USA > Illinois > McLean County > History of McLean County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 33
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The Quinn family is the oldest Catholic family in Chenoa. Mr. Quinn is a Democrat, has served as alderman, member of the school board and as justice of the peace. He is a progressive citizen and is widely and favorably known throughout McLean County.
Thomas P. Murray, well known and successful farmer of Old Town Township, was born at Delphi, Ohio, April 6, 1886, and is a son of John C. and Catherine Murray.
John C. Murray was a native of Peoria, Ill., and his wife was born in Bloomington. After coming to McLean County in 1876, Mr. Murray entered the employ of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, and remained in their shops until the time of his death in 1922. His widow resides in Bloom- ington. They were the parents of eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The others are: T. P., the subject of this sketch; Cecelia, de- ceased; John, married Catherine Casey, lives in Bloomington, and is assis- tant foreman in the C. & A. Railroad shops ; Fred C., married Marie Butler, lives in Bloomington and Willard, deceased.
T. P. Murray was educated in the public schools and attended St. Mary's school and Brown's Business College. In 1901 he was employed in the freight department of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, and in 1908, was appointed relief agent. The following year Mr. Murray became freight
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and passenger agent at Dwight, Ill., and the following year was trans- ferred to Bloomington. Two years later he was transferred to Peoria and in January, 1914, returned to Bloomington. In 1919 Mr. Murray resigned and removed to Holder, Ill., and engaged in general farming. He rents 120 acres of well improved land in Old Town Township and is an exten- sive stockman.
In June, 1905, Mr. Murray was married to Miss Mary E. Schlink, a native of Peoria, and the daughter of Valentine F. and Anna T. (Murray) Schlink, the former a native of Peoria and the latter of Old Town Town- ship, McLean County. Mr. Schlink came to McLean County in 1889 and operated the general store at Holder until the time of his death, Nov. 18, 1910. His wife lives at Holder. There were two children in the Schlink family: Mrs. Murray and Anna, married Ralph B. Haas. Mr. and Mrs. Murray have two children: Charlotte Mary, a student at St. Joseph's Academy and Raymond V., at home.
Mr. Murray is assistant cashier of the State Bank at Holder. He is a Democrat, a member of the Catholic church at Merna, and he and his family are favorably known in McLean County. During the World War Mr. Murray was active in Red Cross work and had charge of the Belgian Relief in his township.
James Tearney, a well known farmer and stockman of Dawson Town- ship, is a native of Towanda Township, McLean County. He was born July 17, 1878, and is the son of Patrick and Mary (Sloan) Tearney.
Patrick Tearney was born in Ireland about 1851, the son of Daniel and Susana (Breckenridge) Tearney, early settlers of McLean County. The Tearneys settled in ElPaso, Ill., but later moved near Bloomington, where they remained a short time before returning to ElPaso. Patrick Tearney later farmed in Towanda Township and he now lives retired in Bloomington. His wife, also a native of Ireland, died in 1888 at the age of 35 years. There were six children in the Tearney family, as follows: Annie, married Henry Felcamp, lives near Heyworth, Ill .; James, the sub- ject of this sketch; William, engineer on the Chicago & Alton Railroad; Thomas, lives with his father; Patrick, at home and Mamie, married Nicholas Yonkers.
James Tearney spent his boyhood on the home place and attended the district schools of Towanda and Dale townships. He later worked for
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Peter Ropp in Dale Township for three years and then moved to Dawson Township, where he has rented land for the past 17 years. Mr. Tearney farms 220 acres of the Bradley & McBarnes land and is a successful breeder of Hereford cattle. He has a threshing machine on his place which he has operated for 20 years and each season he threshes 1,000 acres.
Mr. Tearney was married in 1909 to Miss Athleta Dunlavy, a native of Hudson Township, McLean County, born in 1877, and the daughter of Osmer and Carrie (Mayo) Dunlavy, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of England. Mrs. Tearney's mother died when she was eight years old and her father was later married to Mamie Morrison. To Osmer and Carrie (Mayo) Dunlavy two children were born: George, married Eliza- beth Porter and Mrs. Tearney. Mr. and Mrs. Tearney have no children.
In politics Mr. Tearney is a Democrat and he has served as school director for five years. He is a member of the Catholic church at Downs and is highly esteemed throughout McLean County.
