History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement, and progress for nearly a century, Volume II, Part 3

Author: Jones, Lottie E. 4n
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 940


USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement, and progress for nearly a century, Volume II > Part 3


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During his boyhood S. H. Oakwood attended the public schools near his home and having acquired a good education, he successfully engaged in teach- ing school in this county for a number of years. He later turned his attention to mercantile business in Danville, to which he devoted his attention for twelve years, and in 1890 became engaged in the real-estate business. He has since handled a large amount of property, buying and selling farm lands, principally confining his operations to Vermilion county. He has disposed of a large amount of property both for himself and other parties and is today the owner of four fine farms in this locality. He has a just comprehension of land values and has so conducted his business as to make it profitable not only to himself but also to his clients.


Mr. Oakwood was married near Georgetown, Illinois, in 1878 to Miss Laura Bennett, a native of Kentucky, whose parents, John and Julia (Baylis) Bennett, came from Mason county, that state, to Illinois and settled near Georgetown, where Mr. Bennett engaged in business as a blacksmith for some time, but afterward turned his attention to farming. He was one of the highly respected men of his community. Mr. and Mrs. Oakwood have one daughter, Belva, now the wife of John Smith of Milford, Illinois.


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Mr. Oakwood keeps well posted on the questions and issues of the day and takes an active interest in public affairs, both of local and national importance, but has never cared for official preferment. He served, however, for one term as alderman of the sixth ward. In politics he is an ardent republican and in his social affiliation is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and a Loyal American. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Kimber Methodist Episcopal church and are held in the highest regard by all who know them.


PETER VANDERVORT.


Peter Vandervort, who has devoted his attention to general agricultural pur- suits throughout his entire business career, has won a gratifying measure of success in his undertakings and is now the owner of an excellent farm of one hun- dred and eighty-six acres in Blount township. His birth occurred in Brown county, Ohio, on the 10th of April, 1855, his parents being Peter and Jane (Ditto) Vandervort, who were likewise natives of the Buckeye state. They came to Illinois in 1877, settling in Piatt county, where the father was actively engaged in the operation of a farm of eighty acres until the time of his death in August, 1898. He brought the fields under a high state of cultivation and placed many substantial improvements on the property. His wife was called to her final rest in March, 1905. Their children were nine in number, namely: Alice, John T., Thomas M., Nancy J., Peter, Mary J., William W., and Emma, who is deceased.


Peter Vandervort remained under the parental roof until he had attained his majority and then started out as an agriculturist on his own account, cultivat- ing rented land for four years. On the expiration of that period he bought a tract of eighty acres in Champaign county and gave his attention to its oper- ation for fifteen years, during which time he had extended the boundaries of the farm by an additional purchase of forty acres. After disposing of the prop- erty, he bought his present place of one hundred and eighty-six acres in Blount township, Vermilion county, where he has carried on his agricultural interests continuously since. He has made the farm one of the most highly improved in the locality and annually gathers rich crops which find a ready sale on the market.


On the 25th of October, 1876, Mr. Vandervort was united in marriage to Miss Cynthia S. Miller, who was born on the 3d of April, 1860, her parents being Silas and Cynthia (Hempleman) Miller, natives of Ohio. After the mother's demise, which occurred in Ohio in 1874, the father made his home with our subject until he passed away in 1898. Mrs. Vandervort was one of a family of six children, her brothers and sisters being as follows: Henry C., Joseph C., Harvey H., Mary E. and Lydia. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Vandervort have been born nine children, namely: Alice, whose birth occurred in 1877 and who died the following year; Josephine, the wife of W. G. Smith, of Vermilion county ; Minnie, who gave her hand in marriage to Avard Chenoweth, of Ver- milion county, and passed away on the 24th of July, 1907; Clarence E., who is


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married and lives in this county; Bessie, who is the wife of Evert Wilson and also resides in this county; Etta, the wife of Forest Lanham, of Vermilion county ; and Walter E., Frances R. and Harold M., all at home. Minnie, Clar- ence, Josephine, Bessie and Walter have followed the profession of school teaching.


