History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 59

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > Illinois > Mercer County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 59
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 59

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).

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MERCER TOWNSHIP.

Mercer county. He has three children : the eldest, Charles E., twenty- four years of age, is engaged in teaching and farming, making his home at his father's ; a daughter, Minnie E., aged nineteen, and a son, George S., aged fourteen. Mr. Bentley is a member of the masonic order, and by political faith is a republican.

MARTIN L. COFFLAND was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, February 11, 1851, being the youngest son of Launcelot and Eliza Coffland. Mr. Coffland spent his early life farming in Jefferson and Belmont counties, Ohio. In the year 1868 he came west, and worked upon a farm most of the time for ten years in Warren county, when he settled in Mercer county, where he now resides, five miles east of Aledo. He was married February 21, 1872, to Miss Phobe J. Finley, of Warren county, and has three children : Mary Grace, aged seven years, Rose Anna, aged two, and Orion Finley, born April 10, 1882. Mr. Coffland and wife are members of the United Presbyterian church of Aledo. Mr. Coffland is a republican.

JACOB WILSON UNANGST was born in Warren county, New Jersey, May 13, 1819. Mr. Unangst passed his early life working on his father's farm. He left the farm and worked upon the Morris canal until 1845, when he was appointed as inspector of its west division. In this capacity he served till 1850, when he came to Mercer county and settled in Ohio Grove towlship, where he remained farming till April, 1882. IIe then bought the Bauer hotel in Aledo, over which he now presides, having changed its name to the Commercial House. Mr. Unangst was married in March, 1841, to Miss C. Gaston, of Warren county, New Jersey, and has three children, who are all grown and settled : Mrs. Margaret A. Pollock lives in Ringgold county, Iowa, and Daniel M., who is a carpenter by trade, resides in Aledo, making his home with his father.

SNOWDEN K. WHITE was born August 2, 1855, in Greene county, Pennsylvania. His parents' names were Isaac and Lydia (Tustin) White. His father was a millwright. Snowden K. came to Mercer county from Pennsylvania in 1877, where he soon started quite exten- sively in the ditching and house moving business. Starting with his brother, he at this time ran his business alone, and during the year 1881 cut over 50,000 rods of diteh in Mercer and Warren counties, and moved upward of fifty houses. Mr. White is altogether a self-made man, and though young is a man of weight and standing, which his energy and business talent deserve. He is a member of the Baptist church of Aledo, and a worker in the choir and Sabbath school. Politically he is a democrat.

JOSEPH LAIR was born in Fayette county, Indiana, in 1825. His

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

father was a river man, taking his first trip up the Mississippi by steam from New Orleans. The subject of this sketch lived upon the farm of his father during boyhood, and spent his life upon the farm. He set- tled upon the farm on which he still lives in Mercer county, on March 1, 1856. The land was raw prairie at that time, but is now one of the fine farms of the many in the county. Mr. Lair was married August 26, 1847, to Miss Sarah E. Rose, of Fayette county, Indiana, and has had four children : Mrs. Emily Alice, wife of Richard Lemon, Millers- burg township, now deceased; a son, William W., who lives on the next farm to his father; a daughter, Martha A., born in 1854, now deceased ; and a daughter, Flora Luellen, married to Mr. Roe Vincent, of Mercer township. Mr. Lair has for many years held the offices of road commissioner and school director. He is a member of the masonic order and a republican.

HENRY NESBITT. Mr. Nesbitt was born in Indiana county, Penn- sylvania, October 5, 1834. His parents were Jonathan and Mary (McClure) Nesbitt. His father was a blacksmith by trade, and onr subject passed most of his life upon a farm ; emigrating to Illinois in 1855, and settling in Mercer county in 1857. 'He bought the farm upon which he lives in 1871, and by hard work and energy made it what it now is, one of the best improved farms in the county. His dwelling is second to none in the county for comfort, style, and choice of location, standing as it does upon an eminence which commands a view of the country for miles around. Mr. Nesbitt was married in 1861 to Harriet Smith, of Mercer township, and has five children : Mary J., aged seventeen ; Lula, aged thirteen; Minnie, aged nine ; Myrtle, aged seven ; and Harry, aged one year. Mr. Nesbitt is direc- tor of school district No. 6, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Aledo, and politically is a republican.

