History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 94

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 94
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 94

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).

978

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

generosity furnished for a cemetery to the people of Oquawka, lies all that is mortal of S. S. Phelps, awaiting the call of the resurrection morn. After life's fitful fever he rests well.

[The foregoing, a labor of love, is by Mr. Phelps' daughter, Phebe E. Button .- Ed.]

WILLIAM HANNA, says: "I was born June 19, 1827, in Favette county, Indiana. My mother's name, prior to her marriage, was Crawford. She had one brother and ten sisters, ten of whom, includ- ing my mother, lived to be married, raising families amounting in the aggregate to eighty-seven children: forty-four boys, and forty-three girls. Each of the ten sisters was an honor and a blessing to the man who married her. My father showed his good sense by marrying a Crawford, although three of his brothers had married into the same family before he did. It was a trait of my father's family, when they had found a nest of good eggs to take them all. If there had been ten Hanna men, I have no doubt but that all would have wedded Craw- fords ; true, the girls would have had something to say about it, too, but as my father and his brothers never asked for anything but what was right, they usually got it. Had this been the ease, L have no doubt but that they would have succeeded, and the last one would have got just as good a wife as the first one. Mrs. Jeremiah Bake, my mother's youngest sister, who settled in Henderson county in 1836, will be remembered by all the old settlers as one of the best women who ever lived in the county. My father settled in Warren county in 1835. which then included Henderson county, near where Little York now is. Our family at that time consisted of father, mother, six chil- dren, and one hired man. We wintered the first winter in a log cabin 16×16 feet square, cooked, ate, and slept all in the same room, and had plenty of space left to keep everybody who came to see us. My mother was noted for being a good cook, and having a faculty of mak- ing a stranger feel at home ; people used to go out of their way to get to stay over night with us; of course, we used short bedsteads. This . reminds me of an incident, though a small matter itself, still it shows in a strong light the accommodating disposition of my father. We used the short bedsteads for some years after we had plenty of house room. On one occasion, when there was a long, lank fellow, by the name of Robert Hutchison, whom the old settlers will remember as being about eight feet high, had come to see my sister ; they called it sparking in those days. My father showed him to bed, and as he did so, remarked : ' Mr. Hutchison, I am sorry that we haven't a bedstead about the house long enough to accommodate you, but I will shove a table up to the foot of the bed, and when you are tired of lying doubled up just

979

OQUAWKA TOWNSHIP.

run your legs out on the table and rest them.' Whether Mr. Hutchi- son took this provision for his comfort as kindly as my father meant it, I never knew, but I do know that he did not marry my sister ; how- ever. he did as well, perhaps, by marrrying my cousin, Elizabeth Hanna. My father gave his children as good an education as the county afforded at that time. In the winter of 1835-6, the people of our neighborhood built a school-house of round logs, with greased paper for windows, instead of glass, hewed puncheons for seats, and a door hung with leather hinges. I commenced my education in that house, with a dirt floor under me, in 1835, and finished at Pleasant Green in a frame school-house twelve years later, having learned about all the teachers of those days were capable of teaching in a district school at that time. In fact, the teachers had to study of nights and Sundays to keep ahead of the scholars. The worst of it all is, I have had to unlearn a great portion of what little I had learned at school. For instance, geography taught me there were twenty-seven states in the union, and that the ‘great American desert' commenced at the Missouri river, and extended to the Rocky Mountains. A glance at a map of to-day stamps the atlas that I studied as an unmitigated fraud. I drove an ox team across the plains to California in 1849 ; made a few thousand dollars at mining and keeping 'ranch,' returning in 1851.

"I married Miss Sarah Findlay, daughter of James Findlay, who settled in Warren county in 1832. We have two children living and one dead. Our son is known as J. Ross Hanna. I settled on a farm of my own in Henderson county in 1851, and followed farming on what is known as Cedar farm until the fall of 1864, when, being somewhat disgusted with the kind of implements farmers had to work with, especially plows and cultivators, I resolved to go into the manufactur- ing business. In that year, Messrs. W. S. Weir, Dr. W. B. Boyd, and myself, formed a joint stock company for the purpose of manufac- turing farm implements, with a capital stock of $25,000. At the end of fourteen years we found our capital had increased to $1,000,000, after having paid dividends to the amount of $163,000. In order to do this we have had to make good goods and lots of them, and inasmuch as we warranted our goods to give perfect satisfaction or no sale, I flat- ter myself that we have been doing some good, not only to ourselves, but to our fellow-men. We have a shop capacity for about six hundred men, and still we have a demand for all we can make. I am now president of the Monmouth Mining and Manufacturing Company, and have been for some years. Since my connection with it we have grad- ually been paying off the indebtedness, and we are now, although about $19,000 in debt, increasing our capacity about fifty per cent,

