USA > Illinois > Warren County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Warren County, Volume II > Part 79
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KIRKPATRICK, HENRY; farmer, Rose- ville Township ( postoffice, Roseville) ; is one of the few representatives in the North and West of the old and honored Kirkpatrick family of Tennessee. It was in that State that Josiah Kirkpatrick, his grandfather, was born. Mary (Arnold) Kirkpatrick, his grandmother, was born in Ohio. Jacob Kirkpatrick, his father, who was born in Sangamon County, Ill., mar- ried Huldah Adkinson, a native of Swan Town- ship, Warren County, and a daughter of Joseph and Fannie Adkinson, who were born in the South, the last mentioned in old Virginia. Jacob Kirkpatrick came when quite young to Swan Township, and, during all his active years, was a farmer and stock-raiser. He died October 19, 1898. His widow lives at Rose- ville. They had three children: Willis; Mary, who married Rufus Taylor; and Henry,
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the immediate subject of this sketch. The lat- ter was born in Swan Township, August 25, 1860, and was educated at Monmouth. All through his youth, when he was not in school, Mr. Kirkpatrick assisted his father in the man- agement of his farm, and after he became of age he worked on the old home place three years, which comprised about 540 acres. He married, at Roseville, September 26, 1886, Mary A. Taylor, who was born in Berwick Township, August 12, 1856, a daughter of Wil- liam and Marietta Taylor, natives respectively of Indiana and New York. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor came to Illinois with their parents, who were early settlers in Berwick Township. After their marriage they located in Roseville Town- ship, where Mr. Taylor became a leading farmer, and where he died. His widow lives in Roseville. Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick are the owners of 312 acres of good land, and their home is one of the pleasantest and most hos- pitable in its vicinity. They have five children named as follows in the order of their birth: Hugh J., Floy H., Earl H., Frank C. and Mil- dred. Mr. Kirkpatrick is a Republican, and has been Road Commissioner, Tax Collector and School Director, and for three years has been Township School Treasurer.
MCCURDY, BENJAMIN F .; farmer, Rose- ville Township (postoffice, Roseville) ; is a prosperous and influential, patriotic citizen, the son of James McCurdy, a pioneer of War- ren County. James McCurdy was born in Venango County, Penn,, and married Hannah Herring, a native of the same county. They became prosperous farmers, accumulated con- siderable property, exerted a good influence upon the community in which they lived, died lamented, and are buried in the cemetery at Roseville. Their son, Benjamin F., was born near Kirkwood, Warren County, September 12, 1849, gained a substantial common school edu- cation and early received thorough instruction in practical farming, which he has made his life work with considerable substantial reward. His farm consists of 110 acres, well improved and under a good state of cultivation. Mr. Mc- Curdy married, at Monmouth, February 12, 1882, Jennie Eaton, who has borne him five children: Rosa May, Leland Franklin, Flor- ence Beatrice, Frances Gertrude, and Hale De- moss. Mrs. McCurdy was born in Warren County, Ky., a daughter of James Eaton, who
came with his family to Galesburg in 1866. He died March 7, 1897, his wife, January 31, 1899. Mr. McCurdy is a Republican and, though not an office-seeker nor an active Republican, wields a recognized influence in local affairs.
