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 54
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a peculiarity with him. Whether this method of making arrests is common among detectives we do not know. In the fifteen years' ex- perience he has had as a detective he has been shot several times, though no time dangerously hurt or crippled. Since 1873 he has been in the employ of the I. B. & W. railroad, and for C. & E. I. road has been detective since 1879. On the former road, in 1875, he made ninety arrests for car robbery, placing obstructions on the track, and for other offenses. His services have been appreciated by these roads. Besides being well paid, he has received many valuable presents, presented by the officers and employes. He has recently learned telegraphy, and now has an instrument in his own residence, the wires being connected . with the main lines. We might add to this short sketch many pages of interesting matter relative to himself and his business. Though we may add that it is one thing to be a detective in name, and another thing by nature, his record will certainly entitle him to claim the lat- ter. His ability has already been recognized by some of the governors, who have given him important and dangerous work to do. Should no misfortune befall him, we hope yet to see the name of T. E. Halls among the list of noted detectives of the west.
A grocery establishment recently opened in the city of Danville, and one which bids fair to do its share of the business in this line, is that of W. M. Carnahan. He is a native of Attica, Indiana, though he has been a resident of Vermilion county for about eighteen years. He began business in his present line in April of 1879. His first year's business will probably aggregate about fifteen thousand dollars, a spe- cialty with him being the miners' trade. To supply this he is located near the North Fork bridge, which is as convenient as possible to the Moss Bank mines. His store is twenty-four feet front by eighty deep, and well stocked with everything pertaining to the grocery trade.
Among the stirring business firms of the city of Danville we may mention the Glindmeier Bros., manufacturing coopers. They are both natives of Prussia. Chris, the elder brother, came to the states one year ahead of his brother of whom we write. Henry, the younger of the two, came to the United States in 1860. He was born in Prussia in 1842, and before leaving his native country had received a good edu- cation. In 1861, when they came to Danville, he, with his brother, engaged in the manufacture of coopers' work, a more detailed account of the extent of which business is given elsewhere. They have two establishments, one located near the Wabash Depot in Danville, and the other a short way in the country. The one in Danville comes directly under the supervision of himself, and being a practical cooper by trade, he has little trouble in managing the work at this point,
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though there is a large force of men who look to him for orders in the execution of their work. He is still a young man, and by his sober, steady habits and close attention to business, has already accumulated a good property and established a good name and reputation among his fellow-citizens.
For the past five years Mr. A. C. Freeman has held the office of city clerk of the city of Danville. He is a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he was born in August, 1834. For the past eighteen years he has been a resident of Vermilion county, though not located at Danville all this time. In 1861 he was employed by the Great Western Railroad Company of Illinois, being stationed at Fair- mount. Later he went to State Line, where the division shops used to be. In 1866 he was stationed at Danville, where he remained in the employ of the company until 1872; thus spending more of his life in the railroad business than the average railroad man, viz: seven years. He is still located where he can hear the whistles blow, and probably the most notable feature of his change of occupation is the absence of the "pay-car."
W. T. Myers, Danville, livery-keeper, is the son of Elias and Ann Myers, who were of German descent, and formerly of Fairfield county, Ohio, where W. T. Myers was born, on the 17th of February, 1846. In 1862 the family removed to Danville, where they now reside, and where of late W. T. has been engaged in the livery business. He, by his gentlemanly and courteous treatment of his many customers, now has a business equal to that of anyone else in the same business.
S. B. Holloway, Danville, proprietor of the omnibus line, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, on the 5th of April, 1831, and at eight years of age his parents removed to Morgan county, Ohio, where Mr. Hollo- way remained until grown to be a man, and had married. His choice was Miss A. Plummer, a native of Morgan county, Ohio. In the fall of 1854 he removed to Henry county, Indiana, and engaged in the saw-mill business. In 1856 he removed and purchased a steam saw-mill, which he run nntil 1858. He then removed to Knightstown, where he was engaged in the same business, which he continued to do for eighteen months, and in 1859 purchased a saw-mill in Rush county, Indiana, which he run for a short time. In 1860 he went to Hancock county, Indiana, and bought a mill, which he run for one year, and in 1861 he went to Indianapolis and engaged in the grocery business. In 1862 he came to Danville, where he has been doing a successful livery and omnibus business.
