USA > Illinois > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 28
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The Newell House is the finest hotel edifice in Southern Illinois, unless it is surpassed by the Riverside Hotel, at Shawneetown, Charles Gager as pro- prietor, and " knows how to keep a hotel."
The High School Building, is a commodious brick structure, which was some years ago erected by the Presbyterians for a college. Afterwards it passed into control of the Christian denomination, when the Southern Illinois College was established by Clark Braden. A majority of the departments of the public school are in this building. In addition to this, the town has two other school-houses, one in the western part of the town, and one in the eastern, which is for the colored school. The schools of Carbondale have been long noted for efficiency. For the past few years they have been under the superintendency of Prof. G. C. Ross.
The Christian denomination has the best church edifice, but the Presby- terian, Methodist, Baptist and Southern Methodist, have each a good house of worship.
PRIVATE RESIDENCES.
This city has many elegant homes. Those of J. G. Campbell, W. J. Allen, D. H. Brush, E. P. Purdy, Frank Chapman, A.' F. Bridges, Henry Camp- bell, J. M. Morgan, R. J. Cavett, S. G. Hindman and G. T. Winne are es- . pecially worthy of notice. There are very many more that are creditable to the taste of the owners, but space forbids further mention.
MILLS.
Graham and Barbour have a very large flouring mill, with a capacity of 240 barrels per day. The city mills are operated by Brown and Winfrey. The Normal Mills are owned by S. G. Hindman & Co. Isaac Rapp, con- tractor and builder, has an extensive planing and moulding mill.
BUSINESS FIRMS.
Carbondale has thirteen firms that deal in groceries. We make mention of J. M. Morgan & Co., Hill and Arnold, Harry Mertz, Beman and Bar- bour, John Borger and Sam. T. Brush & Co.
The principal dealers in dry goods and general merchandise are : North, Campbell & Co, Richart and Campbell, E. S. Robertson, William Wycks, R. M. Morgan and S. G. Hindman.
R. G. Sylvester, E. Patten, F. A. Prickett & Co., and Morse, Storer & Co., deal in drugs and medicines.
S. E. North and M. Goldman, deal in ready-made clothing, and gents' furnishings. There are two tailoring establishments. Miss Anthony and Mrs. Tate have elegant millinery establishments. Richart and Campbell and J. D. Freeman are Bankers. The Carbondale marble works, are controlled and operated by Hayden and Arnold. E. P. Purdy is a dealer in lumber. Scott Akins, sells stoves and tinware as does also the firm of Lee, Cochran & Co. O. Barber deals in hardware; as does also Mr. H. Hudson. H. Cochauower in saddles, harness, &c. Mrs. Leaver has a shoe store. R. Romig is a cabinet maker and undertaker. There are four meat shops.
Miss Ada Harwood, and Charles Sheppard & Co., sell books, wall-paper, stationery, etc. E. J. Ingersoll, deals largely in jewelry, clocks. watches, etc. J. M. Scurlock, is a large dealer in agricultura! implements, and vehicles of every kind.
Two newspapers are published in the town, the Observer and Free Press, and connected therewith are well conducted jol offices. Such is a nearly complete exhibit of the business firms. In addition, there are dealers in coal, shoemaker shops, paint shops, etc.
MANUFACTURERS.
Carbondale branch of the Alden Fruit Preserving Company.
This was organized in 1872, capital $25,000. $16,000 was expended in the erection of the building, which is 70 by 36 feet, and situated in the north- east part of the town.
FIRST BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
Nelson W. Graham, President ; Sam. T. Brush, Secretary; James M. Richart, resident at Carbondale. Charles C. Keele», J. Sherman Hall, resi- dent at Chicago.
It was made ready for the crop of 1872, and under the management of Capt. J. B. Thorpe, 4,000 bushels of apples were evaporated that year. The first year's business was conducted at a loss. This was no fault of the man- agement, however; Sam. T. Brush, then took charge of the factory and operated it with the understanding that no loss was to be entailed upon the company. Changes were made in machinery, and interior arrangements of the building. Since 1874, it has been in successful operation, and not a load of marketable fruit has been refused, but cash has been paid for all offered.
The following statistics will be found interesting :
1874. Evaporated apples, 6,651 bushels. Average price paid 32} cts.
corn,
1,200
¥
60
cts.
pumpkins, 135,395 lbs.
2
=
1875.
apples,
5,420 bushels. Average price paid 35
50
1876.
