History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 80

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 80
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 80

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

His wife died in 1846, leaving him with a family of six children, and in the following year he married Miss Mary Ann, daughter of Rev. Wm. K. Stewart, of Macomb, Illinois, who is yet living. His chil- dren by his first wife were: Hiram. died in 1861 ;. Ann, wife of Luke Strong, of Aledo: Elizabeth, widow of James Moir, now resides in Paris, France; John, present postmaster of Aledo; George, doing business in Chicago, and resides in one of the suburbs ; Collin, resides near Hot Springs, Arkansas; and William, died in infancy. The two first named were born in Kentucky, the others on the farm in Hender- son county, Illinois. Collin volunteered in 1861 in the 10th Ill. Inf., Co. E .; was commissioned second lieutenant, and rose to the rank of captain. With his regiment he re-entered as veteran, and served throughout the war. Children by his second wife were : Adelaide, still at home ; Lucretia, died in infancy ; James, married, cashier of Aledo bank ; Archie, loan clerk for his father ; Mary Isabel, at home ; Maggie, died in infancy; and Robert Riley, still at home. These were all born in Oquawka. Mr. Mckinney united with the Cumberland Presbyterian church in 1833, but on coming to Aledo he connected himself with the First Presbyterian church (known as the Old School), of this place. He is an earnest christian, rigid in the observance of all the rules and religious customs of the church, a regular attendant upon all her ordinances, and a liberal supporter of church and Sabbath school. He has for many years served his church as deacon or elder, and as trustee. He removed to Aledo in May, 1873, and in April, 1874, pur- chased an interest in the Aledo bank, where he is still the senior member of the firm. He was an old line whig, until the organization of the republican party, since which time he has acted with the latter. During the war he was a strong union man, and was appointed by President Lincoln commissioner of enrollment for the then sixth con- gressional district, comprising the counties of Adams, Hancock, Hen- derson, Mercer, Rock Island, and Warren.

CORNELIUS SPRINGER RICHEY, son of John and Mary (Douglass) Richey, was born September 9, 1828, in Salt Creek township, Muskin- gum county, Ohio ; father born in Pennsylvania ; mother in New Jer- sey. His parents had emigrated from Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1814. His youth was spent on the home farm until the age of twenty. His education he received in the common schools and in Muskingum college, New Concord. He taught school in the vicinity of his home until 1854, when he came to this county, settling in Ohio Grove township. He was elected county surveyor in 1855, and fol- lowed surveying, teaching during the winter months, until 1862, when he went into the mercantile business, first at Bridger's Corners, Suez

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township, for about a year, and at Sunbeam, Ohio Grove township, until 1868, when he removed to Aledo, and has ever since continued the business here, first as a member of the firm of C. S. & J. C. Richey, with his brother, J. C .; next with Richey Bros. & McGuffin, J. G. McGuffin having purchased an interest ; then alone ; again with Jesse Markee and I. N. Dunlap, as Richey, Markee & Co .; with Dun- lap, as Richey & Dunlap, and now as senior member of the firm of Richey, Frew & Dunlap, S. J. Frew having recently purchased an interest in the business. The firm deal in dry-goods, clothing, millin- ery, and groceries, and have a good custom. January 17, 1865, he married Miss Susan HI., daughter of Joel Lee, Esq., of Galesburg, Illinois. They have two children living, Arthur, aged thirteen, and Olive, aged five years. He was reelected county surveyor in the fall of 1879 and still holds the office. . He has always voted the republican ticket.

JAMES MCCORMICK WILSON. About the close of the last century David B. Wilson, then only about sixteen years of age, emigrated from his native place in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, and settled on a partially opened farm near Fayette City, in the Rehobath valley, Pennsylvania. The location was about thirty miles above Pittsburgh, and ten miles below Brownsville, the point where the old national road crossed the Monongahela river. Here he married Mary McCormick, raised a family, and remained until his death in 1863. Among his children was James M., the subject of this sketch, who was born December 1, 1822. James remained upon his father's farm until twenty-four years of age, receiving only the educational facilities of the public schools of that day, which would illy compare with those of the present. Upon leaving the farm he learned the carpenter's trade and followed it for five years, and could frame a barn or finish a parlor in good style, as occasion might require. November 23, 1853, he was married to Miss Mary Smith, of Flat Woods, Pennsylvania, and in the following May he came to Galesburg, remaining during the summer and returned to Fayette City in the fall. In the spring of 1855 he re- moved with his family to Galesburg, where, with W. B. Patterson, he went into the furniture business, under the firm name of Patterson & Wilson, continuing until July, 1857, when Mr. Wilson removed to Aledo, erected, with Mr. D. V. Reed, the building on the corner of College avenue and Eighth street, now occupied by L. F. Jobusch, and opened a furniture store in one-half of the building, in connection with undertaking, continuing until 1862. In 1861 he was appointed post- master by President Lincoln. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Co. K, 102d reg. Ill. Vol. Inf., and in the spring of 1863 was honorably dis-

