USA > Illinois > Warren County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Warren County, Volume II > Part 76
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was six years old. Mrs. Kritzer came with her family to Point Pleasant Township in 1854, and bought a farm on which she lived until her death in 1873. Mr. Lee is an ardent Republi- can in politics, and in religion he affiliates with the Baptist denomination, as did his father and his grandfather, the latter having been an old school minister of that church.
LESTER, LAMBERT; farmer, Point Pleas- ant Township (postoffice Roseville) ; is a pros- perous man of affairs who, beginning the bat- tle of life for himself at the tender age of twelve years, has won a success of which he has a right to be proud. He was born in Green County, Ind., January 11, 1839, a son of Thom- as C. and Eliza (Hughen) Lester, natives of South Carolina. His father was born August 3, 1816, a son of Peter R. and Haney (O'Neall) Lester, also natives of the Palmetto State, and his greatgrandfather was James Lester, an Englishman, who married an Irishwoman. Eliza Hughen was born December 31, 1815, a daughter of Samuel and Susan (Jones) Hughen who were of South Carolina nativity. Peter R. Lester emigrated from South Carolina to Indiana when his son, Thomas C., was five years old, and was among the early pioneers in Green County. When Thomas C. was married, his father gave him eighty acres of timber land, on White river, in Green County, on which he built a log house. He cleared that tract, pur- chased more land, and died there in May, 1851, leaving four children. Those living are the subject of this sketch, and Mary, the wife of Walter N. Paine. His widow married William R. Hindman, October 5, 1854, and in October, 1856, removed with him and other members of of their houshold to Point Pleasant Township, Warren County. Mrs. Hindman moved to Sew- ard County, Neb., in 1885, and died there Feb- ruary 22, 1898, aged about eighty-six years. In 1863 Lambert Lester made his first land purchase, forty acres in Section 13. He has since acquired other real estate holdings, and his wife is the owner of 160 acres, and to- gether they possess about 360 acres. In Point Pleasant Township, October 14, 1869, Mr. Lester married Mary E. Dixson, born in Green County, Ind., April 13, 1849, a daughter of Eli and Jem- ima (Boyd) Dixson, and they have two daugh- ters: Minnie J., born February 7, 1876, and Edna, born July 3, 1888. Mr. Lester and his family are members of the Cumberland Pres-
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byterian church. Politically Mr. Lester is a Democrat.
LIVERMORE, DERRICK; farmer; Point Pleasant Township, (postoffice Roseville) ; is a representative of a well known English family, members of whom have been prominent in America in various walks of life. John Liver- more, his grandfather, married Grace Holden, and, in 1634, came with his family in the ship Francis, Captain John Cutting, to Watertown, Mass., where he died April 16, 1684. John Livermore's son Jonas, born at Shirley, Mass., January 1, 1768, emigrated with his family from Massachusetts to Washington County, Ohio, in 1813. He had married Polly Kelsey, and their son Andrew, father of Derrick, was then about seven years old. Andrew married Betsy Fuller, who was born in Massachusetts in 1807, a daughter of Russell and Abigail (Guilford) Fuller, and settled on his father's farm of 200 acres in Ohio. In 1839, when Der- rick Livermore, who was born in Washington County, Ohio, August 8, 1830, was about nine years old, the family came to Warren County, Ill., with two heavily loaded wagons and were four weeks on the road. Mr. Livermore built a small log house in Kelly Township, in which they lived until 1852; then they removed to Point Pleasant Township and bought the farm on which he died February 20, 1880. At Gales- burg, January 8, 1852, Derrick Livermore mar- ried Elizabeth Stephens, who was born at Springfield, Ill., February 15, 1831, a daughter of James and Nancy (Miles) Stephens. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens were born near Hardin, Marshall county, Ky., whence they removed to Indiana. From Indiana they went to Spring- field, Ill., where they lived two years, then lived in Kelly Township until, in 1857, they went to Missouri, where they died. Mrs. Livermore has borne her husband children named as follows: Andrew J., Joshua B., Louisa E., Mary A., Al- ice and Clara E. Miss Alice Livermore is a popular and successful teacher of music. After his marriage, Mr. Livermore bought eighty acres in Section 12, Cold Brook Township, where he farmed until 1855, when he bought eighty acres in Section 10, Point Pleasant Township. Now retired from active life, he is the owner of 720 acres of valuable land, and is well known throughout the county for the suc- cess he has achieved as a stock breeder. He is a Republican in politics, and for some years held the office of School Director.
