USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 64
USA > Illinois > Bond County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 64
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boro, and later, when what was then known as the Hillsboro Academy was built, in 1836. Jesse attended such academy as far as means could be afforded him, and it was here he gave promise of the future man. He was here noted for his industry and untiring en- ergy in his efforts to acquire an education. He particularly excelled in mathematics and those studies which called more particularly for the exercise of the reasoning faculties. He was held in very high esteem by the Faculty of the Hillsboro Academy, which was at that period second to none in the State. Lieut. Allen, hav- ing finished the school course at the academy, looked about him for something to do. At this time, there happened to be a vacancy in the ca- detship from his Congressional District, and, through Gen. Shields and his friends in Hillsboro, and the then Representative in Congress, the appointment to West Point was secured to him, and in 1851 he entered as a cadet to West Point. He remained at the Military Academy for the usual course of four years, and in 1835 graduated with honor and distinction. In this Military School, as in the academy at home, he excelled in the study of mathematics, and he also acquired distinction in civil engineering. After he graduated, he entered the army, being at that time in the meridian of life and vigor of man- hood. He was full of ambition, and entered the army with a high resolve to win for him- self a name and fame as a soldier. He was
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appointed Lieutenant in Company B of the Ninth Infantry, and in this capacity served the Government in active service for three years. He had the entire confidence of his superior officers, and was often intrusted with services which called forth special judgment and nerve. In the winter of 1856, he was intrusted with $3,500 in specie, to be carried from Washington Territory to some point in Vancouver's Island, in command of fifteen men. They were overtaken in a very severe snow-storm, and all his men deserted him but two, and it was supposed he was lost, but in a few days, he, with his two remaining men, came riding into camp, with the funds all safe. Whether as citizen or soldier, he was always reliable, and never disappointed the expectation of his friends. It seemed at this time that a life of activity and usefulness was open before him, and he was surely prepared to enter upon it; but the end came before it could reasonably be expected. About 3 o'clock on the morning of the 15th of August, 1858, in the moment of accomplishing a suc- cessful surprise on a camp of Indians, he was shot down, and thus, in his early manhood, and while the dew of youth was on his brow, he was called upon to die the death of a sol- dier. He died as he had lived-in the line of duty. The following letter was written at the time by his superior officer:
HEADQUARTERS YAKIMA EXPEDITION CAMP ON THE UPPER YAKIMA RIVER, August 15, 1858.
MAJOR : It has become my painful duty to com- municate to you for Gen. Clarke's information, and that of the Adjutant General of the army, the sad intelligence of the death of Second Lieut. Jesse K. Allen of the Ninth Infantry, who expired at this camp at half-past 2 o'clock to-day. Lieut. Allen died the death of a soldier.
Ile fell at 3 o'clock this morning, at the moment of accomplishing a successful surprise of a camp of hostile Indians.
There is reason to fear that he was shot accident-
ally by one of his own men in the darkness of the hour.
I must be permitted here to express my own sor- row for the untimely end of this young officer, and to offer this officially my tribute to his worth. He was an officer of rare energy and zeal, and an ac- quaintance with our army of seventeen years' dura. tion, warrants me in uttering the conviction that his place will not again be readily filled in our service. IJis loss to this command can scarcely be overesti- mated.
Ilis remains will be taken back to-night to Fort Simcoe by his company commander and personal friend, Capt. Frazer Ninth Infantry, who will take the charge of his effects, required by the regulations. It is perhaps proper to report in this connection that Lieut. Allen's party (fifteen mounted men), captured in this sad affair twenty-one men, about fifty women and children, seventy head of horses, and fifteen head of cattle, besides considerable of the Indian property.
Three of the men having been recognized as par- ticipants in the attack on the miners, were shot in compliance with my general instructions on this subject.
I am sir, very respectfully your obedient servant. Signed, R. S. GARNETT, Major Ninth Infantry Commanding.
MAJOR W. 11. MACKALL,
Assistant Adjutant General, U. S. I. Fort Vancouver. W. T.
The remains of Lieut. Allen were brought to Hillsboro by his parents and relatives, and were interred in Oak Grove Cemetery, near his childhood home. Had his life been spared until the commencement of our late civil war, he would have been found battling for the Union, and doubtless, with his energy and courage, would have attained high rank as an officer in our army.
