USA > Illinois > McLean County > History of McLean County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 40
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
495
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
by trade. He made coffins for many years and later engaged in the under- taking business. Later, however, he became a building contractor and constructed many of the early wooden bridges and buildings at Heyworth. In 1886 he removed to Normal and engaged in business there. He now resides at Palms, Cal., and is 86 years of age. His wife was a native of Washington County, Pa. She came west with her brothers, Isaac and John Van Ordstraud, who were large landowners of McLean County. She died at Normal, Aug. 31, 1911, at the age of 63 years. Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson were the parents of seven children, as follows: Nonie J., married O. B. Balch, lives at Oak Park, Ill .; Oakley V., lives at Palms, Cal .; Anna M., married Louis H. Haney, lives at East Orange, N. J .; Will, lives in Chicago; C. A., the subject of this sketch ; J. R., lives in Cleveland, and Robert, died in infancy.
C. A. Stephenson lived in Heyworth until he was 12 years of age when his people moved to Normal. After attending the public and high schools of Normal, he taught school west of Heyworth for one year. He then was employed as bookkeeper and salesman by the W. W. Marmon Company, a wholesale drug house. After being in the employ of this company for six years he was employed as bookkeeper by the Keiser- VanLeer Company for four years. His next position was that of office manager for the G. H. Reed Company, where he remained four years. Mr. Stephenson has been associated with the Campbell Holton Company since the time of its organization in 1907.
The Campbell Holton Company is one of the leading business enter- prises of Bloomington. It was organized with a $100,000 capital which has since been increased to $400,000. There are 20 traveling men who represent the firm within a radius of 60 miles from Bloomington.
Mr. Stephenson was married on Sept. 6, 1899, to Miss Amy B. Jenkins, a native of Vermont, Ill., and the daughter of Milton Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins is a pioneer resident of Fulton County, Ill., and resides at Vermont. His wife died May 15, 1908. To Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson five children have been born, as follows: Louise, lives in Chicago; Beatrice, lives in Chicago; Charles, Jr .; Cassaline Ann and Raymond Rubert.
Mr. Stephenson is a director of the Bloomington Country Club, a Di- rector of the Association of Commerce, and is a member of the board of education. He belongs to the Christian Church and is a 32nd degree Mason. Mr. Stephenson is an alert business man and is accounted one of the substantial citizens of Bloomington.
496
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
Oliver W. Dunlap, president of the Dunlap Manufacturing Company of Bloomington, represents a family fittingly assigned a conspicuous place among the manufacturing agencies of McLean County. He is a native son of Bloomington Township, and was born in District No. 4, in 1866, the son of Elizer and Lucinda N. Dunlap.
In 1865 Elizer Dunlap, a native of Champaign County, Ohio, arrived in McLean County, locating on a small farm just south of the town of Bloomnigton, the improvement of which became incidental to quite an extensive trade in timber and lumber. Mr. Dunlap was a broad minded and ambitious man, and was destined to fill a much larger place in the business world of Bloomington, being one of the organizers and promot- ers of the Bloomington Pressed Brick Company, with which he was con- nected at the time of his death, in January, 1902. He was a staunch Prohibitionist, and a man of high moral purpose and character.
Oliver W. Dunlap was educated in the country and city schools, and eventually took a course at the Evergreen City Business College in Bloomington. He was interested in his father's wood business for sev- eral years, and in 1886 entered into partnership in the brick business with William M. Cannon, under the firm name of Dunlap and Cannon, operat- ing the yard formerly conducted by Heafer and McGregor. Mr. Dunlap learned brick making in his characteristic, thorough and enthusiastic way, and continued in the above business until the fall of 1891. In 1892 he and his father considered the plan of establishing a brick manufactory, and after thorough investigation, in the fall of that year, purchased the required machinery. In the spring of 1893 the originators were ready for business and began to manufacture by the dry-pressed process. The company was then incorporated. In 1896 Mr. Dunlap invented the Per- fect Clay Screen, which was sold throughout the world and in 1911 he gave up his interest in the brick business and founded the Oil of Glad- ness Mop, or the Dunlap Manufacturing Company, Incorporated, of which he is president. Mr. Dunlap's residence is located at 609 West Jefferson Street, Bloomington.
