History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 98

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698

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The Baptist Church at Upper Alton was constituted in 1830, by Rev. John M. Peck. The original members were eight in number. The Rev. Ebenezer Rogers was pastor from 1834 to 1838. For nearly six years services were held, either in private houses or in what was known as the , " brick school-house." In 1826 a house of worship was com- pleted, and was used by the congregation for more than thirty years, till the building of the present church structure. The church is now under the pastoral care of the Rev. David T. Morrill.

The Presbyterian church was organized in 1837 with twenty-four members. The first minister was the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, then a resident of Alton, and publisher of the Alton Observer, who supplied the pulpit till the in- stallation of a pastor. In 1838 twenty-six new members were received, many of whom had been connected with Con- gregational churches, aud to meet their views a Union form of church government was adopted. A house of worship was built in 1838, and in 1858 destroyed by fire, A new church building was partially completed in 1861, and was dedicated in 1865.

There are two churches, supported by the colored popula- tion, one Methodist and the other Baptist, in Upper Alton.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.

No place in Illinois offers better educational advantages than Upper Alton. Shurtleff College is well known as one of the oldest and best institutions in the State, and the Wyman Institute is a liberally patronized and well goverr. ed school.

THE BUSINESS INTERESTS

of Upper Alton are represented by E. G. Webster, Thomas R. Murphy and Henry Loehr, as general merchants. Mah- lon Malson, E. O. Reader, August Hildebrand, and Albert H. Hastings deal in groceries. Henry C. Swift and Fred J. Stebbins are in the drug business. Books, stationery, and gents' furnishing goods are sold by M. A. Leverett ; >toves and tin ware by Evan E. Betts ; and boots and shoes by Mrs. K. K. Boyle and Louis Ehrler ; F. L. Vogelpohl is baker; Bradley & Co. and Albert H. Hastings, butchers ; Henry L. Walke, shoemaker; Robert R and John McRey- nolds, wagon makers ; Oliver G. Stelle, architect and build- er ; and Israel H. Streeper, undertaker ; H. S. Darnielle and H. H. Rippe, manufacture cigars, Cyrus W. Leverett is at- torney, and Daniel W. Collett and Amos E. Benbow, jus- tices of the peace. The physicians are Drs. T. P. Yerkes,

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Edward C. Lemen, and Henry T. Burnap ; Benjamin P. Harris is principal of the public schools.

THE SECRET AND BENEVOLENT ORDERS

Are represented in Upper Alton as follows: Franklin Lodge, No. 25, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Frank- lin chapter, No. 15, Royal Arch Masons ; Upper Alton Lodge, No. 466, Independent Order of Odd Fellows ; Madi- son Lodge, No. 110, Ancient Order of United Workmen ; Upper Alton Lodge, No. 1594, Knights of Honor.

TOWN OFFICERS-1882.

President of the Council, J. B. Lathy. Councilmen; John Atkins, O. L. Castle, W. J. Maharr, and Jones Wor- den.

The population of the town, according to the census of 1880, was fifteen hundred and thirty-five, and is now about seventeen hundred.

NORTH ALTON.

The town of Greenwood, by which name the village of North Alton was formerly known, was surveyed iuto lots by James C. Tibbett, and the town plat recorded in February, 1853 Directly across the line, is congressional township six, range ten. The Buck Inn had been built in 1837, and a post-office was established in 1868, kept by P. J. Melling at his house, in township six, range ten and called Buck Inn. William Hall, about two years afterward was ap- pointed postmaster, and the office was removed to the present town of North Alton There was formerly a voting pre-

cinct, called Greenwood, which comprised parts of town- ships five, range ten, and six, range ten. In 1875 the village of North Alton was incorporated, and the name of the post-office was then changed from Buck Iun to North Alton. Within the corporate limits of the village there are about nine hundred and fifty inhabitants. George F. Long succeeded William Hall as post master, and George F. Barth, who now has charge of the office, was appointed in 1880.

