USA > Illinois > Effingham County > History of Effingham county, Illinois > Part 58
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in the harvest field. He would cut down trees, cut off saw-logs, load them, and drive to the saw-mill, without any assistance or company whatever. He died April 16, 1878, leaving a large amount of property, and a family of seven children, namely : Mrs. Sa- rah Bromley, Mrs. Amanda Goodnight, David Beare, Mrs. Catharine Lewis, Charles Beare, Oliver Beare, the subject of this sketch, and Joseph Beare-all useful and enterprising citi- zens. The mother, widow of Jacob Beare, still remains on the home farm and is quite aged.
WILLIAM E. BEAIRD, merchant, Edge- wood. William E. Beaird, son of Jacob Beaird, was born January 4, 1846, in Nashville, Ohio. In 1855, he removed to Olney, Ill. He had good educational opportunities. He at- tended the Evansville, Ind., Commercial Col- lege, in 1867. Subject was married in March 1873, to Miss Flora Johns, of Olney, Richland, Co., Ill .; kept tavern about two years, and was then engaged as traveling salesman by a whole- sale grocery firm by name of Dyas, Hewitt & Stone, of St. Louis, Mo. He worked as trav- eling salesman for said firm about two years, when he engaged. in mercantile business in Cleremont, Richland Co., Ill., continuing un- til 1879, when he closed out and moved to Edgewood, Effingham Co., Ill., put up a store -- dry goods and groceries, and general merchan- dising. Subject is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and politically he is a Republican. Has a family of two children-Robert and William.
R. R. BILLINGSLY, grocer, Mason. R. R. Billingsly was born November 16, 1842, in Ohio County, Ind., where he remained until he was nineteen years old, when he enlisted in the war in 1862, Company D, Fifty-second Indiana Infantry, and was assigned to the Sixteenth Army Corps for a term of three years, at the end of which time he re-enlisted till the elose of the war ; was in Fort Donelson, Nashville, at Spanish Fort near Mobile, Fort Blakely and
at siege of Corinth, Tupelo, and many other battles; was discharged from the army in 1865, at the close of the war, after a service of four years and seven months. Returned home soon after; settled at Mason, Ill., where he en- gaged in farming for a short time. Mr. Bill- ingsly engaged in running a grocery store, at the same time ran an establishment of the same kind at Edgewood, also purchased a livery sta- ble at Kinmundy, which soon after burned, horses and all being lost in the fire. He is now engaged in running a grocery store; has a fam- ily of two children-Jessie May and James R.
GEORGE BOLTON, merchant, Edgewood, was born in Dublin in 1832; came to New York City in 1854. Subject was compositor for the Brooklyn and New York Journal company, Albion Inquirer and other offices of rank. April 21, 1861, he enlisted in the war. He was wounded at the battle of Bull Run, and taken prisoner, and forwarded to Libby Prison; was exchanged June, 1862; re-enlisted in Sep- tember, 1862. He was married in Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1864, to Miss Angelina Johnson. After several years' employment at his profes- sion, he embarked in mercantile business in 1875 in Edgewood, Ill.
TURNER J. BOWLING, Police Magistrate, Mason, was born in Carroll County, Ky., Jan- uary 30, 1843; remained there until 1863, when he came to Mason, Ill., and engaged in cooper's trade, following said trade off and on till 1869, and then began clerking for Thistle- wood Bros., in dry goods and grocery store, continuing till 1871, when he was elected to the office of Police Magistrate of Mason. He attended the duties of Police Magistrate, and at same time engaged in elerking for Pulham & Co. till 1875, when on the death of Mr. Pul- ham the store was closed. He then engaged in clerking for Ruffner & Leith, afterward Wade & Leith, nntil 1879, when he was elected Police Magistrate, a position he still fills. Mr. Bowling was married in Effingham County,
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December 31, 1863, to Miss Rosama Brocket, who died August, 1871. One child survives her, Florence Eveline. Mr. Bowling was married to his second wife, Miss Allie Weston, daugh- ter of George M. Weston, July 9, 1873, having an issue of one child-Jessie C. Subject's father, George W., was born in Carrollton, Ky .. August 30, 1804; was a tinner, and lived in Carrollton, Ky., until his death, which oc- curred in August 1857. His widow still lives in Carrollton, Ky.
