USA > Illinois > Cass County > History of Cass county, Illinois > Part 33
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strange that a man should see the birth and infancy, and live on through the youth, to the maturity of a great State! How passing strange that the pioneer of the prairie and the forest should witness all the mysteries of the building -the sub-structure - and the super-structure: should with his own hands, help, not only to lay the foundation rocks deep in the soil, but also to bear up the pillars of strength, and assist in rearing upon them the dome and pinnacle of an Em- pire State! But so it is. In other coun- tries, generations after generations pass away, and witness no perceptible change in their communities; but here men have passed their lives in log cabins, who now rest from their labors in rosewood caskets, enshrined in mar- ble. And what may we learn by to-day's lesson? It is this, if no other: that whatever condition in life circumstances may place us, to act well our part, and then we can not fail to become important factors in the making up of the State in which we live. Nations are but a conglomerate of smaller communi- ties, and comm'' 1 .: . , of individuals; and the State looks to every 1.13 r to do his duty. And now, finally, as this is a county festival, the people of which are assembled to celebrate this, the Centennial Anniversary of our coun- try's independence, let ns ask ourselves this question: Has Cass County, during the near half century of its history, done its duty to the State and Nation, its duty to God, and to the great world of humanity outside of it- its duty to itself and to the future genera- tions that are to succeed us? And in response, I believe we can lay our hands upon our hearts, and our consciences will tell us that this county, as a community, has done its duty, and results show it. There is probably as much wealth, intelligence, and happiness in it, present and prospective, as in any rural district of its size and population in this great valley. The patriotism of its people and the
integrity of its magistracy stands unini- peached. No duty to the Nation or to hu- manity has been left unperformed. And the generation now passing away can say to the one just stepping upon the platform: Go and do likewise, and your reward shall be equal, and we trust even an hundred-fold more abundant,
LEWIS F. SANDERS, real estate and in- surance, Beardstown; was born in Loudoun County, Va., July 23, 1809; son of Britton and Mary (Gill) Sanders, natives of Virginia, and parents of ten children-nine sons and one daughter, Lewis F. being the seventh son. Britton Sanders was a farmer by occupation. Lewis F., engaged from 1832 to 1835 as a dry goods clerk in Washington, D. C., and in Ju- ly of the latter year, came to Jacksonville, Ill., and soon after engaged with Dr. Henry H. Hall, as a elerk in his store, near where Vir- ginia now stands, in August, 1835. In 1837, he opened a general store and carried on bus- iness on his own account, till 1839; in 1838 he was appointed postmaster of Virginia. In 1839, he moved to Stevenson, now Roek Is- land, Illinois, and engaged in merchandising there till 1841; then moved to St. Louis, Mo., where he remained till the spring of 1843, when he came to Beardstown. He was ap- pointed Deputy Circuit Clerk; also acted as Deputy County Clerk; was afterward elected County Clerk, which office he held eight years; has been twice re-elected Justice of the Peace, and has held the office of Police Magistrate many years. In 1859, he engaged in the in- surance business, and in addition kept a gen- eral store for a few years. In 1863, he was appointed Assistant U. S. Revenue Assessor for the 9th District of Illinois, which position he held till 1865; and has since been engaged in the insurance business. In 1839, he mar- ried Ellen Clendenen, of Morgan County, Ill., daughter of John Clendenen, of Harford County, Md .; they have had five children, two
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of whom are deceased. Mr. Sanders was for- merly a Whig, now a Republican.
CHARLES M. SPRING, druggist, Beards- town; is a native of Pike County, Ill., born March 29, 1851, and at fourteen years of age, entered a drug store at Naples, Scott Co., Ill., remaining there five years. He then en- gaged with Anderson & Watt, wholesale drug- gists, of St. Louis, Mo., with whom he remain- ed three years, engaged as traveling salesman a portion of the time. In 1872, he came to Beardstown and opened a drug, book and jewelry store, on Park Row, where he has since carried on business, meeting with good success. In 1880, in addition to his other bus- iness, he established a wholesale tobacco, ci- gar, confectionery and grocery honse, and the following year a retail grocery. In 1882, he bought a half interest in the Park House, the management being under the firm name of Spring Bros. In 1876, he married Maria, daughter of E. B. Seward, of Beardstown.
