History of Effingham county, Illinois, Part 37

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin & co.
Number of Pages: 650

USA > Illinois > Effingham County > History of Effingham county, Illinois > Part 37

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They had one child. now deceased. His father, Jolin P. Barlow, was born in Virginia, removed to Kentucky when a boy, and resided in Hart County until 1853, engaged in merchandising. He came to Charleston, Ill., in 1853, and re- sided there until 1869, when he came to Effing- ham, and is now living with subject in his seventy-seventh year.

H. BECKMANN, furniture, Effingham, was born in Germany January 6, 1838, son of Bern- hard and Mary (Brinck) Beckmann, natives also of Germany; he, born in 1780, and died in . his native country in 1840; she, born in 1783, and is still living in Germany. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. Our subject received his schooling in his native land, where he also learned the carpenter's trade. Hle came to the United States in the fall of 1868, coming to this county, where he has since resided. He was married, November 5, 1868, in Effingham, to Miss Caroline Bussemeyer, born in Germany in 1843, daughter of Henry

which he graduated March 25, 1868, and came , and Mary (Meckman) Bussemeyer, natives also

to Effingham on the 20th of May following, of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Beckmann have had live children, four of whom are living- Bernhard, Augusta, Mary and Clara. During the years 1861, 1862 and 1863, our subject was in the German Army, a member of the Thirty- ninth Fusileers. In 1866, he was in the Aus- trian war, and was engaged in the battles of Schaffenburg and Hammelburg, and two other minor engagements. Mr. Beckmann has been in the furniture and undertaking business for four years, and has a good stock of goods. He is a member of the Catholic Church, and in polities is a Democrat. and was admitted to the bar in April, 1868, at Charleston, Ill. He has been in active practice of his profession here ever since. July 20, 1868, he formed a law partnership with Benson and Virgil Wood, which lasted until November 1, 1875, and has since been alone. He was Chairman of the Republican County Central Committee in 1870, and in 1871 was appointed United States Assessor for the Eleventh Dis- triet of Illinois, and held that office until it was abolished. Hle was a member of the Repub- lican State Central Committee of Illinois from 1870 to 1878, and was a delegate from the EZRA H. BISHOP, merchant, Etfinghaw City, was born in Hardy County, now West Virginia, February 10, 1837. He came with his parents to this county when in his fifth year. They first settled in Summit Township, at Blue Point, where the father opened a farm and resided there about three years, and then Fifteenth Congressional District of Illinois to the National Republican Convention, at Chica- go, in 1880, and was one of the famous " 306." He was the late Republican nominee for Congress in the Seventeenth Congressional Dis- triet of Illinois. IIe was married, March 11, 1869, at Green Castle, Ind., to Miss Ella Allen. i removed to Freemanton, a village on the old

BIOGRAPHICAL:

National Road, where he kept a small store and practiced medicine. Our subject grew up in the village, and went to one of the delapi- dated schools of that day about three months in winter, and, at fifteen, began teaming and hauling produce to St. Louis, and brought mer- chandise back. His father brought the first steam-mill to the county, which he located at Fremanton about 1851 or 1852. It was both a grist and saw mill, and a carding machine being attached to it also. After the mill came, our subject hauled logs and cord wood until about 1855 or 1856, when the mill was sold. He remained on the farm until of age, and continued farming for himself until the war broke out. He came to Effingham in 1863, and, in 1865, he began clerking with A. Stewart, and continued as salesman and book- keeper with him for fourteen years, and, in March, 1880, opened a dry goods store for him- self on Jefferson street, where he has since done a successful business. His father, Jacob Bishop, was born in Virginia, but spent his early life in Ohio, where he married Sarah Hook, of Licking County, that State. He came to Effingham County October 1, 1841, where he passed the remainder of his days. He died in 1868, in his fifty-ninth year. He was the father of eleven children-John W. (a farmer in this county), Ezra H. (subject), Melissa C. (wife of Joseph Young, of this county), and Sophronia E. (wife of Jolin Kelker, of Pueblo, Colo). Our subject's father studied medicine in Ohio, with a view to self-improve- ment, and, after coming here, without any in- tention of practicing, was drawn into a large practice. He had but little means when he came, but was quite successful. He and his 1

family were Methodists, and he was for many years a local preacher.

