Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois, Part 73

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 73

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After his marriage Captain Glore pur- chased a farm in South Wheatland town-

ship, three miles southeast of Decatur, where he spent his remaining days, carry- ing on general agricultural pursuits and also worked at the mason's trade during the busy season. His life was one of activity and usefulness. He died February 27, 1886, respected by all who knew him because in all life's relations he had been loyal to duty. honorable in business, generous in friend- ship and loving and considerate of his fam- ily. For fifteen years he served as a school director in South Wheatland township and the cause of education profited by his earn- est efforts in its behalf. In politics he was independent, supporting the men rather than the party. However. he kept well in- formed on the issues of the day and took great delight in all political arguments. In all his business undertakings he was very successful. Socially he was connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Decatur and he maintained pleasant rela- tions with his old army comrades through his membership in the Grand Army Post of this city. He held membership in the Christian church, to which his wife yet be- longs and there was in his career naught that could be censured by his fellow men. because he had been ever actuated by hon- orable motives. After his death Mrs. Glore resided upon the home farm until 1890, when she returned to Decatur and purchased her present residence at No. 412 South Main street, where she and her two chil- dren now reside.

J. S. BUFFMEYER.

For many years J. S. Buffmeyer was ac- tively identified with the farming interests of Macon county but is now living a retired life on section 2. Whitmore township, hav- ing acquired a competence which enables him to lay aside all business cares and en- joy a well earned rest. Ile was born on

EAlmare .

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the 14th of November, 1834, in Pennsyl- vania, of which state his parents, Joseph and Anna (Shaffer) Buffmeyer, were also na- tives. He was their only child. In 1856 the family removed to Ilinois and first lo- cated west of Chicago. Subsequently our subject became a resident of McLean coun- ty, this state, and from there removed to Moultrie county. It was in 1879 that he came to Macon county and purchased forty acres of land on section 2, Whitmore town- ship, which had already been placed under cultivation. Later he added to his farm another tract of forty acres on section 11, just across the road from his former pur- chase, and he was actively engaged in the operation of his land for some years. In connection with general farming he engaged in stock raising to some extent and met with good success in the raising of hogs. Since 1896 he has practically lived retired, leaving the management of the farm to his son Joseph, who now devotes considerable attention to the raising of fruit. The farm is very productive and yields a handsome return for the care and labor bestowed upon it.

In 1854 Mr. Buffmeyer was united in marriage to Miss Mary Hartman, of Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, and to them have been born ten children, those still living being John, who is married and lives in Oregon ; Joseph, who is single and resides upon the home farm ; Benjamin, who is married and also follows farming in Whitmore town- ship: Lou, wife of Frederick Myers; and Annie, at home.

Mr. Buffmeyer has served as school di- rector one term and as ditch commissioner five years, being the present incumbent in the latter office. He and his family are members of the German Baptist church and stand high in the community where they reside. Hospitality reigns supreme in their pleasant home, which is a modern frame residence, surrounded by spacious lawns,

beautiful shade trees and an abundance of flowers. In his political affiliations Mr. Buffmeyer is an ardent Republican and he takes quite an active and influential part in local affairs, his opinions carrying weight with his neighbors and many friends.

ENOCH A. GASTMAN.

Enoch A. Gastman has a record hardly paralleled in the history of the country for through forty-one years he has remained at the head of the Decatur schools. Several times has he handed in his resignation, but each time the school board and his fellow townsmen have urged him to remain in the position, which he has so honorably and creditably filled. No city in this great com- monwealth has a better school system than Decatur and this is attributable in large measure to the earnest efforts, marked abil- ity and untiring devotion of Enoch A. Gast- man. He has been so closely and promi- nently connected with the educational and moral interests here that no history of the community would be complete without the record of his career. It is a widely acknowl- edged fact that the most important work to which a man can direct his energies is that of teaching, whether it be from the pulpit, from the lecture platform or from the schoolroom. Its primary object is ever the same, the development of one's latent pow- ers that the duties of life may be bravely met and well performed. It would be im- possible to estimate the influence of the life of Mr. Gastman upon those with whom he has come in contact, but there are hun- dreds of people who have been under his instruction and who acknowledge their in- debtedness to him for so shaping their course in early years that in later life they have become valued factors in the affairs of the various communities in which they have lived.