Parmeno A. Guthrie, county clerk of McLean County for the past 12 years, is a leading citizen of Bloomington and of the county, and a mem- ber of one of the very early families of McLean County. He was born in Bloomington in 1852, and is the son of Adam and L. L. (Butler) Guthrie.
The father of our subject, Adam Guthrie, was a native of Pickaway County, Ohio, and was born on March 10, 1825. He was the son of Robert and Catherine (Spawr) Guthrie, natives of Pennsylvania. Robert Guthrie brought his family to Illinois in September, 1826, and located on a farm of 160 acres in Funk's Grove Township, McLean County. He died in 1846, and his wife passed away ten years later. Adam Guthrie remained at home until the death of his parents. He served throughout the Civil War as a Union soldier in Company A, 94th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Mr. Guthrie was a republican, and he and his family were members of the Methodist church. In 1849 he was married to Miss L. L. Butler, a native of New York and a daughter of Ira and Lydia (Thresher) Butler. To Mr. and Mrs. Adam Guthrie three children were born: Evaline, who was married to Henry H. Kimball, and who had four children, Bernie, Cora, Lucien; Parmeno A. Guthrie, the subject of this sketch, and Oscar F. Guthrie, now deceased. Adam Guthrie died in 1894, and his wife in 1879.
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Mr. Guthrie was married to Miss Anna Noble, a native of McLean County, and to this union two sons and a daughter' were born: Sidney A. and Dudley Guthrie, and Eunice L. Atchison, now of Chicago, Ill. Sidney is a minister of the Methodist church, a member of the Central Illinois conference, and is pastor at Aledo, Ill. Dudley Guthrie is a deputy clerk in the office of the county clerk, and is an expert in the work of the office.
P. A. Guthrie has had a career of unusual length and faithfulness in the service of the county. He began his life work in General Gridley's Bank, and was from 1870 to 1884 an employe of the Alton shops, but later was employed as a deputy clerk in the office of the county clerk, where he gave himself to a study of the work until he became considered almost indispensible in the handling of the routine. He was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to fill out the unexpired term of C. C. Hassler, deceased. In the year 1910 he was elected county clerk, and has been re- elected at each succeeding four years since that time. He is thoroughly versed in every matter of county business and annually prepares the tax books for all of the assessors and collectors, handles the election prepara- tions and a thousand and one details relating to the county clerk's office. Mr. Guthrie is a member of Grace Methodist church.
Judge Louis FitzHenry-A native of Bloomington, and educated in the public schools, Louis FitzHenry has passed through the various stages of self-help and ambitions desire to serve his country, and in this way has won state and national recognition by service in Congress and his subsequent elevation to the Federal Judiciary as Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
Judge FitzHenry was born June 13, 1870. His parents, Hiram Fitz- Henry and Elizabeth Johnson had made their home in Bloomington for several years prior to that time, having migrated from Franklin County, Ohio, so that he may claim to belong to one of the older families of Mc- Lean County. His early years were much like those of many other boys growing up in the then comparatively small city, when life was on a simp- ler basis than it is today. While he was making his way through the grade schools, even at an early age he sought to make himself self-sup- porting in a measure by working at whatever presented itself in his leisure hours. He tells of how among other things he had a "route" in a certain
JUDGE LOUIS FITZHENRY
LIBRARY OF THE
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part of the city, on which he was engaged to light the street lamps at sun-down, as the darkness came on, and put them out at midnight. These lights were gas lamps, it being before the employment of electricity for street illumination. Along with this employment, he had a route for carry- ing one of the daily newspapers of that time. He carried on his work, in the meantime, until he left the Bloomington high school in 1888.
His early association with newspapers as a carrier gave him a taste for the work of their publication, and he therefore secured employment in the offices of the newspapers of that time, first upon the Daily and Weekly Bulletin, then the Sunday Eye, published by George L. Hutchin, in which office he worked for a few years, and then went to the Daily and Weekly Leader as advertising writer and manager. During this period, Mr. FitzHenry took part in both the business and editorial de- partments of the newspapers, and contributed editorial paragraphs as well as secured advertising support for the papers.