SAMUEL SHAW, retired; Beardstown; was born in Cincinnati, O., March 12, 1815, and was raised in the village of Newtown, O., where he afterward worked in a distillery un- til 1838, when he came to Exeter, Scott Co., Ill., where he worked in a distillery two years. He then moved to Springfield, Ill., where he remained five years as manager of John A. Kidey and S. M. Tinsley's busi- ness, and in 1842, in company with S. M. Tinsley, built a 500 bushel still-house in Beardstown, where they ran a distillery about four years, under the firm name of Tinsley & Co. Mr. Shaw then sold out his interest in the distillery to his partner, and bought a tract of 666 acres of land, on the Sangamon Bottoms, which he improved and farmed for twelve years, and on which he raised as high as 8,000 bushels of potatoes in one year. He sold his lands, returned to Beardstown in 1863, and is living retired from active busi- ness life. He married Aug. 3, 1839, Mary A.
Fleming, of Exeter, Ill., who has borne him nine children, four of whom are living: John, William, Harry and Ella. Mr. Shaw was a director of the Cass County Bank for seven years, being one of the corporators of the old Insurance Company; was U. S. Revenue In- spector for the Ninth District; he is a Demo- crat; himself and family are members of the M. E. Church. During his stay in Spring- field, Ill., Mr. Shaw's firm obtained control of the first railroad in the State, running from Springfield to Meredosia.
ABEL M. SMITH, fisherman, Beards- town; was born near Chillicothe, Ohio, in March, 1823, and in October, that year, his father, Thomas Smith, moved with his family to Illinois, and settled at Naples, in Scott Co., then a part of Morgan County. Thomas Smith, who was a farmer, died when our sub- ject was about eleven years old. Abel M. remained on the farm till he attained his ma- jority, and in 1844 went to New Orleans, La., where he worked at the plasterer's trade three years. In 1847, he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and in June, that year, married Mary M. Redding, of that city, and worked at his trade there till 1850; then pursued his trade" in Naples, Ill., till 1862, when he abandoned plastering, having become crippled by a fall which he had received in New Orleans, La. He then engaged in fishing, in the Illinois River, at Sharp's Landing and vicinity, for nine years. In 1873 he came to Beardstown, where he has since resided. At Naples, Ill., that year, he built his family boat, also a fishing boat, the former being sixty-five feet long and sixteen feet wide, the latter, forty-two feet long and sixteen feet wide. For the past three years he has been fishing in company with George Swan; they employ four men, and handle over 100,000 pounds of fish annu- ally; their largest catch was taken in Mus- cooten Bay, in August, 1878; they dispose of their fish in the local markets, and also ship
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to St. Louis, Mo. Mr. Smith has four chil- dren-three daughters and one son.