E. W. BRIGGS, grain dealer, Edgewood, was born June 1, 1848, in Bangor, Penobscot Co., Maine, where he grew to manhood with good facilities for education ; came to Etlingham County, IN., in 1870, and engaged in clerking in Mason, Ill. In 1872, engaged in grain buying in Edgewood, Ill. He was married, in 1876, in | Mason, Ill., to Miss Adella Tyner. To them has been born one child-Frederic Felton Briggs, Our subject is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity.
JUDGE JOHN BROOM, retired, Mason, whose portrait appears in this work, is the sec- ond son of Miles and Edith (Vincent) Broom, both natives of North Carolina. The parents had four children-William, John, Dicy and Samuel. Our subject was born October 16, 1809, on the Boiling Fork of Elk River, in the newly settled portion afterward called New Vir- ginia, in the Old Dominion, near the Tennessee line. While an infant his parents moved into Tennessee, Jackson County, from which place they, in a short time, moved to Smith County, same State, on Barren River, near the Kentucky line-an unbroken canebrake wilderness. In 1814, their house and its contents were burned, and the family were literally turned "out of doors;" the father, as soon as he could, erected a log hut, but before he could put on a roof. his country's call for soldiers in the war of 1812- 15 took him into the army, and this helpless family were literally left in an uncovered rail- pen, with a few shucks for bed, bedding and
and household furniture. The neighbors eventu- ally put a roof over their heads. The father (Miles Broom) served his country during the war, and was distinguished by the personal no- tice and friendship of Gen. Jackson, for his bravery. As in after years, Gen. Jackson, in making a 4th of July oration, noticed Judge Broom, the son of his old soldier friend in the audience, placed his hand on the boy's head and stated that he had seen that boy's father in battle, when he was so sick that he had to lean against a wall to load and fire his gun, yet he fought the fight like a liero. Miles Broom. when discharged at New Orleans, started home, but when only thirty miles on the way sickened and died, in the year 1815.
Judge Broom's mother was then a widow, with four small children, three boys and a girl, and, at the tender age of seven years, John Broom was pretty much the family dependence in their struggle for existence. At the age of seven, he attended an orphan school three months, and this constituted his educational privileges. His mother had secured ten acres of land, and here he toiled and struggled for the family's scanty existence until seventeen years old.
February 11, 1828, being less than nineteen years old, he married Mary Allen, of Smith County, born June 4, 180G, near Salisbury, on the Yadkin River, N. C., danghter of Ben- jamin and Sarah Allen, natives also of North Carolina. The young wife was the possessor of a bed, and the youthful benedict owned a pony and a saddle, and this was the only freight in this connubial bark when launched upon the matrimonial sea. The young couple rented a farm and mill and worked the happy hours away. In August, 1829, their first child, William, was born, and in the October follow- ing, the now little family of wife and child were loaded into a " carry-all," with all their other goods, and started westward. He joined his father-in-law. Benjamin Allen, and drove his
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four-horse team to their new home in Illinois, on Fulfer Creek, where the two families landed on the 6th of November, 1829. On the banks of this classic stream, if he took an inventory of his possessions, preparatory to a new start in a strange land, it would have resulted about as follows: A pioneer, a husband, a father, not yet a voter, $5 in debt, and nothing else in the world. No, not a pauper, for as his long and useful life has shown, he was rich in health, energy, resolution, industry, and that Western ยท vim and pluck that wins its way and triumphs over every obstacle.