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IHISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

charged at Gallatin, Tennessee, on account of disability, and returned to Aledo. He was elected supervisor of Mercer township in 1860, 1863 and 1864. In the fall of the latter year he was elected circuit clerk, and resigned the offices of postmaster and supervisor to enter on his duties, being succeeded as postmaster by Horace Bigelow, of the "Record." He served as circuit clerk until December, 1868. Not- withstanding his limited educational advantages in youth Mr. W. early resolved to become a lawyer, and with this end in view he availed him- self of all means of improvement within his reach by general reading and persistent study. During his last year as circuit clerk, upon appli- cation, he was admitted to the bar and licensed to practice in the sev- eral courts of the state. During the same year he was appointed master in chancery by Hon. A. A. Smith, then circuit judge, and re- appointed in 1870 for the succeeding two years. In May, 1869, he formed a partnership with John C. Pepper, one of the oldest as well as ablest attorneys of the county, under the firm name of Pepper & Wilson, which continued until April, 1882, when it was dissolved by mutual consent, both continuing to practice, however, in their own names. During the residence of himself and wife in Aledo, nearly a quarter of a century, they have reared a family of five children : Sarah C. (wife of James H. Ramsey, dealer in jewelry and silverware, Aledo), Mary R. (wife of Joseph Boyd, firm of Boyd Bros., dealers in groceries and hardware, Aledo), Nannie M. (wife of Joseph M. Wal- lace, M.D., of Coal Valley, Rock Island county, Illinois), Cora C., and Fannie L., both at home and attending the public schools of Aledo, in which their sister Nannie once held a position as teacher. While Mr. W. has not attained great wealth, he has a commodions and com- fortable residence, occupying an entire block of ground between Fourth and Fifth streets, west of College avenue, so highly cultivated and im- proved as to make it among the most desirable homes in the village, and in addition to the complete furnishing proper, in his house may be found one of the best and perhaps one of the largest private libraries in the county. Politically he is a republican. He has for years been connected with the Presbyterian church. He is a Mason of high degree.

BENJAMIN COLEMAN TALIAFERRO was born October 9, 1821, in King William county, Virginia, and is the son of Robert B. and Cecelia H. (Ellett) Taliaferro. His youth was spent on a farm in Virginia until 1836, when, with his parents, he came to Illinois and settled in what was then a part of Warren, but now Henderson county. Here his father died in 1847, and his mother died in 1859, at Young America (now Kirkwood), Warren county. His father was a native of King