But newspaper work did not appeal to the young man as a life occu- pation, and afterward, in 1895, he decided to study law, entering the Law Department of the Illinois Wesleyan University for that purpose. While carrying on his law studies, he quit the field of daily journalism and se- cured the control of the Trades Review, a weekly paper published in the interest of the labor unions of the city. This gave him work for his leisure time between law classes, and also furnished a means of continued self-support. The paper at that time reached its high tide of popularity and circulation among the working people of the city and vicinity.
Judge FitzHenry was graduated in law and admitted to the bar in Illinois in 1897. He lost no time in entering active practice in both state and federal courts, though for several years continued writing for the Daily Pantagraph. He took a deep interest in politics, being an ardent supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. He was nominated by that party for the office of City Attorney of Bloomington in 1907. At that time certain questions affecting the franchises of the Bloomington street railway company and the Union Gas and Electric Company were the issues of the day, and young FitzHenry took strong grounds upon the issues on the side which he considered to be for the best interests of the public. That he was supported by popular opinion was shown by his elec- tion in spite of a large normal republican majority in Bloomington. In 1909 he was re-elected for a second term without much opposition. As city attorney he handled the contracts relating to the granting of a new twenty-year franchise to the street railway company, in which was in-
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serted for the first time a clause recognizing the principle of compensa- tion to municipalities for the use of the streets by public utilities.
Judge FitzHenry had by this time won recognition beyond the confines of his own city and county, and in 1910 he became the democratic candi- date for Congress in the Seventeenth District, composed of five counties. His opponent, Hon. John A. Sterling, now deceased, had held the seat for some time. In spite of a normal republican majority of 8,000 in the dis- trict, Mr. Sterling's majority in that year was cut to 2,300. The next biennial election saw Mr. FitzHenry again democratic candidate, and this time he was elected, taking his place in the Sixty-third Congress on March 4, 1913, at the same time that Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated President of the United States, the first time.
Judge FitzHenry served in Congress in the two critical years which marked the opening of the World War. That Congress had to deal with a multitude of delicate questions affecting the neutrality of the United States during the early stages of the war and other matters of equally vital concern. He was immediately appointed a member of the Committee on the Judiciary, one of the largest and most important committees of the House of Representatives, and was a member of a sub-committee of that committee, which had much to do with the preparation and enactment of many of the statutes which distinguished the Wilson administration. Among these were the Clayton Anti-Trust Law and the law creating the Bureau of Mediation and Conciliation. In a general way, the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Federal Reserve Law, revising the banking laws of the country, as well as many others which have taken their place in history. While not a member of the Committee on Banking and Currency, from which the Federal Reserve bill eminated, he gave that measure his ardent support, securing efficacious amendments of it on its passage. The value of this law to the country and the world, for that matter, stamps it as one of the greatest legislative devices of the age. He was more than ordinarily active in the writing and passage of the Underwood Law. In this latter measure he procured an amendment which paved the way to the modification of the Navigation Laws of the United States, which up to that time had worked the complete destruction of the American merchant marine. At the time the Underwood Law was written there were only nine merchant vessels, flying the American flag, engaged in overseas shipping.
Retiring from Congress in 1915, Mr. FitzHenry returned to Bloom- ington to resume the practice of his profession. However, it was not
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long before his services for the public were again in demand. He was made democratic candidate for Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois in the Third Supreme Judicial District, in June, 1915. His opponent was the sitting member from the district, Justice Frank K. Dunn of Coles county. The district, composed of sixteen counties, is normally republican by a very large majority, but in spite of that fact, Judge FitzHenry made a very good showing, carrying his own county of McLean by a majority of close to 1,500 votes, and in addition he also carried the counties of DeWitt, Tazewell, Macon, Moultrie, and Vermilion, being defeated by a very small margin.
On July 1, 1918, it was announced from Washington that President Wilson had appointed Mr. FitzHenry as Federal Judge of the Southern District of Illinois. The appointment came to him in the face of the fact that many other prominent lawyers and jurists were brought forward and presented to President Wilson as eligible appointees to succeed the late Judge J. Otis Humphrey of Springfield, whose death had left a vacancy on the bench of the Southern District. The Senate confirmed Judge FitzHenry's appointment about five days after it was made by President Wilson, and he at once entered upon his official duties.
