USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement, and progress for nearly a century, Volume II > Part 87
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In 1904 he was appointed chief of the Danville fire department under Mayor John Beard and has since been reappointed under each succeeding adminis- tration. His retention in this position plainly indicates his efficiency and the prompt and able manner in which he has discharged his duties. A democrat in politics, he has been very active in promoting the interests of that party and his aid can always be counted upon to further any movement which he believes calculated to promote the public welfare.
Mr. Bratton was married in Covington, Indiana, to Miss Emma Geiger, a native of that city and a daughter of Nicholas Geiger, one of the old and honored citizens of Covington. Her parents are both deceased and the only child born to our subject and his wife, a son, died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Bratton are earnest members of the Presbyterian church and are held in the highest respect and esteem by all who know them.
WALTER D. ROGERS.
The enterprising little town of Oakwood numbers Walter D. Rogers among its merchants, and closely applying himself to his business, his diligence and perseverance are bringing him a substantial and desirable measure of success. He was born in Oakwood township, March 16, 1876, and is a son of Robert M. and Jennie (Knox) Rogers, the former a native of New York and the latter of Vermilion county, Illinois. The father came to this state in 1858 and was married in 1860. When the Civil war broke out he responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois In- fantry, with which he served throughout the period of hostilities. He partici- pated in various hotly contested battles yet was honorably discharged without sustaining a wound. Following the close of the war he turned his attention to general farming, in which he was actively engaged until 1885, when he was appointed postmaster of Glenburn, Illinois, filling the position for sixteen years. He then retired to private life, occupying the old homestead until his death, which occurred on the 12th of October, 1,905. His wife had passed away in 1893. Their family numbered nine children, namely: Annie, Fanny, Minnie, Arthur, James, Maggie, Myrtle, Walter D. and Martha, the latter dying in infancy.
The youthful days of Walter D. Rogers were spent under the parental roof, where he remained until eighteen years of age, when he took up the pro- fession of teaching, which he followed for eight years. He then became editor of the Oakwood News, which he published for three years, and at the end of that time took up merchandising in Oakwood. He has since conducted his store.
On the Ist of January, 1903, Mr. Rogers was married to Miss Nettie M. Harrison, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of James H., and Mary A. (Doggett) Harrison, who were also born in this state. Her father engaged in farming for a number of years and then took up the work of operating a steam shovel, making his home in Oakwood. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Harrison
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were born four children: Nettie M., Mabel, Homer and Goldie. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Rogers has been born one child, Pauline Virginia, whose birth occurred August 23, 1908.
Mr. Rogers belongs to Oakwood Lodge, No. 564, I. O. O. F., and to Oak- wood Camp, No. 1727, M. W. A. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church.
WILLY FOWLER.
Willy Fowler, a retired farmer and for many years the largest stock-raiser in Vermilion county, is now eight-three years old and resides with his daugh- ter, Mrs. D. M. McCray on Hazel street, Danville. Though not in the best of health, he is still quite active and tells interestingly of his life in this county.
A native of Ohio, Mr. Fowler was born at Big Island, Marion county, Au- gust 9, 1827, a son of Willy and Cynthia (Perkins) Fowler. His father was an Englishman by birth and came to this country in 1818 but his mother was a native of Ohio. In that state our subject was reared and educated and there married Miss Diana Frederick, by whom he had three children. Alice, the eldest, is now deceased. She married Frank Campbell and had two children: Grace, deceased; and Mabel, who is now the wife of J. N. Learnard and has two children, Helen and Ralph. Robert Ellis Fowler married Ellen Dillon and to them were born five children: Albert Ellis, who is married and has two children, Esther and Helen; Nora, who is the wife of J. P. Learnard and has one son, Robert; Robert Lambert, who is married and has a daughter, Georgi- ana; Pearl, deceased; and Willy. Olive, the youngest of the three children, married D. M. McCray and to them were born five children: Grace and Ger- trude, deceased; Willy Fowler, who is marired and has two children, Ardith and Kermit; George M., who is married and has three children, Marian and Herman and Harold, twins; and Verla, the wife of R. G. Van Doren.
