Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois, Part 47

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 988

USA > Illinois > Macon County > Decatur > Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois > Part 47

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In 1866 Mr. Persinger was united in mar- riage to Miss Sarah Beck, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Beck, the former a farmer of Montgomery county, Ohio. She acquired her education in the Centerville Academy and in the Lebanon College of Ohio. The year following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Persinger removed to Maroa, becoming early settlers of this place, and with the business history of the town Mr. Persinger became closely identified. He formed a partnership with J. C. Beatty and opened a harness and saddlery store. The new firm prospered and in 1878 they purchased the hardware stock of Hartman Brothers. In the same year S. M. Adams purchased the hardware and implement store of John H. Crocker, and the stock of both houses was consolidated and the business continued under the name of Persinger, Adams & Company, a relation that was maintained until 1882, when Mr. Adams withdrew and the firm of Beatty & Persinger became the owners of both stores. This arrangement was continued until January, 1885, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Beatty taking the harness and saddlery business, while Mr. Persinger retained the hardware stock. He was then alone until 1889 and in the meantime he extended the field of his trade operations by adding a stock of furni- ture in 1886. Three years later he admitted T. P. Miller to a partnership in the business and the firm became Persinger & Miller, a relation that was maintained until March, 1893, when Mr. Miller withdrew, Mr. Pers inger continuing alone in the conduct of his large store. In 1894 he added an undertak- ing department and in May, 1900, he sokl his hardware and furniture stock to J. M. Ram- mel & Company. He then retired, after thirty-three years of active business life in Maroa. Not a business man of the city at that time was connected with the trade in- terests of Maroa as long as Mr. Persinger, and he always maintained a place in the

front rank as a leading, progressive and re- liable merchant. He was never known to take advantage of his fellow men in any transaction, content to realize a fair profit and valning his own self-respect and the regard of his fellow men more than wealth or position. He sold his business for sev- enty-five hundred dollars in cash, thus re- ceiving a merited reward for his life of in- dustry and enterprise.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Persinger was born one son, Rolland E., whose birth occurred in 1870. lle acquired his early education in Maroa and later attended the University of Illinois for one year. He afterward spent a year in Grant University of Tennessee and then became a student in the college at Bloomington, this state. On putting aside his text books he returned to his home in Maroa and was engaged in the hardware business with his father until 1895, when he accepted the position of secretary to the Crocker Elevator Company, which position he is now filling and the success of the bus- iness is attributed in no small degree to his efforts. The company operates six different elevators in Macon county and handles a large amount of grain raised in this locality. In public affairs Rolland Persinger is also prominent. He was elected city clerk in 1897 and mayor of Maroa in 1899, and his official service was satisfactory to the gen- eral public and reflected credit upon his own loyal citizenship. Socially he is con- nected with the Masons, belonging to the lodge of Maroa. Je is likewise a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Clinton. Ilis political support is given the Republican party and he is widely and favorably known in business, political and fraternal circles in this part of Illinois.

Mr. Persinger held membership with the Grand Army of the Republic, being con- nected with the post in Maroa. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, to which his wife also belongs, and in his po-

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litical affiliations he was a Republican, as was his father and is his son. Matters of citizenship relating to the public welfare elicited his attention and his co-operation was many times given to movements for the general good. Ile guided his life by honor- able principles and was well worthy the con- fidence and regard so uniformly tendered him. Ile died October 17, 1900, and thus one more name was dropped from the roll of Maroa's citizens who had long been ac- tive in her public and business life, but while he has passed away the work which he accomplished lives after him, and his name is honored and his memory cherished by those among whom he had long lived and labored, exemplifying in his life a high type of American manhood. His widow, now living in Maroa, owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in Macon county and a business block in Maroa, which is now oc- cupied by a grocery and restaurant. After her husband's death the old home was sold and a handsome home erected in Maroa, where she and her son are still living.

GEORGE B. SPITLER.

George B. Spitler, one of the leading bus- iness men of Mount Zion, has shown in his successful career that he has the ability to plan wisely and execute with energy, a combination which, when possessed by men of any walk of life, never fails to effect nota- ble results. For twenty years he has made his home in Mount Zion and his name is in- separably connected with its business in- terests.

