History of Vermilion County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources, Part 47

Author: Beckwith, H. W. (Hiram Williams), 1833-1903
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : H. H. Hill and Company
Number of Pages: 1164

USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 47

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The order has prospered well both in number and financially. It has numbered among its membership some of the solidest citizens of Danville and vicinity, and, like the Masonic order, is the parent of a number of other lodges in different portions of the county. The mem- bership at the present writing is 105, of which F. Wortman is N.G. : Elias Good, V.G .; F. C. Hacker, Treas. ; S. Goodman, R.Sec., and S. Leaverton, P.Sec. John McMahan, F. W. Penwell, Elias Good, Geo. Dillon and S. Leaverton constitute the present board of trustees. An organization of the highest order of Odd-Fellows was established at Danville by charter from the Grand Encampment, December 16, 1857.

The charter members of Marsh Encampment, No. 46, were Robert V. Chesley, John McMahan, J. D. Hartzler, L. H. Sconce, J. P. Brown, Thomas Mckibben, G. II. Brown, II. T. Downing and J. II. Davis.

The Encampment numbers about forty members, most of whom are also members of the Subordinate Lodge of this city; however, as an

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encampment does not necessarily accompany every lodge, some of its members reside at and hold lodge membership at other points.

In 1872 the German Odd-Fellows of this eity being desirous of an organization authorizing lodge-work in their own language, petitioned for a charter for the institution of Fenerbach Lodge, No. 499, and in October of that year such authority was granted to Charles Hesse, George Dudenhofer, Michael Kohler, Otto Bein, George Waltz, L. H. Kalın, Kilian Knell, Jacob Schorr, Anselm Sieferman, E. Blankenburg and F. Brandenberger. George Dudenhofer was first N.G .; Otto Bein, V.G .; L. H. Kahn, Sec., and Kilian Knell, Treas. The lodge has been quite prosperous, and now numbers,- according to the last Grand Lodge Reports,- sixty-three members, of which John Zuhn is N.G .; Theodor Ott, V.G .; Gottlieb Maier, See .: A. Oberdorfer, P. Sec., and John Shultz, Treas.

The Ancient Order of Hibernians, No. 1, was chartered in 1873. The objects of the order are of a charitable nature, and in some respects is intended to fill the place of the secret orders which are not counte- nanced by the Roman Catholic church. It is not secret, but its men- bership is confined to Catholics and is under the supervision of the clergy. The officers are: P. Carey, president ; P. Burns, vice-presi- dent; D. Moore, financial secretary ; Wm. Ryan, treasurer; P. Ger- rety, county delegate ; M. J. Hogan, corresponding secretary ; John Buckley, marshal; P. Monahan, sergeant-at-arms; W. Dougherty, doorkeeper. The priest in charge acts as chaplain. The order is in good standing and in prosperous condition, having $600 in the treasury.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Under this head we propose to give extended biographies of a large number of the leading citizens of Danville Township, not only of early settlers, but also of the more modern. Many of them have already been mentioned incidentally in the preceding pages, but we think it will add vastly to the value of the work as a book of reference and as a basis for the future historian, to give to this department the most minute detail. As far as practicable, they have been arranged in chronological order, or rather in the order of coming to this township or county.

Perry O'Neal, Danville, farmer, is one of the old settlers. He was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, one-half mile east of Westville, on the 16th of January, 1825, and is the son of Thomas and Sarah (How- ard) O'Neal. Thomas O'Neal was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, in 1792, and there learnt the trade of a tanner and currier. He moved from his native state to Indiana, and located in Madison, Jefferson county, where he was engaged in working at his trade. He remained

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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.

