USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois : biographical and pictorial, Volume II > Part 59
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Fraternally Mr. Turner is affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of Scottville Lodge, No. 426, A. F. & A. M .; Scottville Camp, No. 506, of the Modern Woodmen of America ; and the Court of Honor ; while both he and Mrs. Turner belong to the Order of the Eastern Star of Scottville. His political sup- port Mr. Turner gives to the democratic party, and he has served as justice of the peace, school director and president of the town council of Scottville, while for sixteen years he has been a township supervisor and he was township treas- urer for a period of twelve years. He has always been a public-spirited man, taking an active interest in all matters of vital importance in the community where he resided, most efficiently discharging the responsibilities of the various offices he has held.
JOHN LOWIS.
One of the leading agriculturists and stockmen of Shipman township is John Lowis, who has also been a prominent factor in the educational development of the township as well as in the promotion of its public utilities. He was born in the vicinity of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, on the 28th of October, 1852, and is a son of John and Anne( Jackson) Lowis. The parents were both natives of West- moreland county, England, the father's birth having there occurred on the 12th of March, 1822, and that of the mother in March. 1826. The Lowis family orig- inally came from Scotland, the great-great-great-grandfather of our subject having moved from there to England, which was thereafter the home of this branch of the family. Left an orphan at the age of four years, John Lowis, Sr., was brought up by his brother Richard in Westmoreland county, England. There he was also educated and married to Miss Jackson, who belonged to an old West-
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moreland family. She was the only one of her people to come to the United States, but some of her brothers emigrated to Australia. When he was about twenty-eight years of age John Lowis, accompanied by his wife, came to America, landing at New York. From there they went directly to Black Hawk, in south- west Wisconsin, where he worked in the lead mines and also engaged in farming. In 1857 they removed to McLeod county, Minnesota, locating near Glencoe, where he entered some government land. During the Civil war he volunteered as a soldier in the campaign against the Sioux Indians in Dakota, and was sta- tioned for a time at Fort Abercrombie. In 1866 Mr. Lowis brought his family to Macoupin county, settling in Shipman township in the vicinity of Piasa. Soon thereafter he disposed of his land in Minnesota, purchasing property in Jersey, Christian and Macoupin counties, being the owner at one time of fifteen hundred acres. He was a man of rare judgment and keen sagacity, whose discernment enabled him to so direct his energies as to realize the best possible results. He helped to organize the bank of Medora in 1877, continuing to be identified with this institution until his death which occurred at his home in Shipman township in 1896. One of Macoupin county's prominent citizens of the pioneer period, he did much to advance the various public utilities of his township and promote the general welfare of the community. Both he and his wife affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church of Piasa and he voted the republican ticket. To Mr. and Mrs. Lowis were born ten children: George, who is a farmer in the vicinity of Dexter, Iowa; John, our subject; Isabella, who is unmarried and liv- ing in the vicinity of Piasa, Illinois; Alice A., the widow of Joseph Offliter, of Morrisonville, Illinois; Mary Jackson, the deceased wife of William Kitchel, of Morrisonville and the mother of ten children; William, who is also a resident of Morrisonville; Christopher, who died at the age of five years; Ruth Elizabeth, the wife of G. R. Waggoner, of Piasa; Joseph Dickinson, who is living at Mor- risonville ; and Charles E., who is residing in the vicinity of Piasa.
. Reared on the farm of his father, John Lowis acquired his education in the district schools in the vicinity of his home. After the mastery of the common branches he discarded his school books, and gave his undivided attention to the acquirement of an agricultural training under the direction of his father, who subsequently took him into partnership in the cultivation of the home farm. At the age of twenty-nine he left the parental roof, and marrying, established a home of his own. He took his wife to his present homestead, which at that time con- tained but one hundred and sixty acres of land, located on section 6, Shipman township. He had purchased this property about two years previously and had it improved and under cultivation. During the long period of his residence here Mr. Lowis has effected many changes in his property, having erected a new residence and outbuildings, all of which are substantially constructed and modern. His holdings have been increased at divers times until he now owns five hundred acres of land, all under cultivation and in excellent condition. He has been very successful in his undertakings, having applied himself persistently and intelligently to the cultivation of his fields and his stock-raising. He makes a specialty of the feeding and raising of cattle and hogs for the market, breeding a good grade of Poland China hogs, Shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep, and he also keeps some fine Percheron draft horses.