64
apples,
3,214
=
. 50
1877.
apples,
9,400
23
corn,
300
50
16
peaches,
250
=
30
29
corn,
1,200
corn,
400
The products are in active demand, and in 1877 were all sold in advance of manufacture. The United States Government, has been a good customer, having bought for the use of its army, 15,000 pounds of dried apples.
The season for drying the fruit, lasts from four to six weeks, during which
82
HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
period the factory runs night and day, giving employment to seventy persons. Much of the products find their market in California. The value to fruit raisers of such an establishment, we fear is not fully appreciated. It affords a home market, and hence saves to the honest farmer the exact amount it would cost to ship by rail to market. It is unnecessary to say anything in praise of the quality of the products of this factory. All that have seen them will testify to their excellence.
CARBONDALE FOUNDRY.
This is not now in operation, and the prospect for its starting up agaiu is
not very flattering. At one time it gave employment to quite a number of men. The present offiers of the town are as follows : F. A. Prickett, Mayor ; O. H. Able, Clerk ; J. M. Prickett. Judge ; C. C. Lawrence, Marshall ; J. M. Scurlock, Treasurer. Aldermen .- 1st ward, L. H. Carleton, S. T. Brush. 2d ward, R. Bryden, D. W. McFadden. 3d ward, John Haydeu, Lewis Marten. Justices of Carbondale Township-J. H. Craudall, W. H. Cochau- ower, D. N. Hamilton. Constables-W. H. Baird, Charles P. Baxter. George Terry
Carbondale, notwithstanding t'he hard times, has made rapid growth during the past four years. It is without doubt destined to become one of the great cities of the southern part of the state.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
ROBERT ALLYN, LL.D.
ROBERT ALLYN was born January 25th, 1817, in the town of Ledyard, New London County, Connecticut. He is a direct descendant, in the eighth generation, from Captain Robert Allyn, one of the first settlers of New Lon- con, and afterwards of Norwich.
His childhood was spent on a farm in the northeast part of a very rugged township, but among an industrious, honest and very intelligent community. The district school was their pride, and to satisfy a desire which its discipline bred, the people had provided a circulating library of perhaps two hundred volumes. These the youthi read and reread, till before he was sixteen he had read Johnson's, Addison's, Shakespeare's, and many of Scott's works. His desire for further education was stimulated by these books, and soon after the family had removed to another town in the same county he entered the Ba- con Academy in Colchester, and began preparation for college. He began teaching school in the town of East Lyme, Connecticut, in the winter of 1834-5, and when he had completed his term of three months at $11 per month -boarding around-he was delighted to find an application coming to him to teach a month longer iu the adjoining district at $13 per month. The next winter he taught in the town of Bozrah at $19. These wages are named be- cause at that day in old Connecticut, then reckoncd the head of the column of educational progress, such prices were almost a marvel for a youth of eighteen. He has taught more or less every year since then, and probably has never felt prouder of any salary than of these monthly wages. He often relates some amusing adventures with short beds and scanty coverings, supplemented by the warm side of a good house dog, or of smoking fires and breakfasts de- layed and forsaken in order to be on time at school, or of crying children magnetized by stories or pencil sketches of birds and beasts-probably such as nature never imagined-of sleighing frolics and quiltings, now banished from good society and forgotten in the midst of intellectual delights. Such schools and school-keeping have vanished.
He prepared for college at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and in 1837 entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, from which he gradu- ated in 1841. He spent a few vacation months in 1837-8 in the book busi- ness in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, and learned much of the coves and oyster bed of the Chesapeake Bay, and something of the negroes and coon and 'possum hunting, no less than a little tact of selling articles which people protest they do not want. He has sometimes said that a portion, at least, of his ability to " put things" properly before his pupils was acquired in these face to face attempts to persuade men that they actually were suffer- ing from the waut of books, of which they had never before heard aud for which they were conscious of no desire whatever.
A few months before the time for him to graduate, he was engaged to sup- ply the place of a teacher, in the Wilbraham Academy, who had been taken sick. This introduced him into his profession as a teacher of Mathematics, in the spring of 1841. He continued in this place more than two years. On November 18th, 1841, he married Miss Emeline H. Denison, of Coleraine, Massachusetts. At the end of his term of teaching he entered the Providence Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was stationed in Col- chester, Conn., where he continued two years. During these years his wife died leaving him with two children. In 1845 he was stationed in Thomp- sonville, Conn., and on June 22d, 1845, married Miss Mary B. Buding- ton, of Leyden, Massachusetts. Soon afterwards he was elected Principal of the Wilbraham Academy, but at first declined on account of a preference for the ministry. But at the desire, and finally by the appointment of the Bishops of his church, he accepted the position and remained in that office for three years.
