USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 70
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On severing his connection with Haverly's band Mr. Wiley returned to Peoria in 1884 and for six years thereafter was manager of the Grand Opera House. Gradually he drifted into politics and during Mayor C. C. Clarke's administration was alderman of the first ward. He set himself resolutely to the task of bringing about needed reforms and improvements that would bene- fit the entire city and succeeded in reducing the price of electric lighting from a dollar and a half to ninety cents. He was chairman of the lamps and light- ing committee of the city council and, although his position was bitterly con- tested, he won a big victory for the people. He has ever been recognized as an honorable. straightforward man, whose activities are resultant and whose interests have never been measured by the inch rule of self; on the contrary, he has looked to the welfare of the majority and in public and private con- nections his labors have been an clement for progress. In 1894, during the second session of the fifty-fourth congress, he was taken to Washington by Representative Joseph V. Graff and became assistant door keeper in the house of representatives, so continuing until 1911, when a democratic congress was assembled and he was succeeded in the office by one of that political faith. However, Senator Cullom and Senator Cummins of Iowa were numbered among his warm personal friends and through their influence and that of Senators Smoot and Lodge of the committee on senate patronage Colonel Wiley was made a door keeper on the senate side for life, the appointment coming to him in recognition of his long and efficient service for the people and the nation as a soldier and in other capacities. It was a just tribute to his worth and ability and to his long manifested fidelity to the interests of the people at large.
Colonel Wiley's fame as a musician extends from ocean to ocean. He was national bugler for the Grand Army of the Republic at the encampments held under the direction of General Wiser of Wisconsin and under Corporal Tan- ner of Washington. His experience as a national bugler covered five weeks' of a tour made by distinguished generals and organized by General Alger. Or the tour were General Sickles, General Tom Stewart of Pennsylvania, General O. O. Howard, Corporal Tanner, Major Burst of Chicago and General Warden of Massachusetts. They traveled through the doubtful portion of eleven states in the interest of sound money and protection during the Mckinley campaign. Colonel Wiley then returned to Chicago and joined the "flying squadron" for McKinley, a company formed of governors and cx-governors, with whom he traveled through the state of Illinois. Colonel Wiley has figured prominently in all efforts of this kind and in all the prominent musical events of Illinois as band master, soloist, cornetist or bugler. During 1898 he spent five weeks in Ohio in the campaign for Governor Nash. He was for two weeks in the campaign in Cleveland, Ohio, as bugler in the interest of Representative James Southard. He was also for ten weeks in the campaign for Richard Yates, then the nominee for governor of Illinois, during which period he visited every county in the state. When he was attending the World's Fair in Chicago, he as a bugler gave the signal that closed the Fair. At the St. Louis Exposition in 1904 he had charge of the Indian band at the Indian school, and afterward toured the country with this organization for about two years.
On July 15, 1872, in Peoria, Illinois, Mr. Wiley was married to Miss Alta Wilson, a daughter of Levi anl Mary ( Pickering) Wilson. Mr. Wilson was one of the pioneers of Peoria county and had for years been foreman of the Rock Island railroad shops, but lived retired at the close of his life. He died in 1900 and Mrs. Wilson passed away in 1903. Mr. Wiley was an honored member of the Masonic order and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Maccabees and the Musicians Union. He also had long been a member of the old Peoria Choral Union.
His ability, natural and acquired, as a musician, while of the highest order. is not all that has won him popularity and prominence in this state and through-
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out the country. He had the qualities which make for leadership in political circles, the sound business judgment, the keen insight, the sagacity and the alertness. Added to these his geniality and unfeigned cordiality have rendered him popular wherever he is known and won for him a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintances.
ALBERT SALISBURY.
Albert Salisbury is well known in Peoria as a pioneer railroad man and an honored veteran of the Civil war. He has a record of thirty-nine years' identi- fication with railroading, first as track foreman, later as freight conductor and then as passenger conductor and his service was continuous, with the exception of two years which he spent as a member of Sturgis' Independent Rifle Com- pany. He has now retired from active life and is living at No. 1108 North Madison street. He was born in Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, January 27, 1829, and is the son of Cumins and Harriette (Smith) Salisbury, the former a native of Rhode Island and the latter of New York. The father was a pros- perous farmer and secured his first tract of land from the government in 1835.