there until 1821, and in that year with wife and family moved to Illinois, and located in Vermilion county near what is now known as Westville. He first entered eighty acres of land and set ont in farming ; here he erected a tan-yard which consisted of a large shed, 30×30, and ground his tan-bark with a large round stone by horse-power. This tannery was the first in Vermilion county, and was located about fifty yards southeast of the home of Perry O'Neal. The old log cabin is still standing in the rear of Mr. O'Neal's house. Thomas O'Neal fol- lowed the trade of a tanner, and operated the tan-yard for several years, and then spent some time in farming,-he owned at one time five hundred and forty acres of land. He was coroner of Vermilion county for over twenty years: was elected in 1840 and held office until his death. He and his son Samuel O'Neal were both in the Blackhawk war of 1832. His son William was a blacksmith at the salt works at an early day- probably the first blacksmith in Vermilion county. Thomas O'Neal was a man that was known and respected perhaps as well as any man in Vermilion county. He died in 1861, and thus passed away one of Vermilion county's old and honored citizens. His wife was born in Kentucky, in 1794; she died in 1863. She was a kind and good woman. Of the O'Neal family four children are now living. James O'Neal, who was born in Vermilion county on the 20th of April, 1822, one of the first white children born in the county, Perry O'Neal, Nancy (now the wife of Lewis Ballah), and Cynthia Ann ( wife of Joel Bates). Perry O'Neal. the subject of this sketch, was brought np as a farmer, and this he has through life followed on the old home- stead, with the exception of a few years on the prairie. He has never been married.

George Martin, Danville, retired farmer. This gentleman is one of the pioneers of Vermilion county, having made his home here in 1827. He was born in Brown county, Ohio. on the 18th of October, 1810. and is the son of Hutson and Martha (Lacock) Martin. His father was a native of Virginia, and followed farming ; he was a soldier of the war of 1812, and died in Oregon, near Fort Vancouver, in 1851, at an old age. Mr. Martin remained in Ohio until he was six years old, when he moved with his parents to Ripley county. Indiana, where he remained until 1827, engaged in farming. He then, with his parents, moved to Illinois, and located in Newell township. Vermilion county. His father came here with wife and ten children, and now only three girls and Mr. Martin are alive. Mr. Martin, in 1854, moved to Marion county, Illinois, where he was a resident about nine years, at the expiration of which time he returned again to Vermilion county. He married in Vermilion county to Mary McKee, who was born in Fleming county.

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Kentucky, in 1812, and is a daughter of William and Hester (Adams) McKee, who moved to Vermilion county in 1832. They came to this county with eleven children, and only four are now living. William MeKee was born in Pennsylvania on the 17th of January, 1783, and died in Vermilion county on the 21st of February, 1872. Mrs. Hester MeKee was born in Kentucky on the 12th of August, 1785, and died on the 1st of December, 1846. Mr. Martin had two sons in the late war: George M. enlisted from Indiana for one year ; he did good ser- vice and was honorably discharged. John H. enlisted in the 125th Ill. Vol. Inf., Co. A, for three years, as corporal ; he did good service and participated in some of the leading battles: Perryville, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta and Jonesboro, where he was wounded in the ' left shoulder ; he was in the Atlanta campaign to Richmond, and was captured at Black River, North Carolina, and taken as a prisoner of war to Richmond, Virginia, where he remained about eight days, and was then paroled, receiving his final discharge at Springfield, Illinois. Mr. Martin states that he and Mr. Norton Beekwith made the first brick in Vermilion county.

Rev. John Villars' grandfather was from England and his grand- mother from Ireland. His father was born on the 28th of July, 1774, and his mother was born on the 23d of March, 1770; her maiden name was Rebecca Davison. They were married in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of April, 1796; to them were born five boys and three girls ; tive were born in Ohio. John, the eldest, was born on the 14th of February, 1797; the names of the others were Mary, James, William and Rachael. They moved to Ohio in April, 1806, and there were born to them George, Rebecca and Hiram. In 1826 the parents and children were all members of the M. E. Church. John joined in 1821 and in 1823 was licensed to exhort; he came to Illinois and settled in Vermilion county in 1830, about four and one-half miles east of Danville ; in 1833 he was licensed by the M. E. Church to preach, but in 1838 he joined the United Brethren in Christ, and remained a minister in that church until his death, on the 14th of March, 1858. From Illinois, in 1852, he went to Milwaukee, Wiscon- sin, remaining until. 1853, when he returned to this county and re- mained until 1857. He then moved to Nemaha county, Nebraska, and remained there until the 14th of March, 1858, when he died. Rev. John Villars was married to Elizabeth McGee, his first wife, in Ohio on the 14th of March, 1816. She was born on the 25th of Sep- tember, 1797. To them were born ten children,- six sons and four daughters. Jane was born March 10, 1817; James, November 28, 1819: William, May 22, 1822: Mary, February 14, 1825 ; Rebecca,

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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.