Mr. Fowler came from Marion county, Ohio, to reside in Illinois in 1864, accompanied by his three motherless children and his widowed mother. On a previous trip to this county he rented the Pilot Grove farm of three thousand six hundred and eighty-six acres in Pilot township from William I. Moore, a pioneer of Danville. He brought his family by rail to Paris, to which place his cattle and household goods had been shipped, and after a memorable drive of three days through the swamps of eastern Illinois they reached their desti- nation. He had his herd of four thousand sheep driven overland from Ohio and immediately began the raising of stock extensively, to which this country was so well adapted owing to the vast acres of prairie land over which the stock grazed.
In 1865 Mr. Fowler returned to Ohio and married Mary Dillon, a girl of unusual business ability and great energy, who made a beautiful mother and noble helpmate in that strenuous early life. The children born of this union were as follows: Willy Sherman, deceased; Ulysses Grant, who is married and has two children, Wiley Marion and Leland Stanford; Edward Dillon, de-
Hilly Foulon
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ceased; David Morton, who is married and has four children, Esther, Mary, David and Lillian; Mary Ellen, who married Dr. E. B. Coolley and has two children, Elmer Burt and Marion Fowler; Marion, deceased; and Myrtle Elma, also deceased.
In 1868 Mr. Fowler bought the Pilot Grove farm for fifty-one thousand dollars, giving in payment ten thousand dollars in cash and forty-one thou- sand-dollar notes. Improvements were begun at once but it required years to fence this farm with the facilities then at hand. Stock was herded through the day and corralled at night; scarecrows were built to frighten the wolves, which played havoc at times with the sheep, often slaying large numbers in the most unique manner. They would set their sharp fangs into the jugular vein and suck the blood, leaving their victims dead with not even a stain on the wool. Wolf and fox chases were often indulged in when the snow was on the ground and always resulted in the capture and death of some of these pests. These were thrilling occasions for man and beast, in which participated all the men for many miles around, mounted on their fastest steeds. It would seem that with so many miles between the homes there would be no social life, but dis- tances meant little to these determined pioneers and large parties were some- times given and were greatly enjoyed by all. With these, the husking bees and quiltings, the singing and spelling schools, very little dullness was ex- perienced and Mr. Fowler's home was often the scene of these pleasant oc- casions as well as the stopping place of all travelers through that country. There was an unbroken Indian trail from Pilot Grove to Rantoul, a distance of twenty-five miles, which the early settlers used; and Mr. Fowler says that there was not a bush or tree in that distance big enough to furnish a riding whip when he first settled there. There were no schools or churches in the vicinity and a private school was held in his home, which was attended by a neighbor's children and his own, but these conditions soon vanished as the population increased. Many discouraging elements entered into Mr. Fowler's business career. The failure of a partner in Ohio caused great financial losses. Diseases among sheep led to his abandoning for a time that heretofore very profitable business and devoting himself to cattle (which were never such money-makers as sheep) and to the tilling of the soil, which to do success- fully meant the laying of many thousands of tile. Notwithstanding these ob- stacles, which at times seemed almost insurmountable, he continued success- fully in the farming and stock-raising business until 1891, when he retired, leav- ing one of the most beautiful country homes in eastern Illinois. He went with his family to New Mexico but remained only through the winter. On re- turning to Vermilion county he bought the Amos farm four miles west of Dan- ville and lived thereon for two years. On the expiration of that period he moved into Danville and became associated with the Palmer National Bank at its organization. He spent several years in Salt Lake City for the benefit of Mrs. Fowler's health, returning here in 1903. In 1905 Mrs. Fowler died and he has since resided with his daughter.
His successful business career is simply an example of what a young, able- bodied, energetic man can accomplish unassisted. He possessed good judg-
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ment. keen perception and a determined will and these, coupled with continuous effort, carried him to success. His experience with stock began when a mere boy and, barefooted, he drove cattle to market over the Alleghany mountains for eight dollars per month. His experience on these trips was his principle boyhood schooling. In his calculations he was a genius. He could determine the value of a large herd to a cent in less time than the modern mathematician with pencil and paper. He has always been a great reader, with a wonderful memory. He has traveled extensively and possesses a storehouse of knowledge of our own country. This, combined with his jovial disposition and optimistic nature, makes him an interesting man today.
