USA > Illinois > Macon County > History of Macon County, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 55
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THOMAS DAVIS
Is another old settler who has figured prominently in the affairs of the county, and who has done much to add both to its business and its wealth, and we therefore with pleasure add a brief notice of his life.
He is a native of the Keystone state, and was born in Washing- ton county, September 12th, 1819, and is the son of George Davis and Hester Whiteman, natives of the same connty. After attaining the age of manhood he went to Licking couaty, Ohio, where he served as a farm hand about five years, then spent some two years in farming and trading on his own account in Muskingum county. He next directed his course westward, and located in Mt. Zion township, this county, in 1848. He purchased a farm in company with Philo Buckingham, another well-known business gentleman, and began trading in sheep and cattle. He soon purchased other lands in that township, and became well-known throughont this section of the state, both as a prominent farmer and an active. trader, and has maintained a business reputation from that day to this, which places him prominently before the people. For the last four years he has made a specialty in shipping horses and mules to the West, principally to Nebraska. Some of liis investments have been very profitable, while others have involved heavy losses, and he has therefore had about the usual luck of all large traders. His object though, it seems, has not been so much to save money as to make it. His motto has been to create business, whether it prom- ises large personal gains or not. He naturally loves to sce business and trade active, the country prosper, even independent of his own immediate interests, and no man in his section of the connty should
have more credit than he for stirring up the active energies of general commerce.
He has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Elizabeth Rogers, whom he married while on a visit to his old home in Penn- sylvania. This companion he bnried while a resident of Mt. Zion township. She was the mother of one child, which only lived a short time.
He was married to his present companion in 1856. Her given name is Margaret, sister to his first wife. She has had three chil- dren, all dead.
With respect to family history, the following items are gathered. His grandfather Davis was a native of Wales. He arrived in this country about the time of the Revolutionary war. He settled in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he died. Mr. Davis' fa- ther was there born and raised and became a farmer and brick-ma- son. He then married the lady already mentioned, and raised seven children-six still living: Thomas, Eliza Hatfield, of native county, Isaac, a well-known farmer of this township, Joseph, a farmer of Borie county and Martha and Mary J.
In politics Mr. Davis is an independent thinker, and votes as he thinks best for the general welfare of the country. He was a Unionist during the late war, and is in favor of the equal rights of all in civic privileges.
In physical constitution he has been endowed in a remarkable degree. He has had an iron constitution, and has performed a vast. amount of manual labor. He is still robust and strong, and is yet blessed with unimpaired energies, and the prospect is that he will yet serve the county for many years in the work of material and social development.
DAVID P. KELLER.
WHEN Mr. Keller came to the county in 1869, he purchased the tract where he now lives, 240 acres, then entirely in a state of nature, and for which he paid $31.00 per acre. He at once began to improve, and has since added another 40 acre tract, to what is now one of the finest homesteads of the county. It is high, rolling, rich, and healthy, and includes a fine grove of timber, known to old settlers as Hickory Bunch. He has pursued what is often styled as a mixed system of husbandry, raising all the cereals com- mon and nsual to the conntry, and does a business in the line of live stock. He is therefore ready for the market in its different variations. He is a close calculator, a neat workman, and spends money liberally, and every part of his possessions bears the impress of these characteristics. He has not only added a superb estate to the connty's wealth, but has built np a beautiful and refined home for his family, which will stand as a monument to his skill, taste and industry, when his remains find a resting-place with his fathers who have gone before.
Mr. Keller was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, July 10th, 1834. He was raised to manhood on his father's farm, and was well edu- cated in letters and all branches of practical business. He was first married, Jan. 1st, 1856, to Miss Mary Hampson, who died the same year without issue. Was married again Sept. 20th, 1859, to his present wife, formerly Miss Rebecca McFarland, daughter of Walter and Julia (Wideler) MeFarland, early settlers of Fairfield county. Her grandfather McFarland, was from Scotland, and was accompanied to this country by a brother, who became a soldier in the continental army. Her father served his country as a soldier, during the war of 1812. He settled in Fairfield county about the year 1800, when Ohio was a new country.
When the late civil war broke out Mr. Keller volunteered, but
RESIDENCE , STOCK & GRAIN FARM OF FREDK BAILEY SEC. 16, T. 15, R.1, (BLUE MOUND TP) MACON CO.IL.
J.W.WALKER
SIDOK&L GRAIN
THE SWITCH
RESIDENCE
RESIDENCE, STOCK & GRAIN FARM OF J. W.WALKER SEC.8, T 14, R.2, (MACON TP) MACON CO.IL.
