USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement, and progress for nearly a century, Volume II > Part 18
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Mr. Webster was married in Conneaut, Ohio, September 30, 1862, to Miss Eliza E. Innis, an adopted daughter of Dr. James and Harriet Innis. She was born at Fairview, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Thomas and Eliza Baxter, but as her mother died at her birth, she was adopted by Dr. Innis and his wife with whom she made her home until her marriage. Later she was enabled to re- turn their great kindness by giving her foster mother a home for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Webster became the parents of four children, namely : Emma H., who died in Danville, January 5, 1898; Katie M., who died in Danville, March 7, 1899; Clara M., who was married in 1893 to Dale Kemble now deceased; and Nellie E., the wife of Dr. R. L. Hatfield.
In 1862 when the Confederate general, Kirby Smith, made a raid north- ward from Kentucky and threatened to march through the state of Ohio to Lake Erie, Mr. Webster enlisted as a member of the militia company belonging to the Ohio Squirrel Hunters Brigade and aided in repelling this invasion. The republican party finds in him a stanch supporter of its principles but he has never cared for official honors, having served only as a member of the school
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and library boards and as assistant supervisor for two terms. As a public- spirited citizen, however, he takes an active interest in those measures which he believes will prove of public benefit and has served as president of the Dan- ville public library and as treasurer of the Spring Hill Cemetery Association. He is one of the prominent Masons of this section of the state, holding mem- bership with all the Masonic bodies of Danville and also with the Oriental Con- sistory of Chicago, having attained to the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. He was grand commander of the Illinois Knights Templar in 1895-1896 and is also identified with Danville Lodge, No. 332, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His business affairs, however, claim the greater part of his time and attention and he was for many years a director of the Palmer National Bank and also a director of the Vermilion County Building Association, with which he has been connected for many years. He is justly accorded a place among the prominent and representative citizens of Danville, for he belongs to that class of men whose enterprising spirit is used not alone for their own benefit. He also advances the general good and promotes the public prosperity by his able management of individual interests. He has excellent ability as an organizer, forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution. This enables him to conquer obstacles which deter many a man and it has been one of the salient features in his success.
L. D. LANE.
L. D. Lane, a man of strong and forceful individuality and marked busi- ness ability, has in the course of an active life constantly worked his way up- ward and each advance step in his career has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. He has carefully noted and used his advantages for progress and is today one of the successful men of his part of the county, be- ing now engaged in banking in Henning. His birth occurred in Vermilion county on the 21st of August, 1855, his parents being W. V. and Sarah J. (Crawford) Lane. The father was born in Vinton county, Ohio, in 1829, and the mother is also a native of the Buckeye state. Removing westward they settled in Vermilion county at an early period in its development and are still residents of Henning, the father now having passed the eighty-first milestone on life's journey.
Spending his youthful days under the parental roof L. D. Lane pursued his early education in the Balaam school and afterward continued his studies in Greenhill, Indiana. He began farming at the age of twenty-two years and in following that pursuit laid the foundation for his later success in life. In all business affairs he has been found practical as well as progressive and his energy and determination have enabled him to overcome all the difficulties and obstacles in his path. After many years devoted to farming he turned his at- tention to the grain business which he followed at Henning for five years. Banking has since claimed his attention and he is conducting in Henning what is now regarded as one of the safe financial institutions of the county, a gen-
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eral banking business being carried on along progressive lines that are tempered with a conservatism that thoroughly safeguards the interests of depositers and has brought to the institution a reputation for thorough reliability and trust- worthiness.
Mr. Lane has been married twice. He first wedded Miss Maria Wilson, who died in 1888 and was laid to rest in Potomac. Mr. Lane has since mar- ried Miss Anna Goodwin, who has also passed away and her grave was like- wise made in the Potomac cemetery. By his first marriage he has a daughter, Mrs. Edna Wyman, who has one son, Lemuel D .; and by the second marriage there is one son, Vinton, seventeen years of age, who is now a student in Green- ville College.
