USA > Illinois > De Witt County > History of De Witt county, Illinois. With illustrations descriptive of the scenery, and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 49
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HISTORY OF DE WITT COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
secret of it is self-culture, extensive and voluminous reading. With the exception of a few years Mr. Jones has lived with his father. lle is a member of the United Brethren Church, and an advocate of the cause of temperance. Preston, the second son, was a brave and gallant soldier. He enlisted for three years in Co " I" of the 107th Regt., Ill. Vols. He passed through all the grades and was mustered out as first Lieutenant of his company. Albert is the youngest son. When Mr. Jones came to De Witt county, Illinois, there were but seven families living in the neighborhood where he settled. What a wonderful change has taken place in the State and county since that time. The story of the rapid improvement of this section of the country and the history of the old settlers who were Mr. Jone's neighbors in 1837 is best told in the Pioneer chapter of this work.
DANIEL H. ARBOGAST
Was born in Clark county, Ohio, May 27th, 1827. David Arbogast and wife, the grandparents of the subject of this sketch, were natives of Germany. They emigrated to America and set- tled in Virginia. The family moved to Ohio at an early day and subsequently moved to Madison county, Indiana, where the grandparents died. Henry his son, and father of D. H., was born in Pendleton county, Virginia, in August 1791. He came from Clark county, Illinois, in October 1838, and the following winter settled near Lexington in McLean county. In March following he moved to De Witt county and settled on section ten in De Witt township, where he resided until a short time before his death. He died December 6th, 1871, in his eighty-seventh year. JIe married Mary Huffman, daughter of Christian Huffman. She was born in Pendleton county, Virginia, in 1787. She died April 12th, 1853, in her sixty-seventy year. By the union of Henry and Mary AArbogast there were fifteen children, twelve of whom grew to maturity and eight are still living. Daniel II., was in his twelfth year when the family came to De Witt county. He here grew to manhood and remained at home at work on his father's farm, until he was twenty years of age, then he commenced working for himself. He worked for the farmers around in the neighborhood, rented land, and raised a crop, and did such general work as fell to his hand. He soon after got into handling stock, and was principally engaged in that business from 1855 to 1870. In the latter year he commenced the manu- facture of brick, and has given nearly all of his attention to that business since that time. He manufactured all the brick with a few exceptions that are in the brick buildings now standing in Farmer City. Taking all in all Mr. Arbogast has been unusu- ally successful. Ile has met, like most of men, with some reverses, yet has no particular reason to complain of his lot. On the 25th of February 1849 he was united in marriage to Miss Minerva Payn. She was born in Tennessee, May 29th, 1829 She is the daughter of John A. G. and Catherine Payn, who came to Indi- ana in 1830, and in 1841 settled in Will county, Illinois. Mrs. Arbogast was stopping with her grandfather Payn in this coun- ty when she was married. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Arbogast ; seven sons and two daughters. Their names in the order of their birth are, Elizabeth J. who is the wife of Arthur Webb, Lydia Aun, wife of John Sweeney, John, who married Susan Muir, Amos, married Mary Griffith, Edward, Sherman, Walter, Grenade who died in his tenth year, and George who died in his infancy. Both he and his wife are members of the M. E. Church. Politically he has been a Republican since 1856, when he voted for John C. Fremont. His maternal grandfather
Huffman was a soldier in the Revolution, and his father Henry was a soldier in the Indian War of 1812. Mr. Arbogast is a plain straightforward man, and much respected in the com- munity.
HON. LEWIS LUDINGTON.
