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 82
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then embraced the town of Butler. He was collector of that town one term, and has been supervisor of Ross since the spring of 1878. He has a family of eight children : Sarah Jane, wife of James D. Leonard ; John B., Martha Melinda, wife of Frank Houchin; Melissa Ann, wife of Asa Allen; Mary Frances, Elizabeth Alice, Richard, Charlie (dead). Mr. Chambers owns seven hundred and seventy-eight acres, worth $23,500. He is a conservative democrat, and has been a member of the Baptist church for twenty-two years.
William T. Cunningham, Rossville, merchant, was born in Grant township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 1st of December, 1856, and is the son of Hnmes and Elizabeth (Winning) Cunningham. Both parents died when he was very young : his father departed this life on the 13th of February, 1859, his mother having previously gone to her rest on the 1st of October, 1857. Mr. Cunningham was reared by his grandparents, Thomas R. and Elizabeth Winning, on their farm in Grant township. In the fall of 1874, then sixteen years old, he began for himself by hiring as a clerk in the grocery store of John R. Smith, Esq., of Rossville, where he remained eighteen months. He labored on a farm a year, then clerked in the hardware store of D. C. Deamude, Esq., of Rossville, a year. Resuming farm life a short time again, on the 1st of October, 1878, he formed a copartnership with William S. Lefever in the mercantile business in Rossville. He is a democrat.
Alvan W. Gilbert, Rossville, farmer, was born in Ross township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 20th of May, 1856, and is the son of Alvan and Nancy (Horr) Gilbert. He was bred a farmer. He was married on the 18th of April, 1878, to Miss Meda Carson, who was born on the 21st of February, 1856, near Franklin, Johnson county, Indiana, and reared in Indianapolis. He owns one hundred and ten acres, worth $5,000. In polities he is a republican.
William Biteler, Alvin, farmer, was born in Adams county, Penn- sylvania, on the 9th of April, 1820, and is a son of Abraham and Eliza- beth (Overholser) Biteler. He became an orphan at the age of six or seven years, and immigrated to Madison county, Indiana, in 1835, where he labored seven consecutive years clearing land and log-rolling, doing no other kind of work. He was married on the 15th of April, 1841, to Mary Ray. In January, 1850, he settled in Warren county, Indiana, and in March, 1857, removed to Ross township, Vermilion connty, Illinois, and located where he now lives. Mr. Biteler has made four farms in the course of his life -two were eleared up in the woods and two were on prairie land. Has worked hard always; been frugal ; and careful in his business transactions, in which he has been uniformly governed by the strictest principles of honesty. He had at
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one time two hundred and twenty-five acres in Ross, but has divided his land among his children, retaining but eighty acres. His son, James Edward, was a member of Co. B, 125th Ill. Vols. Soon after the battle of Perryville, in which he bore a share, he was stricken down with measles, which ran into typhoid fever, and his life terminated at Bowling Green, Kentucky, on the 10th of December, 1862. There are now four living children : Minerva ; Amanda ; Cornelius : and William H. In politics he is a greenbacker. He belongs to the church of God ; popularly, soul sleepers.
William Salmans, Alvin, farmer, was born near Zanesville, Musk- ingnm county, Ohio, on the 29th of Jannary, 1823, and is the son of William and Fanny (Wallace) Salmans. His father was born in Dela- ware county, Delaware, on the 5th of September, 1796, and his mother was a native born Irish woman. Mr. Salmans was bred a farmer. When quite young his father settled in Guernsey county, Ohio, mov- ing from thence in April, 1839, to Jackson county. He was married on the 10th of Jannary, 1847, to Miss Prudence Phillips, daughter of Daniel Phillips, a well-to-do farmer of Jackson county. He settled that spring on an eighty aere farm which he owned; living there until the spring of 1851, farming in summer and teaching school in winter, when he bought a small stock of dry goods and groceries and started a country store. This venture not paying well, he went into partnership with his brother-in-law, Dr. Sylvester, in Marion, Ohio; after eighteen months he sold out to the doctor and dissolved the firm. About that time Mr. Salmans bonght a large bankrupt stock, at Sandfork, Gallia county, and moved to that point and spent the summer selling goods, closing out the entire concern to Dr. Sylvester in the fall. He next bought out the dry goods firm of Frazee & Co., in Hamden, Vinton county ; remained in business there until the spring of '54, selling stock of goods to W. H. Gleason, and his town property to Dr. Arnold. He moved into the country, traveled during the summer, and in the fall resumed school teaching, which he followed three years without inter- ruption, at $100 per quarter ; meantime buying and shaving notes on the Iron Furnace Company. In the spring of 1857 he moved to Charleston, Coles county, Illinois, moving from thence to Sugar Grove, Vermilion county, in the fall ; and to Ross township the next spring, where he has since resided; teaching the district school the following winter. His advantages for early education were very slight, and he could only read and write indifferently at the age of twenty ; at that time he started to school, traveling two and a half miles, morn- ing and evening; took up the common branches, applying himself with energy and resolution night and day to his studies, going through
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1
in twenty-two days, and working every example in the hardest arith- metic then in use - the Western Calculator. The next winter he obtained his first certificate to teach. His first wife having died on the Sth of February, 1867, he married again on the 30th of September, 1869, to Emma Colvin. He is serving his third term as justice of the peace of Ross township. Mr. Salmans was an abolitionist during the early agitation of the slavery question, and voted first for Henry Clay in 1844. He is the father of seven living children : Mark, Robert, Daniel, Emma, George William, Sarah Jane, and Martha Jane. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of land, worth $5,500. He is a republican and a Methodist.