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William, and his mother of Goochland county, Virginia. Mr. Talia- ferro remained on the farm, working and managing it, until the age of twenty-two, when, surrendering it to a brother, he entered the law office of Hon. Charles M. Harris, of Oquawka, as a student. His early education was limited to the common schools of Virginia and one year in an academy, before coming to Illinois ; since then to what he could "pick up" by judicious reading and practical business experi- ence. After being admitted to the bar he removed to Keithsburg, and was for a number of years in partnership with John C. Pepper ; then alone; next with J. E. Griffin, and again with Benjamin F. Brock, of Aledo, Mr. Taliaferro having his office in Keithsburg, and Mr. Brock in Aledo. In 1881 Mr. Taliaferro removed to Aledo, and formed a partnership with James HI. Connell in law and abstract business, which was dissolved upon Mr. Connell's removal to Pueblo, Colorado, in the spring of 1882; and Mr. Taliaferro associated his son, Robert B., with him in the abstract department of his business. In 1848 he was appointed master in chancery for the circuit court in Mercer county, a position he held for nine consecutive years. During his residence in Keithsburg he held a number of municipal offices, and is the present village attorney for Aledo. In 1876 he was elected to the state senate from the then twenty-second senatorial district, comprising Mercer and Knox counties, and served in the thirtieth and thirty-first general assemblies. He had the honor of presenting to the latter the great home-protection petition containing 175,000 names, and of being its special champion in the senate. He has been prominently connected for years with the temperance work, in which he has been ably assisted by his wife, both having frequently lectured on the subject in this and adjoining counties. He was the author of the farm drainage law now in force in this state, and of several other laws, of equal importance, now on our statute books. He also introduced a bill to "establish the Western Institution for the Deaf and Dumb," which failed to pass for want of time for its consideration. He became a Mason in 1850, and is still a member, having attained the Royal Arch degree, and frequently filled important offices in the order. March 15, 1852, he was married to Mary A. Pepper, of Utica, New York. They have four children : Cora B. (at home), Frank E. (married, resides in Springfield ; secretary State Board of Health), Ralph E., and Robert B. (both still at home). Mrs. Taliaferro and daughter belong to the Baptist church, of Aledo ; no others of the family connected with any church. Mr. Taliaferro and his sons are all republicans. Mr. Talia- ferro is one of the early settlers ; has a wide circle of acquaintances and.friends ; stands high socially, professionally, and politically.

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

ISAAC NEWTON BASSETT was born in Lewis county, Kentucky, Sep- tember 8, 1825 .. His early life was spent on his father's farm, where he received such educational advantages as were afforded by the com- mon schools of that day. He tried merchandising for a while, but not finding it as remunerative as he had hoped, studied law, and has practiced for over thirty-five years, attaining a name and reputation throughout the state ;. one of prominence and honor of which he may well feel proud. In 1852 he removed to Mercer county, settling in Keithsburg, and as a member of the firm of Johnson, Willits & Bassett commenced the practice of law here. In 1855 he was elected county treasurer, holding the office for four years. He removed to Aledo in 1857 when the county seat was removed, and has ever since been a leading and honored resident of the village. In 1847 he married Miss Scienda T. Moore, by whom he had six children, five of whom are still living: Fletcher S., lieutenant United States navy; Thomas W., attorney at law, Lacqui Parle, Minnesota ; Flora, wife of William N. . Graham, cashier of Farmers' Bank, Aledo; Nota, and Lulu, both at home. His wife died in 1861. In 1862 he married Mrs. Caroline H. Yerty, a sister of J. E. Harroun, who had one child, Miss Clara, who is still at home, and who, with Miss Nota Bassett, is conducting a book, station- ery and millinery business, under name of Bassett & Yerty. By his second wife Mr. Bassett has had four children, two of whom have died; Victor Hugo, a boy of eleven years, and Bessie, a girl of eight years. From 1847 to 1870, he was connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, but in the latter year joined the Congregationalists, to which he still belongs. He has also been a Mason for many years. While - not what is termed rich, Mr. Bassett has made for himself a good home, surrounded by the comforts and luxuries of life. His family hold a leading and enviable position in society, and in the church which is honored by their membership. Mr. Bassett is at present the senior member of the firm of Bassett & Wharton, the latter now serving his second term as state's attorney, and they enjoy a large and lucrative practice in the circuit, appellate, state, and federal courts.

SAMUEL MARQUIS was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, October 2, 1834, and is a son of Thomas and Sarah Ann (Lysle) Mar- quis. His early life was spent on a farm, where he received a common school education, or so much of one as could be obtained during the winter months. His mother died about thirty years ago, and his father died in Galva, Kansas, in 1880. In 1855 he came west, stopping for a while in Davenport, Iowa, and in 1857 he came to this county, locating on the home farm in Mercer township. In 1862 he settled in Aledo, and went into the dairy business, in which he has

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ever since been engaged. He was married to Miss Anna Signor, November 16, 1867. They have had six children, all of whom are still living: James Lorell. Dappie, Sarah Kate, Vance, Carrie, and Maynard M. Mr. Marquis is industrious, honest and conscientious, and while not wealthy he has acquired a comfortable home and his business is sure and safe, fairly remunerative and free from great risks or temptation to speculation. He is a good citizen; one of the kind to honor the place of his residence.