At the end of that period, feeling displeased with some action of the Trus- tees, which he fancied did not fully endorse him and his administration, he resigned, and was at once by the Bishops transferred to the Principalship of of the Providence Conference Seminary at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, where he continued for six years. While here he was, as he had been in Massachusetts, a leading advocate for better public schools, lecturing and teaching at Institutes with Horace Mann, Henry Barnard, Lowell Mason, Louis Agassiz and others. He also was an earnest supporter of the discus- sion on the subject of Temperance and what was called the " Maine Law." This brought him into the Legislature twice, and made him well-known in all parts of his little State. In 1854, on the resignation of Elisha R. Potter, Commissioner of Public Schools of Rhode Island, he was appointed to suc- ceed him, and continued in that office three years. These were years of labor, and his reports were received with satisfaction and approval.
He resigned this place in September, 1857, aud entered a quieter field as Professor of Ancient Languages in the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio. At this place also his labors were abundant in the common school work, and at Associations and Institutes he was always appreciated and influential. After two years he was chosen as President of the Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati. Here lie labored for four years. But the Institution had been burdened with free scholarships, and was fettered by debt, and during the civil war it was thought best to sell out and build in another part of the city. As this would involve two or three years of comparative idleness, he decided to abandon that field and accept the Presidency of McKendree College at Leba- non, Illinois.
After eleven years of unceasing and very fruitful labor, he was elected in
your Irely.
(DEC'D.)
The late venerable William H. Hord, M. D., was born near Halifax, Va., December 9, 1807. About the year 1810, his father, Rhodin Hord moved to Kentucky, and settled in Mason County. It was here that the Doctor received his rudimentary education.
Rhodin Hord was a soldier in the war of 1812. When the Doctor was seventeen years of age, his father and mother died, and it was about that time that he commenced the study of medicine with his brother-in-law, Dr. Scudder, of Mason County, finishing his course at the Medical College in Cincinnati, from which institution he graduated September 5th, 1827. Soon after practiced in his profession at Indianapolis, where he remained two years and a half, then returned to Virginia to recuperate his health. Four years later he went to Hannibal, Mo. He was married December 2d, 1834, to Miss Ann W. Williams, which took place at St. Louis. She was the daughter of Thomas N. Williams, and was a native of Worchester County, Maryland, born near Berlin, May 2d, 1814. After the death of her parents she went to live with her brothers, at Hannibal, and it was here that she became acquainted with the Doctor. By this union they had a family of six children born to them, but two of whom are living, viz., Thomas F. residing at Murphysboro, and Clara, wife of Wm. A. Pierce, of Carbondale.
The Doctor lived for a time at Boonville, Missouri, and engaged in mer- chandising, from which place he moved to Newton County, Missouri, where he built a flouring mill, and earding machine, and established a store, at a
place known as the Grand Falls of Shoal Creek. After remaining at this place for nine years he moved to St. Louis. In the fall of '54 he left St . Louis, and settled in Murphysboro', where he practiced medicine and engaged in merchandising. Dr. Hord afterwards moved two or three times,-how- ever, not out of the county,-finally located at Carbondale, where he live d until his death, November 23, 1877.
In politics he was republican. Doctor Hord when quite young became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his wife joined the same denomination soon after they were married. In glancing back upon the record of our venerable subject, his children may well feel satisfied with his career. Of good parentage, he has kept the paternal shield " bright," and the people of Jackson County have known him and his family as among their best citizens. His opportunities for culture in youth were good. He acquired a thorough medical education, and was a man of very general in- formation. Patriotic, honest, and upright, he has always endeavored to obey the poet's admonition, to " be just, and fear not." He has not acted upon the principle that-
"One crowded hour of glorious life Is worth an age without a name,"
but has sought rather to let the whole tenor of his life pass so that its memory may hereafter linger, the fit semblance of a beautiful dream.
- --
PROF. JAMES II. BROWNLEE.