On Oct. 12, 1898, Mr. Dunlap married Miss Maude D. Coates, a native of Valparaiso, Ind., and the daughter of the late Dr. H. C. and Emiline S. Coates. They have no children.
Mr. Dunlap is identified with the Republican party in politics. He is an enterprising and progressive business man and is widely known.
OLIVER W. DUNLAP.
497
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
John W. Rodgers, president of the Liberty State Bank, is a prominent citizen of Bloomington. He was born at Lafayette, Ind., Oct. 5, 1851, and is the son of Joseph and Eliza (Tolman) Rodgers.
Joseph Rodgers was born in Merriot, Somersetshire, England, in 1823, and his wife was a native of New Hampshire, born in 1830. He came to the United States in 1843 and located in Detroit, Mich., where he was married. Later the Rodgers family moved to Lafayette, Ind., and from there to Attica, Ind., where Mr. Rodgers conducted a grocery busi- ness. He died in 1909, and his wife died in 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers were the parents of 13 children, six of whom grew to maturity, as fol- lows: William, was killed in 1866 on the Chicago & Alton Railroad, at Brighton crossing; Edwin, married Lottie Havens, and died in Hanford, Cal., in 1917; John W., the subject of this sketch; Lew J., a grocer, lives in Bloomington, and is married to Margaret Dwyer; Frank T., married Margaret Mahoney and died in 1908, and Robert L., a grocer in Bloom- ington, married Elizabeth Bell.
John W. Rodgers was educated in Indiana and after finishing his schooling was engaged as a shoe clerk in Attica, Ind. In May, 1881, he removed to Bloomington, Ill., where he engaged in the shoe business on Main street. Mr. Rodgers' business, known as the John W. Rodgers Shoe Company, of which he is president, has been in the same location for 43 years. He also is president of the Gerhart Shoe Company, which is operated by his son at 116 North Center street, Bloomington.
On May 5, 1919, the Liberty State Bank of Bloomington was or- ganized with the following officers: John W. Rodgers, as president ; Philip Wood, vice-president; P. A. Johnson, cashier, and Russell Schearer, assist- ant cashier. The bank was organized with a capital stock of $100,000.00 and a surplus of $25,000.00. Before removing to its new building at 119 North Main street, in July, 1923, it was located at 206 West Jefferson street.
On Jan. 13, 1876, Mr. Rodgers was united in marriage with Miss Ophelia F. Hosler, a daughter of Benjamin and Lydia (Scheibley) Hosler, natives of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Rodgers was born in Fountain County, Ind. To Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers three children have been born, as follows: Robert C., born in 1878, engaged in the shoe business at Bloomington, married Margaret O'Neil, the daughter of William O'Neil, and they have two children, Florence and Catherine; John W., Jr., born in 1885, a shoe
(30)
498
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
merchant of Bloomington, married Alice Hulva, a daughter of Frank Hulva, and they have one child, John W., III .; and Harry H., born in 1889, a shoe merchant in Bloomington, married Jane Smith, a daughter of G. Smith, of Bloomington, and they have two children, Bradford and Myra Jane.
Mr. Rodgers was appointed superintendent of the Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home by Governor Lowden and served in this capacity from Dec. 15, 1917, until June 6, 1921. He is a Republican, and was a candidate for mayor of Bloomington in 1914, but was defeated by E. E. Jones. He has served four years in the city council as alderman of the Fourth Ward and has also served on the county board of Supervisors for six years. He was chairman the year of the erection of the Soldiers' monument which stands in Miller Park, and formally dedicated the same. His name is engraved on the bronze tablet as chairman. December, 1916, he was elected presidential elector to vote for Hughes and Fairbanks. Wilson and Marshall defeated them. Mr. Rodgers is a member of the First Presby- terian Church, is a 32nd degree Mason, and belongs to No. 77 of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, was trustee for 15 years, assisted in building the I. O. O. F. Temple on Jefferson street in 1900. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, and the Red Men. He has an extensive acquaintance in McLean County and stands high in the community.
