USA > Illinois > Christian County > History of Christian County, Illinois > Part 55
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HON. W. E. MORRISON.
THE Morrison family is one of the oldest in the state. Robert Morrison, the grandfather of Mr. Morrison, came from Philadelphia about the year 1792, and settled in Kaskaskia, which at that time was a village composed almost entirely of French inhabitants, and which, in the early history of Illinois, was the commercial metropo- lis of the Mississippi valley, outranking St. Louis and New Orleans as a place of importance. The Morrisons at Kaskaskia were the leaders in commercial enterprises, and among the most influential and sagacious men in the fields of business and politics in the then territory of Illinois. Robert Morrison married Eliza L. Lowry, daughter of Col. Lowry, of Baltimore, and sister of James Lowry Donaldson, one of the Spanish land commissioners, with whom she came to Illinois in 1805. She was of Irish descent. James Lowry Donaldson was killed at the battle of North Point, in the war of 1812, and a monument to his memory now stands in Monumental Square, in the city of Baltimore.
James Lowry Donaldson Morrison, the father of the subject of this sketeli, was born at Kaskaskia on the 12th of April, 1816. At
one time his father, Robert Morrison, was one of the largest mail contraetors in Illinois, and had charge of the routes extending from Kaskaskia to Shawneetown, Cairo, Vandalia, Cape Girardeau, and other points. He received his pay by drafts on the various offices, and it was Col. Morrison's duty, when a boy, to travel to these various points and colleet these drafts. In the spring of 1832, when sixteen, he was appointed midshipman in the United States navy. His first cruise was to the Paeifie, on board the sloop of war, "Fair- field," and it lasted twenty-seven months. He was afterward trans- ferred to the West India squadron, and was confined for eight months in the naval hospital at Pensacola, with an attaek of rheu- matism, brought on by exposure. It was there that he began the study of law. He picked up the first volume of Blackstone to pass away the time, and, becoming interested, sent to Mobile for Black- stone and Kent, which for seven months he studied thoroughly. He returned to Illinois, and in 1836 entered the law office of Judge Pope, and in about a year afterward was admitted to the bar. His first fee of a hundred dollars he earned by quashing an indictment for murder in Jackson county, Illinois. He took a prominent part on the whig side in the campaign of 1840. The whigs made him their candidate for Lieutenant-Governor. At the beginning of the Mexican war he raised in St. Clair county the first company of vol- unteers organized in the state. This company subsequently became incorporated with the Second Illinois regiment, of which he was ehosen Lieutenant-Colonel. At Buena Vista this regiment lost thirteen commissioned offieers and ninety men. At the close of the war the legislature of Illinois presented Col. Morrison with a sword, suitably inseribed, in recognition of his services in the field. On returning from the army he devoted his attention to the law and investments in land. On the dissolution of the whig party he became a democrat. He represented St. Clair county in the lower house of the legislature, and St. Clair and Monroe in the senate, and was elected to Congress. Since his removal from Belleville to St. Louis, his law practice has been confined mostly to large land cases of his own in the supreme court of the United States. In 1842 he married Mary A. Carlin, daughter of Ex-Gov. Thomas A. Carlin. She was the mother of the subject of this biography.
William Edward Morrison was born at Belleville, Illinois, on the 13th of April, 1846. He was the next to the oldest child. At the time of his birth his father was absent in Mexico, the Mexican war then being in progress. His boyhood was spent mostly at Belleville. The chief part of his education was obtained at the college of the Christian Brothers, in St. Louis. In 1862, when sixteen, he entered the United States army as midshipman. This was during the war of the rebellion. His first service was on board the "Constitu- tion," originally the " Old Ironsides." He was at sca about two years. At the request of his father, who wished him to enter the legal profession, he resigned from the navy on the 16th of February, 1866. He returned to Belleville, and entered the law office of Wil- liam H. Snyder, now judge of the judicial circuit in which St. Clair county is included. After spending about two years in Judge Sny- der's office, he was examined by a committee appointed by the supreme court, who pronounced him qualified for the practice of the profession. At the time of his examination he was under twenty- one years of age, and according to the statutory regulations could not take the oath until he had attained his majority. He was ad- mitted to the bar on his twenty-first birthday, the 13th of April, 1867. The fall succeeding his admission he began the practice of his profession at Springfield. He was first in the office of Stuart, Edwards & Brown, and afterward in that of MeClernand, Broad- well & Springer. He resided in Springfield till May, 1871.