The Southern District of Illinois is made up of thirty-nine counties, extending from the north line of Rock Island county to the north line of St. Clair county, covering the central portion of the state, except a few of the eastern counties. Judge FitzHenry makes his home in Bloomington, but holds terms of court at Peoria, Springfield and Quincy, each twice a year. The litigation which comes within the jurisdiction of the United States Court is large in volume and very important in its bearing upon the rights and interests of the people of this thickly populated and rich region.®
As District Judge it becomes his duty occasionally to sit as a member of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, composed of the states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. This court sits in Chicago. He is also called to Chicago frequently to hold district court and recently held a term of court in New York City.
Judge FitzHenry was married in 1909 to Miss Lottie B. Rankin, and the family makes its home in Normal. There are two children, both daugh- ters, Mildred Elizabeth and Charlotte Louise. Judge FitzHenry is associat- ed with many fraternal organizations, among them being the various Masonic bodies, including the Consistory, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fel- lows, Red Men, Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta Law Fra-
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ternity, and other clubs and Associations. He is also President of the Phi Delta Theta Alumni Club of Bloomington. Judge FitzHenry is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church.
B. H. McCann, Clerk of the House of Representatives, at Springfield, is an attorney-at-law, and has been a resident of Bloomington for more than twenty-five years. He is a native of Illinois and was born in El Paso, Woodford County, May 15, 1869, the son of Dr. James and Martha (Ker- cheval) McCann, natives respectively of Fayette County, Indiana, and Will County, Ill. James McCann was born May 24, 1832. He was the seventh of a family of twelve children and lived on his father's farm until he was 16 years of age when he entered the State University at Bloomington, Ind., and four years later the Medical College of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1856 he came to Illinois, locating at Joliet, where for ten years he practiced his profession and was otherwise interested in various civic and com- mercial enterprises. In 1866 he removed to El Paso and in 1879 to Nor- mal, Ill., where he was a prominent and honored physician up to the time of his death, March 11, 1910. Martha McCann was the daughter of James C. Kercheval who emigrated from Montgomery County, Ind., about 1828 and was one of the earliest and best known among the pioneer settlers of Will County, Ill. He was extensively engaged in farming and stockraising and was universally esteemed for his sterling integrity.
B. H. McCann of this biography is the eldest of a family of three children. He obtained his early education in the common schools and after completing his course in the Illinois State Normal University entered the Bloomington Law School of the Illinois Wesleyan University where he received the degree of LL.B in June 1894. In the fall of that year he associated himself with R. L. Fleming in the practice of law at 207 N. Main St., and continued in that location until the great conflagration of June, 1900. Mr. McCann has always been a staunch Republican and cast his first vote for Benjamin Harrison, for President, in 1892. He had charge of and successfully managed the campaign, in Normal, of Hon. John A. Sterling for nomination and election for States Attorney in 1892; was Judge of election in his precinct for many years and often a delegate to county and other nominating conventions. In 1897 he was elected first assistant clerk of the House of Representatives and continued in that position for twelve years. He was secretary of the McLean County Re-
B. H. McCANN
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publican Convention in 1904 and also one of the secretaries of the famous deadlock Republican State Convention which convened in Springfield on May 12, 1904, and continued in session for a period of three weeks, before agreeing on a nominee for Governor, thereby establishing a record without a parallel in the political history of Illinois. In 1908 he was a candidate for the republican nomination for Secretary of State and in the following January was elected Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives and has been reelected at each succeeding session. He was secretary of the Con- stitutional Convention of 1920 and although its delegates were in session for nearly three years and submitted a splendid document to the voters, yet, on account of the unsettled condition of the country following the World War, it failed of ratification.
On July 17, 1889, at Normal, Ill., Mr. McCann was one of seventeen charter members of Jesse Fell Camp No. 1059 Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica and took an active interest in promoting the growth of that organiza- tion. In the early nineties he, together with attorney Wm. H. Beaver, of Bloomington, and Judge A. M. Cavan, of El Paso, delivered many ad- dresses at the annual picnic gatherings and Woodmen celebrations over Illinois. He is also a prominent member of the Order of Knights of Pythias and in 1895 and '96 was appointed Deputy Grand Chancellor of McLean County. It was during this period that the fifth lodge of Knights of Pythias was organized in Bloomington and at its institution a monster street parade and demonstration was staged, the like of which has never before or since been equalled. Besides all the Grand Lodge Officers of the state there were nearly fourteen hundrd members from Central Illinois, present to witness the work which began in the afternoon at Turner Hall and continued until after daylight the following morning. The banquet at six o'clock was held at the New Waits Hotel and continued all during the night in the room adjacent to the hall. Over one hundred charter members were initiated into the new lodge and the affair was one never to be forgotten.
