History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 93

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 93
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 93
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 93

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).

125

COBDEN PRECINCT.

two years, when he sold his interest to Biddle and returned to his farm in Illinois, which he sold in 1881, and in March the following year he opened up at Cobden his present fine line of general merchandise and groceries, and has been very successful. The only losses he has sustained was by robbers. He lost an entire crop by frost. He enlisted in 1863 in an Illi- nois infantry company, and was soon dis- charged on account of illness. He was mar- ried a second time to Ray Rendleman, daughter of John Rendleman, of Anna, and the result has been two children-Olive M. and Clyde. He votes the Democratic ticket. The names of his brothers and sisters were William, Ann, Elizabeth, Eveline, Jane, Samuel, Sarah and Mary.

GEORGE W. FERRILL, farmer, and fruit raiser, P. O. Cobden. The ancestry of our subject can be traced back only to John F. Ferrill, who was born in North Carolina about Christmas, 1767, and died in October, 1849. He was an orphan child, and during the Revo- lutionary war lost sight of his relatives, so knew nothing of his ancestry. About 1804, he moved to Tennessee, and died at the old homestead in Steward County. His son Thomas, the father of our subject, was born in North Carolina June 12, 1795, and was married in Tennessee to Elizabeth Anderson, who was born in that State September 28, 1803. In December, 1819, they moved to this county, and settled on the farm now owned by Cor- nelius Anderson. In the spring of 1838, they moved to Toledo, in this precinct, where he kept the post office for a number of years, and where he died August 6, 1849. After his death, his widow was appointed Postmistress, and our subject attended to the business for her. His occupation was that of farmer, but he served as Constable for some time, also as Deputy Sheriff, and was one of the Commis- sioners of the county for many years. Mrs. Ferrill still lives on the old homestead at

Toledo. They were the parents of eleven children, nine of whom are still living. Our subject is the oldest of the family. His early life was spent in helping to improve the farm. His opportunities for an education were of the most limited kind, the schoolhouses being of the rudest sort. However, he continued to apply himself till he became an excellent pen- man, and till he could teach school, which occupation he followed for some time. From 1846 till 1869, he was Elder of the Toledo Christian Church, but, in 1869, his health broke down and he quit the ministry. His support, however, he has always obtained from the farm. In 1842, he settled on a farm in Section 18, and remained there till January, 1857, when he came to his present home, and has resided here since. For three years from July, 1877, till October, 1880, he superintended the Grange mill at Cobden. March 6, 1842, he was married, in this county, to Matilda Zimmerman. She was born in the county May 6, 1824, to Jacob and Catherine (Rhoades) Zimmerman. They were both natives of Ken- tucky, he born September 12, 1802, she Sep- tember 6, 1792. He died February 12, 1859, and she some years afterward. He was one of the oldest settlers in the county, living here almost all his life, and for one term was a member of the Illinois State Legislature. Of the family of seven girls and two boys, only two are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Ferrill have six children, four sons and two daughters -- Lucetta (Griffith), Marinda (Griffith), John J., Thomas J., Otis J. and Albert W. The two daughters married brothers. In politics, Mr. Ferrill is Democratic.

J. D. FLY, farmer, P. O. Makanda, was born in Davidson County, Tenn., December 12, 1812, to Jesse and Delana Fly, both of whom were born in North Carolina, but when small moved to Davidson County, Tenn., with parents. They were married in Tennessee and resided there till after their children were all born, but

126

BIOGRAPHICAL:

when our subject was but a lad they moved to Wayne County, Ill. They were the parents of nine children, five of whom are still living. They moved to this county in 1848, and died here. Our subject received his education in Tennessee and Wayne County, Ill. His occu- pation has always been that of farming. Sep- tember 27, 1829, he was married in Wayne County, to Sarah McCracken. She was born in Kentucky January 15, 1813, to Samuel and Nancy McCracken. He was born in Pennsyl- vania, but his parents moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina and from North Craolina to Kentucky. They were from Ireland. When Mrs. Fly was but a small girl her parents moved to Wayne County, Ill., and her father took an active part in opposing slavery in this State. They were the parents of a large family of whom Mrs. F. is the youngest, and the only one living. Mr. and Mrs. F. have three children living-M. L., W. R. and Martha Jane ; also seven dead. Our subject came to this county from Wayne in 1846. His farm consists of 160 acres, eighty of which he bought from the Government. All the farm was then woods ; now he has about 100 acres in a good state of cultivation ; grain and stock receive most of his attention, but he also raises some fruits. In religion, he is a member of the Christian order. In politics, Democratic. The early members of our subject's family were from England and Wales, but several generations back. The father of our subject was in the battle of New Orleans with Gen. Jackson. Mrs. Fly's father was a Revolutionary soldier, and two of her brothers were in the war of 1812, and in the Horseshoe battle.