He had always taken an active interest in politics, and from boy-
FARM RES. OF HON. W. E. MORRISON. MORRISONVILLE. SEC. 6, RICKS. TP, IR.3.W. CHRISTIAN CO., ILL.
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TREMONT HOUSE, MORRISONVILLE , CHRISTIAN CO., ILL.
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FARM RESIDENCE OF EUGENE M. MORRISON, SEC. 9, RICKS, TP, (II) . RANGE 3 , CHRISTIAN CO., ILL. NO. I DWELLING, 2 ICE HOUSE, 3 SMOKE HOUSE, 4 COAL HOUSE, 5 WARE HOUSE 6 STABLE, I MILE EAST OF MORRISONVILLE.
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hood was a democrat of a stanch and steadfast type. During the campaign of 1868, in which Seymour was the democratic candidate for president, in opposition to Grant, at the request of the state central committee he made the canvass of Peoria, Fulton, Sanga- mon, Christian, De Witt, Scott and Menard counties, in the inter- ests of the democratic candidates. He had inherited a natural taste for oratory, and the speeches of young Morrison were received with popular favor.
The farm on which he now resides, near Morrisonville, he first "saw on the 9th of October, 1867. It was then covered with tall prairie grass. The railroad had not yet been built. He came to Christian county in May, 1871, for the purpose of improving this tract of land. The Wabash railway had been constructed the pre- vious year, and the town of Morrisonville, which took its name from Mr. Morrison's father, founded. In the summer of 1871 he began building his present residence, half a mile north of Morrison- ville. Mr. Morrison has since been closely identified with the interests of Christian county. He has been an influential man in shaping the policy of the democratic party in this part of the state. In 1876 he received the democratic nomination for representative in the legislature from the thirty-fourth senatorial district, compris- ing Christian and Montgomery counties. The democrats of the dis- trict supported him with great unanimity and enthusiasm, and he was elected by a majority of several hundred votes in excess of that received by the general ticket. On taking his scat, he was the next to the youngest man in the house. The house was republican by a small majority, except when the democrats and independents united in opposition. During this session occurred the memorable contest which resulted in the election of David Davis as United States sen- ator. Mr. Morrison recorded his vote on every ballot against Gen. Logan, the republican candidate, and in the democratic caucus was one of the first to advocate the throwing of the democratic strength in favor of Davis, a movement which resulted in Davis' election, and the defeat of a regular republican. He was a member of the committee on railroads, and strongly opposed a measure introduced in the interest of the railroads, with the object of relieving their capital stock from taxation. He made a speech in favor of a uni- form system of school books throughout the state, a measure which would have saved the people much money. He also supported a measure to allow the Chicago Board of Trade to appoint their own inspector of grain. In March, 1877, a resolution was introduced to appropriate fifty thousand dollars for the completion of the Doug- las monument. On coming up for passage, it was opposed by Mer- ritt, of Marion, in a bitter speech, in which he attacked Douglas in the most vindictive manner. After Merritt took his seat, Mr. Morrison as soon as possible gained the floor, and delivered in favor of the bill a speech which was greeted with tremendous applause, and which was afterward conceded to be one of the finest oratorical efforts ever made in the house. Though made on the spur of the moment, and without preparation, its power and eloquence won for the member from Christian a reputation as one of the best speakers in the legislature. The Springfield Journal said that the speech " was one of impassioned eloquence, and was heartily applauded." The Monitor said that the member from Christian had shown that he had " every requisite for the making of a great orator and states- man, and possessed ability and talent that would eventually seek a lofty outlet." The Chicago Inter-Ocean declared it to be " the most successful speech yet delivered on any question. In acknowledg- ment of his speech in support of the Douglas monument, several members of the legislature, merchants in Chicago, and Leonard Volk, the sculptor, united in presenting him with a suitable memo- rial, in the shape of a statue of Douglas.