In politics Mr. Vandervort is a republican and his fellow townsmen, recog- nizing his worth and ability, have called him to several positions of public trust. He has served as commissioner of highways for nine years, acted as supervisor of Blount township for six years and was a member of the school board for twenty-three years, ever discharging his official duties in a most prompt and capable manner. Both he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church and he is one of its trustees. At all times he has been true to the obligations and responsibilities that have devolved upon him in every relation of life and well merits the esteem and good will which are uniformly accorded him.'


HON. LOUIS PLATT.


Hon. Louis Platt, now mayor of the city of Danville, is a man to whom success has come as the result of earnest labor, close application and intelligently directed energy. He was born in Posen, Germany, on the 18th of December, 1850, and is a son of Percy and Lena (Jossman) Platt, both of whom spent their entire lives in that country. He was reared and educated in his native town, attending the public schools, but was very small when his parents died and at an early age became dependent upon his own resources for a livelihood. In 1864, at the age of thirten years, he sailed from Hamburg to New York on the old time steamers, which required from eighteen to twenty days to make the voyage. He was alone on this trip and on reaching the new world was a stranger in a strange land. But, nothing daunted, he at once sought work and accepted any employment by which he could earn an honest living. For several years he roved around the country, picking up the English language and cus- toms, and finally arrived in Detroit, Michigan, in 1868. There he secured a position as traveling salesman for Lieberman & Schloss, wholesale clothiers, with whom he remained for about three years, during which time he was very successful and gained considerable knowledge of the business.


Just after the Chicago fire, in 1871, Mr. Platt went to that city and em- barked in the manufacture of cigars on Twenty-second street, but this venture did not prove profitable and in 1874 he sold out. In 1875, having accumulated a small capital, he bought a few cheap fixtures and a small stock of goods, which he shipped to Danville, opening a clothing store at this place. His bus- iness steadily grew until he was at the head of a large and profitable enter- prise. He erected the building now adjoining the Temple on the north and in connection with Judge Kimbrough built the Daniel building, which he subse- quently sold to Mr. Daniel and then erected the Temple, which is today the largest building in the city, modern in all its appointments and a substantial


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steel structure. In 1890 Mr. Platt sold his clothing business but six years later reopened a store in the Daniel building, where he continued to carry on business for eleven months. At the end of that time he disposed of his stock and in 1898 embarked in the insurance business, with which he has since been connected. He now represents eighteen fire insurance companies, two liability and glass companies and the Mutual Benefit & Life Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey, and his business has now reached extensive proportions. He writes a large amount of policies each year and occupies offices in the Temple block. Success has attended his well directed efforts until he is now one of the wealthiest and most substantial citizens of Danville. He is serving as sec- retary of the German Building Association of this city and is also a stockholder in the Tausig Furniture Company of Chicago.


Mr. Platt was married in 1876 to Miss Delia Summerfield of Chicago, by whom he has four children, namely: Percy; Lillian, the wife of Theodore Tausig of Chicago; Walter, who married Kate Epstein; and Casper, who is a graduate of the Danville high school.


Fraternally Mr. Platt is connected with the Masonic order and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is recognized as a forceful, enterprising man, public opinion being united in according him a position as one of the representative citizens of Danville. His activity and alertness have been im- portant elements in his success. In 1909 he was elected mayor of the city on the citizen's ticket by the largest majority any Danville mayor has ever re- ceived, carrying every ward and every precinct. This shows something of the popularity of Mr. Platt's personality and his views of making the city a better one, and so far he has carried out his plans to the entire satisfaction of all con- cerned. As a boy he came to the new world empty-handed and entirely un- familiar with the English language, but through his industry, enterprise and excellent business judgment he has overcome all the obstacles in his path and now ranks among the men of affluence in Danville, all of which prosperity is justly merited, as his business methods have been honorable and upright. Throughout his business career he has always faithfully executed the terms of a contract and met the obligations devolving upon him. He is an alert, enter- prising man, placing a correct value upon life, its opportunities, its obligations and its privileges, and as the years have gone by he has come into a position of prominence.