FRANK H. SPRING, Park House, Beards- town; was born in Pike County, Ill., in 1856; son of Joseph M. and Hannah E. (Fisk) Spring. He began clerking in a drug store in Naples, Ill., in 1869; in 1870, he came to Beardstown with his parents, and in 1872 en- gaged as clerk in C. M. Spring's store, where he remained five years. He then kept a drug store for two years, then sold out, and became clerk for his father, in the Park House, and in February, 1882, bought a half interest in that house, which is now conducted under the management of Spring Bros. Joseph M. Spring, subject's father, was born in Cuyahoga County, O., March 4, 1821; he came to Pitts- field, Pike Co., Ill., in 1836, where, after the death of his father, he took charge of the family, and worked the farm until 1860. He then ran a stage from Pittsfield to Naples, about four years; he engaged in the livery business about three years in Naples, Ill., and ran the old Naples House and the Strother House until 1870; he was also in the hotel business in Warrensburg, Mo., a short time. He came to Beardstown in August, 1870, leased the Park House, which he after- ward bought in 1872, and conducted it for ten years, and after several changes in the man- agement, sold it in February, 1882, to Charles M. and Frank H. Spring. It is a first class hotel, with forty-five sleeping rooms, five sample rooms, three of which are on the first floor, and all modern conveniences. Joseph M. Spring married, March 2, 1849, Hannah E. Fisk, of Maysville, Pike Co., Ill .; they have had six children: Sylvester Omar, Charles Merrick, Frank Howard, Lucy E., wife of H. G. Unland, of Beardstown, Elmer Ellsworth, and a daughter, deceased. Joseph M. Spring's father, Sylvester O. Spring, located in Ohio, in 1819, and married Frances Merrick, of Pittsfield, Mass .; he died in 1839; she, about
the year 1865; they had two sons and four daughters.
THEODORE SCHAAR, manufacturer of accordeons, Beardstown; is a native of Prussia; born Dec. 8, 1845. His father was a manufac- turer of accordeons, and at the age of sixteen, Theodore began learning the trade with him, and worked with him till he was twenty-two years old. In 1867, he emigrated to the United States, and conducted a shop in St. Louis, Mo., two years. In 1869, he returned to Europe, and was married in his native town, to Johanna Kuehn, in January, 1870; and the Franco-Prussian War then breaking out, he was obliged to remain in Prussia till 1871. Ile then returned to the United States and came to Beardstown, in July, that year, and has since been engaged there in the manu- facture of accordeons, and the repairing of all kinds of musical instruments, employing at one time five hands, and at present, two, the mouldings being manufactured in St. Louis, Mo. His instruments find ready sale, both wholesale and retail; he manufactures on an average, forty-five dozen instruments annually.
WERNER STEUERNAGEL, merchant; Beardstown; was born in Altenburg, Hesse- Darmstadt, Germany, Dec. 10, 1837; and in 1854, he came to the United States with his parents, who settled at Wheeling, W. Va. In 1855, he engaged as cabin boy ou an Ohio River steamboat, and followed that occupa- tion over two years; he then conducted a restaurant in Jacksonville, Ill., for five years, and in 1862 came to Beardstown, and engag- ed in business. In 1864, he opened a grocery store, which was burned in September, that year, but late in the same year he again started in business; in 1868, he formed a partnership with J. L. Black, with whom he continued in business six years, then bought out Mr. Black's interest, and has since carried on the business alone. He has occupied the
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same site on State street since 1868; the building is brick, two stories high, the lower story containing a general stock of groceries, glass, queensware, wooden and willow-ware. In Jacksonville, Ill., in 1859, he married Margaret Kelly, of New York.
ROBERT SCHMOLDT, proprietor of saw- mill and lumber dealer, Beardstown; was born in the village of Ritsch, Hanover, Ger- many, Aug. 2, 1830, the eighth son of a family of fourteen children, born to Hermann and Margaret (Eilmann) Schmoldt. His father was a large land-owner and farmer in Han- over. Mr. Schmoldt received a fair educa- tion, and assisted in the farm work, his father being in feeble health. At nineteen years of age he shipped at Hamburg, Germany, as a seaman, and sailed for two years between Europe and America, making several trips. In 1852, he was married by the American Consul, at Hamburg, to Johanna Blohm, a native of Hanover, and came to the United States and located in New York. He sailed on a coast schooner during the summer, and afterward worked in a sugar refinery. In Ju- ly, 1853, he came to Beardstown, where he worked at various employments for one or two years, then bought eighty acres of wild land in Monroe Precinct, this county, which he farmed for seven years, with good success, and in 1860 paid a three months' visit, with his family, to his native land. From 1863 to 1869, he engaged in merchandising in Beardstown; then sold out his store and engaged in the mill- ing business, buying his present saw-mill on Muscooten Bay, of W. Weaver, and has since run the mill, buying his logs, which are rafted down the river. The mill cuts, on an average, four thousand feet daily, and gives employ- ment to seven men. He established lumber yards on Third street, in 1881. He still owns considerable land in this county. He has five sons living.
