History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 83

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 83
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 83
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 83

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).

S. D. CASPER, farmer, P. O. Anna, is a

native of Union County, Ill., born June 25, 1858, to Peter H. and Elizabeth (Henderson) Casper. He was born in Union County in 1822, and was here raised on a farm and educated in the subscription schools of his day. He first left his home to enter the Mexican war, and served in it to its close, when he returned to Union and engaged in farming and fruit grow- ing to the time of his death, which occurred December 2, 1878. His wife (subject's mother), was born in Tennessee December 29, 1828, and was brought to Union County by her parents in 1837. She is the mother of the following children : Walter J., America J., S. D., Addie L., Lincoln L., John R. and Oscar. Our sub- ject spent his early life at home, assisting to till the soil of his father's farm, and receiving such an education as could be obtained in the common schools. At nineteen years of age, he took the management of his father's farm. and is now the owner of about ninety acres of good land. His farm and its general surroundings show the marks of a good agriculturist and an enterprising man.

H. M. DETRICH, Steward of the South Illi- nois Insane Asylum, Anna, is a native of Sparta, Randolph Co., Ill. He was born April 29, 1856, to J. E. and Lydia (Wise) Detrich. He was born in Pennsylvania, where he re- ceived a common school education and a knowledge of the German language ; he learned the printer's trade in Pennsylvania in 1832. He came to Illinois and located in Randolph County, where he worked at his trade for some time, and later became the editor and proprietor of the Columbus Herald. After two years, he engaged in the mercantile business, at Sparta (formally Columbus). He was elected Repre- sentative of Randolph County, and afterward was elected Senator of his district. After the expiration of his Senatorial term, he again en- gaged in the mercantile business, and while thus engaged was appointed Internal Revenue Collector. At the breaking-out of the late rebell-

BIOGRAPHICAL:

ion, he raised a company of men, known as Com- pany K, of the Twenty-second Illinois Regi- ment Volunteers, and was appointed Captain of the company. He served three years and was engaged in many battles. He was mustered out of the service on account of poor health ; he returned to Randolph County and again en- gaged in mercantile pursuits. Under Gen. Grant's first administration, he was again ap- pointed Internal Revenue Collector, which posi- tion he held for several years, and in connection with his official duties engaged in real estate. He was appointed Trustee of the Southern Illi- nois Insane Asylum, and elected President of the board. In 1882, he was appointed to a position in the Pension Department at Wash- ington, D. C., in which he is now engaged. He has been married three times ; his first wife was a Miss Shannon, who bore him two children - Robert and Fred; the former is now Deputy Clerk of Randolph County, and the latter a druggist of Alton, Ill. His second wife was Lydia Wise, the mother of our subject, and Don E., who is State's Attorney of Randolph County, Ill. He was married a third time to Mrs. S. A. Jacobs. Harry M. Detrich was edu- cated in the high schools of Sparta, Ill., and in early life learned the printing and newspaper business ; he worked at the same in this State, also in Colorado. In the spring of 1878, he was appointed Clerk of the Southern Illinois Insane Asylum, and after one year was promoted to the position of Steward by Dr. H. Wardner, which office he now holds. Mr. Detrich was married at Anna, Ill., October 19, 1881, to Miss Anna M. Hay, a native of Illinois. They have been blessed with one child, Burke H., born July 7, 1882. Mr. Detrich is an active mem- ber of the order K. of H., Anna Lodge, No. 1892. In politics, he is a Republican, and in 1880 he stumped this Congressional District for James A. Garfield.

JAMES DEWITT, blacksmith, Anna. This gentleman is a native of Union County,

born November 9, 1844. His father, John Dewitt, was born in Virginia, where he was only partly raised, when he was removed to Kentucky by his parents. He was a farmer by occupation, and engaged in the same until the breaking-out of the late war, when he en- tered it ; was wounded at Fort Donelson, and died at the St. Louis Hospital from its effects ; also sunstroke; it occurred in June, 1863. His parents were natives of Virginia, and of French descent. Margaret (Cruse) Dewitt, (subject's mother), was born in North Carolina, and came to Union County with her parents who settled south of Jonesboro. She died in 1873, aged forty-six years. She was the mother of six children, of whom the following four are now living : Martha, wife of Henry Douglass, a farmer of Jonesboro Precinct ; Mary, wife of Eli Douglass, a blacksmith of Alexander County; Laura, wife of E. C. English, a cooper of Jonesboro, and James, our subject, who was the fourth child ; he was raised on the farm, and educated in the com- mon schools ; at twenty-one years of age, he left his home and apprenticed himself to Eli Douglass to learn the blacksmith's trade, and remained with him for about three years ; when he came to Anna, and opened a shop on his own account. He is now engaged in the same business in partnership with William W. Stokes, and besides doing a general blacksmith- ing business, they carry a large and complete stock of farm wagons, road buggies, also a large assortment of plows, cultivators, harrows, and in fact a general line of agricultural imple- ments. Mr. Dewitt was married in 1869, to Miss Laura A. Walker, a native of Union County, and a daughter of Hiram Jay and Nancy (Hargrave) Walker. This union has been blessed with the following children : Es- tella and Mamie. Mr. Dewitt is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Knights and Ladies of Honor, and the I. O. O. F.

