History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 81

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 81
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 81
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 81

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).

CAIRO.

sold it for $25,000. He then engaged in mer- cantile trade, where he is now located, having previously formed a partnership with G. W. Hagy. This partnership terminated about 1875. He now conduets the business alone, and does an extensive grocery business, both wholesale and retail. Mr. Williamson was mar- ried in Kentucky in 1850, to Miss Nina Mc- Cauley, daughter of James McCauley. The result of this marriage was three children, but one of whom is living-Mattie, wife of W. W. Wright. Her mother died about 1857. Mr. Williamson's present wife was Mrs. Harriet P. Smith, widow of John H. Smith, and daughter of John H. Wood. He is a member of the Masonie fraternity, and has been several years a member of the City Council.

THOMAS WILSON, ex-Mayor of the city of Cairo, and one of its oldest living residents, is a native of Northumberland, England. He was born on the 23d day of July, 1823, and came to the United States with his parents, Andrew and Mary Wilson, in 1835. The family settled in New York City, where they remained until 1838, in which year they removed to Illinois and located at Fairfield, in Wayne County, where the parents died. Thomas was educated in England and in New York City, and married in Shawneetown, Ill., to Miss Sarah Marshall, daughter of Samuel Mar- shall of that city. For several years following, Mr. Wilson had his residence at Shawneetown, a portion of the time engaged in boating interests, and for a time was Sheriff of this county. In 1854, prompted by the flatter- ing prospects for the future greatness of the town of Cairo, which, besides its manifest river advantages, gave an omen of coming re- nown, in that year being united with the north by the Illinois Central Railroad, he came to this place, where he engaged in the wharf-boat and commission busi- ness. Notwithstanding his attention has been largely absorbed in his private business, he has

frequently been called to positions of public trust, having a decided ability in matters per- taining to the publie good. He was a member of the first Board of Trustees ever eleeted to preside over the business affairs of the town of Cairo, since which time he has served the city for three terms as Mayor, and from 1868 to 1872, was a member of the State Board of Equalization. His first wife died in 1872, leav- ing two children-Mary E., wife of George Dougherty, of Jonesboro, Ill., and Amy 'M. Wilson. In 1877, he was married to Mrs. Wicker, widow of P. J. Wicker, and daughter of John Hodges, one of the pioneers of South- ern Illinois. She was born in Thebes, Alexander Co., Ill. Their union has been blessed with two children-Margaret and Thomas Wilson. Mr. Wilson, at present is the corresponding secretary for the firm of Halliday Bros. Poli- tics, Democrat.

HENRY WINTER, ex-Mayor of the city of Cairo, was born in Portsmouth, England, Au- gust 15, 1829, being the thirteenth of a family, of sixteen children of Robert and Jane Winter. The family emigrated to the United States in the summer of 1837, and located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Henry remained until 1849, re- ceiving in the meantime the advantage of an ordinary common school education. After the death of his mother, he was bound as appreu- tiee to the trade of tinner, but in consequence of ill treatment, at the end of four years, he left his employer, and under the instructions of another party completed his trade, becoming a first-class tinner. During eight years of his residence in Cincinnati, he was an active mem- ber of the fire department. He left Cincinnati in 1849, to take a position in Cannelton, Ind., where he won the esteem of many warm friends, among whom was the Hon. Jacob Maynard, who advanced him the money to establish a small business, which proved very prosperous, and by which he was soon able to branch out largely, but in consequence of an unfortunate

BIOGRAPHICAL:

partnership alliance, his business was com- pletely broken up. During his residence of seven years at Cannelton, he organized two fire companies, and was for five years the President of one of them. On the 20th ot August, 1856, lie came to Cairo, and soon had started a tin shop on a paying basis, and for several years, so marked was his success that in the years 1867-68 he was the largest tax-payer in Alex- ander County. It is said that previous to this date, he had built over $180,000 worth of brick buildings, besides several frame houses, and was the owner of three flourishing business houses in Cairo, two in Paducah, Ky., and one at Omaha, Neb. In many instances the city of Cairo to-day bears the impress of his mold- ing hand. During the war, and from its begin, ning, he was a stanch supporter of the Union at a time and place where to be loyal meant a great deal. He acted with the Republican party until 1872, when he supported the nomi- nation of Horace Greeley to the Presidency, and was a delegate to the Cincinnati Convention which nominated him. In local affairs, he takes a liberal view, always acting according to his best judgment in the best interests of the people. He has been twice elected Mayor of the city, and has proven himself an able and wise leader. Since his residence in Cairo, he has been intimately connected with the fire de- partment ; was President of the Arab Fire Company for ten years. He is noted for his unselfish, generous spirit, having given many thousands of dollars to benevolent institutions, in fact while he has accumulated an untold amount of money, it has mostly gone to bless others, and to-day he is possessed of only a moderate subsistence. He was married on the 13th of August, 1851, to Miss Margaret Mur- dock, of New York.