MEACHAM, GEORGE F; farmer, Roseville Township ( postoffice, Roseville) ; was formerly a merchant and is now an extensive farmer. He is a man of much enterprise and public spirit, who, as a Republican, has been elected to important local offices, having been a mem- ber of . the Board of Education of Roseville for five years, and during 1899 and 1901 he served as president of the Village Board. Mr. Meacham is a representative of the old South- ern family of Meacham, Joseph Meacham, his great-grandfather, having been born in North Carolina, Elizabeth, the latter's wife, in Wales. A. A. Meacham, his grandfather, also a native of North Carolina, married Elizabeth Jones, a Kentucky woman. F. W. Meacham, his father, was born in Kentucky and married Har- riet Herring, a native of Pennsylvania. Mr. Meacham was born at Roseville, Warren County, July 22, 1860, and was educated at Hedding College, Abingdon. Early in his ac- tive career he was for some years in the hard- ware trade, but sold his interest in that line to devote himself entirely to the management of his 400-acre farm three miles northeast of Roseville. While giving his attention to gen- eral farming, he is an extensive stock-dealer, and has on hand usually about one hundred head of cattle, one hundred and twenty hogs and twenty head of horses. There are on his farm a good house and ample outbuildings, but he and his family prefer to live at Rose- ville, where they have a comfortable and at- tractive residence. He married, at Roseville, October, 1886, Anna May Eldred, who was born there in 1866, a daughter of Marvin Eldred, a native of Rensselaer County, N. Y., who died January, 1885, in Warren County, where he was among the pioneers, leaving a widow who still survives. Mr. and Mrs. Meacham have four children named as follows in the order of their birth: Cora Gladys, Marvin E., Ruth and Leland A. Mrs. Meacham is a member of the Congregational church.
MOSHER, CHARLES E .; farmer and stock- man, Roseville Township (postoffice, Ber- wick); is the owner of a three hundred and
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twenty acre farm in Section 23, Roseville Township, is a stockholder in the Berwick Bank, a director in the State Bank of Rose- ville, and President of the Berwick and South- western Telephone Company. Mr. Mosher is a self-made man whose career should be a splen- did example to men just entering upon the bat- tle of life. He was born in Cherry Valley, Ot- sego County, N. Y., February 24, 1847, and was educated in the district schools near his boy- hood home. His parents were. Joel and Har- riet M. (Avery) Mosher, and his father, who was born in Colchester, Conn., was a son of Samuel Mosher, a native of the same place. His mother, born in Chenango County, N. Y., was a daughter of William and Eunice Avery, also of New York nativity. In 1868, when twenty-one years of age, he came to Galesburg, Ill., and in that vicinity soon obtained employment by the month as a farm hand. In 1870 he began farming for himself and his farm in Section 23, Roseville Township, is one of the finest in that part of the county. He has built upon it a good house and barn and has fitted it out with every appliance for successful cultivation and keeps usually about sixty head of cattle and eighty to one hundred hogs. He married, in Berwick Township, February 8, 1872, Ruth Jane Miller, who has borne him two daugh- ters: Emma E., born June 25, 1873, and Ida Jane, born July 6, 1880. Mrs. Mosher was born in Posey County, Indiana, September 7, 1845, a daughter of John and Lucy Miller, natives of Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Miller settled early in Warren County, and Mr. Miller, who was an in- dustrious man of much business ability, ac- quired about one thousand acres of land and he and his wife were leaders in society and generous contributors toward the advance- ment of all good works. Politically Mr. Mosher is a Democrat, and, though he is not an office-seeker for himself, he takes an interest in township and county affairs and is influen- tial in party work.
PRATT, EDMOND; farmer, Roseville Town- ship (postoffice, Roseville) ; is one of the best known of the younger citizens of the county here considered and has achieved a commend- able success in his chosen life work. Born in Roseville Township, June 8, 1866, he is a son of Henry and Roxie (Carmer) Pratt and a grandson of Garrison Pratt. His father, who was born at New Hudson, Allegany County, N. 989-20
Y., settled near Roseville in 1853, and pros- pered there as a farmer nearly half a century, dying in 1901; the mother died December 20, 1900. Edmund Pratt, who was educated in the common schools and early acquired a practi- cal knowledge of farming, has, during most of his active life, been a tiller of the soil, though for a time he was employed at Monmouth in work of a different character. Politically he is a Democrat and, though neither an office-seeker nor a practical politician, he takes such an in- terest in public affairs as becomes a patriotic citizen who looks to the welfare, progress and prosperity of the people among whom he lives. He was married, at Sunbeam, Mercer County, to Mary Kinney, who has borne him two child- ren, named Garry Guy and Ethel Marie.