Enoch Brock, who has been successfully engaged in the practice of law at Bloomington since 1886, when he was admitted to the bar, is a native of Grainger County, Tenn. He was born Sept. 17, 1855, the son of James and Rachel (Akins) Brock.
James Brock was born in Grainger County, Tenn., and he was of Scotch descent, his parents having come from Scotland to Maryland. They later moved to Virginia and later to North Carolina, and finally to Ten- nessee. His wife was of English descent and her ancestors were early settlers of Tennessee. On Jan. 4, 1861, Mr. and Mrs. James Brock moved their family to McLean County, Ill., making the trip by rail. They set- tled on a farm and Mr. Brock became a leading farmer and stockman of the county. He died March 20, 1909, at LeRoy, and his wife died Sept. 18, 1910, at LeRoy. They are both buried in Oak Grove Cemetery east of LeRoy. Enoch Brock, the subject of this sketch, is one of three
499
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
children living, as follows: Sarah F., married E. I. Harrison, lives at Bloomington, and Rachel, married Charles Null, lives at LeRoy.
Enoch Brock was reared on his father's farm and remembers many incidents of the Civil War days. He received his education in the district schools and attended Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, from which he was graduated in the law department in 1886. Since that time Mr. Brock has engaged in practice at Bloomington and he is widely known throughout the county.
On Sept. 20, 1876, Enoch Brock married Miss Mattie Crumbaugh, a native of LeRoy, and the daughter of Montgomery and Mary (West) Crumbaugh, the former a native of Kentucky and an early settler of McLean County in 1840. Mary West was the daughter of Henry West, also a native of Kentucky and early settler of McLean County, after whom the township, West Township, is named. To Enoch and Mattie (Crumbaugh) Brock three children have been born, as follows: Letta, now the wife of Edward C. Stone, editor of the Washington Post on Markets, Washington, D. C .; Mabel, married William Y. Mickle, profes- sor in the John B. Stetson University of DeLand, Fla., and Bernice, mar- ried M. F. Ainsworth, seed dealer and farmer of Mason City, Ill.
Mr. Brock is a member of the Phi Delta Phi law fraternity. He is a Democrat. He is a man who is highly esteemed in the community and he is a reliable and substantial citizen of Bloomington.
Ralph Spafford, managing officer of the Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Normal and former sheriff of McLean County, is a native of Illinois. He was born in DeWitt County, July 17, 1874, and is the son of Ira J. and Jane (Smith) Spafford.
Ira J. Spafford was a native of Ontario, Canada, and settled in DeWitt County, Ill., when he was a young man. During the latter fifties he removed to McLean County but later returned to DeWitt County. After four years, however, he returned to McLean County and lived in Bloom- ington the remainder of his life. Mr. Spafford was general agent for the Howe Scales Company in Illinois for 43 years. He died in 1916, and his widow lives in Bloomington. Mr. and Mrs. Spafford were the parents of five children, three of whom are now living, as follows: Fred H., lives
-
500
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
in Los Angeles, Cal .; Ralph, the subject of this sketch, and W. C., who lives in Bloomington.
Ralph Spafford was reared and educated in Bloomington and when he was a young man learned photography and photo engraving which he followed successfully in Bloomington until 1915. He then became chief deputy sheriff under Sheriff George Fletcher, and was elected sheriff in 1918, which office he held for two and one-half years. He resigned to accept his present position.
Mr. Spafford was married on Sept. 23, 1897, to Edna Still McElhiney, a native of Bloomington. They have five children as follows: Louise, a graduate of Illinois State Normal University, teaches in the Pekin public schools, Pekin, Ill .; Paul, a student in University High School at Normal; Ira, Arthur and Lewis, all students.