Mr. Spitler was born on the 14th of April, 1854. in Luray, Virginia, of which state his parents, Wesley and Ann (Varner) Spitler, were also natives. His paternal grandfather, Abram Spitler, was a life-long resident of the Old Dominion and was of German descent, and his maternal grand-

father, David Varner, was also a native of Virginia. The father was born in 1811 and throughout the years of his active business life engaged in farming and surveying. On leaving his native state in 1833 he removed to Jasper county, Indiana, where he has spent the greater part of his life, but is now living in Effingham county, Illinois. His wife died in 1878 at the age of sixty-nine years. Ten children were born to them, but five died in infancy, those still living being Sallie, wife of J. M. Lecrone, a resident of Effingham county, Illinois ; Molly, wife of George W. Shull, of Montrose, Illinois; Abram, who makes his home in Mattoon, Illinois ; and George B., the youngest of the family. David died in January, 1891.

The house in which our subject first saw the light of day was built of log and weath- erboarded. It is still in a good state of pres- ervation and has been the home of some of the Spitler family for at least two hundred years, being now owned and occupied by Jacob Spitler. Our subject received his early education in the country schools near his boyhood home and when young learned telegraphy, acting in the capacity of oper- ator and agent for the Vandalia Railroad system for some time. He was in the train despatcher's office at Terre Haute, Indiana, for two years, and on leaving the employ of that company he entered the service of the Illinois Midland Railroad as train de- spatcher, which position he held for two years. In the meantime the office was re- moved from Paris, Illinois, to Decatur, where he remained a year and a half.

In the spring of 1883 Mr. Spitler bought a stock of goods in partnership with William Conn and opened a general store in Mount Zion, but at the end of a year he purchased Mr. Conn's interest and has since carried on the business alone. He has enlarged his store and increased his stock until he now has a first-class establishment. For sixteen years he was also interested in the grain

DWIGHT F LEWIS

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business and in 1895 built the elevator at Mount Zion now owned and conducted by W. S. Smith, selling out five years later. Mr. Spitler was the originator of the Mount Zion Telephone Company, which he carried on as organized until June, 1903, when he bought the Moultrie county line and consoli- dated the two. The latter had been estab- lished in 1806. The new system now ex- tends from Sullivan to Decatur, connecting Mount Zion, Dalton City and Lake City. and it has phones in most of the farm houses along the route, three hundred be- ing now in operation. Mr. Spitler has also been identified with other business enter- prises which have met with marked success. In 1900 he became a third owner in the Mount Zion Nursery with E. R. Hurlbert and W. B. Hunter, which business has steadily prospered from the beginning. lle has extensive farming interests in Mount Zion township and makes his home on sec- tion 10, just a short distance east of the. village of Mount Zion.

On January 18, 1892, Mr. Spitler was united in marriage to Miss Ida B. Smith, a daughter of George .A. and Martha ( Wilson) Smith, who were natives of Macon county, Illinois, their parents being from Tennessee. She was making her home in Mount Zion at the time of hier marriage. In his political views Mr. Spitler is a stalwart Democrat and for some time he served as chairman of the central committee of Mount Zion town- ship, but the greater part of his time and attention is devoted to his business interests. Since his arrival in Mount Zion he has been an important factor in its advancement and prosperity. The man who establishes on a firm basis and conducts large and paying enterprises does more for a city than he who gives large sums of money for its embellish- ment, for the former furnishes the means of livelihood to many and promotes com- mercial activity, which is essential to the welfare of any community. Mr. Spitler is

recognized as one of the prominent business men of Macon county and is a popular and honored citizen of Mount Zion.

DWIGHT F. LEWIS.

The mercantile history of Decatur would be incomplete without mention of Dwight F. Lewis, who for a quarter of a century was connected with commercial interests here and throughout that period he sus- tained a most enviable reputation, having the trust of the public to a high degree. . 1 native of Hartford, Connecticut, he was born on the 16th of July, 1829, a son of Charles and Melissa (Dodge) Lewis, both of whom were natives of Connecticut, where the father was engaged in carding wool and in the dyeing business for many years. Hle afterward came to the Mississippi val- ley and resided in Decatur until his death, while his wife also passed away in this city. There is but one of their children now liv- ing here, FI. B. Lewis, who is a retired grocery merchant, residing on College street.