JAMES H. CONNELL was born in Toronto, Canada, November 5, 1843. His father's name was William Connell, his mother's Isabella Leishman. They were both born in Scotland, and moved to Canada in 1842. In 1848 they moved to Chicago and from there to Sycamore, DeKalb county, Illinois, in 1849. Mr. Connell's education is such as he received at the Sycamore high school and a commercial college in Chicago. He worked in the "True Republican" office, in Sycamore, three years ; went to Chicago in 1861, and kept books in the whole- sale drug house of H. Scovil. In 1864 he enlisted in Co. F, 132d reg. Ill. Inf., and served until the war closed. He went to Aledo in 1865, at the close of the war, and studied law in the office of J. R. and I. N. Bassett, and was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Illinois, in March, 1868. He then went into partnership with I. N. Bassett, in March of that year, and continued until January, 1874. He was married to Lallie Arthur June 8, 1870. She is the daughter of Mrs. M. C. Geiger, and step daughter of John Geiger, of Aledo, Illinois. Mr. Connell was appointed master in chancery, of Mercer county, Illinois, in November 1879, and resigned the same in May, 1882. He owned the abstract books of Mercer county, from 1868 to 1874, with I. N. Bassett, and from 1874 to May, 1882, was sole pro- prietor, when he sold them to B. C. and R. B. Taliaferro. He was one of the originators of the Mercer County Scientific and Historical Association, and was elected secretary of the association when it was organized, and was re-elected from year to year until the spring session, 1882, when he declined further election as he was preparing to move to Colorado. He was tendered the position of attorney-general of Montana, by President Garfield, in 1881, but declined the office. In August, 1881, he formed a partnership with Senator B. C. Taliaferro, and dissolved the same in May, 1882, for the purpose of removing to another field farther west. He left Aledo in May, 1882, and moved to Pueblo, Colorado, where he is now engaged in the practice of law. To Mr. Connell, as one of the members and secretary of the historical society, the publishers are under many obligations, and much of what

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is valuable in this work is due to his kindness. Mr. Connell carries with him to his new home the good wishes of numerous friends.

WILLIAM H. GLADMAN, New Windsor, was born in Fulton county, Illinois, July 30, 1843. His father, Washington B. Gladman, was a native of Ohio, and was among the early pioneers of Fulton county in this state, having come to that county about the year 1820, where he resided until the spring of 1853. He removed to Henry county, Iowa, where he died in the fall of the same year. His mother, whose maiden name was Catherine Drumm, was a native of Virginia, and survived her husband until 1879. In 1862 William H. enlisted in Co. K, 25th reg. Iowa Vol. Inf., commanded by Col. Stone, and served with that regiment in the Fifteenth Army Corps until the close of the war. He was in twenty-three engagements and escaped without a scratch until the last one, which was at Bentonville, North Carolina, where he received a slight wound in the shoulder. When mustered out of the army he returned to his old home in Henry county, Iowa, remaining there until the following year (1866), when he removed to Oneida, Illinois, where, in connection with his brother, he established a wagon and carriage shop. In 1869 he moved to New Windsor, where he engaged in the same business, which he has continued until the present time. Mr. Gladman is a man of excellent natural mechan- ical ability, being able to do what but very few men can accomplish, namely: manufacture a carriage complete, doing the work of the wheelwright, the blacksmith, the painter, the top builder, the trimmer, and upholsterer, and when done it will compare favorably in quality, style and finish with the workmanship of specialists in any of the departments. He was married April 16, 1868, in Oneida, Illinois, to Miss Lizzie T. Conyers, who was a native of Bath county, Kentucky. Her father, Thomas Conyers, was a native of the same county and state, and died there when only twenty-five years old, shortly before the birth of his daughter, which event occurred August 4, 1843. On this account her mother gave her the name of her father for a second name. Her mother, whose maiden name was Nancy Kerns, was a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky. She came from Kentucky to Oneida in 1864, and now resides with her daughter, Mrs. Gladman, in New Windsor. A sister of Mrs. Gladman also makes her home with her. Mr. and Mrs. Gladman have four children living : Emma F., born January 25, 1870; William K., born December 16, 1871; Lucy E., born April 29, 1873; Nellie A., born January 4, 1876.