September 7. 1827; John Q., May 1, 1830: George. October 16, 1832; Elizabeth, December 14, 1834: Hiram E., November 25, 1837: Jona. November 10, 1842. Elizabeth Villars died on the 22d of April. 1848 : she was a member of the M. E. Church, and her parents were Baptists. John Villars was married to his second wife. Elizabeth Campbell. on the 10th of October. 1849; she was born in what was then known as Harrison county, Virginia, on the 2d of September, 1816. Her father was from Ireland and her mother from Scotland : they were members of the Presbyterian Church. Rev. John Villars, by his second wife, became the father of two sons and one danghter : Josephine R .. born July 31, 1850; John B., born February 15, 1853, and Henry B., born February 26. 1857. Mr. John Villars was a life- director in the American Bible Society from the 20th of September, 1856. and at his death gave over $6.000 to that society. Elizabeth Villars, his second wife, has been a life-member of the same society from the Sth of December, 1856. Rev. John Villars was a man well to do, at one time owning over twelve hundred acres in this county, besides other property in Iowa; he always gave each one of his children a good start when they embarked in life for themselves.

Wm. Fithian, Danville, physician. Dr. Win. Fithian is one among the oldest settlers of Vermilion county, and a man who has been iden- tified with as much of the development and improvement that has been made in the county since 1830 as any of the pioneers of Danville. He is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was born in the year 1800. In 1822 he began the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph T. Carter, of Urbana, Ohio, and was in time granted a diploma by the board of cen- sors. He practiced two years at Mechanicsburgh and four years with Dr. Carter, and in 1830 came west, arriving at Danville on the 1st of June. 1830. Before leaving Ohio we may mention the fact that he built the first house in both the city of Springfield and Urbana. Ohio. In 1834 he became quite interested in politics, and for several terms was a member of the legislature and afterward of the senate. He was also a soldier in the Blackhawk war. He has been very active in the movements which resulted in bringing several railroads to Danville. In 1871 he gave to the I. B. & W. road the right of way through a large tract of land in Oakwood township and five acres of land. The village of Fithian on this line of road was founded and named by the company in honor to the Doctor. He is a member of several of the medical associations. and is one among the oldest practicing physicians of the State of Illinois.

John Q. Villars, Danville, farmer, was born in Clinton county. Ohio. on the 1st of May, 1830, and is the son of John and Elizabeth Villars.

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Mr. Villars, with his parents, came to Illinois and located in Vermilion county in 1830. Here Mr. Villars has resided ever since. He has been engaged in farming from the time he was able to hold the plow. He has held several offices of public trust, overseer of highways and school director of Danville township. He married on the 1st of January, 1851, to Miss Rachael Olehy, who was born in Vermilion county and whose parents came to this county at an early day. They have five children, Mary E., James W., William D., John P. and Rebecca J., all born in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Villars are members of the M. E. church. He owns one hundred and eighty-four acres of fine improved land.

Abraham Draper, Danville, retired farmer. The subject of this sketch is one of the old pioneers of Vermilion county. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the 15th of February, 1804; his parents were James and Mary (Peden) Draper ; his father was a native of Delaware and his mother of Pennsylvania. When Mr. Dra- per was but five years old he, with his parents, moved to Ohio and located on a farm in Clermont county, where he remained until 1830 engaged in farming. He married in Clermont county on the 21st of October, 1827 (fifty-two years ago), to Miss Eliza Porter, of Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania. She was born on the 17th of January, 1805. In 1830 Mr. Draper, with his wife and one child, came to Illi- nois and located in Vermilion county, near the present homestead here in Danville township, which has now been his home for forty-nine years. A tree stands on his farm that he remembers of noticing in 1830. Mr. Draper came here very poor, having borrowed a horse and hired a wagon to bring himself, wife and family here from Ohio. He settled on congress land, and with hard labor and good management paid for the place in five years. Ilis first one hundred pounds of flour was obtained on the other side of Attica, Indiana, and the second hundred weight was gotten on the other side of Covington. He found a market for his grain at Terre Haute and Chicago, and hauled it there in wagons. With hard work and economy he accumulated six hundred acres of land. He has given land to each of his children. He had two sons in the late war, Alexander S. and Abraham I., who did good service and were honorably discharged. Mr. and Mrs. Draper have been members of the Baptist church for the last forty-four years.