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PAST AND PRESENT OF MACON COUNTY.

Enoch A. Gastman is a native of New York city, but almost his entire life has been passed in Illinois and he has the deep- est love for the state which has so honored him. His natal day was June 15, 1834, but in April, 1838, he was brought to McLean county, the family home being established near Hudson. His early life was quietly passed in a manner not unlike that of most boys of the period. Books were always a source of pleasure to him and his interest in the work of the schoolroom prompted him to enter upon the teacher's profession as he neared manhood. He was twenty years of age when on the Ioth of October, 1854, he first took his place in the school- room as an instructor, being employed in Saybrook, Illinois. In the year 1855 he was a student in the Illinois Wesleyan Univer- sity and in the following year he accepted a position as teacher in Kappa, Illinois, where he remained for nine months, or throughout the scholastic year. In 1857 he entered Eureka College and on the 5th of October of that year he matriculated in the Illinois Normal University. It was on that date that the institution opened and he was graduated with the first class on the 29th of June. 1860. On the 10th of the following September Mr. Gastman became connected with the schools of Decatur, being assigned to a position as teacher in the third grade. In the spring of 1861 he taught a three months' term of school in Hudson, Illinois, and on the 12th of July, 1862, he was ap- pointed the first superintendent of the city · schools of Decatur and the first principal of the high school. Here he has remained con- tinuously since. To give an entire history of his life would be to present a faithful picture of the work done along educational lines in Decatur. During the forty-one years of his active superintendency marked progress has been made, Decatur keeping abreast with the universal improvement along educational lines. At first Mr. Gast-

man received a salary of only two hundred and seventy dollars for six months' term of school, but gradually he was advanced un- til he has received on an average of seven- teen hundred and twenty-eight dollars and fifty cents per year for each year of the four decades in which he has been superin- tendent. Only twice during this entire period has he ever spoken of salary to the school board. At the beginning of the sec- ond year he was re-appointed to his posi- tion with no advance, while another man doing the same work received an increase of five dollars per month. Mr. Gastman spoke of this matter to the school board and was given the increase. Later, when he was receiving a salary of nine hundred dol- lars per year he was offered a school in a neighboring city with the salary of twelve hundred and fifty dollars per year. Wishing to accept the more remunerative position, Mr. Gastman asked to be released from his contract with Decatur and the board replied to this request by advancing his salary to twelve hundred. Many important positions have been offered him, for his reputation has spread far and wide and his name has been inscribed high on the roll of prominent educators in Illinois. Again and again he has received flattering offers, and at one time he decided to accept one. Accordingly he presented his resignation to the school board, but it was at once proposed that his salary should be advanced to twenty-five hundred dollars per year and that he should be elected for a term of five years. Certain- ly no higher testimonial of the public re- gard or of his great usefulness could be given. As long as Mr. Gastman wishes to remain in the position it is undoubtedly his. lle has, indeed, become a part of the school system of Decatur. He has instituted many measures of the greatest and most perma- nent benefit to the schools : his own zeal and interest in the work have inspired and en- couraged his teachers : and his co-operation

PAST AND PRESENT OF MACON COUNTY.

with the pupils has led to splendid results along character development as well as in- tellectual progress. As far as possible he has become personally acquainted with all of the students and has watched with keen interest their course in life after leaving school. During his superintendency more than a thousand diplomas have been as- signed to the graduates of the high school of Decatur and thus leaving his guidance young men and women have gone out in the world, many of them to attain to promi- nence and honor in the active, useful and important walks of life. Mr. Gastman has always been a close and earnest student of social and economic questions and of all things pertaining to the progress of the world. His interest of course has centered along the line of his chosen field of labor and he has been quick to adopt all new measures which he believed would contrib- ute to intellectual progress and improve- ment. l'ublic spirited in an eminent de- gree his labors have been of the greatest benefit to Decatur and his name figures con- spicuously in connection with the educa- tional history of the state. For a half cen- tury he has been a teacher of Illinois and for thirty-two years of that time has been a member of the state board of education, during which time he has been acquainted with all of the state superintendents, being a personal friend of all but two of the num- ber.