980

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

by yearly enlarging our buildings and putting up more kilns. We have learned, by seven or eight years' experience, how to make good goods. This gives us a demand for all we can make, and more too. There is no investment that a farmer can make which will bring a better return than to buy tiling and under drain his wet land. I am, and have been, president of the Monmouth National Bank for seven or eight years past. While I can compliment our patrons on the fact that we have lost less than $500 by them in all this time, I am proud to be able to say that they have not lost anything by us, and I trust they never will. I am now engaged in building a railroad from Peoria, Illinios, to Keithsburg, on the Mississippi. We commenced this en- terprise in 1875. I was elected president at our first meeting, which position I still hold. We commenced with an empty treasury, and have held our own pretty well ever since. I speak advisedly on this point, as I am treasurer as well as president. We now have twenty- five miles of road completed and are running two trains daily each way from Peoria to Farmington. We have most of the grading done on the entire line, ties paid for, and the bridging completed for fifty miles, costing us so far about $450,000, and no bonded debt, except $13,000. To every man who subscribes a dollar or more, we issue eer- tificates entitling the holder to a credit of twenty-five per cent on each bill for freight, or in payment for one-thousand-mile tickets, so that all subscribers will lose will be the interest on their subscription from the time they pay it until they can ride or ship it out. When this is done, who will own the road? do you ask. I answer that the men who had the nerve to advance the necessary money, until such time and to such a point as will enable them to realize on their bonds. I have been twice mayor of the city of Monmouth. In matters of relig- ion, I believe that the grace of God will finally restore to happiness the whole family of mankind. I believe that holiness and happiness are inseparably connected, and that the only way to be happy is to be good. I have never connected myself with any church or religions society, neither with a secret organization of any kind. I was born a democrat, raised a democrat, and expect to die a democrat, if the old party does not die before I do. I would like to say a few words to those who are finding fault with railroad, banking, and manufacturing corporations, and middle-men generally. I have been on both sides of the counter, and know of a truth how it is by experience, the best of teachers. I have plowed corn from early morn till dewy eve, row by row, three times in row with an old rusty iron shovel, bought directly from the country blacksmith, which I had stocked myself, without the intervention of a middle-man, and fed the corn thus raised to hogs,

981

. OQUAWKA TOWNSHIP.

and sold them in the metropolis of Henderson county for $1.50 per hundred, net. I have swung the cradle to cut our wheat, bound it with bloody fingers, threshed it out by driving horses over it, with an ox team hauled it to market to Chicago, 200 miles away, and sold it for forty-six cents a bushel. I know by experience that we had not one-tenth of the luxuries we now have. The fact is, railroads have made this country, and a combination of capital has enabled manufac- turers to put in improved machinery and manufacture goods of a quality and at a price never dreamed of by a cross-roads mechanic. The true policy. in my opinion, and I charge nothing for it, is for every man to follow the vocation for which he is best fitted by nature, if it is nothing but raising pop-corn, and exchange his products with some one who is better fitted to supply his other wants. Every article should be raised or manufactured where it can be the best and cheapest, and sold where it will bring the greatest net results, without restriction in any way, or, in other words, free trade between man and man, this wide world over."