Mr. Morrison is essentially a democrat. Hc is not only a strong and ardent supporter of the time-honored principles of democracy, but the natural tendencies of his mind are opposed to everything in the nature of aristocracy and monopoly.
Hs was married on the 20th of October, 1869, to Annie C. Per- kins, a native of Springfield, and daughter of Joseph B. Perkins, an old resident of Sangamon county. Her death occurred on the 20th of March, 1874, leaving him one child, James L. D. Mor- rison, jr.
EUGENE M. MORRISON,
WHO has been a resident of Christian county since October, 1877, was born at Belleville, St Clair county this state, on the first day of January, 1849. Few families have been more intimately identi- fied with the history of Illinois than the one with which Mr. Mor- rison is connected. Nearly a century ago the Morrisons came from Pennsylvania to Kaskaskia, then the largest and most important settlement in the Mississippi Valley, and at once took rank among the leading men who gave the first impetus to the growth of the mighty empire which now has its seat in the states which border the Mississippi. His grandfather was Robert Morrison. His grandmother was Eliza L. Lowry, who made on horseback the dangerous and adventurous journey through the wilderness from Baltimore to Kaskaskia in the year 1805. His father, Col. J. L. D. Morrison, is a man already well known to the people of Illinois. Born at Kaskaskia in the year 1816, his boyhood made him fa- miliar with the incidents which marked the history of Illinois during the few years after its admission into the Union as a state. Entering the United States Navy as midshipman at the age of six- teen, he cruised on the Pacific, and while sick in the Naval Hospital at Pensacola began the study of law. Returning to Illinois he was admitted to the bar and became one of the leading lawyers of the state. On the breaking out of the war with Mexico he raised a company of volunteers in St. Clair county, which became part of the Second Illinois regiment, of which he was made Lieutenant Colonel. On the field of Buena Vista this regiment distinguished itself by its bravery, and on his return the Legislature of Illinois presented Col. Morrison with a sword in acknowledgment of his services. He represented St. Clair county in the State Senate and in the lower house of the Legislature, and was elected a member of Congress. Of late years his home has been in St. Louis, but his numerous visits have made his face familiar to the people of this county. Mary A. Carlin, daughter of Thomas A. Carlin, at one time Governor of Illinois, was Col. Morrison's first wife and the mother of Eugene M. Morrison.
Mr. Morrison's boyhood was spent mostly in the vicinity of Belle- ville. When he was six years old he was sent to the College of the Christian Brothers in St. Louis, which school he attended for about six years. For one term he was a student at McKendree College at Lebanon. He was next sent to Georgetown College in the Dis- trict of Columbia, where he remained two years. He was at George- town during 1864 and 1865, the closing years of the war of the Re- bellion. Washington was at that time the scene of many important events, which made a residence in its neighborhood memorable. The years 1866 and 1867 were spent at the St. Louis University, from which he graduated in the summer of 1867. During part of the years 1868 and 1869 he was in Europe with his father. In Novem- ber, 1869, he went to Bloomington and entered the law office of Robert E. Williams, at one time Attorney General of Illinois. He read law with him fourteen months, and then returned to Belleville. In the summer of 1871 he visited Louisiana. On the twenty-first
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
day of November of the same year he married Miss Olivia A. Eason, of Port Jefferson, Louisiana. Mrs. Morrison was born in East Feliciana parish, Louisiana. Her father was Col. C. W. Eason, a native of South Carolina, but an old resident of the state of Louisi- ana. He had taken part in the war with Mexico. After his mar- riage Mr. Morrison resided in Louisiana till 1877, when he returned to Illinois and became a resident of this county. He settled on section nine of Ricks township. His residence is three-quarters of a mile east of the town of Morrisonville, which was named in honor of Mr. Morrison's father. The farm under his care embraces a whole section of land, of which about five hundred acres have been im- proved. A full page illustration of his residenee and its surround- ings may be seen elsewhere. He has two children-Mary Adele and Alma Eugenia. He has never taken part in public life, but in his politieal belief is a member of the democratic party.