V. M. FOLEY, farmer. P. O. Cobden, was born in Warren County, Ky., August 23, 1843, to Leroy M. and Caroline (Ellis) Foley. He was born in Warren County, Ky., May 12, 1822. She was born and raised in Virginia. They are now living in this county. When our subject was small, his parents moved to

Cape Girardeau County, Mo., and resided there till September, 1861. Then, on account of the war troubles, he had to leave, receiving such notice from some of the confederates. So he moved to this county with what he could haul in a wagon with two horses. His occupation has always been that of farming. They are the parents of two children, our subject and his sister, Eliza Castleberry, of Jackson County. Three sons, however, died when young. Our subject never had the opportunities of attend- ing the free schools, and attended but poor subscription schools. Before leaving Missouri, there were great inducements offered him to join the Southern army, most of his associates entering that army, and perhaps he might have done so, not knowing the cause of the war or what secession was, but his father was too strong a Union man, and influenced him in the right direction. August 11, 1862, he enlisted from this county in Company E, Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Capt. J. P. Reese, Col. Dollins. He served till mustered out August 5; 1865. He was in many of the lead- ing engagements, such as Jackson, Miss., Vicksburg, where Col. Dollins was killed, on the Red River expedition, at Spanish Fort, etc .; also at Guntown, Miss., where about one- half the regiment was lost ; also at Nashville, where Hood and Thomas were engaged. Mr. Foley is now a pensioner of the Government for injury sustained at Guntown, Miss. By forced marches, he was over-heated, and after going into the engagement the heat overcame him and he had to be carried from the field, but not until he had fired about forty rounds of cartridges. After returning from the army. he settled on his present farm, and has re- mained there since. September 17, 1865, he was married to Emily Anderson. She was born in this county to Cornelius and Elizabeth Anderson. The mother died during the war ; the father is still living in the county, and is one of the old settlers, coming from Tennessee.

127

COBDEN PRECINCT

Mr. and Mrs. Foley have seven children-Ollie, Ella, Oran, Frank, Charles, Leroy and Harvey. For eight years after coming from the service, he followed house carpentering ; then com- menced farming, and has been engaged in gen- eral farming and fruit-raising since. He has 120 acres of land, about seventy being im- proved. He and wife are members of the Christian Church. In politics, he is Repub- liean, and is serving a term as Justice of the Peace. Mr. Foley has always done all he could for the advancement of morals and against the liquor traffic in his vicinity.

JAMES FOWLEY, merchant, is the son of Peter and Catharine Fowley, and was born in Canada in 1841 ; was married in 1860 to Mary Rendleman. Several years ago he entered the mercantile business at Cobden which has in- creased from the beginning until it ranks among the best business room in the country. The old days of the plow and scythe have passed away, the genius of the inventer has been at work, and in no branch of industry has there been greater strides than in the man- ufacture of agricultural implements. Indeed, without them it would be impossible to culti- vate the broad acres of our Western prairies, and farming to a profit would be an utter fail- ure. In this particular line of business, we find in the village of Cobden, several dealers. The leading man engaged in the retail of farm- ing machinery, however, is Mr. James Fowley. In addition to his large stock of dry goods, notions and farming implements, he is handling Woodsum Machine Company Engines ; Minne- sota Chief separator and Stillwater engine ; Gaar, Scott & Co. engines, threshers and saw mills, Heilman & Co. engines, threshers and saw mills ; Vinton Iron Works saw mills ; Vic- tor clover huller ; Harris Machine Company engines and threshers ; Climax mower, reaper and self-rake ; Reliance harvester with Apple- by binder ; Thomas & Son sulky rake ; among the many plows we notice B. F. Avery & Son's

sulky and walking plows; D. B. Buford & Co.'s sulky and walking plows and cultivators ; Heilman & Co., Sparta & Roulker Plow Com- pany's plows, and Oliver chilled plows and Cassady sulky rake. He has also in the line of sundries, sorghum mills and evapo- rators, Neff wagons, grain drills, repairs for engines and separators, cylinder and concave teeth, belts, packing and oils, repairs for Nichols & Shepard vibrators, sewing machines, paints, and general merchandise, all of which he sells at small margins.