THE Ludington family, of which the subject of this sketch is a member, are the descendants of Henry Ludington, a native of England, who emigrated to America prior to the old French war. He was a soldier in that war. At the breaking out of the Revo- lution he enlisted under Washington, and rose rapidly from one position to another until he became a colonel of a regiment. His command was stationed in South Carolina, aod there he partici- pated in the battles of Eutaw Springs, King's Mountains and the Cowpens. After the close of the war he returned to Putnam County in New York, where he had settled soon after coming to America, and where he died a number of years after. He mar- ried an Ogden, of which union was Frederick Ludington, the father of Lewis. He was a farmer and merchant, and lived and died on the homestead, which still remains in the family. He died in 1852. He married Susan Griffith, a native of Dutchess County, New York. She survived her husband a few years, and died in 1856. There were fifteen children born to them-all of whom, except one, reached the years of maturity. The eldest son Harrison and Nelson Lidington came West in 1837, and settled in Milwaukee, Wis. The former rose in prominence and became Governor of the State in 1876. Nelson removed to Chicago in 1852 and was one of the first lumber dealers in the vity. Ile has attained considerable prominence, and is well- known throughout the West. Lewis, the subject of this sketch, was born in Ludingtonville, Putnam County, New York, May Ist 1838, and is the youngest of the family. He received his education in the common schools and academies of his native county, and was thus fitted for entrance to college, but not being pleased with the prospect of spending several years in close study abandoned the idea of receiving a collegiate education, and took up school teaching. Eighteen months spent in that profession convinced him that it had no allurements sufficiently enticing to make him follow it as a means of livelihood. In 1857 he came west, and stopped at Bloomington, where he found work in a lumber-yard, at nominal wages. Eighteen months later he re- turned to New York and spent the winter 1858-9 at home. In the spring of 1859 came back to Bloomington and soon after went to Wenona, Ill., and engaged in the lumber trade and grain business, in which he continued until 1862, when he raised a company of one hundred and twelve men for the war. On the organization of the company he was unanimously elected captain. His was the first name on the muster roll. The com- pany was mustered in as Co. H of 104th Regiment Illinois Vol- unteers. The regiment joined Buell's forces at Louisville, Ky. The first battle in which Co. II participated was at Hartsville, where it and the entire command, numbering fourteen hundred men, were captured by Gens. Hood and Morgan's forces. The rebel General Morgan was so impressed with the gallant con- duet of Capt Ludington that he permittel him to retain his side-arms, a courtesy which was not extended to any other officer in the Federal command. Five days after the battle they were paroled, ordered to Nashville, and from there sent to Columbus, Ohio, and exchanged, then ordered to report to Gen. Rosecrans, at Nashville; order countermanded, and they were sent to Camp Donglass, at Chicago, to guard prisoners, where they
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HISTORY OF DE WITT COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
remained until May, 1863, when they joined Rosecrans' forces at Murfreesboro, and became a part of the 14th Army Corps of the Army of the Cumberland. At the battle of Chickamauga Capt Ludington was the ranking captain, and was in command as major of the regiment. In the second day's fight, while repelling the charge of the rebels under Longstreet, he was wounded iu the left knee, which shattered the joint. He was carried off the field and seut sixty miles, to Bridgeport, Ala., from thence to Nashville, and thence tu Chicago. Five months later he reported at Nashville unfit for duty, and by order of Gen. Thomas was mustered out of the service, the date of which was January 19, 1864. Ile returned to Winona, and in October, 1864, removed to Bloomington. In 1870 Major Ludington came to Farmer City, and engaged in the lumber business, in which he continued until 1878, since which time he has been buying and shipping grain.
Politically, Maj. Ludington is a sound Republican. In 1880 his fidelity to his party, and worth as a mau and citizen, received recognition by being nominated and elected to represent the counties of Macon and De Witt in the 32d Gen. Assembly of the State. He served on several important committees, and was chairman of the committee on public buildings and grounds. He was favorably mentioned for speaker of the House, and had a number of warm personal friends who supported him for that position. Ile ably defended the Anti-Pool bill, which had for its object the regulation by legal methods of the growing power of monopolies, and to correct the abuses of the pooling system adopted by railroads. lIe became the chief spokesman and advocate of the bill, and had practically charge of it on the floor of the House. His long experience in shipping over railroads placed him in possession of mauy facts unknown to many members of the Legislature. In that matter, as well as others, it may be said of Mayor Ludington that he sustained the reputation of a careful and prudent member, bringing to the practical work of the House a large share of valuable business experience and much good sense. ITis actions were always dictated by a just regard for the interests of his constituents and an honest desire to please those who had honored him with their suffrages. In doing this he sometimes sacrificed his own interests, but there always remained with him the consciousness that he did his duty, and was faithful to the interests of the many as against the few. He is a respected member of the Order of A. F. of A. M., and also the Chapter. On the 16th of August, 1864, he was united in marriage to Miss Jennie N., only daughter of George and Harriet (Phillips) Scott. She is a native of Putnam county, Ill. They have one child living, a daughter, named Hattie S. Ludington.