MAJ. WILLIAM WOLFE, deceased. In the history of the city of Cairo, no event, per- haps has occurred which caused such universal gloom and sorrow as did the sudden and wholly

unexpected death of Maj. William Wolfe, which took place Thursday, January 4, 1883. The Major was born on the 24th of January, 1832, near Williamsport, Penn., where he spent his childhood. His parents removing to Williams- port, he there grew to manhood; at this place was formed the friendship between himself and Charles O. Patier, which ripened into a mutual attachment, and continued until his death. In 1855, Maj. Wolfe went to St. Louis, where he became the general manager in the house of Baker, Mills & Co. This position he held until the civil war broke out, when, with the assistance of Mr. Patier, he organized a com- pany for the Sixth Missouri Volunteers, in which he was Second and Mr. Patier First Lieutenant. With this command he served with credit three years, when, he was mustered out on his march to Atlanta, just after the fight of Resaca. He remained with the army, how- ever, and was detailed as aid-de-camp to Gen. Jones, First Brigade, Second Division, Fif- teenth Army Corps, and went through to the sea. After the war, he returned to St. Louis, and was there appointed Major in Adjutant General's office, by Gov. Thomas C. Fletcher. After this and until 1866, he was engaged as clerk in the court house. In the last-named year, he came to Cairo at the solicitation of Mr. Patier, and accepted the position of book-keeper in the general business house of Messrs. G. H. Greeley & Co., whose house was then known as the New York Store, and located on Commercial avenue, corner of Nineteenth street. A year later, this firm changed to Greeley & Patier, and in 1872 Mr. Wolfe took the place of Mr. Greeley, under the firm name now employed of C. O. Patier & Co., which is one of the strongest and most respected in the country. In 1872, Maj. Wolfe married Miss Dulcina, daughter of Justice Otis A. Osborn, who, together with three sisters and one brother, survives him. Maj. Wolfe was a director of the Alexander County Bank, and an honorary member of the

CAIRO.

Delta Fire Company. In his death the business interests of Cairo suffer an irreparable loss, and society loses one of its brightest ornaments, and his wife, a devoted husband.

WILLIAM WOOD, M. D., was born on the 8th of February, 1822, in Bethlehem, N. H. He is the oldest of a family of three children of David Wood and Abigail Hosmer. The father was of English birth, and the mother a relative of the famous sculptor (Hosmer) of Massachusetts, and also of Lieut. Abner Hos- mer, who, as history tells us, was the first to sac- rifice his life in the cause of American inde- pendence, being killed in the battle of Lexing- ton, Mass. Of the other two members of the Wood family, one is deceased. Charles Wood, who for several years was engaged in the wholesale mercantile business at St. Louis.

The third is Clara A. Clark, a resident of Bloomington, Ill. William Wood, on arriving at manhood, decided to learn the blacksmith trade, having two objects in view, namely, physical development, but more especially that he might obtain the means with which to defray the expense of a course in college, for which he was preparing. He afterward became a student in the Burlington College, where he continued his studies one year. Later, he entered the Dartmouth College, where he grad- uated in the year 1850. He then entered the Castleton Medical College of Vermont, and received the degree conferred by that institu- tion in 1852. In the fall of the same year he came to Cairo, Ill., and immediately entered on what has proven a long and prosperous prac- tice. Though he may not compare favorably with many others of his profession as a col- lector, he has, by good investment and strictly temperate habits, succeeded in acquiring a hand- some income for his old age. He is the maker and proprietor of the Wood's fever and ague pills. Subject was married, at Cairo, Ill., on the 3d of April, 1863, to Miss Ann E. Spiller, daughter of W. H. Spiller, one of the pioneers

of Southern Illinois, who died in Cairo in 1882. Mrs. Wood was born in Union County February 5, 1844. Their family consists of five children-Kate C., born August 12, 1868 ; David C., born September 28, 1870 ; William H., born March 16, 1875 ; Flora, born August 2, 1880, and Henry F., born September 24, 1882. Family residence and office on the cor- ner of Third street and Washington avenue.

