History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 74

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 74
USA > Illinois > Bond County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 74

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AHARTE PIERCE, deceased, was born in

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Wythe County, Va., on May 22, 1808, and removed with his parents to Johnson County, Ind., when a young man. About 1842, he came to Illinois, and first settled in Macoupin County. In 1848, he entered 160 acres of land, with another party, on which the city of Litchfield now stands. In September, same year, he reuted a house on the mound where Mr. W. S. Palmer now lives. In the fall of 1849, he built a small log house on the site where W. H. Fisher now resides, and, when the town was laid ont, the east side of the house extended into Madison street. He farmed his land, which was all raw prairie, until the laying-out of the town, by which time he had it all under cultivation, and stood above debt, for it and its improvements. He sold fifteen acres, to be platted at that time, to Wesley Andrews and Benjamin Hargraves. The remainder was laid out by Mr. Pierce himself, and it reached five additions; it is now all included in the corporation limits, and the lots, excepting two, on which his son Granville resides, are all sold. Before the war, he purchased another farm of eighty acres near the city, and lived on it three years during the war excitement. He passed the remainder of his days near his first settlement, and lived a retired life in his latter years. His first marriage was in Indiana, to Polly Brown, who bore him one child. His wife died in Macoupin County, Ill. In 1847, Mr. Pierce married Mrs. Brown, daughter of David Jones, a Virginian, who settled in what is now South Litchfield in about 1833. The first coal-shaft of this city was sunk on a part of his original purchase. Mr. Pierce gave several lots to various benevolent enterprises of the city, including schoolhouse and va- rious church lots. Politically, he was a Democrat, and was the first Assessor elected after the city's organization. He died June 15, 1878; his widow has three children by

her last marriage. One son, Granville F. Pierce, was born in Macoupin County, Ill., October 27, 1845; he received an education in the Litchfield schools, and in 1862 left the farm and became a clerk in a clothing house, continuing for some years; he afterward en- gaged in the grocery business for about four years; he then began clerking, and has been for nine years with the present grocery house of G. A. Stoddard, as salesman. In January, 31, 1877, he married Miss Dora A. Ware, of this county, and has two children-Essie May and Gracie A.

CHARLES PAULLIS, JR., foreman paint- er, Litchfield, was born in Buffalo, N. Y., in October, 1853, and lived there five years, after which he lived in Dunkirk, same State, seven years, and then moved with his parents to Zaleski, Ohio, where he began learning his trade. He was fourteen years of age when the family came to Litchfield, and he at once began the furtherance of his mechanical stud- ies in the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad shops, then the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad shops, where he worked at painting four years. When the Litchfield Car Manufacturing Company organized, he entered their employ as journeyman, and for the last six years has been foreman of the paint department of the shops, the company changing, in the meanwhile, to the Litchfield Car and Machine Company. His department employs from fifteen to twenty-five men. Mr. Paullis has been an earnest worker, and has made steady and rapid progress since he be- gan his trade. He was married, in June, 1878, to Miss Fannie, daughter of B. W. Ar- nold. The father of our subject, Charles Paullis, Sr., was born in Prussia, and came to the United States when a child, his par- ents settling in New York, where he followed the trade of painting. He is engaged in the same occupation, as contractor, in Litchfield.

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W. H. PHILLIPS, Litchfield, only child of Samuel and Mary B. (Webster) Phillips, was born in Jersey County, Ill., March 11, 1856; lived in Macoupin County four years, and came to Montgomery County with his step-father. Samuel Stratton, in 1860. In the Litchfield Public Schools he secured an edu- cation, which he furthered at MeKendree Col- lege, and at the Industrial University at Champaign, Ill. In 1876, he engaged in the grocery business at Miles' Station, remain- ing almost a year; he then, in the spring of 1877, came to Litchfield and engaged in the same business here two years. In January. 1580, he became agent of the Pacific Express Company, and, a year later, became also agent for the United States Express Com- pany, both of which agencies he has since conducted with great care and ability. On December 20, 1877, he married Amanda B., daughter of Dr. J. S. Hillis, of Hillsboro; they have two children-Claude and Stanley H. The father of our subject was born near Lebanon, St. Clair Co., Ill., March 28, 1821; he was a farmer, and was one of the most successful land-tillers of Macoupin and Jer- sey Counties. in both of which he left large landed estates; he died in 1859. The Web- sters were originally from Tennessee.