Hon. HIRAM ROSE, the subject of these memoirs is another exam- ple of success as a crown for self effort and an upright life. His notes would be incomplete without brief reference to his parents. His father, Jeremiah Rose, was born in Charlestown, Maine, and there spent most of his life. When yet a youth he enlisted in the revolutionary war. He was married to Miss Sarah Snow, daughter of the well known Dr. Snow, of Maine. Four sons and four daughters were born to them and raised in Charlestown. The sons became vigorous, useful men. Moses became a member of the legistature and state senator. He also occupied other positions of trust. He died December 31, 1880. Hiram was the second son. Joseph was a successful farmer. He was killed by a falling tree. Elbridge filled several local positions of pub- · lic trust. The daughters were intelligent, industrious educators. They were Polly, Abigail, Pathia, and Abigail dying, the name was given to the youngest daughter, who is now Mrs. Rev. Calvin Millet. Mrs. (Snow) Rose, was a woman of noble character. She died in 1842, of cancer. When her husband and boys were drafted into the Aroostock war, Hiram said to his mother, "Mother, how will you get along with- out us ?" She replied, "God bless you, go and do your duty to your country and come home like men." No tears were shed. Jeremiah Rose continued at Charlestown. About twenty miles from Charlestown, and three miles east of Bangor, is the old Rose Place, so named from the fact that the father and two brothers of Jeremiah were there drowned in the Penobscot river. In October, 1854, Mr. Rose thought to visit his son Hiram, at Oquawka, Illinois. Although about ninety years of

982

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

age, he made the trip. He remained with his son in Oquawka till his death, January 23, 1856. He was buried in Oquawka cemetery. Hiram Rose, to whose memory these notes are prepared, and whose portrait is in this work, was born in Charlestown, Maine, January 6, 1807. At the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed to learn the trade of blacksmithing. Possessing but a frail constitution, he was obliged to abandon his trade at the age of nineteen. His father being a poor man, Hiram's education was limited to that gained at home. But un- der this disadvantage he and his brothers pushed on to success. At the age of twenty-four he engaged in mercantile pursuits. One year later he located at Newport, Maine, where, in company with the Hon. Fred. Ray, he carried on merchandising and lumbering. In 1850 Mr. Rose made a trip west, coming by stage from Chicago to Galesburg. The railroad question was at that time incubating and Mr. Rose was requested to speak in its favor. He delivered railroad speeches at Galesburg and other places. In 1851 he settled in Oquawka, Illinois, where, in company with his old partner, Mr. Fred. Ray, he engaged in the lumber business. They also became proprietors of the Pioneer Hotel. After embarking in business here, he was tendered a promis- ing position in the railroad company. but declined. He continued his business. At the end of three years Mr. Rose closed his hotel busi- ness and became engaged in the land business, which proved a success- ful undertaking. After several years he devoted his time to the im- provement of a 290 acre farm, which was left as a support for those who had aided him in his labors. Mr. Rose never devoted himself alto- gether to himself, but lived also for others. July 23, 1841, he was commissioned by the governor of Maine, colonel of the 4th reg., 1st Brig., Sth Div., Maine militia. September 17, 1842, was promoted to Brigadier General, 1st. Brig., Sth Div. March 29, 1844. again pro- moted Major General of the 8th Div. In 1843-4 he represented the . 10th district in the Maine state senate. November 22, 1845, he was appointed postmaster of Newport, Penobscot county, Maine. After his removal to Illinois he was appointed by Maine as commissioner for Illinois. In Henderson county he made many friends, who chose him in 1857, to represent them in the state senate in the twentieth general assembly. There he labored to secure the charter for the proposed railroad to Oquawka. At home he was connected with the city gov- ernment. But active lives must cease as well as those more plodding. Mr. Rose succumbed to death's call February 1, 1879. At the age of twenty-one years he was converted and united with the Baptist church. A year afterward he became a member of the masonic fra- ternity. In Oquawka he was a charter member of the masonic lodge.

983

OQUAWKA TOWNSHIP.

He died leaving many friends and a loving wife and five adopted children. He was laid to rest by the side of his father, in Oquawka cemetery. His marriage took place first in Newport, when twenty-two years old, to Miss Parthena Miles, of Newport. She died in 1854, of cholera, in Oquawka. Mr. Rose was married May 6, 1855, to Miss Hannah Main, of Newport, Maine. She is a daughter of William and Betsy (Snow) Main .. William Main was a native of Rochester, New Hampshire, and his wife, Betsy Snow, was a daughter of Dr. Stephen Snow, of Maine. Both died in Maine. Dr. Snow, the grandfather of Mrs. Rose, lived to be 102 years old, dying on the evening of his birthday. Hle was very widely known. Mrs. Rose was born April 8, 1829, in Newport. No children have been born, but five children have been adopted and raised by Mr. Rose: Hiram Rowell, or Hiram Rose, as he was known, who died in Henderson county, September 23, 1877, aged forty-eight years ; Frances Merrill, now Mrs. James Staples, of St. Cloud, Minnesota; Mary Rise, who died November 29, 1868 ; Lizzie Rise, now Mrs. Winfield McCullom, of Burlington, Iowa ; and Agnes M. Hart, now living with Mrs. Rose. All the children adopted Mr. Rose's name.