SAMUEL BLATTNER, Effingham City. Prominently identified among the business men of this place is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He is a native of

Knetingen, Canton Argan, Switzerland, and was born November 13, 1831. He is a son of John Blattner, who was born in 1797, in Switzerland, his occupation that of a tailor; came to the United States in 1834, and died in Madison County, Ill. Anna Blattner, the mother of our subject, was born in 1804, in Canton Argau, Switzerland, and died in Highland, Madison Co., Ill. There are thir- teen children in the family, seven of whom are now living. Mr. Blattner went to school only a part of three months, in Highland, Ill. He is mainly seif-educated. He came to the United States in 1834. He first land- ed in New York, then went to St. Louis. From there he went to Madison County, Ill. He worked on a farm there till he was nine- teen years of age, when he learned the black- smith's trade in Highland, Ill., where he was married, June 6, 1854, to Miss Anna Keaser, who first beheld the light of the world in Switzerland, in February, 1828. She is a daughter of John and Barbara Keaser, both of whom were born in Switzerland. Mr. Blattner has one daughter, named Barbara, born in 1855, in Highland, Ill. She was married to Mr. Albert Gravenhorst, whose father is the editor of the German paper known as the Effingham Volksblat. Mr. Blattner enlisted in the Second Missouri In- fantry, Company K, May 19, 1861. He was in the battles of Booneville, Mo .; Wilson Creek, Pea Ridge, Shiloh, Corinth, Perry- ville and Stone River, where he was wound- ed, and after that he served in the Invalid Corps, doing provost duty in New York State until he was discharged, September 10, 1864. In religion, our subject is a Lutheran; also an old Jeffersonian Democrat. After the war, Mr. Blattner came to Edgewood, Effing- ham County, in which place he went into the liquor business, which he continued after coming to Effingham, Ill., in 1878. He

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

draws a pension, and was at one time a Trustee in Edgewood.

JOSHUA BRADLEY, marble dealer, Effing- ham, was born in Jackson County, Ill., Octo- ber 10, 1823 ; came to Effiingham County in April, 1843; bought an improved tract of land of John G. McCann in Section 29, in what is now Summit Township, and still owned by subject. He paid $150 for the improvement and afterward entered it at different times until he acquired 180 acres. Subject devoted his attention to farming until 1858, when he re- moved to Effingham and engaged in stone- work. His father was a stone-cutter and mason in Jackson County, Ill., and made tombstones there, and subject learned that business. In 1846, he began making and furnishing grave- stones out of sandstone, and some are still standing at Freemanton and Ewington which are in good condition after thirty-six years of exposure. He quarried the stone, some on Coon Creek, Mound Township, and dressed them himself; also, made grindstones when they were desired; worked at this in the fall, also worked on the stone-work of the Illinois Central. In 1858 moved to Effingham and remained until 1861, when he went back to bis farm until 1864. when he again came to Effing- ham and engaged in the marble business, con- tinning here until 1868, when he moved his stock to his farm and carried on marble busi- ness and farming until 1875, when he removed to Altamont and established a business in con- nection with his son John H. Bradley, and continued there until February 1877, when he again went back to the farm and remained there for two years. In the fall of 1879, he re- moved to Effingham where he had tormed a partnership with James A. Flack and Daniel Safford, and has since continued the marble works on Main and Railroad streets, under the firm name of Bradley, Flack & Saf- ford. Mr. Bradley attends to the outside business of the firm and the remaining part-