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In March, 1882, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Lowis and Miss Augusta Wilton, a daughter of George and Harriet (Palmer) Wilton. Both parents were natives of Westmoreland county, England, the father having been born in 1826 and the mother in 1828. The paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wilton, emigrated to the United States in the '50s, settling in Lake county, Illi- nois, in the vicinity of Antioch, where he engaged in farming until his death, which occurred at the age of eighty-four years. To Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wil- ton were born five sons and one daughter: Duke, who was killed at the battle of Sebastopol during the Crimean war; George, the father of Mrs. Lowis; Thomas, a farmer of Lake county, Illinois, now deceased; Edwin, who is en- gaged in farming in Lake county ; Richard, who was a member of the Union army and killed in battle; and Mary Jane, now deceased, who married Abraham Pit- man of Westmoreland, and after his death came to America, locating in Lake county. George Wilton, the father of Mrs. Lowis, enlisted in the English army and served during the Crimean war, being at Sebastopol when his brother Duke fell. After the close of the war he returned to England and engaged in farming until 1871, when he emigrated to the United States with his family. He pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land on sections 5 and 6, Shipman town- ship, Macoupin county, where he continued to make his home until he died. He was a member of a company that put in one of the first coal shafts sunk in this section of the state, located at Medora. Mrs. Lowis' maternal grandfather, Richard Palmer, spent his entire life in Westmoreland county, England, living to attain a ripe old age. To Mr. and Mrs. George Wilton were born ten children, six sons and four daughters: Flora Deborah, the deceased wife of William Robinson, a retired farmer of Carlinville; William, who is a farmer of Lake county, Illinois ; Edwin, who is a resident of Chesterfield, Illinois ; John Ashell, a farmer residing near Medora; Charles, who is living in Chesterfield; Lilly, the wife of Edwin Clower of Kansas; Augusta, now Mrs. Lowis; Sidney George, who is living on the old homestead near Medora; Sabina, the wife of James Brown, a farmer of Macoupin county; and Richard, who is living in Jersey county, where he engages in farming.
Mr. and Mrs. Lowis are the parents of five children: Bertha A., the wife of Lawson Rhoads, a farmer of Shipman township, who has two children, Paul and Marie; Bina I., the wife of George M. Hayes, a Methodist minister of the Cen- tral Illinois Conference, now located at Reddick, Illinois; Edith W., who became the wife of Irl Rhoads, a farmer of Jersey county, in the vicinity of Medora ; and John Russell and Mary A., both of whom are unmarried and living at home.
The family affiliate with the Methodist Episcopal church of Medora, of which Mr. Lowis is one of the charter members. They take an earnest and active in- terest in the work of its various organizations, and for twenty-four years he was superintendent of the Sunday school. His political support he gives to the re- publican party, but has never served his township in any official capacity save as school director in Medora, with which position he will have been identified for twenty-five years at the expiration of his present term. He has always taken a very deep interest in all educational matters and has been instrumental in lifting up the standard of the schools of Medora as well as in the erection of their fine new school building. His interests in the township are extensive and varied. He
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is vice president and one of the directors of the Bank of Medora and was a mem- ber of a company organized to prospect for coal in this vicinity, but their efforts were unfruitful. He is one of the substantial and influential citizens of the com- munity whose efforts are ever exercised for the development and advancement of all that is best and highest either morally or intellectually, ever maintaining a standard of life all should strive to attain.
JAMES H. HAMNER.
A highly successful farmer and stockman of Macoupin county is James H. Hamner, whose homestead contains three hundred and seventy-two acres of highly improved land. His birth occurred in Morgan county, three miles from Waverly, on the 31st of May, 1843, his parents being John and Mary (Rohrer) Hamner, the father a native of Illinois and the mother of Kentucky. There were born three children: Elizabeth, wife of Sterling Berry, of Palmyra ; James H., our subject ; and Sarah J., the late wife of D. W. Solomon, deceased, of Kansas. The father, who always engaged in agricultural pursuits, had ac- quired quite a valuable farm at the time of his demise, which occurred during the childhood of our subject. For her second husband the mother married Spen- cer Norven, of Macoupin county.