LOUGHLIN QUEALY, foreman molder, Litchfield, was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, in July, 1830, and came to the United States in June, 1845, his parents having died in his native country. He served three years' apprenticeship in the foundry of Edwin Davis, at Andover, Mass., learning molding. He moved farther west in 1848, and lived in Columbus, also Zanesville, Ohio, plying his trade as journeyman. In 1855, he went to Chicago. Ill., where he followed his trade for two years. His brother, William J. Quealy, was a heavy railroad contractor, and our sub- ject had charge of his works at Sheboygan,

Wis., for a time; he was afterward contractor on the Fox River Railroad, in Kenosha County, Wis. In 1858, he returned to Zanes- ville, Ohio, where, two years later, he mar- ried Miss Anna E. Coyle. In November, 1860, he moved to Clay County, near Kansas City, Mo., for the purpose of becoming a rail- road contractor, but the breaking-out of the war put a stop to the business; he therefore entered a large foundry of his brother's at Hanover, Mo., remaining from 1861 to 1876, being Superintendent of it except the first two years. He took charge of the Ohio Falls Car Company's foundry, in Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1877, continuing two years. In August, 1881, he came to Litchfield, where he since has been foreman of the Litchfield Car and Machine Company's foundry. which melts thirty-six tons of iron per day, and employs in this department from sixty to sixty-five men.

JAMES ROGERS, miller, proprietor Eu- reka Mills, Litchfield, was born in Decatur County, Ind., April 5, 1835, where he lived until 1857, receiving his education in the public schools. At the age of seventeen, he apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, which he followed until 1858. In March, 1857, he came to Walshville, this county, and, the following year, engaged at merchandising, continuing until 1861, when he came to Litchfield and kept a grocery eighteen years, during which time he was associated in mer- cantile business with Mr. F. M. Miles and Mr. J. F. Setzer. Miles & Co. added to their interests the milling business, and ran the present mill two years, when Mr. Lewis Whit- taker and our subject bought it, in 1877, the firm name becoming Whittaker & Rogers: this continued two years, when Mr. Rogers became sole proprietor, previously having sold his interest in his store; he has run the mill since, doing a large custom business, with K

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a capacity of twenty barrels per twelve hours; he retains the old process; has two run of buhrs and employs three men; his mills are called Eureka Mills. Mr. Rogers has been Township Collector, and has served as a member of the Litchfield School Board; he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and a charter member of the St. Omar Commandery, No. 30; he has been Recorder of the Com- mandery ever since its organization. Mr. Rogers was married, October 8, 1857, in Walshville, to Martha J. Deshane, born in Montgomery County January 15, 1838, daugh- ter of Eli Deshane; they have had the fol- lowing children: Laura I., Charlie and Ma- bel-Laura and Mabel being deceased.

FREDERICK W. REESE, deceased, was born in Hanover, Germany, on August 1, 1824; his home was in the country, and, at the age of five years he was an orphan; he learned the trade of cabinet-making in his native town, and afterward traveled as jour- neyman cabinet-maker, working but a few years in any one place; he occupied his time in this manner until he was twenty-eight years old. In 1854, he came to the United States; his boat freezing in the Mississippi River necessitated his walking to St. Louis, where he found employment, but, when the summer came on, he left the city on account of the cholera epidemic, and located at Redbud, Randolph Co., Ill., where he married, in Jan- nary of the following year, Miss Christiana Geyer, a native of Saxony. Germany, who proved a helpmeet by working industriously, shoulder to shoulder, with him, almost day and night, at first, in order to help him get a good start in life, her part of the work being the varnishing and sand-papering of the fur- niture he made. After his marriage, he worked at carpentering, and in the winter at cabinet-making. He came to Litchfield in 1860, and worked for awhile for Mr. Whit-

taker at cabinet-making, managing his busi- ness while that gentleman was absent. In about 1862, he opened a shop of his own for the manufacture of furniture, engaging in the sale of it and in the undertaking business; he at first started on Ryder street, but the rapid and steady increase of his business caused him to move to State street, where he built a large brick store, occupying it until his death, on July 24, 1880; he had no capital when he came, and, in twenty years, made, by his own labor and careful management, a handsome competency. He was a Master Mason; in politics, he was a Republican; he had six children, who are living. When he died. Litchfield lost a worthy citizen.

