USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > Past and present of Montgomery County, Illinois > Part 2
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On the 6th of March, 1895, occurred the marriage of John W. Anderson and Miss Sadie Bote, a danghter of Adam and Mary A. (Zeolzer) Bote. Her father was born in Prus- sia in 1826, and the mother's birth occurred in the same country in 1831. She came to the United States abont 1843, at which time she settled in St. Louis, Missouri, and in 1846 Adam Bote crossed the Atlantic. They were married in St. Louis in 1851 and subsequently became residents of Montgomery county. The father has now passed away, but the mother is still living in Witt. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have been born three children : Ches- ter C., eight years of age: Gladys L., who is seven years of age; and Foster Shelby, who died in infancy and was buried in Nokomis cemetery.
Mrs. Anderson is a member of the Presby- terian church in Witt and is a most estimable lady. Mr. Anderson gives his political sup- port to the Republican party and is now sery- ing as highway commissioner and as school director and secretary of the board. He has been very successful in his farming operations since he started out in life for himself. and. although he is yet a young man, he has never- theless attained success which is enviable and creditable.
T. J. WHITTEN, M. D.
Dr. T. J. Whitten, who is engaged in the practice of medicine in Nokomis, is one of the older representatives of the Fraternity in the county, and has long ranked with the more skillful and capable physicians. He was born in East Fork township, southeast of Hillsboro, in 1844, and is a son of Austin and Sophia Whitten. The father was a native of Kentucky and came to Illinois at an early day. Hle se- cured a tract of land in East Fork township, for many years carrying on Farming there and eventually departed this life on the old family homestead. ITis wife was also a native of Ken- tucky, and by their marriage they became the parents of twelve children, of whom five are living.
Dr. Whitten was reared in the county of his nativity under the parental roof and his early education, which was acquired in the district schools, was supplemented by study in the Hillsboro Academy. He afterward engaged in teaching school in East Fork township, but it was his desire to become a member of the medi- cal fraternity, and to this end he began read- ing medicine in 1860 in Bowling Green, Ken- tucky. During the period of the Civil war, however, he returned home and here enlisted in defense of the Union, becoming a member of Company B. One Hundred and Seventeenth lllinois Volunteer Infantry. He was placed on the hospital corps at Memphis, Tennessee, as steward of the Third Heavy Artillery, and while acting in that capacity he received splen- did schooling for his profession in the practi- cal experience which came to him in the hos- pital wards. He rendered efficient aid to his country by the faithful performance of his duty and he was mustered out at Memphis, Tennessee, in 1865. When the war was over Dr. Whitten returned to his home and soon afterward entered upon a course of lectures in the Long Island College Hospital. He was graduated from the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia with the class of 1867, and has since practiced in Montgomery county, so that he is therefore one of the oldest physcians in continuous practice within its borders. He first opened his office in Hillsboro, where he remained for a year and then removed to Fill-
DR. T. J. WHITTEN
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more, where he spent two years. He resided in Irving from that time until 1880. when he removed to Nokomis, where he remained for ten years as a member of the medical fraternity of that town. In 1890 he went to Jacksonville to accept the superintendeney of the David Prince Sanitarium, of which he had charge for cighteen months, and on the expiration of that period he returned to Nokomis, where he has since made his home. lle has been very successful, especially in the line of surgical work, and he is called upon to perform the most important surgical operations throughout the entire county. He has very intimate and accurate knowledge of anatomy and the com- ponent parts of the human body, and in the per- formance of an operation displays the utmost precision and skill. He belongs to the Mont- gomery County Medical Society, to the Central Illinois Medical Society, the Southern District Medical Society, the State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and the Inter- national Railway Surgeons, and he is local sur- geon for the Big Four Railroad Company.
Dr. Whitten was married in 1868, the lady of his choice being Miss Sophia Harkey, a daughter of George Harkey of Hillsboro. They have four children: Harry llood, who is a practicing physician in Peoria, Illinois : George C., who is engaged in the real estate business at Granito, Colorado: Lelia G., at home; and Lester C .. who is employed in the International Harvester Works at Springfield, Ohio.
