Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies , Part 65

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 1208

USA > Illinois > Livingston County > Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies > Part 65

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Mr. McDowell was married on the 1st of January, 1866, to Miss Emma C. Thayer, a native of New York, and daughter of Dr. Gilbert Thayer, Presi- dent of the Morgan Park Female College, of Cook County, Ill. They have an interesting family of four children-Julia M., Louis Donald. William Thayer and Isaac Price. Mr. McDowell i- a Re- publican, and during the campaign preaches the doctrines of that party upon all proper occasions. He is an enthusiastic comrade of the G. A. R. Hle and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and take a lively interest in the affairs of that body. From the success he has at- tained in the past the prophecy of a brilliant career in the future of Mr. McDowell is amply justified.

G EORGE ALBRIGHT. This gentleman is one of the most striking illustrations of the good result of energetic and persistent labor that can be found in the great State of Illinois. He commenced in life at the very foot of the ladder, without means and with little encouragement, hav- ing only his strong hands and resolute will. These,

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as will be seen. he employed to the very best ad- vantage. He is now the owner of 160 acres of the tinest farming land in Central Illinois, and his home- stead is embellished with a set of farm buildings not excelled by any in the township. The residence is built in the most substantial manner. and finished and furnished in modern style. The barns and other out buildings are admirably adapted to all the requirements of the progressive agriculturist, and the homestead is the admiration of all who pass by it. A well seventy-three feet in depth and fed from a living spring of the purest water, is operated by a wind pump of the latest improved pattern, and the general machinery of the farm is of the most convenient description and finely adapted to the general purposes of agriculture.

Our subjeet, a native of Bedford County, Pa., was born Oct. 2, 1821, and is the son of Christo- pher and Margaret ( Prakner) Albright. The former was born in Lancaster County and died while com- paratively a young man, in the spring of t828. Hte was a good business man, a wagon-maker by trade, and also fond of farming pursuits. lle owned a small traet of land, and in connection with his other business, carried on blacksmithing and the manu- facture of plows. Ile had already accumulated a good property, and left his widow in comfortable circumstances. The parental household ineluded fourteen children, thirteen of whom lived to mature years. They were named respectively .John, Cath- erine. Elizabeth, Christian, Susan, Hannah, Solo- mon, Mary, Rachel, Samuel, Jacob, Henry, George and Margaret.

It will thus be seen that our subject was next to the youngest child of his parents. He received but a limited education and early in life was made ac- quainted with hard labor. He worked some at the carpenter's trade which was the main industry of his native county. He continued in Pennsylvania until in the fall of 1848, in the meantime having been married. lle was not satisfied, however, with the result of his labors in that section of country, and on the 15th of September started with his wife and child for Washington County, Wis. He was one of the pioneer- of that section and took up a tract of land, where he opened up a fine farin of 210 acres, and at the end of eight years was worth

88,000. Ile had gone there with a capital of $300. Hle spent many a week and month chopping down the forest trees, digging out stumps and preparing his land for enltivation, but in the end felt duly repaid for his labor. After a residence of twenty years in Washington County, in which he carried on carpentering as well as farming, he sold out in the spring of 1867, and coming to this county, purchased 160 acres of land in Pleasant Ridge Township. Eighty acres of this had been broken and he soon had the whole under a good state of enltivation.

Mr. Albright, while a resident of Bedford County, Pa., was united in marriage with Miss Charity A. Smith, the wedding taking place at the home of the bride, July 2, 1845. Mrs. Albright was born in Bedford County in 1826, and by her union with our subject became the mother of four children. Of these Rebecca married William Bell, and lives in Pleasant Ridge Township; Margaret A. is the wife of Albert Gray, of Pleasant Ridge Township; and Bellzenia married George Gray, brother of the above, and they are living with her parents. Mr. Albright, politically, is a Democrat of the first wa- ter. lIe cast his first Presidential vote for William H. Harrison and nothing has availed to turn him from his first principle. Solomon and Samuel Al- bright, two brothers of our subject, are carrying on farming successfully in Washington County, Wis.

h ENRY HILTON, who resides on section 34, Avoca Township, is a native of England, and was born in Yorkshire, the largest county in the Kingdom, situated in the north part, and having on the cast the North Sea and land- ward the counties of Durham, Westmoreland, Lanca- shire, Cheshire, Derby, Nottingham and Lincoln. The surface is very much diversified. In the northwest are some of the highest mountains of England, and elsewhere barren moors, alternated with some of the richest tracts in the Kingdom. The rivers are all tributary to the Ouse and Humber, excepting the Tees forming the northern boundary, and the Rib- ble in the extreme west. Yorkshire is an agricult- ural, grazing and manufacturing county of the first

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rank, while the west division of the county is the chief seat of mining and manufacturing industry. York, the second city of England in point of rank, though not in size or commercial importance, is a parliamentary and municipal borough, and is the capital of Yorkshire. In this county the subject of our sketch was born on the 2d of August, 1822.