J. C. BARKLEY, grocer, Hillsboro, was born in North Carolina December 15, 1850; son of John C. and Elizabeth (Morrison) Bark- ley, natives of North Carolina. John C., who is a farmer, was born in 1815. His wife died April 14, 1854. Our subject, the second son of a family of five sons and two daughters, received a fair education in the schools at
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Hillsboro, and at Freehold, N. J. He came to Hillsboro when seventeen years old, with- out money or education, and but few clothes. He first worked on a farm, then in a brick- yard. He traveled for a wholesale house in St. Louis (Udell, Schmieding & Co., dealers in wood and willow ware), and finally en- gaged in the grocery business on his own ac- count in Hillsboro, where, by push and en- ergy. he has acquired a lucrative trade. He was in the hotel business in Hillsboro for about eighteen months, and was one of the many citizens who lost heavily by the failure of the banking firm of Haskell, Harris & Co., of Hillsboro. He married in Hillsboro, No- vember 4, 1875, Emma A. Slack, born in Ohio October 18, 1857, daughter of Daniel Slack, a native of New Jersey, who died in Ohio in 1568. There have been born to them one son. Edward Daniel, and one daughter, Mag- gie Elizabeth. Mr. Barkley is a member of the Methodist Church, and was Assistant Su- perintendent of the Sunday school in Hills- boro for two years. In politics he supports the Republican party.
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CHARLES L. BARTLETT, grocer, Hills- boro. was born in Montgomery County De- cember 20, 1839; son of Samuel T. and Martha (Maxey) Bartlett. Samuel T. was born in Henry County, Ky., in 1818. He re- moved to Illinois about the year 1835, and is now living at Irving, where he owns and manages a large farm and a general store. His wife, who is still living, was born near Bowling Green, Ky., in 1819. Our subject is the second son of a family of seven sons and two daughters. He received his educa- tion chiefly at Irving, Ill., and began life as a farmer; but, after being three years in that occupation, he abandoned it and engaged in the mercantile business in Irving, where he remained four years. He left Irving in 1872, and came to Hillsboro, where he has since
been engaged in the grocery business. He started in business with but small capital, but by his tact and enterprise, he has built up and is now enjoying a lucrative trade. In Hillsboro, in 1868, he married Emily E. Al- len, born in Hillsboro in 1839, daughter of William and Mary K. (Killingsworth) Allen, the former born in Tennessee, and died in Hillsboro in 1863; the latter, still living, was also born in Tennessee, in 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett are the parents of two children -- Charles William and Nellie; Carry Bell, their first child, died in infancy. Mr. Bartlett has filled the offices of Deputy Sheriff and Jailer of Montgomery County for two years. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the I. O. O. F. They are members of the Presbyterian Church.
JACOB BECK, gun smithing and cancer doctor, Hillsboro, was born in Franklin County, Penn, November 30, 1820. He was taken to Virginia when about nine months old by his parents, and there raised. Chris- tian Beck, born in Lancaster County, Penn., on June 17, 1785, was a gun-smith by occu- pation. and died in Oregon on July 15, 1863. Mother was Lena Ahl, born February 6, 1790, in Cumberland County, Tenn, and died Sep- tember 5, 1821, in Williamsport, Md., while en route to Virginian with her husband and family. Parents had seven sons, subject the youngest. Subject was educated at Mar- tinsburg, Va., common schools. Began life as a gun-smith, an occupation he has kept up through life. In 1860, subject began the practice of cancer doctering with a remedy he had come into possession of some two years previous, and had experimented with it sufficiently to satisfy himself of its merits. From that time to the present time he has treated large numbers of cases successfully, having never lost a single case that came to him before cancer had been cut. Subject
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was Commander in Chief of the Anti-Mormon forces of Hancock County. Ill., in 1845-46, and forced them into the city of Nauvoo from all parts of the county and surrounding counties, and there they submitted to a com- promise to the effect that they (the Mormons) be allowed sufficient time to send a committee West and seek a suitable location and return and report, which they did during the sum- mer of 1846, and left that fall for St. Joseph, Mo., where they wintered, leaving twelve men behind at Nauvoo to dispose of their property and settle up their business. Im- mediately after the settling of the Mormon difficulties, subject enlisted for the Mexican war, or rather bought the place of another young man in a company that was already organized, paying the young man $27 for his position. It was Company A. First Illinois Volunteers, called the Quincy Riffemen, com- manded by Col. John J. Hardin, James D. Morgan, Captain. He paticipated in the battle of Buena Vista. In politics he is a Democrat. Self and family are all members of the Lutheran Church. He was married at Indianapolis, Ind .. February 10, 1848, to Phebe Ringer, who was born in Frederick County, Md .. March 5, 1821, and was the daughter of Jacob and Maria Magadalena (Darr) Ringer, he a native of Washington County, Md, and was born March 15, 1791, and died April 22, 1859: she also a native of Washington County, Md., was born February 22, 1790, and died in the year 1824. They have had four children born to them-Julia Agnes, born November 2. 1848, and died in 1856: Virginia Magadalena. born November 9, 1853: Luther Melanchthon, born Septem- ber 4, 1856, and Clara Belle, born June 1, 1859. Subject belongs to the Masonic order, and also to the Good Templars.