JOSEPH OSCAR LUNDBLAD was born in Sweden, December 4, 1823, and landed in New York September 20, 1852. He came west to Princeton, Illinois, and soon after moved to Rock Island, and finally settled in Aledo in 1869. He learned the shoemaker's trade in the old country, and has been engaged in the boot and shoe business ever since coming to America. He was married April 27, 1848, to Miss Sophia Gustaver, of Sweden, and they have three children living: George Oscar, aged twenty-three, who is in business with his father, and two daughters, Hilma Maria, aged twenty-one, and Hulda Chris- tina, aged eighteen. Mr. Lundbland is a member of the Swedish Lutheran church of Aledo, and for many years was an officer of that church, and is also a member of the masonic and odd-fellows' orders. Politically he is a democrat.

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WASHINGTON BOONE, grocer, was born in Medina county, Ohio, February 22, 1837. His parents' names were Hezekiah and Sarah A. Boone. He left Ohio with his parents in 1848, they settling in Illinois, in the southern portion of which they lived for some two years, when in 1850 they moved to Mercer county. At that time there were not more than a dozen families in the township. The subject of this sketch was raised upon a farm, but learned the shoemaking trade, at which he worked for many years, when he embarked in trade, being now engaged in the grocery business. He was married February, 1867, to Miss Belinda Baxter, and they have had two children : Wm., aged fourteen, and Lois, aged twelve years. Mr. B. is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and politically a republican ; he cast his first vote for John C. Fremont.

GEORGE A. WRIGHT, the only son of Horace E. and Harriet (Jewel) Wright, was born August 10, 1849, in Rock Island, Illinois, being the first male child born in that city. He has lived in Mercer county nearly all his life, attended common school, and spent most of his life upon a farm. The last five years he has been engaged in mercantile pursuits. In February, 1882, he embarked in the flower and seed trade in Aledo. Politically he is a republican.

Hon. JOHN C. PEPPER was born in Cambridgeshire, England, Sep- tember 21, 1829. His parents were Charles A. and Susan Pepper. He left England when seven years of age with his parents in a sailing vessel, and after being seven weeks and three days out of sight of land landed in New York. His parents settled in Amboy, Oswego county, New York ; his father was a silversmith by trade. Mr. Pepper's boy- hood was passed at home with his parents until his sixteenth year, when he entered Vernon academy, at Vernon, New York, where he attended two years. He then went to the Wayne county institute, where he attended three summers, teaching school in the winter, until 1848, when his health failed to such a degree that he came west with no expectation of ever regaining it. He staid one year in Peoria, and then came to Mercer county, first settling in Keithsburg, where he was admitted to the bar. He then came to Aledo, where he has since remained in the practice of his profession. Mr. P. was married in January, 1851, to Miss Mary A. Martin of Mercer county, and they have four children living : Helen, married to Frank Martin, an attorney of Falls City, Nebraska, three other daughters, Bertha, Norma and Mabel being at home ; three children died when young. Mr. Pepper is the president of the Illinois state temperance union, and an active worker in the cause. By political faith he is a democrat.

WILLIAM B. FREW was born in 1829 in Allegheny county, Pennsyl-

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

vania. His father's name was David Frew, and his mother's maiden name was Mary Jordan. His father was a mechanic. Mr. F. spent his youth until his seventeenth year chiefly in attending the publie schools and St. Clair academy. At the age of seventeen he began to teach the public school at Noblestown, Allegheny county, which occu- pation he alternated with attending college, first at Duquesne at Pitts- burgh, and afterward at Jefferson at Cannonsburg, till 1854, when he became principal of the South Pittsburgh public schools, where he remained one year. For four years, from 1855 to 1858, he was princi- pal of the Birmingham public school. In the summer of 1855 he made a trip west and bought the land which he subsequently improv- ed, which is situated in Greene township, Mercer county, five miles east of Aledo, and which he still owns. At the close of 1858, on account of ill health, he was obliged to resign his school and spent the summer of 1859 at the seashore trying to regain his health. In the

spring of 1860 he came to Mercer county, and, after spending a year as tutor in a family, was elected to the office of county surveyor, which office he held for fourteen years. In 1879 he was appointed deputy county surveyor, which office he still holds. From 1862 to the present time he has been engaged in engineering, surveying and attending to his farm, which he uses chiefly for stock raising. He was married in 1870 to Miss Lydia J. Taylor of New Alexandria, Pennsylvania, at that time locating in the home he now occupies adjoining the town of Aledo. Mr. Frew is a member and a trustee of the Uuited Presby- terian church of Aledo, and politically is a republican.