LIVERMORE, WESTON THOMAS; farmer and stock-raiser; Point Pleasant Township, (postoffice Roseville) ; is a prominent and suc- cessful man, who has a good record as a soldier in the Civil War and has been several times elected Supervisor of his township, which office he is filling at this time, having served contin- uously since his first election in 1897. He is a son of Andrew Park and Betsy (Fuller ) Livermore, and was born in Washington Coun- ty, Ohio, December 29, 1838, and educated in the district schools. His parents were natives of Massachusetts, his mother having been born at Shirley, a daughter of Russell Fuller, a rep- resentative of one of the old Bay State families. Andrew Park Livermore was born June 10, 1806, and died in 1880. He came early to Ohio and married there. His wife was born Sep- tember 9, 1807, and died May 1, 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Livermore, who had emigrated from Massa- chusetts to Ohio with their respective families . in 1813, located at Henderson Grove, Ill., in 1839, and in 1853, removed to a farm in Section 4, Point Pleasant Township, which Mr. Liver- more bought. Influenced by the preaching of the Rev. J. P. Fuller, they united with the Universalist church. They had ten children, twenty-four grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren. Six of their children are living: Derrick, John K., Weston T., Socrates, Charles and William. The subject of this sketch has been a farmer all his life except while in the army. He enlisted in Company C, Eighty- third Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Au- gust, 1862, and served with that organization as a musician. During the latter days of the war he became chief musician and was mus- tered out as such July 11, 1865. He is now the owner of 230 acres of land. Politically he is a Republican.
LOFFTUS, AZRO PATTERSON; farmer; Point Pleasant Township; (postoffice Swan Creek) ; has, during the scarcely fifty years of his life, made a reputation as a successful farm- er and public-spirited citizen which insures him the high esteem of his fellow townsmen. He was born in Ellison Township, July 3, 1853, a son of Andrew Jackson and Lavinia S. (Meacham) Lofftus, natives of West Virginia and Kentucky. His father was born September 1815, a son of James Lofftus, and early in life accompanied his parents to Kentucky. He was married at the age of twenty-three years and, in 1839, located in Sangamon County, Ill. In
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
1840 he removed to Warren County, but soon returned to Sangamon. Later he came again to Warren County and, with the assistance of his father, bought a farm in Ellison Township. He bought more land from time to time until he owned 560 acres in that township and eighty in Point Pleasant Township. He was a member of the Christian Church and was, for a quar- ter of a century, Township Treasurer. He died April 19, 1878; his widow, March 8, 1894. Azro Patterson Lofftus finished his education at Macomb, Ill. He is a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married, in Point Pleasant Township, Jan- uary 25, 1873, Martha Amelia Hume, who has borne him children as follows: Azro Kenton, James Andrews, Mary Virginia, Wilbur Grove, Cordelia S., Grace Ethel and Arthur H., who died aged four years. Mrs. Lofftus was born in Louisiana, March 12, 1856, a daughter of James M. and Mary E. Hume, natives respect- ively of Virginia and Woodville, Miss., who, in June, 1857, bought a farm in Point Pleasant Township. Mr. Hume, who was born in 1817 and died April 7, 1901, was for thirty-one years a member of the 'Methodist Church, with which his wife was also identified, and for some time prior to his death he held the office of trustee in Asbury M. E. Church, in Ellison Township. He was a son of George and Amelia Hume, early settlers in Champaign County. The mother of Mrs. Lofftus died November 11, 1890. After his marriage Mr. Lofftus settled on one of his father's farms in Point Pleasant Township. Later he bought eighty acres of land in Ellison Township, which he farmed thirteen years, and then sold to remove to Guthrie County, Iowa, where he had purchased a quarter section of land, which he sold within a year. In 1092, he bought 160 acres in Point Pleasant Township, in 1893 160 more, and in 1895 eighty acres, and he is now the owner of 240 acres. He takes an active interest in township affairs and has been Road Commissioner three years, Assessor one year and School Director sixteen years in Elli- son and Point Pleasant Townships.