There are two general stores kept by H. A. Betz & Co., and Charles Henderson. Anthony Buri and Kohler & Walter are the proprietors of grocery stores. John Redmond, and William P. Kolb deal in harness and saddles. George F. Barth is druggist. There are two millinery stores, one butcher and one shoemaker shop, and two blacksmith shops, one livery stable, and seven saloons. An Episcopal mission is carried on under the care of St. Paul's Protestant Episco- pal church of Alton. The North Alton Reformed Club, a prosperous temperance organization, with one hundred members, which has been in existence about five years, owns a Temperance Hall, used for their meetings. Greenwood Lodge, No. 421, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was instituted in 1870, with John Rutledge, William Benson, William R. Jones, Thomas Hall, Robert Crawford, Jacob Strong, and George Moulding, as charter members. The board of village trustees for 1882 is composed of John Toi - sor, Joseph Krug, Mathias Hilt, John Kohne, Frank Wor- den, and C. W. Colby.

At Coal Brauch, in congressional township five, range ten, there is one store, two blacksmith shops, and some other business establishments.

BIOGRAPHIES.

James temple

GENERAL JAMES SEMPLE was one of the pioneers of the when he returned to Kentucky. In the year, 1820, he moved to Chariton, Missouri, and in 1822, was elected colonel of the 21st regiment of the Missouri militia. In 1824, he was licensed to practice law in the state. In 1828, he removed to Edwardsville, where he continued the practice of his chosen profession, that of the law, with great success. state of Illinois, and one among its most distinguished citizens, who have contributed to its prosperity ; and depart- ing, left behind them monuments of their labors that will be remembered and lauded for centuries yet to come. He was born in Green county, Kentucky, January 5th, 1798. His parents, John W. and Lucy Semple (nee Robertson), He was exceedingly diligent and careful, and being a man of magnificent presence and fine manners, he rose rapidly to distinction. Upon the breaking out of the Black Hawk war he was commissioned as brigadier-general on Gen. Whiteside's staff. Immediately after the cessation of Indian hostilities, he engaged in politics. He represented Madison county in the state legislature several terms, and was twice elected speaker of the house-a merited compliment to a natural parliamentarian and statesman, and leader of his were natives of Virginia, descendants of one of the old Scotch families of Remfordshire, Scotland. James was the eldest in a family of nine children. He received a fair edu- cation in the schools of Greensburgh, Kentucky, which was supplemented by a legal course pursned in Louisville. Prior to this, however, he had learned the calling of tanner and currier, a business which proved unsuited to his tastes and talents. His first advent to the state was in 1818, locat. ing in Edwardsville, where he remained for a short time, : party. He had become so prominent in national affairs

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

in 1837, that he was appointed by President Van Buren, minister to Santa Fe de Bogota, and it is related by the old timers that the General was somewhat in doubt with regard to the location of his mission. He, therefore took into his con- fidence Abraham Lincoln, who although of different politics, was a warm personal friend. After consultation, Mr. Lin- coln confessed that he was as ignorant of the geography of South America as Semple. They, therefore, concluded to visit a book-store and post themselves upon South American history. The mission was accepted, aud General Semple took passage for New Grenada in January, 1838. He held his position here until 1842, when he returned to Edwards- ville, and the following year received the appointment of judge of the supreme court of the state, which position he resigned after a few months' occupancy to accept a seat in the United States Senate, by appointment under the ad- ministration of Governor Ford, to fill the vacancy of Samuel McRoberts, deceased. In this body he stood almost alone in the advocacy of the establishment of a line of communi- cation with the Pacific coast. Iu this regard his keen fore- sight placed him several ycars in advance of his age, and he was, therefore, subjected to ridicule by flippant and shal- low critics, who were incapable of comprehending his broad conceptions pertaining to the future great republic. In 1842 aud '43, General Semple specially distinguished himself in speeches made at Alton and Springfield, Illinois, relating to the "Oregon " question, which was then agitating the minds of the people of the states. We glean the following from one of these powerful and patriotic speeches : " I regret that the Western boundary was not settled in the late treaty with England in reference to boundary lines in America, and that I considered the right of the United States to the whole of Oregon as far as the Russiau Boundaries, as clear as the noonday sun ; that the right of the state of Maine to all she claimed equally as clear. But a foreign nation laid claim to a part of that territory without any shadow of right whatever. Yet, we have seen the special agent of the nation refusing even to discuss the question of right, and proposing for the sake of 'peace,' to divide the country in dispute ; and we have seen that proposition agreed to by the executive and senate of the United States. For his part he was as much in favor of peace as any of his countrymen, but that he would prefer war, to yielding one inch of territory that justly belonged to the United States." Through the efforts of Mr. Semple, Judge Lyman Trumbull, Stephen A. Doug- las and other leading men of the West, a set of resolutions was prepared and published that had great weight with the action of Congress relating to the Oregon controversy.