P. V. H. COOL.
PETER COOL, the grandfather of the present Cuol family, was a native of Pennsylvania, and of German descent. He emigrated to Ohio, and in 1853 came to Illinois, and settled in Bloom- ington, where he died. He married Sophia Harris, and one of the offspring of that union was Noah H. Cool, the father of Peter. He was born near Zanesville, in Muskingum county, Ohio, and came to Bloomington, Illinois, in 1855; he died in 1880. He married Mary Van Horn, who was born in Vir- ginia, but was a resident of Ohio at the time of her marriage. By that marriage there were eight children, three sons and five daughters ; Peter Van Horn Cool is the eldest of the family. ' county, in the fall of 1836. He located and entered two hundred He was born in Perry county, Ohio, March 8. 1840. He came
with his parents to Bloomington in 1855, aud at the age of seventeen commenced learning the trade of baker, at which he continued until 1862, when he was appointed on the police force of Bloomington, and remained on the force for nine years. In 1871 he went back to baking, and continued in Bloom- ington until January, 1874, when he came to Farmer ('ity, and worked at his trade for J. S. Baltzell, with whom he continued for three years, then worked for David Kelly for two years, then went into business for himself, and started a bakery, restaurant aud dealer in fancy groceries, aud iu that business he has con- tinued to the present. He has suffered some serious losses since he has been in business. On the 22d of August, 1880, his stock was burned, entailivg a loss of nearly fifteen hundred dollars His only capital with which to start up again was grit, knowledge of business and a determination to succeed. On the 7th of May, 1862, he married Miss S. A. Doonan, a native of New York, but a resident of Bloomington. There are ten children by that mar- riage, seven of whom are living, three sons aud four daughters. Their names, in the order of their birth, are: Adah, Mafl'ett, Elmer, Mary, Fanny, Courtney, Nellie and Joseph Cool. Mr. Cool is a member of the K. of P, and belongs to Kenilworth Lodge, Farmer City. Politically, he supports the men and measures of the Republican party. At present he is a member of the board of aldermen of the city, and represents the 3d ward in that body. Ile is an advocate of temperance, and was elected upon the Prohibition ticket. He was for six months acting mayor of the city.
Mr. Cool is one of the enterprising business men of Farmer City. He has by industry, and energy, and close attention to his business, built up a good trade, which is constantly increasing ; he is a pleasant and agreeable gentleman, and has many friends iu Farmer City.
ANDREW M CUMMING.
WHEN the Cumming family came to Illinois it was cheu known as the frontier state, and was yet comparatively a wilder- ness. The family is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Andrew Cumming, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of the town of Rockbridge, Rockbridge county, Virginia. He there married, and in 1812 moved to Tennessee, and there died. His son, Paxton, father of Andrew M., was born iu Rockbridge, Va, in 1801, and was a youth of eleven years when the family moved to Teunessee. He there grew to manhood, and at an early age he became converted and joined the M. E. Church ; he prepared himself to enter the ministry of the church, and was regularly ordained and appointed to a circuit. His circuit ex- tended into the Carolinas, and while preaching in North Caro- lina, he made the acquaintance of Pricella Eliza Davidson, who was a native of Haywood county, and in due course of time they were united in marriage. She was born in 1812: she was a near relative of the noted Vance family, and a full cousin of Governor Vance. Mr. Cumming determined to leave the South and come North. He was a genuine lover of freedom, and therefore opposed to that human slavery that existed in the southern states, and which was for so many years a blot and stain upou our boasted civilization. To escape its baneful influences, and that his children might he reared and educated under the broad shadow of a state and people who opposed it, he came north to Illinois, landing in what is now known as De Witt and forty acres of land, three miles west of Farmer City, in Sec.
