History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 80

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 948

USA > Illinois > Union County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 80
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 80
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 80

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).

a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Cairo. They have two children -- Rose Stella and Elmer Stophlet, the former born February 13, 1880, and the latter April 28, 1882. Mr. Stophlet is a member of the American Legion of Honor.

SIMPSON H. TABER, dealer in watches, jewelry, etc., at No. 128 Commercial avenue, and also on corner of Seventh street and Wash- ington avenne, Cairo, Ill., is a native of Knox County, Ill., and was born on the 21st day of June, 1843. He is the fourth of a family of six children of Benjamin and Caroline Taber. The parents are both natives of New Bedford, Mass., where they grew to maturity and married. The father was born on January 21, 1814. and after the usual school training, entered the Med- ical College of Providence, R. I., and from which he graduated. The mother was born in 1807, and is still living. About 1834, they came West and located in Knox County, III., where the father began his long career as a practicing physician. He is still actively en- gaged in practice, and resident at Mound City. Ill., being among the oldest practitioners in the State. Caroline, mother of S. H. Taber, is the second of a family of four children of the Rev. John Briggs, of New Bedford, Mass. Simpson H. was educated in Springfield, Mass., and in 1861 came to Cairo, Ill., and began the trade of watch-maker, under the instruction of an older brother-John C. B. Taber, now of St. Louis. The firm of Taber Brothers was established in 1869, and continued thus until 1880, since which date S. H. Taber has conducted the busi- ness alone, the older brother that year retiring from the firm. Mr. Taber was married in Brantford, Canada, to a native of that place- Miss Mary E. Workman, born January 28, 1848. They were married on the 28th of June, 1872. She is a daughter of Hugh Workman and Elizabeth Turner, the former born in January, 1818, and the latter on the 15th day of July, 1825. They were married on the 18th of Jan-

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uary, 1844, and had a family of seven children, viz .: Robert Workman, born December 23, 1844, and died on his birthday in 1873 ; John Workman was born on the 16th of December, 1846, and was married to Mary J. Burton, April 25, 1871 ; they have one daughter -- Ethel May Workman, born March 15, 1872; Mary E. (Workman) Taber ; Lizzie S. Workman, born October 15, 1851 ; Saralı J., born September 8, 1853; Jennie A., born October 14, 1855, and James Workman, born December 1, 1857. Mr. Taber has a family of eight children-Hugh Taber, born September 23, 1873 ; Eugene Ta- ber was born October 12, 1875 ; Jaunita and Anita were born August 12, 1877, and the latter died on the 2d of December, 1877 ; Orvil and Clyde Taber were born August S, 1879 ; Eidola Taber, born July 20, 1881, and one unnamed, born June 2, 1883.

JAMES M. TATTEN, Cairo, Ill., Captain and pilot of the W. Butler Duncan, Cairo, Ill., was born November 19, 1840, in Crawford County, Ind. His father, John Tatten, was born in 1796, near Atlanta, Ga., and emigrated to Southern Indiana about 1820, where he mar- ried Miss Sarah Smith, who was born in Indi- ana in 1801. James M. is the seventh of a family of nine children born to these parents. His mother died in Indiana in 1844, and the father subsequently married a Mrs. Williams, Nancy, wife of James B. Edgeman, of Missouri is the only child born to this union. The father died in Missouri on the 7th of October, 1881. James M. early in life developed a fondness for the water, and at the age of fif- teen years went on the river to prepare him- self for the position of pilot, the duties of which he assumed in 1861. During the eivil war, he was duly commissioned as pilot in the navy, and was one of the pilots who ran the bloekade at Vicksburg on the night of the 23d of April, 1863. From the close of the war until 1870, he was on the Mississippi River be- tween St. Louis and New Orleans, the next

four years in the employ of the Government, and from 1874 until 1880, was in the employ of the Illinois Central Railway Company as pilot of their transfer boat at Cairo. In April, 1881, he was made Captain of the Mobile and Ohio Companies transfer, which position he now holds. He was married in New Albany, Ind., September 2, 1863, to Miss Anna Z. Bar- nett, daughter of John S. and Sarah (Hale) Barnett. Mrs. Tatten was born in New Al- bany, Ind., June 8, 1844. Their family consists of George B., born August 15, 1865 ; Harry, deceased ; Blanche, deceased ; Addie C., born October 8, 1873 ; Ella, January 5, 1877 ; Josie, deceased ; and Nina B. Tatten, born November 16, 1882. Mr. Tatten is a member of the Knights of Honor, and Mrs. T. of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. Family residence on Eighteenth street, Cairo, Ill.