John M. Ross, Alvin, farmer, was born in Fleming county, Ken- tucky, on the 19th of December, 1808, and is the son of Johnson and Jane (McMann) Ross. In 1823 his father moved to Warren county, Ohio. In 1831 the subject of this sketch left home and began the study of dentistry, practicing until 1840, five years of the time being spent in western Tennessee and northern Alabama. His health fail- ing, he returned to Indiana and went into the merchandising business in Cambridge City, Wayne county. In 1847 he removed to Indian- apolis and engaged in his profession. At the end of five years he re-located at Milton Mills, bought that property, running the mills and farming in the meantime, until 1858, when he emigrated to Ross township, where he now resides. He was married on the 27th of De- cember, 1840, to Ellen H. Hannah. His eldest son, Edward H., en- listed in Co. B, 125th Ill. Vols., but was stricken early with sickness, and died at Jefferson City, Missouri, on the Sth of September, 1861. When Mr. Ross settled in Vermilion county he purchased six hundred and forty acres of prairie land, and subsequently seventy acres of tim- ber; but having sold and given some to his children, has reduced his homestead to three hundred and ten acres, valued at $9,000. He was an old line whig, and cast his first vote for president for gallant Harry Clay, in 1832. In 1836, when a resident of Tennessee, he voted for Davy Crockett for congress. He is the father of four living children : Sarah Eliza, John N., Charles N. and Henry H. His religious opinions are Methodist.
John Ross, Rossville, farmer, was born in Brown county, Ohio, on the 22d of December, 1808. He is a son of Lazarus and Lydia (Prickett) Ross. He lived in his native place, farming, and for some time running a steam grist-mill, until 1859, when he removed to Illinois, and settled on a farm six miles east of Rossville, Vermilion county. His two sons, Isaac F. and Nelson E., enlisted, on the 12th of August, 1862, in Co. B, 125th Ill. Vols. They bore an honorable
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part in the battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Kene- saw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and Jonesborough ; marched with Sherman to the sea ; thence on the longer and more diffienlt campaign through the Carolinas, fighting their last battle at Bentonville, North Carolina. They marched north at the close of the war through Rich- mond, Virginia, to Washington City, closing their active military life in that grandest of pageants-the review of Sherman's army, on the 25th of May, 1865. The company disbanded at Chicago, Illinois, on the 27th of June, 1865. In 1872 the subject of this sketch moved into Rossville, where he has since lived, retired, enjoying a hale old age as the fruit of a well-spent, industrious life. He was married on the 16th of September, 1830, to Hannah W. Ferguerson, who was born on the 9th of May, 1810. They have seven living children : William A., Isaac T., Samantha E., wife of Peter Reitz, Nelson E., Arminda J., wife of John W. Calton; Mary A., wife of Daniel Romine; Orange L. The eldest daughter, Virginia A., was born on the 22d of March, 1838, married Erastus Reed, and died on the 21st of March, 1859, leaving an only daughter, Sarah Luella, five months old. The father died in 1864, and the grandparents reared Miss 'Ella, who lives with them and imparts the sunshine and freshness of young womanhood to their home. Mr. Ross is a republican ; was an original abolitionist and under-ground railroader, and takes profound satisfaction in know- ing that he has kindled the fires of everlasting gratitude in many a negro soul by helping him on his pursuit of freedom. Both he and his wife have enjoyed an experimental knowledge of religion for forty-six years. They are members of the United Brethren church.
