USA > Illinois > Macon County > Decatur > Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois > Part 68
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In 1852 he cast his first presidential vote, supporting Pierce, and he regards it the duty as well as the privilege of every Amer- ican citizen to manifest his preference for the candidate nominated for office that the
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best interests of the country may be thus conserved. His wife was a devoted mem- ber of the Grace Methodist Episcopal church for many years and took an active part in foreign and home missionary work and in the work of the Sunday-school and young people's society. She did everything in her power to uplift humanity and to extend the cause of Christianity and hers was a noble example. Mr. Shoemaker has now advanced far on life's journey and because he, too, has lived an upright and honorable life he receives the veneration and respect which should ever be accorded one of his years.
JOHN F. KEISTER.
Prominent among the successful citizens of Macon county who are devoting special attention to the raising of stock and have met with marked success in that business is John F. Keister, whose home is on sec- tion 32, Maroa township, owning one of the valuable and well improved farms of that locality. llis possessions have all been acquired through his own efforts and as the result of his good management and ex- cellent business ability he has become one of the most substantial men of his com- munity.
Mr. Keister was born in 1843 in York county, Pennsylvania, of which state his parents, Peter and Susan Keister, were also natives. In 1850 the father brought his family to Macon county, Illinois, and was engaged in farming in Hickory Point town- ship until called to his final rest in 1889. The subject of this review was only seven years old when he came to this county, which at that time was but sparsely set- tled and much of the land was still in its primitive condition. As soon as old enough to be of any assistance he began to aid in the work of the farm, being reared to habits of industry and usefulness. At the age of
twenty-two he rented a tract of land from his father and was engaged in its operation for eight or nine years. At the end of that time he was able to purchase two hundred and eighty acres, for which he paid forty dollars per acre, and he has since bought more land from time to time until he now has three hundred and sixty acres in Maroa township and four hundred acres in Hick- ory Point township, having paid one hun- (red and twenty-five dollars per acre for the last that he purchased. He has made all of the improvements upon his home place, which is one of the best farms in the county. Besides his comfortable residence he has built large barns and other outbuild- ings for the accommodation of grain, stock and agricultural implements. At the present time he gives all of his attention to the rais- ing and feeding of cattle and is one of the best known stock men in the county. He has a fine herd of one hundred and twenty- five head of cattle upon his place. It is his custom to go to Texas and buy calves, which he brings home and fattens for mar- ket. Twice he has fed fifteen head of Here- ford cattle for the International Fat Stock Show, and on the first occasion received three hundred and fifty dollars in premiums and the second time seven hundred dollars. Ile is now feeding several head for the World's Fair, to be held in St. Louis in 1904.
In 1866 Mr. Keister married Miss Nancy A. Weaver, a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Samuel Weaver. Unto them have been born six children, namely: Charles, who died at the age of twenty-four years; Samuel, who died at the age of four : Mary, who died at the age of thirty; Frank, who died at the age of twenty-one : Ilarriet, now the wife of Fred- erick Moore, who is living in South Da- kota ; and Mabel, at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Keister are both members of the Christian church and are most esti-
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mable people, well liked by all who know them. In his political affiliations our sub- ject is a stanch Republican, and he is an honored member of the Grand Army Post of Maroa, having been one of the defend- ers of the Union cause during the dark days of the Rebellion. When the war broke out he was too young to enter the service, but in 1864 he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry under Colonel Lackey, and on the expiration of his term of enlistment was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois. His life affords an excellent example to the young in that he started out for himself without capital, but having a determination to succeed he industriously applied himself until he has acquired a good property and stands to-day among the most prosperous and substantial citizens of the county. It is his intention to retire from active bus- iness life in the fall of 1903 and remove to Maroa, where he expects to spend his re- maining years in ease and quiet, enjoying the fruits of former toil.
HIRAM H. WISE.
