History of Macoupin County, Illinois, Part 74

Author: Brink, McDonough & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 440

USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois > Part 74

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He at once resumed the lumber business with John Bronaugh as partner. This partnership was dissolved in the year 1867, after which he carried on the business on his own account till 1872. At that time Virden was the nearest railroad town and central trading point for a large district of country. He carried on a large and profitable trade. Teams would meet in his yard, which had started from opposite points eighty miles apart-forty miles on either side of Virden. He frequently sold fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars worth of lumber in a single day, and he has paid the railroad agent at Virden as high as fifteen hundred dollars for one day's freight. He built up this large business by his affable and genial manners, his knowledge of building and carpentering, which enabled him to inform his customers exactly what they wanted, and the liberal business principles which he adopted. Since 1875 he has been in the livery business, and for some years has been also engaged in raising fine stock and horses-an occu- pation which strongly coincides with his natural tastes and inclinations, and at which he has been successful. His first marriage occurred in Septem- ber, 1865, to Martha Vail, who was a native of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and the daughter of Dr. Israel Vail, who became a resident of Virden in 1857. She died in the month of February, 1868. His present wife, whom he married in June, 1872, was formerly Miss Mary E. Ash. She was born at Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Her first husband was Frank Huntoon, who

died in the army during the war. Mr. Chedester has three children living, all daughters; two by his first, and one by his second marriage. His father was a whig, and he has been a republican from the first organi- zation of the party. From early boyhood his sentiments were strongly anti-slavery, and he has always believed the republican party to be the representative of the truest patriotism, and its principles best calculated to carry on the government, and perpetuate free institutions.

ARCHIBALD L. VIRDEN

Is now one of the oldest residents of Virden. He is a native of Ross county, Ohio, and was born October 27, 1823. His father, Isaac Virden, was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and when a young man came to Ohic, and in that state married Amelia Saddler, who belonged to one of the earliest families to settle in Ohio. The subject of this sketch was the seventh of a family of eleven children, of whom the ten oldest were sons, and only one, the youngest, a daughter. He lived in Ohio till about eleven years of age, and then in the fall of 1834, the family came to Illinois, and settled on Buckheart creek, twenty-three miles east of Spring- field. The place where they settled was first in Sangamon county ; it was afterwards thrown into Dane, in the formation of that county ; and is now in Christian. His father bought land and opened up a farm, on which he lived till his death in 1846. From the time he was six years old while he lived in Ohio, Mr. Virden went quite regularly to school. But they had settled in Illinois in a new country. As soon as the families became numerous enough a rude school-house was built of round logs; a log was convenient- ly left out at the sides, and some greased paper pasted over the aperture, answered all the purposes of a window. In such a pioneer institution Mr. Virden completed his education. On the 18th of August, 1844, he married Henrietta Dyson. She was a native of Maryland, and the daughter of William Dyson, who came to Illinois in the fall of 1839, and settled in the same neighborhood in which Mr Virden lived, in Christian county. In the fall of 1848, Mr. Virden moved to a farm five miles west of Spring- field, where he lived till 1851, and then bought a farm near Mt. Auburn, in Christian county, where he resided till the fall of 1852. He had learned, the plastering trade, and was accustomed to work at it in the winter season from the time he was eighteen.

He came to Virden in the fall of 1852. The town had just been laid out, and its growth was just commencing. No houses had yet been built, though the timber was on the ground for the construction of two or three. He followed his trade of plasterer for about a year, and then purchased a small grocery and confectionery store, and embarked in that business. Virden proved a favorable point for building a town, and as the place increased in size, he enlarged his business, and in 1845 formed a partnership with S. B. Wilcox. They built a store near the railroad, and carried on business on a more extensive scale. In 1857, Mr. Virden sold out his interest in the firm to Walter Turner. The next year, 1858, he went into business with Thomas Rae, establishing the present firm of Rae, Virden, and Co. They opened a drug store, which has been carried on without interruption to the present day. The partnership has continued without any change in the firm name, for more than twenty years, and during that period has maintained the confidence and good-will of the business community. In his political sympathies Mr. Virden was originally an old line whig. The first vote he cast for president, was given to Henry Clay, the great and eloquent champion of whig principles, in the presidential contest of 1844. When the whig party went into a state of dissolution, Mr. Virden became a democrat, and has since continued to support that party. He is a gentleman who has enjoyed the confidence and respect of the people in a remarkable degree, and has filled numerous positions of trust and honor. From 1857 to 1865 he served as justice of the peace. In 1872 he was elected representative in the legislature on the democratic ticket. While in the legislature, he dis- charged the duties of his position in a creditable and satisfactory manner, and devoted his attention to legislation which, in his estimation, would secure the best interests of the people. He is now the oldest business man in Vir- den, and there are only three persons now living in the town, who were residents of it when he came. He has had seven children, four of whom are deceased. The names of those living are Ann Maria, who married Otho Williams, and now lives at Jacksonville; William H. Virden, one of the en- terprising younger business men of Virden, who is a partner in the firm of Jackson, Hill and Co .; and Edgar L., who is still living at home.