ner's attend to the shop interests. The father of our subject, James H. Bradley, was born in North Carolina and raised in Middle Tennes. sec, and came to Illinois about 1818, settling with his father in Jackson County. He mar- ried Miss Martha Hughes, daughter of James Hughes. She was born in Randolph County, in the Territory of Illinois, in October 15, 1804. She was raised three miles northeast of Kas- kaskia, and was acquainted with all of the principal Indians in that part of the State. James Hughes came with some of his family from Kentucky about the beginning of the century. From Reynolds' History of Illinois. we learn that James Hughes taught an evening school, which brought ex-Gov. Reynolds and other young men from five miles around in that vicinity to prepare for college. James Hughes was a Major during the war of 1812 and the Indian troubles in ranger service. One of his sons held all of the principal offices in Randolph County. Mother of subject died at the age of forty-one in Jackson County, and his father died in Jackson on his homestead in Bradley Township in 1866. He served as Justice of the Peace for about twelve years, and bad seven sons and seven daughters, five of whom are now living. Subject was married in March, 1843, to Mrs. Matilda S. Flack, widow of Milton Flack, by whom she had one son, James A. Flack. now a partner in present firm. Flis father was born on the Four Mill Prairie. in Perry County, Ill., where his father had settled in pioncer times. Mrs. Bradley was the daughter of Andrew Bourland, who died at Vandalia, where he was Justice of the Peace and Postmaster at Vandalia, Ill., at the time of his death in 1842. Subject has four sons and two daughters by his marriage, one daughter and one son dead. Those living are : Ben- jamin F., of Effingham; Joshua F., of Bon- ham, Texas; John H., of Terre Haute, and Mary V., wife of A. J. Gloyd, of Williams- ville, Ill.

BIOGRAPHICAL:

WILLIAM S. BRADLEY, tie contractor, Effingham, was born in Wilson County, Tenn., October 9, 1835. He was six years old when he came with his uncle, Morris Bradley, in 1841, to this county. He rode behind his uncle on horseback from Tennessee, being eight days on the way. His uncle bought land in Mason Township, where he (uncle) resided until his death about 1876. Our subject grew upon the farm and lived with his uncle, going to school three miles distant, across the creek in Mason Township, near the side of the Wabash Church. He worked on a farm by the month until they began the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad, on which he worked three years. He then bought new land and opened up a farm near Mason, and still owns land there. He farmed with good success until 1875, when he began working in timber, and has been a tie contractor since, working from fifteen to twenty-five men for the last five years. His parents died when he was three years old, and they died about six months apart, and he was cared for by an aunt, until he came to this county. He was married, in 1857, to Miss Rowena Brockett, daughter of James Brockett, one of the first settlers of the county. They had two sons, both living. Mrs. Bradley died September, 1871. Our subject was married a second time, February 7, 1876, to Miss Minerva Martin, daughter of Moses Martin. They have one daughter.

THOMAS H. BRAND, proprietor California House, Effingham, was born in Cambridge- shire, England, April 20, 1825. He came to United States, in his fourteenth year with his older brother, and settled at Floyd Hill, Oneida Co., N. Y., and lived with his brother there on a farm until 1849. In that year, he was sent by Emmonal Potter, of Floyd Hill, N. Y., to California-the contract was that Mr. Brand was to give Mr. Potter one-half of all he made in the mines for two years, and Mr. Potter to pay his passage except $50. Subject