To the public school system of his native state Dwight F. Lewis was indebted for the educational privileges he enjoyed, but his opportunities were somewhat limited. However, in later years, he became a well- informed man, adding continually to his knowledge by reading, observation and ex- perience. Ile was married in llerkimer county, New York, to Miss Mary Jane Grove, of Onondaga county, that state. She was born January 10, 1832, a daughter of Adam and Eliza ( Hoag) Grove. The father was a tailor by trade and both he and his wife spent their entire lives in the Empire state. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Lewis were born three children : Charles H., who now holds the position of freight agent in Decatur in connection with the Wabash Railroad Com- pany ; George T., who is also a clerk in the

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Wabash freight office, and resides with his mother; and William H., who occupies a similar position and who married Miss Laura Ryder, their home being on Marietta street, in this city.

At the time of his marriage Mr. Lewis came to the west, believing that he might have better business opportunities to gain a good living for himself and his bride in this district of the country, which was then not so thickly settled as the older portions of the east. Its rapid growth, however, furnished excellent business openings and he resolved to try his fortune in Illinois. Accordingly he settled in Rockford, where lie worked at the carpenter's trade for a few months, and then came to Decatur in 1856. The embryo city bore little resemblance to the Decatur of the present day. There were many evidences of frontier life still existing here and the town was small but its future seemed bright and Mr. Lewis identified his interests with the business affairs of the city. He worked at the carpenter's trade for four years and then with the capital he had acquired through his own energy and economy he established a grocery store on Broadway. After remaining there for a few years he removed to the corner of Cerro Gordo and Morgan streets, where he con- ducted his store for a quarter of a century. In that time Mr. Lewis became very widely known in business circles of the city and was lionored and respected by all, not alone on account of the excellent success which he achieved, but also because of the straight- forward business policy he ever followed. IIe was energetic, prompt and notably re- liable in all his trade transactions, never making an engagement that he did not fill nor incurring an obligation that he did not discharge. One of his friends remarked : "Everybody knew Dwight Lewis and liked lim." This is certainly an indication of a splendid character --- one that commanded the respect and good will of all.

Mrs. Lewis resides in a beautiful home at No. 450 North Morgan street. She is a member of the Episcopal church of De- catur and is a lady whose friends are many. In his political views Mlr. Lewis was a Re- publican of unfaltering faith in the party and its principles. He died April 26, 1900, and a feeling of deepest regret spread about the city when the news of his demise was received. In everything pertaining to the upbuilding of Decatur he took an active part and was a liberal contributor to the enterprises which insured its progress. He was a self-made man in the fullest sense of that oft misused term, his prosperity in life being due to his industry and integrity. His life was a living illustration of what ability, energy and force of character can accom- plish, and it is to such men that the west owes its prosperity, its rapid progress and its advancement.

MRS. MARGARET ANN FREEMAN.

Among the old and honored citizens of Macon county must be numbered Mrs. Margaret Ann Freeman, who is one of the few remaining " snowbirds," a name given to those who arrived here before the great snow of 1830-31. She has, therefore, wit- nessed almost the entire development and improvement of this section of the state and can relate many interesting incidents of pioneer days when this was a wild region largely covered with ponds and sloughs.

Mrs. Freeman was born on the 10th of May, 1822, in Montgomery county, Vir- ginia, a few miles west of the Blue Ridge mountains, and one of the most pleasant recollections of her childhood is that of the beautiful forest covered mountain range lying to the southeast. Her parents were Abraham and Barbara AAllen (Maury) Shep- pard, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father was

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born on the 4th of July, 1776-the natal day of this great republic-and was a son of John Sheppard, who came to this country from England in colonial days. After the Revolutionary war, Mrs. Freeman's father located near Newburg in Montgomery county, Virginia, where he rented a farm of a large landowner, and in connection with its operation he conducted a distillery, in this way using all the grain raised upon his place. With the aid of his sons, who were half-brothers of Mrs. Freeman, he hauled the finished product, together with cured pork fattened at the distillery, to Lynchburg, a distance of over one hundred miles, that being the nearest available mar- ket. For his second wife Mr. Sheppard married Barbara Allen Maury, a daughter of Jolin and Christina (Sprinkel) Maury. Her grandfather Maury, was a school teacher by profession. In September, 1830, they started west, accompanied by the smaller children of the family and a few of Mrs. Freeman's grown half-brothers. The mother and the younger children rode in an old-fashioned carryall, a wagon being the conveyance for the remainder of the party. They were many days upon the road but finally arrived in Decatur, Illinois, on the Ioth of October. It was impossible to find a house to live in as the few log buildings then on the site of Decatur were then all occupied, so the family went into camp upon some open ground adjoining the court- house, it being the present site of the St. Nicholas Hotel. There they remained until the weather became very cold and they were compelled to look for better quarters. Mr. Sheppard then rented a house on the Smallwood farm near the present city lim- its on the north but as the former tenant could not move out for a few weeks, they found temporary shelter in a blacksmith shop, which was fitted up for their accom- modation.