Dr. Whitten is a valued member of the Lutheran church, and he also belongs to the Masonic lodge and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Nokomis. In his political views he has long been a stalwart Republican. supporting the party since attaining his ma- jority. He has never sought or desired office, however. preferring to devote his undivided at- tention to his professional duties. He has a splendidly equipped office in Nokomis and does more consultation work than any other physi- cian in the county. In a calling where advance- ment depends upon individual merit he has steadily worked his way upward, and his repu- tation is not limited by the borders of his home town nor even by the county. He is known throughout central Illinois as a man of superior
skill in the practice of surgery, and the profes- sion as well as the public accords him high rank.
WILLIAM GRAGG.
William Gragg, who is engaged in the real estate business and in his operations mani- fests the enterprising spirit which has been the dominant factor in the upbuilding of the middle west. was born in Macoupin county. Illinois, on the 10th of November. 1844. He was reared to manhood in that county and re- ceived the educational advantages afforded by the common schools. Upon the home farm he remained until carly manhood, and when about eighteen or nineteen years of age came to Montgomery county, settling upon a farm near Raymond. Hle rented this land for two or three years and then removed to another farm near Nokomis, where he carried on agricultu- ral pursuits for about eight years.
William Gragg was married in Woodburn in 1863. when nineteen years of age, to Miss Amanda Drennan, a native of Macoupin coun- ty, and the young couple began their domestic life upon his rented farm before mentioned. At a later date Mr. Gragg removed to Madison county, where he continued in the operation of rented land for about four years. He then returned to the vicinity of Nokomis and pur- chased one hundred and forty acres of land, constituting a part of the farm upon which he had previously resided. There he continued to engage in the tilling of the soil until 1888. when he sold the property and took up his abode in Raymond. where he began dealing in grain and operating an elevator, following that pursuit for nine years. He purchased the elevator. but at a later date disposed of that property and went to Oklahoma, where he was engaged in the grain business for a few months. Returning, however, to Raymond, be pur- chased a racket store, which he conducted for three years and then sold out. Turning his at- tention to the real estate business, he has con- ducted many important realty transfers dur- ing the fifteen years of his connection with this line of business activity. He has dealt in real
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estate in Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Ar- kansas and South Dakota, as well as in Ray- mond and the adjoining districts, and has se- cured a good clientage. He has made large purchases and sales. and his business has con- stantly increased in volume and importance. bringing to him richly merited success.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Gragg has been blessed with three children: Alfred, who is married and resides in Litchfield; Clara, the wife of Harvey Denhum, of St. Louis, Mis- souri: and Fred, who is married and makes his home in Raymond. They also lost one child. Eddie, who died in infancy. Politically Mr. Gragg has been a life-long Democrat, east- ing his first presidential vote for General Mcclellan and his last for W. J. Bryan. He served for one term on the town board and is now township clerk, but has never been an active politician in the sense of office-seeking. Fraternally he is connected with the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows, has filled all of its chairs, and is now a past grand and was twice representative to the grand lodge of the state. He is also connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Gragg is well known throughout Montgomery county as a man of integrity and worth, and from a humble financial position he has steadily worked his way upward to one of affluence, employing only such business methods as will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.
THOMAS C. KIRKLAND.
Thomas C. Kirkland is one of the most en- terprising citizens of Litchfield. having been engaged in active business here for many years. and he has taken an active and interested part in the maintenance of the intellectual and moral as well as the material development of the city. Ile has fostered numerous local in- dustries and has contributed of his means and influence to various undertakings calculated to benefit the people of Montgomery county. He is now practically living retired, but his in- vested interests return to him a handsome in- come.