Frederick Bell, his father, was born in New York, in the town of Warren, Herkimer County. October 10, 1800; was a tanner and currier by occupation, and emigrated to this State in 1856, and went to farming in this township. He died February 15, 1880. Eliz- abeth Voorhies, his mother. was born in Ger- man Flat. Herkimer Co., N. Y., March 31, 1802. She died in this State in 1878, and was the mother of three children, the subject being the youngest of the family. He was raised in the town of Chaumont, Jefferson County; was educated in an academy of his native state, and at the age of twenty years, he commenced civil engineering, which he followed successfully in different parts of the United States until 1856. He came to Montgomery County, Ill., and commenced farming, his first purchase of land being eighty acres, and has added to that until he has accumulated 300 acres of good, tillable land. He has quite a neat cottage, and good barn with all necessary outbuildings, and was married in New York, March 12 1857, to Miss Lana Fox. Levi M. Fox, her father, was born in Chester. Washington Co., N. Y., May 7, 1809. Her mother, Cynthia M. (Je- rome) Fox, was born in Paris, Oneida Co., N. Y .. February 6, 1804. The wife of subject was born January 22, 1832, and she has a family of four children. The names are as follows: Franklin J., born July 9, 1859; Frederick Meade, born August 12, 1860; Harry, born March 17, 1870; Cora Grace, born November 5, 1871. He is a member of the Masonic order, and is quite a public- spirited man, encouraging all public improve- ments that he thinks best for the county at large. He has held the office of County Sur. veyor one term, 1860-61. He gave general satisfaction, but found it did not pay to neglect his farm for the benefit he received
ADAM H. BELL, farmer, P. O. Hillsboro, was born in New York September 26, 1831. | from the office.
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HILLSBORO CITY AND TOWNSHIP.
W. L. BLACKBURN, dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, etc., Hillsboro, was born in Clark County, Ohio, January 16, 1847; son of Robert B and Sarah Ann (Fuller) Black- burn. Robert B., a farmer by occupation, was born near Harper's Ferry, Va., March 3, 1818. About the year 1836, he moved to Ohio, thence to Illinois in 1850. His wife was born in Ohio; our subject was their only child. He received a liberal education at Hillsboro, and began life on the farm. In 1872, he left the farm, and came to Hillsboro, where he worked at the carpenter's trade for about two years. He then engaged in the mercantile business in partnership with C. L. Bartlett. In 1877, this partnership was dis- solved, and he has since carried on the whole business himself. He does a brisk business, and employs seven or eight clerks. He owns a neat, commodious frame house in Hillsboro, where he resides. He married in Hillsboro, November 11, 1875, Mattie J. Stewart, born in Hillsboro November 12, 1857, daughter of John R. Stewart. From this union two chil- dren have been born to them- Wallace Stew- art and Blanche Ittel. Mr. Blackburn is a supporter of the Republican party, and a member of the Masonic fraternity. His wife is a member of the Methodist Church.
CHARLES W. BLISS, attorney, Hillsboro, was born in Montgomery County, January 8, 1846, to Rev. Alfred Bliss of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a native of Bradford, Vt., where he was born in 1811, to Seth Bliss, a farmer, who died in Vermont. The son came early to this county, and engaged in farming, but subsequently entered the ministry. The maiden name of the mother of our sub- ject was Jerusha Strong. She is the mother of eight children, tive of whom are now living -Eliza A., wife of James I. Moody, a farmer of Fillmore Township: Celesta J., wife of E. C. Devore, a lawyer at Seymour,
Ind .; George A., a hardware merchant at Nokomis; Alice, deceased, wife of Lyman C. Allen, a farmer of Fillmore Township. She left three children-Charles W., Nellie J .. wife of John C. White, a lawyer at Efting- ham, Ill. Our subject worked on the farm and attended the common schools, and grad- uated from MeKendree College, at Lebanon. in June, 1869. He then taught school and read law with Irwin & Krone, of Edwards- ville, ill. He was admitted in the fall of 1871, and located in Hillsboro, where he has become one of the leading young attorneys at the Montgomery County bar. He was married, October 15, 1872. to Elizabeth W. Phillips, a neice of Judge J. J. Phillips, and daughter of Burrel Phillips, a stock dealer of Mont- gomery County. By her he has two children -- Noi Celecta and Clinton. He has been City Attorney several terms, and his political ten- ets Republican. He is a Royal Arch Mason, in which fraternity he has held numerous offices, and with his family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.