Judge Broom and his father-in-law purchased the improvement of John McCoy. The Judge had to go to Vandalia and buy on a year's credit such things as he was compelled to have. He thus secured, among other things, a few shoe-maker's tools, and for years he made all the family shoes, and his wife could cook nearly everything in the kettle. Like all pioneers, their meat was wild game. The first three years he had to carry his plow, sometimes on horse-back and sometimes on foot, forty-five miles, to get it sharpened, often occupying three days on a trip of this kind. In 1835, he se- cured employment at 37 cents a day in the rock quarry, getting rock for the national road; the second year, he had become so expert that he got 70 cents a day. This was the foundation of his prosperity and fortune, and, in 1834, he entered his first forty acres of land, and bought a yoke of oxen. In company with others, he plowed the first furrow on the National road to a point near Vandalia. Farming, cattle-rais- ing, contracting, teaming and working by the day or by the contract, he prospered, and, al- though he reared a large family of children, he provided enough to give each son 100 acres and each daughter forty acres, and retain over 400 acres of land for himself.
His official life commenced with his maturity, being elected Constable in 1830. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1839, and has
filled this office for forty-one years; was five years Associate Judge, and in 1862 was elected County Judge, and served four years ; was nominated for the Legislature, but declined on account of ill health, and designated Hon. Stephen Hardin to take his place. Here are fifty-nine years of life in our county. Looking backward over this long history of public trusts and labors well and faithfully discharged, must cheer with sincere joy the evening of a long and well-spent life.
Judge Broom's was a useful, busy life, as full of hard work as it was of variety. He farmed, made shoes, contracted on the National road and other work; teamed to St. Louis and Terre Haute, married people, tried their law suits, arbitrated and adjusted the ditticulties of neighbors; administered on estates; gave gra- tuitous legal advice; cried all the auction sales; hunted bee-trees and paid his first debt with honey, wax, and skins and venison hams, and read the Declaration of Independence, standing on a cottonwood log, at the first 4th of July celebration ever held in the county, when Burke Berry and Aikin Evans, of Vandalia, were the orators; has been foreman of more grand juries than any other ten men of the county, and that he drew around him always troops of friends is evidenced by the confidence of his neighbors in the long lease of official life they have so gen- erously forced upon him.
His beloved wife and help-meet, the mother of his nine children, died February 8, 1879. The children were as follows : William, born in Tennessee; Benjamin, born in this county September 16, 1831, is a farmer in Chase County, Kan .; Sarah Ann and Elizabeth Jane, (twins), born March 8, 1833; the former mar- ried Croft Grider, now a prosperous farmer in West Township, this county, the latter married James Osman, of Chase County, Kan .; Dicy, born May 27, 1837, married Thomas Peter- son, a farmer of Mason Township; Martha Caroline, born August 1, 1839, married John
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W. Smith, both dead, and left six children; Marinda Effie, born July 12, 1843, died in in- fancy; Rebecca Adeline, born August 6, 1815. married Thomas Allen, botli dead, and left two children; and Mary Rachel, born July 12, 18-18, died August 19, 1863. Our subject was re-mar- ried July 18, 1880, to Mrs. Arminda J. Newman.
IRA CANNON, farmer, P. O. Mason, was born in Crawford County, Ind., April 12, 1824, and removed with his parents, in his youth, to Parke County, Ind., where he grew to man- hood. Mr. Cannon was married in Parke County, August 31, 1845, to Miss Sarah Swaim, daughter of J. B. Swaim. He made his home in Parke County till 1856, when he removed to Effingham County, Ill., and located on a farm of 120 acres, in Section 6, Mason Township. In 1872, he sold his farm and removed to Mason ; took up tavern-keeping for several years, then moved into his private residence, and has since followed farming. He has lately purchased a farm of twelve acres within the corporation of Mason. on which there are good buildings and a first class orchard. Our sub- jeet has nine children living, three sons and six daughters-John H., of Effingham; George II., resides in Norwalk, Iowa; Surrilda J. Sid- dens, resides in Alton, Iowa; Mary E. Deits, of Mason; Linna Bell Hawley, lives in Jackson- ville, Ill .; Eliza A. Core, resides in Philadelphia; Ada, Laura and Tillman A. Our subject's father was born in Ireland; he came to America, with his parents, when seven years old. He was married in Kentucky, in 1800, to Miss Margaret Hayes. He died in 1832. in Parke County, Ind. ITis widow remained on the home farm in Parke County till her death, which occurred in 1837. Of a family of nine children, only four all living-James, Thomas R., Ira and Mrs. Hariet Davis.
