from Indiana to Pike County, Ill., passing through what was then the small settlement of Jacksonville. In 1851 he returned to that locality and settled upon the farm near Jack- sonville, where E. M. Kinman was born. Wil- liam Kinman saw service in the Black Hawk War; was a Captain in Col. Bissell's Regi- ment (Second Illinois Volunteers) in the Mex- ican War; was Lieutenant-Colonel of the One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Volunteer Infan- try in the Civil War and was killed at the battle of Chickamauga. His sons, Capt. Cyrus L. Kin- man and Newton D. Kinman, were in the Civil War, the latter also dying in the service. There were eleven children born to Col. William Kinman and wife, and E. M. was the youngest member of the family. In 1864 the mother and family removed from the homestead farm to the city of Jacksonville.

E. M. Kinman graduated from the High School of Jacksonville in 1873, and from the Northwestern University, at Evanston, in 1878. He read law with William Brown, of Brown, Kirby & Russell, Jacksonville, passed his ex- amination before the Supreme Court, and was admitted to the bar in 1880, since that year having practiced his profession in that city alone. He was a Representative from Morgan County in the State Legislature for one term (Thirty-third General Assembly 1882-84), has served in the City Council, and has been one year on the Carnegie Library Board. In 1885 he was appointed by President Cleveland Post- master of the city of Jacksonville, holding that office for one year. Mr. Kinman was married October 10, 1883, to Nellie C. Springer, daughter of John T. Springer, and sister to John W. Springer, of Denver, Colo., and they have one

daughter, Ruth, now attending school. He is a member of the Board of Stewards of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, of the I. O. O. F., and in politics a Democrat.

KIRBY, (Hon.) Edward Payson, attorney-at- law, Jacksonville, Ill., was born near Hadley, Will County, Ill., October 28, 1834, a son of Rev. William and Hannah McClure ( Wolcott) Kirby. (For detailed ancestral history, see sketch of Rev. William Kirby.) His education was obtained in the private schools and Illinois College, at Jacksonville, whither he had re- moved with his parents in 1845. Having been graduated from this institution in 1854, he was engaged for three years in teaching a private school in St. Louis, Mo. In the fall of 1857 he began teaching in the West Jacksonville Dis- trict School (which was located on the site of the present High School in Jacksonville), as assistant to Dr. Newton Bateman. Two years later he succeeded Dr. Bateman as Principal of the school, a post which he filled until the summer of 1862. On October 28, 1862, he married Julia S., youngest daughter of Joseph Duncan, the fifth Governor of the State of Illi- nois, and shortly afterward began the study of the law in the office of Morrison & Epler. In February, 1864, he was admitted to the bar, and has since been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession in Jacksonville.

An earnest and consistent Republican and a man who has always exhibited a deep interest in affairs of public utility, Judge Kirby has been called upon to serve upon the county bench and in the State Legislature. In 1873 he was chosen County Judge of Morgan County, having been elected in the face of a normal Democratic majority, and upon the expiration of his term of four years, was reelected for a term of five years-the change in the length of term having been caused by the law reor- ganizing the courts of the State. In 1890 he was the nominee of the Republican party for Representative in the State Legislature, and was elected, serving one term of two years. With the exception of these years, he has de- voted his time entirely to his private practice. For thirty years he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Illinois College, and for twenty-four years of that period served as its Treasurer. For eight years he acted as Sec- retary and Treasurer of the Board of Trustees

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of the Illinois Central Hospital for the Insane, and for nearly twelve years after relinquishing the office was a member of the Board of Trus- tees of that institution. Since its organization he has been a director in the Ayers National Bank of Jacksonville, and for some years has also been its Attorney. Other local enterprises with which he is identified include the Illinois Telephone Company, of which he is President, and the Whitehall Sewer-pipe and Stoneware Company, in the organization of which, in July, 1903, he took an active part, and in which he has since been a Director. Though the plant of this concern is located at White- hall, Ill., the stock is largely held by residents of Jacksonville. Judge Kirby is a member of the Congregational Church of Jacksonville, of which he has been a Trustee for several years; is a Past Master of Harmony Lodge No. 3, A. F. & A. M., and a member of Jacksonville Lodge No. 682, B. P. O. E.

The first wife of Judge Kirby dying in July, 1896, in October 1898, he was united in marriage with Lucinda Gallaher, daughter of Rev. William G. Gallaher, one of the pioneer Presby- terian clergymen of Illinois, who came to this State from Tennessee, and for many years was located in Morgan County.

KIRBY, (Rev.) William, (deceased), one of the founders of Illinois College and a pioneer Con- gregational clergyman, was born July 2, 1805, in what is now Middletown, Conn., the son of Elisha and Betsey (Spencer) Kirby. On both sides of the family the ancestry may be traced for many generations. Elisha Kirby, his father, a resident of Middletown for many years, and afterward of New Haven, Conn., was a son of Jonathan, who was a son of John, who was a son of Joseph. The latter was a son of John Kirby, who came from Warwickshire, England, sailing from London on the ship "Hopewell," Septem- ber 11, 1635, and becoming the founder of this branch of the family in America. His final lo- cation in this country was at Middletown, Conn., where several generations of the family resided. The name Kirby is probably of Danish origin, and was originally spelled Kirkby, from "kirke," meaning church, and "bye," meaning dwelling.