Hiram H. Wise, who is now engaged in the real estate business in Decatur and whose in- ventive genius has given to the world a num- ber of devices of value and importance, was born in Akron, Ohio, on the 31st of Decem- ber, 1851, his parents being William and Catherine ( Kline ) Wise, both of whom were natives of Pensylvania and were of German descent. The father was born in Union coun- ty of the Keystone state and the mother's birth occurred in Cumberland county, but they spent many years of their active lives in Ohio, where the father carried on agricultural pur- suits. He was an enterprising farmer who prospered in his undertakings and who died upon his Ohio farm in the year 1876. Hiram II. Wise is the youngest in their family of
twelve children. Those still living are : Mary, the wife of John Benner; William J .; Lydia, who is the wife of Abraham Wilhelm; Jacob; Washington; Catherine, the wife of William J. Ridgely; Hiram H. Those deceased are : Samuel, Elizabeth, Susan, Rebecca, and Peter, who died in infancy.
Hiram H. Wise spent the first nineteen years of his life in the state of his nativity, being reared to manhood upon the old home farm, while the district schools afforded him the educational privileges which he enjoyed in his youth. When a young man of nineteen years he left Ohio for Macon county, estab- lishing his home in Blue Mound in March, 1871. After attaining his majority he mar- ried and in order to provide for the expenses of the newly established household he began business as a barber, conducting the first shop in Blue Mound. It was thus he gained his start. After two years he turned his atten- tion to the music business, carrying a line of musical instruments and musical specialties in connection with sewing machines. In that store he continued until 1881, when he re- moved to Taylorville, Illinois, where he be- came a dealer in agricultural implements.
In January, 1882, however, he removed to Decatur and formed a partnership with S. M. Lutz as proprietor of a music store, which he conducted for three years. On the expira- tion of that period he sold out to his partner, who still continues the business. Mr. Wise then located on St. Louis avenue near the southwestern border of the city of Decatur and established what is known as the Wise ad- dition to the city. He is now dealing in real estate and has an excellent knowledge of realty values and of the properties that are on the market. He puts forth every effort in his power to secure the improvement of the city along special lines of progress and as a real estate dealer has excellent opportunity to aid in the substantial growth of Decatur in this way. As a real estate dealer he now has a large clientage and his business is proving
H D. M. HODGE
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profitable. His own attractive home was built on the Wise addition in 1887. While a resi- dlent of Blue Mound he also laid out an addi- tion to that place and assisted in dividing the village into town lots in 1892. Ile also gave to the city a beautiful park, which has been named Wise's Park.
Mr. Wise also possesses considerable in- ventive genius and three of the productions of his brain have come to public notice as being useful and valuable devices. He is the in- ventor of a window frame, which is so con- structed that the window may be opened and cleaned without removing the sash. This is especially valuable for office buildings. He also invented a shaft supporter and anti-rat- tler, a unique invention likely to be brought into general use. Another work of his fertile brain and busy hands is a dumbwaiter to lower into open wells for the preservation of fruit and table delicacies. Mr. Wise is continually thinking out along original lines and his ef- forts have been of considerable benefit to the world and show marked mechanical ingenuity.
In 1873 was celebrated the marriage of Hiram H. Wise and Miss Sarah E. Seiberling, a daughter of James Seiberling, one of the honored pioneers of Blue Mound, now living at the age of eighty-five years. Mrs. Wise was born in Akron, Ohio, but since her early girlhood days has lived in Macon county.
where she has a wide acquaintance and a large number of warm friends. Socially Mr. Wise is connected with Chevalier Bayard Lodge. K. P. He usually votes with the Democratic party, but is Prohibition in sentiment and has long been a warm friend of the cause of tem- perance, doing everything in his power to sup- press the sale of intoxicants. His interest in his fellow-men is deep and sincere and his co- operation has been given to many measures for the general good. In the business world he has attained an enviable position and a creditable reputation and the success which has crowned his efforts shows that ability, energy and
strong determination are important factors in the active affairs of life and that earnest, per- sistent labor will ultimately bring its reward.