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HISTORY OF DE WITT COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
31 ; it was raw, unimproved land. There he remained, opening up his farm and preaching. He continued in the latter for two years, when he was placed upon the list of superannuated min- isters. He remained upon his farm until his death, which ocenrred in 1839. His wife still survives him, and afterward married Rev. David White, who is chaplain of the U. S. Army, now stationed at Fort Hays, in Kansas. By the marriage of Rev. Paxton Cum- ming and Miss P. E. Davidson there were six children, three of whom are living. Andrew M is the eldest; he was born in Haywood county, North Carolina, February 16, 1830, and was in his seventh year, when the family came to Illinois. After his father's death his mother took the family back to North Carolina. and there young Cumming remained until his fourteenth year, when his mother returned. to De Witt county. At the age of seventeen years he went to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he was regularly apprenticed to the trade of a blacksmith for four years, when he again returned to Illinois, and stopped in the town of De Witt, in this county, where he opened up a shop and carried on the blacksmithing trade. Two years later he came to Mount Pleasant, now Farmer City, and here he carried on the trade for eighteen years, then sold out and engaged in the hardware business, in connection with B. F. Harrison, in which he continued until his health failed him, when he moved upon his farm and followed agricultural pursnits until 1881, when he purchased a stock of boots and shoes in Farmer City, and again entered into mercantile pursuits.
In May, 1874, he, in connection with other leading business men of Farmer City, organized and established the First Na- tional Bank of Farmer City. The success of that institution and its solidity and financial standing is well known throughout Central Illinois. Mr. Cumming is its vice-president. On the 24th of August, 1852, he was united in marriage to Miss America, daughter of Silas Waters, of Leroy, Ill. She was born in Ver million county, Ill. By this marriage there are three children living, viz : Ella, who is wife of William A. Whetzell, now prin- cipal of the Paxton Public Schools; William, and S. M. Cum- ming. Both he and his wife are members of the M. E. church. Hle is an honored member of the ancient order of A. F. & A. M Chapter and Council of R. & S. M. Politically, he was originally an old line Whig; in 1856 he joined the Republican party, and has remained a member of that political organization. He has held local offices and has been a member of the board of alder- men of Farmer City. Mr. Cumming, as will be seen by the above, is an old citizen of De Witt county. He has lived for many years among these people, doing business and acting the part of an honorable and upright citizen. ITis life has not been without its trials, nor has it been entirely barren of good results. He started in life poor ; his only capital was industry, honesty, a determination to do right, and a knowledge of his business acquired in four years of apprenticeship. With that capital he has succeeded to a competency ; and it may be added, that in the same time he has firmly established for himself a reputation for honesty, sobriety and honorable dealing, which is a far better legacy to bequeath to his posterity than great riches.
ELIAS JOHNSON.
DENNIS HURLEY was the first settler of Hurley's Grove, which now embraces a part of the land on which is built the town of Farmer City. He was born in New Jersey, April 1796. He was the son of James and Lydia ( Riddle) Hurley. Abont 1814
he went to Newark, Ohio, and remained there until 1830 when he and his family and Richard Kirby and his family came west to Illinois and landed at Randolph's Grove in MeLean county, October Ist of the year above mentioned. The first night the Hurley family stopped in an lodian tent, after which Mr. Hand, an old settler of the Grove placed the Loom house at their dis- posal where they lived until Mr. Hurley built a cabin. He se- leeted a site near where Mr. Johnson now lives, there put up the cabin and moved his family to it on the 27th of November, 1830; on the same day when commenced falling the deep snow, that is so well known to old settlers. The following spring he moved across the creek, and when land came into market purchased it. There he lived until his death, June 27th, 1867. He married Mary Donnell in 1816. She was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, September 20th, 1797. She died July 6th, 1850. There were fourteen children the offspring of that marriage, sev- en of whom are yet living. Of these children was Lydia M. who was born in Newark, Ohio, September 29th, 1822. She was eight years of age when her parents came to Illinois. She mar- ried Elias Johnson, February 24th, 1842. He was born in Jack - son county, Ohio, February 19th, 1819. Silas Johnson, his fath- er, came to Illinois in 1825 and settled in Vermillion county, and moved to De Witt county in 1838. Silas Johnson married Eliz- abeth Craig, of Virginia. Two children have been born to Elias and Lydia M. Johnson. Mary E. is the wife of John McDonald. They have two children named Zua and Oddie. Hester A. was the wife of James Brennan, who died. She then married J. Q Jones. Both Mr. McDonnald and Brennan were soldiers in the late war. Both Mr. Johnson and wife are mem- bers of the M. E Church. Mr. Johnson is a Republican.
CAPTAIN GEORGE W. HERRICK.