In 1898 Mr. McCann purchased a half interest in the Normal Advo- cate at Normal, Illinois, and later became its sole owner. This publication he successfully conducted until about 1903 when he disposed of his interest and became identified with the Court of Honor Life Association, of Spring- field, Ill. He has been associated in various capacities since that time and is now National Lecturer of that organization. He is also a member in good standing of all the Masonic bodies in both the Scottish and York Rites and of the Shrine.
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Mr. McCann was married Dec. 26, 1900, to Miss Laura Seibel, young- est daughter of Prof. Henry P. and Catherine Seibel, old and respected residents, who came to Illinois from Cincinnati, Ohio, in the early seventies. Mrs. McCann was born and reared in Bloomington and is a lady of culti- vated musical talents and refined tastes. The family home is at the corner of McLean and Taylor streets and is surrounded by all the conveniences of modern life. Mr. and Mrs. McCann are members of the Bloomington Country Club and include among their friends and associates the best people of the city.
H. L. Rusmisell, a well known retired farmer of Allin Township, is a member of one of McLean County's oldest and most prominent pioneer families. He was born on a farm in Danvers Township, March 1, 1855, the son of David and Catherine (Deal) Rusmisell.
David Rusmisell was a native of Augusta County, Va., as also was his wife. They came to McLean County, Ill., in 1848 and settled on a farm in Dry Grove Township, but later moved to Danvers Township. Mr. Rus- misell was born Nov. 25, 1808 and died in 1860 and his wife, who was born July 1, 1811, died Feb. 15, 1900. They were the parents of 12 children, as follows: John, born Aug. 3, 1834, died Sept. 5, 1834; William C., born July 18, 1835, died in 1921, was a Civil War veteran and the husband of Adelia Johnston, also deceased; Elanor A., born May 15, 1837, married Alfred McKinzie, deceased; George W., born Dec. 29, 1838, died Feb. 27, 1863, was the husband of Pasado Pierce, also deceased; John L., born Nov. 18, 1840, died in 1863; Julius, born Dec. 4, 1842, died Sept. 10, 1853; Mary Frances, born Oct. 26, 1844, lives at Danvers; Sarah Catherine, born Sept. 18, 1846, died in 1853; Martha P., born July 13, 1848, died Aug. 27, 1853; Dmorah Virginia, born Sept. 18, 1850, died Aug. 30, 1853; Samuel D., born Jan. 10, 1853, married Mary Wooley, who died in June, 1922, and he lives at Danvers; and H. L., the subject of this sketch.
H. L. Rusmisell spent his boyhood on the home place in Danvers Town- ship and was educated in the district schools. When he was a young man he came to Stanford and clerked in the general store of Rusmisell and Johnston. Mr. Rusmisell later went into partnership with his brother, W. C., and the firm was then known as Rusmisell Brothers. In 1888 he moved to Bloomington, and after a short time engaged in general farming and
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stock raising. Mr. Rusmisell has lived retired at Stanford since 1919, and he now rents his farm of 185 acres in Allin Township, which is known as the Sunny Slope Farm.
In 1882 Mr. Rusmissel was married to Miss Dora J. Bozarth, a native of Allin Township, born July 17, 1863, and the daughter of Alfred and Harriet (Brooks) Bozarth, natives of Kentucky and early settlers of Illi- nois. Mr. and Mrs. Bozarth were the parents of six children, as follows: Charles, died in 1890; Mrs. Rusmisell; Elizabeth, born in 1865, married Theodore Paulen, lives in Ohio; George, married Nellie Stubblefield, now deceased; Albert and Alfred, twins, born Nov. 1, 1871, deceased. Mr. Bozarth died in 1872 and his wife later was married to John D. Ritnour, and to this union three children were born, as follows: Frank, deceased; Effie, married W. B. Tryon, lives in Grand Rapids, Mich .; Freddie, deceased. Mrs. Ritnour died July 7, 1914. To H. L. and Dora J. (Bozarth) Rusmisell two children were born, one of whom died in infancy and the other was Harry B. Rusmisell.
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