After the expiration of his term in the Senate, in 1847, he returned to his home iu Edwardsville. Having been so long absent from the pursuit of his profession, legal duties became irksome to him, and he retired from both the bench and the bar, and devoted himself to business (principally town making), a taste for which had been somewhat culti- vated long before, in laying out the town of Highland. He

laid off an addition to Alton, which perpetuated his name, and to which he removed afterward, but subsequently lo- cated in Jersey county, Illinois.

General Semple spent considerable time and money in the construction of a self-propelling wagon, which proved to be a failure. He was ahead of his age. The enterprise would have resulted in a success had he lived twenty-five or thirty years later, but we had no mechanics at that day who could carry out his plans. Semple was robbed of all that he had been able to lay up of his salary, as he was on his return from Bogota ; but he afterward became, by judicious trading, principally in lands, moderately wealthy. He was an uncommonly exact and methodical man in his business, and could, in the dark, lay his hand upon any paper he wanted from his desk or shelves. He was pre-eminently straightforward in all his dealings, professional, political, or private, and any deviation from the path of rectitude met with a scathing rebuke from him, without regard to conse- quences. He observed so much ignoble conduct in political affairs, that he became disgusted and withdrew from public life. Although he possessed the elements of great popu- larity, "he could not bend the pliant hinges of the knee, that thrift might follow fawning." He was very kind and affec- tionate in his family, and exceedingly sociable with his neighbors. He was six feet three inches in height, and ad- mirably proportioned. He was one of the finest specimens of manhood to be found in a day's journey. His style of speaking was easy and flowing, but not in the least ostenta- tious. His object seemed to be to present his subject, and not himself, to his auditors. He was a Democrat of the Jefferson type, but would not brook modern innovations, invented for the sake of expediency. His motto was to live and die by his creed. In political principles he thought there was but little room for improvement, and that the stream was purest at the fountain-head ; but in all other affairs of life, he was pre-eminently a man of progress, and had no concern about being out of the line of safe precedents. Semple was a public-spirited man, and always lent his aid and influence to the advancement of measures which he believed would be conducive to the public welfare.

He was married to Mrs. Mary S. Mizner, a daughter of Dr. Cairns of Monroe county, Illinois, June 5th, 1833. Dr. Cairns was a prominent politician, and a member of the first Constitutional Convention of Illinois, and bitterly op- posed to the introduction of slavery iuto the State. By this union there were born four children, of whom Mrs. Lucy V. Semple Ames, of St. Louis, is one; Mrs. Julia E. Scott, of St. Louis ; and Eugene Semple, of Oregon. Mrs. I. M. Floyd-Jones (nee Mizner), of St. Louis, is his step- daughter. The evening of Gen. Semple's life was passed in one of the most sightly spots in the State-Trevue-an ex- ponent of his own excellent taste, a home naturally beau- tiful, but aided by art. Here he passed away, December 20th, 1866.

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

AMONG those who have contributed largely in energy and in means towards the development of their native county's resources, Capt. John A. Bruner takes a prominent place. He was born in Edwardsville, September 1st, 1822. His parents were Jacob C. Bruner, a Kentuckian, and Mary D., a native of Massachusetts. They were married in Kaskaskia in 1821. Jacob C. Bruner, was a hatter by trade. Not satisfied with the trade of his adopted home, he opened branch establishments in St. Louis, Mo. aud Springfield and Alton, Illinois. In 1833, he entered into general merchan- dising in Alton, and was appointed by Andrew Jackson as postmaster - the first in the place. When the Illinois State Prison was located here he was appointed as its first Warden. He was a man of wonderful resources, great executive abili- ty and untiring energy. He died in June 1843. His wife was a school teacher, and as such numbers among former pupils many prominent citizens of this county.

John A. Bruner was the oldest in a family of eight chil- dren. He received a fair common school education, which was supplemented by a short attendance at Mckendree Col- lege. In 1839, he commenced his long and active career as a steam-boatman on the unpretentious Alton ferry boat, St. Charles. The next year he became pilot on a boat ply- ing between Keokuk, Warsaw and Churchville, now Alex- andria ; then on a boat between St. Louis and Venice and St.