PRATT, GEORGE E .; merchant; Roseville; is a man of much force of character and of the highest integrity, who has made his way to an enviable success in life by energy, pro- gressiveness and a due regard for the just claims of his fellow citizens. He is of good old New England stock, and was born at Easton, Mass., August 16, 1852, a son of Abijah and Mary (Winter) Pratt. In 1857, when he was about five years old, he was brought to Warren County. He was early instructed in all the labor of practical farming and attended school at Monmouth. He remained on the farm until 1874, when he engaged in merchan- dizing at Roseville, in which business he has continued successfully until the present time. He carries a full line of such goods as are adapted to his trade and, doing business on a live and let-live principle that has done much to popularize him in the community, has achieved a noteworthy success. In religion he is a Baptist, in politics a Democrat. He was married, at Roseville, in 1876, to Emma Wat- son. His present wife was Ada Thayer, of Roseville, whom he married in 1887. He has five children named as follows: Gertrude, Fanny, Isaac, Jeanette and Lucia.
PRATT, SETH FRANKLIN (deceased), who combined the functions of banker, dealer in grain and live-stock, land owner and real estate dealer, was prominently identified with .the leading interests of Roseville, Warren County, for many years. He was born in that town April 20, 1853, a son of Isaac L. and Har- riet (Drake). Pratt, natives of Easton, Mass.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
His great-grandfather in the paternal line was Seth Pratt (5th), a native of Easton, Mass., who married Mindwell Stone, a member of a good Massachusetts family. His grandfather, Sever Pratt, married Charity Lathrop Bailey, both were natives of Easton. His grandfather and grandmother in the maternal line were Joel and Susanna (Lathrop) Drake, also nat- ives of Easton. Isaac L. Pratt, father of the subject of this sketch, came from his native town in Massachusetts to Warren County, Ill., in 1841, by way of the Erie canal to Buffalo whence he made his way to Peoria, chiefly by the lake route. From Peoria he walked to Roseville, where he arrived April 24, about a month after leaving his old home in Massa- chusetts. Roseville was then a small frontier settlement including only a few families. Mr. Pratt located on a farm in Roseville Town- ship, but later removed to Roseville, where, in 1875, he established the Roseville Union Bank. He represented his Assembly District in the State Legislature of 1883-84, and died December 4, 1899. Seth Franklin Pratt was educated at Roseville and at Monmouth and was cashier of the Roseville Union Bank from the time it opened its doors in 1875. As a banker and citizen, in many ways and in many directions, he manifested his public spirit. He owned considerable real estate in Warren County, and much land in Ilinois, Iowa, Mis- souri and Arkansas. Politically he was a Democrat and was an attendant of the Con- gregational church. Mr. Pratt married Helen E. Smith at Providence, R. I., January 7, 1886, and they had two daughters named respective- ly Jeanette and Helen Portia. Mr. Pratt died March 5, 1901, and was buried in Easton, Mass.
PROUTY, JAMES W .- Among the promi- nent merchants of Roseville, Warren County, Ill., none is held in higher esteem by his fellow- citizens than James W. Prouty, the popular druggist, who is not only an expert in his line but is a citizen of much public spirit. He was born in Bradford, Stark County, Ill., July 25, 1860, a son of Joshua and Olive Melissa (Hun- ter) Prouty. His father, who was descended from a long line of New England ancestors, was born in Canada, while his parents were there on a brief visit. He was a lineal descend- ant, in the fourth generation, from Gen. Israel Putnam, who was the mother's grandfather. He died February 23, 1901. Olive Melissa
Hunter, who was of good old colonial stock, was a native of Vermont, and a grand-daugh- ter of Captain Barnett, of Revolutionary fame. Her father served as a soldier in the War of 1812. She is still living at Bradford, Ill. Mr. Prouty was educated at Bradford, Stark Coun- ty, and eventually obtained thorough and prac- tical instruction as a druggist. He established himself in the drug trade, first at Fairview, where he did a successful business for about a year. In 1884 he opened his drug store at Roseville, and has managed it so successfully that it is one of the most popular in the coun- ty. He keeps a full line of drugs and medi- cines, proprietary articles and druggists' sun- dries, and his geniality, and his liberal policy toward the buying public have contributed not a little to his success. Mr. Prouty is a Republican and wields considerable influence in the affairs of his party, but he is not an of- fice-seeker, nor is he, in the ordinary sense of the term, an active politician. April 1, 1902, he was appointed Postmaster of Roseville. He was married March 13, 1885, at Roseville, to Miss Grace Higgins, who has borne him a son, Harry M. Prouty.