WILLIAM BREWER, retired, Hillsboro, is the third son of William Brewer, a Caro linian of Welsh extraction, and the youngest of three brothers. Daniel and George, eldest of that number, left Carolina at an early date, and settled in Tennessee. The family of William. Sr., was John J. and Jesse, who died in Carolina; our subject, and Thomas, who died near Evansville, Ind. The daughters were Candis, who married a Mr. Williams, settled and died in Iowa; Keziah, wife of a Mr. Alder, near Hopkinsville, Ky .. and Annie died young. The mother of these was Millie West, a Carolinian. The subject of this sketch was born in Chatham County. N. C., June 18, 1803; removed to Christian County, Ky., and settled near Hopkinsville, with his parents, in 1807, and where they died, and where he was raised and married
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to Miss Delilah Hough, a native of Loudoun County, Va., where she was born October 1. 1807, to Samuel and Azuba (Skinner) Hongh, natives of Virginia. Her grandfather Hough was an Englishman by birth, and came early to this country with two brothers, who settled in Vermont; he in Virginia. With this lady he lived happily for forty-four years, and until her death, August 26, 1869. when she left him with three surviving children of nine born to them -- William H., now of Hillsboro; Mary, wife of S. M. Grubbs. of Litchfield: and Ellen. wife of Alfred A. «. Sawyer, of Hillsboro. Mr. Brewer removed with his family to Illinois in November, 1834, and settled at Palestine, Crawford County, where he remained until the spring of 1839, when he removed to Hillsboro, his present place, of residence. In 1843, he was elected County Judge. the first Whig ever elected in Mon- gomery County, He was re-elected in 1845, and again in 1847, thus serving three consec- utive terms. In 1850, he was elected to rep- resent the counties of Montgomery, Bond and Clinton in the State Legislature, and served two sessions, but positively refused to suffer his name to be used for that honor longer, although often and strongly solicited. In 1853. he was elected Justice of the Peace, in which capacity he acted until 1869, when he refused to act longer. While in this office he did a very large business, and decided more cases than any other officer in the county, and what is still more remarkable, never had any of his decisions reversed. He has been an eminent example of a self-made man, who, unaided, has arisen from a hum- ble station in life to wealth, honor and in- fluence. From boyhood he took the side of morality and piety, and thus gained the pub- lie confidence. As a member of the Method- ist Church of sixty-three years' standing, he has had a large share in building up the
morals and character of the people of his community. He still, although in the late autumn of life, stands a monument of past energies rightly directed, with a large influ- ence. large acquaintance, large experience and large means and usefulness. Mr. Brewer was married the second time, to Mrs. Roberts, of Elkton, Ky., and is quietly enjoying his well-earned honor and reputation in the midst of a people whose growth has heen beneath his own eye. His only living son, William H. Brewer, was born January 4, 1826, in Trigg County, Ky., and in 1827 removed with his parents to Todd County, Ky. He remained with his father during his boyhood, receiving limited advantages for education, and in manhood has been connected with his father in his business interests. He also has been twice married. First, on the 17th of November, 1857. to Miss Pernesia Phillips, daughter of Capt. Thomas Phillips. By her he had four children, all of whom died young, the mother following them to the grave July 27, 1867, in her thirty-fourth year. His second marriage occurred July 14, 1875, to Mrs. Mary J. Brown, widow of William W. Brown. By her he has three children-Mary, Dwight and Raymond. By her first husband she has two children-Ella and John T. Mr. Brewer is a stanch Repub- lican, and with his family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.