Ilenry Hilton is the son of James and Illanah Hilton, both natives of England. In the spring of 1830 with his parents he emigrated to America. taking passage at Ilull on a sailing-vessel, and after an ocean voyage of about six weeks landed at New York City. His parents settled in Chautauqua County, N. Y., where they resided many years. They were the parents of nine children, six of whom survive. William died Oct. 13, 1887, in Chautauqua County, N. Y .; John is in the East; James, in Indiana; Thomas, in Minnesota; Henry; Anna, Mrs. Thomas Starr, of Dunkirk, N. Y .; Eliza, Mrs. Fox, also of Dunkirk, N. Y.

The subject of this sketch was reared to man's estate in Chautauqua County, N. Y., and received but a moderate education at the common schools in that county. In the spring of 1850, during the ex- citement consequent upon the discovery of gold in California, he went to that State, arriving in Au- gust, 1850. Ile remained there as a miner nntil the fall of 1851, when he went to Oregon, and was en- gaged there in various occupations. In going to Cali- fornia he went via the overland route and returned by the way of the Isthmus of Darien to New York State, where he remained for several years.

On the 6th of January, 1863. Mr. Hilton was married to Harriett Odell, who was born in New York City on the 20th of March, 1830. She was the daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Odell, her father being a native of New York and the mother a Virginian by birth. To Mr. and Mrs. Hilton have been born six children, five of whom are liv- ing: Sophia is the wife of George Day, of Pleasant Ridge Township; Josephine, Mrs. Elliott Gifford, of Lin County, Kan .; Belle, wife of George Cot- tingham, of MeLean County, Ill. ; Emma and Julia. In 1865, with his family, Mr. Hilton came to Liv- ingston County, and settled on his present farm in Avoca Township, where he has continuously resided. He owns forty acres of well-improved land, which

is well equipped in the way of buildings and fences. He has been a hard-working man all his life, and whatever he possesses is the result of his own industry and good management. He has served as School Di- rector, in which position he has given good satis- faction. Politically he votes and acts with the Re- publiean party, and he and his wife are both con- sistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the affairs of which they take an active interest. They enjoy the respect and esteem of all the people by whom they are surrounded.

OIIN KINGDON. Our subject comes from original English stock, being a native of Devonshire, one of the best known counties, on account of the thriftiness of its people, in England. Ile is now successfully engaged in farming and stock-raising on section 17, Sullivan Township. His birth occurred on the 24th of No- vember, 1839, and he was the second in a family of five children. His parents were Henry and Eliza- beth (Westcott) Kingdon, natives of England. The paternal grandparents were Henry and Mary King- don, and the maternal grandparents were Christo- pher and Mary Westcott, who were born in En- gland. The father of our subject was a farmer and Imtcher in that country, and in the former occupa- tion our subject was reared. He received his edu- cation in the private schools, and was considerably advanced when, at the age of seventeen, he resolved to try his fortunes in the New Workl. On the 15th of April, 1858, he set sail from Plymouth on the sailing-ves-el " Cape St. Roque," and after a very pleasant voyage of four weeks, he landed at Quebec. From there he went direct to Peoria County, where a brother was living, and immediately engaged at farm labor. In September of the following year he en- listed, in Peoria County. in Company II, 47th Illi- nois Infantry, and was in the service four and one- half years. During the time he was in the army he participated in the engagements at Corinth, Cuya- hoga. Holly Springs, Nashville. Vicksburg and other places. During the latter part of the war Mr. King- don served in the 2d Iowa Battery, to which he had been transferred, but was again returned to his reg-

LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

iment. He was honorably di-charged at Springfield, Ill .. in February. 1865, as Third Sergeant, and im- mediately went to Woodford County, where he en- gaged at farm labor for one year. and then attended rented land for one year.