Eben H. Palmer, Danville, cashier First National Bank, was born in Danville, Illinois, on the 10th of August, 1830, and is the son of Dr. A. R. Palmer, who was born in South Coventry, Connecticut, on the 9th of March, 1783. He, with his parents, moved to Vermont when he was very young, where he remained until he was about eigh-

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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.

teen years old : he then moved to the Black River country, in New · York. At Moscow he commenced the study of medicine, and gradu- ated from a medical college, where he received his diploma and com- inenced the practice of medicine in about 1824 or 1825. In 1826 he, with his wife and three children, came west to Indiana, coming down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh in a Hat-boat and then up the Wabash River, and located in Vermilion county on a farm, where he was en- gaged in farming and the practice of medicine, which extended to a circuit of forty miles. In 1828 they moved to Danville, Vermilion county, Illinois, where he was engaged at his profession and in the drug business in company with his son. E. F. Palmer, thus forming the firm of E. F. Palmer & Co .. which was perhaps the first drug store in Danville. It was located on the corner of Main and Walnut. in the house now occupied by Mr. Woods, the hatter. Dr. Palmer continued his practice of medicine for a number of years, his circuit extending throughout Vermilion county. He was married three times : twice in the east, and his third wife, Delia Hawkins (the mother of E. H. Palmer). he married in Vermilion county. Indiana. She was a native of West Bloomfield, New York, having come west with her parents at an early day : she died in 1851, and Dr. Palmer died in August, 1861. Thus one by one the old settlers of Vermilion county are passing be- vond the shore of the unknown river. By the marriage of Dr. A. R. Palmer and Delia Hawkins they had eight children : of this family only three are now living, Clara, John J. and Eben H. Our subject at fourteen years of age commenced clerking in a drug store; at twenty-five years of age he entered, in company with S. A. Humphreys and R. Partlow. the dry-goods business, which continued about two years. He then was appointed school commissioner, to fill the vacancy left by his uncle. N. D. Palmer, who died. In 1859 he entered the private bank of English & Tincher as clerk and book-keeper, which position he held until the organization of the First National Bank of Danville, when he was elected cashier, which position he has held ever since. In 1854 Mr. Palmer married Fannie B. Nelson, of Pennsylva- nia ; by this union they have four children. Mr. Palmer is a member of the Presbyterian church, of which his father was one of the founders and elders.

Sarah Ann Olehy, Danville, was born in Kentucky on the 11th of October, 1822, and is the wife of the late Dennis Olehy, who was born in Ohio, on the 12th of October, 1802. In about 1830 he, with his mother (his father having died in Ohio) and one brother, came to Ver- milion county and located on the farm where Mrs. Olehy now lives. Here he set ont in farming, first building a place out of rails in which

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they might live. This served until they could find better quarters. which he afterward built with a linn tree, making a puncheon floor, a door and a table for the cabin. They came here very poor, he having but ten dollars in his pocket. His first clearing and farming was done with one horse, on a forty-aore farm very thick with timber and hazel-brush. He worked hard and faithfully, and before his death had accumulated two hundred and sixty aeres of land. Hle married his first wife, Eliza- beth Glaze, in Vermilion county. She lived some sixteen years after marriage. He then married, on the 6th of May, 1847, to Miss Sarah Ann Jones, the subject of this sketch. He had eleven children- three by the first wife and eight by the second. Mr. Dennis Olehy died a good Christian, being a member of the Baptist Church for a number of years. He died on the 2d of March, 1877. Thus one by one the old settlers of Vermilion county are passing away.

Edmund P. Jones, Danville, farmer, was born in Vermilion county, on the 13th of January, 1830, and is the son of William and Jane (Martin) Jones. His father was a native of Kentucky, and came to Vermilion county with his wife and family at an early day, locating on a farm and commenced farming, which he followed up to his death. William Jones was born on the 24th of February, 1796; died on the 30th of October, 1859. Jane (Martin) Jones was born on the 15th of April, 1795; died on the 10th of September, 1867. They were mar- ried on the 25th of January, 1816. Edmund P. Jones was brought up on the farm, engaged in farming, and to-day he owns a good improved farm of one hundred and seventy-six aeres, made by his own industry. He has twice been married : First to Sarah Cox, of Vermilion county, on the 19th of October, 1854: she died in 1858. He married the second wife, Mary E. Villars, on the 21st of February, 1861; she was born on the 11th of December, 1840. They have four children living. Mr. Jones is a member of the Christian Church.