By his first marriage Abraham Sheppard

had five sons and three daughters, namely : James, born February 9, 1796; William, born March 28, 1799: Mrs. Mary Manley, born December 1, 1801; John, born October 25, 1803; Stephen R., who was born Jan- uary 11, 1806, and was first married in Montgomery county, Virginia, January 10, 1825, to a Miss Snuffer, and second in Macon county, Illinois, January 17, 1833, to Mary Hawks; Letitia, who was born April 24, 1808, and died in Virginia ; Russel, who was born August 16, 1810, and was married in Macon county in 1832 to Sarah Manley, but died on the 24th of June, 1839; and Rhoda, who was born December 28, 1813, and was married in Macon county to Albert Lemons. Her death occurred September 27. 1836. Five children were born unto Abraham and Barbara Allen (Maury) Shep- pard, as follows: Ifenry Allen, born Nov- ember 6, 1817, died in Montgomery county, Virginia, June 20, 1824; Margaret Ann, now Mrs. Freeman, is the next in order of birth; Elizabeth Jane, born July 3. 1824, married John Spangler, of Macon county; Leurany, born March 28, 1827, married Freeman Jones and died August 6, 1901, while visiting her sister, Mrs. Freeman, and she left several children, one of whom is Mrs. Houchin, a resident of Jefferson City, Missouri; and Rachel E., born May 19, 1829, married John Ilull, of Logan county, Illinois, and later went to Kansas, where she died in May, 1902. Her children now live near Sabetha, that state,

Amid pioneer surroundings, Mrs. Free- man grew to womanhood and on the 11th of October, 1838, she gave her hand in mar- riage to James Milor, of Ohio, the cere- mony being performed by Elijah Freeman, a justice of the peace, who lived on a farm adjoining that of her father, about three miles east of Lincoln's log cabin in Harris- town township, and who was the father of her second husband, James Freeman. Mr. Milor took up government land a mile or

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two north of Harristown and partially im- proved the place but unfortunately became ill and died in 1845 before it was proved up and it went back to the government. By that union three children were born: Will- iam Marion Milor, born August 30, 1839, married a Miss Dunlap and in 1876 went to Kansas. He had three sons, Franklin, Eliner and William. Saline Jane Milor, born December 11, 1841, was married Jan- mary 2, 1862, to Horatio J. Eyman and spent her life on a farm about two miles southeast of Warrensburg, where she died March 24. 1896. Mr. Eyman was born July 21, 1825, and died December 16, 1882. Their children were as follows: Lillie May, born December 9. 1862, died January 7, 1873; Charles W., born July 11, 1865, was killed in a planing mill in Decatur. November 5, 1893; Minnie Ann, born October 11, 1867, was married April 22, 1891, to Edwin F. Boss, of Petoskey, Michigan, where they now reside, and they have one child, L. Cecil, born November 17, 1892: John A., born August 7. 1869, now a furniture dealer and undertaker of Argenta, Illinois, was married November 22, 1900, to Anna B. Rey- nolds, of that place, and they have one child, Neffa. born January 22, 1902: James M., born September 11, 1871, was married De- cember 17, 1901, to Cora Culp and lives on the old home farm, which he owns; Arthur M., born October 8. 1873, died September 18, 1874: Sarah Margaret, born August 31, 1875, was married May 31. 1903, to Dr. F. B. Baker, of Chicago, where they reside ; Samuel, born December 25, 1878, died on the same day; and Harry Horatio, born February 7. 1883. is with his brother, John A., in Argenta. John McHenry Milor, the youngest child by Mrs. Freeman's first mar- riage, was born March 11, 1843, and was married June 13, 1875, to Eliza Cathey, at Greenville, Michigan, where he was en- gaged in the nursery business for several years and later in merchandising. In April,

1879. he removed his stock of goods to Pe- toskey, Michigan, and conducted the first exclusive shoe store at that place. He also carried on a general store up to the time of his death except for a few years when en- gaged in the manufacture of woodenware. He died October 15, 1899, leaving two children : Carroll, who was born in Green- ville, Michigan, August 28, 1876; and Win- nie E., born in Petoskey, October 17, 1879. They now reside with their mother in the latter city.