W. H. Taylor, the present chief of the fire department of the city of Danville, was born in Perry county, Ohio, in 1831. He removed to
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
Hancock county, Ohio, in 1844, and to Illinois in 1851, arriving at Decatur, Macon county, on the 4th of June of that year. He settled in Sullivan in August. 1851, and removed to Mount Pleasant (now Farmer City), Dewitt county, in 1856. and then to Danville in 1862. The same year he volunteered in the 107th Ill. Inf .. and served until the close of the war. He was in the siege at Knoxville and in all the battles from Rocky Face to Atlanta. He was wounded at Franklin, Tennessee. He commanded the company through most of the Georgia campaign, though a non-commissioned officer; the officers of his com- pany being (an exception to the rule) home on furlough, in hospital, or absent on long marches and during engagements. After the war he located at Danville, Illinois, and was elected alderman of the fourth ward in 1871 and served two years. He was reelected from the second ward in 1874 and served two years, during which time he was chair- man of the committee on fire and water, and always evinced a great interest in the welfare of the city. To him the city is probably more indebted for the efficiency of the fire department than to any other citizen of Danville.
J. A. Lewis, Danville, contractor and builder; is a native of the Isle of Wight, England. In 1858 he went to Toronto, Canada, where he remained only one year, and then removed to St. Louis, Missouri. remaining a resident of that city and vicinity until 1861, when he entered the Federal army from St. Clair county, Missouri, enlisting in the 7th Mo. Inf., Co. D. as company bugler. He first enlisted for a three-months term of service, but afterward joined the 7th Mo., which was for three years. In 1862, while his command was marching from Kansas City to Independence, he, with a couple other members of his company, stopped at a farm-house for refreshments. The command had got some way in advance, when they stepped ont at the door and were ordered to surrender by the notorious guerrilla Quantrell. As there was but little use of fighting and no use of running. he and one comrade quietly surrendered. The third broke and ran, having been the last and somewhat the latest one out of the house. The rebels im- mediately fired upon him, killing him instantly. Mr. Lewis was kept until the next day, when. for some reason, he and his fellow-prisoner were quietly required to swear never to again take np arms against the Confederate cause, instead, as was the usual custom, of putting pris- oners to death. This was the end of his army life. In 1862 he came to Danville and began work at his trade of a brick and stone mason, having learned this trade before leaving England. In 1876. when the Danville Contracting and Building Company was organized, he became interested in it, and was elected president, which office he held nntil
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1878, when he bought the property and interests of the company, and has since been contracting and building on his own account. He is now doing a large business in his line, employing from fifteen to twenty men most of the time. He has been a resident of Danville seventeen years, and is well known to the people as an honorable and upright citizen.
L. B. Wolf, Danville, grocer, proprietor of the Cottage Bakery, located on the southwest corner of Pine and Madison streets, is a native of Wyandotte county, Ohio. He came to Vermilion county in 1862, and since 1867 has been a resident of Danville. In 1877 he engaged in his present business. The Cottage Bakery has already become well known. Mr. Wolf now gives employment to two men, and runs a delivery wagon in connection with his business. He has already estab- lished a trade that in 1879 will aggregate about $15,000. This he has done by energy, industry, and a close attention to business.
The gardening business, if properly managed, seems to be both pleasant and profitable,- at least Mr. G. L. Holton, the subject of this sketch, seems to have brought the business to this state by his good management. He is a native of Bracken county, Kentucky, and is a man now thirty-eight years old. In 1851 he went to Crawfordsville, Indiana, with his people. He has now been a resident of this place for about seventeen years. In 1869 he began as a gardener and florist, but for three years ran behind at the business, though as he became more familiar with the business he met with better snecess. His hot- house which he has now leased is in size 36 x 50, with an addition of 12×35. The front is used as an office, packing-room, etc. He has brought the land up from a wild state to what it now is. Most of his seeds he buys in New York, though he uses some imported seeds. In connection with his business he runs a fine market-wagon, gotten np expressly for the purpose. During the winter he is engaged as a coal operator, his farm, like the balance of land in the vicinity, being under- laid with a fine six-foot vein of coal, besides a smaller one underneath. He both in the summer and winter gives employment to several men, his method of mining being what is known as drift mining.