CHARLES B. SPANG.


There are found many men whose industry has won them success -- men who by their perseverance and diligence executed well defined plans which others have made-but the men who take the initiative are comparatively few. The vast majority do not see the opportunity for the coordination of forces and the development of new, extensive and profitable enterprises and there- fore must follow along the paths which others have marked out. In Mr. Spang, however, the initiative spirit is strong and utilizing the chances which


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have come to him, he has wrought along the line of large and successful un, dertakings, the commercial and industrial activity of Vermilion county be- ing greatly stimulated by his efforts and activities.


Mr. Spang is a native of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in Sharps- burg, Allegheny county, on the 13th of December, 1866. His father, Josiah R. Spang, was also born in Pennsylvania in 1828 and was of German descent. For over twenty years he served as manager of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, occupying that position until his death, which was the ultimate re- sult of a wound which he had sustained while serving as a soldier of the Civil war, having enlisted in the Seventhy-Eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. In early manhood he wedded Margaret Bracken, a native of Butler county, Pennsylvania, and of Scotch lineage. She came of an old Scotch-Presby- terian family, her father and grandfather being circuit riders of that de- nomination. Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Josiah Spang continued to make their home in Pennsylvania, where the former passed away in 1877, his widow and some of the family subsequently removing from Butler county to Georgetown, Illinois, in 1895. Our subject had located here in 1890, after two years spent at Terre Haute, Indiana.


Having mastered the branches of learning taught in the public schools of his native county, Charles B. Spang faced the problem of providing for his own support and made his initial step in the business world as an em- ploye in the Oriental Roller Mills, the Klinger Mills. There he remained until he had learned the business after which he removed from Pennsylvania to Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1888. Two years were there devoted to his trade and in 1890 he came to Georgetown. He entered the employ of J. E. Hay- worth, who helped our subject to make a success and who had been engaged in the milling business here from 1880 and in 1890 had established the Star Roller Mills. After two months Mr. Spang purchased a half-interest in the mill and the firm of Hayworth & Spang was formed. They conducted bus- iness together until 1900, when Mr. Hayworth sold his interest to C. L. Aus- tin and the firm of Spang & Austin then continued until 1902, when Mr. Spang became sole proprietor. He has operated the only flour mill in this county for the past five years or more. He occupies a conspicuous position in business circles in Vermilion county as a representative of the grain elevator trade, the milling and the lumber interests of the town. He became connected with the mill at a small salary but his ability was soon manifested and, ad- mitted to partnership, he bent his energies to administrative direction and executive control until, after twenty-one years, he has built up a business which is second to none in this line in the southern part of Vermilion county. He is now proprietor of the Star Roller Mills, of a grain elevator with a capacity of one hundred thousand bushels and an extensive lumberyard. The flour which he manufactures finds ready sale and to handle the output he established a wholesale distributing house in Danville, Illinois, for the products of his manufactories. He deals in all kinds of lumber and building materials necessary in the construction of a house from the foundation to the roof, and his trade has now reached mammoth proportions. He is interested in the firm of Spang & Austin, wholesale dealers in flour and feed, in Danville, Illinois,


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and is also connected with W. A. McMahon in the real-estate business at George- town, who laid out an addition to the city of Georgetown, and thus his labors have been of material assistance in the business development of the county as well as of the city in which he makes his home.


Mr. Spang has been married twice. On the 21st of December, 1890, he wedded Miss Ada Phillips, of Butler, Pennsylvania, and unto them were born two children: Ethel, who is now a student in DePauw University, at Green- castle, Indiana ; and Genevieve, who was graduated from the Georgetown high school in the class of 1910 and is now attending the Northwestern University. The wife and mother died July 8, 1895, in this city. Mr. Spang was mar- ried on the 21st of October, 1897, to Miss Florence Smith of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. There is one son by this marriage, Charles, now a pupil in the grammar schools of Georgetown.


