History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 113

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 113

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).

Thomas C. HIenkle was born in the city of Springfield, Illinois, January 15, 1850, and in 1856 moved with his parents to Decatur, Illinois, where he graduated at the High School in 1865.

676

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

In 1868, he returned to Springfield, and January, 1869, was employed as book-keeper in the whole- sale grocery store of J. & J. W. Bunn, and held that position ten years, when he was made mana- ger, a position he still retains, the firm now being John W. Bunn & Co. The father of Thomas C., Enos Henkle, was born in Franklin, Virginia, February 10, 1810; he is a wagon-maker by trade, and is still living in Springfield, Illinois; a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife, Martha Condell, born in Ireland; she is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is also living in this city. She was the mother of five children, four living: Albert E., living in Springfield, Superintendent of the Hominy Mills; Thomas C. Henkle, Will H. Henkle, chief clerk in the Anditor's office, and Miss S. E. Prather. Mr. P. C. Henkle, the sub- ject of this sketch, was married to Miss E. J. Huntington, April 20, 1874. She was born in Springfield, Illinois, April 21, 1854. She was a daughter of George L. Huntington. He was an old settler in Springfield, Illinois, where he was for many years engaged in the lumber business. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, and his wife, Hannah L. Forbes, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the mother of nine

children, eight living. Mr. T. C. Henkle is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Springfield, and Mrs. Henkle is a member of the Episcopal Church. They have three child- ren, namely: Ella J., Leonora, and John B. Hen- kle. In politics, Mr. Henkle is a Republican, and a strong supporter of that party, and cast his first vote for U. S. Grant for President of the United States.

L. James Hickox, owner of the Excelsior Mills, is the only son of Martin and Mary Hickox, nee James. Martin Hickox was born on Spring Creek, two miles from Springfield, and was the son of Addison Hickox and Rhoda Stanley. He married Miss James, a native of Atlanta, Logan county, Illinois, who died when the subject of this sketch was fifteen months old. His father made milling the chief business of his life, as did the grandsire and his three other sons. Martin died March 11, 1878, in the forty- first year of his age. He left an estate consist- ing of the Excelsior Mills and other city prop- erty. These mills have lately been remodeled and refurnished with the most approved machin- ery for manufacturing the "New Process" flour, and have a capacity of one hundred barrels in twenty-four hours.

Douglas Hickox, proprietor of Excelsior Mill, East Adams street, is one of a family of five

children, four sons and a daughter, of Addison and Rhoda (Stanley) Hickox, and was born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1846. He graduated from the city schools, and at eighteen years of age engaged in the milling business, which he has continuously pursued, save about eight years during which he conducted a steam laundry in the city. He was joint proprietor with his father of the Ætna Mill, for some years, and since Feb- ruary, 1881, has run the Excelsior Mill. Mr. Hickox married Martha J., daughter of James W. Keyes, in September, 1867. They have four children, two of each sex.

Addison Hickox was born in Jefferson county, New York, and married Rhoda Stanley, of that county; came to Springfield, Illinois, in 1833, and soon after erected the Spring Creek Mill, two miles north-west of the city, and the only flouring mill within a radins of eighty miles at that time. He was subsequently interested in the building and ownership of a number of mills in the city. At one time he and his four sons, all practical millers, owned three and operated two others-five in all-in Springfield. After more than a third of a century of active life in the milling business in Sangamon county; years, prolific in good results to the community in this branch of industry, Mr. Hickox died in January, 1872, in Florida, where he was spending the winter. He left a valuable estate to his widow and family. Only three of their family of five children are now alive.

J. A. Higgins, M. D., Springfield, Illinois, was born in Crawford county, Illinois, December 23, 1831; son of James and Julia Higgins, natives of Kentucky, who came to this State in 1818, and located in Crawford county, and fol- lowed farming; afterwards engaged in the dis- tillery business and buying and feeding stock, which he sold in St. Louis; father and mother are still living in Missouri, and have lived to- gether over fifty years. They came to the State when it was a wild, unsettled country, previous to the Indians leaving. The Higgins family were large, powerful, athletic men The sub-

ject of this sketch was raised on a farm. When eight years of age, his father moved to Alabama and engaged in growing cotton ; remained only a few years. When ten years of age, his father moved to St. Louis, where J. A. was placed in the Mound Academy, and pursued his studies four years. In the fall of 1846, they moved to Van Buren county, Iowa, then a Territory, where he remained until the fall of 1848, then returned to St. Louis, where he intended to learn the trade of ship carpentering. Ilis health failing,