In July, 1862, Mr. Gastman was united in marriage to Miss Frances .1. Peterson, of Sublette, Lee county, Illinois, who died seven months later, and in August, 1864, he was again married, his second union be- ing with Miss Caroline S. Sargent, of Clare- mont, New Hampshire. At the time of their marriage she was a teacher in the Decatur schools. Unto them five children were born, those still living being Elizabeth G., wife of John H. Powell, of Seattle, Wash- ington ; and Louise, at home with her pa-

rents. Frances died at the age of three years. Winthrop E., who was a graduate of Michigan University and an electrical engineer by profession, died at the age of twenty-five years. Floyd .A. died at the age of nineteen while a freshman at Ann Arbor. The two sons died in 1893 within ten days of each other. Mr. and Mrs. Gastman have a pleasant home on West North street. where they have resided for thirty-eight years.

NEWTON F. PICKLE.

Twenty-two years have come and gone since Newton F. Pickle became a resident of Macon county, where for some years he followed farming, but is now living a retired life in De- catur, his home being at No. 2075 North Church street. He is a native of Bedford county, Tennessee, born June 29. 1834, a son of John and Delilah ( Lefler) Pickle, who were also born in Bedford county, where the mother died when her son Newton was a lad of four- teen years. The father was again mar- ried, his second union being with Miss Sarah Cheeves. Hle remained upon a farm in his native county until 1863, when he took up his abode in Johnson county, Illinois, while Fater he established his home in Pope county, Ill- nois, where he continued to engage in general farming until his death. There were two children of the family who came to Macon county, the brother of our subject being Jo- seph Pickle, who arrived here about 1880, set- tling in the village of Macon, where he con- ducted a meat market for a short time. He then engaged in the hardware business for a few years, after which he took up his abode upon a farm in South Wheatland township and engaged in the cultivation of the fields there for a few years. He next removed to Piatt county, but after a short time returned to Macon county and lived retired in the city of Decatur until his death, which occurred May 2, 1900.

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PAST AND PRESENT OF MACON COUNTY.

The educational privileges which Newton Pickle received were meager, as liis studies were pursued in a log school-house in his na- tive county. Farm work early became famil- mar to him through the assistance which he rendered to his father in the cultivation of the fields on the old homestead. After reaching adult age he desired to start out in life for him- self, and sought a companion and helpmate for the journey. In Bedford county he wedded Miss Margaret E. Musgrave, a native of the same county, born December 29, 1840, a daughter of Thomas and Harriet ( Forbes) Musgrave. Both parents passed away in Ten- nessee. The father, who devoted his life to farming, died on the 14th of July, 1855. The young couple began their domestic life upon the old home farm and remained in Tennessee until 1859, when they removed to St. Francis county, Arkansas, where Mr. Pickle engaged in farming for two years. He then returned to his native state, but in October, 1863. re- moved to Johnson county, Illinois, where he followed agricultural pursuits until 1881, when he came to Macon county, Illinois. His first home here was a farm two miles east of De- catur, but after a short time spent on that place he took up his abode in Friends Creek town- ship where he remained for four years. He next removed to Maroa township, where he carried on agricultural pursuits for five years. He then purchased a farm of eighty acres in Whitmore township and continued its cultiva- tion for four years, after which he sold the property on the Ist of March. 1896, and re- moved to Decatur, where he purchased a lot and built his present home. He owns a large lot and nice residence on the north side of the city and this property is the visible evidence of his life of industry, for he has nothing that he has not gained through his own labors, being entirely a self-made man.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Pickle were born five children : Thomas N., who married Harriet E. Barber and resides in Decatur : Mary Delilah, who died at the age of three years ; James M.,

who wedded Emma Phillips and is a grocery clerk of Decatur; Martha E., the wife of Charles A. Dickey, of Moweaqua, Illinois ; and William F., who married Maud Withgott and is engaged in the real estate and loan business in Decatur.

Mr. Pickle votes with the Republican party. and while living in, Johnson county held some local offices, but has always preferred to de- vote his energies to his agricultural interests, and from the tilling of the soil he has gleaned a comfortable competence which now enables him to rest from further labor.

MICHAEL DEMPSEY.

