History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 55

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 758

USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 55
USA > Illinois > Bond County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 55

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).

ANDREW B. MERRY, farmer, P. O. Greenville, is one of the good farmers of Town 6, Range 3. He was born in Mad- ison County, this State, November 28, 1840, and was brought to this county with his parents when a babe. He was the sixth son of David Merry, who first settled in Town 6, Range 3, and came to the town- ship about the year 1848, and died in 1853, January 21. Andrew B. was then brought up under the fostering care of his mother, with whom he lived until her death, January 31, 1873. November 27, 1879, he married Ketu- rah Nevinger, born in Ohio, daughter of Dan- iel Nevinger, who came to Bond County in

ISAAC NORMAN, merchant. Greenville, was born in Parke County, Ind., February 22. 1841, son of Wesley and Elizabeth (Mc- Gelvery) Norman, he, a native of Kentucky, born in 1816, a retired farmer now living at Eureka Springs, Ark; she a native of Indi- ana: they are the parents of five children. Our subjeet began his business life as a elerk at Martinsville, Ind .; afterward at Vandalia, Ill., and later at Greenville. In 1864, at Van- dalia, Ill., he married Lydia E. Walker, daughter of Louis Walker, a jeweler of Van- dalia. Four children have been born to them -- Louis V .. Minnie R., Laverne and Roy T. Is a Methodist, a Mason and a Repub- lican. Mr. Norman is a member of the well-

GREENVILLE CITY AND PRECINCT.

known furniture firm of Gerichs & Norman, the representative firm in its lines of Bond County. The business was first organized by Mr. J. C. Gerichs in 1875. Mr. Norman has conducted the business for him from that time until 1880, and then took a half-interest in the business. Under his management they have built up a large and growing trade. Their stock is always full and complete, and the extended popularity of this firm is large- ly due to that fact and the inducements they offer their customers in the way of low prices.

S. A. PHELPS, lawyer, Greenville, was born June 2, 1817, in Otsego Co., N. Y., son of Joshua and Elizabeth (Pick) Phelps, of Con- nectient, who emigrated to the then far West, Otsego County, N. Y., in 1799. The subject was of a family of nine, being the youngest of his mother's own children. He attended the common school of Otsego County, and afterward entered Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., taking the full course, and graduating in 1538. He first commenced the practice of his profession in Mississippi, at Woodville, in 1839. and continued there until coming to Bond County in 1844. During the first twelve years he farmed near Greenville. In 1841, he married Anna Bulkley, of New York, and in 1856 came to Greenville and prac- ticed law. His wife died in 1843, and in 1845 he married her sister Caroline. Have two sons-Alfred and George; the former is a lawyer at Denver, Colo .: went out as a private in the 100-days' service in the One Hundred and Thirtieth Illinois Infantry: served three years and returned; the latter was State's Attorney of Bond County; resigned the office. and opened prac- tice in Leadville, Colo. Philo is a Presby- terian minister of Livermore, Cal .; Charles is in Chicago. The subject was a member of the Presbyterian Church. As a politician he was a Republican. He ran for the Legisla-

ture in 1862, and received a majority of 200 in his own county; Madison County turned the majority against him. From 1858 to 1865, he was one of the most active Repub- licans. During the war he was the one to de- liver stump speeches throughout Bond County on the political issues of the day. He is the oldest practicing lawyer in Greenville or Bond County; he has his office over the post office.