Louis and Alton. His father's sickness and death inter- fered with his business, and in 1843, he became a clerk in a hotel in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The following year he embarked, with his brothers, in the grocery trade in Alton. In 1847, he returned to steamboating, in which he remained until 1881, when he embarked in his present business, manufacturer of vinegar and cider and evaporator of fruit. He was united in marriage with Catharine Smith, in June, 1844, who died March 27th, 1847. On the 5th of January, 1855, he was married to Maria L. Godfrey, daughter of Benjamin Godfrey, of Godfrey, Illinois, by whom he had two children one of whom survives the wife of E. B. Widaman, near Carlinville. He was married to his present wife, Ellen Thompson, September 27th, 1875 ; a bright, intelligent, boy, John H., blessed the union.

Politically Capt. Bruner is an uuswerving democrat. Al- though often importuned to accept office, he has never con- sented, except to become Supervisor from his township, a position to which he was chosen in the spring of 1882, and the duties of which office he is faithfully and impartially discharging.

In business life active and straightforward ; in social circles a true and firm friend, he is surrounded by many well wishers.

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

A.LITTLE

Detlandy

WAS born March 8th, 1825, in Barren county, Kentucky. His parents, Isham and Martha Hardy (Edwards), were re- spectively Virginian and Kentuckian by nativity. To im- prove his condition in life, his father, a farmer, came to Illinois in the fall of 1825, making the trip on horse-back. He located in Hamilton county, where he resided until 1837, when he came to Alton. Here at the age of fifteen the subject of this sketch commenced attendance at school in Upper Alton. For a part of his attendance of five years he acted as janitor. When a junior, in Shurtleff, he pre- sented himself to Dr. B. K. Hart as a student of medicine. The Dr. accepted him as such, and he laid the foundation for a life-time devoted to his profession. In 1846, when the tocsin of war sounded, he was among the first to offer his services to his country. After a year thus spent, he resumed his studies in Louisville University, from the medical de- partment of which institution he graduated March 5th, 1849. During the prevalence of the cholera he practiced in Madison Landing, and in 1852 he opened an office in Alton, where he has since resided In 1859, he visited Pike's Peak, where he remained two and a half years. Upon the breaking out of the war he entered the service nrst as con-

tract Surgeon at Alton, then became Acting Assistant Sur- geon U. S. Army. In all he remained in the service four years and one month. As a practitioner of medicine, the doctor has been quite successful. Politically, he is an ardent Democrat. His qualifications for the office led his fellow citizens to elect him as Supervisor, the duties of which po- sition he ably discharged. He served three terms as a member of the City Council. At present he is City Physi- cian.

Few men have taken a deeper interest in Masonry than the doctor. He was made a Master Mason, June 28th, 1846 ; been passed to K. T., and has taken all the degrees in Scottish rites. His zeal knows no flagging, and his interest in ma- sonry is abiding.

The doctor was married to Sarah J. Hardy, August 12 h, 1848. By this union there have been born nine children, seven of whom are living.

The doctor is eminently social. He is a skillful and suc- cessful practitioner, combining firmness and tenderness. He overflows with kindness and good nature. In all his rela- tions to the public, his actions are prompted by pure motives and a desire for the general good.

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

405

A LITTLE

Arba Nelson

FOR many years a prominent citizen of Alton, was born in Craftsboro, Vermont. In the year 1836, when Alton was engaging so largely the attention of eastern men, he made his way hither. His first pursuit in life was that of school- teaching which he began in a country school-house in his native State. This business he exchanged for that of hand- ling stoves and tinware. Gradually he extended this busi- ness, embracing the handling of hardware and steel. He 52

associated with himself in this John E. Hayner, which partnership continucd until his death, in March 1871. Mr. Nelson was a successful merchant, strict and just in all his dealings ; benevolent without ostentation. He left a large estate, the result of faithful, earnest labor. He was twice married. Had six children by the first wife. His last wife, now Mrs. Crocker survives him.

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Justus Buckley

A NATIVE of Leicester, Livingston Co , New York, was born July 23, 1819. He is the son of Lorey Bulkley and Har- riet nee Scott. Both his parents were natives of Connec- ticut. His father was a farmer, generous, industrious and upright in all his dealings. He died at Barry, Pike Co., Illinois, July 24, 1859, and his wife, at the same place, a few years later. Mrs. Bulkley, his mother, was.an earnest Christian and a devoted member of the Baptist Church, and by her earnest piety, consistent Christian life and care- ful training, she left the imperishable impress of her piety and zealous life upon her son.

