USA > Illinois > Williamson County > Historical souvenir of Williamson County, Illinois : being a brief review of the county from date of founding to the present > Part 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
Mr. Whitacre and his venerable spouse live happily in their little cottage at Creal Springs, caring lit- tle for the prospective thousands awaiting them. They settled in Creal Springs in 1892, and have re- mained there looking after one an- other, vigorons, peaceful and happy. Their sons and daughters keep a sharp lookout after them, but they do not need a companion or helper, being happier alone.
They now number eight children, twenty-seven grand children and nine great grand children. The fol- lowing are the names and residences of the children: O. B. Whitacre, Crab Orchard: Dr. H. N. Whitacre, Carbondale; Ed L. Whitacre. Vien- na: C. D. Whitacre. Carterville: Mrs. R. B. Thompson, MeKanda: Mrs. J. P. Roberts, Creal Springs: Mrs. W. J. Brown. McKanda, and Mrs. S. S. Chamness, Creal Springs.
DR. JESSE GREEN LINDSEY
Was born near Bowling Green. Ky., February 21, 1828. While an infant he came with his parents to Jackson Co., Ill., where the greater portion of his life has been spent on the farm. In 1856 he began the practice of medicine, which he con- tinned until failing health and strength compelled him to quit.
33
SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
GEN. JOHN A. LOGAN.
SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN.
35
SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
THE LATE JOHN A. LOGAN, JR.
36
SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
-
MRS. MARY LOGAN TUCKER
37
SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
In 1892 he sold his farm and went into trade at Creal Springs, but was burned out the year after, December 6, 1893. He rebuilt of brick on the spot where Allis & Clark now run the store which he rented to them, and quit business, his health and sight failing him.
He has married three times. His first wife was Miss Caroline Murphy, of Randolph County, Illinois, to whom he was united February 20, 1849. She bore him six children, and died January 2, 1882. Of her children but two survive, William R. Lindsey, a Hillright Christian min- ister, located near Pulleys Mill, and John M. Lindsey, living in Missouri. His second wife was Mary Jane Mur- phy, to whom he was united March 1st, 1882. She had no children and died April 5, 1898. July 27, 1898, he married Mrs. Mary A. Grisham, widow of Henry Grisham, with whom he is happily spending his de- clining years.
He is a Republican in politics, but not an active politician, and for many years a member of the Resti- tution Church.
WILLIAM B. ELMORE
Was born at Woodbury, Tenn., October 21, 1828, where he lived un- til twelve years old. April 1, 1840, he came with his parents to Union County, Illinois, where he married and lived until May 6, 1896, when he moved to Creal Springs, where he has since resided. He enlisted Sep- tember 1, 1861, in the 31st Ill., and was wounded at Fort Donelson. He remained with Logan's regiment for three years, through all the battles of the war and until discharged at Atlanta, September 17, 1864.
January 16, 1850, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Bar- ringer, of Anna, Ill., by whom he has had six children, all living, and now proudly reckons twenty-five grand children and fourteen great grand children. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the christian Church.
AVENUE HOUSE.
The Avenue House at Creal Springs is conducted by G. B. Boyd, proprietor, has fourteen rooms and its rates are $1.50 a day. It is con- venient to the famous mineral springs, a well-known health resort, and accommodations are easily se- cured to and from all trains.
ELIJAH I. CAMPBELL, Pioneer.
Is one of the oldest pioneers of the County, coming here with his widowed mother in November, 1836. He was born in Smith County, Mid- dle Tennessee, May 22, 1816, and spent his early years on the banks
of the Cumberland River, where he was born. He was but 18 years old when he first came to this County in 1834, but he cleared the land, opened a farm and soon began to raise and ship tobacco. He made considerable money at that, but eventually lost it all, and the clos- ing years of his life are spent in pov- erty, being fed and cared for by a widowed daughter, Mrs. Louisa M. Gunter, his only remaining child.
After gathering his first crop he returned to Tennessee in 1836 and married Eda Jane Wilmore, with whom he lived forty-nine years, with not a cross word between them, a rare occurrence. She gave birth to four children, Susan, Margaret, Burchett and Louisa, and died in Stone Fort in 1888. Of her children Mrs. Gunter alone survives.
L. A. BICKERT, Pioneer.
Was born in Wilson County, Mid- dle Tennessee, May 3rd, 1827. He secured what little education he re- ceived in that County, and came with his parents in 1852 and settled near Stone Fort, Williamson Co., where the father, Samuel Bickert. died at the age of 75. The mother's name was Betsy Morris. In the win- ter of 1852 the subject of this sketch came to Marion, and the year fol- lowing, October 26, 1853, he was married to Nancy Scurlock, the
widow of Mr. Bradley. She gave birth to four children and died in August, 1883.