D. GOW, fruit and vegetable grower, P. O. Cobden. Among the many men who have done much to develop the resources of this county in its fruit and vegetable industries, none have done more than the subject of this sketch, not only in advancing new theories, but by putting these theories, which originated in his brain, into profitable practice. He was born in the county of Midlothian, Scotland, eleven miles east of Edinburgh, February 15, 1825, to D. and Margaret (Black) Gow. They were both born in the near neighborhood, and died in the same county. She died in 1832 of cholera ; he in 1876, at the age of eighty-three years. He was twice married. By the first wife, the mother of our subject, there were three sons and one daughter, and by the second mar- riage two sons and two daughters. His occu- pation was always that of a fruit-raiser, and till after his family by first wife was nearly grown he only had ten acres of land to culti- vate, but afterward procured nine acres more, and still later twenty-one acres additional, so at the time of his death he was cultivating forty acres. His main crop was that of straw- berries, and for years he was the largest pro- ducer of strawberries in Scotland. For sixty years previous to his death, he had lived on the same place as a tenant of the Earl of Stair. So our subject was reared in a garden, and received instruction which has not only been useful to himself, but to all who come in con-

128

BIOGRAPHICAL:

tact with him who are interested in the same business. He received his education in the common schools of his native land, and for one year read law in the city of Edinburgh, but not liking the profession he gave it up and re- turned to the farm. In 1850, he accompanied his brother John to America, but did not expect to stay only for a short time. During the remainder of the year 1850, he worked at the carpenter's bench, and by that time his business prospects in the old country changed, so he decided to remain in this country. So he and his brother engaged in the fruit culture in New Jersey in 1851. In the winter of 1855- 56, he came to this county, but his brother still remained in New Jersey and bought a farm near the one they had been renting, paying $3,000 for it. In a few years, he sold the farm to the railroad company for $40,000 ; then bought another near Wilmington, Del., and there died. In 1856, our subject embarked in the vegetable business in Anna. He boarded in Jonesboro, but had his hot-beds in Anna, near the present residence of Mr. Lufkin. These hot-beds were, indeed, curiosities, for the like had never been known in Union County, and to see plants growing there when the ground was covered with snow was wonderful. That year Mr. Gow experimented on different products to see which was best adapted, and which could be grown to best advantage. Tomatoes proved to be the most profitable. The first that he shipped, and probably the first ever sent from the county, was June 8, 1856, and sold at $1 per dozen in Chicago. But a difficulty arose, for there were no fruit commission houses then in Chicago to ship to ; but to obviate this trouble, Mr. Gow taught his men when and how to gather, pack and ship, and he went to Chicago to attend to the selling himself. Mr. Drake, of the Grand Pacific, was then steward in the Tremont House, and was Mr. G.'s best customer. During his second year as a shipper to Chicago, a discussion arose

in some of the papers about his lettuce. One called it Democratic lettuce, thinking that no other kind could be grown in Southern Illinois, but a friend of Mr. Gow contradicted the state- ment in another paper, so to settle it they wrote to our subject to find out which was right. Of course he sustained the contradie- tion. During the shipping season of 1857, he had his private express car run from Anna to Chicago by passenger train, for which he paid $90 per car, including free pass for his agent in charge of it. He continued in business at Anna for three seasons, then came to Cobden, and, in the fall of 1858, was appointed express agent. In 1859, out of his own means, he built the present freight house here, on a guar- antee that the railroad would make Cobden a regular station instead of a flag station, and that they should pay him back the money expended in building the depot in two years without interest. Mr. Gow was the first sta- tion agent at Cobden. He continued for about one year, then bought his present farm in 1861, and has made it his home since. During the war of the rebellion, he was Deputy Provost Marshal in this district. Our subjeet not only introduced vegetable growing in this county, but was also the first to use fertilizers, and did the first underground draining in the county. In 1856, he presented the first ear-load of stable manure ever presented to the Illinois Central Railroad for shipment. This car-load was taken up from the mines at Duquoin, and dumped into a car and brought to Anna. He then procured manure from the stables at Cairo till they began in the vegetable business, and kept it all at home. He then again re- ceived it from Duquoin, but soon that failed for like reason, so he had to think of some other plan, and that is this : He has made arrangements with the railroad companies to carry the manure at three-fourths cents per ton per mile, and in this way can procure an inex- haustible supply from St. Louis, and within the