JAMES PLANT. deceased, was born in Dixon County, Tennessee, on the 9th day of April, 1808, and was a son of Williamson Plant, a native of North Carolina, and was a tailor by trade, and who married Frances Walts. They had five sons and five daughters, James being the second youngest. The sub- ject commenced life as a farmer, and received his education chiefly in Pocahontas, having come to this county in 1818. He was mar- ried on the 13th day of April, 1837, to Miss Angeline Chappell, a daughter of Robert Chappell, who was a native of North Caro- lina, and died in Tennessee. Angeline came here with her mother, who had seven children, four of whom are living, Angeline being the second. The subject has three children- Nancy I., now Mrs. D. F. Hunter; Sarah E. (third child), and George F., a farmer of Greenville, who was born October 28, 1845, and married on the 3d day of March, 1872, Miss Orrie A. White, a daughter of Wesley White, one of the oldest settlers in Bond County. They have three children-Oscar, Sarah J. and Hattie. The subject was a Methodist; in politics, a Democrat, and owned 160 acres of land. His first wife was Eliza- beth Watson, by whom he had three children. He died on the 22d day of March, 1850.

JOHN W. PLANT, farmer, l'. O. Green- ville, was born in Humphrey County, Tenn, March 12, 1817. He was one of a family of ten born to John and Mary (Thompson) Plant.

BIOGRAPHICAL :

John was born in South Carolina in 1785; was a farmer by occupation, and died in Ten- nessee in 1865. Mary, his wife. came to her death by being struck by lightning, in 1830; What little education our subject obtained was in the subscription schools of Tennessee. He learned the molder's trade with his brother, William Plant, in Tennessee, where, at Palmyra, July 30, 1845, he married Ann F. Williamson, who was born there in 1826. Her parents were Burwell and Evanna Will- jamson, of South Carolina. To Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Plant were born thirteen children, three of whom are dead-Robert, Mary C., Cornelia, Cave J., Samuel W., William A., Perry F., Edward, Margaret A., Laura, Mar- tha, John B and Lizzie. Mr. Plant followed his trade seventeen or eighteen years, and since then has farmed here twenty-eight years. He is a Methodist, and his political views are with the Republicans. By hard work, economy and industry, Mr. Plant now owns 662 acres of as good land as can be found in Bond County.

COL. JOHN B. REID, retired, Greenville, was born in Ireland August 8, 1830; son of James and Isabella (Barclay) Reid, who came to America in 1831, bringing a family of eight children, John B. then being only one year old. Alexander Reid, the grandfather of our subject, was a soap and tallow chandler in Ireland, and his son James, the father of our subject, learned the business of his father, but abandoned it for music, which he made the profession of his life. When he came to America, he made Nova Scotia his home for several years, and finally, in 1863, died in New Brunswick, his wife dying the year pre- vious. They left six sons and four daughters, John B. being the youngest son. He was ed- ncated partly in New Brunswick, and partly in New York, and afterward learned the shoe- makers trade, in which he continned until

1860, having come to Greenville from Boston in 1854. From 1856 to 1861, he was Post- master at Greenville, and was Clerk of the Circuit Court from 1860 to 186S. In 1862, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirti- eth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was elected Captain, but was commissioned as Major on the organization of the regiment; was afterward promoted to Lieutenant Col- onel. and later, Colonel. While in the army, he was elected to the Clerkship of the Circuit Court, and the Government be- ing appealed to, it was decided that he could hold the civil as well as the military office at the same time. He served about three years, having been wounded in the shoulder by a Minie-ball, and was taken prisoner and confined for a couple of months. when he was paroled. His wife was Miss Emma T. Holden, of Woburn, Mass. ; has five sons and five daughters; two oldest sons mar- ried and in business. Col. Reid is a mem- ber of the Baptist Church, being a Deacon in the same; is Master of Masonic Lodge, No. 245; is an Odd Fellow, an A. O. U. W., a temperance man and a Democrat.