Left a widow at the age of twenty-three years with three small children depending upon her, Mrs. Freeman had to fight the battle of existence in a frontier country with the wolves howling nightly in the forest not far from her log cabin home. She was again married on the 4th of July, 1847, her second union being with James Freeman, shortly after his return from the Mexican war, in which he had served as a private in Company C, Fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted on the 27th of August, 1846, and was discharged on ac- count of illness at New Orleans, May 25, 1847, before the expiration of his term of enlistment. The first lieutenant of his com- pany was Richard Oglesby, who afterward became so distinguished and beloved by the people of Illinois. The regiment saw some severe service in the campaign under Gen- eral Taylor and in the march to the City of Mexico. A relic much treasured by the children of Mrs. Freeman is a letter from Tampico. Mexico, written by James Free- man to the young widow. Margaret Milor, proposing marriage. This was written on his learning of the death of her first hus- band. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Freeman lived on a farm southwest of De- catur, about three miles east of the Lincoln log cabin, until his death, which occurred on the 6th of April. 1860.

There were seven children born of the second union, namely: Cerilda D .. born

& P Parker

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PAST AND PRESENT OF MACON COUNTY.

April 7, 1848, was married June 25, 1876, to L. E. Mackey, now a resident of Indianap- olis, Indiana, and their children are Mar- garet May, who married John Mcclintock and has one child, Laveta Evans; and William Allen, who married Elizabeth Hoaglin and has one child, Herman Evans. Susan Lavena, born February 7, 1850, died August 30, 1859. Joel Seth, born March 28, 1852, was named for Captain Joel S. Post, who was second lieutenant in Mr. Freeman's company in the Mexican war. Matilda Ann, born March 15, 1854, is the wife of William Minson, living east of De- catur, and their children are Cland, Roy, Jessie, George, Otis and Ruth. The last named is now deceased. James Douglas, born April 12, 1856, entered the retail shoe business at Petoskey, Michigan, in 1882, and continued in the same until 1893, when he accepted a position as traveling salesman for a wholesale shoe house, with headquar- ters at Kalamazoo, Michigan. He was mar- ried October 26, 1882, to Ida M. Boss, and they have three children: Lowell C., who was born October 25, 1884, and is now a promising student of architecture and civil engineering; Homer D., who was born March 16, 1889, and died January 27, 1890; and Bessie M., born July 18, 1891. Rosella, born April 3, 1859, was married November 2, 1881, to F. B. Ritchie, a dealer in imple- ments and coal in Warrensburg, Illinois, and they had two children, Litta, born Feb- rutary 22, 1888, and Vilas Lamar, born Feb- ruary 23, 1891, who died in infancy. Rachel Emeline, born January 11, 1861, died in December of the same year.

For the past twenty years Mrs. Freeman has lived with her daughter Mrs. Ritchie at a pleasant home in Warrensburg, where she dispenses a cordial old-fashioned hospi- tality to every visitor. She is remarkably vigorous for one of her years, her faculties of sight and hearing are still keen, and being very active she still takes enjoyment in per-

forming the lighter honschold tasks. Her memory is good and she delights in telling many interesting reminiscences of pioneer days. One of these is a tale of apparent langer but with a rather Indicrous ending. One dark night her grandfather, John Shep- pard, who was then living near the Blue Ridge mountains, was aroused by a terrific noise near the river and concluded it was a band of marauding Indians, who were then quite hostile. Believing that they would attempt to kill the entire family the grand- mother hastened to aronse her children and prepare for flight, but on going out to learn the cause of the noise her husband found, to his great relief, that the disturbance was caused by two colored women who were at the river washing clothes in the old way and who, becoming involved in a quarrel, had fallen to belaboring each other with the heavy wooden paddles used to beat the gar- ments on the rocks. Mrs. Freeman has been a life-long member of the Christian church, first attending meetings in Illinois in the old courthouse at Decatur soon after the arriv- al of the family in this county. She is be- loved by all who know her and has a wide circle of friends and acquaintances through- out this section of the state where she has so long resided.

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Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois, Part 47

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 988

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 988