ALEXANDER M. Woons was born in Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, in December, 1849. He came to Mercer county with his parents at the age of seven years. His parents settled on a farm about ten miles south of Aledo, where they remained about two years and then moved to Aledo. Mr. Woods attended the public schools, and learned the painter's trade, which occupation he still follows. With the exception of one year passed in the west, Mr. Woods has lived in Mercer county. He is a prominent man in musical circles. He has been leader of the Congregational church for nearly ten years. He was a member of the Aledo cornet band for several years, and was a member of the Woods Bros'. male quartette during the existence of that organization, and has been the recognized leader of vocal musie of Aledo for many years. Politically he is a democrat.

C. F. THEDE, carriagemaker and blacksmith, was born in Ham- burg, Germany, in April, 1832. He landed in New York in 1852, and shortly afterward settled in Michigan, where he had relatives. In 1856 he moved to Rock Island and went into business. He lived

yours Truly

MC, Paul

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there till 1870, when he came to Aledo, where he still remains, carry- ing on the carriage-making business with his son Christian. Mr. Thede was married in 1854 to Miss Laura Herbst, a native of Berlin, Prussia. They have had twelve children, ten of whom are living and two dead. Mr. Thede and wife are members of the United Presby- terian church of Aledo, and politically Mr. Thede is a democrat.

JESSE MARKEE was born in Allegany county, Maryland, in 1820 ; his father was a farmer. When Mr. Markee was a small child his parents moved to Muskingum county, Ohio, where they lived a few years. The elder Markee then moved to Belmont county, Ohio, and a few years after the subject of this sketch moved back to Muskingum county, upon the farm his father had occupied. Here he stayed till 1842, when he came west and stayed about a year and a half in Iowa, when he returned to Ohio. Ile remained in Ohio till 1853, when he came to Mercer county, Illinois, which was then very thinly settled. When in Iowa, about 1843, Mr. Markee witnessed, at an old trading house near Eddyville, the last treaty with the Indians, there being 2,700 red men present. Mr. Markee, though raised upon a farm, worked for about ten years at the carpenter trade. When he came to Illinois he bought 240 acres of land in Ohio Grove township, which he farmed till 1872, when he came to Aledo and engaged in buying and shipping stock. About 1875 Mr. Markee, together with Mr. Richey and Mr. Spicer, built the Aledo machine shops, and started to manufacture farm implements. He was afterward for several years engaged in the grocery business. Mr. Markee and Mr. Dunlap, while in the grocery business, bought the lot and put up the building known as Union Hall, together with its store rooms. Mr. Markee then went out of trade, and has since been engaged in looking after the interests of his farm. He was married in 1849 to Miss Sarah Bevin, of Mus- kingum county, Ohio, and they have had five children, the eldest of whom are dead. Of the living, Mary E. is married to Rev. M. C. Bolon, of Carthage, Illinois ; Nira L. is married to Prof. Silas Montz, of Dixon, Illinois ; and the youngest, a son, J. N. Markee, is employed in the drug store of Dr. Johnston, of Aledo. Mr. Markee is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church of Aledo; is a member of the masonic fraternity, and politically is a republican.

DR. GEORGE IRVIN was born December 25, 1825, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and was the son of John and Mary (Young) Irvin. He spent his early life on his father's farm, and received an academic education. In 1852, he commenced reading medicine with Dr. Thomas Maybon, at Jacksonville, Pennsylvania, and attended lec- tures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from 1853 to 1855 ;

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taking his degree as M.D. in March of the latter year. After graduat- ing he practiced at Prospect, Butler county, Pennsylvania, for a year and a half ; at Plumville, Indiana county, for over a year ; and at Jacksonville, where he had studied medicine, for about a year and a half. In May, 1859, he removed to Aledo, where he has built up a large and lucrative practice, enjoying the confidence and esteem of all. He owns and occupies one of the best and most commodious residences in town, and has surrounded himself and family with all the modern conveniences and luxuries. He also owns a large farm near town, besides other town property. He has been twice married, and has, by his first wife, four children : Anna, Frank, Jessie and George. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and has been for many years a deacon or elder therein. As a physician and surgeon he holds a de- servedly high reputation throughout the country tributary to Aledo and among the brothers of his profession. He is the oldest resident physician in practice in Aledo.