Dr. I. M. Gillam, physician and surgeon, is a native of Warren county, Ohio. In 1862, when he was twenty years old, his people moved to this county, locating at Oakwood. In 1866 the Doctor began the study of medicine with Dr. R. B. Ray, of Fairmount, a man who is well known thronghont this connty. He afterward came to Dan- ville, and finished his studies with Dr. Fithian. He in procuring his education has been dependent upon his own resources. Not only this, but he had the care of his parents also upon his hands. He has
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
been practicing in Danville since 1867. His office is located at 69 Main street. and his residence at 105 Hazel. He is a very quiet, nn- demonstrative kind of a man, and still possessed of a good, firm will, that seldom fails to carry him through any difficulty.
Christian Glindmeier, Danville. cooper, was born in Prussia, Ger- many, on the 19th of November, 1827. He came to America in 1857, with his sister, coming directly west and stopping in Vermilion county, Indiana, where the first winter he was engaged in working in a pork- house. He then went to Terre Hante, where he worked at the cooper's trade, which he had learned in Germany. He remained in Terre Haute about six months, and then returned to Vermilion county, Indiana, where he married Elizabeth Aspelmeire, a playmate of his boyhood days in Prussia, Germany, and a passenger on the same ship in which he came to America. He moved to Fountain county and remained there about eighteen months. and then went to farming. In 1862 he came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and located on the present farm, where he commenced his cooper business. He first worked two hands, and from that he gradually built up a very large trade. In 1874 he and his brother built a cooper shop in Danville, which was destroyed by fire. They then rebuilt, and to-day do an immense business, em- ploying some sixty hands on the farm and in the cooper department. Their pay-roll amounts to $250 to $300 per week. They manufacture about twelve thousand lard and pork barrels per year, finding sales for their barrels principally in St. Louis and Chicago. Mr. Glindmeier started from his native home with $800; when he arrived at his des- tination he was worth. perhaps, about $400, and from this start he has made what he is worth to-day. He owns seven hundred and forty-four acres of land, which has been made by industry and good management. He is the father of five children : Mary E., Lonisa C., Kissie Alice, Minnie May and Henry Franklin.
James Jones, Danville, civil engineer, of the Ellsworth Coal Com- pany, is a native of Liverpool, England. He was born in 1843, and at the age of thirteen years left home and went to sea for about six and a half years. In 1862 he joined the American navy, in the war of 1861-5, remaining in the service until April of 1863. During this time he was in the battles of Fort Pillow, Memphis, and White River. At the latter place he was one of a crew of one hundred and eighty men. The boat " blew up." and of this number only twenty came out alive, and some of these were crippled. Besides receiving several bad wounds, he was shot through the calf of the leg with the rib of some poor fellow who was blown to pieces. This mishap kept him in the hospital for eight months. During his six and a half years of life on the sea he had
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learned marine engineering. This varies quite materially from his present work. He has been dependent wholly upon his own resources in fitting himself for the work of civil engineering. Since he has been with the Ellsworth Coal Company he has executed some very neat and difficult work, having made the surveys for the three connections in the mine, varying from seven hundred to eleven hundred and fifty yards. He has now been with this company for eight years, though in all he has had about sixteen years' experience in mining, having begun the business in the Kirkland carbon mines. He has been so long with the company, and by his suggestions so many changes and improvements have been made, that now the whole, or nearly the whole, supervision of the mines is left to him. If he says everything is "all right," Mr. Daniel, the manager, pays no more attention to it.