Both Mr. and Mrs. Spang hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, in which they take an active part, being particularly helpful in the work of the Sunday school in which Mr. Spang served as superintendent for a number of years. His influence is always on the side of progress and im- provements. He is connected with a number of fraternal organizations in Georgetown. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he has been elected to fill a number of local offices.


Mr. Spang belongs to that public-spirited, useful and helpful type of men whose ambitions and desires are centered and directed in those channels through which flow the greatest and most permanent good to the greatest num- ber, and he feels a deep concern for the public welfare and while his chief life work has been that of a remarkably successful business man, the range of his activities and the scope of his influence have reached far beyond this special field. He belongs to that class of man who wield a power which is all the more potent from the fact that it is moral rather than political and is exercised for the public weal rather than for personal needs. His business record also deserves commendation, for in the field of commerce he has dis- played rare aptitude and ability in achieving results and has at all times em- ployed methods which will bear close investigation and scrutiny.


W. T. HEDGES.


W. T. Hedges, who has been successfully engaged in the livery business at Catlin since 1905, was born in Mason county, Kentucky, on the 29th of April, 1861, his parents being Marcus N. and Malinda (Riggen) Hedges, like- wise natives of that state. They first came to Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1866 but after a few years returned to Kentucky. Subsequently, however, they took up their permanent abode in this county and here the mother passed away in 1879. The father still survives and is a worthy and respected resident Oklahoma. In their family were eight children, five of whom are yet living.


W. T. Hedges acquired his education in the common schools and remained under the parental roof until he had attained his majority. He then rented


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a farm and devoted his time and energies to its operation until 1905. In that year he embarked in the livery business at Catlin and has since conducted an enterprise of this character with good success, having built up a fine trade.


In 1881 Mr. Hedges was united in marrige to Miss Maggie Clifton, whose birth occurred in De Witt county, Illinois, in 1865. Her parents, Andrew Jackson and Jane H. Clifton, both of whom were natives of this state, are now deceased, the father dying April 9, 1895, and the mother in the spring of 1904. Mrs. Hedges was one of a family of five children and by her marriage has also become the mother of five children, namely: Clarence N., Alma M., Lula E. and Sylvester A., all at home; and one who died in infancy.


Politically Mr. Hedges is a stanch populist, but has never sought nor de- sired office. Fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America at Catlin. Both he and his wife belong to the Christian church and take an active and helpful part in its work. The sterling traits of his char- acter are well known to his fellow townsmen, the great majority of whom number him as a friend.


HERBERT LORAINE BAUM.


Herbert Loraine Baum, one of the wealthy young agriculturists of Illinois, living on the family homestead in Sidell township, Vermilion county, and own- er of more than fourteen hundred acres of the richest farming land in the state, is the representative of an honored pioneer family, the older members of which have passed to their reward. The family of which the subject of this review is a worthy member was of Polish origin and was founded in America by his great-grandfather on the paternal side, who was banished for political reasons from the land of his nativity in the eighteenth century. He was of good fight- ing stock and proved his mettle in. the Revolutionary war and later on the fron- tier as a pioneer, his descendents carrying on the good work and finally locating in Vermilion county, where Herbert L. Baum was born September 1, 1881. He is a son of Oliver P. and Helen (McClenathan) Baum, a record of whom ap- pears elsewhere in this work.


Being of sturdy parentage, the subject of this sketch has inherited many of the best characteristics of the pioneers and from very early in life he has shown an adaptability to farming pursuits that is the result only of generations of culture along the same line. He was reared under the sheltering care of a happy home, provided with all the comforts and conveniences of life, and re- ceived his education in the common schools and at the Gem City College of Quincy, Illinois. Upon laying aside his books he returned home to become per- mantly identified with the farm, his father having reached an age when it was necessary for him to turn over his business affairs to a younger person, and from that time our subject became the responsible manager of extensive landed interests and also of a large cattle industry, which his father had built up. On the death of the father, December 29, 1909, Herbert L. Baum became the owner of fourteen hundred and fifty acres of valuable land, all of which is


Herbert L. Baum


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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY


in Vermilion county with the exception of two hundred and fifty-two acres which lie in Edgar county. At the present time Mr. Baum is renting the major portion of his real estate, retaining the home farm of three hundred and sixty acres, which he manages himself and which is one of the most complete farm- ing establishments to be seen in Illinois or any other state of the Union.