Joseph T. Ross, Danville, retired farmer. The above-named gentle- man is, perhaps, one of the best known and most respected citizens of Vermilion county. He was born in Mason county, Kentucky, on the 30th of May, 1810, and is the son of John Ross, a native of Pennsyl- vania, who came to Kentucky at an early day, when there were plenty of Indians. There he remained until 1830, and then, with his wife and ten children, he came to Illinois and located in Vermilion county, on Stony creek. Here he died a respected and good citizen, leaving a wife and family to mourn his loss; his wife died on the farm. Mr. Joseph T. Ross has been engaged in farming from the time he was able to hold the plow until some years ago. He at one time owned eight hundred and fifty acres of fine land, and gave to each of his children

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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.

a fine farm. Mr. Ross made a trip from Vermilion county to New Orleans, Louisiana, on a flat-boat loaded with produce. He had two sons in the late war, James and Hiram, who enlisted in the 125th Ill. Vol. Inf. for three years; both did good service. James served three years and was honorably discharged; he died about 1871 with the heart disease and hing fever, contracted principally while in the war. Hiram, on the account of sickness, was honorably discharged; he is now farming in Danville township, near his father's home. Mr. Ross has been married three times. His first wife was Minerva Ticknor, a native of New Hampshire and a daughter of James Tieknor, who came to Vermilion county with a family in about 1824 or 1825. He then married A. J. Black, a native of Kentucky; his third wife is Olivia Ann Morton, of New York; he is the father of five children living- four by his first wife and one by the second.

A. S. Williams, Danville, dealer in queensware. A. S. Williams, of the firm of Hawes & Williams, was born in Danville on the 22d of August, 1831. His father, Amos Williams, whose name is found so often in the general history of this county, was, as will be found in that history, one of the early and prominent pioneers of the county. A. S. had been engaged in several kinds of business until February of 1877, when he and V. L. Hawes became proprietors of the establishment they are now running; Hawes having been in the business for several years previous to the organization of the present firm. Theirs is the only large and exclusively queensware house in the city, their store-room being 223 feet front by 125 feet in depth, with a basement and part of the second story: in addition to this they have a ware-room 222x30. All of this extensive establishment is well stocked with everything pertaining to the queensware trade. Mr. Williams has never sought any favors of the public, but has always given liberally to any enter- prise pertaining to the public good ; though, we may add. from 1875 until 1878 he held the office of Commissioner of Highways. He is so old a resident of the city and so well known that any compliments of the press are wholly unnecessary.

William C. Wait, Danville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 12th of July, 1831, and is the son of George and Nancy (Ray) Wait. His mother was a native of Indi- ana; his father, who was from New York, with parents, moved to Ohio and located near Columbus : he then moved to Vigo county, Indiana, and there married. He and his wife then came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and located at Marysville in about 1826, where he was engaged in farming, and then moved on the farm now owned by Mr. Wait. His wife died in Marysville, and he, after going west and

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remaining two years in Missouri, one year in Texas and one in Ar- kansas, returned to Vermilion county, Illinois, and died in 1857, at the age of sixty-six ; he had married the second wife, Eulia Cox, who died in Woodford county, Illinois. There are four children living- Stephen, James, Catharine, and William C., the subject of this sketch, who has since followed farming and stock-raising, owning a fine in- proved farm of three hundred and twenty acres of land. Mr. Wait has been married three times. His first wife was Catharine Foley, now deceased ; his second wife was Margaret M. Moudy, and his third wife Sallie M. Farris. She was born in Monroe county, Indiana. He is the father of six children living-four by his second and two by his present wife.

George M. Villars, Danville, farmer, was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on his present farm, on the 16th of October, 1832, and is the son of John and Elizabeth Villars, who were among the early settlers of Vermilion county. Mr. Villars was raised on the farm, and has been engaged in farming on the old homestead since he was able to hold the plow up to the present time. He owns a fine improved farm of two hundred and six acres of land, and also eighty aeres in Sidell township and eighty acres in Warren county, Indiana. Mr. Villars has held several offices of public trust,- school director and school trustee. The latter office he now holds. He was married in 1854 to Miss Amanda Srouf, of Indiana. They have ten children, all born on the old homestead. Mr. Villars is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which church he has been a member for the last twenty years.

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History of Vermilion County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources, Part 47

Author: Beckwith, H. W. (Hiram Williams), 1833-1903 Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : H. H. Hill and Company Number of Pages: 1164

Author: Beckwith, H. W. (Hiram Williams), 1833-1903
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : H. H. Hill and Company
Number of Pages: 1164