Yours truly Frank Track

679

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

he gave up his trade and went to Macoupin county, Illinois. Here he turned his attention to car- pentering, forming a partnership with Isaac Fer- ris. January 25, 1855, he married Miss Nancy Mitchell, daughter of Dr. Ambrose Mitchell, an early settler of the State; she died in the spring of 1872, leaving four children-two sons and two daughters. After marrying, Mr. H. con- tinued his business, and in the meantime read medicine with Dr. Mitchell, and finally turned his whole attention to his profession. In the spring of 1875, he came to Springfield, where he has met with good success. In 1861, be en- listed in the Third Illinois Cavalry, Company L., D. R. Sparks commanding. His father was a Union man, and when the rebellion broke out he said to his two sons, of which the Doc- tor was one: "Your great grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War; your grand- father was a soldier in the war of 1812; you had two uncles in the Indian wars, and if you do not enlist for the cause of the Union, I will shoulder my musket and go." (He was then over fifty years old.) It is enough to say that the boys went, and served with honor to them- selves and the cause, participating in several engagements, viz: First battle of Pea Ridge, Yazoo River, where General Sherman met his first defeat; Fort Gibson and Champion Hills. Previous to the battles of Fort Gibson and Champion Hills, the Doctor had the small-pox, leaving him in a weak condition, and fatigue and excitement so unnerved him that he was not fit for active service; he was discharged for disability in June, 1863. He married for his second wife, Miss Relief Guderman, daughter of William M. Olney, of New Jersey. The Doctor is a relative of Tom Higgins, an old In- dian fighter, who participated in one of the most desperate single-handed combats with the Indians ever fought on the soil of Illinois, August 21, 1814. Mr. Higgins was about twenty-five years of age, of muscular build, not tall, but strong and active.

Charles L. Hoyt, Superintendent of the Spring- field Watch Factory, is a native of Middleburg, New York, born in 1828; was brought by his parents to Detroit, Michigan, and was there reared and educated. He learned the trade of watch making in Rochester, that State, where he carried on the business nine years. Moving to Romeo, Michigan, he continued at his trade until the Pike's Peak gold excitement arose, in 1860, when he joined the throng of gold seekers, and spent nearly a year in Colorado. He then re- turned to Detroit, and entered the employ of the

large wholesale and retail watch and jewelry honse of M. S. Smith & Co. While there, he invented a very superior watch, which he named "Our Watch," and made about a hundred move- ments, worth $150 each. He sold his tools and materials to accept the Superintendency of the Freeport Watch Factory, which position he filled till it was destroyed by fire, in October, 1875. Subsequently, he had charge of the escapement department of the Rockford Watch Factory five years, and resigned that place to become Super- intendent for the Illinois Watch Company, in October, 1880. Mr. Hoyt married Safrona A. Leet, a native of Genesee county, New York, thirty years ago. Flora Hoyt is their only child.

Lawrence A. Hudson, news dealer, was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, in December, 1819. His early life was passed in that and the Middle States; was educated at Elizabeth, Kentucky, and for nearly a quarter of a century taught school in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia; was some time a teacher in Morgantown Academy, in the latter State. During the great excitement growing out of the discovery of gold in Califor- nia, Mr. Hudson, like many others, was seized with a desire to become suddenly rich, and act- ing on that impulse, he went over-land in 1849, to the great gold fields of the Far West. He was in Kansas during the exciting times of the "Bor- der Ruffian War," and was with John Brown in Ohio, previous to his memorable and historic raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Mr. Hudson entered the Union army as a member of the Second Missouri Infantry, Three Months' Volunteers, in 1861; was in the battles of Booneville and Wil- son's Creek, Missouri, and was taken prisoner in the latter. He re-enlisted April 18, 1862, in an Independent Missouri Cavalry company, which was afterwards consolidated into the Tenth Missouri Cavalry, United States Volun- teers. In August, 1862, he was injured in a cavalry charge near Moore's Mill, Missouri, re- ceiving a compound fracture of the right thigh and a fracture of the right arm. After having sufficiently recovered he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, and assigned to clerical duty at post headquarters, until discharged, Sep- tember 10, 1863, and mustered out as a member of the Third Regiment Missouri Cavalry, United States Volunteers.