AMOS CONAWAY, merchant, Mason, III., was born April 11, 1829, in Bourbon County, Ky. In 1830, his parents removed to McLean County, Ill., and settled on a farm. Here he
grew to manhood. Ile first engaged in saw- mill and lumbering business, which he pursued about ten years. Mr. Conaway was married in Champaign County, Ill, June 2, 1857, to Miss Elizabeth Boyd, daughter of Stephen Boyd. For some time, he followed farming. In 1864, he engaged in merchandising in Mon- ticello, Piatt Co., Ill .; soon after sold, and re- turned to his farm. In 1878, again embarked in merchandising at Monticello, and in 1882 he removed his store to Mason, Ill. Subject is member of the Knights of Honor, is a Dem- ocrat. Has nine children, all living-James C., Byron B., Hortense, Amos C., Lizzie, Nancy, James E., Mary E. and Allen R.
G. W. CORNWELL, physician, Mason, son of G. II. Cornwell, was born in Fleming County, Ky., removed with his parents, at the age of ten, to Monroe County, Ind., soon after to Mount Meridian, near Greencastle, Ind. Afterward to Cloverdale, Putnam Co., Ind., where his father died in I851, and he began the study of medicine in Stylesville, Hendricks Co., Ind., under J. N. Green, M. D. During his time of study, he also attended school at Asbury University two years. After three years' study in an office, he, in 1854-55, attended Rush Medical College at Chicago. August 20, 1855, he landed in Mason, and selected that place to win his fame and fortune, and embarked in the pursuit of his chosen profession. The Doctor is a stanch Democrat. He was elected Repre- sentative in the State Legislature from Fayette and Effingham Counties, for the term of 1867- 68. Subject is a member of Masonic Lodge, No. 217. of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Corn- well was married in Hendricks County, Ind., in June, 1855, to Miss Amanda Baldwin, daughter of Eli Baldwin, and they have had five children living-Lucian M., William O., Eva Etta. Effic May, Lillie Frances; and three dead-Viola E., Mary A. and Albin C.
ANDREW J. CRAVER, farmer, P. O. Mason; he is the son of John Craver, and
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was born July 27, 1838, in Putnam County, Ind. At the age of sixteen years, he re- moved with his parents to Effingham County, Ill .; was raised on a farm. Subject was mar- ried, September 6, 1865, to Miss Mollie Camp- bell, daughter of William Campbell, of this county. Subject enlisted for the war in July, 1862, Company C, Ninety-eighth Illinois Mount- ed Infantry ; was forwarded to Louisville, Ky. Subject was in the following battles : Hoover's Gap, Tenn., Kenesaw Mountain, siege of Atlanta, Chickamauga, Selma, Mission Ridge. Was discharged June 26. 1865. Returned home and engaged in farming, and took up the responsibility of taking care of his father and mother, which continued till their death. Sub- ject has a farm of eighty acres. Subject is a Republican ; has a family of five children- Homer, Emma Leola, Carrie Alice, Flora, Mirtie. Subject's father, John Craver, was born July 24, 1794, in Monroe County, N. C. Was married to Miss Mollie Todd in North Carolina ; removed to Indiana in 1837, and followed the avocation of farming. Removed to Illinois in 1853, and located on a farm of 120 acres, two and one-half miles northeast of Ma- son, before the Illinois Central was built. Had a family of ten children, of whom seven are living-Alexander, John, Mrs. Nancy Eggers, Elizabeth Cartright, Mrs. Mary Hunter, Elmi- na Kellar, and the subject of our sketch.