THE Herrick family, of which the subject of this sketeh is a member, is an old one, and was for many generations residents of the State of Massachusetts. They trace their origin and ancestry from the Norman-French. The forefathers emigrated from Eng- land to the colonies in America in the colonial days. Some of their descendants came west from New England soon after the close of the last century. Of these was Ezra Herrick, the grand- father of George W. After the close of the war of 1812 he re- moved to Huron county, Ohio, where he followed the occupation of farmer and there remained until his death. ' His son, Latt Herrick, was born in Massachusetts, May 14th, 1795. While yet in his infancy his father removed the family to New York, and subsequently to Ohio where they remained until Decem- ber 1834, when Mr. Herrick removed to De Kalb county. Indiana, and there died March 22d, 1872. He was a soldier of the war of 1812, and was with the army operating on the Canadian fron- tier. In his life he was a man of considerable prominence, and held several offices of honor and trust. He was a devout believer in the principles of Christianity and made a profession of faith, aud was in his later years a member of the Congregationalist church. He married Lola Sutliff, a native of Connecticut, but at the time of her marriage, a resident of Hurnn county, Ohio. Sbe was born October Ist, 1798, and died in August 1874. There were nine children by the marriage of Latt and Lola Herrick, six sons and three daughters. Four have survived the parents. George W. is the youngest of the family. He was born in De Kalb county, Indiana, on October 6th, 1841. He was reared upon the farm and received his early education in the common
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HISTORY OF DE WITT COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
schools of his native county and therein was prepared for en- trance to the Vienna Academy at Newville, Indiana. He re- mained there until 1861. In the fall of that year he entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and remained there through the term. The war breaking out he put aside his books, and in May 1862, he enlisted in Co. E , 55th Regt. Ind. Vols. The command was ordered to Kentucky, and in Angust of the same year Mr. Herrick was taken prisoner at the battle of Richmoud ; a few days later he was paroled and dis- charged. IIe resumed his studies and in the fall of 1863 again entered the University at Ann Arbor and graduated from the Law Department in the spring of 1864. In August of the same year, he went to Princetou, Missouri, and opened a law office. In January and February of 1865 he recruited a company of men for the war, which was known as Co. D., 51st Regt. Mo Vols. Upon the organization of the company, Mr. IIerrick was elected Captain, and duly commissioned by the Governor of the State. The regiment did duty in South-east Missouri, until the close of the war. In 1870 Captain Herrick opened a law office in Far- mer City, and here he has continued the practice until the pres- ent. He is a respected member of the honorable order of A. F. of A. M. On the 28th of May, 1870, he was united in marriage to Miss Dora (). Knight, a native of De Witt county, Illinois, aud daughter of Robert Knight. By this marriage there are four children, three sons and one daughter. Their names in the order of their birth are, Latt R., Blanche, Dwight and Lyle Herrick.
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Captain Herrick's practice is confined to the general business of law in which he has been reasonably successful.
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R. M. EWING.
THE editor of the Reaper was born in Clark county, Kentucky, July 23d, 1822. The Ewing family were originally from Vir- ginia. He is the youngest son of three children of William and Sarah (Coombs) Ewing. Mrs. Ewing's parents were natives of Loudon County, Virginia. R. M. Ewing had fair advantages in youth for receiving an education. He attended the common schools until his sixteenth year, when he entered college at Georgetown, Kentucky, and remained there two years. In 1841 he came to Illinois and stopped at Quincy and taught school. In the winter of 1841-42 he went to Missouri and the same year returned to Quincy, and engaged in the profession of teaching. In 1844 he went to Pike County, then to Morgan, and at Waver- ley engaged in manufacturing wagons, in which business he con- tinned for three or four years, then removed to Menard County and taught school. He remained in Menard County until 1862, when he removed to Clinton in De Witt County. In 1872 he came to Farmer City and engaged in the grocery trade, in which he continued notil the fall of 1879, when he established the Reaper, a newspaper which he still continues to edit. On the 27th of April, 1848, while a resident of Waverley he married Miss Martha MI Chambers, a native of Greene County, Ills. She died July 3Ist, 1878. He is a member of the order of A. F. and A. M. Politically he was originally an old line Whig, and supported Henry Clay for the presidency in 1844. In 1860 he voted for Abraham Lincoln and remained a Republican until 1880, when he supported General Hancock for the presidency. Martin L. Griffith, the publisher of the Reaper, was born in De Witt Connty, Illinois, April 10, 1860. He is the sou of John and Melinda Griffith. His mother is a daughter of Nathan Clearwaters, one of the pioneers of De Witt County. ITis father
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