JOHN WOOD, mill, and grain dealer, of the firm of Wood & Bennett, Cairo, Ill., is a son of John Wood and Ann (Stephenson) Wood, of Scotland, where he was born Jan- uary 8, 1833, being the fourth of a family of nine children. John Wood, Jr., and sub- ject of these lines, came to the United States in 1850, and located at Milwaukee, Wis., the family coming the year following, locating also in Wisconsin, where the father died in 1861. The mother died in Wisconsin in 1876. In Milwaukee he learned the trade of brick-layer, working at this business there until the spring of 1852, at which time he went to Chicago, where he was employed in building until 1862. In the early part of that year, he enlisted in the service, and was mustered in as First Lieuten- ant of Company A, of the Sixty-fifth Illinois Infantry Regiment; he was soon promoted to the commission of Captain, and later in the same year received a promotion to Major of his regiment, which office he held until mus- tered out in May of 1864. He participated in several earnest engagements, and was made a prisoner at Harper's Ferry. In June, 1864, he came to Cairo, Ill., where he associated himself with J. C. Rankin, under the firm name of Ran- kin & Wood, engaged in merchandising, also contracting and building. This partnership, by mutual agreement, terminated in 1868. Mr. Wood continued to work at building until 1872, and for three years was one of the committee to construct the Asylum for Feeble-Minded at Anna, Ill., and the State Normal Institute at Carbondale, Ill. From 1872 to 1878, he was

BIOGRAPHICAL:

engaged in the commission grain business in the firm of Green & Wood, later Green, Wood & Bennett, and now as Wood & Bennett, Mr. Green having retired from the firm in 1882. Mr. Wood was married, in Chicago, Ill., No- vember 16, 1857, to Miss Mary L. Young, daughter of Peter and Lizzie (Dougan) Young. Mrs. Wood was born in Scotland September 1, 1835, and came with her parents to the United States in 1855. Both are members of the Presbyterian Church of Cairo, and Mr. Wood of the Masonic order. Their family comprises nine children, three of whom are deceased. Those living are John H., Elizabeth D., James C. R., Walter H., Lillian D. and Mary L.

C. R. WOODWARD, wholesale and retail hardware merchant of Cairo, Ill., was born in Lockport, N. Y., on the 12th of July 1831, son of Warsham M. Woodward, who is a native of Connecticut, but for over sixty years a resident of Lockport, N. Y., where he still lives, being in his eighty-third year. He was married in Lock- port to Miss Abigail Richardson, a native of New York, but of English parentage. She died, a few years after marriage, leaving one son, Gorodon R., who, at the time of the mother's death, was but a few months old. The father was subsequently married and reared two chil- dren, viz. : Chauncey (deceased), and Mary S., widow of James Gash, formerly of Lockport, and later of Cairo, where he died. C. R. Woodward was reared in Lockport, N. Y., and at the age of seventeen came to St. Louis, Mo.,

where he afterward took a thorough course in business training in a commercial school of St. Louis, attending the school through the winter term and engaging as pilot on the river the remainder of the year. He was for five years a pilot and five years a Captain of a steam - boat on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Dur- ing the year 1859 and 1860, he was in the em- ploy of a hardware firm in the city of St. Louis. In 1861, having embarked in the iron business on his own responsibility, and having taken a sub-contract of Capt. Eads to furnish boat sup- plies for Com. Foote's gunboats, he came to Cai- ro. as it afforded better facilities than at that time were to be had at St. Louis. Thus the city of Cairo obtained one of its most enter- prising and energetic business men. He was married in 1852, at St. Louis, to Miss Christina, daughter of William and Celeste Christman, the former of German and the latter of French an- cestry. She was born in East St. Louis on the 25th day of December, 1828. Her parents having died when she was a child, she was reared by a relative in St. Louis. They have four children-Agatha L., the wife of Alexan- der G. Boyse, Jabish H., Robert K. and Chris- tina A. Woodward. Mr. Woodward is just com- pleting a family residence on the corner of Tenth and Walnut streets, which, in architect- ural design, is a marvel of beauty, and which for durability perhaps surpasses any building in the city of Cairo. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the I. O. O. F.