129

COBDEN PRECINCT.

past six months has brought to this station about fifty car-loads of splendid stable manure, eighteen of which have been applied on his own farm. An ordinance has been passed by the authorities of St. Louis to permit our sub- ject to build a spur to the railroad track of sufficient length to hold five cars on which he can load the manure. This ability to obtain an abundant supply of stable manure from highly-fed animals at so cheap a rate, costing only about 60 cents per two-horse load at Cobden Station, may be regarded as the crown- ing effort of his indefatigable energy, and is certainly the source of greater prosperity to fruit and vegetable growers than has yet been devised. Mr. Gow was the originator of the present system of shipping together at car-load rates to Chicago, and the first rates of $50 per car were made to him individually on tomatoes. He was also one of the prime movers in organizing the present system of shipping in refrigerator cars.

NATHANIEL GREEN, merchant, Cobden, was born April 8, 1856, in Union County, Ill. His father, David, was born in North Carolina, and his mother, Elizabeth (Smith) Green, was a native of Missouri. The parents settled in what is now Union County in 1805, or rather the Green family settled then. The father erected the first store within the neighborhood of Cobden at what was known as Green's Cross- ing. He afterward, in partnership with one of his sons, transferred this store to the limits of Cobden, where he continued the business for some time. He died in 1877. The mother died in 1878, after having blessed Mr. Green with thirteen children, six of whom are living -Francis, Mary A., S. R., Walter G., Willis and Nathaniel. Our subject attended school at Cobden during his younger days, and clerked in his father's store. When reaching his ma- jority, he began for himself, taking charge of a large stock of goods, which he has increased, making it one of the best lines in the town.

He gives his personal attention to both the buying and selling, and consequently is suc- cessful. He has a general line of dry goods, notions, etc. He was married in 1879 to Mary Barker, a daughter of E. B. Barker, a resident of this precinct. The result of this union is two children-Emery D. and Bertha E. He owns a farm of 180 acres in this and Anna townships. He votes the Democratic ticket.

HOLLADY & DUNCAN, millers, Cobden. V. R. Hollady was born January 20, 1850, in Tennessee ; is a son of J. J. and Nancy C. (Hines) Hollady, natives of Tennessee and settlers of Union County in 1860. They were the parents of eight children. Our subject at- tended school in the log cabin. In 1875, he left home and engaged in a saw mill in Jack- son County, Ill. In 1882, he engaged in the present business. Was married in 1874 to Mary I. Odum, a native of Williamson County, this State. The result has been Charles and Clint. He is a member of the A., F. & A. M. and K. of H .; votes the Democratic ticket. R. B. Duncan is a native of Williamson Coun- ty, Ill., where he was born May 4, 1850. His parents, Dudley and Rebecca (Spiller) Duncan, were natives of Tennessee, and settled in Will- iamson County very early. The grandfather Duncan owned the land where Bainbridge now lies, in said county. The parents were mem- bers of the Christian Church. Our subject had but little chance of school, his parents having died when he was very small. When fourteen years old, he went to Marshall County, Kan., to live with his oldest brother, W. B., who now lives in California. The home of his brother was then located on the old and well-known stage route, "St. Jo and San Francisco." This route was considered very dangerous, as many robbers and murderers occupied these wild re- gions. Young Duncan at the age of seventeen began learning the milling and millwright bus- iness, which he mastered very quickly, and soon became an expert as a mechanic, making

130

BIOGRAPHICAL:

his services desirable over a wide scope of country. After closing his labors with a man by the name of Davis, of Toronto, Kan., he at- tended a commercial school at St. Jo, Mo., where he gradnated in the Bryant & Stratton system. In 1870, he rented a mill at Spillers- town, Ill., for one year, and, in partnership with Dorris, buying the mill; they moved it to Frankfort, Franklin Co., Ill., and operated the same successfully for one year, when Mr. Duncan withdrew and traveled for awhile in the Western country in the interests of some manufacturing establishments. In 1875, lie married Alice, a daughter of Judge Prickett, of Carbondale, and at said village worked for some time in a grist mill, in connection with his trade, that of millwright. In 1882, he and Mr. Hollady put up the present mill at Cobden. They have new machinery, both stones and iron rollers for grinding. They make a special- ty of custom work, and of course court the people by making good flour, the best in this part of the country. His wife died in March, 1880, leaving one child-Ralph. He subse- quently married Mollie Prindle, of Indianapolis. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. of Nashville. His wife is a Baptist. He is a stanch Repub- lican.