Mr. Salisbury was educated in the public schools of Hudson, Michigan, and began his active career as a railroad man in 1852, when he obtained a position as track foreman with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. He was later promoted to the position of freight conductor for the Chicago & Alton line, which had headquarters in Bloomington and ran trains between that city, Alton, Joliet and Chicago, which reached Chicago over the Chicago, Rock Is- land & Pacific Railroad, with the Rock Island employes as pilots. Upon the out- break of the Civil war in 1861 Mr. Salisbury resigned his position and enlisted in Sturgis' Independent Rifle Company, which was armed and equipped by Solomon Sturgis, of Chicago. He served nineteen months, spending most of that time in West Virginia. He was present at the engagement at Rich Moun- tain on July II, 1861, and was transferred to Washington after the first battle of Bull Run. Here he acted as provost guard in General Mcclellan's body- guard. He was given his honorable discharge in November, 1862, and returned to Peoria, resuming his duties as passenger conductor, with which line of occu- pation he was actively identified for thirty-nine years, when he retired with a comfortable competence.
In Peoria Mr. Salisbury was united in marriage to Mrs. Jane (Keits) Slater, a daughter of Edward and Catherine Keits, of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Salis- bury have one daughter, Mrs. Ida Pfeiffer, who is residing at No. 1108 North Madison street.
Mr. Salisbury gives his political allegiance to the Socialist party. He be- longs to Bryner Post, No. 67, G. A. R., and is also a member of the Order of Railway Conductors of Peoria. During the years of his active service he worked steadily, judiciously and with untiring energy, faithfully performing his duties and obtaining recognition as a reliable, competent and trustworthy man. He well deserves his period of rest for it was earned by diligence and industry.
OLIVER J. BAILEY.
About the time of the close of the Civil war, Oliver J. Bailey was a sturdy farmer's son about twenty years old, with no particular education beyond that which the common schools of his county afforded. Prevented by the war, which threw upon him the care of his mother and sisters from regular school attend-
ALBERT SALISBURY
THE CW URK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
ance lie bought a copy of Blackstone, and another of the English Common Law, and proceeded to take the first step toward the attainment of his life's ambition. The history of Peoria is more or less a history of similar cases, of men who supplemented the defective education of the schools of their time, by strict application, resolute determination and unflinching will. Oliver J. Bailey was determined to be a lawyer. How well he succeeded in this, his life record shows.
Oliver J. Bailey inherited from his father the qualities which made his life successful. When he was two years old, his parents, Morrison and Mary Bailey, removed from Arcadia, New York, where Oliver was born in 1846, to government land in Illinois. Morrison Bailey's farm was in Will county, near Joliet. He worked indefatigably, farming, and selling and improving, and finally disposed of his farm at a profit, and removed to Iowa. Then the war broke out. Oliver Bailey's father enlisted in 1862, Thirty-Second Iowa Volunteers, and served his regiment as quartermaster through the war. Oliver was thirteen years old when upon his young shoulders devolved the care and support of his mother and sisters. Those were days when even the boys of the country must be men, and Oliver assumed his great responsibility unfalteringly. He entered the store of Nathan Hungerford, and worked there for five years, burying his great ambition to be a lawyer, in order that his mother and the younger children might have his care. As soon, however, as his father's return left him free to follow his own plans, he went straight to Illinois where he man- aged to be appointed deputy circuit clerk of De Kalb county, and began studying law in carnest under General F. P. Partridge. Mr. Bailey was admitted to the bar in 1868, and his legal career since that time has been a series of successes. Nothing could conquer the farmer boy and his Blackstone of fifty years ago.