JOHN W. RITCHIE, Litchfield, was born in Cabarrus County, N. C., August 14, 1834, son of John and Sela (Blackwelder) Ritchie, natives of Cabarrus County, N. C., he born in 1798, died September 25, 1854; she born in 180S, died October 23, 1854. Subject came to Hillsboro, Ill., in December, 1855, where he and his brother, Martin A., bought a quar- ter-section of land, which they farmed to- gether till after the war; on this place Mar- tin A. still resides. John W. married, May 20, 1856, Rachel S. Cress, a native of Cabar- rus County, N. C., born January 23, 1833, daughter of G. Henry and Elizabeth (Fogle- man) Cress, both natives of Cabarrus County, N. C., he born April 11, 1811, died in March, 1844; she born July 26, 1813. Mr. and Mrs. Ritchie are the parents of eleven children, viz .: George A., James M., Laura J., Mary E., Sarah E., Joel E., Charles A., Flora R., Alice A., Prestin and Albert L. In 1861, he returned to North Carolina, and remained there till 1864, then returned to Montgomery County and bought 150 acres of land, on which he has since resided, engaged in farm- ing and stock-raising; he at present owns 260 acres of land, of which 230 is prairie, and

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thirty timber land. Mr. Ritchie is a Demo- crat, and is a member of the Evangelical Lu- theran Church.

MARTIN A. RITCHIE was born in Cab- arrus County, N. C., August 11, 1829; he worked in his father's mill for two years, but left that and began farming for himself in 1853, and, the same year, married his first wife, who died in 1854. On December 24, 1855, he arrived at Hillsboro, Ill., and, Feb- ruary 13 following, he bought 2172 acres of land, where he now resides, and moved onto it in the latter part of same month; he has ever since lived on the place: raises grain principally, and for many years raised and handled a goodly number of horses and cattle. His second wife is Martha Cress, whom he married in North Carolina; of his twelve children, only four are living. He has held the office of Township Assessor three years- 1879-81; been Township Treasurer since 1972; served as Collector of this township during 1874 and 1875; is an Elder of the Lutheran Church at Litchfield; has been a member of that church since he was eighteen years of age; he is an adherent of the Dem- ocratie party; he now owns 320 acres of prai- rie and twenty-five of timber land.

JACOB RAUSCH, grocer, Litchfield, was born in Province Coblenz, Prussia, on the River Rhine, in September, 1832. At the age of sixteen years, he began to learn the hardware and grocery business, and served five years' apprenticeship. In November, 1854, he came to the United States, and first located in Philadelphia, Penn., where for five years he clerked in a wholesale French con- fectionery store; the next five years he spent in the State of New York, acting as clerk in hardware stores of Lockport and Buffalo. He went to California in 1862, by the way of New York, Aspinwall and San Francisco, and lived in Marysville, doing hardware business

one year, after which, for a period of four vears, he engaged in the drug business in San Francisco. He returned to New York by water in 1867, and located in Oswego, where he remained until 1872, acting as clerk in a book store. In May, 1872, he came to Liteli- field, Ill., and was at that time broken down in health; in July of the same year, he pur- chased his present site and erected storeroom and dwelling, and opened a grocery and pro- vision store on Jackson and Martin streets, where he has since done a prosperous busi- ness. In Oswego, N. Y., he married Miss Marian Collys, a native of Alsace, France, their union occurring in 1867; they have two daughters.

WILLIAM SIMPSON was born in Lincoln County, N. C., September 21, 1812, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Brown) Simpson. Samuel, subject's father, came to Illinois with his family in 1831, and lived, during their first summer in the State, near where Staunton, in Macoupin County, now stands; he settled on the land where subject now re- sides, earning the money to enter the first forty acres by hauling sand for the building of the first frame court house in Montgomery County; at his death, which occurred in March, 1848, he owned 160 acres of land, which he had accumulated by his own labor and industry; his wife survived him about twelve years, and was about eighty- four years of age when she died. The subject of this sketch began working by the month, about a year at brick-making for Judge Hiram Roun- tree, and at farm labor for $13 per month, which at that time was considered high wages. In 1835, he began learning the blacksmith's trade with Thomas Tarrantine, of Hillsboro, with whom he worked about twenty months. He married, November 17, 1836, Elizabeth A. Beck, daughter of Paul Beck, of Fayette County, Ill., and from this union six children