PETER DILLOW, farmer, P. O. Anna. The

ANNA PRECINCT.

subject of the following sketch descended from a long line of ancestors, all tillers of the soil, and has spent nearly the whole of his active life as a farmer, and now enjoys that respect, confidence and affection of his fellow-citizens which a useful and upright life can permanently secure. He was born February 28, 1820, in Union County, Ill., and is the son of Samuel and Margaret (Lingle) Dillow, natives of North Carolina and residents of this county. While yet single, the father settled with his father, Jacob Dillow, near Cobden. He is deceased. The mother of our subject survives, with him, at the ripe old age of ninety years. She is the mother of five children ; the subject only sur- vives. Peter's educational advantages were such as only a district school afforded, and were lim- ited at that, the entire amount not being more than one year. He was subjected to the com- mand of his father to attend the duties of farmer life until having reached his majority, when he set out for himself, marrying at that age Mahulda Treece, a daughter of Alexander Treece, the result of which union is ten chil- dren, all of whom survive, viz., Calvin, Wal- ter, James, Nelson, Columbus, Sydney, Mansena, Alice, Frances, Dora. Immediately after his mar- riage, he located on a tract of land yet in his pos- session, and in real earnest set about the busi- ness of taming the wilderness, which, under his strong hand, guided by his consummate skill and taste, has long since been made to " rejoice and blossom as the rose ;" he is one of the most successful and dexterous farmers in his neigh- borhood, and is the artificer of his own fortune of 400 acres of finely improved land. He has long since laid aside the wooden mold-board plow, and has at his command the modern im- plements for tilling the soil. Although he had but little chance for education, yet he has given his family of children every advantage he rea- sonably could. He votes the Democratic ticket. The family attend the Presbyterian Church.

HORACE T. EASTMAN, farmer and dairy-

man, P. O. Anna, Anna Township. The sub- ject of this sketch stands prominent among the leading farmers of Union County, and justly merits a most honorable mention. He was born in Orleans County, N. Y., October 27, 1820, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Tanner) Eastman. The former was born in Vermont in 1793, and was there brought up on a farm and educated. At the age of nineteen years, he enlisted in the war of 1812, partici- pating in the battles of Plattsburg and Bur- lington, under Gen. Dearborn, serving his coun- try about two years. After the war was over, he learned the carpenter's'trade, which he fol- lowed during his life. In 1819, he removed to Orleans County, N. Y., and in 1835 to Ohio, lo- cating at Sandusky. He came to Illinois in 1857, and settled in Union County, and died in Anna in 1858. 'He was of English descent, and a son of Samuel H. Eastman, who was a native of Rhode Island, a soldier of the Rev- olutionary war, and who died at Sandusky, Ohio. He was a son of Ichabod Eastman, of Rhode Island, and also a soldier in the war of the Rev- olution. The mother of our subject was born in Vermont in 1799, and died in Michigan in 1826. She was a daughter of Josiah Tanner, a native of Massachusetts. His father, with his seven brothers, were in the United States service during the Revolutionary war. The parents of our subject had two children, he be- ing the eldest, and the only one surviving. He was raised mostly in Ohio, and was educated in the common schools of that State. At the age of seventeen years, he left his home and commenced business for himself. He worked for other parties and also with his father at the carpenter's trade, becoming an efficient mechanic. In 1845, he engaged with the San- dusky, Dayton & Cincinnati Railroad Company, and remained with them for eleven years, five years as a journeyman carpenter, and car builder, and nearly six years as master car- penter. Upon leaving the employ of the