On the Ist of March. 1868. at Chillicothe. Ill .. Mr. Kingdon was married to Miss Mary Thorne. who was born in Devonshire, England, on the 6th of November, 1847. She was the fourth in a fam- ily of ten children born to William and Deborah (Pas-more) Thorne. who were natives of England and emigrated to this country in 1857. The father died in Peoria County in 1883, at the age of sixty- four years; the mother still resides in that eounty. The father of our subjeet eame to this country. and after remaining for a while, returned to En- gland, and died at the age of sixty-five. The mother died two weeks after reaching America.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kingdon set- tled on a rented farm near El Paso, where they re- mained for one year. Mr. Kingdon came to Sul- livan Township, Livingston County, in February, 1869, having purchased eighty acres of wild prairie the previous fall. Ile had built a house upon the land, into which the family moved on the date above mentioned, and then began in earnest the work of improvement and cultivation. Since then he has added eighty acres, and now owns 160 acres. all under an excellent state of cultivation. The house and barn are among the best in the township. The barn now standing is the second he has built upon the place, as the first one was destroyed by lightning when it was filled with hay, oats, imple- ments and horses, the latter being the only part of the contents saved. Mr. Kingdon has stocked his farm with Clyde and Morgan horses, graded Dur- ham cattle, Poland-China hogs and a limited num- ber of fine wool -heep. He has not been very act- ive in polities, but what attention he does give in that direction is in the interest and for the benefit of the Democratic party. He has been Overseer of Highways, and for twelve years ha- discharged the duties of School Director.

Five children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mr -. Kingdon, and they are all living. Their names are Edwin James, Cora Elizabeth, John, William Ervy and George. They are all at home

with their parents, and are being given all the op- portunities possible for proenring an education. They are all bright and intelligent children, and will doubtless live to be a credit to their parents and an honor to themselves.

R OBERT S. MeILDUFF. It is a notable fact that the larger per cent of the leading lawyers of Illinois of to-day belong to the younger generation, and this can be ac- counted for by the fact that within the past three or four decades the facilities for obtaining a legal education have been much increased, both in the schools and colleges, while the literature of the law has received important additions. The system of reports now in vogue in the States, and the numer- ous current publications peculiar to the profession, are great aids to the modern disciples of Blackstone which the older generations did not enjoy, and the libraries of the younger generation of progressive lawyers may be found freighted with all the neces- sary adjuncts.

Mr. Mellduff, the senior member of the firm of Mellduff & Torrance, in reaching his present envi- able position at the bar, has availed himself of all valuable publications of the day, and has constantly kept himself abreast with the decisions and opin- ions of the best legal minds of the day. He is a Pennsylvanian by birth, having been born in Hunt- ingdon County on the 1st of June, 1848, and is the son of James and Agnes M. (Speer) MeIlduff, natives of County Down, Ireland, and Huntingdon County, Pa., respectively. County Down, Ireland, has furnished the United States some of her best Irish-American citizens. It is a county in Ulster, and contains a population of 295,000, most of whom are intelligent farmers. Agriculture is ear- ried on with great skill and success. The capital is Downpatrick, which claims to be one of the oldest towns in Treland, having been the place of residence of the ancient native kings of Ulster, and the chosen residence of St. Patrick, who founded religious es- tablishments here and presided over them until bis death, in 493.

James Mellduff came to America in 1834, and

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first settled in Philadelphia, engaging in a commis- sion house as accountant. He was a graduate of the Belfast Academical Institute at the age of twenty, and in his studies had fitted himself for a navigator, but his father protested against his en- gaging in that vocation. His father was John Mc- Ilduff, a farmer who lived and died in Ireland. Ile had a family of four children, two of whom are living-James and Edward, the latter residing in Brooklyn, N. Y.

James Mcilduff was married at Cassville, Hunt- ingdon Co., Pa., in 1847. From 1835 he owned and ran a line of boats on the Pennsylvania Canal until 1848, when steam knocked the canal-boat out of water. Subsequently le engaged in merchandis- ing at Cassville and Eagle Foundry, and continued in that business till 1854. Then, after settling up matters, he came with his family to Dwight Town- ship, Livingston County, in 1855, and engaged in farming, breaking the first farm ground in Dwight Township in 1855, He continued farming until 1866, when he retired, and moved to the village of Dwight, where he has since resided. He served as Postmaster three years, Police Magistrate thirteen years, and has also held the offices of School Di- rector, Justice of the Peace, and Town Clerk. Ilis children, all now living, are: Robert S .; Agnes C., a teacher in the Dwight schools, and Thomas E., now engaged in the mercantile business at Memphis, Tenn.

The parents of Agnes M. Speer were Robert and Agnes (Cowen) Speer, who were natives of County Antrim, Ireland, and came to America in about 1822. They settled near Shade Gap, Huntingdon Co., Pa., where they engaged in farming, afterward .removing to Cassville, where he carried on mer- chandising, lumbering, farming, and buying and shipping grain. They had a family of nine chil- dren, three of whom are living: Agnes M., Mrs. Mellduff; Isabella H., Mrs. Baker, of Dwight, Ill., and Hon. R. Milton Speer, of Huntingdon, Pa.