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have been born, still living, viz .: Elizabeth J., wife of Fletcher Gamble, died in 1862, leaving two children; William M., a farmer in Montgomery County; Eveline, wife of James C. Holloway, of Litchfield; Emily, wife of Robert Ferguson, of Montgomery County; John W., of Montgomery County; Alonzo Douglas, a farmer, also of Montgom- ery County; and Laura, at home. After his marriage, Mr. Simpson purchased forty acres near his father's place, which he farmed until his father's death, when he took charge of the homestead and managed it for his mother until her death, when he bought the claims of the other heirs and became sole owner of the homestead, on which he has since lived, engaged in farming; he now owns about four hundred and eighty acres of land. In 1871, he was elected Assessor and Treasurer of Montgomery County, which position he held for two years; he has also filled various other positions of trust; he is a Democrat of the Jackson school.

DAVID O. SETTLEMIRE, President of Car and Machine Company, Litchfield, was born in Cape Girardeau County, Mo., in 1827, and the year following his parents emigrated to Greene County, III., settling ten miles from Alton. Mr. Settlemire was raised at Brighton, Ill., on a farm, and his educa- tion was limited to six months' attendance at a log schoolhouse of the primitive kind, hav- ing slab seats, and the marked lack of school comforts characteristic of the school build- ings of the frontier. In his seventeenth year, he left home to serve an apprenticeship to the cabinet-maker's trade at Carlinville, Ill., where he worked three years; he then gave up that trade and commenced carpentering, at which he continued until 1858, at Brigh- ton, Bunker Hill and Gillespie, as contractor; his last work was a large flouring-mill at Gillespie, Ill., and he ran it until 1861, when

he sold the mill to J. D. Martin, and engaged in the grain business, in connection with merchandising, at that place, until the fall of 1866, when he purchased property in Litch- field, and, the following year, erected his present homestead, and the grain elevator now known as the O. K. Mills and Elevator, it being the first regular grain house kept in operation here throughout the year. In that year he brought his family here, and has since been a resident of this city. In 1870, he closed out the mills to J. B. L. Keating. Mr. Settlemire built the Wabash Elevator, and furnished it with a " dump " and corre- sponding machinery for handling, unloading, shelling and cleaning corn, it being the first one used in the State; consequently, it at- tracted much attention and admiration, and succeeded in revolutionizing the methods of handling grain. In 1871, he built the Har- vel Elevator, and, with Maj. R. Me Williams, laid out the town. In 1873, he rebuilt the elevator at Mt. Olive, and, six years later, bought and remodeled the elevator at Morri- sonville, which he is still running. On March 20, 1876, Mr. Settlemire was elected Pres- ident of the Litchfield Car Manufacturing Company, which had made an assignment, on March 3, to Mr. M. M. Martin, as assignee, for whom our subject ran the business until August, 1877, when he purchased the prop- erty of the car manufacturing company, and then organized the Litchfield Car and Ma- chine Company, of which H. H. Beach was elected first President. On August 14, 1878, Mr. Settlemire was elected President of the company, and ever since has been annually re-elected to that position. By careful man- agement and shrewd judgment, Mr. Settle- mire has greatly increased its value, and the product in 1881 was about $1,000,000. Mr. Settlemire's marriage occurred November 29, 1849, the lady being Sarah J. Adams, daugh-

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ter of John Adams, a native of Massachusetts; their children are George L., Iola E., the son being married.

F. W. STAHL, Secretary and Treasurer of Car and Machine Company, Litchfield, was born in Prussia, Germany, in the province of Posen, on August 3, 1833. At the age of fourteen years, he began learning copper- smithing in his native town of Chodziesin, where he served four years' apprenticeship, and, in 1852, sailed for the United States, landing in New York City; he worked two years in Albany, N. Y., then one year in New York City, after which he went to Texas, re- maining a short time. After this, he worked three months at New Orleans, when he came to Illinois, via St. Louis, and settled in Bloomington, where he worked five years in the Chicago & Alton Railroad shops. In February, 1860, he went to Alabama and en- gaged in the stove and tinware business, but, the war coming on, he returned in August to Litchfield, Ill., and here found employment in the railroad shops for eighteen months, and, at the expiration of that period. he bought out the stove and tinware business of John Fowler, and conducted with it exten- sive trade in hardware and agricultural im- plements, with good success, until 1875; he then disposed of the hardware branch of his business, and for two years dealt in agricult- ural implements alone; he then settled up his business, and became a stockholder in the Litchfield Car and Machine Company in 1879. In August, 1880, he became a Director of the company; in March, 1881, was made Treasurer; and in August, 1881, he was elected Secretary and Treasurer, a position he still holds. Mr. Stahl is also a stockholder in the McWilliams Oil and Mining Company. In 1857, at Bloomington, Ill., he married Miss Margaret J. Waldron, a native of New York State.