sailed around Cape Horn, and was 157 days from New York City to San Francisco, Cal., ten days being spent in the port of Valparaiso, Chili. On his arrival, Mr. Brand worked in the mines for three years; and had acquired considerable money, but lost $1,800, all he had, as did many others, as the vent- ure proved a failure. They had to pay $2 per pound for flour, and high prices for other things. At the end of the two years, Mr. Brand had nothing, and the fourth year he engaged in the gardening business with James L. Halstead at Volcano, in Calaveras County, Cal. The gardening was a great success, and he sold potatoes at 50 cents per pound, and some hills contained eighteen pounds, Mr. Brand came home via the Nicaragua route in I853, and returned to his native county, and, although not legally or morally responsible to his benefactor, he paid his heirs $500, and still holds receipt for the same. In the spring of 1853, Mr. Brand went to Rock County, Wis., where he bought an improved farm of about seventy-five acres, which he sold to his brother in the fall of 1853, and having met James Baldwin, of Utica, N. Y., while in the mines, he was induced by a liberal offer by him to cross the plains California, and proceeded as far as Louis, when he gave up the project and settled at Edwardsville, Ill., where he stopped for a short time, and then went to Clark County, Mo., where he bought and opened up a farm in 1854, and remained there until the war broke out and by hard work was in good cirenm- stances. In 1861, he enlisted in the Seventh Missouri Cavalry under Col. Bishop, and served until he was discharged on account of disability. He sold his stock after his dis- charge, and removed back to Edwardsville, Ill., and in 1864, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fiftieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry under Col. Springer, and served until the close of the war, and returned to Edwardsville, Ill. Mr. Brand bought a farm in Madison County, Ill.,

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

which he conducted for some time. In 1869, , his time, and in the fall of 1862, went to White he came to Effingham, and leased the building now known as the " California House," of Gil- more & Watson, and afterward bought, and conducted it as a restaurant for a time, and has run it as a hotel for many years. He has enlarged it until it has at present twenty-two rooms with dining-room, sample rooms and office. It has been run under the name of the California House for the past eight years. Mr. Brand came here in September, 1869, and, in October of that year, while trying to blow the soot out of the chimney with powder, it exploded in his face, putting out both of his eyes. He was married in 1853 in Oneida, N. Y., to Miss Harriet S. Mason, of Floyd, N. Y. They have six children living, and four de- ceased.

WILLIAM EDWIN BUCKNER, the oldest child of Josiah and Lorana (Henry) Buckner, was born in Larkinsburg Township, Clay Co., Ill., September 24, 1856. His birthplace was known as the Joseph Henry farm, three-fourths of a mile from the present town of Edgewood, in Effingham County. His parents lived on this place for one year, and then moved to Edge- wood, which was then just being built, in con- sequence of the Illinois Central Railroad, which was then, in the year 1856. completed, when his father built the first house of this thriving little town. His parents, after remaining here two years, moved to the town of Mason, where they resided for two years more, when, in the fall of 1860, they again removed to their former home in Clay County. They stayed here during the fall and winter of 1861, when, in the spring of 1862, they moved back to Mason. At this time his father enlisted in the three-months' service, subject to Lincoln's first call. Ile joined Col. W. H. L. Wallace's Eleventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which afterward made itself famous on many a hard-fought field. llis position was second drummer, he being the first assistant to the famous James B. MeQuillan; served out

County and joined the Eighty-seventh Regiment, Col. John E. Whitney, uncle of our subject, as Drum Major. This regiment was afterward known as the Eighty-seventhi Illinois. Now, for three years young William had fun, his prin- cipal amusement being to play the truant from school. lle went to school just when it pleased him, all the arguments to the contrary notwith- standing. His time was spent while out of school in going to the creek to bathe, riding on the cars, feats at pugilism with his playmates, play- ing soldiers, and joining many an innocent band of young marauders on the various apple or- chards throughout the neighborhood. The or- chard belonging to good old "Granny Rutiner" escaped, the secret being a huge mastiff which she kept at her house, and whose bark and fierce look at once struck terror to the heart of the young Buckner. After the war was over, his father returned home, and in the spring of 1866, the family moved to a farm north of Mason, where for most of the time the subject of this sketch resided with his parents, until the spring of 1880, when he came to Effingham and en- tered the office of Cooper & Gillmore, to com- plete his law studies, which had been commenced some four years prior to this time. His study of the law was begun in 1876 with the Hon. II. B. Kepley, with whom he studied for four or five months, when he went back to the farm. Here for the next few years was a struggle for him. Possessing a great desire to complete his law studies, he worked early and late, using all his spare time of mornings, noons and evenings in study. It was during this time that he read over Blackstone, Kent and Parsons on Contracts. During the spring, summer, fall and winter of 1878, he in this way read Parsons on Contracts three times. Parsons has always been his fav- orite law-writer. The winter of 1879 and 1880 was spent in teaching the home district school at $25 per month. This money was used in helping to complete his law studies. He re-