Mr. Lane is a valued member of several fraternal organizations, including the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He is loyal to their teachings and principles and is, moreover, a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to the support of which he contributes liberally. His en- tire life has been passed in Vermilion county, so that he has a wide acquaint- ance within its borders, and the high regard which is uniformly tendered him is evidence of the fact that his life has been well spent. In business he is pro- gressive, carrying forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes and utilizing the opportunities that are presented for progress. He correctly judges his own capacities and powers and also those things which make up life's con- tacts and experiences, and, never placing fictitious values upon opportunities or conditions, he has by the wise use of his time and talents gained a creditable position in business circles, success long attending his efforts.
B. F. LEONARD.
B. F. Leonard, a life-long resident of Vermilion county, now living at Poto- mac, was born in Middlefork township, October 10, 1855. He is a son of Will- iam J. and Sarah (Cronkheite) Leonard, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Hamilton county, Ohio. When quite young the father came with his parents to this portion of the country and was one of the men who assisted in redeeming the wild lands and establishing the valuable farms that are now to be seen all over the county. He was married in Indiana to Sarah Cronkheite, who died at her home in this township in 1873, and he was called to his final rest three years later. Nine children were born to them: James, now living in Poto- mac; Katherine, Elijah, John C., Adeline, Mary and Dorothy, all deceased; B. F., the subject of this sketch; and William H., a resident of Pomeroy, Washing- ton.
B. F. Leonard was educated in the common schools and continued at home un- til he was seventeen years of age, when he went to Rossville, Illinois, and began learning the wagon-maker's trade. Even as a youth he had shown special mechani- cal talent and he soon learned the trade, which he followed until 1876, when he began farming in Middlefork township. Nine years ago he took up his residence in Potomac and is now working at the carpenter's trade. He is the owner of
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one hundred and fifty-one acres of land in Middlefork township and a house and two lots in Potomac. He has always been an industrious man and has lived to see himself in middle life in independent circumstances as the result of his own labor. He is of the type of men who would make their way anywhere, who are not overcome by temporary difficulties and who generally win, for they feel that while there is life there is hope. At his trade or on the farm he has used good judgment, and thus he became the owner of property which is appre- ciated because it has by the sweat of his brow been earned. True indeed that we never really own anything in the sense of duly appreciating it unless by our own exertion it has been earned.
In 1878 Mr. Leonard was united in marriage to Miss Emma J. Swisher and four children have been born to them: Zetta A., now the wife of Charles Villers, a farmer of Ross township, this county; Rosa, now Mrs. Irwin Butler, whose husband is a farmer of Middlefork township; Cora, the wife of Harry Bird, a carpenter of Potomac; and Alva, who is editor of the Potomac Record and a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Leonard have reared a family now all grown, happily settled in life and fairly started on a useful career.
Mrs. Leonard is a member of the Christian church and a woman who has contributed her share in advancing the interests of the neighborhood and of those with whom she has been associated. Mr. Leonard was formerly allied with the democratic party but of recent years, having carefully noted the evil effects of the liquor business, he has been an ardent champion of prohibition. He is a man of decided views and he accepts the teachings of the United Breth- ren church as those in accord with holy writ and in the work of the church he takes a lively interest. Both he and his wife are held in high esteem in this region, where both are well known and where he has been recognized ever since he reached maturity as an honorable and upright citizen.
GEORGE S. HOFF.
George S. Hoff, a prominent resident of Danville since November, 1897, is engaged in the real-estate, farm loans and insurance business, and the progress that he has made in this field is indicative of his peculiar fitness for the work that he has undertaken. He is now accorded an extensive clientage and an- nually negotiates many important property transfers.