Mr. Hudson re-entered government employ as special agent in the United States Secret Service, and acted in that capacity until the close of the war; during which he visited numerous cities and important points within the rebellious States, made the acquaintance and enjoyed the confi-

79-

680

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

dence of many prominent. members of the Southern Confederacy, both in civil and military life; and through their faith imposed in him he learned and communicated much information of great value to the government at Washington, and the chiefs of the departments in the field. He unearthed and exposed many plots and schemes of rebels, planned under the knowledge of, and in numerous instances in concert with arrant traitors "in blue" and in government em- ploy, for destroying Union property, thwarting the movements of the Union armies, encourag- ing desertions and devastating the Northern States, by erecting a Northwestern Confederacy, that were startling in their conception, and would have been terrible in their results had they not been suppressed in their infancy. As an indis- putable evidence of the important duties he per- formed, and the implicit confidence imposed in him as an officer and a man, Mr. Hudson has in his possession a number of autograph letters written by General W. S. Rosecrans, General G. M. Dodge, General J. H. Baker, Provost Marshal General of the Department of Missouri; Hon. Joseph Holt, Judge Advocate General, and other distinguished officers, which speak of his great efficiency as a special agent in the Secret Service, detail the valuable services performed, in strong terms of commendation, showing him to have been one of the most valued and trusted men in that branch of service. The Bureau of Military Justice has reports there made through Mr. Hudson to Colonel Sanderson, to General Rosecrans, that would startle the Nation. Some of those official documents and duplicate reports embody a fund of information combined with strange and startling experiences and critical situations which render them as entertaining as any romance.

In 1859, Mr. Hudson married Miss Delia J. Reid, in Missouri, a native of Virginia. They have three dead and four surviving children, (Albert Eugene, Noble Reid, Oliver Goldsmith, and Fanny Hale Hudson. Mr. H. first visited Springfield in 1859, and made several subsequent visits to the place before settling here in 1874. After leaving the service of the Government he kept books in Jefferson City and St. Louis, Mis- souri. In August, 1878, he engaged in the news business here, handling the leading western metropolitan daily and weekly jour- nals, since which time he has by great industry and economy made enough money to support his family and pay for a comfortable home on Reynolds street, worth $2,000. Owing to his entering the army as a member of an indepen-

dent company of State troops, Mr. H. has never yet received any pension, though disabled per- manently by his injuries, but now hopes to over- come the obstacle in the near future.

William S. Hunter, clothing merchant and merchant tailor, 125 south Fifth street, west side of square, has been connected with the clothing trade of Springfield as salesman ten years, and for about two years in the capacity of manager of the establishment of which he has been sole proprietor since July 1, 1881. He carries a complete stock of ready-made clothing and gentlemen's furnishings, in medium and fine goods, and in his merchant tailoring department he makes a specialty of the best grades of cloths and suitings in the market, of domestic and for- eign manufacture. In this department Mr. Hunter employs the most skilled workmen, and does a large business, occupying from twelve to fifteen hands. The active capital invested is upwards of $20,000, and the annual sales run from $30,000 to $40,000. Mr. Hunter is a native of Woodford county, Kentucky, and is twenty- nine years of age. His parents, William S., and Mary (Brown) Hunter, moved to Sangamon county, Illinois, in the fall of 1852, and several years later to Logan county, where his father died in 1873. His mother is now a resident of Springfield. William was sent back to his na- tive State and educated in a private school. He married Bebert Merriman in 1879. She is a daughter of George B. Merriman, deceased, and was born in Sangamon county, Illinois.