Mr. Bickert has always been a farmer, has never troubled himself in politics, but has been a member of the Christian Church about forty years. He and a widowel daugh- ter, Mrs. Lucy Blackman, reside at Creal Springs with a married daugh- ter, Mrs. Ellen Murray.
OLIVER COX, Justice of the Peace.
The subject of this sketch began life as a farmer's boy in Martin Co., Indiana, July 7th, 1839. The Wabash runs through Martin Coun- ty, and the struggles of those early days in the heavy timber of the Wabash Valley with mosquitos and malaria served rather to emphasize his natural vigor of mind and body than to reduce it. His father, Isaac Cox, was also a woodsman, who fought during the whole Civil War, only to die in the hospital at Lonis- ville, Ky., in 1865. His mother, Elizabeth Cox (nee Johnson ), had preceded the father to the "shadow land" by five years.
The family had moved to this County before the war, and Oliver enlisted in 1862 in Logan's Division, Co. H., 81st Ill. Baring a slight wound received at Champion Hill, Mississippi, May 16, 1863, he served
through the entire struggle without a scratch. After the fall of Atlanta he returned with Logan's division to Nashville and was mustered out at Chicago August 5, 1865. In 1872 he entered into the ministry of the M. E. Church and traveled six years. His first pastorate was at Harris- burg, Saline Co., and all his subse- quent ministerial labors were spent in Saline and the adjoining coun- ties.
September 1, 1855, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary H. Morris, the danghter of Benjamin Morris, who bore him twelve children. In 18&1 he moved with his family to Howell County, Mo., where he lived for seven years. In 1884 he ran on the Republican ticket for the Legis- lature, and although defeated in a district with a normal Democratic majority of 300, he ran ahead of his ticket 154 votes.
In 1892 he lost his voice and mov- ing back to Saline County he gave up the ministry, locatel and resumed his farm life. Although he served in the ranks through the whole con- test, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant of Co. H just before the close of 1865.
Of his twelve children all are living but Susan, who died in 1874. Their names are as follows: John Wesley, Isaac Dow, William, Frank- lin, James, Oliver E., Charles A., Anda M., Elizabeth A., Jane, Alice and Anna.
He is a staunch Republican in politics and has served continuously in Crab Orchard Precinct as a Jus- tice of the Peace since his first elec- tion in 1898.
MRS. MARY E. CHAMNESS.
Mrs. Mary E. Chamness, whose extraordinary skill in making wax flowers has attracted universal at- tention, is a living example of what native talent and undaunted perse- verence can accomplish in the face of the greatest discouragements and difficulties. The beautiful half-tone illustration of her marvelous handi- work shown here faintly exhibits her amazing skill in her chosen pro- fession. It is a representation of the Savior's tomb, and was placed on ex- hibition in the St. Louis exposition of 1904. The motto worked in wax flowers over the entrance to the tomb reads: "I know that my Redeemer liveth." Job 19:25. Upon the floor of the tomb are the words of Prov. 18:10: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and are safe."
In the pursuit of this exquisite art Mrs. Chamness has been her own instructor. With the exception of four days' instruction by an invalid friend, Chloe Mitchell, Mrs. Chan- ness is self taught. And like all
38
SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
-
MR. M. E. CHAMNESS AND HIS WIFE, MRS. MARY E. CHAMNESS. Chamness, Illinois.
geniuses Mrs. Chamness has been able to accomplish what no other artist was previously capable of, she discovered how to make wax flowers permanent. These frail objects of exquisite beauty, as coming from her artistic hand, are practically im- perishable. The changes of climate and temperature experienced in our latitude have no effect on them. "That lovely bank of flowers," said she, "will endure without change a hundred years or more. They will last forever." To the loving appro- bation of her father and invalid sis- tetr, coupled with honest words of appreciation from a wide circle of admiring friends, Mrs. Chamness ascribes whatever of success she has been able to achieve in her delightful avocation.
The measure of that success and the labor and skill required in bring- ing the work to perfection can be faintly realized when the fact is stated that she has always worked with the crudest material, and her hands have fashioned everything, be- ginning with the wax in the hive and the simplest and crudest of im- plements. Her accounts of the diffi-
culties encountered and the means she used to surmount them is a poetic romance, and the whole is a lesson all need to learn.
MARSHALL E. CHAMNESS, Farmer.