Mr. Spafford has always been a Republican. He served as president of the Illinois State Photographers' Association, and is secretary and president of the National Photographers' Association. He is a member of the First Methodist Church and belongs to the Elks lodge and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a 32nd degree Mason and charter member of the Bloomington Consistory and a member of the Mahomet Shrine of Peoria. Mr. Spafford is a dependable citizen and is well known in McLean County.
Orson L. Manchester, the Dean of the Illinois State Normal Univer- .sity, and former Mayor of Normal, is a native of Illinois. He was born in Lake County, Feb. 19, 1864, and is a son of John P. and Sylvia (Dem- mon) Manchester, the former a native of New York and the latter of Ohio.
In boyhood Orson L. Manchester attended the public schools of Waukegan and after finishing high school spent one year teaching. He then entered Dartmouth College, finishing the course there in 1886. While pursuing his studies at Dartmouth he taught in New England village high schools for five terms. On completing his education he was engaged in teaching at Billerica, Mass., and at Sing Sing, N. Y., and subsequently located at Joliet, Ill., where he occupied the position of high school prin- cipal for more than three years. In 1891 Mr. Manchester was called to Normal, Ill., where he was principal of the State High School until 1895. When the high school department of the State Normal University was
501
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
discontinued in 1895, he assumed the position as professor of Economics and Foreign Languages. He holds the degrees of A. B. and A. M. from Dartmouth, and that of LL.D. from Illinois Wesleyan University.
On July 10, 1891, Prof. Manchester was united in marriage at Joliet, Ill., with Miss Kitty Buck, who was born near that city, the daughter of George and Martha Buck. To this union one child was born, who died in infancy, the mother also dying at this time. Mr. Manchester was mar- ried a second time in Warrensburg, Ill., on Dec. 25, 1895, to Miss Flora Thompson, a native of that place, and the daughter of George and Mary (Langston) Thompson. To this union have been born five children, namely: Miriam, Margaret, Charlotte and Gertrude, twins, and a boy, who died in infancy.
On political issues Mr. Manchester votes independently. He served as mayor of Normal for ten years, having been elected originally on a reform issue after a somewhat remarkable campaign. He has served as president of the Normal Improvement Association. Socially and pro- fessionally Mr. Manchester is among the leading and influential citizens of Normal. He has been president of the Central Division of the Illinois State Teachers Association, and is at present president of the whole State Association, a body having approximately thirty thousand members.
Judge Lawrence Weldon, one of the most distinguished men who ever honored the McLean County bar, was an intimate friend of Lincoln and Douglas, and for many years a member of the Federal Court of Claims at Washington. He died while engaged in his official duties con- nected with that high judicial position, death occurring on April 10, 1905, after an illness of only a few days. Indeed, so short was the notice of his serious illness that his son and daughter, Lincoln H. Weldon of Bloom- ington, Mrs. Claiborne Hanna of Peoria, had started to Washington but had not yet reached there when the end came. He was at the Hotel Ham- ilton in Washington when death came, this being the same hotel in which Gen. John McNulta, another distinguished citizen of McLean County, had died eight years previously. Judge Weldon had been in fair health up to a week prior to his death, when he was seized with a derangement of the liver and bowels, which seemed to yield to treatment and hopes for his recovery was entertained until only three days before death came.
502
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
Lawrence Weldon was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on Aug. 9, 1829. He was educated in the common schools of Madison County, at London Acad- emy, and at Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio, although he did not graduate from the latter institution. He studied law under Judge Rich- ard A. Harrison and was admitted to the bar in Ohio in 1854. In Decem- ber of the same year he was married to Miss Mary Jane Howard. He was clerk in the office of the secretary of state in Ohio in 1852 and 1853. In the latter year Judge Weldon removed to Clinton, Ill., and established him- self in the practice of law.