Albert L. Ide, proprietor of Ide's Machine Works, corner Fifth and Madison streets, was born in Waupaukenata, Loraine county, Ohio, in March, 1841, and came with his parents to Sangamon county, Illinois, when two years old. In 1856 he began learning the machinist's trade with Campbell & Richardson, in Springfield. He enlisted upon the first call for three months' troops in the Seventh Illinois Infantry; at the expiration of service was appointed Drill Master at Camp Butler, and drilled officers for a year; then enlisted and was made Major of the Thirty- second Illinois Infantry, but soon after, having a long illness with typhoid fever, was discharged. In 1862 he embarked in the jewelry and army supply business, continuing until several months after the war closed. He then spent two years in building and equipping the Fifth street line of the Springfield City Railway Company, of which he is now President. After this he en- gaged in manufacturing steam-heating apparatus and has been continuously in the business since. Besides building up a very extensive trade in

681

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

this line, Mr. Ide has added the foundry and manufactory of general machinery, employing in all sixty to seventy-five men, and in 1880 did a business of $325,000.

Robert Irwin, deceased, was born in Williams- port, Pennsylvania. Subsequently, he removed to St. Louis, Missouri, where he engaged in the mercantile trade with John and Augustus Carr. Dissolving his connection with the firm, in 1834, he came to Springfield, Illinois, where he formed a partnership with John Williams, one of the pioneer merchants of the city, in the dry goods trade. Subsequently, he was connected with his brother, John Irwin, in the same business. When the Marine and Fire Insurance Company was organized, he became identified with it, and became its secretary, remaining in that connec- tion until his death, which occurred March 8, 1865.

Robert Irwin and Clara C. Doyle were united in marriage in May, 1833. Three children were born unto them, two daughters and one son.

Robert Irwin was an active business man, and whatever enterprise engaged his attention, he entered into it with his whole soul. He was an intimate personal friend of that great and good man, Abraham Lincoln. Shortly after Mr. Lin- coln was first inaugurated, and under date of March 20, 1861, he wrote Mr. Irwin in relation to an applicant for office in one of the eastern States, who gave the name of Mr. Irwin as ref- erence. Mr. Lincoln pathetically closed his letter, "Your tired friend, A. Lincoln." Yes, he was tired, poor man, and never found rest this side the Jordan of death.

When the war broke out, Mr. Irwin entered into the work, and ceased not to labor until death claimed him as his own. The "boys in blue" were ever a subject of the utmost concern with him, and he could not do too much to alle- viate their sufferings. As a member of the State Sanitary Commission, he gave time and money to help on the noble work in which its members were engaged. On his death, the directors held a meeting, and passed the following preamble and resolutions:

"WHEREAS, The Almighty Disposer of events in the execution of His wise purposes, has re- cently terminated the earthly life and usefulness of our late friend and fellow counselor, Robert Irwin, Esq., of this city, by removing him to a more exalted and holier state of existence; there- fore,

" Resolved, That while we bow with unmurmur- ing submissiveness to this afflictive dispensation, we cannot but deeply deplore the severe loss

which our commission-the sanitary cause, and society at large have sustained in the death of this well-known estimable citizen.

"Resolved, That the ardent and consistent pat- riotism of Mr. Irwin, his high-toned benevolence and incorruptible integrity, are worthy of our highest admiration and closest imitation; and the memory of them will be cherished amongst our fondest recollections of the mutual endeavors we have made during the last four years, to as- sist our country in her fearful struggle against that gigantic Rebellion which has spread death and desolation over so much of our land."

The Board of Directors of the Marine and Fire Insurance Company held a meeting and adopted the following:

WHEREAS, By the death of Robert Irwin, this company has sustained an irreparable loss; there- fore, be it

"Resolved, by the Board of Directors of the Springfield Marine and Fire Insurance Com- pany, That in the death of Robert Irwin, Secre- tary of this Institution, we have lost a capable and efficient officer, an honest and faithful coun- sellor, and the community a genial and warm- hearted friend; and that the death of our friend and associate has left an official and social void that cannot be filled; the integrity of whose life has left a noble example, worthy of all imita- tion."

The foregoing resolutions show the esteem in which Mr. Irwin was held by his associates, and the resolutions were but an echo of the voice of the whole community. Mr. Irwin was laid away to rest in Oakwood Cemetery.

Elljah Iles .- On page 580 of this work, will be found a very interesting reminiscence from the pen of Mr. Iles, embracing a brief sketch of his own life.