Mr. Kirkland was born in St. Louis county, Missouri, July 26, 1823. ITis father, Isaac
Kirkland, was a native of Kentucky, and was descended from Virginian ancestry. although the family was established in the Blue Grass stato at an early epoch in its improvement. Isaac Kirkland removed to St. Louis, Missouri, about the time the state was admitted into the Union. Ile was a pioneer, and followed his trade in that city and at Clayton for a long period, but later engaged in agricultural pur- suits. In 1835 he came to Illinois, settling on a farm near Jerseyville, all of which was then largely wild prairie, but several years prior to his death he put aside active business cares and located in Litchfield, where he spent his remain- ing days with his children. He died in 1881 in his eighty-fifth year and thus terminated an honorable and upright life. which had been in consistent harmony with his professions as a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. When in the prime of manhood he took a very active part in church work. His political sup- port was given to the Whig party until its dis- solution, and he subsequently joined the ranks of the new Republican party, but never sought or desired public office. He had an elder brother. Joseph Kirkland. who was a soldier of the war of 1812 and died of yellow fever contracted while serving under General Jack- son at New Orleans.
The mother of Thomas C. Kirkland bore the maiden name of Mary Malinda Mann. She was born in Kentucky in 1119 and died in 1858. Her parents were Beverly and Mary Mann, the former a farmer by occupation. His death occurred in Kentucky. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Kirkland were born nine children, namely: James and Mary, now deceased ; Thomas C .: Mrs. Cynthia Ann Irwin, who has passed away; Lucinda, the wife of Chauncey Davis, of Litchfield: John B .. a resident of Litchfield: and Eliza Jane, William A. and Fletcher, all three deceased.
Thomas C. Kirkland acquired his early edu- cation in an old log schoolhouse in Jersey county, Illinois. The path of harning was not a very flowery one for him. Indeed, his school privileges were quite limited, but he made good use of the few opportunities he had and through reading and observation greatly broadened his knowledge. In his youth he assisted in the
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operation of the home farm, and after attain- ing his majority began farming on his own account in Jersey county. The year 1849 wit- nessed his arrival in Montgomery county, where he located a land warrant, but as he had no means with which to carry on the work of improvement there he returned to Jersey county, and it was not until 1851 that he be- gan the cultivation of his farm in Walshville township, though as a township Walshville was not then organized. IIe moved his family to this place, the first home being a mere "shell," the lumber of which was hauled from Alton in 1851. Mr. Kirkland howed the house sills and other trimmings from the adjacent woods. They resided upon his first farm until 1865, when he purchased another tract of land nearby and for twenty years made it his place of resi- dence. IIe then came to Litchfield township in 1885, but he still has extensive landed pos- sessions, owning four hundred and forty-one acres in Walshville township and four hun- dred acres in Pitman and Zanesville town- ships.
On removing to this city Mr. Kirkland be- came a very active and influential factor in its public and business life. In connection with S. M. Grubbs and others he organized the First National Bank and has since been its vice president. He was one of the organizers of the Litchfield Water Supply Company, and its first president and is now one of its direct- ors. He was also one of the organizers of the Litchfield Marble & Granite Company and from the beginning has been its president. Ile owns stock in both of the banks at Hills- boro, is one of the largest stockholders in the First National Bank of Litchfield and like- wise has stock in the Mount Vernon Car Man- ufacturing Company. His realty possessions. including a comfortable home in Litchfield, have been won entirely through his own ef- forts. He has been administrator of as many estates as any man in the county and has been guardian for many children.
On the 18th of February, 1847, in Jersey county. Mr. Kirkland was married to Miss Edith Irwin, a daughter of Abijah Irwin. She was born in North Carolina and died in 1878 at the age of fifty-six years. By their
marriage there were eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The others are: Ma- tilda Ellen, the deceased wife of William F. Davis; Sarah E., the wife of R. W. Ripley, of Waggoner; Ann E., the wife of G. W. Flint, of Raymond; John Ilardin, a manufac- turer of Decatur; and Mary, the widow of E. W. Dresser, of Greenville, Illinois. Mrs. Kirkland, the mother of these children, died in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which she was long a member. in August, 1885. Mr. Kirkland was again married, his second union being with Louisa J. Peal. the widow of Robert Peal, and the daughter of James Eddings, who was a farmer and came to Montgomery county in 1850, locating in North Litchfield township.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Kirkland are identified through membership relations with the Meth- odist Episcopal church and from his boyhood he has been active in church work, serving as steward and trustee for many years and doing all in his power to promote the various church activities. Fraternally ho is associated with the Masons and politically with the Repub- lican party. He has never songht public office yet served as supervisor from Walshville town- ship and also from North Litchfield town- ship. He is a man greatly beloved in the county because of his kindly spirit and many excellent traits of character and greatly es- teemed for his probity. ITis life has been a busy and successful one, not, however, given up to self-aggrandizement, but ever domi- nated by the noble desire to aid and uplift his fellow men. A man sincere, upright and con- scientious in word and deed he is truly one of the best citizens of Litchfield.