BIOGRAPHICAL :

company, he was presented by the President and other officials with complimentary recom- mendations as to his ability as a workman, and his industry and business habits. At the time, and in connection with his duties in the railroad company, he was interested in a sash and blind factory, at Sandusky, in partnership with Samuel J. Catherman, under the firm name of Eastman & Catherman. Mr. Eastman came to Union County in December, 1856, and located at Anna, where he worked at his trade for several years. He built many of the residences and business houses of that place, including the brick mill, recently burned, also many of the finest residences and barns through- out the county. In 1861, he removed to his present farm, which he managed in connection with his trade, until 1880, when he gave up carpentering for the purpose of devoting his entire attention to his farm. He has 120 acres in a fine state of cultivation and well-improved. Formerly he was largely engaged in fruit-grow- ing, but is at present giving his attention al- most wholly to the dairy business, and is sup- plying with milk some of the largest hotels in Southern Illinois, among which are the Euro- pean at Anna, and the Halliday at Cairo-fur- nishing to the latter over $200 worth of milk per month. He keeps now about thirty cows. Mr. Eastman was married in 1849 to Miss Hannah L. Snow, a native of Genesee County, N. Y. She was born in February, 1828, and is a daughter of Libeas and Mercy (Smith) Snow ; her father was a native of Vermont and a marine in the war of 1812, with Com. Mc- Donough, in the battles of Plattsburg and Lake Champlain. He lived to be eighty-four years of age, and died in Michigan about the year 1865. His wife died in Holmes County, Ohio, October 18, 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman have eight children living-Julia, wife of Henry A. Walls, a farmer of Morgan County, Ill. ; Fan- ny, wife of L. N. Davis, a farmer of this coun- ty. Elmer B., Nora, Harmon, Horace G.,

Kittie and Samuel. Mr. Eastman is a Repub- lican in politics ; he is probably the largest bee-raiser in the county, and has made many improvements in hives and in bee-culture generally. On the 19th day of September, 1830, the subject of this sketch was with his father and brother on board of steamer Peacock. and when off Cattaraugus Creek, N. Y., she blew up, blowing off her forward upper works, killing, scalding and drowning over seventy people, but he escaped with a few slight burns.

M. V. EAVES, merchant, Anna, is a native of Union County, Ill., and was born five miles east of Anna, August 28, 1845, and is a son of Judge William and Martha (Williams) Eaves. They had five children, of whom our subject was the youngest. He was brought up on the farm and educated in the common schools of the county. At the age of twenty-two years, he left home and commenced the battle of life for himself; he engaged in clerking in the store of C. M. Willard, at Anna, remaining with him for about two years, when he commenced mer- chandising on his own account, but after two years went back to his former employer, and after two years more engaged in trading in live stock and grain, and in April, 1878, en- gaged in his present business in partnership with Mr. Goodman. In 1866, he married Miss Fanny Braiznell, a native of Union County and of English parentage, a daughter of Andrew Braiznell, a native of England. They have one child living-Eva, born in Anna, July 22, 1867, and two children dead. He is a Democrat, a member of the Masonic order, and he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church.

WILLIAM MICHAEL EDDLEMAN, phy- sician, Anna. One of the old and prominent families of Union County is that of Eddleman. The grandfather of our subject, Joseph Eddle- man, was born in North Carolina in 1802, and was a son of John Eddleman, a native of Penn- sylvania, who emigrated to North Carolina at an early day. The wife of Joseph Eddleman

ANNA PRECINCT.

was Sarah Hess, a native of Illinois, and who was born in Union County in 1806. She is still living, and is the mother of thirteen children- ten boys and three girls-all of whom lived to the years of maturity. Joseph Eddleman was a prosperous farmer and died in 1856. Eli Eddleman, father of our subject, was born February 21, 1831, in Union County, and is now the owner of over 500 acres of excellent land. He was for a time engaged in milling and merchandising, but gave up the former for a number of years, and afterward engaged in the mercantile business. He was married in 1852, in this county, to Miss Mary L. Halter- man, a native of North Carolina, born Septem- ber 24, 1829, and came to Union County with her parents in 1850. She has nine children, viz .: Henry E., born September 1, 1853 ; Sarah J., born June 8, 1855, and the wife of William N. Jenkins ; John Wesley, born December 14, 1856 ; William Michael (subject), born March 22, 1858 ; Walter Allen, born January 10, 1860, deceased ; George, born September 18, 1861, deceased ; Daniel T., born February 3, 1863, deceased ; Mary Ellen, born August 26, 1865, and the wife of D. Penninger ; James Cyrus, born November 14, 1867. Mrs. Eddleman's father was Abraham Halterman, a native of North Carolina, and born in 1800. He was a farmer and carpenter, and in 1823 built the County Court House at Concord, N. C., and in 1850 came to Union County, Ill. He was a large land holder, owning some 2,500 acres of land ; he died in 1853. His father was Chris- tian Halterman, a native of Pennsylvania, but an early emigrant to North Carolina. Our sub- ject was raised on the farm until he was nine- teen years of age, and receiving during the time, the benefits of the common schools. Small events sometimes change the whole current of our lives. as the following incident in the life of Dr. Eddleman will show : In his boyhood, he took great interest in domestic matters, and particularly in the raising of poultry, so much