BIOGRAPHICAL:

mained in the office of Cooper & Gillmore until August, 1881, when, at Mount Vernon, Ill., he passed a successful examination before the Ap- pellate Court, and was admitted to the bar, he being one of the twenty-six out a class of thirty- four. After his admission, he settled in Van- dalia, where he remained for four months, re- turning to Effingham and opening an office in the Register Building in March, 1882. His first case in the cirenit was the defense of three fel- lows for highway robbery, in which he was nn- successful, the proof against them being so strong as to prevent an acquittal. His law reading has been quite extensive, Blackstone, Kent, Parsons on Contracts, Chitty, Gould and Ste- phen on Pleading, Greenleaf on Evidence, Bishop on Criminal Law, Story and Adams on Equity, Story on Equity Pleading, Reeves on Domestic Relation, Danille's Chancery Practice, Washburn on Real Property, besides several minor works, many of them having been read and recited a number of times. He cannot boast of a long line of royal ancestors. His grandfather, Philip Buckner, was a sturdy old Kentucky farmer, who moved to this county in 1835, where our subject's father, Josiah Buck- ner, was born, August 1, 1835, and who has since pursued the occupation of a farmer, till 1881, when he removed to the city of Effing- ham, where he has since resided. His mother was Lorana Henry, the oldest daughter of Joseph Henry, who was a son of Elijah Henry, who also was a Kentucky farmer and black- smith, and who moved from Kentucky to Law- rence County, Ind., and thence to this State, in the latter part of the decade of IS40, or the be- ginning of 1850. Elijah Henry is known and esteemed by many of the oldest citizens of this county for the many excellent varieties of fruit trees which his nursery at Mason contained. Many of the oldest and best orchards in this county were grown from the " Henry Nursery." Josiah Buckner and Lorana Henry were joined in the bonds of holy matrimony, in the city of

St. Louis, May 4, 1855, for the simple and well- known reason that the paternal of Lorana ob- jected to Josiah paying his attentions to their danghter, much less allowing them to be mar- ried at home. But, like a great many marriages which have been contracted under similar dif- ficulties, the old folks relented, and elasped the young and happy couple to their bosoms on their return home. The old gentleman at once decided having Josiah to live on the farm with him, and started him in life as best he was able. Mrs. Bnekner is a grand-daughter of the man who was Henry Clay's blacksmith. Their union has been a happy one, being blessed by seven children-William E., Jemima J., Levi L., Henry C., Franklin F., Philip O., Anrora. Of these, two-Jemima J. and Henry C .- passed away to that better and happier land in their infaney.

HENRY E. BURBACH, saloon, Effingham, was born on the River Rhine, town of Cologne, Prussia, December 2, 1835. His father's name was Joseph Burbach, he was born in the same place about the year 1806. He now resides in Milwaukee. His mother's name, before mar- riage, was Catharine Bodden; she was also born in the same place in 1808; she died in 1841, and was buried there. There were three children in the family, one boy and two girls. Subject was educated at a common school. In 1854, while at the age of nineteen, he came with his parents to America, and settled with them in Milwaukee, where he learned the cooper trade. He worked at the business one year as a jour- neyman, and, in 1851, removed to New Bruns- wick; after a stay here from fall until spring, he went to St. Joe, Mo .; from there to New Orleans and St. Louis. He was married, in 1864, to Miss Catharine Seamon, of Chicago. She was born in Prussia. Her father's name was Michael Seamon, who was born in Prussia. Subject enlisted in Ninth Illinois Cavalry De- cember 27, 1861; was promoted Orderly Ser- geant, and served during the war, and, with