MCCLEARY, THOMAS; farmer; Point Pleasant Township, (postoffice Swan Creek) ; is an Irishman by birth and has inherited ster- ling traits of character from long lines of an- cestors on all branches of his family tree. His parents were James and Mary (Riley ) Mc- Cleary; his grandparents Anthony McCleary
and Felix Riley, and his grandmother on the maternal side was Ellen Givena. Mr. McCleary received a good common school education and was reared in the faith of the Catholic church. In 1851, while he was yet a small boy, he came to New York on board a sailing vessel which consumed six weeks and three days in making the voyage. On the way over he was looked after by Julia Haley, a member of a neigh- boring family in Ireland. His mother had died some years before and his father had come over in 1848. For some years the boy made his headquarters at Mauch Chunk, Penn., his first employment in America having been as a driver of horses on the Lehigh canal at five dollars a month. In June, 1861, he and his father ar- rived in Point Pleasant Township, where they found work by the month among farmers. In 1868, Thomas McCleary bought eighty acres of land of Mr. Harding, which he has improved and on which he has prospered as a farmer and stockraiser. His father died in 1865 and about that time Mr. McCleary's brothers, Anthony and Patrick, and his sister, Bessie, came to the township, whence they removed eventually to Henderson County. Anthony married Johanna Browick, Patrick married Miss L. Kelly and Bessie married James Donovan, who is dead. Mrs. Margaret Sheridan, daughter of Mr. McCleary's uncle, Patrick McCleary, is Mr. McCleary's housekeeper. Her mother was Ellen McCleary, a native of County Mead, Ireland. Mr. McCleary is a Democrat.
MICHELS, WESLEY N .; farmer; Point Pleasant Township, (postoffice Raritan) ; has made for himself a record as a soldier in the Civil War and as an honorable, enterprising and prosperous citizen, which is a matter of pride to his many friends. He is a son of Fred- erick and Polly (Bowman) Michels, and was born in East Tennessee, August 13, 1837. His father was born in Virginia in 1796; his mother, a daughter of John Bowman, of Knoxville, Tenn., October 22, 1802. His mother died Sep- tember 16, 1845; his father, October 12, 1888. Frederick Michels went early from Virginia to Tennessee and married there. In 1851 he brought his family to Henderson County, Ill., arriving May 25. After farming there some years, he bought a farm in Section 19, Point Pleasant Township. He passed his declining years as a member of the family of the subject of this sketch. Wesley N. Michels was educated
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in the common schools and at Hedding College, Abingdon. In January, 1864, he enlisted in Company B, Eighty-third Regiment Illinois Vol- teer Infantry. September, 1865, at Nashville, Tenn., he was transferred to Captain Charles E. McDougal's company, known as Company E, Sixty-first Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infant- ry. For a time, while his command was sta- tioned at Fort Donelson, he was detailed to special service as despatch-bearer. He resumed farming after the war, and is now the owner of 212 acres of land in Sections 18 and 19, Point Pleasant Township. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and a stanch Republican and for six years has been School Director and Trustee. In Point Pleas- ant Township, January 12, 1868, he married Sarah Piper, who was born in Worcester Coun- ty, Mass., February 13, 1842, a daughter of Al- vah and Alvira Piper, natives of Worcester County. Mr. Piper came to Canton, Fulton County, in 1839, and subsequently returned to Massachusetts for his family, whom he brought west in 1845. Wesley N. and Sarah (Piper) Michels have a son named Frederick A. and a daughter, Nettie M. The latter is giving spec- ial attention to the study of music. Mr. Michels has adopted Mary Michels, a niece, who was orphaned by the death of her mother when she was about three months old.
MOORE, WILLIAM VAN DORN; farmer; Point Pleasant Township; (postoffice Smith- shire) ; early assumed the responsibilities of life, of necessity taking a front seat in the school of experience, in which he was prepared to overcome obstacles and temptations in la- ter years, and his career as a farmer and as a citizen has been one which reflects upon him the greatest credit. He was born in Elli- son Township, August 14, 1858, and received a meager public-school education. His parents were Francis Marion and Mary Louise (Curtis) Moore, his father a native of Hopewell, N. J. his mother of Baltimore, Maryland. His grand- parents in the paternal line were Abraham and Grace (Van Dorn) Moore and his mother's parents were Francis and Elizabeth (Haynes) Curtis, the latter of English descent. Francis M. Moore was taken from New Jersey to Ohio when he was six years old. In 1851 he settled near Virgil, Fulton County, Ill., and in 1857 moved to Ellison Township, Warren County. In 1867 he bought land in Section 9, Point Pleas-
ant Township, where his son now owns 240 acres, besides 10 acres of timber land in Elli- son Township. He died in 1876, his wife, in 1893. William Van Dorn Moore, who was only eighteen years old when his father died, and who was the eldest of the children, managed his father's homestead until he married and began farming independently. He is a Republican in politics and has been clerk of Point Pleasant Township about twenty years. He married in that township, September 15, 1891, Martha Strong, who was born there December 11, 1870, a daughter of John M. and Martha (Lofftus) Strong. Mrs. Moore's grandfather strong was born at Rutland, Vt., in 1796, and married Esther Call, a native of New York, and they re- moved to Marion County; Ind., and thence, in 1839, to Galesburg, John M. Strong being at that time four years old. Martha Lofftus was born in Sangamon County, Ill., September 19, 1841, and was married to Mr. Strong September 19, 1857. Mr. Strong served during a part of the Civil War in the Eighty-third Regiment Volun- teer Infantry, participating in the capture of Fort Donelson and in other important engage- ments. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have children named Marion Lewis, Martha Marguerite and Edith Lucile.