RILEY STEVENS.
Riley Stevens. a farmer of Pitman town- ship, is a native of the Empire state. his birth having occurred in Madison county. New York, April 2. 1838. His father. Richard Stevens, was born in Vermont within the sight of the Green mountains, and from that slate removed to Madison county, where he became acquainted with and married Abbie Reynolds,
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a native of New York. It was in the county of his nativity that Riley Stevens was reared, mastering the common branches of English learning in the public schools. The west. with its developing business opportunities, attracted him when he was a young man, and in 1858 he came to Illinois, locating first in Sangamon county, where he earned his living by herding sheep. Ile was thus employed for five years. and he worked for one year as a regular farm hand. He afterward went to Christian coun- ty, Illinois, and there he first became a land- owner. investing the money which he had saved from his carnings in one hundred and sixty acres, which was partially improved. Upon this tract he began general farming and con- tinned the work of development and cultiva- tion there for four years, at the end of which time he sold that property and purchased an- other farm of one hundred and sixty acres. This he also operated for a time, but later he rented the farm and removed to the town of Raymond, Montgomery county, where he pur- chased two residences. These he placed in good condition and he resided in the town for about two years, when he sold the property there and purchased his present farm on sec- tion 3. Pitman township. Locating in Farm- ersville. he improved a good residence property there and made it his home for a number of years, but in the spring of 1904 he took up his abode upon his farm, where he has built a good house within a mile of Farmersville, He owns two good farms, the land being rich and arable, so that it returns excellent harvests for the care and labor bestowed upon the fields. His home is commodious and attractive in ap- pearance and everything about the place is in keeping therewith. an air of neatness and thrift pervading the entire farm.
In Springfield, Illinois, in 1862. Mr. Stevens was married to Miss Lottie Way, who was born in that city. She spent hor girlhood days there and in Girard. Her father, John Way. was one of the early settlers of Illinois, who came to this state from Pennsylvania. He was a plasterer and brickmason by trade. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens are the parents of four children. of whom three are living. Annie. the wife of Gaston Buchanan. a resident of Pitman
township, died March 23, 1904. leaving four children, including twin daughters. The eld- ost living child is Harriet, the wife of Frank Flood, a farmer of Bois Dare township. Frank assists in the operation of the home farm. Eddy completes the family.
Mr. Stevens is a Republican who has voted for his party since casting his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln. At local elec- tions, however, he is independent, regarding only the capability of the candidate for town- ship or county office. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Farmersville, in the work of which they take an active and helpful part, and he is now serv- ing on the official board. ITis business career has been marked by untiring energy, crowned with creditable success, for he came to the west a poor man, anxious to improve his oppor- tunities. Hard and unremitting labor gave him a start. and his economy made possible his first purchase of land, to which he has added as his financial resources have increased. He is known as a man of strict and unfaltering integrity. possessing many sterling character- istics which he inherited from his New England ancestry-a people who have ever been noted for their integrity and genuine worth.
JUDGE GEORGE R. COOPER.