FIELD SAMPLE, Virginia House, Beards-
town ; was born near Jacksonville, Morgan Co., Ill., March 26, 1828, where he lived on a farm till 1829. At twenty-one years of age he began farming on his own account, which occupation he followed till 1879, when he rented his land and came to Beards- town. In addition to farming, he had fol- lowed brick-making for eleven years. In 1879, he and his brother, F. M. Sample, bought the furniture and fixtures of the Virginia House, which they ran under the firm name of Sample Bros., till May, 1882, when F. M. retired, leaving Field sole propri- etor. Mr. Sample was twice elected Coroner of Morgan County, Ill., and also served as Deputy Sheriff of that county. In 1857, in Morgan County, Ill., he married Mary, daughter of David Ribelin, a farmer of that county. They have had six children, four of whom are liv- ing. John Sample, the father of our subject, was born in Warren County, Ky., about 1797, and when fourteen years old, came to Bond County, Ill., with his parents, who settled there. He served in the war of 1812. In Bond County, Ill., about the year 1816, he married Sarah Prewitt, a native of Kentucky, and in 1824 he settled on a farm near Jack- sonville, where he resided the remainder of his life; he died in 1869, aged seventy-two years. He served as County Commissioner of Morgan County for three years; he was a Democrat. Field is the seventh child of a family of nine sons and four daughters, of which six sons and two daughters are living.
JOHN W. SEAMAN, farmer; P. O. Beardstown; was born in Jefferson County, Va. (now West Virginia), Sept. 21, 1820; son of Joseph J. and Nancy A. (Deaver) Seaman. Joseph J. Seaman was born Jan. 19, 1793; fol- lowed the occupation of a carpenter and boat builder, and died March 19, 1850; his wife is also deceased; they had two children: Isaac and John W. Mr. Seaman received but a limited education, attending school a short
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£
time at Beardstown and Rushville. He first worked as a carpenter in Springfield, Ill., for some time; afterward engaged in the livery business in Beardstown for nine years, and bas since followed farming in this county. In Beardstown, Nov. 9, 1848, he married Mary E. Thompson; born Jan. 14, 1828, daughter of George B. and Hannah Thompson. By this union they have been blessed with the following children: Anna, Harriet (deceased), John W., Hannah, Cora B., Frank (deceased), Charles (deceased), George W., Frederick and Bertha. Mr. Seaman is a member of Ark Lodge, No. 23, A. F. and A. M., in Beards- town; he was a Constable for some time; was Road Supervisor, School Director and School Trustee from 1874 to 1879; he is a Democrat.
Z. T. SMITH, surgeon dentist, Beardstown; was born in Hart County, Ky., May 16, 1849, and being left an orphan when very young, was taken by his sister to her home in Clay County, Mo., where he lived till he was six- teen years of age, and received a good educa- · tion in the William Jewell College. He then went to Virden, Macoupin Co., Ill., where he studied dentistry, with Dr. G. W. Dillon, about three years. In 1869, he came to Beardstown, where he has since practiced dentistry, with the exception of the years 1871-2. For the past ten years he has been located on State street.