Early in life William Kirby decided to enter the Christian ministry, and all the early years of his life were spent in earnest preparation for the work. In 1827 he was graduated from Yale

College with one of the high honors. The fol- lowing year he entered Yale Divinity School, from which he was also graduated. On March 22, 1831, he was ordained to the ministry at Guilford, Conn., and thence at once started over- land for Illinois for the purpose of assisting in the foundation of Illinois College. On Novem- ber 28, 1832, he was joined in matrimony with Hannah McClure Wolcott, who was born June 7, 1811, at East Windsor, Conn. She was a daughter of Elihu Wolcott, a lineal descendant of a brother of Oliver Wolcott, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Elihu Wol- cott was a son of Samuel and Jerusha Wolcott. Samuel Wolcott was a son of Gideon and Abi- gail (Mather) Wolcott; Gideon was a son of Henry; Henry was a son of Simeon, who was five years of age when his father, Henry Wol- cott, Jr., an English merchant, emigrated to Boston, where he became prominent in the early public affairs of Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was born January 21, 1610 (Old Style), and was admitted as a freeman of the colony in 1634. Elihu Wolcott married Rachel Mcclintock, the youngest daughter of Rev. David McClure, D. D., of South Windsor, Conn.

Soon after taking up the work of teaching in Illinois College, ill health impelled Mr. Kirby to abandon his labors and resume the ministry. In the spring of 1833 he began preaching at Union Grove, Putnam (now Whiteside) County, and soon afterward was placed in charge of the church at Hadley or Blackstone's Grove, Will County, Ill. In May, 1836, he was installed as pastor of the Congregational Church at Mendon. While officiating at that place he was chosen a delegate to the first anti-slavery convention in Illinois, held at Upper Alton, October 26, 1837, and helped to draft the constitution of the State Anti-Slavery Society then organized. In 1845 he resigned the charge at Mendon and became General Agent of the American Home Mission- ary Society, continuing in the work incidental to this post until his death, which occurred at Winchester, Ill., December 20, 1851, while he was engaged in the establishment of a Presby- terian Church near Naples, Scott County, Il1. At this time he was still a resident of Jackson- ville, however, which had been his home since 1845.

William Kirby was regarded as one of the strong men of the Congregational Church in Illinois. Although for many years in compara-

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tively feeble health, he gave unremittingly of his time and labor to the work which he had elected as his life's career, and his all too brief life was characterized by the greatest devotion to the high calling of the ministry. He was a pioneer, a missionary, a preacher and a teacher at a period in the history of Illinois when prac- tically the only reward he could expect was the consciousness of having assisted in the work of erecting a firm foundation for the super- structure which his successors have been able to build.

KITNER, Edward N., whose residence is 438 East College Avenue, Jacksonville, was born Au- gust 25, 1854, on his father's farm, situated three miles southeast of Jacksonville, on the old Vandalia Road. His parents were Henry and Mahala (Crouse) Kitner, who were both natives of North Carolina, and Edward N. was the youngest in a family of six children.

Henry Kitner, with his wife and an infant child, Elizabeth, came from North Carolina in the year 1836, making the journey to Morgan County, Ill., by means of a one-horse wagon. The family at first settled on a farm north of Jacksonville, on Indian Creek, but later located on the farm where Mr. Kitner was born. Henry Kitner followed general farming and lived an uneventful life, but was a successful man of business, acquiring an estate of nearly 500 acres of land. His death occurred August 18, 1890, his wife following him to the grave March 7, 1893. Edward N. Kitner was reared to farm- ing, attended the country schools and lived at home until he was forty years of age. In the meantime, August 25, 1885, he married Mollie Letton, daughter of Caleb and Mary (Laytham) Letton, formerly of Bourbon County, Ky., who came to Morgan County, Ill., in the early fifties. Caleb Letton served in the Civil War as a mem- ber of Company D, One Hundred and First Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry.

Mr. Kitner and wife have three children: Elizabeth M., Henry and Dorothy D.

The old family homestead is managed by Ed- ward N. Kitner and his brother, Joseph, but the estate is not yet divided. In 1894 Edward N. became proprietor of a livery stable at Jackson- ville, operated it for five years, and sold it in 1899. He is the owner of several residences in Jacksonville, and for the past few years has devoted his time and attention to these proper-

ties. He is a member of the Christian Church, and in politics, like his father, is a Democrat.

KNOWLES, Thomas S., one of the oldest and most prominent and substantial citizens of Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ill., was born in Menard County, Ill, near Petersburg, Decem- ber 9, 1844, a son of Allen and Rachael (Hill) Knowles, the former a native of Georgia and the latter of Charleston, S. C. Allen Knowles settled in Morgan County in November, 1863, and was a farmer until his death.

Thomas S. Knowles was nineteen years old when his parents arrived in Morgan County. On reaching maturity, he had become thor- oughly familiar with the business of buying and selling cattle, in which he became very suc- cessful and accumulated considerable means. On June 9, 1870, Mr. Knowles was united in marriage with Ellen F. Fry, a daughter of Jo- seph V. and Elizabeth (Allyn) Fry, of Jackson- ville. In politics, he is an earnest and influ- ential worker. He has served five terms as a member of the City Council of Jacksonville, and held the office of Mayor of the city from 1891 to 1893. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Har- mony Lodge No. 3, A. F. & A. M.

KREIDER, Edmund Cicero .- In the passing of Edmund Cicero Kreider, September 8, 1905, Jack- sonville lost a citizen who had contributed largely to its wealth of character and purpose, and who, while conducting a milling business for more than thirty-five years, lent his practi- cal support to the political, mercantile, religious, benevolent and general upbuilding of the town. Mr. Kreider was a doer of deeds and not an idle dreamer; a practical, energetic, capable man of affairs; one who inherited a good name, ambi- tious tendencies, a sound constitution, and an earnest desire to be of genuine use to his fellow- men. Born in Lancaster, Ohio, February 23, 1835, he was a son of Dr. Michael Zimmerman Kreider, born in Huntingdon, Pa., November 7, 1803, and Cidna (Rees) Kreider, born in Vir- ginia in 1800.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Morgan County, Part 171

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286