One of the native sons of Vermilion county, Mr. Hoff was born on a farm in Butler township about two miles from the village of Blue Grass, February 7, 1859. His father, Amos Hoff, was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, in 1833, and in 1856 was married in Fountain county, Indiana, to Harriet A. Black- ford, who was born in 1836. The year following their marriage they took up their abode on a farm in Butler township, Vermilion county, Illinois, and made it their home continuously until 1906, when they removed to Rossville. Mr. Hoff had much to do with the organization and development of Butler township and with the establishment of its schools, his labors being a potent element for prog-
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ress there. Unto him and his wife were born four children: George S., Jerusha A., the wife of John O. Jenkins, now a resident of Henning, Illinois; Minnie C., the wife of Samuel H. Crandall, living on a farm northwest of Danville; and Maggie M., the wife of Henry W. Howell, of Butler township.
In his youthful days George S. Hoff was a pupil in the Murphy school near his father's home and afterward pursued a course in the Chilcote Brothers Nor- mal School of Danville. In the fall of 1881 he began teaching in the home dis- trict, and in order to further qualify for the profession entered the State Normal at Normal, Illinois, near Bloomington, in 1884, there remaining for two years. In 1886 and 1887 he was engaged in teaching in Pilot township, and while teach- ing there he met Carrie B. Vinson, the daughter of John E. Vinson, to whom he was married in 1888. In the fall of 1888 he took charge of the school at the Central schoolhouse near Henning, Illinois, and began housekeeping in a log cabin near the school building. In the spring of 1889 he removed from the cabin to a farm near Oakwood, consisting of two hundred acres, that was known as the Collett farm, but was engaged to teach the Oakwood school at what at that time was known as Blue Corner. In 1889 he and his wife contracted, with prac- tically no money to start the proposition, to buy eighty acres of the John E. Vinson farm, upon which they removed in the spring of 1890, occupied it the greater part of two years, but in the fall of 1891 he accepted the principalship of the Catlin school, holding the same for a period of two years. In the fall of 1893 he was elected as principal of the Indianola school at Indianola, Illinois, but removed with his family in 1894 to Danville, purchasing a small home on Franklin street, but having had for many years a strong desire to complete the course at the State Normal, he removed with his family to Normal, Illinois, and again entered the State Normal school, graduating in 1897. Much of Mr. Hoff's success, both in the school and in his business career later, is due to the assistance and encouragement of his wife. It was largely due to her untiring efforts that he was enabled to pursue the course in the State Normal during the years from 1895 to 1897.
After his graduation Mr. Hoff was awarded the position of principal of one of the ward schools at Ottawa, Illinois, taking charge of the same in Septem- ber, 1897, but because of failing health he was compelled to resign at the end of two months, giving up his position and removing to Danville, reaching here in November, broken in health and somewhat discouraged. After looking over the situation and taking the counsel of some friends he was induced to turn his attention to the business of real estate, farm loans and insurance, and accord- ingly opened an office at his present quarters, rooms 308 and 309 in what is now known as the Daniel building, February 1, 1898, by securing simply desk room in the corner of room 308. Here again he was assisted by his wife who took charge of the office while he was compelled to be out drumming up business. His business prospered, and he now occupies the entire suite, has two beautiful and well appointed rooms and has a corps of assistants to aid him in carrying on the work of the office. In 1904 he found that it was practically impossible to carry on the business as it should be done single-handed, and he took in as a partner George Young, and the firm has since been known as Hoff & Young. During these years Mr. Hoff has bought and sold much city property, erected
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many houses, several of which he still owns. He has had to do with making many of the farm loans of the county and has a fair patronage of the insurance of the city. Unfaltering industry and laudable ambition, honesty of purpose. and kindness to all have constituted the basis of success which has crowned his. efforts. In 1901 he built the residence that he now occupies at 119 Franklin street. Mr. Hoff has large farming interests and owns considerable farm land. At the present time he is a member of the board of directors of the Emery Dry Goods Company and has been for the past eight years a member of the board of directors of Lake View Hospital.
Mrs. Hoff is the youngest daughter of the pioneer preacher, Rev. John E .. Vinson, who has been dead for a number of years. Her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth E. Vinson, is still living and is hale and hearty at the advanced age of eighty- three years. Mr. and Mrs. Hoff have one daughter, Reva C., who was born- on the farm near Oakwood in 1889. She attended the public schools of Dan- ville and took an active part in all the students' enterprises of the school. She- is now a student in the school of music of the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois.