EUGENE A. HAIL, editor and proprietor of the Henderson county "Journal," was born December 26, 1850. His father, William S. Hail, is a native of Franklin, Kentucky, and his mother, Margaret (Chapman) Hail, of Kentucky, near the Tennesse line. William S. Hail followed saddlery for a time in Kentucky, then moved, about 1832, to Macomb, Illinois, where he yet lives. In Macomb he en- gaged at his trade, also speculated in lands, loaned money, etc. But security for others proved his failure in business. He then engaged in the drug business. For several years he was deputy county clerk. During the war he was one year in the quartermaster's department. Eugene A. Hail is one of a family of eight children. He was educated in the common schools. At the age of fourteen years he entered the office of the Macomb "Journal," on which paper he worked about four years. He has since been continuously in the publishing business. In 1872 he became proprietor of the Henderson county "Journal," con- tinuing little more than a year. In 1878, in August, he resumed con- trol of the "Journal." Since that time the "Journal " has prospered till to-day. Although so young it enjoys a circulation equal to any paper in the county. It is devoted to the furtherance of republican principles and the interests of the county and surrounding territory. It is a folio, seven column paper, and does credit to its editor. April 25, 1875, Mr. Hail was united in marriage with Miss Lena Iseminger, daughter of J. M. Iseminger, of Macomb, and a native of Illinois.

984

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

JOHN W. BROCK is a native of what is now Otterville, Jersey county, Illinois. He was born May 16, 1837. His father was from Virginia, and his mother from Georgia. Both emigrated west about 1818. In 1819 his father accompanied his (the father's) brother-in-law from St. Louis to Council Bluffs, where the latter had contracted to supply the post of that place with supplies. The trip consumed the summer. The journey was made in keel boats propelled by oars, sail or cordell, as circumstances necessitated or permitted. The parents of Mr. Brock were married in 1827 and settled the farm on which John W. was born two years later. Until eighteen years of age John's summers were passed in farm labor, while the winters afforded him opportunities for school and home study. At the age of eighteen he entered McKendree college, from which he graduated in June, 1858, with the degree Bachelor of Science. From 1859 to 1861 he tanght school at Elsah, Illinois. In August, 1861, he enlisted at Camp Butler as second lientenant in Co. D, 27th Ill. Inf., serving his country till November, 1863, when he resigned on account of disability. He was engaged in the battles of Belmont, Farmington, Stone River, Chicka- mauga and several minor engagements. In the fall of 1865 he en- gaged in the general merchandise business in Madisonville, East Ten- nessee, which he continued about two years. Decline of prices from those of war times to those of peace proved injurious to his interest, causing failure in this project. Madisonville is the county seat of Mon- roe county. While in the goods business he was city postmaster. In 1867 he was elected county superintendent of schools in that county, and immediately became engaged in putting into successful operation the "free school system." In 1868 Mr. Brock went to Florida, where he was in the saw milling business at Live Oak. While there he acted as one of the county board of education. He was also appointed colonel of the 13th regiment of state militia by the governor. Soon after going to Florida he was married to Miss Maria Parshley, who, in 1866, had removed from Ohio to Florida with her parents. In the spring of 1873 Mr. Brock moved to Missouri ; in the fall of 1874 to Mount Vernon, Illinois ; then to Quincy. In July, 1875, he was ordered to Sagetown, now Gladstone, Henderson county, Illinois, by Gen. John Tillson, United States internal revenue collector at Quiney, to take charge of the distillery at that place, seized by the government on account of some crookedness. He remained its custodian about a year. In the fall of 1876 he took charge of the school at Gladstone, remaining its principal for five consecutive years. In 1881 he was principal of the Oquawka public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Brock's chil- dren have numbered three, two boys that died in infancy, and one girl, Georgia, now about eleven years old.

P. D. SALTER.

987

OQUAWKA TOWNSHIP.