THOMAS MONEGAN.
THE city of Enniskillen, in the county Fermanagh, Ireland, was the birth-place of Mr. Monegan. He was born on the 30th of August, 1838. In the fall of 1846 his parents, Henry and Catha- rine Monegan, emigrated with the family to America. After a voyage of three months in the sailing vessel, " Ashland," the family landed at New Orleans, where they remained till the spring of 1847, and then came up the Mississippi to Alton. His father rented land in the Dorsey settlement, in the northern part of Madison county, and lived there till 1850, then removing to the vicinity of Bunker Hill, in Maconpin county. The first land which his father owned was a farm in the north-west corner of Bunker Hill township, where the family lived till 1862, and then came to Christian county. The greater part of Mr. Monegan's common school education was obtained at the little town of Woodburn, in Macoupin county. In September, 1858, he entered Illinois College, at Jacksonville, and attended the sessions of that institution during the winters of 1858 -- 59 and 1859-60. In the year 1865, in partnership with his brother William, he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, the soutli- west quarter of section twelve of Ricks township. The two brothers carried on the farm together, and increased the amount of their land to eight hundred acres. A division of their property was made in 1871, and he and his brother have since been living on adjoining farms. He was married on the 22d of September, 1870, to Clara A. Estabrook, daughter of James W. and Susan Estabrook. She was born in Madison county, in this state, and came to Chris- tian county with her father in 1866. Mr. and Mrs. Monegan have four children. A view of his residence in Ricks township is shown elsewhere. He owns three hundred and sixty acres of land. He has always been a democrat in politics. His father died on the 22d of January, 1879, in Ricks township, at the age of nearly seventy ; his mother is still living. Beside his brother and him- self, one sister, Jane, now the wife of William Craig, of Greenwood township, is living in this county.
WILLIAM S. RANDLE.
THE history of the Randle family in America, dates back to three brothers, who came over from England in the Mayflower, in 1620. From one of these brothers the subject of this sketch is de- scended. His grandfather, Isom Randle, bceame a resident of North Carolina, and served in the Revolutionary war with the rank of major. Mr. Randle's father, Josiah Randle, was born in North Carolina, and there married Hannah Tompkins. She was the daughter of Richard Tompkins, who was also one of the brave
men who took part in the struggle of the colonies for their independ- ence. He held a colonel's commission, and fought through the whole seven years of the war. Josiah and Hannah Randle were the parents of eleven children, five of whom were sons, and six daughters. At this date four daughters and two sons are still living. William S. Randle was the youngest son, and the next to the youngest child, and was born in Montgomery county, North Carolina, on the 10th of May, 1827. When he was eight years old, in the year 1835, his father moved with the family, to Madison county, in this state. The winter of 1835-6 was spent at Edwards- ville, and the next spring the family moved to a farm, three or four miles south of that town. Josiah Randle afterwards moved to the eastern part of that county, and died in August, 1858. The subject of this biography had only ordinary advantages for obtain- ing an education. He attended the common schools and endeav- ored to improve his opportunities to the best of his ability, but still the most of his knowledge has been gained by his own efforts. On the 10th day of May, 1849, he married Sarah Hausberger, daughter of Henry Hausberger. Her father was a native of Virginia, and settled in Madison county, in the year 1848. Mrs. Randle was born in Trigg county, Kentucky.
For a number of years previous to the war, Mr. Randle was quite extensively engaged in trading in stock. During the rebel- lion, he supplied the government with large quantities of horses and mules, and was engaged in other business enterprises of a simi- lar character. In the fall of 1869, he moved from Madison to Christian county, and settled on his present farm, on section 3, of Ricks township. He and his wife have had ten children, of whom seven, five daughters and two sons, are now living. Beside farm- ing, he has been engaged to some extent in the practice of law-a profession with which he first became familiar, while living in Madison county. His practice of the legal profession has, however, been limited to the time he has had to spare from his other business. In his political sympathies, he has been a democrat. He is a man, however, on whom party ties sit lightly, and he believes that the interests of the country are often best served, by voting for the best man for office, irrespective of party affiliations. On another page is an illustration of his farm, the improvements on which he has built sinee his residence in this eounty.