HENRY D. M. HODGE.
Henry D. M. Hodge is a representative of one of the oldest families of the south- eastern part of Macon county, his parents having settled in Mount Zion township in 1831. Six years later his birth occurred on the old family homestead there, his natal day being November 12, 1837. His parents were Henry J. and Penelope (Traughber) Hodge, the former a native of North Caro- lina and the latter of Kentucky. The father was a school teacher in early days there and removed from North Carolina to a farm near Nashville, Tennessee, where he resided until 1830, when he came to Illinois. He first settled in Sangamon county, where his step-father was living and there he engaged in general farming for a year. In 1831 he came to Macon county, establishing his home in Mount Zion township, when it was all wild land. There he entered a tract from the government, upon which not a furrow had been turned or an improvement made, and the arduous task of developing a farm was capably performed by him. It was in this county that Mr. Hodge was united in marriage to Miss Penelope Traughber and the young couple began their domestic life upon the old home place situated six miles east of the village of Mount Zion. Throughout his entire life the father car- ried on agricultural pursuits and annually the rich fields accorded to him good har- vests which found a ready sale on the mar- ket. Ilis death, however, occurred when 1.c was still in the prime of life, he passing away .August 30, 1838, and his widow after- ward became the wife of Martin Blaney, of Morgan county, Illinois, who is now de- ceased. Mrs. Blaney died in the village of
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Mount Zion on the 8th of September, 1885. The subject of this review was the only child of the first marriage, but there were seven children by the second marriage, as follows: Jane, the widow of John Wana- cott, and a resident of Mount Zion : Mary. the wife of David Dickey, of Mount Zion : James, of Chicago: and Mrs. Catherine Cooper, Morrison J. Blaney and Mrs. Alice Martin, all deceased ; and one who died un- named.
Henry D. M. Hodge was only one year old at the time of his father's death. He was reared by his mother and step-father and attended the public schools. He worked on the home farm in his youth until 1858, when he went to Missouri and there he was married the next year to Miss Elizabeth Adams, a native of Platt county, that state, born January 6, 1842, a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Reed) Adams. Her father was a farmer in Missouri, but on account of ill health went to Colorado and died near Pikes Peak. His wife passed away in Mis- souri.
After his marriage Mr. Hodge took up his abode upon a farm in Johnson county, Missouri, where he lived for two years and then in 1861 returned to Macon county, pur- chasing a tract of land in Mount Zion. To this he added from time to time and now he owns two hundred and forty acres all on section 4. Mount Zion township. He made all of the improvements upon the property and developed a splendid farm, engaging thereon in the cultivation of the fields and in the raising of stock until 1888, when he removed to the city of Decatur, where he has since lived a retired life.
In 1809 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died in this city on the 21st of January of that year. Three chil- dren were born unto them: Nannie C., the eldest, born in Johnson county, Missouri. January 22, 1801. is the widow of George W. Jones and resides with her father. Her
husband was born in Mount Zion township. December 14. 1856, and was a son of Cley- bourn and Matilda (Davis) Jones, the latter now deceased, while the former is living in Decatur at the advanced age of ninety- two years. He was one of the pioneer set- tlers of Macon county. George W. Jones car- ried on agricultural pursuits throughout his entire life and died on the 18th of July. 1898, respected by all who knew him. Anderson J. Hodge, the second member of the family, was born September 8, 1862, and married Bessie Jones, a sister of George W. Jones. She died in June, 1896, leaving one child, Everett Henry, born October 8, 1889. After the death of his first wife Anderson J. Hodge married Emma Bedford, and they also re- side with his father. He is a contractor and builder and also superintends his farm in Mount Zion township. Walter J., born April 10, 1866, married . Hattie Meisin- heilder and they reside upon his father's farm in Mount Zion township. They had six children : Gertrude, Beulah. Lucile, George W., Orlan Ray, and Leo, but the last named died in 1890.