ALEXANDER ANDERSON (deceased) was born in York county, Penn- sylvania, June 5, 1817. His parents, Thomas and Elizabeth Anderson, were natives of Scotland, emigrating to America when children. Thomas Anderson was a farmer and stock-drover. He was murdered near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at a tavern. He had considerable money with him. Nothing but his coat was ever found. His wife died March 6, 1846, aged sixty-seven years, eight months and twenty-four days. In their family were five sons and one daughter. Alexander Anderson was raised on the farm in Pennsylvania. When a young man he came to Henderson county (1841), and purchased the S. E. 4 of Sec. 32, T. 9 N., R. 5 W. This farm he improved. He was mar- ried February 22, 1844, to Harriet C. Davis, daughter of Abner and Lucy (Oaks) Davis, noticed in the county history. Mrs. Anderson was born in 1824. Mr. Anderson died February 12, 1854, aged thirty-six years, eight months and seven days. He left a wife and four children : James O., Lauretta (who died June 13, 1854, aged six years, five months and twenty-six days), Ada Ella (who died June 13, 1854, aged three years, six months and twenty-five days), and Charles A. James O. is noticed elsewhere.

Dr. SAMUEL H. RUPLE, the fifth child in a family of twelve chil- dren, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1818. His father, James Ruple, was a native of New Jersey, and when four years old was brought by his parents to the keystone state. He was a carpenter and machinist by trade. He was of some political promi- nence, receiving the appointment of clerk of the courts from Gov. Shultz, of Pennsylvania. He served in this capacity fourteen years. He married Diana Goodrich in Washington, Pennsylvania, and there their children were born and their own deaths occurred. Both were members of the Baptist church, he having been church clerk over forty years. He was first lieutenant in the war of 1812. Gen. Jackson frequently passed through Washington. At such times Mr. Ruple was chairman of committee on reception. Samuel H. Ruple busied his early years in the common schools, as much as a weakly constitution would permit. He entered Washington College in 1840. Part of his time was occupied in teaching. His course of study at college was irregular on account of poor health. He, however, pursued the study of the languages and science. September 24, 1851, the honorary degree of master of arts was conferred upon him by Washington Col- lege. He already had received a call to the professorship of languages in a new military college at Tulip, Dallas county, Arkansas. Sickness, however, prevented the acceptance. He spent three years as principal of the public schools of Washington ; also held similar positions in

988

HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

other towns. In 1856 he traveled in Pennsylvania and Kentucky as lecturing and financial agent of the American Bibie Union. His own poor health induced him to study medicine for his own benefit. He read with several different physicians, the principal of whom was Dr. Walter, who died at Monmouth, Illinois, a short time since. He also attended lectures irregularly at the Jefferson, and the Pennsyl- vania, also a short time at the Ohio Medical College, of Cincinnati. For awhile he practiced medicine in his native state. In 1859 he located in Oquawka, where he has followed his profession with suc- cess. He has always been an active member of the Baptist church ; was ordained a Baptist minister by the Washington (Pennsylvania) congregation. Here his services were very valuable in church and Sunday-school. Politically Dr. Ruple was raised a democrat, but the firing on Fort Sumter caused him to reflect and change his policy ; he has since been a strong republican. Dr. Ruple was married in 1847 to Sarah J. Parkinson, a native of West Virginia. Five children have been born to them. W. C. Ruple, M.D., son of the above, was born May 8, 1849, in Washington, Pennsylvania. He received a common school education and graduated in medicine from the Keokuk Medical College in 1878. He also studied dentistry in Oquawka. He practiced medicine for a short time, but, preferring dentistry, gives most of his time to that department of practice. He was married October 3, 1877, to Etta Ziegler, daughter of J. H. Ziegler, of Oquawka. She was born in Oquawka in 1858. Her people settled in Oquawka in 1854.

William and Agnes (Petrie) Moir, natives of Forres, Scotland, emi- grated to America in 1833. Their oldest son, Alexander, went to Demarara. in 1828, and came to New York city in 1844. He returned to Scotland, but came back to America, and in 1847 to Oquawka, Illi- nois, where he died September 21, 1858. Their sons William and James emigrated in 1831 and 1832, respectively, followed by their parents, as stated, in 1833, accompanied by the other brothers and sister, John, Robert, and Agnes. Their residence was made in New York city, where they became engaged in mercantile business. James came to Oquawka in 1843, William and Robert in 1847. For further notes on the Moirs we refer the reader to the history of Oquawka.

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.

History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 94

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