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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

The town of Virden received its name from an older brother of Mr. Vir- den's, John Virden, who, about the year 1838, established a " stand " two miles south-west of where the town has since been built, at the intersec- tion of the Springfield and St. Louis, and the Springfield and Vandalia stage lines. This place was widely known as the Virden stand, and when the town came to be projected it received the name of Virden.

BALFOUR COWEN,

WHO since April, 1867, has been practising law at Virden, was born at Bath, Grafton county, New Hampshire, June 30, 1832. He is descended from a family of Welsh origin which settled in New England at an early date. The name of both his father and grandfather was Zachariah Cowen. His father was born and raised in New Hampshire, and married Mary Titus, whose ancestors were early settlers of Weymouth, Massachusetts. They subsequently lived in Attleboro, Mass., and removed from there to Bath, N. H., in 1765. New Hampshire at that time was almost a complete wilderness. It is handed down as a family tradition that Mr. Cowen's great-grandmother mounted a horse, with a feather-bed as a saddle, and with one child before and one behind her, made the long journey of two hundred miles to the place of their pioneer settlement. One of these child- ren was his grandfather, Eleazer Titus. His great-grandfather was Capt. Samuel Titus; his military title he acquired in the Revolutionary war.

The subject of this sketch was the youngest of a family of three child- ren, all of whom were sons. In 1835, when he was three years of age, his father moved with the family to Illinois, and entered 240 acres of land. four miles north of Jerseyville, now in Jersey, but then in Greene county. The next spring he died, leaving Mr. Cowen's mother in charge of the family. The educational advantages which Mr. Cowen enjoyed were very limited. The first school he attended was at the stone school-house at Ot- terville, in Jersey county. The nearest school was five miles distant, and about three months' schooling, every other winter, was all the instruction he received until he was fourteen. Most of his education he has obtained since he has grown to manhood. His mother had kept possession of the land which her husband entered, and it was fenced and put under cultivation by her child- ren. In March, 1855, Mr. Cowen married Amanda Bartlett, a native of Maine. After his marriage he bought out the interest of his brothers in the home- stead, and was farming till the fall of 1857. He moved to Virden in the spring of 1858, and embarked in the mercantile business at first in partner- ship with his brother.

In the second year of the war of the rebellion he enlisted in the army. He was mustered into the United States service September 4, 1862, as captain of comp. G, 122d Illinois regiment. He served in Tennessee, Missouri, Missis- sippi, Kentucky, Louisiana and Alabama. The regiment was raised in Ma- coupin township, and its history is familiar to the people. On the 20th of December, 1862, while on detached service, acting as provost marshal at Trenton, Tennessee, he was captured by the Confederate general Forrest. He was exchanged in March, 1863, rejoined his regiment, and afterward took part in the battles of Tupelo, Mississippi, July 14, 1864; Nashville, December 15 and 16, 1864, and Fort Blakely, on Mobile bay, April 3-9, 1865, the last battle of any moment of the war. He was discharged at Mobile, Ala., and was mustered out at Springfield, August, 186.5. Mr. G. Evans, now a resident of California, who had been his partner in the mercantile business at Virden while Capt. Cowen was absent in the army, had disposed of the store in 1864; and on Mr. Cowen's return he resolved on fitting himself for the legal profession. He was admitted to the bar April 6, 1867.