215
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
only remained in the army about a year, when it became liis imper- ative duty to return home, which he did in 1864. The following autumn he came to Shelby county, this state, but not liking thic soil so well as that of this county, he sold his farm and moved here.
Mr. Keller's ancestors date back to that great " bee-hive of na- tions "-Germany. His grandfather, Henry, was a native of York county, Pa., and married Miss Catharine Seitz. They raised numerous children who afterward scattered over the West and South. Daniel, Mr. Keller's father, was the sixth and youngest son. He located in Fairfield county, in 1802. His wife was Susanna Ruffner, and they are both still living in their old county, where their parents settled on coming to the state. They raised cleven children, six sons and five daughters, and have three sons and all their daughters still living. Their residences are as fol- lows : Emanuel of Pettes county, Mo., Augustus R., Indian Agent in Montana Ter., Mrs. Lovina (Jonas) Hite, Mrs. Sophia (Jno.) Caldwell, Mrs. Catharine (W. L.) Rigby, and Mrs. Susan (Wm.)
Mcdill, reside in their native county ; Mrs. Catharine R. (Jackson) Shaver is a resident of Lasalle county, this state. They are all well circumstanced, and all have the highest social standing.
Of Mr. Keller it is not necessary to speak, as he is one of the " best acquainted men" of the county, one that is not only known, but also knows everybody. The writer's opinion is that he is a whole-souled, enthusiastic, and high-minded gentleman, not only of high and meritorious standing, but also clear-headed, not only in business matters, but on the great national topic of the age-the currency question. It is needless to say that he is a greenbacker of the first water, and an uncompromising friend of popular gov- ernment and popular rights.
Mr. and Mrs. K. have been highly blessed in their family rela- tinos, and are conferring on their children a good education. Names as follows : Walter S., Augustus R., Ada D., Grace, and Julia A. Two of the daughters are now in attendance at the school at Valparaiso, Ind.
ILLINI TOWNSHIP ..
HIS township, lying on the west side of the county, is bounded on the north by Austin, on the east by Hickory Point, on the south by Harristown, and on the west by Niantic township and Logan county. The surface is a level prairie. The soil, like the adjoining townships, is rich and product- ive. It is well drained by Jones' Creek in the north-west corner, Ditch Branch in the central part and Willow Branch which heads in sec- tion 35, and runs in a westerly direction and leaves the township in section 31. The Pekin and Decatur Railroad enters it on section 6, and runs diagonally across the township, leaving it on section 24. The name Illini, is an Indian name, and means " real men " or " superior men." Some of the early explorers wrote the name of this tribe Illini, and others Illinois.
There were no settlements made in Illini until the year 1850, when Walter Turner emigrated from Ohio, and settled on or near what is now section 31, where he erected a frame dwelling-house and began farming. Mr. Turner is still residing in the township, having moved, however, to the north-western part, where he is en- gaged in farming.
Later in the same year, William Peed, from Morgan county, Illinois, and Humphrey Scroggins, from Logan county, Illinois, settled near Walter Turner. These families formed a nucleus around which the settlements rapidly increased with families from the east, principally from the granite state.
In the autumn of 1857, a pay school was opened by a Miss Dud- ley, who continued to teach in one of the farm-houses, until the spring of the year following, when a frame school-house was erected on section 34. Miss Dudley then taught a public school in this building on its completion.
The first sermon preached in this township was by a Methodist circuit rider, from Illiopolis, in the year 1856. Rev. John Hughes was the first resident prcacher. Illini remained destitute of a house of worship until the year 1875.
John Peed and Jemimiah Hensen were the first couple married. Carter Scroggins, a son of Humphrey Scroggins, was the first child born. This occurred in 1851 or '52.
In 1853, occurred the death of a lady named Sarah Eyman, who was a member of the family of Mr. Eyman, who came from St. Clair county, Illinois, at an early date. This was the first death. The first Justice of the Peace was Lewis Eyman. Mr. Rodgers was the first to open a shop and do general blacksmithing.
In 1871, occurred the establishment of a post-office at Warrens- burg, with R. Schrader, as first post-master. Dr. Holbrook, who located in Warrensburg, was the first physician.
The first entry of land dates back to July 18th, 1849, when Walter Turner entered 80 acres in section 33, and two tracts in section 34, of 80 acres each. And on the same day Humphrey Scroggins entered S.W. } of section 34, 160 acres, all in T. No. 17 N. R. 1 east of the 3d P. M.