When Justus was three years old his parents removed to Allegheny Co., New York, a cold, rugged 'mountainous region, and here the surrounding developed in him a spirit of self-reliance, economy, industry, and temperance that has developed and modified his entire life, and character. Until seventeen years of age he attended school during winter in a log school-house, in primitive style, and in summer worked on his father's farm. He early developed a taste for literary pursuits, and was especially fond of mathe- matics. When seventeen years of age he removed with his

parents to Illinois, and settled near Barry, in Pike county, on a farm. During the session of the Blue River Baptist Association, near Barry, in the autumn of 1837, he made a public profession of religion and united with the Baptist church at Barry, under the pastorate of Rev. Joel Sweet, who baptized him. This event changed his entire life. He was immediately profoundly impressed with his duty to preach, but for six years fought persistently against his con- viction of duty. At length, duty conquered ; he prepared to enter the Christian ministry. To qualify him for this work he entered the preparatory department of Shurtleff College at the age of twenty-three, and was graduated in 1847. After his graduation, Rev. Washington Leverett directed his theological studies. Immediately after graduating he was elected principal of the Preparatory Department of the college, and held the position two years, until the death of his wife determined him to seek a home elsewhere. Hav- ing received a call to become pastor of the Baptist church of Jerseyville, Illinois, he was ordained in Upper Alton, at the call of the Jerseyville church.

At the expiration of four years he resigned to become

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Professor of Mathematics in his Alma Mater. But in con- sequence of bitter opposition awakened by his ardent espou- sal of the cause of Bible Revision, then exceedingly dis- tasteful to many of the trustees of the college and of his ministerial coadjutors, he resigned his position in 1855, and during nine years thereafter held the pastorate of the church at Carrollton, Green Co., Illinois, and was happy aud prosperous in his work. In April, 1864, he accepted a call from the Baptist church at Upper Alton, and at the expira- tion of one year and a half was elected Professor of Church History and Church Polity in Shurtleff College, a position he still holds. Aside from his regular duties he acted as president of the college, while that office was vacant after the resignation of Dr. Read, and has supplied many feeble churches with preaching as opportunity offered.

In the various capacities in which Dr. Bulkley has acted, he has taken a leading part, and has occupied a prominent position among the leading men of his own denomination. The Illinois Baptist Pastoral Union in 1851, elected him Chairman of the Committee on Ministerial Obituaries, and he has filled that position at every annual meeting except one, for thirty years. During that period the preparation of brief sketches of nearly three hundred Baptist minis- ters in Illinois, deceased, has passed under his supervision, aud been prepared for permanent record in the minutes of the body. In 1853, 1855 and 1859, he was clerk of the Illinois Baptist General Association. In 1864, he was elected Moderator of that body. He was elected again in 1869, and served continously till 1877 inclusive. He has been President of its Board since 1869, and still occupies that position. His service in this capacity has been marked by promptuess, energy, decision and executive ability, and during the entire time there has never been in the Associa- tion an appeal from his decisions, and but one appeal in the Board, when the chair was not sustained. In all these offices he has been firm and decided, but kind and courteous. In his religious views he is positive and unwavering, firmly believ- ing that the Baptists are scriptural in their doctrines and polity, and yet he is liberal enough, not only to allow others the same freedom and independence of opinion that he claims for himself, but he honors adherence to conscientious conviction of duty and faith in any one with whom he may differ in religious belief. Iu political life he was formerly a Whig, and cast his first presidential vote for Wm. Henry Harrison. During the civil war he was a firm supporter of the government, and has given his unwavering support to the Republican party since its organization.

He has been three times married. His first wife was Miss Lucy Perry Ide, of Massachusetts to whom he was married July 27, 1347. She died August 24, 1848; and June 25th, 1849, he was married to Harriet Green Newell, eldest daughter of Rev. Isaac D. Newell. He lived with her in great domestic bliss about thirty years. She died January 4, 1879. She was a woman of many virtues, and excellent qualities, and largely contributed to the success of her hus- band. They had born to them one son and eight daughters,

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 98

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698