As a lawyer he has gained a leading position among the members of the Macoupin county bar. He has endeavored to practice his profession in the most honorable and legitimate manner, and to follow a course calculated to advance the best interests of his clients, believing that there is no reason why a lawyer, to be successful, should stoop to any act which would bring the slightest stain on the personal honesty and integrity of a gentleman. He was raised as an old line whig, and taught to revere Henry Clay as the greatest of American statesmen. Although he was brought up chiefly among people pro-slavery in their sympathies, he became an early member of the republican party, and cast his first vote for president in 1856, for Gen. Fremont, the first republican candidate for the presidency. He has acted with the republican party ever since on all questions of national politics. While Capt. Cowen is in every sense of the word a self-made man, he attributes whatever of success he has acquired in his profession and as a

business man to the example and teaching of his mother during the early years of his life. His opportunities in early life were few, and he has succeeded by his own native energy and resolution. As an officer in the army his record is clear from any stain ; his professional abilities have made for him an honorable place in his profession, and as a citizen his personal conduct has been such as to command the respect of the community.

WILLIAM W. SEWALL,

WHO has lived at Virden since 1856, is a native of Jacksonville, Illinois, and was born February 11th, 1832. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers of New England ; coming over in the ship Dorcas, in the year 1634, and settling at Newbury, Massachusetts. Some time afterward members of the family took part in the early settlement of Maine. His great-grand- father, Henry Sewall, settled at Augusta, Maine ; where, in 1752, his grand- father, Henry Sewall, was born. At the beginning of the Revolutionary war, Henry Sewall enlisted, as a corporal, in Captain David Bradish's com- pany of infantry, and served throughout the whole struggle. During the war he rose to the rank of major, and after its conclusion took part in or- ganizing the state militia. He was made major-general of the 8th Division of state troops, and was connected with the state militia of Maine for nearly twenty years. He died at Augusta, in 1845, at the age of ninety-three.

Mr. Sewall's father, William Sewall, was born in Augusta, Maine, in the year 1797. He left home in 1818, and taught school in various places in Maryland and Virginia. He was married in Washington City, in 1820, to Mrs. E. W. Adams of Nanjemoy, Maryland, a daughter of Samuel W., and Catharine Middleton. After his marriage he settled near Warrenton, in Fauquier county, Virginia, where he lived until the fall of 1829. He then came to Illinois, and settled at Jacksonville, which was at that time a small village of a few houses. He taught school four or five years in Jacksonville, and helped to organize and build the first Presbyterian church of that place. About 1834 he moved to a farm near Chandlerville, in Cass county. At this place he helped to organize another Presbyterian church, and was one of its first elders. He also organized the first Sabbath-school in Cass county. His father died there in 1847, and in January 1852 his mother moved back to Jacksonville. His mother afterwards died at Chand- lerville, in 1874. Mr, Sewall was about two years of age when he went to Cass county, and he lived there until he was about eighteen, when his mother moved to Jacksonville. He had attended the common schools at Chandlerville. and after his return to Jacksonville he became a student for five years in Illinois College, and graduated in the class of 1856. Immediately after leaving college he came to Virden (July 17th, 1856). He had made preparations to carry on the carpentering business, which he had learned at Jacksonville, forming a partnership with J. L. Samson. He followed this business for about three years, putting up a number of buildings, among which was the Presbyterian church of Virden. He also dealt in grain one year, in partnership with James M. Hall. He was married December 9th, 1858, to Susan E. Cox, daughter of Jesse C'ox, an old and well known set- tler of Virden. He commenced farming in 1860, and August 9th, 1862, enlisted in Company G, 122d Illinois Infantry. His regiment was first com- manded by Col. Rinaker. He served in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, and was in five battles, as follows : Parker's Cross Roads, Tennessee, December 9th, 1862; Town Creek, Alabama, April 28th, 1863 ; Tupelo, Mississippi, July 13-15, 1864; Nashville, December 15th and 16th, 1864; and Fort Blakely, April 9th, 1865. He was wounded in the right thigh in a bayonet charge at the storming of Fort Blakely, just a moment or two before its capture. He was taken to Sedgwick hospital at New Orleans, where he recovered and was mustered out of service June 8th, 1865. He returned to Virden, and worked at his trade until the spring of 1867, when he formed his present partnership with G. W. Simons and went into the milling business. He has always been a republican, and cast his first vote for Fremont, in 1856. He has four children, all of whom are living.