RILEY CASS.
Among the men who have come to be regarded as representative citizens and leading merchants of Danville Riley Cass was numbered, and his many admirable qualities entitled him to the high regard in which he was uniformly held. He was born December 1, 1847, in Oakwood township, near Conkey- town, Vermilion county, and his life record covered the intervening years to the 5th of April, 1909. His grandfather, Richard Cass, came to Illinois in 1836 and died in 1843. His wife and one son, Richard Carmen Cass, passed away in 1838. Richard Cass, the grandfather, was the first man buried in the Dolbey graveyard south of Muncie. The old log cabin in which the grand- father, grandmother and their son Richard C. died is still standing on the farm occupied by their grandson, James Cass. It was built by a man of the name of Stephen Crane, from whom Richard Cass purchased the place in 1836. James Cass still has the abstracts of the land. His father, James Cass, Sr., was at one time the owner of the land where Conkeytown was built but sold the property to Dr. William and Otis M. Conkey in 1854, in which year the village of Conkeytown was established. James Cass also has the abstracts of this sale. The town flourished for a few years but when the Big Four Rail- road was built and it was left off the line its business enterprises removed to Fithian and Muncie and there is now left only a few dwelling houses. James Cass, the father of our subject, was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1803, and died on the Ioth of September, 1855. He came to Illinois in 1832 and was employed in the lead mines at Galena at the time of the outbreak of the Black Hawk war. Finding it undesirable to live in a country where the In- dians were so numerous, he returned to Ohio but again came to this state in 1835, and was thereafter identified with general agricultural pursuits until his death. His political support was given to the whig party, his death occuring the year before the republican party placed its first presidential ticket in the field. In early manhood he married Ann Wilkerson, who was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1813, and died June 20, 1884, having for almost three decades survived her husband.
They were the parents of eight children. John W., the eldest, born in 1832, devoted his life to farming and in his religious faith was a Presbyterian.
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Mary E., born in 1834, died unmarried. Marion, born in 1838, enlisted for service in the Civil war but on examination failed to pass muster on account of heart trouble. Sarah, born in 1840, died when a year old. Henry, born in 1842, died when seven years of age. James, born in 1844, occupies the old homestead and to him we are largely indebted for the history of the family. After the outbreak of the Civil war he became a member of Company C, of the One Hundred and Thirty-third Illinois Infantry, and later served in Company K. While with that regiment he carried a gun. He had previously served, however, as a drummer of the Seventy-first regiment and in the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth regiment. Reared to the occupation of farming, he has made it his life work, continuously carrying on general agricultural pur- suits until he accepted the office of justice of the peace in Fithian, acting in that capacity from May 4, 1885, until May 1, 1901. With a most creditable official record he then retired and resumed farming. He belonged to the Union League, which was organized in 1861 and existed throughout the period of the war. In his religious faith he is a Universalist. Riley Cass, whose name introduces this review, was the next of the family. Albert Cass, the youngest, born in 1849, like all of his brothers, was reared to farm life and afterward began working in the shops of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad at Danville, where he remained for twelve years, or until his death, which occurred on the IIth of March, 1910. He was a member of the Methodist church. Of this family, Marion Cass, his mother and his sister Mary were all members of the Baptist church. The home farm of the family was on the state road be- tween Danville and Champaign, and the Cass schoolhouse was built upon this land. The father entered from the government and improved most of his land. He became the owner of three hundred and forty-seven acres which he carefully cultivated and upon which his widow reared the family, making her home there until she, too, passed away. The sons, James and Marion, are still owners of a part of the home farm. All of the children were provided with good educational privileges, pursuing their studies in the Cass school.