so that he soon relieved his mother of all care of her chickens and other fowls. So great was his devotion to his feathered charges, that if one met with the slightest accident, he nursed it, and cared for it to such an extent that the fam- ily in derision applied to him the title of " Doc- tor." This was at first somewhat embarrassing, but as he grew older the idea of making a phy sician of himself was conceived. At the age of nineteen, he entered Ewing College, at Ewing, Ill., where he remained for about five months and then returned home. In the fall of 1878 he went to Valparaiso, Ind., and there attended the Indiana Normal School, graduating from that institution in June, 1880. He had, how- ever, taken lectures at the Kentucky School of Medicine, and the Hospital College at Louis- ville, and in the fall of 1881 entered the Med- ical Departmert of the University of Tennessee, at Nashville, and after seven months, graduated, receiving his diploma February 23, 1882. In June following, he located at Anna, Ill., and en- tered upon the practice of medicine. His nat- ural ability, education, and a strong sympathy for the woes of suffering humanity, qualify him in an eminent degree for the profession he has chosen. Although he has not yet been in practice a year, he has professional charge of the County Almshouse. Dr. Eddleman is a Democrat in politics, is connected with the Lutheran Church, and is a member of the Southern Illinois Medical Association.

REV. JOHN M. FARIS, farmer, P. O. Anna, was born in Ohio County, Va., May 23, 1818, to William and Elizabeth (McDonald) Faris. The / elder Faris was a native of the same county, born in 1793 and died in 1873. He was a farmer, a soldier of the war of 1812, and home guard of the late civil war. He was a son of John Faris, a native of Ireland, who, with his father, William Faris, came to America in 1850. John served in the Revolutionary war three years. Our subject's mother was a native of Wash- ington County, Penn., born in 1797. She re-

BIOGRAPHICAL:

moved to Ohio County with her parents in 1812, and was married to William Faris (sub- ject's father) in 1817, and died in 1876. She was a daughter of Archy McDonald, a native of Scotland, who came to America at the age of twelve He was seven years in the Revolutionary war as a fifer, and played at the battle of Yorktown. Subject's parents had twelve children, of whom four are now living, viz .: Margaret, wife of Richard Carter, residing in Virginia ; Sarah J., wife of David Flock, residing in Atchison County, Mo .; Mary Ann, wife of Joseph E. Stewart, residing in Topeka, Kan., and John M., our subject, who was the oldest child. He was raised on the farm ; taught school at fourteen years of age, and at six- teen entered the Washington (Penn.) Col- lege ; graduated in 1837, and from the West- ern Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Allegheny City in 1840. He immediately commenced preaching at Barlow, Washington Co., Ohio. In 1844, he removed to Frederick- town, Knox Co., Ohio, and remained until 1855, when he became financial agent, raising funds for the Washington College. In January, 1858, he was called to first Church of Rockford, Ill., and held the same for five years, when he took the financial agency of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Chicago, and resigned the same in November, 1866, when he came to Union County and engaged in farming on his present farm. He has spent fifteen or sixteen years in the church financial work with notable success. He resigned all of his positions in the spring of 1883. In 1840, · at Allegheny City, he married Miss Anna E. Wallace, a native of Pennsylvania who has borne five children, two of whom are now liv- ing, viz .: William W., whose biography ap- pears in this work, and Sarah Anna, wife of E. R. Jennette, of Anna, Ill. Mr. Faris is a man well worthy of the high esteem in which he is held by the community in which he lives ; he has given up active life and is now residing

on his farm, enjoying the fruits of his past labors.