JAMES A. BROWN, station agent of the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, Hillsboro, was born in Montgomery County, Ill., March 23, 1848; son of George W. and Sarah A. (Jenkins) Brown, he a farmer, born in Guern- sey County, Ohio, July 9, 1819. moved to Illinois in 1837, and settled in this county, where he still lives: she born in Darlington Village, S. C., June 30, 1819, and is still liv- ing. Subject is the third son of a family of five sons and one daughter; educated in Hills-
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boro Academy, where he received a good, thorough course, such as was taught in that school, and began life here in town as a news- boy, then telegraph operator, taking charge of an office at Pana, afterward at Paris, Kan., Litchfield, Mattoon, in the General Superin- tendent's office, St. Lonis, and was then ap- pointed to this place, at the age of eighteen years, December 4, 1866. He has also been a coal dealer in this town for about ten years; been in the grain business for a short time. He has been Alderman for two terms, and was defeated in 1876 by a small majority for Circuit Clerk, owing to being a Republican, and the county being Democratic by about eight hundred majority at the time. A change of sixty votes would have elected him. At Litchfield, Montgomery County, Septem- ber 20, 1871, he married Margaret S. Evans, born in Montgomery County July 1, 1853, daughter of James D. and Elzira (Eames) Evans, he born in Virginia in November, 1823, and died July 23, 1855: she born in Kentucky January 4. 1832, and died at Litch- field October 21, 1873. From this union five children have been born to them-Frederic G., Herbert (deceased), Ethel M., Sarah Eleanor (deceased), and Horace E. Mr. Brown is a Methodist, and has been connected with the official board of that church as Trust- ee and Steward for ten or twelve years; is a member of the Chapter of the Masonic fra- ternity, and has been Master of his lodge in Hillsboro for a year, besides filling other subordinate offices therein. He owns a two- story frame residence in Hillsboro.
THOMAS B. BROWN, Postmaster, Hills- boro, was born in this county July 10, 1857. His father was Newton G. Brown, born in Hillsboro, N. C., April 26, 1822, and died September 4, 1879. He was a hotel proprie- tor by occupation, and when about thirteen years of age emigrated to Illinois with his
parents, and settled in Montgomery County, and on August 16, 1849, was married to Eu- phemia J. Grantham, daughter of William and Susannah (Mann) Grantham. She was born in this county July 11, 1832. Parents had six children born to them, two sons dy- ing in infancy. There are living one son (subject) and three daughters, viz. : Medora F., now the wife of C. A. Freeland; Lucy and Ollie G. Subject was educated at the Hillsboro High School and Academy. He began business as a dry goods clerk, in 1871, in this town, where he continued until Feb- ruary 7, ISSI, at which date subject was commissioned Postmaster at this place, a po- sition he still holds. In politics, he is a Re- publican. Subject belongs to the Methodist Church at Hillsboro; his mother and sister Lucy are members of the Congregational Church. The father, Newton G. Brown, when he first came to this State, settled in this county on a farm, and pursued that avo- cation for a few years, and then moved to Missouri; remained there about one year, and then returned to this county and settled in Hillsboro about 1856, and engaged in team- ing, and also run a meat market, the only one then in town, for quite a number of years, perhaps until about 1863. He then pur- chased the American House. In the fall (Oc- tober) of 1869, Mr. B. sold out, having run the hotel from the time he purchased it in 1863 until the above date, and moved to St. Louis, where he soon was taken sick, and remained until the following spring, engaged in keeping boarding house, and then returned again to Hillsboro and resumed the hotel business, this time at the City Hotel, where he continued until the time of his death. Since that time, our subject being the only son, assumed the principal responsibility of the family.
EDWARD S. BURNS, Deputy Circuit
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Clerk, Hillsboro, was born at Harper's Ferry, Va., January 1, 1832, and moved to Ohio with his parents in 1836, and came to Illi- nois in 1852; the son of Philip and Catha- rine B. (Blackburn) Burns, he born in 1774, was a teacher, and died in Ohio in 1846; she born in Loudoun County, Va., in ISOS, and died at Hillsboro, III, in 1856. Subject is the oldest of a family of six. He received an education in the subscription schools of Ohio. In this county, September 27, 1855, he mar- ried Rachel C. Manu, who was born here September 14, 1834, the daughter of John and Euphemia (Hancock) Mann, he born in North Carolina July 24. 1800, and died in this county January 24, 1838; she born in Kentucky in 1805, and died in 1867. Of the Mann family there were four sons-Samuel, Henry, Robert and William, and three daughters -- Margaret, Mary and Rachel, the latter being the wife of our subject. Mr. Burns has seven children-William T., Charles H., John T., Eddie, Mary E., Emma C. and Minnie B. He taught school about four years in Illinois, then manufactured .brick for two or three years, and from 1866 to 1875 was engaged in the mercantile business in Hillsboro, at which time he was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Montgomery County, served two years and was then appointed Deputy Circuit Clerk, which position he still hold -. During the war, he was drafted, but furnished a substitute and remained at home to care for a wife and two or three little children. Mr. and Mrs. Burns are Methodists, and he is a member of the Masonic and the I. O. O. F. orders, a Democrat, and owns a very com- fortable frame residence, with Lots Nos. 12, 13, 21 and 40. Subject's father was married in Virginia and moved to Ohio when he (sub- ject) was about three years old, and he was only fourteen years old when his father died. At the age of twenty-one, he, with his mother, . timacy, and on July S, 1835, they were mar-
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