RICHARD TINK, farmer; P. O. Beards- town; is a native of Cornwall, England; born Sept. 23, 1834; son of Samuel and Catharine (Mutton) Tink, also natives of Cornwall, Eng- land, and both still living. Samuel Tink, a farmer, was born March 4, 1797; his wife was born in 1807; they are the parents of ten children. Richard received his education in the schools of his native country, and began life as a farmer, and has remained in that oc- cupation ever since on the place where he now resides. In Beardstown, this county, Nov. 14, 1861, he married Mary Mutton, a na-
tive of Cornwall, England, daughter of Will- iam and Elizabeth Mutton; three children have been born from this union: Edmund S., Richard G., and Cora E. Mr. Tink is con- nected with the M. E. Church; he is a mem- ber of Ark Lodge, No. 23, A. F & A. M., and also of the I. O. O. F., in Beardstown; is a Republican; has been School Director during the years 1877-78-79, and has been Super- visor of Roads some time.
DAVID P. TREADWAY, farmer; P. O. Beardstown; was born in this county, July 26, 1845; son of Lawson H. and Catharine J. (Pittner) Treadway. Lawson H. Treadway was a native of Maryland; born March 21, 1816; he followed the occupation of a farmer, and died in November, 1868; his wife, born in Tennessee, Dec. 23, 1814, is still living; . they had five children. David P. receiv- ed his education mainly in this precinct; also attended the schools at Concord and Beardstown, and has always been a farmer. During the late war he served one year and eight months in the Fourteenth Ill. Infan- try, under General Howard, his company being commanded by Capt. Gillespie. He was married in Beardstown, Nov. 20, 1867, to Mary H. Chalfant, born in Beardstown, Aug. 14, 1849, who has borne him five children: Lucia V., Anna L., Harry C., Walter A. and Edgar V. Mrs. Treadway is a daughter of Thomas J. and Ann E. Chalfant, natives of Whecling, W. Va .; he was born March 5, 1823, and she was born Nov. 23, 1829. Mr. Treadway is a Republican; is now School Trustee, and has been School Director several years; his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
LEWIS TREADWAY, Central Hotel, Beardstown; was born near Monroe, in this county, March 3, 1837, and came to Beardstown with his parents in 1843. His father, John Treadway, was a native of Maryland, and a cooper by trade, with whom the son learned
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that trade, and at which he (our subject) worked until 1864, running a shop of his own for four years in Beardstown, after which he engaged in merchandising for thirteen years, traveling for a house in Peoria two years. In 1874 he bought the old Palmer House, which he ran five years, when it was destroyed by fire. He built the present Central Hotel on its site, which contains twenty-one large rooms for guests, a sample room and all modern conveni- ences. The father and three uncles of our sub- ject were in the war of 1812. In December, 1822, the father married Miss Rebecca Mc- Kane, of Hamilton, Ohio, who bore her hus. band eleven children. The old couple are still living, he, in his eighty-seventh, and she, in her eighty-second year.
SETH J. THOMPSON, Beardstown Ferry, Beardstown; is a native of this county; born in Monroe Precinct, June 8, 1840. George B. Thompson, subject's father, was born in Orange County, N. Y., Sept. 23, 1800, and married in New York, Hannah Beers, who bore him four sons and two daughters. He came to Monroe Precinct in 1839, moved from his farm there in 1842, and after various changes of location and occupation, he and his son went, in 1850, via the overland route, to California and Oregon, remaining twenty- one months, and returned via Nicaragua and New Orleans, staying ten days in Havana, Cuba, during the Walker Expedition. He run the Beardstown ferry from 1852 to 1858, then engaged in the grocery business till 1862, our subject assisting in the forwarding and commission business, and afterward engaged in glass and queensware business several years, and also in farming three years; he died June 2, 1872. Our subject enlisted Oct. 18, 1861, in Co. G, 32d Ill. Volunteer Infantry, and served three years in the Army of the Ten- nessee; was first duty Sergeant, and was mus- tered out near Rome, Ga., Oct. 24, 1864. He participated in the battle of Shiloh, the sieges
of Corinth and Vicksburg, and the Meridian Raid. After his return from the war, he worked awhile on the Beardstown Ferry, af- terward, in company with Luther A. Jones, ran it for five and one-half years, then, in company with John W. Seaman, for two years, and, from 1873 to July, 1881, ran it in compa- ny with John Rohn, he having bought Sea- man's interest; since that time it has been controlled by Thompson & Co. Mr. Thomp- son was licensed as pilot and captain on the river from St. Louis to La Salle in 1872, and has run, almost every season since, on various steamboats. He married, Dec. 7, 1860, Addie Rahn, of Beardstown.