FRANCIS VINCENT, Cairo, Ill., and one of the pioneers of the Cairo peninsula, is a native of Southern France, and was born June 4, 1814. His father, Andrew Vincent, was born about 1763, and during his life engaged in farming pursuits, with the exception of the time spent in military service, being a volun-

teer in the French revolution of 1789. He died in France at the age of eighty-two years. The mother of Francis Vincent, whose maiden name was Louisa Bertram, died when he was but three years old. He was educated in France, and at the age of sixteen went to Paris, and there learned the trade of baker. In 1836, he set sail for the United States, com- ing by way of New York. His aim was to reach the city of Louisville, Ky., but before reaching that point his means were exhausted, he was accommodated by a fellow-traveler to a small loan, with which to complete the trip. Arriving at Louisville, he had a solitary 5 cents with which he procured a shave and started in pursuit of work. This was finally seeured on a snag boat that was about to start on an extended trip from that

BIOGRAPHICAL.

point to the mouth of the Red River. By this means he obtained a start in the new world, and since that time has never lacked employ- ment. He next obtained work on a steam boat, and soon after, in connection with a German, fitted up a store boat at Paducah, Ky., and started on a mercantile trip down the river ; this partner abandoned him at Vicks- burg, but he continued the trip to New Orleans, returning to Vicksburg where he es- tablished a grocery store, remaining until the spring of 1845. He next went to Yazoo City where he was for twelve years engaged in mer- cantile pursuits. In the month of April, 1848, he returned to his native country, where, in February, 1849, he married Miss Virginia Veirum, who was born in France in 1830. They came to Cairo, Ill., for permanent resi- dence in 1857, and have taken an active part in the interests of the city ever since. While in the main he has been very successful, he has met with some severe financial losses from fire and other sources. They own the property fronting on Eighth street, between Commercial avenue and Old Railroad street, which they have improved. He also built the residence owned by James Reardon at a cost of $10,000, and his present family residence on Ninth street, between Washington and Commercial avenues. Their family consists of Henry E., Louisa A., Meiraban, and Tillie E. Vincent. Mr. Vincent is now engaged in wholesale and retail trade in lime and cements, located on Eighth street. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1848.

HARRY WALKER. Alderman in the First Ward, Cairo, Ill., was born on the 3d of No- vember, 1842, in Clinton County, Ill. His parents, Herman and Annie Walker, were natives of Prussia, from where they came to the city of New Orleans. They were married in Prussia, and two children were born to them before coming to the United States, Mary and George Walker, the former a resident of Indi-

ana, and the latter an entensive stock dealer in Kansas. Coming to the United States in 1840, they located for a short time in New Orleans, soon removed to St. Louis, and thence to Hanover, Clinton County, Ill .; there they died about the same time, having had four children born in this country, Harry being the first ; he left home at the age of thirteen years, and for a time made his home in St. Louis, where he attended the Jones College. In August, 1862, he came to Cairo, Ill., and has made it his permanent residence since. He has been employed much of the time as a salesman in different business houses of Cairo, and in 1868 he formed a partnership with a Mr. Sisson, in the hotel business, under the firm name of Walker & Sisson. In 1871, they were burned out, sustaining a loss of several thousand dollars. Since 1879, he has been conducting a house of amusement, known as the Theater Comique, in his own building, fronting on Commercial avenue and Fifth street. He was married in Cairo, in 1865, to Miss Maggie O'Connel, a sister of John W. ('Connel, of St. Louis. She was born in Ireland in 1845, and came to the United States when a child. They have four children, viz .: Maggie, Harry, Allie and Nettie Walker. Mr. Walker is independent in politics, a member of the K. G. R., the K. C. C., and of the fire department.

JACOB WALTER, meat market at Nos. 38 and 39 Eighth street, is a native of Wurtem- berg, Germany, where he was born December 25, 1837. He is a son of Andrew and Cathe- rine (Hag) Walter, both of whom were born in Germany, the father born in 1798, and the mother in 1804. They had a family of six children, of whom Jacob is the fourth. He was edu- cated in Germany, and came to the United States in 1852, locating first at New York, where he began the trade of butcher, and after- ward worked in many different cities of the United States. He went to St. Louis in 1857, where he worked for four years, enlisting in the