Mr. Hodge is a Prohibitionist, voting for the men and measures of the party. He has held some minor township offices, but has never been very active in political work. desiring rather to give his time and atten- tion to business affairs. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church of Mount Zion, to which his wife also belongs. In his business career he won success and his valuable farm of two hundred and forty acres is one of the best improved in Mount Zion township and is the visible evidence of his life of thrift and industry. A worthy representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Macon county, he has witnessed the development and growth of this section of the state through two-thirds of a cen- tury. Great changes have occurred during this period for Macon county has kept apace with universal progress and improvement
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and Mr. Hodge has ever been deeply inter- ested in what has been done and has borne his part in the work of public development.
JAMES MILLIKIN.
James Millikin is numbered among the founders of Decatur. He has been the pro- moter of many of its business enterprises, has aided in its extension along many lines of permanent improvement and has assisted in marked degree in making it a center of production and commercial activity that has a wide power in the business world. Co- operation in this work forms the life record of James Millikin. To say of him that he has risen unaided from comparative obscurity to rank among the capitalists of Illinois is a statement that seems trite to those familiar with his life, yet it is but just to say in a his- tory that will descend to future generations that his business record has been one that any man would be proud to possess. Begin- ning at the very bottom of the ladder he has advanced steadily step by step until he is now occupying a position of prominence and trust reached by very few men. Through his en- tire business career he has been looked upon as a model of integrity and honor, never making an engagement that he has not ful- filled and standing to-day an example of what determination and force, combined with the highest degree of business integrity can ac- complish for a man of natural ability and strength of character. lle is respected by the community at large and honored by his business associates.
Mr. Millikin is a native of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in Washington county, on the 2d of August, 1830. The fam- ily is of Scotch lineage and was established in Pennsylvania about the middle of the eighteenth century by representatives of the name who crossed the Atlantic from the land of the heather. Other branches of the family
settled in Maine and in the south, Millikin's Bend on the Mississippi river having obtained its name in this way. Abel Millikin, the father of our subject, was a farmer by occu- pation and prospered in his life work. He wedded Nancy Van Dyke, who was of Dutch lineage, her ancestors being among the emi- grants from Holland, who settled along the Hudson river, while at a later date repre- sentatives of the family established their homes in New Jersey.
Under the parental roof James Millikin spent his boyhood days and while not engaged with the duties of the farm he attended the district schools of the neighborhood, there laying the foundation for a good practical education. He also had the advantage of the more advanced instruction to be received in Washington College of Pennsylvania, where he remained as a student for three years. Ilis family and friends believed that he would be- come a member of the medical fraternity which claimed several representatives of the Millikin relationship, but the tastes and tal- ents of the young man were evidently not in this direction and he determined to come to the west, believing that in this great and growing section of the country he saw oppor- tunities for advancement along lines of busi- ness activity which he thought would be more congenial than the practice of the healing art. The year 1848 witnessed his arrival in the Mississippi valley. Ile first settled in Dan- ville, Vermilion county, and for a time was engaged in the live-stock business, there pur- chasing, raising and trading in stock of all kinds. Ile also rented farms upon which to raise his stock and in control of his business interests showed keen discernment, excellent executive ability and unfaltering enterprise. It has been upon this foundation that he has reared the superstructure of success and while he is to-day numbered among the capi- talists of Decatur an analyzation of his life record will show that his prosperity is the legitimate outcome of his own labor. With
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keen discernment he recognized possibilities which were not seen by others. Knowing that the population of Illinois was rapidly in- creasing through the emigration of people from the eastern states to the Mississippi valley, he resolved that he would make investments in land, believing that it would rise rapidly in value. Accordingly he made extensive purchases of land in Illinois and also in southiwestern Iowa, securing much of this land for one dollar and one dollar and a quarter per acre. He was the original owner of the tract upon which the town of Bement, Illinois, is now located and by purchase there came into his possession many acres of broad prairie, upon which no improvements had been made, but which in due course of time com- manded a high market price.