While a young lawyer in Clinton, Judge Weldon first met Abraham Lincoln, who was then riding the circuit of the old Eighth judicial dis- trict, of which David Davis of Bloomington was one of the judges. Judge Weldon was the last survivor of that famous group of men who rode the circuit and practiced law in the dozen or more counties of central Illinois at the same time with Lincoln. He knew Lincoln inti- mately, and in his later life Judge Weldon related many incidents illus- trating the character of the great martyred president in the years before he became known to fame. He recalled the fact that Stephen A. Douglas was the man who introduced him to Lincoln. In a Chautauqua lecture in his later years, Judge Weldon told the story of the introduction. They were at a hotel together, and Douglas asked Lincoln to have a drink with him, that being an ordinary courtesy in those days. Lincoln declined, and Douglas asked rather tauntingly: "Are you temperance"? meaning to ask if he was a total abstainer. Lincoln replied: "I don't know about that, but I don't drink."
In 1861 Mr. Lincoln appointed Judge Weldon U. S. District Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. He was elected to the legislature for the session of 1861. In the year 1867 he removed from Clinton to Bloomington and soon established himself in a good law practice with General John McNulta as a partner. For a time he was a law partner with the late Judge Reuben M. Benjamin. In the year 1883, Judge Weldon was appointed by President Chester A. Arthur as a member of the United States Court of Claims at Washington. The judge removed to Wash- ington so far as his official position was concerned, although he retained his home in Bloomington until the time of his death. His home was at 407 East Grove Street.
Judge Weldon served for many years as an instructor in the Wes- leyan Law School. He was one of the leading citizens of Bloomington.
503
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
In his honor one of the streets of Bloomington was named Weldon Street. During his residence in Washington while he occupied the judgeship of the Court of Claims, he was a favorite in many of the capital's social circles. His amiable nature, ready wit, and his eloquence on occasion, made him much respected and beloved in his circle of acquaintances.
At the time of his death, feeling tributes were paid in published statements by former Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson, by former Gov- ernor Joseph W. Fifer, by Senator Cullom, by Col. Vespasian Warner, then commissioner of pensions in Washington, and many others in public life. Mr. Stephenson said that the position Judge Weldon occupied was second in importance only to a position on the supreme bench of the United States. He filled it with eminent distinction, Gov. Fifer recalled the fact that Judge Weldon was of the younger of the group of men who had associated with Lincoln in his days as a lawyer, this group including David Davis, Jesse W. Fell, Isaac Funk, William H. Hanna, Asahel Grid- ley, William W. Orme, Leonard Swett, Ward H. Lamon and others. Sen- ator Shelby Cullom spoke of Judge Weldon as "one of the most lovable and faithful of men, as well as one of the most brilliant and charming."
At his bedside in Washington at the time of his death were Mrs. Weldon, Colonel and Mrs. Vespasian Warner. Governor Fifer and Senator Cullom called at the house shortly before the end came.
Mrs. Weldon, the widow, survived her husband until the year 1910, and the daughter, Mrs. Hanna of Peoria, died in 1911. The son, Lincoln H. Weldon, of Bloomington, is the only surviving member of the imme- diate family at present.
The funeral of Judge Weldon was a notable one for its gathering of persons of prominence in Central Illinois and elsewhere. The body reached Bloomington on April 14, and the service was held at the Second Pres- byterian Church. Rev. Henry E. Denlinger, the pastor, delivered a feel- ing eulogy. The burial was in the family lot of the Bloomington Cemetery.
On April 17, 1905, the Court of Claims held a special memorial serv- ice at its court room in Washington in honor of Judge Weldon. The room was filled with a distinguished company, including many close personal friends of Judge Weldon. Justice Nott presided. Among the distinguished Illinoisans present were Senator Cullom, Gov. Fifer of the interstate commerce commission, and Pension Commissioner Vespasian Warner. Hon. J. G. Thompson, of Illinois, assistant attorney of the court of claims, offered a resolution on the death of Judge Weldon and
504
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
moved its adoption. Addresses in favor of the resolution were made by Justice Nott, by Gov. Fifer, Hon. Frank W. Hackett, former assistant secretary of the navy; Hon. F. W. Collins of Nebraska, representative of the department of justice; Hon. L. G. Pradt, assistant attorney of the court of claims; St. Claire Brookes, W. H. Robinson and Mr. J. Hubley Ashton. The resolution was adopted and spread upon the minutes of the Court of Claims.