ROBINSON & REID, general loan and in- surance agents. This enterprising business firm, composed of William E. Robinson and J. Ward Reid, is one of the most wide-awake and prosperous in its line in Bond County. In one sense, this copartnership may be said to have existed longer than any other in Bond County, as Will and Ward were both born in the same neighborhood, and in youth at- tended the same school. In 1876, they grad- uated at the Greenville High School, under Prof. Inglis. Mr. Robinson then taught school one year, and Mr. Reid entered upon a course of study at the Illinois State Uni- versity, at Champaign, and his schoolmate naturally enough came the next year. They each spent two years at Champaign, during

GREENVILLE CITY AND PRECINCT.

which time the possibilities of a bright and prosperons business future became a favorite topic for conversation and discussion between them, which talk finally led to the abandon- ment of their studies. Mr. Robinson entered the Circuit Clerk's office, at Greenville, and during his nineteen months' connection with that office, he made a business trip to Colo- rado. During this time Mr. Reid clerked in H. T. Powell's drug store, Greenville. In the fall of 1880, they entered an abstract and insurance office at Mt. Vernon, Ill., where they obtained practical ideas of their busi- ness. They formed their copartnership Sep- tember, 1881, and Mr. Reid immediately commenced work upon a set of abstract books, which are now the most complete in the county and in fact the only ones, since all others are but indexes of the county records. Much time and labor have been bestowed npon these books, and Robinson & Reid have now the only complete set of abstract books in Bond County. These valuable records en- able this firm to furnish to applicants ab- stracts of titles on much shorter notice and in less time than any others. They are also making a specialty of fire and tornado insur- ance, and represent the Liverpool, London, and Globe; Continental, of New York, Amer- ican, of Newark. N. J., the German, of Free- port, Ill., California, of San Francisco, and the Manhattan, of New York. The first men- tioned is the largest fire insurance company in the world, and the others are equally safe, and each has its desirable features for the in- surance of different classes of property. Mr. Robinson returned to Greenville in December, having. during the past summer, written up a complete set of abstracts of the records of Platte County, Neb. Since that time this young and enterprising firm have been build- ing up a business which shows the confidence

the people have in them as men of business and reliability.

JOHN RIEDLINGER, saloon - keeper, Greenville, was born in Highland, Ill., March 11, 1854; son of Martin and Margaret (Rude) Riedlinger. He was a shoemaker by trade, and died in 1873; his wife is still living. They were the parents of four boys and four girls. Our subject learned the tinner's trade with Mr. Theodore Ruger, in Highland, and afterward tended bar for Mr. Schotte, in Greenville. In Greenville, April 28, 1875, he married Miss Mary Ellen Huessey, born October 7, 1854, daughter of Jacob and Annie Hnessey, and three children have been born to them-Louis F., Lela M. and Ida A. Is a German Protestant, a member of the Mu- tual Aid Association, and a Republican. The father of Mr. Riedlinger removed from Ger many, his fatherland, to Switzerland, and from there came to America, his wife accom- panying him in his travels. He was a man much respected in his own country as well as this.

JOHN J. SMITH, deceased, was born in Harrison County, Ind., April 10, 1813; son of James and Sarah (Long) Smith, he a na- tive of Virginia, a farmer, shoemaker and blacksmith; she, a native of Kentucky. They had ten children, John J. being the eldest. The father of James, and great-grandfather of the seven sons of John J., was Edwin Smith, one of three brothers who came to America during the Revolution, as British soldiers, but Edwin's heart not being in that nnjust struggle against the weak but deter. mined colonies, he left the army of England and settled in Virginia, afterward removing to Kentucky, where he died. John J., our subject, only received a common school edu- cation, but was a well-informed man. He followed farming all his life, and was a man

BIOGRAPHICAL:

highly respected for his many qualities of mind and heart. He left each of his sons 200 acres of land, and such was his systematic methods of doing business that it cost only $225 to settle his estate. He was fifty-seven years of age when he joined the Baptist Church of Smith Grove (named for him). He was a Democrat in his political views, but always conservative in sentiment. July 15, 1840. he married Eliza Hubbard, born in Tennessee June 30, 1822, daughter of Philip and Emily (Smithwick) Hubbard, he a Bond County pioneer, and she a native of North Carolina, and eight sons were born to Mr. Smith, one of whom, David D., died from the bite of a snake in 1854; the other seven are all residing in this county, and a short sketch of each one we give as follows:

CYRUS J. SMITH, farmer, P. O, Greenville, was born January 17, 1842; is a thorough- going farmer, and has 287 acres of land, all well improved. He is a Democrat. He has been married twice; first, June 16, 1867, to Miss Catharine Watson, daughter of James Watson, a native of Tennessee. She died December 17, 1876. leaving one daughter, Annie. August 2, 1877, he married Hannah Orme, daughter of Thomas Orme, a resident 1 of this State up to the time of his death, No- vember 10, 1879, he being a native of En- gland, and emigrating to this country in 1838; was a shoemaker and farmer, and had four children, Mrs. Smith being the youngest. The others are John T., Walter L. and Law- rence E. Mrs. Smith's mother was Ann Hawksworth, of English birth.

NEWTON T. SMITH, a farmer, was born April 20, 1843. September 14, 1864, he married in Beaver Creek Precinct, Emeline Castle, who was born in Ohio February 27, 1841, daughter of John T. Castle, a farmer, and native of the State of Ohio, who came to Bond County about 1845. Mrs. Smith was the

oldest child. Mr. Smith is an enterprising farmer, and owns 227 acres of excellent land, on Section 28, Township 4, Range 5, and twenty-three acres on another section. He is a Democrat: he has seven children-William N., Arthur D., Robert M., Rhoda L., Lois L., Emeline and Lillie M.

JAMES M. SMITH, farmer, was born Decem- ber 25, 1844, and was, like his brothers, raised to a life of farming. He was married May 1, 1870, to Miss Martha Castle, daughter of John Castle, and they have one child, Grace, born in November, 1878.

J. FRANK SMITH, farmer, was born Septem- ber 26, 1854, on the old Smith homestead, in Greenville. He has 195 acres of good land, which came to him from his father's estate. February 10, 1876, he married Ellen MeCulley, a native of Bond County, born March 28, 1856, daughter of Frank McCul- ley and Mary (McCaslin) MeCulley, he a native of Tennessee. Mr. Smith has three children -- Mollie, Dora and Harry. Is a Democrat.

CHARLES C. SMITH, farmer, was born in Greenville Precinct, on the old homestead, March 28, 1857, and was married March 10. 1878, to Miss Anna M. Goad, born April 16, 1860, daughter of William and Amanda (Al- len) Goad. Mr. Goad has been a resident of Bond County for about seven years, and has three children, Mrs. Smith being the oldest. One child has been born to Mr. Smith, Pearl, born December 6, 1879. He owns 210 acres of good land, and is a Democrat.

PHILLIP SMITH, at home on the homestead, was born December S. 1858, and married Miss Frances Hunter March 12, 1982.

PETER L. SMITH was born December 12, 1859: is unmarried, and lives on the home- stead with his mother, he being, like his six brothers, a farmer.

H. H. SMITH, trader. railroad agent and

GREENVILLE CITY AND PRECINCT.

Postmaster of Smithboro, Greenville Pre- cinet. is the founder and chief proprietor of Henderson, which is situated four miles east of Greenville, on the Vandalia & Terra Haute Railroad. The subject of these lines was born in Clark County, Ohio, Feb. 19, 1833; son of Samuel Smith, a Marylander, son of William, who emigrated with his family and settled in Clark County, Ohio, when it was a wilderness. The mother of our subject was Anna, daughter of Philip Hedrick, who was likewise an early settler in Clark County, Ohio. Hiram H. had good common school advantages, com- pleting the same at Delaware, Ohio; came to Illinois in 1854, to Greenville; his father came three years later. When Mr. Smith came to the county, he purchased 800 acres in Town 5, Range 2, and engaged in farming and stock-raising; came to this place in 1870, and with the exception of two years spent in Greenville, he has been a resident of this township, and has done much toward encour- aging the growth and improvement of the township, and founded the town soon after he came here, and since 1871 has been Postmas- ter, the office being named in honor of him. He is also railroad agent here, and does a general trading business, and is a thorough- going and energetic business man. In 1868, he was married to Eleanor C. Culver, born in Herkimer County, N. Y., daughter of Andrew Culver. Mr. Smith has no children; has about five hundred acres of land; is a mem- ber of the M. E. Church, and a strong and uncompromising temperance man.