N. H. CURTIS, farmer, P. O. Mason, is a son of P. H. Curtis; was born in Jennings Coun- ty, Ind., February 1, 1843. In 1861, he enlisted in the war, Company C, Thirty-seventh Indiana. Was in the battle of Stone River, and many oth er light engagements, as well as a great many hard marches. Subject was married in 1876, in Effingham County, Ill., to Mary, daughter of Henry Tucker. Subject engaged in farming in 1882. He purchased a farm of sixty aeres in Section 3, Mason Township, mostly in culti- vation and partly in the creek bottom. Has two children-Nancy and Jonathan.
HENRY T. DAMON, farmer, P. O. Mason, son of Theo. Damou ; was born December 1. 1834, in Hampshire County, Mass .; here he re- mained till 1857, when he located in Effingham County in January, 1858. His father purchased a farm of eighty acres in Section 21, Mason Township. and he owns the same piece of land, on which he farmed since his arrival in this coun- try. He produces mostly grass and a fair amount of wheat, oats, etc. Our subject's father, Theo. Damon, was born May 15, 1805, in Massachusetts. He was married in Janu- ary, 1831, to Miss Mercy Willcutt, daughter of Enoch Willcutt. He settled on a farm, and followed farming and lumbering till April, 1858, when he removed to Mason. Ill., and set- tled on a farm of eighty acres near that place. March 1, 1873, his wife died, and he was mar- ried February 19, 1874. He made his home in this county till his death, which occurred April 25, 1875. He was a Republican. He left a family of four children ; three by his first wife and one by his last-Martha E. died when quite young ; Henry, the subject of our sketch ; Martha E., the second, and Frank R.
MICAJAH C. DAVIDSON, farmer, P. O. Mason, was born December 18, 1808, in Buck- ingham Co., Va. Moved to Smith Co., Tenn., with his parents at the age of two years. Here he was raised on a farm with unfavorable facilities for education, but he improved his opportunity and gained a fair education. He was married in 1828, in Smith County, Tenn., to Miss Mary Fry, daughter of Henry Fry, engaged in farm- ing. Shortly after removed to Fayette County, now Effingham County, Ill., and settled on tract of land in Jackson Township; here he remained several years. As he could not have good health, he purchased a tract of land in Section five, Mason Township, which he afterward en- tered of Congress, to the amount of 239 acres, on which he has made a farm, and has about 100 acres under cultivation, mostly in the creek bottom, and is consequently
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very fertile. He raises mostly corn. some wheat. Subject is a member of the Baptist Church. He cast his first vote for Gen. Jack- son. He voted the Whig ticket till the party went down; then he went into the Democratic party and remained with them. Subject's wife, Mary Davidson, died July 3, 1815, leaving a family of nine children, four of whom are liv- ing-Mrs. Eley Williams, Henry Davidson, John Davidson, Mrs. Martha Prater. Mr. : Davidson was married, February 29, 1852, to Sarah Astin, by whom he has four children- William P., Charles W., Franklin P., Eli P. When he raised his house, he had to go to Blue Point to get hands to help him. In those days, they had no mills and they grated their corn and sometimes ground with hand mills. In 1835, he bought a horse mill, brought to the county by Jonathan Parkhurst ; by this means he and his neighbors could get their meal. In 1878, he built a first-class house, and has good buildings.