CAIRO.

561

CAIRO EXTRA.

[ BIOGRAPHIES RECEIVED TOO LATE FOR INSERTION IN

ALPHABETICAL ORDER.]

ALFRED BOARDMAN SAFFORD, de- ceased. whose portrait appears in this work, was born in Hyde Park, Vt., January 22, 1822. When fifteen years of age, his parents removed to the then so called far West-to Illinois, where they preëmpted a Government homestead in the primeval prairie, at Crete, thirty miles south of Chicago. That year, 1837, Chicago became a city with a population of between three and four thousand. Who to have looked upon the low, flat, muddy surface of the Chi- cago of that time, would not have been hooted at as a false prophet, had he foreshadowed the wonderful growth and business capacity of the Chicago of to-day. With the exception of a small hotel located at Blue Island, twelve miles from Chicago, there was scarcely a house, as a waymark, the entire distance to Crete, where one or two New England families had previously located. There was a publie thoroughfare lead- ing from Chicago to Southern Illinois. The sparse settlers along it, remote from each other, received their meager supplies from what were called the " Hoosiers," who, making Chicago an objective point for the sale of their products, peddled them out on the way to those who sought after them. These " Hoosiers " seemed a curious folk to the New Englanders. They traveled in covered wagons, often as many as

fifteen and twenty in file, and a distance of from one to two hundred miles. They made camp- fires out of what, it now seems a mystery, since the prairies were almost destitute of trees. They cooked their own food and usually slept in their wagons. The supplies they brought were smoked bacon, corn meal, flour, potatoes, and, in their season, apples and peaches. There was great advantage in several teams traveling in company. 'In seasons of heavy rains, the roads were almost impassable, and it often required a frequent doubling up of teams to extricate the wagons from a slough, into whose black, heavy mud they had settled to the hub. Then the tediousness of a long, slow journey was greatly ameliorated by the social evenings the teamsters would spend around the camp-fire, and their frugal meal, composed of fried bacon, corn dodgers, and black coffee. They all wore homespun, and made clothes of blue or butternut colored jeans. With all of their uncouthness and illiteracy, they were an honest people, and they were certainly bene- factors to the new settlers who had to build their log cabins, plow, sow and reap before they could become self-supporting. These efforts were often retarded months by prostrating fevers, which not unfrequently incapacitated, in turn, or at the same time, every member of

56B

BIOGRAPHICAL:

a family. The habits of industry and of fru- gality that were prominent factors in the boy- hood training of Mr. Safford, shaped his useful and successful career as a man. His opportu- nities for an early education were limited to a public country school, which was a crude af- fair as compared with the country schools of the present time. Mr. Safford's mother had a great desire that her children should be well edu- cated, and there was no sacrifice among the many she was called upon to make which she made more cheerfully than when she could provide good books for them, or give them op- portunities for study. She used to stimulate them to read, by reading to and with them and she used to talk with them about the lives of the great and good benefactors of the world. And in every way she strove to incite them to seek after such knowledge as would enable them to do more for themselves and for others. When Mr. Safford was about eighteen years of age, he expressd a desire to study law, and the noble mother, ever on the alert to gratify every worthy aspiration of her children. made the way clear for him to follow out his inclination. He went to Joliet, Ill., and studied in the office of his cousin, William A. Boardman, Esq., at that time a prominent lawyer of that town. He proved a very apt student and gave promise of a brilliant career in the profession. But when he put the knowledge he acquired to a test, he found the practical application of it very distasteful to him, and he very soon abandoned the practice of law to enter upon mercantile pursuits. In this line of business he was very successful. First, because he gave to it his undivided attention, and second, be- cause he was sincere and truthful; and third because he was genial and courteous to all with whom he came in contact. After doing business for several years in Joliet, he went to St. Louis, Mo., where he continued in trade for five or six years. While living in St. Louis, a very severe scourge of cholera was visited upon

the city. While some of his associates in busi- ness were carried off by it, he did not abandon his post, nor shrink from giving aid to those who were attacked by it. He always felt that his immunity from the disease was largely due to the fact that he had no fear of it ; he did not deviate from his regular habits and kept his mind constantly occupied. But during his resi- dence in St. Louis, he was brought to the verge of death by an attack of small pox; he attrib- uted his recovery to the considerate, tender care that was given him by friends. In 1854, a bank was established in Shawneetown, Ill., and he was appointed cashier of it. The only communication that Shawneetown had with the outside world, at that time, was by boats that ran upon the Ohio River. It not unfrequently happened that runs were made upon the bank, and at most unpropitious times, when the Ohio was at low water, and communication in conse- quence obstructed for days and sometimes even for weeks, by boats getting stranded on sand bars. It was upon such an occasion as this that a carpet-bagger made his appearance, and demanded the redemption of several thousand dollars of the bank's paper.