Riley Cass, whose name introduces this record, was reared on the old home- stead early becoming familiar with the duties and labor that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He worked in the fields through the summer months and in the winter seasons attended school. After attaining his majority he carried on farming on his own account until about 1884, when he established the first lumber yard in Fithian. Later he sold that business and opened a grocery store in Danville, where he remained for some time. Later he removed to Ridge Farm, where he conducted a lumber yard for several years, and on the expiration of that period sold out and returned to Danville, where he again engaged in the lumber business until about two years prior to his death. He was very successful in that line and took great interest in handling all kinds of lumber. He was very methodical and accurate in all of his business trans- actions and in the conduct of his interests knew exactly what was his stand- ing and planned everything so as to attain creditable and honorable success. He made an excellent record as a business man, enjoying the respect and con- fidence of all who knew him.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
In 1872 Riley Cass was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca A. Matticks, a daughter of Jesse Matticks, who came to Vermilion county at an early day and was very prominent here. Her mother died May 3, 1910. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Cass were born five children: Nellie Wilkerson, born January 16, 1873, was married June 16, 1892, to Fred Draper and died June 21, 1893. Pharaba Clodell, born October 17, 1877, was married December 14, 1902, to Ralph Cowan and they reside in Chicago. Edward William, born March 19, 1880, was married October 7, 1903, to Mary E. Woody and lives in Danville. His wife died December 3, 1909, leaving one child, Catherine, born February 5, 1907. Lucie Vennette, born October 4, 1887, died September 17, 1889. Irena Buchanan, born September 10, 1891, died August 13, 1893.
All of the brothers of the Cass family became republicans in politics and Riley Cass continued to give to the party his stalwart support until called to his final rest. The elder brothers supported the party when Lincoln was the presidential candidate, and in the campaign of 1860 James Cass marched with the Wide-awakes, there being a company of sixty members at Conkeytown. Riley Cass belonged to the Modern Woodmen camp and also held member- ship in the First Presbyterian church. His many good qualities gained him the high regard and confidence of all who knew him and he was greatly esteemed as a merchant and as a citizen. His cooperation could always be counted upon to further movements for the public good and as the years passed on he won high regard from all with whom he came in contact.
MRS. MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD.
Mrs. Mary Hartwell Catherwood, in whose life the soul of genius has shown conspicuously forth and yet who regarded no routine daily duty as too unim- portant to claim her attention, left to the world a memory that is to many an inspiration. To those who knew her, her life was an expression of grateful remembrance for early kindnesses of high appreciation for all that is beautiful and ennobling in nature, in art and in literature, and of all that is ideal in the relations of home.
It was in the little village of Luray, Licking county, Ohio, that Mary Hart- well was born, December 16, 1847, a daughter of Dr. Marcus and Pheba Hart- well. Her father was of Scotch-Irish lineage and in his youthful days ac- companied his parents to Licking county, Ohio, where he was reared upon his father's farm, but professional life proved more attractive to him than the work of the fields and in early manhood he took up the study of medicine under Dr. Thrall, of Kirkersville, Ohio. Later he entered Starling Medical College at Columbus, Ohio, and was graduated with the class of 1846. A brief time before his graduation he married Pheba, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Thompson, of Hebron, Ohio, and for ten years after the completion of his college course practiced in Luray, during which period two daughters, Mary and Roxana, were born to them. In 1856 a removal was made to Milford, Illinois, where he was rapidly building up a substantial practice when he be-
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came ill from the results of exposure in riding over the bleak prairies, and pneumonia terminated his life in 1857. Shortly afterward the only son of the family was born and was called Marcus for his father. The recent bereave- ment of the mother, however, so undermined her health that she passed away soon afterward and the three little children were thus orphaned. They were taken to the home of their maternal grandfather, Mr. Jesse Thompson, at Herbron, Ohio, and there Mary Hartwell entered the public schools, which were inadequate, however, to meet her desire for intellectual advancement.