GEORGE W. SIMONS.

MR. SIMONS was born at Brighton, Sussex county, England, December 8, 1820. His father was Thomas Simons and his mother Mary Ann Munn. His father had visited America as early as 1822, and wished to make his home in this country but could not obtain the consent of Mr. Simons' mother

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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

to leave England until 1830. That year the family came to America and first settled at Utica, New York, where in 1831 his mother died. The next year his father moved to Cincinnati. Mr. Simons was eleven years old when his mother died. He was gifted with strong, natural musical tastes, and when it became necessary for him to make his own living he chose music as his support. He obtained a position as organist in Dr. Aydelotte's (Episco- pal ) church, at Cincinnati, when he was only fourteen years of age. In 1835 he went to Nashville, where he became organist of Dr. Wheat's (Episcopal) church, and subsequently Dr. Edgar's church (the First Presbyterian); he also began teaching music at Nashville. Late in the fall of 1839 he went to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where, with the exception of one year when he lived at Hopkinsville, he resided till 1851. He left Bowling Green to take charge of the musical department connected with a large female seminary at Dixon Springs, in Smith county, Tennessee, but the next year accepted a similar position at Fayetteville, Tennessee. In the fall of 1860 he concluded that it would be better to change his residence to the north. The people of Tennessee were terribly excited in regard to the attitude of the republican party concerning slavery, and freely spoke of the war, which in fact broke out a few months later. Settling up his business in a satisfactory manner he reached Virden, where he had decided to locate, in the fall of 1860. He had been married at Bowling Green, Kentucky, May 14, 1850, to Sarah A. Calvert, daughter of the Rev. Samuel W. Calvert, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Bowling Green. His sister-in-law, the wife of Rev. William L. Tarbet, resided at Virden. From 1861 to 1864 he lived on a farm three miles east of Virden, which he had purchased in 1859. In 1867 he formed a partnership with William W. Sewall and W. W. Pattison, to carry on the milling business, and in the spring of that year began building a mill, which commenced running December 24, 1867. This partnership has since been in existence with the exception that Mr. Pattison has gone out. An illustration of the mill may be seen on another page. With the recent additions it is the largest mill in Virden. Messrs. Simons & Sewall have endeavored to conduct business on a fair and liberal basis. The mill isamply supplied with the most modern machinery for the production of the best brands of flour. It has never stopped running except from accidental causes from the day it first started. As originally built it cost about eighteen thousand dollars. Several thousand dollars worth of improvements have since been added. It has four run of stone and a capacity of two hundred barrels per day. The flour has been shipped under various brands, principal of which is the "Star" and the " North Star Mills," the name by which the mill is known. The pro- duct of the mill has been shipped to all parts of the United States, chiefly finding a market in Chicago, and during the last year large quantities of flour have been manufactured for shipment to England, where it has been sold under the name of the " Paragon " and " Excelsior " brands.

Mr. Simons was first an old line whig, and while in Kentucky, in 1840, though not old enough to vote, took a warm interest in the election of Harri- son. His associations in the south were calculated to throw him in sympathy with slavery, but instead, his sentiments were always anti-slavery, and he was as outspoken in pronouncing them as was possible under the circumstances. He voted for Lincoln in 1860, and has since been a republican. He joined the Presbyterian church, at Utica, when twelve years old; he became con- nected with an Episcopal church at Nashville, and joined the Presbyterian church again at Fayetteville, Tennessee, and was made elder soon afterward. He was chosen an elder in the Presbyterian church, at Virden, soon after coming to the place, and has filled that position ever since. He has seven children. His oldest son, George Simons, has been first miller for the last four or five years.