JOHN C. PEPPER was born in Cambridgeshire, England, September 21, 1829. He came to this country with his parents when about seven years of age, the family settling at Amboy, Oswego county, New

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York, where he passed his early life. When sixteen he left home to attend the academy at Vernon, New York, where he remained two years, after which he entered the Wayne County Institute, pursuing his studies there three summers, and teaching school during the winter seasons. In 1848 failing health induced him to come west; and after staying a year in Peoria he settled in Keithsburg, where he was admitted to the bar January 6, 1851. In the same month he celebrated his nuptials with Miss Mary Ann Martin, who has borne him seven children, three of whom are deceased. In 1862 he raised Co. H, 84th reg. Ill. Vol .; being elected captain, he commanded his company with deserved credit at Stone river, and was three times wounded in that battle. Since 1869 he has resided in Aledo. In 1880 Capt. Pepper ran as an independent candidate for circuit judge, but failed of elec- tion. During the last two years he has been earnestly and promi- nently engaged in the temperance movement in this state. With the cooperation of a few friends he started the Illinois State Temperance Alliance, and was president of the organization from September, 1880, till January, 1882, when it was consolidated with the Illinois State Christian Temperance Union, under the name of the Illinois State Temperance Union.

Dr. ELISHA L. MARSHALL was born near Trenton, New Jersey, September 24, 1823 ; was educated at City University, of New York, and located at Keithsburg, Illinois, August, 1850, at which place he still remains in practice of his profession ; was connected with the 84th reg. Ill. Vol. Inf., as a medical officer in the war of 1861. As a prac- titioner of medicine and surgery, Dr. Elisha L. Marshall stands de- servedly high in the estimation of all, and not the least so in the esti- mation of his professional brethren. But it is in the department of surgery, perhaps, that the doctor has done his best work, and earned his highest triumphs. But few practitioners outside the larger cities have done a larger number of intricate and capital operations, or met with a more uniform success in operative surgical procedures than has the subject of this sketch. His close observations of pathological con- ditions, his success in weighing the relations of cause and effect, and his almost intuitive judgment and decision at the bed-side, have secured for him a reputation as consulting physician and surgeon second to none in the county. Generous and hospitable in his home cir- cle, courteous and affable in every day life, strong and enduring in his personal friendships, thorough in his professional attainments, earnest in his warfare against disease, with an almost chivalric fidelity to the sick and afflicted consigned to his care, Dr. Marshall has stamped the

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impress of his stalwart individuality upon the history and daily life of the large community in which he has lived and labored for nearly the third of a century.

As the oldest physician and earliest settler as such now resident of this county, we offer the subjoined sketch of the professional life of Dr. THOMAS T. WILLITS, who was born in the state of Ohio December 6, 1805 ; spent the early part of his professional life in the state of Indiana, removing from that state and establishing himself in the viein- ity of his present home in 1837, his first location being had a few miles southeast of Keithsburg, at the base of the Mississippi bluffs, at which place he remained in the practice of his profession up to 1840, at which time lie removed to the town of New Boston, where he still resides. Di. Willits has thus been actively engaged in the practice of his pro- fession for a period of about fifty-four years, forty-five years of which time has been spent, practically, in the same community of people, thus actively in the same avocation for nearly the half century in which he has lived and labored with the co-workers of his profession, inaugu- rating its inception, as it were ; moving ever in its front ranks ; stamp- ing the impress of his own ideas and thoughts upon others with whom he came in contact ; all of whom, as members of the medical fraternity, having acknowledged the chieftainship of their great leader and awarded to him the chief place of teacher, tutor and friend, delight to honor him as "the noblest Roman of them all." Having attained more than the allotted "three score and ten " of years, we find him to-day in the fullest possession of a mind sturdy, clear and unclouded, with all of his wonderful power of intellection, without a seeming shadow as reflected from the vast accumulation of hours, days and years since he first saw the light. We have but recently had the pleasure of passing a few hours in the society of the subject of our sketeli, and although impressed with something of a knowledge of the grandeur of the old veteran's character, through the representations of friends who have known him long and well, we cannot but add our own great admiration of this venerable man, all of which we will try to condense into the one sentence of much meaning when we write that in the person of Dr. Willits we have a fine specimen of an almost extinct species of the genus homo, " the typical old school gentleman."

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 80

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