Philip Cadle, Rossville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Bed- fordshire, England, on the 22d of February, 1849. He is the son of George and Elizabeth (Sannders) Cadle. He came with his parents to America in the summer of 1853, and settled in Attica, Indiana ; lived there four years, then moved to Iroquois county, Illinois, and located south of Milford, where he remained two years, and in 1859 came into Vermilion county, since which time he has lived in different parts of the northern half of the county. In 1870 he left home and began life on his own account. He was married on the 30th of May, 1871, to Emma Weaden, who died on the 23d of October, 1872. He married again on the 27th of October, 1875, to America Seymour, who was born on the 9th of October, 1851. He owns a fine farm of three hun- dred and eighty-one acres, valued at $13,000, situated two and one-half miles southeast of Rossville. Stock-raising comprises a large part of his business. Mr. Cadle traveled one season in California with an invalid sister, who died there. He is the father of three children :
44
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
Mary Annie, who died on the 28th of October, 1872; Lilian and Ger- trude. He is a republican in politics, and his religious views are Methodist.
Jacob Dale, Rossville, farmer, was born in Clark county, Ohio, on the 3d of December, 1836, and is a son of John JJ. and Elizabeth (Davisson) Dale. In the fall of 1856 he settled with his parents in Warren county, Indiana, and in February, 1860, in Ross township, Vermilion county. He has since lived here and been engaged in farming. He was married on the 6th of March, 1862, to Nancy E. Prather, who was born on the 27th of November, 1843, and died on the 17th of March, 1877. They are the parents of four children :. Mary E., Benjamin, John P., who died on the 31st of May, 1874, and James, who died on the 24th of June, 1876. Mr. Dale has an undi- vided two-sevenths of three hundred and sixty acres, worth $4,500. He is a republican, and a member of the M. E. church. His grand- father, Isaac Davisson, was a veteran of the war of 1812.
John J. Dale, deceased, was born in Maryland on the 2d of June, 1809. He was a son of Jacob and Charlotte (Jenkins) Dale. At fourteen was left an orphan ; the next two or three years he was at school, after which he was thrown on his own resources. He learned the tailor's trade; went from Maryland to Philadelphia, thence to Ohio, and settled in South Charleston in 1832. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Davisson in 1834. In 1856 he moved to Indiana, and in 1860 settled in Vermilion county, Illinois, where he bought a farm of three hundred and sixty acres. He moved to Rossville in 1875. In 1839 he was powerfully converted, and united with the Methodist Episcopal church, and for many years filled the offices of class-leader, trustee and Sunday-school superintendent. His integrity and virtue were constant and conspicuous, and he was held in the highest esteem. His two sons, Daniel and John W., who were members of Co. B, 125th Reg. Ill. Vols., did gallant service for their country. The former was killed at Stone River, and the latter lost his left arm at Chicka- mauga. He has served as county clerk of Vermilion county sinee 1869. In politics, Mr. Dale was a republican. He was the father of nine children : Sarah, Jacob, Martha, Daniel, dead, John W., Isaac, a minister of the M. E. church and member of the Northwest Indiana Conference, Mary Elizabeth, dead, Maggie and Emma. He died on 10th of July, 1877.
William H. Compton, Rossville, farmer, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, on the 21st of December, 1821, and is a son of Nathan and Jane (Hankins) Compton. When he was sixteen years old his father removed to Clay county, Indiana -lived there till 1848, when
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he went to Montgomery county. In 1860 he came to Ross township, this county, and settled near where he now lives. He was married on the 15th of June, 1844, to Emily Stewart, of Clay county, Indiana, formerly from Massachusetts, who died on the 17th of September, 1850. The issue of this marriage was one child, named Rhoda Jane, born on the 30th of January, 1849, who is now wife of Joseph Watts, of Sugar Grove, Champaign county. Mr. Compton married again on the 22d of January, 1852, to Maria Derby. He is the father of one child by this wife, named Nathan, born on the 12th of June, 1854 ; died on the 17th of October, 1858. Mr. Compton made a profession of Chris- tianity in 1842, and in about 1856 was licensed to preach by the New Light denomination. He is a republican in politics, and owns two hundred acres of land, worth $6,000.