Mr. and Mrs. Hoff and daughter are prominent members of the Kimber Methodist Episcopal church of the city of Danville. Mr. Hoff affiliates with: the prohibition party and has been closely identified with the same for the last twenty years, and for many years has been doubtless the leading spirit of that party in this locality and the cause of temperance finds him an unfaltering champion. Moreover, he stands for all that is right and just in the relations. of man with his fellowmen, his influence ever being on the side of right, reform. and progress.
HARVEY B. SMART.
Harvey B. Smart, an enterprising farmer of Newell township, was born in Illinois, November II, 1873, and is a son of James F. and Mary C. (Glenn) Smart the father a native of Indiana and the mother of this county. James F. Smart came to Illinois with his parents when he was eighteen years of age and after his marriage rented land and began farming in this county but was soon called" away, departing this life in February, 1875. In 1877 the mother of our sub- ject was married to Emanuel Wilson, a farmer, who came to this state from Ohio and here engaged in farming until 1902, when he and his wife retired, since living at Bismarck. Harvey B. Smart was the only child by his mother's. first marriage. By her second union she became the mother of eight children : Nora E., Ora E., Robert F., John E., Grace, who died in infancy, Sherman, Douglas and Ross.
The subject of this sketch attended the public schools and assisted upon the farm until he arrived at the age of sixteen years. He then yielded to. the spirit of adventure that so often takes possession of youths just passing. into manhood and, leaving home, he started out to see the great world. His journey lay westward and for six years he passed through various experiences as a cowboy on the range, a newsboy on the railroad, and a stage driver. At:
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the age of twenty-two, having become satisfied with his adventures and hav- ing gained many lessons that proved of inestimable value to him in after years, he returned to Illinois and resumed operations as a farmer.
On November 13, 1901, Mr. Smart was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary E. Richie, a daughter of George D. and Mary (Cox) Huffman, the former coming to Illinois from Kentucky and the latter from Park county, Indiana. Here they were married in 1856 and lived upon the farm now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Smart. The mother was called to her reward in July, 1902, and the father in March of the following year. To Mr. and Mrs. Huffman were born seven children: John S., deceased; Daniel P., who died at the age of sixteen months; G. D., who died at the age of three months; Emily J., now Mrs. Thomas Grider, of Newell township; Mary E., the wife of our subject; Edna, who died at the age of three years; and Effie M., now Mrs. Joseph T. Roderick, of Newell township. The first marriage of Mrs. Harvey B. Smart occurred March 28, 1888, her husband being Charles Richie of this county, who died in January, 1895, and was buried in Huffman cemetery, Newell town- ship. There were no children by that union. The grandfather of Mrs. Smart was Daniel P. Huffman, who came from Virginia to Illinois and entered the land which became the family homestead. The deed to this bears the date of 1833 and contains the signature of Andrew Jackson, president of the United States. It is one of the valuable souvenirs of the family and conveyed to Grand- father Huffman one hundred and sixty-nine acres of land. The grandmother's maiden name was Elizabeth Switzer. She came to Illinois in 1832 and was one of the brave pioneer women of the state.
Mr. Smart is one of the active, intelligent farmers of the community and socially is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America, Lodge No. 2405, of Bismarck. He and his wife are members of the New Light church and are earnest workers in every movement that tends to advance the welfare of the neighborhood. Mrs. Smart has been to her husband an intelligent and helpful companion, and their home is the center of hospitality and cheerfulness and a notable gathering place for the younger generation now coming forward to as- sume new and untried responsibilities.