The first introduction of fine stock was made by Skillman Allen. In 1855, he brought a herd of short-horn' cattle from Kentucky; also in the same year he had imported from Kentucky a lot of Cotswold sheep. In 1857, J. H. Pickerell bought and introduced the first fine hogs. These were the Berkshire breed. In 1862, he brought some fine south down sheep from Kentucky. During the same year, Samuel Batchelder brought into the township some Mor- gan and St. Lawrence horses, which were the first well-bred horses.
Following is a list of the supervisors since township organization : J. H. Pickerell, elected in 1864; John S. Childs, elected in 1865, and re-elected in '66 and '67 ; J. C. Tucker, elected in 1868; J. J. Bachelder, elected in 1869, and re-elected in '70; J. C. Tucker, elected in 1871, and re-elected in '72; L. R. Morse, elected in 1873, and re-elected each succeeding year up to '76; E. J. Roberts, elected in 1877, and re-elected each year, and is the present incun- bent.
Peter Wise, a Pennsylvanian, who came to the county in 1850,
.
216
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
now lives on section 11; M. E. Batchelder, on section 19, came from New Hampshire in 1854 ; C. F. Demsey, a resident of War- rensburg, is an Ohioan, and came in 1853; J. T. Clough, living on section 32, is a native of New Hampshire, and emigrated in 1861; these are a few of the prominent men now residing in the town- ship
The town of Warrensburg is beautifully situated on section 14, on the line of the Pekin and Decatur Railroad, about nine miles north-west of Decatur. It was laid out by Messrs. Warren and Durfee, soon after the construction of the railroad. The town was named in honor of Mr. Warren, one of the original proprietors. John Ritchie erected the first dwelling-house. The first store was kept by Samuel Ritchie, just north of the present limits. The post- office was established in 1871, with R. Schrader as post-master. Jonas Hawood kept the first hotel. Samuel Ritchie was also the first blacksmith.
The Husman Brothers were the first persons to erect a mill. It was a very old and odd pattern, and presents a very strange appear- ance. It is a wind-mill of the old New England style, and was
built for grinding corn meal and buck-wheat flour. It is still stand- ing and in operation.
The wagon-shop of Messrs. Workman & Binkley was the first establishment of the kind in the town. Dr. Holbrook was the first physician. In 1874, the Methodist denomination erected the first church. Rev. Mr. Morland delivered the first sermon in the town, and Rev. Mr Simmons was the first local preacher.
Miss Harman taught the first school. The school-house was built in 1874.
Messrs. Baughn & Kepler built the first tile works.
The present business of Warrensburg is :-
General Stores .- Ritchie & Bro .; A. W. Leavitt ; Shaw & Six. Elevators .- Wm. Ritchie, capacity 12,000 bushels; D. N. Dunlap, capacity 12,000 bushels. Drugs .- C. F. Demsey. Meat Market .- C. M. Dillinger. Physicians .- C. F. Demsey, J. N. Randle. Harness, Boot and Shoe Store -M. R. Schrader. Grange Store .- G. W. Thompson. Blacksmith-Edward Weekly. Blacksmiths and Wagon-makers .- Workman and Binkley. Tile Works .- Kepler & Helsebus, capacity 150,000 per annum.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
MARTIN ALBERT.
MARTIN ALBERT, a view of whose farm in Illini township appears on another page, was born near Springfield, Clark county, Ohio, March 28th, 1839. His father, Henry Albert, was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, and his mother, Louisa Lehman, at Read- ing, Pa.
He was the oldest of nine children, and when he was fifteen the family moved to Hardin county, Ohio.
June 3d, 1861, Mr. Albert enlisted in Co. "G " of the 4th Ohio regiment. He first served in West Virginia, under Mcclellan, and was in the battles of Rich Mountain, Philippi, and Romney. The 4th Ohio belonged to the 2d army corps, and was with the army of the Potomac till the close of the war.
Mr. Albert took part in the various movements of the army, and was engaged in all the principal battles in Northern Virginia. May 3d, 1863, at the battle of Chancellorsville, he was shot through the hip and lower part of the body. He was in the hospital at Pt. Lookout for six months, and was then transferred to Camp Den- nison, Ohio, where he was mustered out at the expiration of his three years term of service, June 8th, 1864, with his wound not yet healed.
In 1866 he came to Macon county and engaged in farming. In 1880 he moved on his present farm in section twelve, Illini town- ship. He has a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres, with an abundance of running water and excellent natural advantages. The buildings have an admirable location.
July 7th, 1864, he married Ella Norman, who was born near Wheeling, Va. He has had nine children, of whom eight are living. He occupies an independent position in politics, but gene- rally votes the democratic ticket.