Among the many citizens of other states who formerly resided in this county there are a few who desire to live, over their early life by perusing the pages of this history, and of the number is JESSE W. McPHERREN, of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, February 1, 1847, and is the son of James McPher- ren, who still resides in this county. His father was born June 7, 1808, in Pennsylvania ; his mother, April 1, 1805, in Rockbridge county, Virginia. The family removed to Ohio Grove township, this county, in 1855. His mother died August 18, 1858, and was buried in the Candor cemetery, in that township, leaving a husband, four daughters and six sons. Jesse was educated in the public schools, principally at winter terms. His youth was spent in Grant county, In- diana, Mercer county, Illinois, and Muskingum county, Ohio, mostly on a farm, until the age of fifteen, when he enlisted in Co. K, 87th Ohio Vol. Inf., for three months ; was captured at the surrender of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, September 17, 1862 ; was paroled and returned to Ohio ; was discharged October 3, 1862. He returned to Mercer county, and spent the next summer on a farm near Aledo, and on No- vember 4, 1863, enlisted in Co. C., 11th Ill. Cav., at Quincy, Illinois, for three years ; joined his regiment in the rear of Vicksburg in the following December, and- remained with it in Tennessee and Missis- sippi until the close of the war, when it was mustered out of. the service at Springfield, Illinois, October 13, 1865. He is one of six of one family who served in the late war ; His father, James McPherren, en- listed in Co. A., 30th Ill. Inf., in 1861, and was discharged for disa- bility in 1862. His four brothers served as follows : James C., in Co.

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C, 35th Ill. Inf .; George and John S., in Co. H., 84th Ill. Inf .; and Andrew M. in 9th Ill. Cav. Of the six all returned home but George, who fell at Murfreesborough, Tennessee, January 1, 1863. After leav- ing the service Jesse returned to Mercer county, in October, 1865, but did not remain long. During the next few years he resided in a num- ber of places : Newago county, Mich .; Boone county, Iowa ; Chey- enne, and Bridger's Station, Wyoming Territory ; Fairfield, Iowa; and St. Charles, Mo., returning to this county frequently. In 1870, he went south, and on December 31 of that year landed at Wessen, Mis- sissippi, where he remained until 1873, when he spent a few months in Kentucky, returning to Wessen in November. January 7, 1874, he met with an accident in the machine shops of that place, causing the loss of his left eye. Was married October 15, 1871, in Wesson ; lost his eldest child in July, 1881, and his wife in August, 1881. He has one child, a boy, aged four, and is again married. In 1881, he removed to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he is now engaged in the drug busi- ness, and has secured a large and lucrative custom. He was elected mayor of Wesson, Mississippi, in 1875, and re-elected in 1877 ; belongs to the Presbyterian church, the Masons, Odd-Fellows and Knights of Pythias. His life has been one of constant labor ; he has been a farmer, merchant, engineer ; has engaged in saw-milling and railroad- ing, and is now settled as a druggist. While in some of these he has lost, he has, as a whole, been successful, and is now in comfortable cir- cumstances. He still cherishes a warm feeling for his old home and friends in Mercer county.

LUCIEN B. DOUGHTY, son of Rev. Thomas L. and Mary J. Doughty, was born March 28, 1841, in Knightstown, Henry county, Indiana. The life of Mr. Doughty has been one of activity and large experience. He lacked six years of having attained his manhood when with his father's consent he started out into the world, to battle with its hard- ships singlehanded. not only to make a living for himself but to assist his father, which he did by turning over to him his small wages. The family had moved to New Boston in 1843, when Lucian was two years old, and here he received such education as the schools and his limited time afforded. He improved his time then and since, as is evidenced by some very acceptable articles contributed to this work. In the fall of 1851 the family moved to the northwest corner of Warren county, and in 1856 Lucien began active life as intimated above on a farm. A year later he entered the "Record" office at Aledo to learn the printer's trade, in which business he has been constantly engaged with the exception of a few important years, as hereafter noted. In 1859 he was working on the Geneseo "Republic," and next year went to Des