Michael Dempsey. a retired mail agent living in Decatur, was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, on the 29th of September, 1830. His father, John Dempsey, followed the sea and was in the Spanish service at the time of our subject's birth, being cap- tain of a Spanish man-of-war. The mother died when her son was but two or three months old and he was left an orphan at the early age of six years, being then reared by strangers. He obtained a common- school education in Ireland and his first independent step in life was taken at the age of nineteen years when he emigrated to America, crossing the Atlantic in a sail- ing vessel, Mount Washington, which dropped anchor in the harbor of Boston, on the 2nd of July, 1849. He then went into the country and spent four years in Pel- ham. New Hampshire, working as a farm hand. Later he went to the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, where he learned and fol- lowed the stone-cutter's trade and thus he gained a start in the new world. While re- siding in Lowell, Massachusetts, he was married in 1854 and in the spring of the following year he came to Illinois, arriving in Clinton at midnight, accompanied by his wife and his brother-in-law, William Dunn,

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and his wife. Clinton was then a small town with little business prospects. Mr. Dempsey worked as a marble-cutter there until about 1859.

In 1861 in response to the call of his adopted country for aid to crush out the rebellion which threatened the destruction of the Union, Mr. Dempsey enlisted in Company E, Sixty-eighth Illinois Volun- teer Infantry as a private. He was after- ward transferred to Company B, Seventieth Illinois Infantry as first sergeant and was in active service for five months, being dis- charged in October, 1861, at Alton, Illi- nois. He then came to the city of Decatur and in the spring of 1863 removed his busi- ness here, locating at the corner of Pine and West Williams street, where he has since made his home. He began working at the marble cutter's trade and followed that pursuit for a number of years. About 1876 he entered the railway mail service and remained in that capacity for twelve years on the Wabash Railroad. Six months be- fore the expiration of Grover Cleveland's administration he was given his discharge for political reasons. although he had long been a faithful representative of the mail service. Since 1888 he has lived retired.

On the 26th of February, 1854, Mr. Demp- sey was united in marriage to Miss Mary Dunn, a native of Queens county, Ireland, who emigrated with her brother to the new world in 1850. She was educated on the Emerald Isle and was a daughter of Peter and Mary (MeCabe) Dunn, who spent their entire lives in Ireland. For forty-one years Mr. and Mrs. Dempsey traveled life's jour- ney together and the wife was then called to her final rest May 5, 1895. By that mar- riage there were eight children, two of whom died in infancy: John S., a marble worker of Springfield, wedded Miss Mary MeGorey, of Decatur, and they have one child, Flora. Peter J., who is represented elsewhere in this volume, is the second in the family.

Mary is the widow of T. A. Russell and lives with her father. She has two children, William E. and Margaret Louise, but the latter is known as Jessie. Catherine is the principal of the Wood street school of De- catur and is a graduate of the college at Oregon, Illinois. Thomas F. is a printing contractor, who married Mamie Garber and they have one son, Peter (). Lucy I., the youngest of the family, is acting as her father's housekeeper. Mr. Dempsey and his children are members of St. Patrick's church, to which his wife also belonged. Mr. Dempsey owns a good house and lot in Decatur, his home being one of the best on the street and the plans for this were drawn by one of his daughters.

JACOB W. KOHR.

When after years of long and honorable labor in some field of business, a man puts aside all cares to spend his remaining years in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil, it is certainly a well deserved reward of his industry.

"Ilow blest is he who crowns in shades like these .A youth of labor with an age of ease,"

wrote the poet, and the world everywhere recognizes the justice of a season of rest following an active period of business life. Mr. Kohr is now living retired at his pleas- ant home on section 5, Whitmore township, and his history is one that shows the ac- complishment of well directed labor.

A native of Pennsylvania, he was born in York county. Jannary 18, 1846, and is the ninth in order of birth in a family of ten children, all of whom lived to be grown. His parents, Louis and Rebecca Kohr, are now deceased. He passed the days of his boyhood and youth in the Keystone state and is indebted to its public schools for the

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PAST AND PRESENT OF MACON COUNTY.

educational advantages he enjoyed. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted in Com- pany B, One Hundred and Thirtieth Penn- sylvania Volunteer Infantry, and after nine months in the service was discharged. On account of failing health he subsequently went to Minnesota and was engaged in steamboating on the Mississippi river for a time.