RAYBURN,
GEORGE WASHINGTON, cashier of the State Bank, Roseville, Ill., is descended from ancestors who, in successive generations, have been well known in Ken- tucky. There George and Susan (Shafer) Ray- burn, his grandparents in the paternal line, and his father, William R. Rayburn, were all born. The latter married Sarah A. Roberts, a native of Indiana and a daughter of John and Jane (Salyers) Roberts, who were born in that State. William R. Rayburn came to Ellison Township in 1854, and was a successful farmer and a citizen of influence, who was repeatedly elected to the office of Supervisor. He was one of the organizers of the State Bank of Rose- ville in 1891, and a director therein until his death. To him and his wife were born the following children: George W., subject of this sketch; Ida, deceased; William, deceased; Frank S .; John R .; Dr. Charles Rayburn, of Kewanee; and Edward, deceased. William R. Rayburn died January 23, 1893, and his widow lives on the homestead. George W. Rayburn was born at Roseville, Ill., November 4, 1857, and was married at Roseville to Minnie Luster, December 31, 1884. His youth was spent on a farm and he was educated in the public
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school at Roseville. He was actively connected with farming until he was twenty-three years old, and afterward was for five years employed in the postoffice at Roseville. He then en- gaged in the drug trade in Roseville, in which he continued six years. In 1894 he accepted the position of cashier in the State Bank at Roseville, which he has since filled with abil- ity. He is an extensive land-owner and stock- raiser, and has a fine residence on North Main Street, Roseville. He is a citizen of much pub- lic spirit, and is locally influential as a Repub- lican. Fraternally he is a member of Roseville Lodge No. 519, A. F. & A. M., of which he has been master, and of the Knights of Pythias. Minnie Luster, who became the wife of George W. Rayburn, was born in Berwick, Warren County, Ill., August 28, 1862, a daughter of Thomas M. and Mary Luster, natives respect- ively of Kentucky and St. Clair County, Illi- nois. Her father, who was a physician and surgeon, practiced his profession at Monmouth several years, and removed thence to Good Hope, where he died June 29, 1869. Her mother died March 12, 1897.