PROF. JAMES H. BROWNLEE was born in Livonia, Indiana, on the 29th of December, 1846. His father, James Brownlec, a Presbyterian minister, is of Scotch parentage, but was born in the kingdom of Ireland. Lavinia Brownlee, his mother, was a McClung, of Virginia, and was a woman of un- common strength and sweetness of character.
When the subject of this sketch was 11 years of age, his father, in 1858, moved to the then territory of Kansas. The country was very sparsely in- habited and there were no schools. The lack of educational advantages was largely supplied in having an educated father and mother, and access to a large and well selected library, albeit somewhat theological in character. In 1864, the year of his dear mother's death, he entered the army of the Union, serving first in the 17th and afterward in the 10th Kansas Infantry. He was
honorably discharged on the 17th day of May, 1865, having risen by soldierly conduct to the grade of a sergeant, and having, for his proficiency in military tactics, been detached from his regiment and appointed drill sergeant at Fort Leavenworth. He made a trip to New Mexico in government employ, in the summer and autumn of 1865, and the next year came to Illinois, and was enrolled as a student in the preparatory department of McKendree College. He graduated from this institution on the 10th of May, 1870, and has since been constantly employed as a teacher in the schools of the state. He was elected to the chair of Elocution in the Southern Illinois Normal in the spring of 1874, and has been connected with that institution since then.
. He was married to Miss Sallie C. Carey, of Grayville, Illinois, in 1873.
83
HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
the spring of 1874 to the Presidency of the Southern Illinois Normal Uni- versity, located at Carbondale, Jackson County. From the earliest concep- tion of the plan to the completion of the building, he was one of the first ad- visers. On the 1st of July, 1874, on the occasion of the dedication of the building by Gov. Beveredge, the Institution was formally given into his charge. Having spent most of his life in the educational work, and much of it in the public school line, he was well fitted for his new position.
In connection with marked ability in the capacity of teacher, the Doctor ranks as one of the best writers and thinkers of his time. A man the State of Illinois may proudly claim as one of the foremost educators of the land.
This position introduced him for the first time into the educational circles of Illinois. By a faithful attendance on the principal educational conven- tions, associations and institutes, he soon became well known throughout the state, and was early recognized as one of its leaders. The institution of which he took charge iu 1863, was very prosperous, considering the peculiar circumstances which surrounded it. The financial interests were largely en- trusted to his care, and by judicial management a heavy indebtedness which had long been crippling the influence of the college, was very much reduced.
Being very fond of' landscape gardeuing aud work of that kind, the college campus was much improved by planting evergreens, shrubbery, vines, &c.
During the first few years of his sojourn iu Lebanon, he also acted as pas- tor of the M. E. Church. Many were the discouragements attending the history of the college during his term of service, yet by untiring industry the college was much improved and the cause of education generally much ad- vanced in the southern end of the State.
F. A. PRICKETT,
MAYOR of Carbondale, was the son of J. M. aud Mary Prickett. J. M. Prickett was a uative of West Virginia. In June 1855, with a family 'of seven children, he moved to Paris, this State. He resided there about two years, when lie then moved to Carbondale in 1857, where he still resides. He has been a Justice of the Peace for fourtceu years, and is at the present time Judge of the City Courts, having held the office over four years. The subject of this sketch was born in Fairmount, Marion County, Virginia, October 27, 1842. He being about twelve years of age when his father came to this country, his schooling was received at the district schools the country afforded at that time. He lived at home with his parents until the age of twenty-one, with the exception of one and a half years, when he was in the employ of Mr. Wardell, of Springfield, this State, clerking in his grocery establishment.
In 1863 he opened a drug-store in Carbondale and in 1867 he thought he would try his fortune farther west, and consequently opened a second drug- store, in Baxter Springs, Kausas, leaving his business in Carbondale under the charge of his brother, L. L. Prickett. At the expiration of a year and a half he sold out his drug-store in Baxter Springs, and returned to Carbon- dale, where he has been engaged in the drug business since. He was married in 1868 to Miss Susan L. Whithrow, of Baxter Springs. To this union was given a family of four children, viz. : Luella P., Edgar E., Fred B., and Flora Pearl, the oldest, Luella, having crossed the mystic river.
Politically he is a Republican, taking a deep interest in the success of the party. He has devoted his entire time to his private affairs, and has left official positions to those who are more aspiring. In April, 1877, he was elected Mayor of Carbondale, which office he now holds, with credit to him- self and general satisfaction to the people. Socially he is a good and reliable member of society. He is a speculative mason, having advanced to the Knight Templar's degree, where we leave him, believing that in all proper places he will prove himself worthy and well qualified.