Even in her school-girl days she gave evidence of the literary and poetic spirit that marked her future life and brought to her national fame as a novelist. In reply to the question: "How old were you when you first felt the impulse to write?" she one time replied: "I think it must have been when I was in my cradle." When still in school she was constantly writing verses which showed considerable merit for one of her years. She was always a precocious child intellectually and when but thirteen years of age obtained a teacher's certificate, although her youthful appearance prevented her from se- curing a school until the following year, when she was fortunate in securing an appointment as teacher in a school in Jersey township, Licking county. It was there she earned the first money she could call her own. Her nature was keenly susceptible to all the influences of her life, responding readily to the joys and pleasures as well as to the hardships and sorrows which were a por- tion of her youth. It was also characteristic of her that she never forgot a kindness, nor in the days when fortune smiled upon her did she forget in the slightest degree those who were friends of her youth.
It was the custom in the days when she taught her first school for the teachers to "board 'round." As Judge Green, one of the school directors, was riding home one evening, he overtook Mary Hartwell, who was walking slowly along the frozen roadway in an apparently self-absorbed and dejected mood. As the Judge approached he greeted her and inquired where she was going. She replied : "That's a query I have been trying myself to solve. I have just left the house of Mr .- , where I was to be entertained next, and my reception was not in the least agreeable. I was told that they could not take me and I must find some other place." "How did you feel then?" inquired Judge Green, and she answered: "I felt that I was dismissed and took my leave unceremoniously. Now I am puzzled about where next to apply." The Judge at once invited her to take a seat in his buggy, telling her that supper would be waiting at home and that she would be cordially welcomed there by his wife and daughter. Throughout her future life she had the utmost affection for Judge Green and his household, and the fatherless young girl was on one oc- casion greatly cheered by the remark of the Judge-when she was accompany- ing him and his family. In reply to the question if the children were all his, he said: "Yes, all mine." Mrs. Catherwood afterward told him how glad she was to hear him say that, from that time on called him father.
There were times of trial in her maidenhood, for she felt from early age that she must be dependent upon her own efforts and, moreover, she was denied by financial circumstances the privileges for intellectual advancement which she so much desired. However, the fruit of her work came to her at
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times in later years. One such incident occurred after she had published her most successful novel, Lazarre. In the winter of 1863, when she had only reached her sixteenth year, she was teaching in a district school where there were several mischievous boys almost beyond control. The ring-leader, older than the teacher, insinuated by his conduct that he was too old and advanced in his studies to be instructed by her. He also whistled slightly during the school session and his conduct became infectious. General admonition had but temporary effect and one evening after school she requested the boy to stay and said: "Now, Con, I want to teach this school successfully, so that I can take a course in college and be prepared for the work I hope to do. I know you want to be a gentleman and not a rowdy. You can help me or you can spoil my dearest ambition by making me fail as a teacher. If I lose this school I may not be able to get another, and I do not believe you want to spoil my hopes by making my efforts here a failure." The appeal to the young man's reason and better nature was successful. He begged her pardon for former misconduct and from that time on not only caused no trouble himself but was an active factor in maintaining order in the school, and frequently as- sisted his teacher in mathematics, which she always acknowledged was her weak point. Years elaspsed and in the summer of 1902, after Mrs. Catherwood had published Lazarre, she received a letter from a prominent business man in Findlay, Ohio, referring to the incident just related and saying that he was the mischievous boy who had caused her the trouble in school until she had appealed to his honor and manhood. He added also that he had watched her career, read her books as they were published and was proud of her accom- plishments.
The impulse to express herself in writing made Miss Hartwell a contributor to the Newark (Ohio) American, and the editor thereof recognizing, as he expressed it, in "her local news items that which sparkled like the glint of a genuine diamond," published her contributions to the paper. He describes her at the time as of "youthful appearance, medium height, light brown hair, dark blue eyes, slenderly built, very plainly but neatly dressed, modest and retiring to diffidence." She continued her contributions to the paper and in 1863 its editor sent a poem entitled "Pocahontas," which she wrote, to a Philadelphia publisher, and in due time had the satisfaction of giving her two dollars and a half in payment thereof. This was the first money she had received for her literary efforts and brought her a joy that was perhaps not exceeded by the liberal checks that followed her writings when she became a valued contributor to the best magazines of the country. In the early years she confined her writings chiefly to poetry, but the Newark editor, recognizing her genius in other directions, "advised her to apply herself to prose, especially to 'story telling.'"
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