L. T. HARDIN, farmer, P. O. Cobden, was born in Limestone County, Ala., December 9, 1828, to Erasmus and Abashaba (Hodges) Hardin. Erasmus Hardin was born near Augusta, Ga., in 1785, died on the present farm of our subject in 1859. Abashaba Hodges was born in Tennessee, and died in this county in 1857. They were the parents of ten children, four of whom are still living. By a previous marriage he had two children, one of whom is now living in Texas. His occupation was that of a farmer. He was engaged in the Indian war in Florida, with the Seminoles. In 1830, they moved to Union County, and made it their home until time of death. Our subject remained on the farm until he was twenty-one

years of age, then sowed his wild oats. In 1853, he went to'California, where he remained for two years, then sold out and went to Texas, and began in stock-raising ; with the exception of one or two visits home, he remained in Texas until 1860, and then war troubles began in Texas. He and his brother James had in partnership a herd of about 300 cattle, besides horses, but they lost all through the war. April 3, 1861, he was married in this county to Elizabeth Ferrill, daughter of Henry and Polly Ferrill ; they were natives of Tennessee ; Mr. Ferrill died in this county ; his widow is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Hardin have ten children, all living but one-Lucetta (de- ceased), Olive, A. J., Mary, Charles, Emma, Ellen, L. T., Laura and Herbert S. Mr. Har- din's farm contains 160 acres, about 100 of which are in cultivation ; on this he does general farming, and meets with deserving success. He and wife are members of the Christian order. In politics, he favors the Democratic party.

JOHN F. HOFFMAN, farmer and fruit- grower, was born in Augusta, Ga., December 12, 1842, to Charles F. and Charlotta (Gunther) Hoffman. They were natives of Baltimore. Our subject's grandfather Hoffman, however, came from Hanover to America, and settled in Baltimore. Mr. Charles F. Hoffman was en- gaged in the millinery and dry goods business at Baltimore, but his health failing, he desired a warmer climate so moved to Augusta, Ga., where our subject was born. In 1849, he moved to New Orleans and was book-keeper for an English cotton commission house. He only lived for about eight years after moving to New Orleans. His widow still resides in the suburbs of that city, and is seventy-four years old. They were the parents of eight children, five of whom are now living, two sons and three daughters, our subject and Charles F. being the sons. Charles F. is in the banking business in New Orleans, also agent for Brown Bros. & Co., of New York. One daughter,

131

COBDEN PRECINCT.

Mrs. Rosalie Avery, is in Nebraska. The other two daughters are in New Orleans-one Mrs. W. Bourdette, whose son is eashier in above bank ; and a maiden daughter at home. One subject was educated in the high schools of the city of New Orleans, and after leaving school he began clerking in the house of Samuel Nicholson & Co. He afterward engaged in the exchange brokerage business. Mr. Hoff- man was in the city of New Orleans at the time of its capture, but left immediately after for New York, where he had a position offered him with the same house for which he had been at work in New Orleans. He remained in New York for three years and then returned to New Orleans and remained there until 1869, when, his health failing, he desired more of an out- door life. A friend gave him a letter of intro- duction to Daniel Davie, of this county. Mr. H. came here and liking the country decided to remain, so the first year he stayed with Mr. E. N. Clark, and learned more of the fruit busi- ness, and in 1870 bought his present farm of eighty acres, and has been engaged in farming and fruit-raising since. On his farm he has a peach orchard of fifteen acres, an apple or- chard of twelve acres, besides small fruits, and also meadow land. The West Fork of Drewery Creek flows through his farm, and when he came to it there were undrained flats, causing malaria; but these he has drained and made into meadow land, and thereby made them profita- ble and added to the healthfulness. He has found that the climate has had the desired effect on his health. On his farm he has splen- did springs of running water, and also has found outcroppings of black marble. In 1874, he was married in this county to Miss Ellen Tweedy, daughter of James M. Tweedy (see sketch, Alto Pass Precinct). The result of this union was four children, three of whom are now living-Carrie, Charles T. and Maggie. She died in March, 1881, and August 31, 1882, he was again married to Miss Nora A. Smith.

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 93

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