ROBERT GOODWIN
WAS the son of Robert and Polly Goodwin. His paternal ancesters were of Scotch origin, and his maternal, German. He was born in East Tennessee, May 2d, 1818. In Tennessee, at that time, the common schools were but meagre affairs, and young Goodwin only enjoyed their benefits for a brief time, when he found himself in the sparsely settled regions of Southern Illi- nois. In the year 1830, his father emigrated to Jackson County. He had a
family of seven children. The subject of our sketch was about twelve years of age.
In the year 1837, he was united in marriage to Miss Susannah Henson, a native of Tennessee. To this union they have had six children born to them, one living, Ursula, now the wife of Jacob Sware, a resident, of Carbondale. Mr. Goodwin has lived the life of a farmer. Jan. 1877, he was appointed by the County Court, as superintendent of the County farm, which position he still holds. He is a genuine Democrat. He has a kind, generous and sympathetic nature ; he is well fitted for the position he holds. He is moved by true and honorable impulses, and has a desire to do that which is right, not for reward of glory, but simply because it is right.
DR. G. M. O'HARA.
DR. G. M. O'HARA, son of John and Fannie C. O'Hara, was born June 16th, 1852, in Fulton, Oswego Couuty, New York. In 1856, he came west with his parents, who settled at Galesburg, in this State, where they con- tinued to live about eight years. From thence they moved to Springfield; remained there one year, after which they came to Carbondale, where they now reside. His father, Dr. John O'Hara, is a Cauadian, by birth, and his mother was born in New York.
Dr. G. M. O'Hara, had excellent opportunities of acquiring au education in early life, and applied himself vigorously to his studies. He has been a student in the Springfield High School, the Southern Illinois Noriual Uni- versity, and several other institutions of note. He acquired his professional knowledge under the instruction of Dr. C. G. French, one of the best Dent- ists in the State. The Dr. also attended medical lectures in Cincinnati, in the winter of 1875-76.
He commenced the practice of Dentistry in Carbondale and Murphysboro' in 1873, with good success.
He was married August 21, 1875, to Miss Nellie Everhart, of Rochester, Illinois, by which union they have one child.
JOHN W. WAYMAN
Is a native of Kenton County, Kentucky, born Dec. 10th, 1835, and is the eldest living child of Stanton and Catharine Wayınan. Stanton Wayman, was a native of Virginia, and in 1812 his parents removed to Campbell County, Kentucky, and settled on a farm in that portion which since has been forined into Kenton County, where they continued to reside. Owing to the then sparsely settled condition of the country, the subject of our sketch had but limited facilities for gaining an education. However, by considerable effort, he succeeded in acquiring a pretty good knowledge of the rudiments of an English education, sufficient to serve him for the practical affairs of life. When about twenty-one years of age he set out for himself. Previous to that time he assisted his father in cultivating the home place. On the first of February, 1859, he was married in Kenton County, Ken- tucky, to Miss Caroline Sparrow, daughter of Thomas and Nancy Sparrow. In March, 1859, he removed to this County, came from Kentucky in a steam- boat to Chester, thence by wagons to Will's farm, where he spent the first summer. And for the first four years, he rented a farm, and after which time he purchased his present farm, on which he now resides, of 160 acres, an elegant view of which will be shown on another page of this work. His is among the good wheat growing farmers in Levan Township. Mr. Wayman has had a family of five childreu as follows, in the order of their ages : Charles Lewis, Stanton Edwin, Sarah Fraucis, Nettie Catherine aud Wm. Silas Wayman. About the year 1867, Mr. and Mrs. Waymau be- came members of the Lutheran Church. He has been for a considerable time one of the elders of his church. Mrs. Wayman died at their residence, October 5th, 1876, of congestion of the luugs. In her death, her children aud husband lost a dear, loving and Christian mother and wife, whose ex- cellent qualities of head and heart endeared her to all who knew her. Iu politics, Mr. Wayman is and always has been a member of the Democratic party. He has never allowed his name to be used for political purposes, but has preferred to make his mark in the quieter pursuits of farming. He now takes rank among the leading farmers of Levan Township. By an industri- ous application to his business he has succeeded in acquiring a comfortable competence, and his urbane, pleasant and genial manners, never fails to win the esteem and respect of all who know him.
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