Edward R. Ives, grocer, corner of Eleventh and Monroe streets, has been doing a general retail grocery business in that location more than six years. He keeps in stock a choice line of goods, and has a prosperous and growing local trade. Mr. Ives is an Eastern man · born in Rhode Island, in 1850. His parents, David S. and Catharine H. (Thorn) Ives, were born in New York and New Jersey, respectively. They moved to Springfield in 1854. His father has been in the railroad business for a third of a century, and is now connected with the Wabash Company. Edward was educated in the schools of the city, and started at the age of sixteen to learn practical civil engineering, on the Wabash railroad, in which he spent two years. At the end of this time, he was made Ticket Agent

682

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

for the company, at Springfield, and held the position about seven years, when ill health compelled him to resign in May, 1875. He immediately embarked in his present business. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Capital Lodge, No. 14 In 1873 Mr. Ives united in marriage with Miss Sallie E. Ray, a native of Sangamon county, and one son, Edward C. Ives, has been born to them, now aged eight years. Mr. Ives' parents reside in Springfield, and have a family of two sons and one daughter, the subject of this sketch being the second in age.

John G. Ives, Secretary of the Board of Trade, has been a resident of Springfield since 1839. He was born in Oneida county, New York, in 1818; learned the jeweler's and watch maker's trade in his native State, and worked at the bench there, and after coming to Springfield, until 1858. In that year he erected the ÆEtna mill and run it ten years. He sold it in 1865, and the two following years, 1866 and 1867, he filled the office of Treasurer of Sangamon county, be- ing elected on the Republican ticket against a usual Democratic majority of several hundred. Sinee retiring from that office, Mr. Ives has been chiefly identified with the grain traffic. He was also twice elected to the Board of Supervisors. In 1843, he married Miss Abigal Watson, a na- tive of Nashville, Tennessee. They have three sons and a daughter, the latter married and liv- ing in Denver, Colorado. One of the sons is there also, the other two reside in Springfield. Mr. Ives is a Master in the Masonic Order, was for many years an active member of I. O. O. F. and a number of years Treasurer of the Grand Lodge.

David S. Ives, Chief Clerk, road department, Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway, Spring- field, Illinois, was born in Connecticut, August 31, 1817, and is the son of Samuel and Cather- ine Ives, natives of Connecticut and New Jersey, respectively. Mr. Ives received a common school education in New Jersey, and at the age of fifteen began to elerk in a foreign commission house in New York City, continuing in this position in the counting room till 1837, and then entered his railroad career by being employed as clerk in one of the departments of the Long Island Railroad, of which road he afterwards became Superin- tendent, remaining in the service till 1850. In 1856, he came to Illinois, in the service of the old Great Western Railroad, and was in charge of that work until its completion to Indiana State line, after which he was variously employed in the construction of several railroads until

1873, he was offered and accepted the position he now holds-as Chief Clerk, road department, of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway.

William Jayne, M. D., was born in October, 1826, in Springfield, Illinois, and is consequently one of the oldest residents now living in the city. Dr. Gershom Jayne, his father, was a native of Orange county, New York, born in October, 1791. The subject of this memoir is one of their six children. He read medicine under his father's preceptorship, attended medi- cal lectures at Missouri University, St. Louis, from which he graduated in 1849, and at once entered the practice of medicine, which was interrupted at the end of ten years by his being elected Mayor of the city in 1859. In 1860 he was elected State Senator to represent the coun- ties of Sangamon and Morgan, for the term of four years; but being appointed the first Terri- torial Governor of Dakota, by President Lin- coln, he resigned in 1861 to accept that office. In 1862 Dr. Jayne was sent to Congress from that Territory, which he represented in that body two years. At the close of the term he returned to Springfield, and has since resided here. He was appointed United States Pension Agent in 1869, and filled the office four years; in the spring of 1876 was chosen Mayor of the city, and re-elected in 1877, serving two con- secutive terms. He has been a Director of the First National Bank of Springfield since 1875; and its Vice President since the spring of 1879; also practicing medieine in a moderate degree. On October 17, 1850, Dr. Jayne united in mar- riage with Julia Witherbee, of Jacksonville, Illinois, born in Vermont in 1830. Only two of their six children now survive, namely, William S. Jayne, who was born in October, 1851, and married Margaret E., second daughter of ex- Governor John M. Palmer, in November, 1875; and Lizzie Jayne, born in July, 1855, and mar- ried to Ferdinand Kuechler in October, 1878. They all reside in Springfield.

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 Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 113

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084