James H. Hamner was reared in the home of his step-father, and while obtaining his education in the district schools assisted in the duties about the farm, thus becoming familiar with the best practical methods of farm work. At the age of twenty-one years he was married and began working for himself. He pur- chased an eighty acre tract of land and upon this erected a log cabin, where he and his wife began their domestic life. He only owned one horse at this time and not being able to spare the money to buy another was compelled to borrow one from a neighbor in order to make a team to break his land and place it under cultivation. Being young, ambitious and energetic he had unlimited faith in his ability to win success. He applied himself diligently and unceasingly to the operation of his land, which repaid his labor in lavish manner. The log cabin was superseded by a comfortable country house, while the boundaries of his homestead were extended from time to time until they now embrace three hundred and seventy-two acres. In addition to his own holdings Mr. Hamner has presented furthermore each of his sons with an eighty acre tract of land. In connection with the cultivation of his fields he has devoted much attention to the breeding and raising of high-grade stock, from which he has always realized a substantial income.
On the 10th of March, 1864, Mr. Hamner married Miss Nancy E. Nevins, a daughter of Austin S. and Margaret (Steele) Nevins, both natives of Ten- nessee. She is one of a family of seven children, the others being: Elias and Sarah, both deceased; William, a resident of Minnesota ; Albert and Mary, also deceased; and Jane, the wife of J. H. Norvell, of Wagner. Mrs. Nevins died while still quite young and Mr. Nevins married for the second time Mrs. Thomas, the widow of James Thomas, and to them were born four children :
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Martin L., now deceased; George, a resident of Girard; Silas, living in Nilwood, Illinois ; and Clarinda, deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Hamner are the parents of seven children: Mary, born March 6, 1865, is the wife of Newton Walkington, of Macoupin county, and they have five children, Herschel E., Nora E., Minnie O., Nellie O. and Paul E. Amanda, born October 5, 1866, is the wife of W. T. Turner, of this county, and has seven children, Cyrus E., Stella, Cephas, Meryl, Jasper, Grace and Carl. Emma, born November 3, 1868, is the wife of I. P. Drennan, of Kansas, and they have three children, Fred, Maud and Earl. John, born March 24, 1871, is a resident of this county. He married Nellie Walkington and has two chil- dren, Iva and Harry. Albert, born July 27, 1874, died on the 26th of September, 1876. Effie, born October 2, 1877, is the wife of Nathan Walkington, of Macou- pin county, and they have one child, Edith. James H., Jr., born November 24, 1881, is also a resident of this county. He married Rae Jenkins and they have two children, Fern and Alma. Mr. and Mrs. Hamner also have three great- grandchildren, Lerne Andrews, Nellie Turner and a baby in the Turner family as yet unnamed.
Members of the Christian church, Mr. and Mrs. Hamner brought up their family in the faith of that denomination. He is also a member of the Anti- Horse Thief Association, while his political support is given the democratic party. Township affairs have always enlisted the interest of Mr. Hamner, who has held various minor offices. He is one of the prosperous agriculturists of Macoupin county, whose success is the justly merited reward of intelligently and capably directed effort.
JAMES P. ROODHOUSE.
James P. Roodhouse, for thirteen years past cashier of the Bank of Medora, has given indisputable proof of acquaintance with financial matters and has reflected credit upon a position for which he is eminently adapted by birth and education. He was born at Carrollton, Illinois, March 4, 1869, a son of Benjamin and Abigail Eliza (Wales) Roodhouse, the former of whom was born in York- shire, England, February 8, 1825, and the latter at Vergennes, Vermont, October 4, 1829. The Roodhouse family is one of the old families of Yorkshire. The grandparents of our subject on the paternal side were Benjamin and Jane ( Moses) Roodhouse. The grandmother was twice married, her first husband being Will- iam Wood, and after his death she married Benjamin Roodhouse, who died about one year after their emigration to the United States. The family settled upon government land at Whitehall, Illinois, and Mrs. Roodhouse there spent the remainder of her life. She was the mother of five children, all of whom are deceased, their names being: Jane; John, of Roodhouse, Illinois, a town which was named in honor of an uncle of our subject; Benjamin; Peter, a resident of Whitehall; and James, of Fort Scott, Kansas.