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Fourth Missouri Cavalry in the fall of 1861, and served three years, and was mustered out at St. Louis in 1864. Participated in the bat- tles of Pea Ridge and others incident to the campaign of the West. Soon after the war, he settled in Cairo, Ill., where he has followed his trade since, opening a shop in 1867. In 1868, November 29, he was married to Miss Wilhel- mina Lemm. She was born in Prussia Sep- tember 16, 1846, and came to the city of Cairo in 1867. They have a family consisting of John J., born in Cairo August 19, 1869 ; Wil- helmina, born February 24, 1872, and died in infancy ; Albert, born March 6, 1873, and died January 6, 1875; Rosa L., born Septem- ber 2, 1878 ; Frank J., born September 4, 1880, and Gustav Walter, born February 24, 1883. He is a member of the Cairo Casino Society, and the family of the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Walter is a daughter of John and Doretta Lemm, the mother deceased, and the father living at an advanced age in the old country.

HENRY WELLS, banker, Cairo, was born in Rising Sun, Ind., on the 12th of March, 1850. Jacob Wells, father of Henry Wells, was a native of Corinth, Vt., but principally reared and educated in the State of New York ; he was born in 1815. Having arrived at man- hood, he went to Indiana, where, in 1837, he married Miss Fannie S. Shaw, a daughter of Lloyd and Ellen Shaw, and a native of Taunton, Mass., where, in 1813, she was born. Henry Wells is the fifth of a family of six children born to these parents ; but two of whom are now living, there being one daughter, Emily, who is the wife of Charles J. Noyes, a states- man of Massachusetts. Mr. Wells pursued the ordinary common school course at Rising Sun, Ind., after which he continued his studies at the Haverhill High School, of Massachu- setts, and in the Brown University of Provi- dence, R. I., and in 1866 entered the Harvard University, taking the complete classical course, receiving the degree conferred by that institu-

tion in 1870. The two years following his graduation, he was associated with his father in a general mercantile business in Rising Sun, at which time he assisted in the organizing of the National Bank of that place, becoming one of its Directors. After the death of his father, which occurred on July 5, 1872, he decided to close up the business interests in Rising Sun, and seek a banking location, and for this pur- pose; in 1875, started to Florida. He, however, located in Cairo, Ill., where he assisted in the organization of the Alexander County Bank, and under the first organization was made Vice President. It was re-organized in the same year, and Mr. Wells was made the Cashier, which position he still occupies .. He was mar- ried in Rising Sun on May 25, 1872, to Miss Emma C. Morse, daughter of George W. and Mary Morse-the father a native of Ohio, born March 19, 1821, and at present a resident of Cairo ; the mother was born July 5, 1823, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and died in Cairo on the 24th of October, 1880. Mrs. Wells was born in Rising Sun, Ind. Their family consists of two sons-James C. and Harry M. Wells. Mr. Wells is a member of the Masonic order, and of the I. O. O. F. Family residence on the corner of West Twenty-fourth street and Holbrook avenne, Cairo, Ill.

SAMUEL P. WHEELER, lawyer, Cairo, Ill., was born at Binghamton, Broome Co., N. Y., on the 13th of January, 1839. His father, Alvan Wheeler, was born in Massachusetts in 1797. He was an emment educator and phy- sician of Massachusetts from 1820 to 1832, when, on account of failing health, he removed to Binghamton, N. Y., where he purchased a farm, and spent the remainder of his life. He died October 12, 1869. The mother of Samuel Wheeler, Harriet A. Bulkley, was a descendant from an English family which was first repre- sented in the United States by the Rev. Peter Bulkley, who came from England to Massachu- setts in 1635. She died in Williamstown, Mass.,

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in 1875, having reared a family of six children, of whom Samuel was the fourth. He was edu- cated liberally in New York. He was admitted to the bar in 1859, and the same year located at Mound City, Ill., where he remained until coming to Cairo in 1865. Though his influence has been chiefly with the Democratic party, he has studiously avoided the political arena, and adhered strictly to his profession with commend- able zeal. In 1875, he was appointed General Solicitor for the Cairo & Vincennes Railroad Company, which position he held until that company was consolidated with the St. Louis & Pacific Railway, and is now General Solicitor for the Cairo Division of the latter company. He was married on the 11th of January, 1860, to Miss Kate F. E. Gross, daughter of Milo J. Gross, of Kalamazoo, Mich.