REV. WILLIAM W. FARIS, editor of Anna Talk, minister of Presbyterian Church, was born in Barlow, Washington Co., Ohio, August 25, 1843; passed through the high school of Fredericktown, Knox Co., Ohio, in 1855-56 ; spent the winter of 1856-57 on the farm of his grandparents in Ohio County (now West), Va .; was at Miller Academy, Washington, Guernsey Co., Ohio, during the summer of 1857, and immediately thereafter took the freshman and sophomore years at Washington College, Pennsylvania ; taught school in Winnebago County, Ill., during the winters of 1859-61, spending the one summer mostly as a farm laborer, and the other as a book-keeper in N. C. Thompson's bank, Rock- ford; went to California in August, 1861, spending most of the time until September, 1864, in teaching ; enlisted in the First Nevada Cavalry in September, 1864, and received his commission as Second Lieutenant of the same in 1865; owing to the close of the war, he was not mustered in as such. Returning East, he graduated from Chicago University in 1866, and from the Presbyterian Theological Semin- ary of the Northwest at Chicago in 1869. He was licensed in April, 1867, and ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in June, 1868. He served the church of Vermont, Ill., from 1867 to 1869, and again from 1871 to 1874, spending a few months in 1869 in charge of the Twenty-eighth Street Church, Chicago, and the interval till 1871 as pastor in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was pastor of Grace Mis- sion Church, Peoria, from 1874 to 1876; of the church in Clinton, from 1876 to 1881, and the church in Carlinville, from 1881 to 1883 ; when, finding a large family on his hands inadequate- ly provided for by strictly ministerial income , he removed, May, 1883, to Anna, under call to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in that place, and also to the Principalship (with

ANNA PRECINCT.

the Rev. C. W. Sifferd as his associate) of the Union Academy, originated by the citizens of that place, and announced to be opened in Sep- tember, 1883. With this work, he has also undertaken the conduct of a local newspaper with religious and literary features, known as The Talk, the first number of which was issued May 11, 1883. On June 22, 1868, he was mar- ried in Chicago to Isabelle Hardie Thomson, daughter of the late Thomas and Marion (Somerville) Thomson, who was born in Lin- lithgow, Scotland, in 1843. To them have been born nine children, eight of whom survive, one having died in infancy. In 1876, he was awarded by the Trustees of Dartmouth College the Fletcher prize ($500) for the best essay on worldliness among Christians, and the book was published in 1877 by Roberts Bros., Boston, under the title " The Children of Light." Further than this his literary productions have so far been confined to pamphlets and fugitive articles in Scribner's Monthly, the Independent, and other secular and religious periodicals. His political sympathies have always been with the conservative wing of the Republican party.

E. H. FINCH, livery, Anna. The subject of this sketch was born in Wayne County, N. Y., on the 14th of December, 1818. He was the son of Andrew Finch, a carpenter and builder, and a native of Connecticut, born May 27, 1781. He built some of the first houses in Lyons, N. Y. In 1834, he removed to Ridgeway, Orleans Co., N. Y., and subsequently to Medina County, Ohio, where he died on the 22d of August, 1863. His wife was Catherine Crandall, of Kinderhook, N. Y., and was born November 24, 1787, and died in Medina County, Ohio, July 20, 1869. She was the mother of twelve children, six of whom are now living. E. H. Finch, our subject, was educated in the com- mon schools of his native county, and at the age of fourteen years was apprenticed to the trade of blacksmith. He worked at the forge until 1850, and during the time was engaged

in New York, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, and in 1850 he came to the latter State, where he was employed on the Chicago, Alton & St. St. Louis and the Illinois Central Railroads, grading under contracts from the companies. He came to Anna in 1855, and engaged in the lime business with Mr. Cyrus Shick, an industry in which they are still engaged. In addition to this business, Mr. Finch owns an extensive livery stable, which he has very successfully carried on for about eighteen years ; was for a time employed in operating the People's Mills. Mr. Finch ranks among the solid, enterprising business men of the county, and one of its most honorable and respected citizens. In politics, he is a Republican, is a member of the Masonic fraternity, also of the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois Insane Asylum, and is Presi- dent of the board. He was married in 1840 in Gaines, Orleans Co., N. Y., to Miss Ange- line Gregory, a native of Greene County, N. Y. She died in 1851, leaving one child, Edgar A., now clerk at the Insane Asylum. Mr. Finch was married a second time, December 21, 1853, to Miss Sarah A. Philips, of Belleville, Ill.

A. D. FINCH, dentist, Anna, was born in Hinckley, Medina Co., Ohio, October 13, 1838, and is a son of William and Louisa Ann (Mar- quitt) Finch, natives of New York State. He was born in 1806, and was brought up on his father's farm, where his education was con- fined to the subscription schools of the period. When he reached manhood, he became a car- penter and builder, and in 1836 emigrated to Hinckley, Ohio, where he died in 1849. He was a son of Andrew Finch, a native of New York, of German descent, and a farmer and carpenter. The mother of subject was born in 1806, and died at Hinckley, Ohio, May 6, 1880. She was the mother of seven children, of whom our subject was the fifth, and is the oldest of the three now surviving, the other two being Mrs. Ellen Wait, the widow of Henry Wait, a farmer of Hinckley, Ohio, and

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History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 83

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