EFFINGHAM CITY AND DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP.

the exception of a brief period, was with his regiment during all their marching and fight- ing. He was discharged December 9, 1864. His children are Lena, Kate, Margaret, llenry and Joseph. After his discharge from the service, he returned to Milwaukee, where, after a short stay, he went to Chicago, and en- gaged in keeping a boarding-house. He came to Effingham in 1870.

GEORGE BUSSE, farmer, P. O. Teutopolis, son of Gerhard and Maggie (Uphonse) Busse, was born in this county in 1851. lle is the fifth child of the family which consists of nine children, all born in Illinois except Henry, who was born in Ohio. ITis father bas always farmed, both in this and the old country (Ger- many). On arriving in America, he settled first in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained some six years; previous to his removal to Illi- nois, he had purchased forty acres through the colony agency, and, after his arrival, bought sixty acres adjoining his first purchase. IIe came to America in 1834, and was married in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1840. Mr. Busse, the sub- jeet of this sketch, was married in Effingham County, in 1867, to Miss Mary Wesling, of the same county, but who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. They have three children-Louie, Henry and Bidy. Mr. Busse was educated in Teu- topolis. He is a farmer by occupation.

SAMUEL CAMPBELL, lumber dealer, Ef- fingham, was born in Somerset, Perry Co., Ohio, July 31, 1832. He was engaged in the grocery business before the war, beginning at sixteen years of age, and continued until 1862, when he joined the Army of the Cumberland, and was sutler for the Ninetieth Ohio Regiment until 1864, when he returned home and en- gaged in the hardware business in Somerset until 1871, when he removed to Effingham, where he has been engaged in the lumber and milling business ever since. In July, 1879, he located his present lumber yards near the track of the Vandalia line, near which he

owned and conducted a saw and planing mill. Ile removed the saw-mill in May, 1882, to Watson Township, where he bought a tract of timber and is engaged in the manufacture of lumber for this market. The milling interest employs fourteen men. Our subject was mar- ried in 1854 to Miss Sarah Kuhns, of Perry County, Ohio. They have three sons and six daughter's living-Albert H., James V., Will- iam, Mary, Callie, Emma, Rosa, Laura and Mabel.

WILLIAM BREWSTER COOPER, attor- ney, Effingham, born in Plymouth, Mass., March 8, 1835, son of William R. and Eme- line (De Pallies) Cooper. His ancestor, Jo- seph Cooper, came over in the year 1640, from England. He was a farmer and weaver, who settled in Plymouth and married Elizabeth Brewster, daughter of Elder William Brew- ster, who came over in the Mayflower, and the original homestead of his is in posses- sion of his descendants by the Cooper family. Subject is the fourth generation from Joseph Cooper, and the fifth from Elder William Brewster. His paternal grandmother was Lucy Taylor, daughter of Lucy Standish, a descendant from Miles Standish, of the May- flower. For many generations the family were Whigs and Unitarians, and his father became an ardent Abolitionist, and a conduct- or on the "Underground Railroad." Subject was the first Democrat in the family, and lived in the East until fifteen years old. He was prepared for the junior year in Harvard College in the private academy of Charles Burton, still teaching in Plymouth, Mass. He entered the senior class, and graduated in 1851. Of all the graduates from the founding of Harvard to 1851, Mr. Cooper was the youngest, except one other, and stood No. 15 in a class of over one thousand members. After leaving school, he came West to Denmark, Iowa, then a small country

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History of Effingham county, Illinois, Part 37

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin & co. Number of Pages: 650

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin & co.
Number of Pages: 650