CHARLES W. WHEELER, of Cairo, Ill., was born in Stratford, Fairfield Co., Conn., on the 10th of October, 1840. His parents, Levi Wheeler and Elvina Booth, were both natives of Connecticut, though of English origin. They reared a family of six children, of whom Charles W. is the fifth. Levi Wheeler died in Con- necticut in 1873, and his wife in the same State in 1882, both in advanced age. Charles W. was educated in his native county, and at the age of eighteen left the parental home, coming West. He located at Olney, Richland Co., Ill., where, until 1861, he was in the em- ploy of the Ohio & Mississippi Railway Com- pany. In April, 1861, he enlisted in the thirty days' service, and at the expiration of that time re-enlisted for three years, but on ac- count of physical disability was discharged in June of the following year. In the fall of 1862, having sufficiently regained his health, he again engaged with the Ohio & Mississippi Railway Company at Olney, Ill. Early in 1863, he was employed by the Adams Express Company as messenger on the road between Olney and Cairo, Ill., continuing, however, but about six months, when he was placed in their

office at the last-named place. He remained in this office until the fall of 1866. For six years subsequent to this date, he was in the employ of Cairo City Coal Company, in the management of their business. In 1873, in connection with J. C. Stiers, he established a retail wood and coal yard, from which is sup- plied a large portion of the fuel of the city of Cairo. Their partnership continued nntil Oc- tober, 1879, when it terminated by the retire- ment of Mr. Stiers. Mr. Wheeler still con- ducts the business in his own interest, and besides owns and operates a farm of 160 acres in Pulaski County, Ill. In June, 1863, in Wisconsin, he was married to Miss Amanda Bragg, daughter of Samuel G. and Lorinda Bragg, of Wisconsin, where they are now living, and where Mrs. Wheeler was born on the 6th of December, 1840. Their family consists of Sarah A., Ella, Josie and Charles F. Wheeler. SCOTT WHITE. We glean from the col- umns of the Cairo city papers the following facts concerning Mr. Scott White, one of the pros- perous and most respected men in Cairo's his- tory. Scott White was born in Ireland in 1813, and grew to manhood in his native country, coming to the United States in 1832. He took this step as the result of a determination to make his mark in the world. From the time of his arrival in this country until he came to Cairo in 1855, we have learned but little of his experiences ; but perhaps the time was princi- pally passed in Pennsylvania, where, in No- vember, 1856, he was married to Miss Rosy Hunter, who was born in 1828, in the immedi- ate locality of the birthplace of Mr. White. He was a man who was possessed of a strong will power and a kind and generous nature, which appeared to develop more fully as he in- creased in years. These characteristics, coup- led with his native business ability, insured his success. In 1855, he came to Cairo, Ill., and formed a partnership with R. H. Cunning- ham, which existed for about ten years. The

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first business house on the Ohio levee was erected for this firm. In his composition, there was nothing assumed, and he had no compromise to make with a dishonorable trans- action, always able to say " No," when his judg- ment dictated that answer, regardless of con- sequences. In his earlier business life in Cairo, this straightforward, outspoken style sometimes amounted almost to sternness, but was always the result of honest promptings. Later in life, he lost, to some extent, his busi- ness enthusiasm, and having amassed a hand- some fortune, his business activity, in a great degree, gave place to the more kindly influences of social life. He laid aside, so to speak, much of his business care, and looked more to the encouragement of efforts to improve the moral and social condition of Cairo. But in the hour of his greatest usefulness, after having successfully fought the battle of life, just at the moment when his ample hand was being stretched out in the work of making the world happier, thereby making it better, he was taken away. In all the relations of husband, father, and citizen, he was a model of uprightness, justice and true manliness. He honored the position he occupied in the estimation of his large circle of friends. He died at his resi- dence in Cairo on the 19th of April, 1871, leav- ing his wife and three children-Maragret A., Scott A. and William White-who still survive him. Resolutions of respect were adopted by the officers of the City National Bank, of which he was a director, and by the Delta Social Club, of which he was an honored member.

DR. E. W. WHITLOCK, dental surgeon No. 136 Commercial avenue, Cairo, was born on the 22d day of June, 1855, in Jefferson County, Ill. His father, George Whitlock, was born in 1818, in Virginia, where he grew to maturity and from where he came to Illinois. He was married, in Illinois, to Miss Angeline Caldwell. She is.a daughter of Wallace Cald- well, a lineal descendant of Dr. Charles Cald-

well, formerly of Louisville, Ky., and the ac- knowledged father of phrenology in this coun- try. Angeline was born in Illinois in 1828, and is now a resident of the city of Cairo, Ill. To these parents were born five children, of whom the Doctor is the youngest, the three older children being deceased. The names are Abigail, Isabelle, Charles R., George T. and Edward W. Whitlock. George T. is married to Miss Ada F. Hambleton, of Mound City, IIL, and at present a resident of Marshall, Ill. Ed- ward W. Whitlock was reared and educated in Jonesboro and Cairo, coming to the latter place with his parents in 1866. In 1876, he became a student of the Philadelphia Dental College, from which he graduated in 1877, when he immediately opened rooms in Cairo for the practice of dental surgery. His pro- fessional skill, together with the principles of thorough gentleman have secured for him a large and lucrative practice. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity and a member of the Episcopal Church, as is also his mother. George Whitlock, father of E. W., died in Cairo, Ill., in April, 1881, having been engaged in mercantile business since 1866.