William R. Harker, Rossville, saddle and harness maker, was born in Salem county, New Jersey, on the 17th of January, 1836, and is the son of Jonathan and Sarah (Royal) Harker. At the age of seven- teen he was apprenticed to the saddle and harness trade. In 1856 he came to Illinois, and worked at his trade in different places, beginning at Jerseyville, Jersey county. In the fall of 1860 he found himself in Danville, where he worked three years. Mr. Harker settled in Ross- ville in the fall of 1864, and after the first year set up in business on his own account. He was married on the 1st of Jannary, 1866, to Lizzie Woodbury, who died on the 13th of January, 1873. He mar- ried again on the 17th of February, 1874, to Pauline Davis, daughter of James A. Davis, Esq., of Danville. He is a republican in politics.
William Vining, Rossville, farmer and fruit grower, was born in Morrow county, Ohio, on the 7th of June, 1832. He is a son of Cal- vin and Mary Ann (Noe) Vining. His father died on the 17th of January, 1852, and he remained at home until. twenty-seven years of age, when he came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled in Ross township (1861). He was married on the 17th of August, 1858, to Celestia M. Horr, who was born on the 19th of October, 1832. In 1858 he embarked in sheep-husbandry, which business he continued seven years. He is at present extensively engaged in horticulture, being well situated on a fine fruit-farm of forty acres, lying one half mile south of the enterprising and flourishing town of Rossville. Dur- ing six years Mr. Vining was deputy sheriff for the northern part of Vermilion county. Ile has a family of two living children: William F., born on the 22d of September, 1865; Joseph H., born on the 3d of September, 1873. He has been a member of the M. E. church for twenty-eight years. He is a republican in politics.
William P. Hannah, Alvin, farmer, was born in Centerville, Wayne
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
county, Indiana, on the 23d of August, 1827. He is a son of Samuel and Eleanor (Bishop) Hannah. His father for over forty years exer- cised a wide-felt influence, first in political offices, and next in com- mercial stations, and was distinguished for his enterprise and able ser- vices in the internal development of his state. He was sheriff, clerk, and a member of the board of justices of Wayne county, Indiana; postmaster at Centerville under John Quincy Adams, and one of the three commissioners appointed by the legislature to locate the Michi- gan road from the Ohio river to the lake, and to select the lands se- cured to the state by a treaty with the Indians, made on the upper Wabash in 1826. He was twice elected a member of the state legis- lature. In 1846 he was chosen by that body treasurer of state, and served three years. He was the chief promoter of, and leading spirit in, the construction of the Indiana Central Railway, and was the first president of the road. Later, he became treasurer of the Indianapolis & Bellefontaine Railroad Company. In May, 1852, he accepted the office of treasurer of the Indiana Central, and held it until 1864, when he retired from active life. At different times during his incumbency of this office he was also secretary for the same company. He died on the 8th of September, 1869, aged nearly eighty years. The subject of this sketch passed his early life in farming and in clerking in a store belonging to his father. He studied law with John S. Newman, a brother-in-law, afterward prominent in business and political circles, and Oliver P. Morton, who were law-partners. At the age of twenty he was admitted to practice, undergoing examination by George W. Julian, George H. Whitman and Oliver P. Morton, and receiving his license from Hon. Jehu T. Elliott, afterward chief justice of the Su- preme Court of Indiana. Soon after he formed a law partnership with Hon. John S. Newman, which was continued until the fall of 1849, when he accepted the position of deputy United States marshal under Gen. Sol. Meredith, discharging the duties of the same till November, 1850. On the 20th of that month he was united in mar- riage with Miss Margaret A. Dunham. The winter of 1850-1 he spent in Iowa, seeking a location for the practice of his profession, but not finding one suited to his desires, he returned to Indianapolis in the spring, and engaged in railroad business on the Indiana Central: first as a clerk, then passenger conductor, next receiver of funds, and finally, general ticket agent. These various positions he occupied from 1853 to 1856. In the former year he was engaged by the city council of Indianapolis to re-duplicate the tax-list of that city, the original being so full of errors as to be worthless-a piece of work which he executed with accuracy and dispatch, to the entire satisfac-
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tion of the council and the tax-payers. In 1856 he opened a grocery store in Davenport, Iowa, and the next year removed to Blue Earth county, Minnesota, where he preempted one hundred and sixty acres of land, migrating from thence in the fall of 1858 to Linn county, Kansas. Here he was elected to the office of county assessor, and served one term. In the winter of 1860-1, succeeding the well-known drouth of the previous summer, he went to Kansas City, Missouri, to winter his family, intending to return in the spring; but the war broke out, and he moved back to Illinois, and located in Ross township, Ver- milion county, buying a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, in February, 1863, on which he has since resided. His wife died that year, and he was again married, on the 13th of December, 1866, to Mrs. Isabel Warren, formerly Miss Isabel Kent, daughter of Perrin Kent, of Warren county, Indiana. He has ten living children, all of whom are either at home or settled in Vermilion county, except his eldest son, Richard H., who is married, and living in Phillips county, Kansas. This son is a graduate of the Illinois Industrial University, and was at one time florist of the institution. Mr. Hannah is an inde- pendent republican ; a man of large views, good information, and live business talent. He owns three hundred and twenty acres of land, worth $11,500.