Benjamin Roodhouse, the father of our subject, was reared to the pursuit of farming and received his education in a log school house. In 1866 he located
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at Carrollton where he engaged in farming, also dealing in live stock. He be- came interested in the Carrollton Bank and was its president from 1877 to 1883. On the 22d of February, 1849, he was married to Abigail Eliza Wales and by this union the following children were born: Ella May, John Moses, Eliza Jane, Charles Benjamin ; Mary Elizabeth, Ada, James Peter and Edward Isaac. Mrs.
Abigail E. Roodhouse was a daughter of Charles Wales and a representative of the eighth generation from Elder William Brewster, who was one of the leaders in the Plymouth colony and came to America in the Mayflower. His de- scendants have been identified with the progress of the country for nearly three centuries. Charles Wales was married at Weybridge, Vermont, January 12, 1817, to Elethear Britell. He removed with his family to Ferrisburg, Vermont, in 1820, and came to Illinois in 1845, settling near Medora, in Shipman town- ship, Macoupin county. He participated in the Plattsburg campaign in the war of 1812 and was a man of energy and determination of character, gaining rec- ognition as a substantial farmer of this county. He died December 16, 1871. Of his family of six children five are deceased, namely: William Brewster, of Medora; George Roger; Charles Edward, who was president of the Bank of Medora for twenty years; Abigail Eliza; and Elizabeth, who married Marcus North, of Whitehall. Harriet, the surviving member of the family, is the wife of William W. Hays, of Bunker Hill. Benjamin Roodhouse died in 1893 and his wife was called away in 1898. They were prominent members of the community with which they were identified for many years. Mr. Roodhouse took a great interest in the development of the agricultural resources of the state and served for four terms as president of the Greene County Agricultural Association.
Mr. Roodhouse of this sketch was educated in the public and high schools of Carrollton and later attended the Normal School at Valparaiso, Indiana. He taught school for two years in Greene county and then entered the University of Illinois where he pursued the scientific course. After leaving the university he became connected with the People's Bank at Whitehall, Illinois, and two years later accepted a position as bookkeeper in the Bank of Medora. He soon demonstrated his ability and was made assistant cashier, being advanced to the position of cashier in 1898, an office which he has ever since held. He has given his attention exclusively to banking and has gained an enviable reputation as a man of sound judgment and clear discrimination. He keeps in close touch with the financial movements of the country and is an active member of the American and Illinois State Bankers' Associations.
On October 12, 1895, Mr. Roodhouse was married to Miss Jessie E. Dain, a daughter of E. T. Dain of Brighton, Illinois. She died in 1896 and in 1908 Mr. Roodhouse was married to Miss Leita L. Loper, a daughter of Thaddeus L. Loper, of Chesterfield township. They have one child, Doris L., who was born December 23, 1909. George Loper, the grandfather of Mrs. Roodhouse, was born in New Jersey and came with his parents to Illinois when he was twelve years of age. The family settled on Challacombe Hill, in Chesterfield township, Macoupin county. After growing to maturity Mr. Loper was married to Sarah Norton and they located at Summerville, where he became the owner of two hundred and eighty acres of land. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Loper were fourteen children, five of whom died in infancy, the others being: John T., of
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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY
Summerville, who is now deceased; Lucinda, who married William Brewer, of Fort Scott, Kansas, and is also deceased; Theodore, of Summerville, who is de- ceased; Melville L. and Emmons B., both of whom are living at Summerville; Thaddeus L .; Emeline, who married Allen Eastham, of Medora, and is now deceased; Alithea, the wife of John T. Eastham, of Summerville; and Sabian W., also a resident of Summerville. Thaddeus L. Loper married Mattie C. Hunter and to this union three children were born.
Fraternally Mr. Roodhouse is identified with the Masonic order and the Modern Woodmen of America, and politically he gives support to the republican party. He has served as school trustee but has never sought public office, preferring to make use of his energies in channels of business rather than in the turmoil of political strife. A man of sound principles, he has met all the re- sponsibilities of life courageously and successfully and has attained a recognized position as one of the capable and progressive citizens of Macoupin county.