HON. ELIZUR SOUTHWORTH, lawyer, Litchfield, was born in West Fairlee, Vt., September 22, 1826; his parents were also natives of the same State; on the paternal side, of English extraction, and on the ma- ternal side, his ancestry was of Irish birth. His education was acquired at the academy in Bradford, Vt., in the high school at Post Mills, and in the Thelford High School, at one time a famous educational establishment. He was the youngest of a family of five, and, at a very early age, was compelled to rely upon his own exertions to secure a livelihood. At the age of eighteen, he commenced teach- ing school, a calling which he pursued in Vermont, Massachusetts and in New Hamp- shire, thus securing, while instructing his pupils, a fair and varied education. In 1847, he removed to Illinois, where he con- tinued to teach in several counties during the ensuing three years. In 1850, he went to California, crossing the plains on foot, and driving an ox team from St. Joe to Sacra- mento. Upon arriving at his destination, having experienced many hardships on the road thither, he engaged in mining for about fifteen months; he then returned to the East. to Bradford, Vt., where he became the pro- prietor by purchase of a newspaper estab- lishment, which he conducted one year, until his business was destroyed by fire. In the spring of 1854, he again removed to Illinois, and settled in Montgomery County, where he engaged in farming and agricultural pursuits, continuing thus employed during the suc- ceeding four years. Having applied himself to the study of law while teaching school, he was admitted to the bar in 1859, and, in Jan- uary of that year, entered upon the practice of his profession in Litchfield, where he has since permanently resided, engrossed in pro- fessional labors, his practice being very ex- tensive and lucrative. Politically, he was

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originally a Democrat, but in 1856 he cast his vote for John C. Fremont, and was event- ually one of the original Republicans of the State; after that time, he voted with the Re- publican party until 1872, when he cast his vote in favor of Horace Greeley, and has since acted with the Democrats; in 1869, he was nominated by his party for County Judge, but failed to secure an election, the county having been always governed by Democratic views, although on this occasion he reduced a 600 majority to thirty-six. Starting out in life young, poor and friendless, he has been truly the architect of his own fortune, and has won his present enviable position as a legal practitioner and as an esteemed citizen solely through his own abilities and tireless energy. In 1876 and 1878, he was elected to the State Legislature from Montgomery and Christian Counties, and served four years; he was elected Mayor of Litchfield in 1881, and served one term; he served in the State Sen- ate from 1878 to 1880.

JAMES A. SMITH, ice-dealer, St. Louis, Mo., was born in London, England, in 1823, and was a lighterman on the River Thames. He came to the United States in 1857, and first located in Chicago, Ill., where he dealt in grain three years, and went thence to St. Louis, Mo., where he began dealing in ice in a wholesale and retail way, the trade at that time being but small everywhere. In con- nection with ice, he was engaged in wrecking on the Upper and Lower Mississippi River during the war, his work being the raising of sunken boats. At the close of the war, he began extending the ice business from year to year, until he has now thirty houses scattered through the States of Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota, which have an aggregate ca- pacity of 150,000 tons, which is shipped by barge and railroad to the Mississippi Valley as far south as Texas, during the cutting sea-

son, he employs from five hundred to seven hundred men, and in the shipping season has from fifty to eighty men. In the spring of 1880, James A. Smith & Son purchased five acres of land, lying between the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad and the Litchfield reservoir, and leased the ice privilege of about three-fourths of the reservoir for twenty years, and, in November, 1880, they began the construction of an ice-house which cost $28,000, being 160x160 feet, thirty-six feet high, with a self-supporting roof, and three- feet walls filled with saw-dust, the whole hav- ing a capacity of 21,500 tons; this house is filled by the Knickerbocker endless chain hoisting machinery, which has a capacity of 1,200 tons per day; the present firm is James A., Sr., and James A., Jr. The Litchfield building was erected under the supervision of Mr. Arthur Smith, who is the youngest son of our subject, and who has had charge of this and the Oakland, Iowa, department, which latter consists of three houses. Mr. Smith's general office is at No. 817 North Seventh street, St. Louis, Mo.

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History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 74

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