R. H. Mater, Danville, contractor and builder, whose office is found at 88 Vermilion street, is a native of Indiana, and was born in Febru- ary of 1839. He began learning the trade of carpenter and joiner in 1859. In 1863 he went to Fairmount, this county, where he remained about four years, and then removed to Terre Haute, Indiana. He remained there but about one year, and then returned to this county, locating at Danville, where he has established a good business, some- times giving employment to as many as twenty-two men at one time. Among some of the prominent buildings which he has built may be mentioned the Vermilion-street Opera House, the residences of E. B. Martin and B. Brittenhouse. These buildings will, no doubt, for many years after his death, be known as monuments of his workmanship.
Win. J. Moore, M.D., Danville, physician and surgeon, is a native of Champaign county, Illinois, where he was born in 1846. When seventeen years old he began the study of medicine with Dr. W. W. R. Woodbury, of Danville, and graduated at the Rush Medical College in 1870. At the age of twenty-four years he began practice at Car- thage, Hancock county, Illinois, where he remained about two years, and then came to Danville, where he has since resided engaged in the practice of his profession. On the 23d of March, 1863, he enlisted in Co. L, 16th Ill. Cavalry, in the three-years service, remaining in the service until the close of the war and participating in many of the heavy battles, among which may be mentioned those of the Atlanta campaign, the battle of Nashville and at Jonesville, Virginia, where he was wounded and taken prisoner, lying for seven weeks at a farm-house, and finally making his escape. The Doctor is what is termed one of the regular physicians, and is a member of the Association of Physicians and Surgeons of Vermilion county, and also of the Illinois State Med- ical Association. By his elose attention to business he has established
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a good name and reputation, these being two of the important things necessary to the success of any physician.
David A. Smith, Danville, farmer, was born in Warren county, Ohio, on the 2d of September, 1812, and is the son of John and Eliz- abeth (Harmon) Smith. His father was a paper-maker by trade. He was married in Virginia, and with his wife moved to Ohio, where he followed his trade, and there remained until 1863, when he moved to Vermilion county. He died in Indiana, but was buried here; his wife also died, and was buried in Vermilion county. Mr. Smith, the sub- ject of this sketeh, learned the paper-maker's trade, then the trade of a millwright, and afterward that of a miller. He was married to Martha J. Parker, of North Carolina, who came to Indiana when she was quite young. Mr. Smith was a resident of Richmond, Indiana, but went to La Fayette, where he remained some five or six years in the mill business ; thence to Warren county, and remained there in same business about five years. Mr. Smith was very successful in the mill business, having retired in good circumstances. In 1853 he came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and purchased land, and also the present homestead. He returned to Indiana, and in 1855 he moved on the present farm, where he has remained since. Here his first wife, who was a good and kind mother and loving wife, died. He then married Mrs. Hannah Brant Lee. Mr. Smith had three sons in the late war, who did good service. William H. enlisted in the 125th Ill. Vol. Inf., and on account of sickness was honorably discharged after serving over two years. David J. enlisted at the first call. After his time was up he reënlisted in a battery, and did good service. Samuel P. enlisted in the one-hundred-days service. He, after his time was up, tried to reenlist in the three-years service, but, on account of being too young, was re- fused. There are six children living, all by the first wife: William H., David J., Samuel P., Andrew J., Casius Wilson and Sarah Jane.
Anton Schatz, Danville, saloon-keeper, was born in Baden, Ger- many, on the 6th of April, 1840, and came to Danville, Illinois, in 1864, where he engaged with Samuel Craig for seven years and accu- mulated money enough to start in his present business. On the 1st of March, 1870, he was married to Miss Theresia Loffler. They have seven children : Columbus, John, Anton, Caroline, Anna, Louisa and Stacy. Mr. Schatz is a member of the I.O.O.F., No. 499, and has filled all the chairs. He is also a member of the Turner Society. In politics he is a democrat.
Jno. C. Mengle, Danville, butcher, is a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania. He came west in 1864 and located in Danville. He learned the butcher business with his father. He is now located on
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the corner of Vermilion and North streets, and is doing the leading business in his line in the city. In all he gives employment to about three men on an average. He kills annually about 1,000 head of stock. For this he pays to the farmers about $10,000. Everything about his place is neat and clean. This, coupled with his pleasant and courteous treatment of customers, must; insure him success in the future, as it has already done in the past.