CHARLES E. CALDWELL.
Charles E. Caldwell is engaged in the cultivation of a one hundred and sixty acre tract of land in Staunton township that has been in his father's family for the greater part of a century. Mr. Caldwell was born in the township where he now resides on the 12th of February, 1858, and is a son of H. J. and Nancy (Griffiths) Caldwell. In the paternal line he is of Irish extraction, being de- scended from George Caldwell, who was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1802. There he grew to manhood and was educated, spending the first twenty- six years of his life in the land of his nativity. In 1823 he was married to Miss Mary Johnson, and soon thereafter they took passage for the United States. Upon their arrival in this country they located at Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, where they resided until 1836. There, during the period of President Jackson's administration, Mr. Caldwell was officially connected with the custom house. In 1836 with his wife and family he migrated to Macoupin county, settling on a tract of land about three miles east of Staunton, that had been previously preempted by his brother Henry, who had been a resident of the county for some years. Staunton at that time contained but two or three houses, and was surrounded by unbroken prairie, which was very sparsely settled. The nearest mill and market was at Alton, where the settlers for miles around were forced to take their grain to have it ground, and buy their supplies. Here Mr. Caldwell reared his family and assisted in establishing churches, and schools, and various public utilities. He was an enterprising, progressive man and having implicit confidence in the future of the country applied his energies not only toward the development of his private interests but those of the com- munity at large. He lived to attain a ripe old age and passed away at the home of his son, the father of our subject, at the age of eighty-five years. His wife had died three years previously being seventy-five years old at the time of her demise. H. J. Caldwell was a lad of eight years when his parents emigrated to Illinois, his birth having occurred in Philadelphia on the 16th of
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March, 1828. His education, which had been started in the public schools of his native city, was completed in those of Macoupin county, where he grew to manhood. He remained at home assisting his father in the cultivation of the farm until his marriage to Miss Griffiths, which event occurred at Hillsborough. She was born in Montgomery, Illinois, on the 6th of September, 1832, and is a daughter of John and Harriet (Pyatt) Griffith, the father being a native of Tennessee and the mother of North Carolina. They began their domestic life on the farm in Staunton township where Mr. Caldwell passed away on the 30th of May, 1904, at the age of seventy-six years. He was always more or less prominently connected with public affairs in Macoupin county, where he served as justice of the peace for four years. Fraternally he was identified with the Masonic order, holding membership in this county, and at one time he was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is survived by his wife, who continues to live on the old homestead. In Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell's family were six children: George N., John T., and Mary, who died in infancy; George B., who passed away at the age of nineteen years; Charles E., the subject of this sketch; and James H., who is operating the home farm for his mother.
Reared on the farm where he was born, Charles E. Caldwell during his boyhood attended the district schools of the vicinity, but later, supplemented the education therein obtained by a course in a school in St. Louis, where he studied for a time. He subsequently returned to his father's farm, in the opera- tions of which he assisted until his marriage. Immediately following this event he settled on his grandfather's old homestead, and there he has ever since resided. Here he is engaged in general farming and stock-raising, in both of which he has met with good success. In connection with his son he also owns a tract of land in Arkansas county, Arkansas.
In 1885 Mr. Caldwell was married to Miss Elizabeth Voyles and they have become the parents of five children: Nellie, the wife of John W. Hoxsey, of Staunton, by whom she has had one child, Roy Everett; and Roy, Nona Belle, Gracie and Daisy B., all of whom are at home.
Fraternally Mr. Caldwell affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America, belonging to the camp at Staunton; in politics he is a democrat, and for over twenty years has been filling the office of highway commissioner in his township. During the entire period of his life he has maintained the high standard of citizenship that has characterized his family for the three generations they have been residents of the county, and has many stanch friends in the community where he is living.
FRANK SICHER.
Frank Sicher, who has been a resident of Staunton for eighteen years, was born in Austria, on the 21st of March, 1866; his parents were Joseph and Brigardo (Asoun) Sicher, who spent their entire lives in the old country. He grew to manhood in his native land, where he acquired a meagre education, early being
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