He comes of North Carolina Quaker stock, and is the son of Elder W. B. Chamness, who was ex- pelled by his Quaker brethern for having married out of the faith, and became a prominent Baptist preach- er and did good service to the cause he loved for thirty years. He died June 9, 1882. His wife was Sarah Krautz, who died April 19, 1900. They were a prolific pair and raised nine children, eight boys and one girl. At the time of her death they had nine children, ninety-five grand children, one hundred and forty great grand children and three great great grand children.
The subject of this sketch was the seventh son. He went into business for himself in the Spring of 1862, married the 9th of the following February, and in October enlisted in the Union army. He joined the fa-
mous 128th Ill., and Co. G was at- terwards transferred to the 9th, Col. Philips commanding, and served dur- ing the war. He was discharged at Springheld in June, 1865.
llis first wife was Paulina Ste- vens, the daughter of John Stevens, a Tennesseean. She bore him six children and died January 8, 1892. His second wife was Mary Ellen La- Master, to whom he was united March 10, 1895. Her parents were George W. LaMaster and Matilda Perry, In politics Mr. Chamness is an ardent Prohibitionist, and is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.
J. M. MOUSER, General Dealer, Chamness.
Born September 21, 1867, near Carterville, 111. He was the son of Pinckney Mouser and Amanda J. Varner, his wife. The father died January 19, 1892. but the mother still survives. His education and training were such as farmers' boys usually get at our common schools, and at the age of 21 he took a farm on his own account and continued in that occupation for eight years, until his marriage in 1896. He then opened a General Store at Chamness, which he still occupies.
He was married May 12, 1896, to Mary Etta Tucker, the daughter of M. M. Tucker, at Murphysboro, Ill. Five children are the fruit of this union, of whom four are living. Their names in the order of their ages are Edith. Lillie, Lolla and Jewel. He is a Democrat in politics and a Modern Woodman.
T HE ground on which the City of
Herrin stands was first owned by David Herrin, who entered a tract of 600 acres from the government. After the death of his wife he di- vided his estate among his heirs, with the exception of his homestead of 120 acres, which he afterwards sold to Samuel Stotlar, who lived on it until his death. Later D. R. Har- rison bought 20 acres of the heirs and joined Ephriam Herrin in laying out the town. Harrison's tract was the north half of the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 30; and Herrin's land was the south half of the southwest quar- ter of the southeast quarter of Sec. 19 Town 8, Range 2 east, having jointly a 40-acre tract. It was first incorporated as a village with Eph- riam Herrin as President in 1898. As the locality was known as "Her- rin's Prairie" from the first settle- ment by David Herrin, the name of Herrin naturally fell to it when it became a village. In 1900 the vil- lage became a city with the follow- ing officers: Mayor, C. E. Ingraham ; Clerk, F. M. Russell.
39
SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
WAX FLOWERS BY MRS. MARY E. CHAMNESS.
Prior to incorporating as a village Mr. Harrison, Mr. Herrin and Mrs. Williams bored for coal and struck a nine-foot vein within about 150 feet of the surface. Of course, this at once settled the question of the fu- ture prosperity of the town, and it at once began to go ahead in leaps and bounds. Within three years the Chicago and Carbondale railroad was built from Johnson City to Car- hondale, making Herrin on the way. The St. Louis and Big Muddy Coal and Iron Company sunk the first shaft for coal in 1897. This was followed in 1899 by the Sunnyside, the Chicago and Carterville shafts, and about that time by the Alexan- der Brothers mine. Since then sev- en more mines have been opened within a radius of five miles of the city. The Electric Belt Line and the Illinois Central both run into it, and several more roads are in prospect.
For an account of the schools of Herrin, we refer to the article on that subject.
The following is a list of the offi- rers of the city at the present time:
Mayor, John Herrin: Clerk, Groce
Lawrence; Treasurer, Harry Fow- ler: City Attorney, Geo. B. White; Aldermen, 1st Ward, J. R. Walker, A. E. Spence; 2nd Ward, Louis Bo- jonia, Jerome Childers; 3rd Ward, Lon Boren, J. N. Thedford; 4th Ward, G. W. Bradshaw, C. E. Sny- der.
HERRIN POST OFFICE.