Judge George R. Cooper, a member of the firm of Lane & Cooper, probably the oldest law firm of southern Illinois, has attained to a distinguished position in connection with his profession. Ho was born in Greencastle, In- diana. on the 25th of July, 1855. His father, Jacob R. Cooper, was a native of Maysville. Kentucky, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. Tle was a mechanic who learned and followed the carpenter's trade and throughout his busi- ness career commanded the respect and con- fidence of his fellow men. Ho removed from Kentucky to Indiana and became one of the in- tluential and leading citizens of the neighbor- hood. A man well informed. he kept in touch with all ideas of modern progress and im- provement and was the champion of every
JUDGE GEORGE R. COOPER
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measure that tended to promote the welfare of his community. Although reared in a southern state he was an ardent abolitionist and was a most consistent member of the Methodist church. He died in November, 1877. at the age of sixty-one years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Eliza Robinson, was also a native of Kentucky and with her parents re- moved to Indiana, her father becoming one of the pioneer farmers of that state. Earlier gen- erations of the family resided in Virginia. ITer father was also a Methodist in religious faith and in his political views was a Republican. In 1858 Jacob R. Cooper removed with his family to Illinois, settling near Coffeen. Unto him and his wife were born six children: Sa- rah M. became the wife of James M. Moore. who served his country as a soldier in the Civil war and died in 1878; Mary A. became the wife of Dayton T. Miller and after his death inarried John Deitrick, of Greencastle, In- diana ; Louisa J. became the wife of Harmon Young. a school teacher residing in Greenville, Bond county. Illinois, and her death occurred in August, 1874; William H. is a traveling salesman residing in St. Louis: George R. is the fifth of the family: and John R. is a coal miner at Coffeen, Illinois.
In the district schools George R. Cooper ac- quired his preliminary education, which was supplemented by study in Hillsboro Academy. He afterward engaged in teaching, following that profession for two terms in Bond county and for seven years in Fillmore township, but the profession of law attracted him and he en- tered the office of Rice, Miller & MeDavid in 1880. He there read for about two years, teaching school in the winter months. He afterward spent a year in the office of Judge Edward Lane and was admitted to the bar in 1882. Through the succeeding winter he again engaged in teaching and then entered the of- fice of Judge Lane, but thirty days later. en- tirely without his solicitation, was elected city attorney. After his first year in that office, in the spring of 1883, he formed a partnership with Judge Lane and the business connection has continued without interruption to the pres- ent time, this being probably the oldest law firm in southern Illinois. Mr. Cooper was elected
twice to the office of city attorney. was chosen to fill a vacancy in the position of county judge occasioned by the death of Judge Lewis Allen, in November, 1891. and in 1894 was chosen for the full term. He was nominated for supreme judge on the Republican ticket at Vandalia in 1901 to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Jesse J. Phillips. He has won distinction at the bar and on the bench. A man of unimpeachable character, of strong intellectual endowments, with a thor- ongh understanding of the law, patience, ur- banity and industry, he took to the bench the very highest qualifications for this responsi- ble position in the state government and his record as a judge has been in harmony with his record as a man and a lawyer, distinguished by unswerving integrity and a masterful grasp of every question which was presented for solution. In the private practice of law his clientage has been of a most important char- acter and the firm of Lane & Cooper is always connected with every important litigated in- terest of the district. Mr. Cooper is also a director and stockholder in the Hillsboro National Bank.
On the 10th of June. 1886, occurred the marriage of George R. Cooper and Miss Nettie Treland, a daughter of Dr. II. M. and Sarah Ireland, of Columbia City, Indiana, where Mrs. Cooper was born. Her death occurred February 24, 1887. when she was twenty-six years of age. On the 12th of December, 1894, Judge Cooper wedded Estelle S. Allen, a daughter of Professor A. P. and Josephine Allen, the latter a niece of William M. Springer. Iler father is a graduate of Asbury University of Greencastle. Indiana, and had charge of the schools in Hillsboro as principal for some the. He and his family were resi- dents of Erie, Kansas, at the time of the mar- riage of Judge and Mrs. Cooper. The latter was born at Sullivan. Indiana, in 1873, and was liberally educated. Judge Cooper has four children : Josephine, Lane. Mary and George R .. . Jr.
Both the Judge and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is iden- tified with the Masonic fraternity, the Modern Woodmen Camp and the Business Men's Club.
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