LAFAYETTE HEGANS

WAS born in Johnson county, Indiana, October 14th, 1841. His father, Michael Hegans, was an Englishman by birth, who emigrated to America and settled in the state of Indiana. He married Susan Spangler, who was born in Pennsylvania, and was of German descent. His father followed farming in Johnson county, Indiana, and died there. His mother lived in Indiana till the subject of this biography was fourteen or fifteen years old, and then moved to Jersey county, in this state, and settled on a farm near Otterville. She lived there till her death, on the 19th of June, 1875. Mr. Hegans attended the common schools, both in Indiana and

in Jersey county, and obtained a satisfactory business education. When about seventeen he went to work at the blacksmith's trade, and was employed at that, together with farming, till the news reached Illinois of the discovery of gold at Pike's Peak, when, in company with his only brother who was younger than himself, he went to Colorado, but after a stay of about six months returned to Illinois. He was living at Otterville at the time of the breaking out of the war of the rebellion. In August, 1862, he enlisted in company C, 124th Illinois regiment. His regiment was organized at Camp Butler, Illinois, in August, 1862, and was mustered into service for three years on the 10th of the following September. It went into the field imme- diately, and constituted a portion of the old 3d division 17th army corps, from October, 1862, till March 1864. During this period it participated in all the memorable campaigns and battles under Grant, McPherson, and Logan, and was prominently engaged in the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Jack- son, Champion Hill and siege of Vicksburg. At the battle of Champion Hill the regiment for a time occupied the extreme right of the Union line, and was desperately engaged with three times their number of Georgians, whom they routed and drove from the field, killing and wounding two hundred of the enemy and capturing two hundred and fifty prisoners and a battery of four guns, with severe loss to themselves. The regiment also par- ticipated in the Meridian expedition, under Gen. Sherman, in February, 1864. In January, 1864, it won the proud distinction of being the excelsior regiment of the 3d division, 17th army corps, and was presented by Major-general Mc- Pherson, with a splendid battle flag inscribed "Excelsior Regiment, Third Division, Seventeenth Army Corps." The regiment was also engaged in the campaign against Monroe, Louisiana, Yazoo City, Jackson, and Brownsville, Mississippi ; and constituted a part of the 3d brigade, 3d division, 16th army corps, in the campaign against Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, in March and April, 1865. This brigade was the first to storm and enter Spanish Fort on the night of April 8th, and was one of the supports at the capture next day of Fort Blakely, the last important engagement of the war. The regi- ment also constituted a part of the brigade which was first to enter Vicks- burg after the protracted siege which resulted in the capture of that strong- hold. During the siege of Vicksburg Mr. Hegans was wounded by the con- cussion of a shell, and his gun was shattered in two pieces by a rebel bullet. The regiment also took a prominent part in twice mining and blowing up Fort Hill, and in the assault on that fortress on the 26th of June, 1863, lost fifty-six men out of one hundred and fifty engaged. On the previous 23d of June, Mr. Hegans was wounded in the foot while on picket duty. The regi- ment went into the field with nine hundred and twenty-six officers and men, recruited two hundred and fifty-seven, and returned home with four hundred officers and men. It was distinguished for the superiority of its drill, discipline, and good conduct. It was mainly recruited from the counties of Kane, Henry, Mercer, Cook, Putnam, McDonough, Adams, Sangamon, Jersey, and Wayne. It marched by land and water nearly seven thousand miles, was engaged in fourteen skirmishes, ten battles, and two sieges, and was under the fire of the enemy eighty-two days and sixty nights. At a grand recep- tion given in their honor at Chicago on their return, Col. Howe, who had succeeded Col. Sloan in command of the regiment, truthfully said that " the men of the 124th never gave way one inch of ground in the face of the enemy, never turned their backs upon the rebels, and had never failed to drive them before them whenever they tried. There was no blot upon their record and no stain upon their colors but those made by the blood of their fallen comrades."

After his discharge at Chicago, on the 16th of August, 1865, Mr. Hegans came immediately to Virden and began his present business. An illustration of his blacksmith and wagon shop is shown on another page. He is known as one of the progressive and enterprising business men of Virden.

In his politics he is an earnest and strong republican. His first vote for president was cast for Gen. Grant, in 1868. He would have voted for Lin- coln, in 1864, but was prevented by the illiberal and unpatriotic action of the Illinois legislature which refused the soldiers the privilege of voting while in the field in the defence of their country.

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History of Macoupin County, Illinois, Part 74

Author: Brink, McDonough & Co. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 440

Author: Brink, McDonough & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 440