William W. Phillips, Rossville, Inmber dealer, was born in Licking county, Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1837, and is the son of John and Matilda (Pumphrey) Phillips. He removed with his parents in 1842 to Van Buren county, Iowa. His early life was passed in cultivating the soil. He enrolled, on the 28th of August, 1861, in a militia regi- ment, known as the Northeast Missouri Regiment of Home Guards (Col. Moore), and served the full term of enlistment-three months. He enlisted again on the 13th of August, 1862, in Co. F, 19th Iowa Inf., and was discharged on the 28th of December, 1862, on account of disability. He came the next February to Danville, Illinois, but was unsettled until 1867, being engaged in the meantime in carpentering and traveling from place to place. In June, 1867, he became employed as salesman in A. Leonard's lumber office, Danville. On the 29th of January, 1871, he was married to Florence Frazier, youngest daughter of Sammel Frazier of Danville. In August, 1871, he removed to Ross- ville and opened the lumber and coal trade, in which he is at present engaged. Mr. Phillips has been village trustee four years. He is the father of two children : Edward, born on the 18th of October, 1873; Alice, born on the 28th of September, 1876. He has been a member of the Methodist church upward of twenty years. He is a republican in politics.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
Samnel Cook, Rossville, farmer, was born in Fountain county, In- diana, on the 12th of March, 1842, and is the son of William and Ocey (Vannesse) Cook. He enrolled in Co. H, 72d Ind. Vols., on the 28th of July, 1862, and mustered into the United States service early the following month. After the battle of Stone River his regiment was attached to Gen. Wilder's famous brigade of mounted infantry, and armed with the celebrated Spencer rifles- seven-shooters. Mr. Cook fought at Hoover's Gap and Chickamauga; went on the expedition to West Point, Mississippi, under Gen. A. J. Smith, in concert with Gen. Sherman on his Meridian raid; shared in the operations and move- ments which brought Atlanta to the feet of her conquerors, serving throughout and supporting the arduous toils and constant dangers of that one hundred days' campaign, participating in the battles of Res- aca, Big Shanty and Jonesborough. He was engaged during his term in daring and hazardous expeditions, and performed the excessive duty, and marching and skirmishing, incident to the mounted service. He was under Gen. Wilson on the pursuit of Jeff Davis, and had a view of that traitor directly after his capture. He was mustered ont at In- dianapolis, on the 6th of July, 1865. Mr. Cook was married on the 2d of May, 1869, to Annie E. Whitehall, who was born on the 25th of February, 1848. They are the parents of two living children : Edith, born on the 14th of February, 1870, and Matie, born on the 15th of February, 1872. In politics he is a republican, and in religion a Pres- byterian.
Thomas Bennett, Rossville, farmer and stoek-raiser, was born in Bedfordshire, England, on the 24th of June, 1830. He is a son of Thomas and Rebecca (Stewart) Bennett. In April, 1851, he emigrated with his parents to America, and settled in Danville. In the fall of 1852 he went to Covington, Indiana, to reside permanently, and the next spring engaged in the butcher's trade. He continued in this busi- ness till 1866, when he returned to Vermilion county, Illinois, and set- tled on a farm where he has sinee lived, one mile and a half south of Rossville. On the 28th day of October, 1858, he was married to Miss Catharine E. Mann, who died on the 2d of January, 1873. They have one child: Mary Ann, born on the 3d of August, 1861. Mr. Bennett owns twelve hundred acres worth $36,000. He is a republican in pol- ities, and his religious views are Methodist.
Solomon I. Bartges, Alvin, druggist, was born on the 17th of July, 1845, in North Georgetown, Columbiana county, Ohio, and is a son of John M. and Sarah (Kutz) Bartges. He enlisted in Co. G, 58th Ohio Vols., on the 21st of November, 1861, he then being but sixteen years old. He fought at Fort Donelson and at Pittsburgh Landing ; was wounded
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