He is recognized as an enterprising and progressive young man, entirely competent to take care of his fortune and with ability to cause it to increase from year to year as he may desire. He is an automobile enthusiast and drives a high powered machine, one of the greatest pleasures of his life being a long trip over the roads to the beautiful region with which he has been familiar since his earliest recollection. Mr. Baum still enjoys the freedom of bachelor- hood. Socially he is identified with Minoca Lodge, No. 306, Improved Order of Red Men, at Sidell. Politically Mr. Baum adheres to the teachings of the democratic party and, while he has not up to the present time devoted special attention to politics, he has shown the interest of a patriotic citizen in support- ing those men for public office whom he considers best able to represent the permanent interests of Vermilion county and the state of Illinois. Mr. Baum has fully demonstrated his knowledge of farming and kindred pursuits where his chief interests is centered and has many friends in this and other counties, who prophesy for him a useful and successful career.


J. R. WILLIAMS, M. D.


Dr. J. R. Williams, an able representative of the medical fraternity, has resided in Danville for the past five years and enjoys a large and lucrative office practice. His birth occurred in Lancaster, Jefferson county, Indiana, on the 28th of August, 1858, his parents being Benjamin B. and Esther J. Williams. He traces his ancestry back to Roger Williams, the first Baptist in America. The great-grandfather of our subject fought in the Revolution- ary war and after the cessation of hostilities settled in Culpeper county, Vir- ginia, where occurred the birth of his son, Robert Williams. The latter was always an ardent Baptist and took up his abode in Jefferson county, Kentucky, after leaving the Old Dominion. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Williams was born near Oyster Bay, New York, and came of French Huguenot stock. His father and Tom Paine were neighbors. He removed to Rising Sun, In- diana, at an early day and was a convert of Alexander Campbell, by whom he was baptized in the Ohio river.


Dr. J. R. Williams received his more specifically literary education in the common schools, the State Normal School at Terre Haute, Indiana, Franklin College of Franklin, Indiana, and the Indiana State University of Blooming- ton, Indiana. Having determined upon the practice of medicine as a life work, he entered the Medical College of Indiana, which institution conferred upon him the degree of M. D. on the 26th of February, 1885. Prior to that time he had been identified with the educational interests of his native state, teach- ing school for five years. For the first ten years of his professional life he


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was engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery, but during the past fifteen years he has followed a special line of work, devoting his atten- tion exclusively to office practice.


The city of Danville has been the scene of his professional labors for the past five years and here he has built up an enviable and remunerative prac- tice, having demonstrated his skill and ability in the line of his chosen voca- tion. The prosperity which he now enjoys is directly attributable to his own efforts and in the battle of life he has seen "both sides of the shield." At the age of sixteen years he started out to obtain an education and made his own way through the various institutions of learning by teaching and as a travel- ing representative of the McCormick Company, selling binders and mowers. He also made quite a little money as an expert adjuster of binders. In these connections he traveled through Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Da- kota and Manitoba. He has come in contact with all classes of people and has learned the lessons of life in the school of experience. Self-reliance, an indomitable will and a "get there" spirit are his salient characteristics and are ingrained into his fibre and make-up.


On the 10th of October, 1890, at Indianapolis, Indiana, Dr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Juliaetta H. Myers, a daughter of Mrs. Mattie L. Huffer, of Shelbyville, Illinois. Her father, C. B. Myers, practiced dentistry at Hillsboro, Illinois, from 1858 until 1868. Dr. and Mrs. Williams are the parents of four children, as follows: Burke H. Barnett and Clay H. Barnett, who are engaged in business at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago; Blanche, the wife of R. A. Campbell, general manager of the Fowler Manufacturing Company of Chicago; and Ruth, at home.




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