Mr. Bailey started the practice of law immediately upon his admission, and by 1872 was successful enough to be admitted to partnership with James H. Sedgwick, and they practiced at Sycamore, Illinois, and later removed to Chi- cago, where their law practice grew and extended until it was at last very suc- cessful. Later Mr. Sedgwick and Mr. Bailey moved their law business to Peoria. B. L. T. Bourland, even at that time a leading business man of the city, had charge of the Peoria branch of the Aetna Life Insurance Company's investment agencies. The business was an extensive and complicated one, and the company wished to place a responsible man in the position of general attor- ney for their interests to work with. Mr. Bourland. They chose Mr. Bailey for the place, and the firm of Bourland & Bailey soon became one of the most extensive and prosperous firms in the state, a preeminence which it holds to this day.
The position in which Mr. Bailey found himself at this time, called for the keenest legal acumen, shrewd far-sightedness and consummate ability to handle men and things, and these requisites were never lacking. The legal business which it involved was far-reaching. Great interests were almost always at stake, and upon the good judgment, the care and watchfulness of the general attorney, these interests depended. Mr. Bailey proved himself the man for the position. He was admitted to the United States supreme court in 1878.
Mr. Bailey did not allow his law business, extensive though it was to engross his entire attention. He was essentially a public man, active in municipal af- fairs. His career as a banker might have filled the life and taken the entire time of a more ordinary man. He was for some years president of the Central National Bank, and of the Title & Trust Company, and vice president of the Dimes Savings Bank. He is also interested in the educational and philan- thropic institutions of his city. He is president of the board of trustees of Bradley Polytechnic Institute and of the Cottage Hospital Association and Friends Home. He holds the same high executive office in the Young Men's Christian Association and is vice president of the board of trustees of the John C. Proctor
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Endowment and is at present giving much of his time and attention to this charity.
In 1865 Mr. Bailey married Miss Mary E. Needham, of Geneva, Illinois. They have two children, Ralph Needham and Edna Lillian Bailey. He is a stanch republican politically, and a firm believer in the tenets of the Congrega- tional church. Mr. Bailey stands today an acknowledged success. He has accumulated a large fortune during his life, which he manages with sound judgment and helpful charity. He is vitally interested in all movements for the material, moral and educational welfare of his city, in whose future he has the most loyal faith. Peoria is proud of Mr. Bailey, as she is proud of every one of her many broad-minded, intelligent public-spirited citizens.
ANDREW J. GRIMES.
Andrew J. Grimes, a well known attorney of Peoria, has here been engaged in the practice of law since 1899 and has also devoted considerable attention to the real-estate business during the past decade. His offices are at No. 129 Nortlı Jefferson avenue. His birth occurred at Cadiz, Ohio, in September, 1841, the parents being Anderson and Ann Grimes. In 1849 the father, a retired merchant, came with his family to Peoria, Illinois.
Andrew J. Grimes pursued his education in Peoria until graduated from the high school and then secured employment as clerk in a store, while subse- quently he became a traveling salesman for a wholesale firm of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Later he became a partner in the wholesale clothing establish- ment of Bennett Brothers & Company, being thus identified with mercantile interests until the partnership was dissolved in 1889. Subsequently he turned his attention to the study of law and in due time was admitted to the bar by the state and federal courts. Since 1899 he has been an active legal practitioner of Peoria, and the large clientage accorded him is proof of the enviable reputa- tion which he has gained in the field of his chosen profession. During the past ten years he has also been engaged in the real estate business to some extent, successfully dealing in western lands.
In 1888, in Peoria, Mr. Grimes was united in marriage to Miss Ella P. Palmer, of Maine, her parents being G. W. and Elizabeth Palmer, both of whom are deceased. Her father was engaged in the jewelry business in the Pine Tree state. Mr. Grimes resides at No. 117 West Armstrong avenue in a building which he acquired by purchase. He has during the past few years erected several houses which he has sold. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has served as county supervisor for a period of six years. Fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America, and professionally he is connected with the Peoria Bar Association. He is well known in Peoria and has a large circle of friends in professional and social circles.
HERBERT FOX.