WILLIAM S. SMITH, merchant and banker, Greenville, was born in Hampshire (now Morgan) County, Va. ; son of Middleton and Leah (Williams) Smith, both natives of Virginia, he a farmer by occupation, born in Frederick County December 27, 1786, died in Greenville, Bond Co., Ill .. July 29, 1849; she born in Hampshire (now Morgan) County

December 30, 1784, also died in Greenville December 22, 1845. She was the mother of nine children-William S., Thomas W., John A., Isaac M., Samuel, Jane M., now wife of John S. Hall, a farmer near Greenville, Ill .; Mary A., Ellen and Joshua M. Subject be gan the business of life at fourteen years of age as a clerk in a mercantile house, and has since been engaged in mercantile business and banking. At the age of twenty-three, he removed from Virginia and located in Green- ville, in which place he has ever since resided. He is one of the founders of the First Na- tional Bank of Greenville, of which he was President for several years, and at the present time a Director; has filled the offices of School Commissioner and County Assessor, and is at the present time City Alderman of the Third Ward, Greenville. During the years 1846-47. he was Representative in the Legislature. He has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married near Green- ville, was Amanda M. Hall, second daughter of Joshua and Charlotte Hall, of Jefferson County, Va. She died January 21, 1849. leaving seven children-Tiffin A., Sarah V., William S., Jr .. Charlotte L., Ellen E., Mary H. and Jeshua S. He was married the second time at Stony Point, Crittenden Co., Ky., to Elizabeth W. Greathouse, daughter of John S. Greathouse, attorney at law, of Shelbyville, Shelby Co., Ky., who married Lucy M. Clark of Anderson County, Ky. From this second union six children have been born-Edgar T., Lucy E., Alice G., Elizabeth L., Lucien G. and Clark S. Mr. Smith was an old-time Whig, is now a Republican, and is a member of the I O. O. F.

DR. R. C. SPRAGUE, physician and sur- geon, Greenville, was born in Washington County, Ohio, on the 10th day of June, 1828, and is a son of Anson Sprague, a native of Mass- achusetts, who was born October 3, 1781, and

BIOGRAPHICAL:

died July 9, 1856. His mother, Susannah Sprague, a native of Fort Waterford (first gar- rison in Ohio), was born April 2, 1793, and died December 9, 1857. They were married in Washington County, Ohio, in 1806. The subject's father was a farmer, and held the office of Justice of the Peace for several years, and moved to Franklin County, Ohio, in 1832. The family were long and well known as active and zealous members of the Chris- tian Church. They had nine children, five sons and four daughters. Dr. Sprague's first schooling was in the district schools of Frank- lin County, Ohio, near Columbus; afterward he attended the academy at Reynoldsburg, in the same county. He commenced his col- lege career at the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cinenniati, Ohio, where he graduated in 1857. He also took a course in the Eclectic Medical College of New York City, in 1866. He came to Greenville with a brother, Dr. Anson Sprague, in 1852. In 1854, at Van- dalia, Ill,. July 6, Dr. Sprague married Miss Martha J. Johnson, born in Bond County, Ill., May 15, 1832, daughter of Duncan John- son, who was born in Tennessee January 11, 1503, and died December 12, 1867. Polly Johnston, nee Powers. Mrs. Sprague's mother, was born in Tennessee August 5, 1807. and died January 22, 1852. They were married May 27, 1824, and moved from Tennessee soon after, locating in this county. Mr. Johnson was a farmer, and held the office of Justice of the Peace for many years. He was prominently connected with the milling in- torest of this and Fayette County, and was a zealous worker in the Methodist Church, all his family belonging to the same denomina- tion. Dr. Sprague has been a member of the City Council for many years, and is the father of seven children, four living-Clara Ellen, now Mrs. John, of Greenville; Sarah Mand, now Mrs. W. H. McIntyre, of Rush-

ville; Romulus D. and Ruby B., now in school. The children deceased are Mary Irene, Bev- erly J. and Hattie Mabel. The Doctor is a member of the Christian Church, an A. O. U. W., and a Republican.