This office was first opened as a fourth class Star Route office, with one mail a day. D. R. Harrison was appointed the first postmaster and he run the office thirty-three years and ten months, consecutively and was succeeled by W. A. Stotlar Feb- ruary 1, 1898. Mr. Harrison located it in his store on "Herrin's Prairie" on the spot where the Chicago and Carterville mine now stands. On the Ist of April, 1902, it became a presidential office with salary of $1100 per year. In 1903 it advanced to $1200; in 1904 to $1400 and on the 1st of July, 1905, to $1600 per year. The gross receipts the past year, from April 1st to April 1st,
were $4484.39; domestic money or- ders for the year $60,103.55; for- eign money orders for the year $33,- 295.23. Present office force, Ameri- cus Gassoway, Postmaster; Gus, Sizemore, Assistant Postmaster.
CHRISTIAN CHURCH AT HERRIN.
The religious society bearing the above name (sometimes called also the Disciple Church and occasionally nicknamed the Campbellite Church ) was organized in a District School House at Herrin about 1864 or '65 by Elder Samnel Wilson. An old Tennessee preacher by the name of Matthew Wilson followed him and served the society acceptably for several years. He was succeeded by Wm. L. Crim, of West Frankfort. These were all able and faithful men, and the society grew and pros- pered under their labors. Sometime about 1867 they erected a modest church house which they occupied until 1898, when it an. the ground it occupied were sold for a school and a favorable site purchased and the present neat church building was erected which is shown in our il- lustration. It stands down town on the east side of Park Avenue, corner of Maple, and has a seating capacity of about 400. It cost about $1500. The following persons were the original members of the old church: Newton Bradley, Samuel Stotlar. William Williams. George Cox, Na- than Cox, Louisa Williams, Eliza Spillar, Sarah J. Cox, Eliza Stotlar and "Granny" Lawrence.
ELDER DEMPSEY A. HUNTER, Pastor of the Christian Church at Herrin, Illinois.
The subject of this brief sketch, whose labors in the ministry have made his name a familiar household word over half a dozen or more states and territories in the West, is a native-born Williamson County product, where he first saw the light on a farm near Herrin. His father was Allen Hunter, who bought the farm when his son was one year old, and where he lived to the ripe old age of 83. He was a United Baptist preacher, preaching the Gospel Sun- days and working his farm week days for upwards of fifty years. The son followel in the footsteps of the father, remaining on the farm and in the local schools until 18 years old. when he spent a year in the Col- lege at Enfield. Two years at Mc- Leansboro, followed by two more at Enfield, closed his school days, when he turned his attention to teaching as a profession. He had sand- wiched teaching between terms at College up to this time, but from this period for thirteen years he did little else.
He married at the age of 22. while
SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
RESIDENCE OF M. E. CHAMNESS, Chamness, Illinois.
at Enfield the second time. His wife's name was Florence Garrison.
He first joined the Cumberland Presbyterian church, with which body he remained until 26 years old. At the age of 26 he joined the Christian Church and occasionally preached for them, but it was not until he was 33 that he laid aside all other business and gave himselt up to the work of the ministry. He first evangelized in White County for three years and then spent two years in Southern Illinois and Ind- iana, when he took a pastorate at Gurnee, in Lake County, Northern Illinois. From the first he has been active and successful as a minister, laboring and traveling extensively in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakotat and Okla- homa, but whether as Evangelist o1 Missionary or settlel as pastor he was always successful and welcome to his flock.
The following are the principal places where he has labored: On leaving Gurnee, where he spent one year, he went to Lynnville, Morgan County, then to Princeton, the Coun- ty Seat of Bureau Co., then :> Kes- Kerk County, Ja., where he served the church at Delta and Sigourney for four years. This was followed by two years at Laurens, when he resigned and took charge of the church at Jefferson, Green County, Ja., where he staid for seven years, the first two as pastor and the bal- ance of the time as Evangelist, part of the time under the direction of the Missionary Board. He served the church at Augusta, Butler Coun- ty, Kansas, two years, then to Ga- lena, near the Southeast corner of the state. He then received a call to serve the church at Herrin, his na-
tive town, where he is now settled since March, 1904.
Mr. Hunter has a vigorous and active brain, which brooks no limit in knowledge, but seeks to compass as wide a field as possible. He has studied medicine, psychology, oste- opathy as well as matters of general interest and utility connected with the ministry. He has never prac- ticed medicine as a profession, and osteopathy but six months, filling the pulpit Sundays meanwhile. He took his degree in Psychology from Dr. Parkyn, of Chicago, confining his work generally to the ministry. He at one time took some interest in Fraternal Insurance and organized
the Order of Giant Oaks, now con- solidated with the American Guild at Richmond, Va. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen and A. O. U. W., besides the greater orders of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Knights Templar.