Herbert Fox, a well known grain sampler of Peoria, where he has been following this occupation for the past twenty-three years, is a native of Eng- land, his birth having occurred at Sheffield, on the 26th of July, 1865. His father was William B. Fox, who died in the mother country in 1867. Herbert Fox was brought to this country by George Thompson, who settled in Peoria county in 1871, following agricultural pursuits. Our subject attended the dis- trict schools until he mastered the common branches and while pursuing his
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studies assisted in the cultivation of the fields and the care of the stock until he was thoroughly familiar with the practical duties of the farm. It was on this farm that he laid the foundation for the business which he has since suc- cessfully followed, through his practical experience with the various cereals, in the different stages of their development. Such information can only be acquired through actual experience, as has oftentimes been demonstrated, and the knowledge which Mr. Fox there gleaned has been of inestimable value to him. Agricultural pursuits did not have enough attraction for him, however. to make them his life vocation and in 1888 he left the farin and found employ- ment with the Board of Trade in October of that year, where he has been employed in the same capacity as grain inspector up to the present time.
In this city on the 23d of July, 1891, Mr. Fox was united in marriage to Miss Mollie Robinson, a daughter of James M. Robinson, and they have be- come the parents of two children : Harry R., who is a youth of nineteen years ; and Gladys May, who has passed the seventeenth anniversary of her birth.
The fraternal relations of Mr. Fox are confined to his membership in Charter Oak Camp, No. 87. M. W. A., and in politics he is a republican. He is one of the best-informed grain men in the city and is recognized as an authority in his line and has met with excellent success in his business.
JAKE E. STILWELL.
Jake E. Stilwell, who for twenty-five years was engaged in railroading in Peoria but is now live-stock inspector at the Union Stock Yards, was born in this city on the 6th of August, 1854. He is of Scotch and German extraction and is a son of William Stilwell, who for many years was engaged in blacksmithing here.
Peoria has always been the home of Jake E. Stilwell, who pursued his educa- tion in the public schools until he had attained the age of thirteen years. After terminating his school days he began earning his living, as an employe of the Comstock-Avery Furniture Company, for which firm he worked for several years. In 1876 at the age of twenty-two, he entered the service of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company in the capacity of fireman. He dis- charged the duties of this position for two and a half years at the end of which time he was made night foreman in a round house. Ten months later he was promoted to the position of engineer, serving in this capacity for twenty-one years, during nineteen of which he was detailed to passenger service. Mr. Stil- well made an excellent record while railroading, never having sustained an in- jury during the twenty-five years he was in the service and having met with but one accident. This misfortune occurred two miles west of Bishop Hill, Illinois, where his train left the track and turned completely over, but no one was in- jured. He gave up railroading. to turn his attention to commercial pursuits and for several years thereafter was the proprietor of a grocery store at the corner of Monroe and Morton streets. He subsequently disposed of this store and in 1904 was appointed live stock inspector at the local stock yards, where he has been discharging the duties of this position for the past eight years.
In 1878, Mr. Stilwell was united in marriage to Miss Mary Heinerman, of this city, a daughter of Andrew Heinerman, a brick mason by trade and a native of Germany, as is Mrs. Stilwell.
More than thirty years have elapsed since Mr. Stilwell was initiated into the Masonic fraternity in which he has attained high rank, and six years ago he af- filiated with Mohammed Shrine. His political indorsement he gives to the repub- lican party and his fellow townsmen have rewarded his party fealty by electing him as alderman from the first ward on several occasions. He served in this
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capacity from 1898 to 1905, at the expiration of which time he refused to permit his name to be put up for reelection, but three years later he again assumed the duties of this office and continues to serve in this capacity. Mr. Stilwell has es- tablished an excellent record for upright manhood and honorable citizenship dur- ing the long period of his public service and highly merits the esteem and re- spect he is accorded in the community.
CHARLES E. NIXON.
Charles E. Nixon, whose name heads this sketch, is the proprietor of the Nixon Printing & Paper Box Company, one of the largest concerns of its kind in the city. He was born in Eureka, Woodford county, Illinois, October II, 1854. The family left that city when Charles Nixon was two years old, and settled in Toulon, Illinois, where they remained for twenty-five years. Charles Nixon was educated in the grammar and high schools of Toulon, Illinois, and after his graduation started immediately in the printing business, in which he is still engaged. In 1888 Mr. Nixon came to Peoria to find a larger field for his efforts.