WILLIAM B. SYBERT, farmer, P. O. Greenville, was born in Ohio February 13, 1822; son of Henry and Sarah Sybert, both of whom are dead, he departing this life in 1864, and she in 1866. He was a farmer by occupation, and left eleven children, seven girls and four boys. Our subject attended school in Madison County, Ind., and com- menced the life of a farmer in Greenville Precinct, in which occupation he has contin- ned, owning at the present time 227 acres of the best land in the State, and being highly respected as a farmer and a man. He has filled the position of School Director, and is a Methodist and a Republican. October 3, 1844, in Greenville Precinct, he married Miss Malinda E. Edwards, daughter of John Edwards, and seven children have been born to them-James F., John H., Harriet M., Lemuel, Albert, Morgan L. and Betsey E.

REINHOLD SUESSENBACH, farmer, P. O. Greenville, was born in Prussia March 19, 1838. He was the son of Christian Wilhelm and Renate (Taesler) Suessenbach, both dying in Germany, he in 1859, and she in 1840. Our subject was one of a family of three. He was educated in Prussia, where the law requires them to attend school for eight years. In Bond County, in June, 1875, he married Mary Schmollinger, daughter of Christopf and Frederika Schmollinger. Subject had a family of three-Amanda Bertha, Conrad Gustav and Heinrich Oscar. In Germany, he learned the brick and stone-mason and plasterer's trade, and has worked at it a good deal, but is farming at present. Heis a Republican.

D. D. THOMSON, farmer, P. O. Green- ville, Greenville Precinct. Among the enter-

GREENVILLE CITY AND PRECINCT.

prising farmers in this township is Mr. Thom- son, who was born October 2, 1846, in Hen- dricks County, Ind. He is a son of John R. Thomson, a Kentuckian by birth, and emi- grated to Indiana about the year 1842. He was a farmer and stock-trader, and was prom- inently identified with that country as a busi- ness man. He died August 5, 1862. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. His wife survives him. Nine children were born to them; seven are now living. Their names are as follows-Nelson C., David D., Sarah E., Samuel E., Arthur R., Ollie D., John R. and Ella D. All reside in Indiana except David D., who was raised a farmer, and re- mained with his father until he became of age. September 26, 1867, he married Lavinia S. Hendrix, born in Hendricks County, Ind., daughter of Jesse Hendrix, of that place. In the fall of 1871, he came to this county, and after buying and locating on several dif- ferent farms in the county, March 31, 1881, he purchased the Samuel Colcord farm, com- prising 272 acres, where he now resides. He has four children living -- Amos D., Cordia N .. Bertha and an infant unnamed. Mr. Thomson is a member of the German Baptist Church.

CAPT. S. M. TABOR, livery, Greenville, was born in Madison County, Ill., October 29, 1833, son of Isham and Phoebe (Adams) Tabor, he a native of Tennessee, a farmer, who died about 1837; she also of Tennessee, dying in 1841. They were the parents of five children, four sons and one daughter, Capt. S. M. being the third in order of birth. After receiving an ordinary education, young Tabor began his business life as a farmer; but in 1877, he entered the livery business in Green- ville. In 1862, November 20, he married Miss Sarah A. Jett, daughter of Daniel Jett, a pioneer of Bond County, and six children have been born to them-Lizzie, May, Flora,

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History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 55

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin Number of Pages: 758

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 758