A. W. ELDER.
A. W. Elder, who passed away on the 31st of July, 1899, was for many years actively and successfully identified with general agricultural pursuits in Vermilion county and at the time of his death owned four hundred and six acres of valuable land in Georgetown township. His birth occurred near Spring- field, Ohio, on the 26th of August, 1852, his parents being John and Phoebe Elder, who spent their entire lives in the Buckeye state. He attended the common schools in the acquirement of an education and after putting aside his text-books learned the carpenter's trade, working at that occupation until 1878, which year witnessed his arrival in Vermilion county, Illinois. He took up his abode on a farm in Vance township and devoted his attention to its operation for fifteen
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MR. AND MRS. A. W. ELDER
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years, on the expiration of which period he disposed of the property and pur- chased the John E. Cooper place near Georgetown. There he successfully car- ried on general farming interests until called to his final rest in 1899, having ac- cumulated four hundred and six acres at the time of his death. He followed the most modern methods of agriculture and was widely recognized as one of the substantial and respected citizens of the community.
On the 26th of October, 1881, Mr. Elder was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Squires, who was born in Guthrie county, Iowa, on the 15th of January, 1856. Her parents, W. B. and America (Sandusky) Squires, are natives of Ohio and Kentucky respectively. Following their marriage they removed to Iowa but after a short time came to Vermilion county, Illinois, residing on a farm here until the father retired from active business life. W. B. Squires is now in the eightieth year of his age, while his wife is seventy-six years old. They reared a family of seven children, five of whom are yet living. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Elder were born seven children, namely: Mrs. Edna E. Smith, now de- ceased; who had one child, Earl; Inez B., who is the wife of James D. Hall, of Newton, Kansas, and has two children, Berlin and Fern; Edith M., who is the wife of Russell C. Banta, of Ridge Farm, and has one child, William; John B., who is still at home with his mother; Eunice A., who gave her hand in mar- riage to John W. Jones, of Georgetown township; Glenn, likewise at home; and Beulah S., a high school student.
Mr. Elder was a stanch republican in politics but never sought nor desired office as a reward for his party fealty. Upright and honorable in all the rela- tions of life, he won the regard and esteem of those with whom he came in con- tact and his demise was deeply mourned by a large circle of friends. His widow now makes her home in Georgtown, where she owns two fine residences. Her property holdings likewise include two hundred and forty acres of land in Kan- sas, valued at one hundred dollars per acre. She is a devoted member of the Christian church and exemplifies its teachings in her daily life.
BERTRAM EUGENE PINKERTON.
Bertram Eugene Pinkerton, for sixteen years past actively identified with the newspaper business of the west and for six years past proprietor and editor of the Rossville Press, of Rossville, Vermilion county, is a native of Tremont, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, where he was born March 28, 1872. He early began his battle with the world and encountered not a few difficulties, but he was endowed with a brave heart and a laudable ambition and he allowed no obstacle to interfere seriously with his upward progress. As a result he has attained a position of independence and has done so mainly through his own efforts. His father, Cyrus Levi Pinkerton, was a lawyer and in 1866 and 1868 served as a member of the Pennsylvania state legislature. He married Fannie All Singer, and with his family came to Rantoul, Illinois, in 1880, where the father died the same year, the mother departing this life in 1886.
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The subject of this review attended the public schools until fourteen years of age and then going to Chicago, he began the battle of life upon his own ac- count, working at the printer's trade in the day time and attending school at night. He began at the bottom of the ladder, having at the time of his arrival only three dollars in his pocket, and of this he paid two dollars and a half for his first week's board. When in a reminiscent mood he tells of living for three days on ten cents a day, as he was so fortunate as to find an establishment where he could buy five doughnuts for five cents. He also remembers that he slept one night in a South Clark street lodging house, for which accommodation the landlord exacted ten cents. But where there is a will there is a way and the strange boy in a strange city did not permit himself to become discouraged. He worked faithfully in the printing office and gradually acquired a foothold, so that he became a student of the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1890, main- taining himself by setting type on the college paper. On account of close appli- cation he injured his eyesight to such an extent that he was reluctantly obliged to leave college at the time of the holiday season in 1893. Previously he had. attended night school at the Chicago Kent College of Law and in 1890 was graduated from that institution with the degree of LL. B. He was admitted to the bar the same year but never practiced.
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