TALIAFERRO, SAMUEL WALKER .- One of the most enterprising of the younger gen- eration of business men of Roseville, Warren County, is Samuel W. Taliaferro, druggist, who served his fellow citizens as a member of the School Board, as Postmaster, as Supervisor and as President of the Village, and whose public spirit is such that he may be depended upon to further, to the extent of his ability, any prom- ising movement for the public good. Samuel W. Taliaferro, who, in the paternal line, is of Virginia descent, and, on his mother's side, is descended from old and prominent New Jersey families, was born at Roseville, Ill., May 11, 1865. Francis Taliaferro, his great-grand- father, married Letitia Hughes." They were both born in Virginia, and their son, S. W. Taliaferro, was born in Albemarle County, in that State, and married Sarah Moore, a native of Todd County, Ky. D. M. Taliaferro, son of S W. Taliaferro, and father of Samuel W. Tal- iaferro, of Roseville, was born at Guthrie, Ky., and married Sarah Kelley, a native of New Jersey. Her grandfather was John C. Voor- hees, whose daughter, Sarah, married J. V. Kelley, also a native of New Jersey. Sarah Kelley, daughter of J. V. and Sarah (Voorhees) Kelley, was the mother of Samuel W. Talia-
ferro. Mr. Taliaferro was educated at Rose- ville and at Monmouth, and passed the years of his youth on a farm. Later he became a farmer on his own account, and followed that avocation until 1890, when he began his car- eer as a druggist in a drug store at Roseville. He then went to Tampa, Fla., where he re- mained about two years. Returning to Rose- ville he was appointed Postmaster for that village under the second administration of President Cleveland. About that time he es- tablished his drug store, which is completely stocked with all kinds of goods usually sold by druggists, and it is one of the best appointed drug stores in the county. In the spring of 1897 he was elected a member of the board of Supervisors of Warren County. He was elected a member of the village School Board in 1896 and 1898, -and in 1900 he was chosen President of the Village of Roseville. Mr. Taliaferro is an influential Democrat, and an active mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Miss Blanche Johnston, at San Buena Ventura, Cal., September 13, 1887, and has a son named DeMoss M. Taliaferro.
WHITENACK, JOSEPH E., merchant, Roseville, is an enterprising, public-spirited man, who is honored as a citizen and as one who risked his life for his country in the Civil War. He was born in Berwick, Warren County, March 14, 1839, a son of Samuel and Johanna B. (Lewis) Whitenack, natives of New Brunswick, N. J. His father came to Berwick in 1836 and was a pioneer there, but failing health impelled him to return to New Jersey. It was but a short time, however, before he re- turned to Illinois, making his journey by wagon a second time, and opening a general store at Berwick, whence he removed to Mon- mouth in 1860. He died there ten years later, but his widow is still living. Their son, Jos- eph E. Whitenack, was educated at Hedding College and at the University of Chicago, and has, during his active years, been engaged in trade except while in the army. As First Ser- geant of Company H, Forty-seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, he served in the Civil War in the Department of the West, un- der General Canby, until honorably discharged and mustered out of the service in January, 1866. He is a Baptist and a Democrat, and for the past sixteen years has served as Justice of the Peace. He married in Knoxville, Ill., Jan-
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
uary, 1868, Elizabeth E. Hood, who was born in Pennsylvania, March, 1846, a daughter of Samuel Hood, a native of that State, who was an early settler at Freeport, Ill. About 1861 Mr. Hood removed to Monmouth, where he was a shipper of fruit until eventually he removed to Los Angeles, Cal., where he now lives. His wife died in 1882. Joseph E. and Elizabeth E. (Hood) Whitenack have four children: Nancy B., who married L. A. Meacham; Johanna B., who married Dr. B. D. Jenkins; Samuel H., who married Matilda Hugett, and Frank How- ard.
CHAPTER L.
SPRING GROVE TOWNSHIP.
(Township 12 North, Range 2 West.)
Spring Grove township is in the middle of the northern tier of townships in Warren County, with Kelly on the east and Sumner on the west, and Mercer County on the north. It is watered by the Middle Henderson and Cedar creeks and their tributaries, and there is con- siderable timber along the streams. Because of these creeks the land is generally rolling, and quite broken in the western portion. Nevertheless, practically the whole township is tillable, and the land very fertile. Most of the farmers are well-to-do, and have good homes. The Rock Island and St. Louis division of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad enters the township at Alexis in the northeast cor- ner, and, following in a southwesterly direc- tion, passes out of the southwest quarter of Section 34 into Monmouth Township. Alexis and Gerlaw are the two towns in the township, the former on Section 1 and the latter on Sec- tion 34. Coal of excellent quality and abundant in quantity is found in the east part of the township.