WILLIAM H. DIETS, teacher, P. O. Mason, is a native of Carroll County, Md. He was born January 2, 1848. His father was a na- tive of Germany, and his mother a native of Maryland. His father came to America at the age of ten, and located in Maryland, where, in 1845, he was united in marriage to Luey A. lleiser. Two children, a son and a daughter, both of whom are now living, were the result of that union. In 1856, the family came to the West and located in Whitley County ; there, the father, Philip J. Diets, died in 1865. Two years after the father's death, his mother mar- ried again, and soon after the family came to Illinois, locating first at Madison County, then in Effingham County, where the mother still resides, her husband having died some time since. The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of Indiana and Illinois, and was for some time a student in the State Nor- mal School of Illinois. In 1870, he began life as a teacher in the public schools of Effingham
County, and excepting about fifteen months spent in teaching in Central lowa, has been en- gaged in the schools of this county ever since, making teaching a specialty. He taught thir- teen terms in the West Union School near Mason. From 1878 to 1881, he had charge of the Mason Public Schools; at present has charge of the public schools of Watson. Prof. Diets is a man of indomitable energy, tact and skill in the profession of teaching, and hence is in- valuable in that avocation. He has been for some time engaged in writing a work on biogra- phy, embracing the lives of the leading men, and has the work nearly ready for publication. This promises to be of unique value and inter- est. In 1872, he was married to Miss Mary E. Cannon, of Mason, Ill. One child has blessed this union, a daughter-Rochelle E. Diets, who was born June 1, 1878, at Des Moines, Iowa.
WILLIAM DONALDSON. farmer, P. O. Mason, was born in Brown County, Ohio, August 9, 1821. At the age of seven years, he removed with his parents to Boone County, Ky., where he learned the trade of cooper nn- der his father. Mr. Donaldson was married July 2, 1846, to Sarah Wingat, danghter of William Wingat. He pursued his trade in Petersburg, Boone County, till 1849, when he re- moved to Carrollton, Carroll Co., Ky., and con- tinned his trade in that place fourteen years, the last two years of which he engaged in the distilling and flouring business also ; turning out sixty barrels of whisky and sixty-four barrels of flour every twenty-four hours. In 1861, he sold out all his interest there, and removed to Mason, Ill. The follow- ing year, moved on to his farm, near town. of 160 aeres in prairie and eighty acres in timber. He afterward purchased 160 acres adjoining his farm and fifty aeres more in timber. Ile also has several other tracts of farming lands in the county. Mr. Donaldson makes a spe- cialty of grass-raising ; he usually cuts from 150 to 200 acres, and ships from his own
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farms about fifteen cars of pressed hay annu- ally. He also produces a fair amount of other farm products; for instance, in 1882, he thrashed 1,800 bushels of oats, 500 bushels of rye, and cribbed 2,400 bushels of corn. For the past twelve years Mr. Donaldson has en- gaged in buying and shipping grain; excepting a few years of crop failure, he shipped an aver- age of fifty car loads annually. Mr. Donaldson turns out about 100 head of fat hogs per year. He is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fel- lows' fraternities, and is a strong advocate of Democracy. He has a family of seven chil- dren living, and two dead. Josephine Thistle- wood, resides in Cairo ; Catharine Condon, liv- ing in Iowa ; Lue, Charles, Henry, Cora, Thomas; Annie Vista, wife of I. B. Reed, de- ceased September, 1872 ; Willie, died in 1859, aged six years. Mr. D.'s father, Andrew Don- aldson, was born in Brown County, Ohio, in 1795. Mr. Donaldson was a Government Sur- veyor for several years. He purchased a tract of 120 acres near Georgetown, Ohio, forty acres of which he laid out and sold in town lots. Mr. Donaldson, Sr., married in 1824 in Vir- ginia, to Miss Catharine Baxter. After some years' residence in Georgetown he removed and settled in Carrollton, Carroll Co., Ky., where he remained till 1855, when he removed to Perry County, Ill, where he died in 1858. His widow died three days after her husband's death. The following are the children who survive them, including the subject of our sketch and Allen : Jane Hobbs, Caroline Hobbs, Alexander, John, Joseph and Minerva Williams.
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