The name of Nixon today stands for all that is best in the printing line in the city. Mr. Nixon has no hobbies that anyone has heard of, except the one of doing his work as it should be done and doing it intelligently. He possesses an industry which his will never allows to falter and his prosperity is due to his unflagging industry, his close study of the situation as a whole and his utilization of opportunities as they presented themselves.
Mr. Nixon has moved his shop several times during his twenty-five years in the city, but has always been faithful to Washington street. He is now located at 112 South Washington street and is doing a prosperous business there, which is increasing in extent from year to year. Mr. Nixon has never taken an active part in political controversies or sought public office, although his affiliations are in a general way republican. He is active in the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Maccabees, and is a member of the Creve Coeur Club and the Association of Commerce.
In 1890, in St. Louis, Missouri, occurred the marriage of Mr. Charles Nixon and Miss Maude Benner of Peoria. They have one daughter, Helen Margaret, who is now attending the Chicago University,
JOHN F. KING.
Broad and varied have been the interests which have claimed the time and attention of John F. King, and his activities have brought him into close con- nection with the history of Peoria, of which city he is one of the oldest living native sons. He is a son of Samuel Brick and Josina (McComsey) King, the father a native of New Jersey and the mother of Ohio. They were residents of Urbana, Ohio, both coming to Peoria on September 20, 1831. The journey between the two places, which is now only a comparatively short one, then re- quired many days for they crossed the country in a wagon drawn by oxen, travel- ing under the most primitive conditions. Hardships were features of the trip and there were perilous incidents to pioneer travel that were also to be guarded against. The days had lengthened into weeks before they reached their desti- nation for they were able only to cover a short distance between sunrise and sunset and then camp out along the way for the night. When six weeks had passed, however, they reached their destination. This was the year before the
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JOHN F. KING
Tikk PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONE.
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Black Hawk war occurred. Throughout a radius of sixty miles there were only sixty-five people. A few scattered log cabins along the river constituted the nucleus of the present city of Peoria. In fact there were about twelve fam- ilies in all and conditions of life were such as one usually meets on the frontier. The village was known as Fort Clark and communication with the outside world was difficult. It was not until 1835 that steamboats made trips up and down the river, bringing the little village into closer connection with the outside world. The district around about was wild, undeveloped and unimproved and there were many evidences of Indian occupancy in this part of the state. Wild game of all kinds could be had in abundance and wolves made the nights hideous with their howling. It was amid such surroundings in the little frontier village that John F. King was born. The father was successful in business, as success was counted in those days, and in 1842 he built a pottery on the present site of the Central high school. He had learned the potter's trade while still living in Urbana and his knowledge and previous experience enabled him to conduct a profitable business after establishing his factory in Peoria. Eventually however, he sold his pottery to George Alter and withdrew from that industry to open a drug store of which he remained in charge for ten years. Ile then sold out to take a position of government store keeper, in which capacity he served for a decade. In 1870 he became government gauger at Peoria under General Hen- derson. Ten years afterward he retired from active business and on the 4th of November, 1887, he passed away in Peoria in the eighty-second year of his age. In his family were fourteen children, three of whom are now living : Samuel T., living in Newhall, Los Angeles county, California; Mrs. Martha ]. Patee, of Indianapolis, Indiana ; and John F., of this review.
There were no public schools in Peoria during the carly boyhood of John F. King, but he utilized such books as were at his command in the acquirement of an education and all through his life has broadened his knowledge by reading, observation and experience. He became a bricklayer and general building con- tractor. The business grew continuously and he ultimately added a mantel and grate store with which he was connected up to the time of his retirement from active business about eighteen years ago. In the meantime his establishment had become an extensive one, his sales reaching a large annual figure, for he handled all the latest goods in his line that the markets afforded and did most attractive work in supplying the needs of his many patrons.
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