EDWARD N. TREADWAY, farmer ; P. O., Beardstown; is a native of Ohio; born Feb. 23, 1825, son of Edward and Elizabeth (Anderson) Treadway, natives of Maryland, and parents of seven children. Subject's father, who was a farmer by occupation, was born in 1783, and died in 1858. Edward N. received his education in Monroe Precinct, this county, and has since followed farming here. He married, Dec. 2, 1851, Louisa J. Sallee, who died, Nov. 8, 1867, leaving three children: Elizabeth J., Norris A., and Edward L. On March 27, 1860, he married his pres- ent' wife, Sarah F. Phelps, born in Septem- ber, 1841, daughter of William and Martha A. Phelps, and from this marriage ten chil- dren have been born: Louisa E., Caroline B., Martha A., William Henry, Sarah F., Edward N., Hans A., Margaret, Annie G., and an in- fant, unnamed. Mr. Treadway is a Democrat, a member of Lodge No. 16, I. O. O. F., in Beardstown, and is connected with the M. E. Church.
JOHN W. THOMPSON, farmer; P. O. Beardstown; was born in Lancashire, Eng- land, in 1827; only child of Thomas and Mary Thompson, natives of England; he, a carpen- ter by trade, deceased; she, died in this coun- ty in 1842. Mr. Thompson received his edu-
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cation in England, where he afterward work- ed in a cotton factory. In 1842 he came to this country, where he has since followed farming. He is one of the most prominent farmers of this county, where he owns 612 acres of land; the somewhat famous "Clear Lake," of this county, is mostly owned by him. He is a member of the M. E. Church; was School Trustee in 1863-4; he is a Democrat.
HENRY G. UNLAND, merchant, Beards- town; was born in Hanover, Germany, April 14, 1844, and in the spring of the following year was brought to this country by his par- ents, who settled on a farm in Arenzville Precinct, this county, his father entering a large tract of wild prairie land there. Mr. Unland lived on the farm till he attained his majority, then attended the Central Wesley- an University, at Warrenton, Mo., for two years, afterward was clerk in the general store of Leonard Bros., Beardstown, for two years, then clerk for Kuhl Bros. about two years. In 1872, he became a partner in the firm of J. H. Pieper & Co., remaining in that firm until 1874, when he engaged in business on his own account, on the corner of Main and State streets. After conducting the store for a time himself, the management became H. G. Unland & Bros., and since 1877 C. H. Unland has managed the business, which has, since February, 1880, been carried on in the Seeger Block, the corner room being devoted to groceries and drugs, our sub- ject having charge of the grocery department. In Beardstown, in November, 1872, Mr. Un- land married Lucy E., daughter of Joseph M. Spring, of Beardstown. Casper H. Unland, our subject's father, was born in the city of Osnabruck, in Hanover, Germany, Sept. 29, 1808, and followed farming in his native country. In January, 1845, he landed in New Orleans, La., having left Europe Oct. 4, 1844. He settled on 100 acres of land near Bluff Springs, this county, and engaged in
farming there five years. He then sold that farm and bought two hundred acres of land in Arenzville Precinct, this county, which he still owns, and where he lived until 1876, with the exception of three years, during which he resided in Beardstown, in order to give his children an education, then moving back to his farm, a school house having been built in the vicinity, of which he was Director for some years. He owns the general store in Beardstown managed by his three sons; he also has three hundred and sixty acres of land in Arenzville Precinct. In October, 1829, he married Mary Carls, also a native of Osna- bruck, Hanover. Of their eleven children, eight were born in Europe, and three in this country. Nine children are living, eight sons and one daughter.
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