The township was organized April 4, 1854, when the following township officers were elected : Supervisor, Robert Gilmore; town clerk, Thomas Gibson, Jr .; assessor, John Ray; collector, James L. Porter; overseer of the poor, Watson Gates; highway commissioners, Josiah Porter, S. R. Boggs, Thomas Avenell; justices
of the peace, Robert Walker, William Walker; constables, Joseph Ray, Joseph Meyers. Thomas Gibson was moderator and James H. Carmichael clerk of the first town meeting. The present officers are: Supervisor, E. S. Winbigler; town clerk, Frank Fowler; assessor, R. B. McReynolds; collector, C. B. Porter; high- way commissioners, Thomas Shunick, Jr., W. J. Miller, James Routh; justice of the peace, F. S. Talbot. Those who have served the town- slip as supervisor up to the present time are: Robert Gilmore, 1854-56; M. A. Thompson,. 1857; R. W. Gerlaw, 1858-62; L. H. Gilmore, 1863: R. W. Gerlaw, 1864-65; L. H. Gilmore, 1866-68; James B. Porter, 1869-70; L. H. Gil- more, 1871-72; Craig Hanna, 1873; L. H. Gil- more, 1874-78; Angus McCoy, 1879; A. J. Reid, 1880; B. F. Forwood, 1881-82; John C. Blayney, 1883; John S. Winbigler, 1884-85; C. W. Post- lewait, 1886-1891; Willis M. Humphrey, 1892- 93; E. S. Winbigler, 1894; Fred H. Blayney, 1895; E. S. Winbigler, 1896-97; Fred H. Blay- ney, 1898-1901.
John Humphreys has the credit of being the first settler in Spring Grove township. He was from Ohio County, Va .; came to Illinois in 1831, and to this township in 1832, and built the first cabin and broke the first prairie sod here. He had been a non-commissioned officer in the war of 1812, and also served as lieu- tenant in the Black Hawk war. Mr. Hum- phreys took a prominent part in the affairs of the county, and was one of the two commission- ers appointed by special act of the Legislature to locate the road from the public square in Monmouth to Rock Island, commonly known as the Rock Island road. Col. Robert Gilmore came soon after Mr. Humphreys, in 1833, and located first on Section 25, but after four years sold out to William Hanna, father of the late Craig Hanna, and moved to the southwest quarter of Section 24, where he lived until his. death in 1857. He was a tanner by trade, and had carried on business in Ohio until the break- ing out of the war of 1812, when he enlisted and was made colonel of a regiment. He came to Warren county by the river route to Oquawka,. bringing his wife and a family of nine chil- dren, among whom were James T. and L. H. Gilmore of Spring Grove township. Col. Gil- more was a county commissioner in 1834-36, and a member of the board of supervisors after the organization of the county into townships .. He was buried in the old McNeil burying
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
ground in Monmouth. Lazarus H. Haskel set- tled in the east part of the township in 1834 or 1835, and John Kelly about the same time. The latter afterward moved into Kelly town- ship, which bears his name. Brazillai Barker, a native of Maryland but later a resident of Kentucky, came in 1835, and took a claim in the northern part of the township. He was ac- companied by his mother and a sister, his father being dead. Mr. Parker died in 1854, the owner of 1,000 acres of land. Capt. Peter Mauck settled on the east side of Section 26, in 1836, in the grove that since has borne his name. He moved to Galesburg in 1855 and died there the same year. Rev. Ridgely was a Baptist preacher who lived in the Mauck neigh- borhood also in the early days. William W. Forwood came from Pennsylvania in 1838 with his family, occupying a vacant log house on Section 23 until he could build the stone house in which he lived so long a time on Section 22, and which still stands. Joshua Porter came from Tompkins township in 1835 or 1836, lo- cating on the farm now occupied by his son Albert Porter on Section 26. The Plummer family were early settlers in the east part of the township, and Miss Sarah Plummer taught school in what is now district No. 2 in 1838, possibly the first school in the township. Will- iam Caldwell was an early settler on the Rock Island road. He stayed only a short time, going to Pekin, then to Sparta. William Walker, William Hanna (father of Craig Hanna), and Francis Grady, were also among the early men in the township.
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