He served one term as justice of the peace in Illini township, was re-elected, and was serving a second term, when he removed to Maroa township, where he resided four years, and then returned to Illini.
J. T. CLOUGH
WAS born in Merrimac county, New Hampshire, February third, 1814. His father was a farmer in good circumstances. He obtained a good education, and in 1843 took charge of a school at Pembrook, and subsequently taught elsewhere in New Hampshire. In 1855, President Pierce, who was a native of the same county, appointed him to a position in the postal service. He had charge of the mails between Boston and New York. On the accession of a republican administration he resigned. In November, 1859, he married Abbie J. Batchelder, daughter of Col. Nathaniel Batchelder, of Pittsfield, New Hampshire. In August, 1861, he came west and settled in Illini township, where he has since been engaged in farming. Of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Clough, three are deceased. Charles Henry died in 1865, at the age of sixteen months ; and Frank Pierce at the age of six ; and Isabella, at the age of four, died of diphtheria, in 1872, within a period of ten days. Ella R. is the oldest child. He has taken an active part in politics, has held several offices in the township, and his friends have prominently mentioned his name as a candidate for the legislature. He is a member of Illini Congregational Church. He has carried on farming, and has paid special attention to the breeding of fine horses.
FARM RESIDENCE OF M.ALBERT, SEC. 12 ILLINI TP. (17) R.1.E.MACON CO. ILL .
ELEVATOR
CASH PAID
GRAIN
2
3
OFFICE
BLUE MOUND ELEVATOR .
BLUE MOUND, MACON CO. ILL. FLOUR , FEED & MEAL, COAL CONSTANTLY ON HAND. SACKS FURNISHED FREE . J.BARRICK, PROPR.
RESIDENCE OF J. BARRICK BLUE MOUND, MACON CO.ILL.
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
217
G
17. Campoy. M.O.
WHO is now engaged in the practice of his profession at Warrens- burg, was born at Portsmouth, Scioto county, Ohio, on the 13th of April, 1839. The family from which he is descended was of Irish origin. It is said that his great-great-grandfather lived in Ireland and was educated for the Catholic priesthood. Renouncing the Romish faith he left Ireland and came to Jamestown, Virginia. The family name had been " McDempsey," which he changed to the present form of Demsey. Dr. Demsey's grandfather, whose name was Samson Demsey, moved to Ohio shortly after the open- ing of the present century. He was then young and unmarried. He taught school for several years. He married Sarah Nevin, who was also of Irish descent. She was born in Virginia, but when six or eight years old had come to Ohio with her father, who was one of the early settlers of the state. Samson Demsey was a man who stood well in the community in which he lived. He was a democrat, and took an active part in politics. He was chosen to several positions of trust and honor. He served as circuit clerk, and for a number of terms was a member of the Ohio legislature. He had five sons. The oldest, C. F. Demsey, practiced law at Cincinnati for a long number of years. The youngest, Adam Demsey, was a soldier in the Mexican war and settled in Indiana, where he died. The second was John N. Demsey, father of the subject of this biography.
John N. Demsey was born in Fayette county, Ohio, in the year 1813. About the year 1832, he was married at Chillicothe, Ohio, to Tabitha Duncan, a native of Jackson county, Ohio, and a daughter of General John Duncan. General Duncan was born in Tennessee, and was connected with the family of that name who settled in Middle Tennessee, where a considerable number of the descendants still reside. During the Indian troubles, connected with the war of 1812, he raised a regiment in Tennessee, with 28
which to fight the Indians, and after having served in Ohio settled at the Salt Springs, in Jackson county, of that state, where he lived for many years. John N. and Tabitha Demsey, were the parents of eight children, of whom Dr. Cyrus F. Demsey was the second. In the year 1853, the family moved from Ohio to Illinois. After spending the winter of 1853-4 at Woodburn in Macoupin county, the following spring they came to Decatur. In January, 1855, they went to Clinton, De Witt county, and in the spring of 1856 moved on a tract of five hundred acres of land, in Austin township, of this county. Dr. Demsey's father improved all of this land and began the business of raising wheat. Wheat growing in Macon county with the farmers was at that time an experiment. Several crops werc raised with considerable profit, but the business in the end proved unremunerative, and many farmers lost large sums by successive bad yields. This was the case with Dr. Dem- sey's father. The enterprise proved disastrous, and swept away almost his entire means. While living in Ohio he had studied medicine, and he began again the practice of his profession ; moving to Hickory Point township, seven miles north-west of Decatur. In those days when the settlements away from the timber, were few and far between, the physician practicing in the country, led by no means an easy life. He was obliged to undergo hard travel, much discomfort, and had little opportunity for leisure. He was a suc- cessful physician, and remained in active practice till his death, which occurred in March, 1874.