In the fall of 1868 Mr. Kohr came to Ma- con county and took up his residence on section 5, Whitmore township, where he at first purchased seventy acres and later added to it a tract of forty acres and still later eighty more acres, but he has since sold eighty acres to his son Samuel after the latter's marriage. In his farming opera- tions our subject met with marked success and as he found that the raising of hogs proved quite profitable he devoted consid- erable attention to that industry. The house he erected upon his place in 1868 is still standing in a good state of preserva- tion, and in 1892 he built a good barn, has set out trees of various kinds, and he has a number of soft maples which he has raised from the seed. Although his land was full of ponds and sloughs when it came into his possession he has tiled and drained it, and to-day has a very desirable and attractive farm under excellent cultivation. Since 1896 he has practically lived a retired life, leaving the labors of the farmn to younger hands.

On the 14th of October, 1868, in Whit- more township, was celebrated the mar- riage of Mr. Kohr and Miss Helen Brown, a daughter of Rev. Ephraim and Jane Brown, who are pioneers of this county and live east of our subject in Whitmore town- ship. Three children bless this union : Ida, Samuel and Nellie. The son, who resides on section 5, Whitmore township, married Ida Birchfield and has two children: Wel- ma and an infant son.

Mr. Kohr is one of the standard bearers

of the Republican party in his community and does all in his power to insure its suc- cess. Ile is now serving as highway com- missioner and his official duties have always been most faithfully and conscientiously discharged. In the work of public improve- ment he has ever borne his part and has never withheld his support from any enter- prise which he believed would prove of pub- lic benefit. When he came to Macon coun- ty the villages of Oreana and Argenta had not yet sprung into existence, and much of this region was still wild and unimproved.

ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH.

The first Catholic service ever held in Decatur was conducted by Rev. Father Pendergast in July, 1853, at the residence of Mrs. Marvin on West Main street. At the close of that service Mary Phalin was baptized, she being the first child to receive that ordinance in the Catholic church in Decatur. Father Pendergast continued his labors as rector of the Catholic organiza- tion in Decatur for one year. In 1854 Rev. Father Cussack, a traveling priest, succeed- ed to the rectorship and continued in the same until 1859. In the early days of the church, services were conducted at private residences, one of the favorite places for holding the meetings being the log cabin of Michael Phalin, which was located on the site of his present residence on West Macon street. At this time the Great Western (now the Wabash) Railroad was in process of construction. Among the contractors and construction men were a number who were members of the denominational church in the east and the attendance at mass in the early days was considerably augmented by delegations from this laboring class. The attendance at mass finally became so great that it was necessary to find a more com- modious place for worship, and during the

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early days of the pastorate of Rev. Father Cussack, mass was celebrated in the old brick court house, which was located in the southeast corner of Lincoln square.

In 1857 Rev. Father Cussack raised money enough to erect a frame church building on a lot in the 700 block on West Prairie street. The lot was donated to the cause by a Mr. Shepherd. In 1859 Rev. Father Vogt was sent to be rector of the church and remained until 1870. The corner stone of St. Patrick's Catholic church, lo- cated on East North street, was laid on March 17 (St. Patrick's day), 1863, and was occupied for worship during the following winter.

Rev. Father Walsh succeeded Rev. Father Vogt in 1870 and remained rector until 1873 when Rev. Father Hickey, now vicar general of the diocese, became rector and continued until 1876. Very Rev. Father Joseph Macken succeeded Rev. Father Hickey in 1876. During the pastorate of this pious and assiduous priest the church attained its greatest growth. During his administration, which lasted for a period of over twenty-five years, every branch of the church was thoroughly organized and equipped for assiduous work, and before the death of the priest, which occurred in the month of March, 1898, the membership of the church included over three thousand souls. The new parochial school building adjoining St. Theresa's academy was built during his rectorship, and the convent, which had formerly been the property of the church, was transferred to the order of the Ursuline Sisters. The magnificent parish residence on the lot at the rear of the church was bought from Moses Stafford for twenty-five thousand dollars a short time before Rev. Father Macken's death.

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Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois, Part 73

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