WILLIAM M. WILLIAMS is a member of one of the old families of the early settlers in Cairo, the members of which were among the most prominent and best people of the town. The brothers, Capt. Abram and Isaac Will- iams, for many years well known as among the best business men of the place, and in their active lives here made a wide acquaintance and a strong and deep friendship with all who came in contact with them. They were exem- plary citizens, honorable men and most genial and pleasant companions. They came from Vir- ginia here, and especially Capt. Abe was pos- sessed of all those better qualities of that peo- ple without the sometimes glaring faults in social life that characterize too many men of that State. They built and for many years carried on a saw mill in the northern part of

BIOGRAPHICAL:

the city, and during their long residence here were engaged in several successful enterprises of different kinds. In the hearts of those who knew these brothers is a sufficient and endur- ing monument, but this mention is due the good name of two men whom the coming gen- erations should learn to respect and venerate. William M. Williams was born in Kanawha County, Va., May 4, 1831 ; his parents were Isaac and Mary (Torrence) Williams. The father, a Pennsylvanian, born in 1802, and was a farmer and steamboatman in the early days of steam navigation, and William is the younger of two children ; his sister Anna J. married Dr. Wilson, of Baltimore, and died some years ago. His mother died in 1844, in Ohio and his father died in Kentucky in 1857. William resided in Virginia until he attained his majority and had learned the printer's trade, and had also engaged in the salt manu- facturing in West Columbia, Va. He came to Cairo in 1855, in company with his cousin, Capt. Abram Williams, and at once engaged in a general mercantile business, pork packing, wharf-boat interests, etc., during a period of four years. He was one of a company that organized the St. Louis Silver Mining Com- pany of Arizona, and in the year 1860 took the first mining engine that was ever taken to that Territory. He continued in the mining business until every member of the company, except himself, had been massacred by the Mexicans. He escaped the fate of his com- panions by almost a miracle. He then became a Government contractor in the Territory, his partner being William S. Grant During the war, he was steamboating and carried on a wharf-boat at Vicksburg, and he made his home in the latter place until 1870, when he returned to his old Illinois home, Cairo, where he came to carry out and complete an enter- prise that had been inaugurated by his cousin Abram. Of late years, he has been actively connected with the Cairo press, and also in the

employment of different railroads and is now the efficient and popular Cairo agent of the Cairo & St. Louis Railroad. At the early age of eighteen years he was the publisher of a daily paper in Wheeling, Va. He was married in Kentucky, in 1865, to Miss Rachel Williams, daughter of George and Mary Williams. He has long been an honored and exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Knights of Honor, and also of the Knights of the Golden Rule. He has one child, Mary L., living, born in Vicksburg, February 5, 1868, and has buried one other child, Caroline Or' Lea, born in Cairo, December 5, 1871, and died in May, 1881.

GEORGE D. WILLIAMSON, merchant, Cairo, is a native of Hunterdon County, N. J., and is the fourth of a family of twelve children of Samuel Williamson and Maragret Giltz, both of whom descend from German parentage, and both natives of New Jersey. George D. was born on the 30th of May, 1815. He was principally reared and educated in his native county, but at the age of sixteen began his business career as a grocer clerk in New York City, where he remained about one year. In the fall of 1832, he went to Philadelphia, where, for six years, he engaged as clerk in a hotel, and for five years of this time was a member of the fire department of that city. From Philadelphia he came to Smithland, Ky., in 1838, and the following year to Cairo, III., where he took business control of the old Cairo Hotel, under the direction of D. B. Holbrook. A change in the administration of the hotel, which was owned by a company, caused him to sever his connection therewith, and he returned to Smithland, where, until 1859. he was suc- cessfully engaged in mercantile business. At the last-named place, he constructed a wharf- boat, which was the first on the Ohio River provided with staging for the passage of teams in landing freight. In 1859, he landed this boat at Cairo, and owned until 1863, when he

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History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 80

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 948

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 948