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Moines, Iowa (1860), and worked on the Iowa State "Register," part of the time on local work. The alarm of war had scarcely been sounded when Mr. Doughty entered the ranks as a soldier for the pur- pose of assisting in rebuking rebellion, and enlisted in Co. E, 4th Iowa Inf., Capt. H. H. Griffith, Col. G. M. Dodge. He had nearly served out his term of three years when he re-enlisted as a veteran in January, 1864, at Woodville, Alabama. He was finally discharged July 28, 1865, having served his country and braved the dangers and hardships incident to war over four years. His experience as a soldier can be gathered from a brief mention of the marches and engagements of the regiment to which he belonged. From St. Louis, their starting point, they went to Rolla, Missouri ; then to Pea Ridge and Helena, Arkan- sas ; thence with Sherman at Walnut Hills, Arkansas Post, and back to Vicksburg ; with Grant to Jackson, Mississippi ; in the siege of Vicksburg ; back to Jackson ; with Sherman, under John A. Logan, from Iuka to Chattanooga; with Hooker in the "fight above the clouds "; at Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge and Ringgold ; thirty days at home in the spring of 1864 on veteran's furlough ; again with Sherman from Chattanooga, Atlanta, and the march to the sea; thence through the Carolinas and finally to Washington to participate in the grand review, May 23. 1865. To look at the little man it seems a wonder that he could go through so much. In all he was in forty- three engagements and escaped without a wound. After the war he was for a time in Richmond, Indiana, and in Dayton, Ohio. From May, 1866, to May, 1867, he published the " Democrat" at Eaton, Ohio, and in the fall of the last mentioned year removed to Des Moines, Iowa, and the next year to Rolla, Missouri, where he edited the Rolla "Herald." In 1869 he got back to his old stamping ground, Aledo, and worked nearly four years in a carriage shop. At the end of this time he again entered the "Record " office, where he has since been engaged. August 16, 1866, he was married to Miss Fannie E. Hayes, of Eaton. To them was born one son, James Henry. June 10, 1867, and on August 12, 1869, his wife died and on the next day his son. July 16, 1871, Mr. Doughty was again married, this time to Clara D. Pennell, of Rock Island. To them three children have been born : Josie Amelia, born January 8, 1873 ; Charles Eli, February 2, 1875, and Clara Emma, March 18, 1878 (died April 19, 1878).

FRANCIS LEMON, jeweler, is the fourth son of William and Ellen (Lockhart) Lemon, of Mercer county. IIe was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, in December, 1849, came west with his parents in 1852, and settled in Perryton township, Mercer county. Ile received a common school education, and remained on his father's farm till

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1874, when he came to Aledo and embarked in the grocery business, which he followed about one year. Mr. Lemon being a natural me- chanical genius, had spent his leisure time while on the farm in learn- ing the watchmaking trade, and in the fall of 1876 he opened up busi- ness in the jewelry line in Aledo, where, by care and attention to busi- ness, he has built up a good trade in his line.

LOUIS D. HOLMES, attorney, was born July 24, 1847, in Adams county, Ohio. He was the eldest son of John and Elizabeth (Traber) Holmes, both of whom were natives of Adams county, Ohio. He spent his early life upon a farm, and working in a saw mill until his nineteenth year. He received a common school education, and in ad- dition graduated at Miami University of Oxford, Ohio, where he took his degree in 1868. He came west in April, 1869, and entered the law office of Bassett & Connell ; was admitted to the bar in August, 1871, and has practiced his profession in Adedo ever since. He was married in May, 1872, to Miss C. W. Campbell, of Ripley, Ohio, and has two children. Mr. Holmes is a prominent member of the Baptist church, also a member of the board of trustees of the town of Aledo, and politically is a republican.

DR. D. R. JOHNSTON was born August 21, 1842, in Logan county, Ohio, he being the third son of Rev. Dr. J. B. Johnston, of the United Presbyterian church. He received his education at Geneva College, Ohio, and attended both the medical college of Ohio at Cincinnati and Rush Medical College of Chicago, taking his degree as M.D. from the latter institution, in 1865. At the breaking out of the war he entered the army with the 17th reg. Ohio Vol. Inf., and in 1864 was appointed by Gov. Morton assistant surgeon of the 1st Indiana heavy artil- lery. He practiced medicine in Indianapolis from 1865 to 1868, when he was appointed by the board of foreign missions of the United Presbyterian church as medical missionary to Egypt, where he spent eight years, part of which time he was president of the training college at Osiout, upper Egypt. The doctor returned to the United States in the spring of 1876, and in the fall of that year located in Mansfield, Ohio, where he remained till April 1, 1881. In the summer of 1881 he came to Aledo and bought the drug store of Dr. J. M. Wallace, and entered upon the practice of his profession. He was married Decem- ber 25, 1868, to Miss Maggie J. Stewart, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, and has had four children, of whom two died in Egypt and two are living. Dr. Johnston is a member of the United Presbyterian church of Aledo, and superintendent of its Sabbath school, and by political faith is a republican.

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 59

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co. Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424