PHILHOWER, JOSEPH; farmer and mason; Point Pleasant Township (postoffice Raritan) ; was born in Hunterdon County, N. J., May 22, 1837, and was educated in district schools near his childhood home. His parents, Philip and Mary (Everett) Philhower, representatives of two old New Jersey families, were born and died in that State. Mr. Philhower, who is es- sentially . a self-made man, came to Fulton County in 1855, when he was eighteen years old, and about a year later bought a farm in Henderson County, which he eventually sold in order to remove to Point Pleasant Township, where he bought his present farm site in Sec- tion 18. He is a helpful member of the Baptist Church, and in politics affiliates with the Re- publican party; has held the office of Road Commissioner and School Director. He was married at Oquawka, October 8, 1857, to Keziah Tharp, who was born in Hunterdon County, N. J., March 30, 1840, a daughter of Alvin and De- borah (Wagner) Tharp, natives of New Jersey, who came to Fulton County, Ill., in 1851. Mr. Tharp, who made a success as a farmer, is now living at Kirkwood; Mrs. Tharp died in 1888.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
In his earlier years Mr. Philhower worked as a brick and stone mason, but in time he gave his attention fully to farming and stock-rais- ing, and has prospered abundantly. His wife has borne him four children whom they have named Louis E., who married Amanda Spader; Fannie F., who married Willie Ward; Alvah T. and Mertie L. Fannie F. died and Mr. and Mrs. Philhower adopted a little girl whom they named Fannie Fern. Alvah T. married Zoe Kelly and Mertie L. married Huson Van Ars- dale. Mr. Philhower is a member of Raritan Lodge, No. 727, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
PIPER, WINSLOW ALVAH; farmer and car- penter; Point Pleasant Township; is descended from Massachusetts ancestry and inherited that patriotic spirit which made natives of that State conspicuous wherever their lot has been cast. He was born in Worcester County, Mass., August 12, 1834, a son of Alvah and Elvira (Hildreth) Piper. His father was born in Phil- lipston, in the same county, February 24, 1808, his mother in the neighboring town of Peter- sham July 1, 1811. The mother of his grand- father Piper was a member of the Massa- chusetts family of Sawyer, and Asa Piper, his grandfather, who was born in Phillipston, mar- ried Mrs. Mary White, a native of that State. Clark and Sallie (Amsden) Hildreth, parents of Mr. Piper's mother, were natives of Massa- chusetts, the one of Petersham and the other of Dana. Alvah Piper first came to Illinois in 1839, when he visited Fulton County. In 1845 he brought his family to that county, and farmed there until 1854, when he purchased 160 acres of land in Section 18, Point Pleasant Township, where he died June 27, 1891, aged eighty-three years; and his wife June 17, 1866, aged fifty-four years. On his way to Illinois with his family, he bought in Ohio a large flock of sheep, which he brought to Fulton County with him. He and his wife had eleven child- ren. Their son, Winslow Alvah, learned the carpenter's trade, and since he was eighteen years old, has been constantly employed either as a carpenter or as a farmer. Soon after the beginning of the civil war he enlisted in Com- pany B, Fifty-ninth Regiment Illinois Volun- teer Infantry, with which he served as sergeant two years in Missouri and Arkansas, under General Curtis; for about twenty years he was employed as foreman in the construction of
railroad bridges and cattle yards. After his father's retirement from active life he took charge of the homestead of 160 acres, which he managed successfully, and which he owned. He was made a Mason in 1857, and was a member of Lodge No. 727 at Raritan, and of the Royal Arch Chapter which meets at Laharpe. At Duquoin, Ill., July 3, 1859, he married Melinda Koehler, who was born in Bedford, Penn., Jan- uary 12, 1842, a daughter of Ferdinand and Christina (Hoffman) Koehler, Germans, who settled early in the United States, and removed from Cincinnati to St. Louis and thence to Du- quoin, where they died. Mrs. Piper has borne her husband children as follows: Laura E., Effie C., who are married and live in Kansas; Charles F .; John D., who lives in Point Pleas- ant, Warren County, Ill .; Drusilla Jane, who married John Ross, of Point Pleasant Town- ship. Mr. Piper was a Republican, has been elected to the office of School Trustee, and faith- fully discharged other trusts. He died Novem- ber 30, 1901.