He has three sons and one daugh- ter living and grown to maturity. His eldest son, E. E. Hunter, is an electric light and steam engineer at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His second son, C. R. Hunter, is a train dispatcher at Boone, la., and his third son, Marshall, is the editor and publisher of the Herrin Daily Pro- moter. His daughter, Mildred Lee, Hunter, lives in Joplin, Mo. His youngest child, Dempsey Dale, died of diphtheria last December.
Mr. Hunter comes of a vigorous and long-lived stock on both sides. His mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Lee, of the Virginia family of Lee's, is still living on the old homestead near Herrin, at the advanced age of 84.
ELDER G. W. SYFERT.
Elder G. W. Syfert, son of Nathan and Mary A. Syfert, was born in Shelby County, III., June 6, 1861. His early occupation was that of a miller, at which he worked until he entered into the ministry in 1896. He entered Ewing College Novem- ber 1st, 1896, remaining there four years. In 1901 he came to Herrin, Illinois. In 1901 he had the honor of baptizing 104 into the fellowship of the church, that being the great- est number baptized by any Baptist clergy in the state of Illinois. The work has continued to grow until we have the largest membership of any church in this part of Southern
H
CHAMNESS FLOURING MILL.
41
SOUVENIR OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
RESIDENCE OF J. M. MOUSER, Chamness. Mrs. Mouser and Children on the Porch.
Illinois. In closing up his fourth year's work here as pastor he has baptized 299 into the fellowship of the church, received 149 by letter and at present the membership is 543.
His wife was Laura Jones, of Fay- ette Connty, Illinois, and they have one child, a son, Walter. He is an Odd Fellow and a member of the U. M. W. of A.
REV. JAMES C. BLIZZARD, Pastor of M. E. Church at Herrin.
The subject of this sketch, who has a far wider reputation as a teacher than as a preacher, al- though he ranks high in both, is one of the native products of Southern Illinois, of which a clientele scat- tered far and wide over the whole United States justly feel proud. Hundreds of his pupils who have re- ceived their training in his efficient hands and have taken their places in almost every walk of life, as minis- ters, lawyers, doctors, teachers or business men, regard him with un- diminished pride and affection through the lengthening years and the slowly silvering of their heads.
In birth, education, training and occupation he began and continues to this day a typical "Egyptian" of the modern geographical school. He was born near Dudleyville, na Co., March 12, 1852, and is therefore comparatively a young man still.
He was the son of Rev. J. J. and Catharine ( McAdams) Blizzard, themselves native Illinoisians. Un- til 17 years old he followed the plow summers and went to the "dees- trict" school winters. He was sonnd- ly converted at that time and want- ed to enter the ministry, but cir- cumstances ordered otherwise, and he devoted about thirty years fo training the young, and his life has been principally spent as a teacher.
He began to teach in 1871, when but 19 years old, and taught con- tinnously until 1890, a period of nineteen years. He was then elect- ed Superintendent of Schools for Bond County for four years. He then took charge of the Mt. Vernon Business College for four years, then as Principal of Crab Orchard Acad- emy for two years. Later he started a business college at Vienna, but the promised support failing him it proved unsuccessful and was aban- doned after a two years' struggle.
Although he joined the church when but 17 years old, he did not apply to the conference for a license to preach nor enter the regular min- istry until 1902, when he was li-
censed by the Mt. Vernon District Conference of the M. E. Church, and took his first pastorate in 1902 at Carterville. As a Sunday School worker he has had few equals from his youth up. He has been remark- ably active and successful in all de- partments of the work, and for 16 consecutive years was Superintend- ent of the Sunday School in Bond County.
He has never been very active in politics, and without ambition in that field, although holding at vari- ous times minor offices, principally connected with the school.
On October 4, 1875, he was united in marriage to Miss Margaret J. White, daughter of Leander and Re- becca White, both old settlers of Bond County. Three children have been born to them, all of whom have reached maturity and two have mar- ried. Their names are Alvin E. Blizzard, of Yellow Pine, La .; Mrs. Effie Stephenson, wife of the drug- gist at Mt. Vernon, and Miss Nellie M. Blizzard, bookkeeper and ste- nographer for Reed and North Lum- ber Co., at Carterville. He is at the present pastor of the M. E. Church at Herrin.
B. BOLINGER,
Superintendent of Herrin Electric Light and Power Co.
The subject of this sketch was the son of Samuel Bolinger, a native of Pennsylvania, and Carolina Nico- demus, a Maryland lady. The elder Bolinger came to Sulphur Springs, Ohio, in an early day and married there. His son was born there Nov.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.