The rapid development of the state was manifest in Decatur as well as in other lo- calities and Mr. Millikin resolved to cast in his lot with the residents of this enter- prising and growing town. The year 1856 witnessed his arrival here, but though he changed his place of residence he did not change his occupation, but continued to deal in lands, real estate and live-stock, thus becoming recognized as one of the prosperous and enterprising men of the city. Quick to see business opportunity and to utilize it he recognized the need of a banking establishment in Decatur and in 1860 organized the private banking house of J. Millikin & Company. From that time to the present his name has figured con- spicuously in connection with the financial history of the city and he to-day stands at the head of one of the strongest, safest and largest banking institutions of Illinois. He has had different partners, but through- out the entire existence of the bank he has been its president and has exerted a con- trolling influence in its affairs. For thirty- one years the institution continued as a private banking establishment and in Octo- ber, 1897, was incorporated as the Millikin
National Bank, with James Millikin as president ; O. B. Gorin, cashier ; and J. 31. Brownback, assistant cashier. Mr. Milli- kin is still the president, while Mr. Gorin has become vice president and Mr. Brown- back cashier. These officers were elected in 1898 and since that time there has been no change. To-day the home of the Milli- kin National Bank is one of the finest bank buildings in the state outside of the city of Chicago. It is a seven-story structure, standing at the corner of Water and East Main streets and substantially equipped in every particular. This bank is a United States depository and its present deposits are about three million dollars, while its loans and discounts amount to two million two hundred thousand dollars. Its em- ployes reach the number of sixteen, some of whom have been connected with the in- stitution through two decades. From a small beginning Mr. Millikin has developed this enterprise and its almost marvelous ex- tension is duc in very large measure to his thorough understanding of the business, his keen sagacity and his unfaltering pur- pose guided by the soundest business prin- ciples.
But while Mr. Millikin is widely known as the president of the banking institution which bears his name he is also recognized as a lead- ing factor in many other enterprises which have contributed to the growth and pros- perity of the city as well as to the success of individual stockholders. He is interested in the Decatur Coal Company and is president of the Union Iron Works Company, which he assisted in organizing about 1870. Large and satisfactory dividends have always been paid by this corporation and its capital stock of sixty thousand dollars has been augmented by a surplus of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. In other lines of business enterprises his activity and aid have been felt and his wise counsel has proven most valu-
Joner Helium Pacy Decatuna
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able in the successful control of all the in- terests with which he has become associated.
In 1858 Mr. Millikin was united in mar- riage to Anna B. Aston, a daughter of the Rev. Samuel Aston, a minister of the Presby- terian church. Mr. Millikin has from his boyhood days been a member of that church and he and his wife have aided largely in its growth and the extension of its influences in Decatur, contributing freely of their means to its support and co-operating in many de- partments of its activity for the benefit of the race. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and he has been unfal- tering in his advocacy of its principles, but has never turned aside from his business course to seek the preferments of office. His broad humanitarian spirit is often manifested. but unostentatiously, he has ever been ready to extend a helping hand to those who try to aid themselves and in his business he has ever rewarded faithful service on the part of his employes. It is certainly not asserting too much to say of one who can direct and con- trol business interests of such magnitude as those with which Mr. Millikin is associated that he must possess, aside from commercial foresight and sagacity, the happy faculty of reading and judging men and that he has un- usual powers of organization and executive ability-in a word, that he must be a master mind, and yet if one would seck in Mr. Mil- likin's carcer the causes that have led to his prosperity they will be found along the lines of well tried and old time maxims. Honesty and fair dealing, promptness and fidelity, all these have been manifested in his career and in the control of the institutions with which he is associated. Decatur acknowledges her indebtedness to him for what he has accom- plished in her behalf. The city which be- came his home in the period of his carly man- hood and almost at the outset of his business career has always been very dear to him and as his means have increased he has given lib- erally and generously for her benefit and im-
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