REED, JOHN T .; farmer and stockraiser; Point Pleasant Township, Warren County, Ill., (postoffice Swan Creek) ; merits and receives the respect which is due to a self-made man. He was born in Morgan County, Indiana, Sep- tember 4, 1832, a son of Burris A. and Matilda (Thomas) Reed. His father was born near Crab Orchard, Ky., in 1808. His mother was born in Tennessee, in 1807, and died October 27, 1882. His father's father was named Reed and was a native of Scotland. His mother's father, Thomas Thomas, was of Tennessee birth and married a Mrs. Wright. Burris A. Reed settled in Greenbush Township in 1850, and prospered there as a farmer until his death, which occurred October, 1885. His son, John T. Reed, was afforded a common-school educa- tion in a log cabin school house witli greased paper for window lights, and began life for him- self as a farm laborer at twelve dollars a month, but because of his faithfulness and ef- ficiency his wages were soon increased to twen- ty-six dollars a month. He began farming in 1856 and in 1859 bought land in Section 22, Point Pleasant Township, where he has since lived. When he located there wild game was plenty round about and deer and wolves were seen almost daily. While devoting his atten- tion principally to miscellaneous crops, he has given some attention to raising fruits and veg-
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY. .
etables. In 1859 he planted on his farm a cot- tonwood tree which was three times struck by lightning and which because it had begun to decay he eventually had cut down. Its cir- cumference measured six feet and six inches ana he has a large trough that was made out of a portion of its trunk. Mr. Reed married, at Lewistown, Fulton County, April 17, 1856, Sarah Elizabeth Jones, who was born at New- ark, N. J., September 9, 1833, a daughter of Edwin and Sarah (Headley) Jones, natives of Wales, who eventually removed to Ohio and thence to Illinois, where they died. Mrs. Reed, who died in 1888, bore her husband children named as follows: Geo. H., who married Mag- gie Greenley; Albert B., who married Minnie Van Kirk; Warren E., who is single and lives at home; Matilda A., who married E. B. Camp- bell; Chas. F., who married Lizzie Humes; William C., who married Amanda Robinson; Chester E., who married Elizabeth Birdsall; Martha J., who married Sherman Schoonover; Mary E., single and lives at home; Nettie M., who married Allen G. Steinberg, and Aquilla H., single and lives at Webster, Texas. Mr. Reea is a Methodist and a Democrat. He has filled the office of Road Commissioner and for fifteen years has been a School Director.
SAMPSON, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN; farm- er; Point Pleasant Township; (postoffice Swan Creek); is a careful and systematic tiller of the soil, who began life empty-handed and has won a success that is both ample and creditable. He was born in Knox County, Ill., September 4, 1837, a son of Richard H. and Jane M. (Heath) Sampson, natives of Maryland, who settled at London Mills, Knox County, in 1835, and died there in 1850, his wife in 1863. At his father's death much of the responsibility of looking after the home interests fell upon the shoulders of the subject of this sketch, who was then in his thirteenth year. In the fall of 1864 the young man located at Jackson's Cor- ners in Ellison Township, and April 8, 1866, he bought 80 acres in Section 22 in Point Pleasant Township, where he now owns 160 acres, a well improved farm set witlı ever- greens and supplied with an abundance of fruit. He married in Fulton County, December 30, 1858, Sarah Ann Burnett, who was born there October 22, 1839, a daughter of William and Sarah Ann (Pollen) Burnett, West Vir- ginians, who settled in Fairview Township,
Fulton County, in 1835, where Mrs. Burnett died in 1861, and Mr. Burnett in 1863. Mr. and Mrs. Sampson have had children named: Mir- iam, Milton, Peter, Francis C., Nettie Jane, Bessie, Sadie and Benjamin F., the last men- tioned of whom died at the age of two years and two months. Mr. Sampson is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge at Swan Creek. As a Democrat he has been elected to the offices of Tax Collector and Road Commissioner, which he has held three years and six years, respec- tively.
SMITH, DR. ADDISON S .; farmer; Point Pleasant Township (postoffice Smithshire); is a citizen of extraordinary intelligence and edu- cation, who has studied medicine, read law, and is one of the few Spiritualists living in his vicinity. He was born in Pike County, Ill., December 28, 1823, a son of John M. and Fannie (Smith) Smith. His father was of Pennsyl- vania birth, a son of Andrew Smith, a native of Pennsylvania. His grandfather in the mat- ernal line was Abijah Smith, and was born in Connecticut. Andrew Smith and his son John M. removed early from Pennsylvania to Bour- bon County, Ky., where the latter was reared to farming. He was for five years, including the period of the war of 1812-14, connected with the commissary department of the United States Regular army, and as
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