Dr. C. F. Demsey was about fourteen years old, when he came to this state. He had laid the foundation of a good English edu- cation in the schools of Portsmouth, Ohio, previous to his removal from that place. After coming to Illinois he attended school at Woodburn, Decatur, and Clinton. At the last place he went to a high-school, kept by a Dr. Haskell. He left home in the year
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
1858 and began life on his own account. In the spring of 1859 he went to California, sailing from New York, and reaching San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He was in the navy on the Pacific Coast. He was in California at the commencement of the war of the Rebellion, and in the fall of 1862 enlisted in a private company raised in California, consisting of a hundred men, and known as the " California Hundred." This was an indepen- dent cavalry company ; the men furnished their own horses and equipments ; and it was their intention to take part in the war without regularly entering the United States service. On reaching the East they found the government unwilling to receive them as an independent organization, and accordingly, the company (which was said to be one of the finest that at any period of the war en- tered the service) was consolidated with the second Massachusetts cavalry. In the spring of 1863 the regiment was sent to the Peninsula, and placed under General Stoneman's command. It formed part of the force which made the celebrated raid around Richmond. The regiment was called to Washington at the time Lee made his movement through Maryland and Pennsylvania, and reached Gettysburg in time to take part under General Custer's command in that decisive battle. The regiment followed the Confederate forces into Virginia, and at Fairfax Court-House Dr. Demsey was made a prisoner by the rebel General Mosby. He had a long experience of confinement in Southern prisons. He was captured August the 23d, 1863. He was taken to Richmond and confined in Libby prison till October, and then at Belle Island till February, 1864, when he was moved to Andersonville; the following September he was sent to Savannah, and from there to Milan, Georgia. In December, 1864, he was exchanged and sent from Savannah to Annapolis, Maryland. He was subsequently on detached service at Washington, Harper's Ferry, Port Tobacco and Baltimore, till the close of the war.
He returned to Macon county in 1865, and began the study of medicine at Decatur, with Drs. W. J. Chenoweth and S. T. Trow- bridge. In the fall of 1866 he entered Rush Medical College, at Chicago, at which he subsequently attended a second course of lec- tures, and from which he graduated. He began practice with his father in 1867. In January, 1868, he went to Cass county, Mis- souri, where he practiced his professsion till 1875, when he came back to Macon county, located at Warrensburg, and has since been engaged in active practice as a physician. He has also carried on the drug business, since 1876. His first marriage was in January, 1868, to Eliza A. Gouge, a native of Macon county. She died on the 31st of May, 1872. His second marriage took place in March, 1873, to Clarinda Gates, who was born in Monroe county, Ohio. She was then a resident of Cass county, Missouri, to which place her father had moved from Ohio. He has three children, one by his first and two by his second marriage. He is a republican in politics.
MOSES EMORY BATCHELDER
WAS born at Hampton Falls, Rockingham county, New Hamp- shire, July 12th, 1823. His ancestor, the Rev. Stephen Batchelder, or " Bachiler" as the name was then spelled, came over from Lon- don, and became pastor of the church at Hampton before 1638, having previously preached at Lynn ; he returned to England in 1656; he had a son, a minister, in London, who never came to this country ; but his grandson, Nathaniel Batchelder, settled at Hamp- ton, whose son, Nathaniel, born 1659, was the first settler of Hampton Falls. The farm at Hampton Falls on which he settled has been in the possession of the family since for five successive generations, and on it the subject of this biography was born. His great-great-
grandfather was Nathaniel Batchelder, first settler of Hampton Falls, who married Elizabeth Foss; his great-grandfather was Jo- siah Batchelder, who married Sarah Page; his grandfather was David Batchelder, whose second wife was Mary Emory ; his parents were Moses Batchelder and Abigail Drake. His grandmother, Mary Emory, had three brothers in the Revolutionary war. Moses Emory was the sixth of eight children ; he was raised at Hampton Falls. Jan. 22, 1852, he married Sarah A. L. Batchelder, of Pitts- field, New Hampshire. In 1864 he came to Macon county, and the next spring settled in Illini township. He owns 305 acres of land. He is a republican. His children are Fred. J., Natt. C, Frank, Edward and Clarence. Since 1843 he has been a member of the Congregational church. The Batchelders have been noted for their long lives, Mr. Batchelder's ancestors having died, some of them, at an extreme old age.
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