Specie had been sent for and was expected on a boat that was stranded, and in order to gain as much time as possible, the money was counted out in the smallest coin, from 10 cents upward, that the bank had on deposit. So much time was consumed in the counting of it that before the man left with his weighty load the boat arrived with re-enforcements that made the bank secure against a repeated run on it. There were some very primitive expe. riences connected with banking in that section of the country at that time. There was a man in the neighborhood who had accumulated something of a competency. He could not read nor write, and he had great distrust of those who could. He said he did not yant his sons to go to school, for if they were educated they might become great rascals. H xept his

56c

CAIRO.

money buried, but he lived in constant fear lest some one would find it. One day he came to the bank and asked to see Mr. Safford, and with great secresy divulged to him the nature of his errand. He wanted to know if he might, after unearthing his money, bring it and deposit it in the safe. He came and deposited it in install- ments, slung in bags across his saddle. He want- ed it all counted, but he did not want any writ- ing to show the amount on deposit. Shawnee- town was a border town between the North and South. The inhabitants were largely composed of Kentuckians, Tennesseans and Missouri- ans. Although there was a public school fund, there had never been a public school in the town. The one log schoolhouse it once had was burned to celebrate the victory of Gen. Jackson in New Orleans, and none had ever been built to replace it. Mr. Safford immediately went to work to get the public school funds in available shape. A public school was opened by Mr. Safford's sister in the Presbyterian Church. There was considerable opposition to it, and it was called the "Safford Ragged School." But it increased from six pupils the first week, to fifty the first month, and to the ingathering of all the children within a few months. Mr. Safford advanced the money to build a schoolhouse, and from that time to this Shawneetown has had as good public schools as are to be found elsewhere in the State. In 1858, the bank was removed from Shawneetown to Cairo, Ill., and Mr. Safford was still retained as its Cashier. When the civil war was inau- gurated, Cairo sprang at once into importance ; soldiers poured in from East and West ; every available building was seized upon for military purposes. Hospitals increased from one to many, and the din of battle was soon heard. The first engagement occurred at Belmont, twelve 'miles distant. All day cannonading was het l, and the excitement and anxiety was intense ? nong those who watched and waited. Gen. Gr t was stationed at Cairo at this time,

and commanded at the attack upon Belmont. A confidence and friendship sprang up between Gen. Grant and Mr. Safford that lasted until the latter's death. He was one of the first to appreciate the skill and predict the future brill- iant career of Gen. Grant. Even before the battle of Belmont, he wrote to his brother, then living on the Pacific coast, that if such a man as Grant could be put at the head of the army the success of the Union arms would be se- cured. While Mr. Safford did not take an act- ive part in the war, the great and innumerable services he rendered those who did will never be forgotten as long as memory lasts in regard to those trying and eventful times. Mr. Saf- ford was possessed of a judgment so candid, and of a mind so comprehensive, that his coun- sel was often sought after by those in respons- ible official positions, and his pecuniary aid was called into requisition from the highest to the lowest in command and service. Mr. Safford always responded so readily and generously, and withal so quietly, to calls for help that those most closely associated with him knew nothing of the amounts in money that he gave and advanced to soldiers. And it was not un- til after his death that unpaid notes revealed all that he had advanced to them and their families. It was said of Mr. Safford, that if any one asked a favor of him that he could not grant, that his refusal was so courteous that the man went away feeling almost as happy as if his request had been granted. As the war ad- vanced, the opportunities were often very great to take advantage of some speculation that had the prospect of great gain in it. But Mr. Saf- ford, when approached by those who were eager to have his clear-sighted business judgment brought to bear upon a scheme of such prom- ise, was often heard to say, "No, it shall never be said of me, whether my country wins or loses, that I speculated upon her misfortunes. What I make shall be done upon an open- handed, unswerving business basis." It will

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.

History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 81

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