STEEN BROTHERS.
GEORGE H. STEEN AND JOSEPH W. STEEN.
AMONG the business men who have more recently identified them- selves with the interests of Christian county, are Messrs. George II. and Joseph W. Steen, who are engaged in the drug business at Morrisonville, and are the editors and proprietors of the Morrison- ville Times. They are natives of Tippecanoe county, Indiana. Their grandfather, George Hamilton Steen, was an Irishman by birth, who emigrated from Ireland to America about the time of the Revolutionary war. In his religious faith he was a strong Protes- tant. He settled near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and for several years was in the distilling business, an occupation which at that time was considered most respectable and honorable. The family was connected with the Hamilton family, of which Alexander Hamilton was a distinguished member, and the name Hamilton has since been handed down successively from father to son for several generations.
Their father, George Hamilton Steen, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, near the city of Lancaster, in the year 1797.
He left home when sixteen. He subsequently came to Indiana, and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Tippecanoe
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
county in 1828, on which he afterward settled, and which was his home till the time of his death. This farm which was located in one of the richest sections of Indiana, he subsequently increased to three hundred and twenty-cight aeres; improved it with great care, and ereeted large and substantial buildings. In May, 1835, hc married Mary Whitson. She was about fifteen years younger than her husband. Her father was John Whitson, who was of Welsh descent, and Quaker parentage, though his own connection with the Friends' denomination had been severed by reason of his having married outside the membership of the society. The father of the Messrs. Steen died in April, 1859. He was a man mueh respected in the community in which he lived. In disposition he was quiet and reserved, and always refused to hold offiee or take any aetive part in public affairs. He managed his farming operations and his own private business in the most exact and methodieal manner, and died possessed of abundant means. He was kind-hearted, and be- side his own children raised several boys. Some of the best business men now of Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and of the city of Lafay- ette, owe their successful start in life to the excellent training which they received at his hands. In his politics he had been an old line whig, and at the time of his death was a member of the Presbyte- rian church. He had twelve children. Several died in infancy, and five are now living. John W. Steen, one of the sons, is in the drug business at Litchfield ; one daughter, now Mrs. Harriet Bum- hard, resides at Lafayette, Indiana ; another daughter, Mrs. Eliza Kenyon, lives in Marion county, Ohio. The two others are George H. and Joseph W. Steen. The first was the tenth child, and the latter the youngest.
GEORGE H. STEEN
Was born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, ten miles south-east of Lafayette, on the 29th of February, 1852. In the year 1864, when a boy of twelve, he was thrown violently from a horse and received severe injuries from which he has never fully recovered. In April, 1865, after partially regaining his strength he entered the Western Methodist Academy, at Dayton, Indiana, and with the exception of one or two terms was a student in this school for four years. In 1869, after leaving school, he became a clerk in a drug store at Dayton, and there received his first lessons in the business which he has since followed. The next year, 1870, he was given charge of a drug store at Waldron, in Shelby county, Indiana, and was occupied in its management till March, 1875. He had a natural inclination for the business, and to it he devoted his undivided attention and thus secured a thorough acquaintance with every branch of the trade. In June, 1875, in partnership with his brother, John W. Steen, he purchased a drug store at Litchfield, Montgomery county, and for the first time became a resident of Illinois. The firm also carried on the business of manufacturing baking powders. While residing at Litchfield, on the 5th of September, 1877, he married Ida J. Lawrence, daughter of Joseph Lawrence. Her father was an old resident of Litchfield ; he was one of the veterans under Gen. Taylor who took part in the Mexican war, and was also a soldier in the late war of the rebellion. Mrs. Steen was born at Carlinville, Macoupin county.
JOSEPH W. STEEN,
the youngest son of George Hamilton Steen and Mary Steen, was born on the old homestead farm in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, on the 29th of July, 1857. He was only two years of age at the time of his father's death. In 1867, his mother moved with the family to Dayton, Indiana. His brother, George H. Steen, was already attending school at that place, and this change of residence was made so that the two younger children might also enjoy good
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