Rev. Thomas Tilghman Holton .- The ancestors of Mr. Holton were Virginians of pre-Revolutionary stock. William Holton, the grandfather, migrated from Farquier County to Mason County, Ky. He was at the battle of Tippecanoe and through the War of 1812. He was a member of the first legislative body of Kentucky with Henry Clay and Felix Grundy. William B. Holton, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Minerva, Mason County, Ky. The mother was Sallie Price Tilghman, who was born in Albermarle County, Va. Her mother's name was Lewis. As a young girl she was often invited with other young folk to the home of Thomas Jefferson on Monticello, near Charlottesville. While she was still in her teens her father, Jacob Tilghman, took his family to Wilson County, Tenn., and settled near the Hermitage, about 14 miles east of Nashville. The Jackson family were very friendly and again Miss Tilgh- man was often a guest in the family of an ex-president. William Holton, Sr., having bought a farm on Stone River, Tenn., sent his son to look after it. While thus engaged he met Miss Tilghman and in due time a mar- riage was consummated. They resided in Wilson County, near the Her- mitage, until six children were born to them. About this time William Holton, Sr., suggested that as many of the family as were willing buy a tract of land in Brown County, Ohio, near Aberdeen, and fronting on the Ohio River. Dr. E. G. Holton and William B. joined their father in this move. The city of Maysville, on the Kentucky side, was not far away. Here the family for the most part attended church and Sunday school. Here Thomas Tilghman Holton, the ninth of thirteen children, was born, Nov. 17, 1839.
There was a school house on Three Mile Creek at a reasonable dis- tance where Rev. Holton attended school until prepared to enter Hill Seminary at Aberdeen. When not at school he worked on the farm.
-
REV. THOMAS T. HOLTON.
505
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
One of the leading crop was tobacco. He early learned to swim, fish and handle a boat. Toward the close of his 15th year he entered the South- western Normal School of Ohio, located at Lebanon, under the supervision of Prof. Alfred Holbrook, a peer of Horace Mann and Henry Barnard. With a certificate graded 100 he took the principalship of Genntown school, near Lebanon, while not yet 17 years of age. He was allowed a lady assistant and a salary of $33.33 a month. He boarded with Jesse B. Corwin for $2.50 per week. The following year he again attended the normal school. In October 1858, he became a student in Bethany College, Virginia, and continued four years. Alexander Campbell was the dis- tinguished president. Mr. Holton was the valedictorian of his class. He was soon after graduation called to a professorship in Jefferson College, Jeffersontown, Ky., 12 miles from Louisville. Early in 1864 he estab- lished an academy in Falmouth, Ky. He had been preaching more or less in connection with his teaching, and in 1866 concluded to devote his whole time to the Christian ministry and receiving a call to the church in Vincennes, Ind., he responded at once. In 1868 he was called to a pastorate in Springfield, Ill., and has been in central Illinois ever since. While in the capital city he acted with other ministers as chaplain of a session of the legislature and the constitutional convention. After this he was pastor in Berlin and principal of the public school. The next move was to Lincoln, Ill., where Rev. Holton had a long pastorate and his home for many years. When no longer the local pastor, with Lincoln as his center, he served churches at Pekin, Atlanta, Broadwell, Emden, Bethel, Delavan, Old Union, Hallville, and Waynesville. While a citizen in Lincoln he clerked two years in Danley's book store, seven months in Dustin's bank, some time in Wright's grocery store and eight years as clerk of the circuit court of Logan County.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.