Messrs. T. and J. Donnelly have been in the grocery business in Danville for fifteen years, and may truly be classed among the old grocerymen of the city. They are both natives of County Cavan, Ire- land. They are located corner of Jackson and South streets. The store they occupy is 20×40, but they have warehouse room outside of this. Besides doing a general grocery business, during the winter they buy dressed pork and other produce. Probably one secret of their success is that they have both been farmers, and know better how to supply the wants of this class of enstom, and know also what the loss of a crop is, and how hard it is sometimes for farmers to pay without a sacrifice of property. Mr. J. Donnelly was fourteen years old when he came to the United States in 1851. For one year he was in Troy, New York. He then came west and located at Attica, Fountain county, Indiana, and there, in 1855, in company with his brother, began farming. This they followed until 1864, when they began busi- ness in the grocery trade in Danville. In 1867 he was elected to the council from the first ward, and is now holding the office of assistant supervisor of Danville township. They have done more toward the improvement of Danville than many citizens who are much older resi- dents, as they have built twelve new buildings and repaired six others, making them good residences.
L. C. Hovey, Danville, yardmaster, was born in Tolland county, Connecticut, in 1825. During his early life he had the advantages of good schools, and received a good business education. About 1853 he began railroading, having been at the business now about twenty-six years. He was first connected with what used to be the Cincinnati & Chicago Short Line, but was afterward with the New London & North- ern, and fifteen years ago began with what is now the Wabash road, with which he has since remained, excepting three years spent on the I. C. & L., being engaged most of the time while on the road as an en- gineer. He now has charge of the Wabash yard at this point. Dan- ville being the joint station between the eastern and western divisions of the road, requires a yard five miles in length. All trains from either division when run into this yard are in his charge. He also has the supervision of about twenty men ; but being an old railroad man he
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has become so used to doing his duty as regularly as clock-work, that seldom any errors or blunders creep into his management, either of the men or other matters pertaining to his department. He is probably the oldest railroad man residing in Danville. His record as such is certainly as free from errors or accidents as any who follow railroading as a business.
W. A. Brown, Danville, physician and surgeon, was born in. Knox county, Tennessee, in 1830, and at the age of seven years went with his people to Macoupin county, Illinois. He became a graduate of the McDowell College of Medicine, of St. Louis, in 1857; after graduating he went to Iowa, where he remained but a short time, removing to Missouri in 1859, where he was engaged in practice for three years. In 1862 he entered the army as assistant surgeon of the 1st Missouri Militia, serving two years, and upon leaving the army he came to Dan- ville and began his practice in July of 1864. He has since given his time exclusively to his profession. He is a member of the Vermilion County Association of Physicians and Surgeons, and a man whose name and reputation are above reproach.
D. D. Evans, Danville, attorney-at-law, is a native of the old Key- stone State, was born in Cambria county, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of April, 1829, and is the son of David and Anna (Lloyd) Evans, both natives of England, having emigrated to America when they were children. Mr. Evans' father was a stonemason and contractor, but in his latter days was engaged in farming here. Mr. Evans remained un- til he was about twenty-four years of age, engaged in farming in the summer, and in the winter months attending the district schools, where he received sufficient education to enable him to teach school for sev- eral years in his native county. He then entered the Eclectic Institute of Ohio, which at that time was one of the leading institutions of learn- ing in that state. General James A. Garfield, who afterward became president of the institution, was a pupil of this school at this time. At about thirty years of age Mr. Evans commenced the study of law, and in 1861 he entered the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, graduating from the law school in the spring of 1863. He returned to Ohio, and in the summer of the same year enlisted in the one-hundred-days ser- vice as orderly in Co. E, 167th Ohio National Guards, and served for four months. The following year he came to Danville, and was for a short time engaged in school teaching. Mr. Evans, for some time, was editor of the Vermilion county " Plaindealer," which at that time was one of the leading republican newspapers of this vicinity, and the only paper published in the county. Since Mr. Evans began the practice of law in Danville he has had associated with him, as partners, John A.
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