Robert S. Mellduff spent the years from 1855 till 1866, except 1859 and 1860, on a farm, and had the usual experiences of Illinois farmers' boys of that period. He had the benefit of the public schools only of that time, working on the farm dur- ing the summer and going to school in the winter,

either walking nearly three miles from home, or, when so fortunate as to get the opportunity, doing , chores for his board for some one in town. From beginning school until he quit, in 1867, the entire time of his attendance would not aggregate more than five years, all at the Dwight school except one year at Cassville before his father removed to Illi- nois. The public schools of those days did not occupy the advanced position of to-day, and the Directors of the Dwight school forbade the Princi- pal. O. F. Pearre, now Police Magistrate of Pontiac, teaching Latin, geometry and trigonometry to By- ron Smith, son of Col. Smith, 129th Illinois Volumn- teers, and Mr. Mellduff. Mr. Pearre pluckily said he would hear them recite at recess and noon, and to Mr. Pearre the subject of this sketch feels greatly indebted. In the fall of 1867 he became Assistant Postmaster, and acted in that capacity till the spring of 1868, when he returned to Penn- sylvania, and began reading law with his uncle, Mr. Speer, remaining one year. During this time he took lessons in grammar, English and Latin. Upon his return to Dwight he was employed to teach the grammar department of the public school, and taught two terms, at the same time prosecuting his law studies. In the spring of 1870 he returned to IIuntingdon to finish his law course, and was ad- mitted to the bar on the 13th of August, 1870, by Hon. George Taylor, Presiding Judge, after an ex- amination by a committee of the bar appointed by the Court.

After his admission to the bar Mr. Mellduff re- turned to his home and there remained till Janu- ary, 1871, when he went to Bolivar, Polk Co .. Mo., where he hung out his shingle, remaining five or six months. He then came back to Dwight and remained till the spring of 1872, having charge on two or three occasions of the Dwight schools dur- ing the temporary absence of the respective Prin- cipals. In the spring of that year he went to Kan- sas City and opened a law office, remaining till the fall of 1874, when his western ardor was cooled by the grasshopper plague. On his return to Dwight he formed a partnership, Oct. 26, 1874, with L. G. Pearre, for the practice of law, which firm contin- ued till April, 1878, when it was dissolved by mu- tual consent. Mr. Mellduff continued the practice

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of law at Dwight until the 11th of October, 1881, when he removed to Pontiac, where he has since remained. In 1880 he was elected State's Attor- ney, in which capacity he served four years, and during that time never had an indictment quashed. He reluctantly consented to be a candidate for re- election, but because of his vigorous prosecution of offenders against the laws, was defeated, al- though he led every other candidate on his tieket from Elector down. He was elected Alderman from the Third Ward in Pontiae, in 1885, and served one term. The present law firm of MeIlduff & Torrance was established Jan. 1, 1884.

Mr. MeIlduff was married, on the 11th of Novem- ber. 1875, to Miss Mary J. Paul, a native of West- moreland County. Pa., daughter of James and Martha ( Braden) Paul, natives of the same county. They have three children-Helen S., Gratia P. and Howard J. Mr. Mellduff and family ocenpy a pleasant residence on South Mill street, and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Chureh, in which congregation they stand high. Mr. Mell- duff is one of the most prominent men at the Liv- ingston County bar. He is an advocate of unusual force and power, and as a political orator his sery- ices are much sought in campaign time by com- mittees of the Democratic party.

OHN H. CURYEA, in the spring of 1876, came to Fayette Township and purchased 320 acres of land not far from the village limits of Strawn, where he has since carried on general farming and stock-raising, and is recog- nized as a prominent and well-to-do citizen. He keeps from forty to sixty head of graded Short- horn cattle. numbers of which he feeds and ships annually and receives therefor a good round sum. Hi, skilt and experience in agriculture have given him a leading position among the men of his class, where he is no les- respected for his personal worth than for his excellent business capacities.

Our subject i- a native of the Old Dominion, born in Shenandoah County Nov. 3, 1830. Ilis parent-, John and Lydia (Sager) Curyea, were na- tives respectively of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and the father was a mechanic early in life, but

later engaged in farming. Ile came to the West. in 1843, locating in Ottawa, LaSalle County, where he followed milling for a period of over twenty years. Before coming to this State he had carried on shoemaking in Virginia and Ohio for a period of twenty years. He acquired a moderate amount of property, and spent his deelining years retired from active labor. The parental household included four sons and five daughters, namely, Mary Ann, Cincinnati J., John 11., William M., Atha D., Julia Ann, Isabella, Emeline and George W. They are all living, with the exception of Atha, and all mar- ried except Isabella.

The subject of this biography left home soon af- ter reaching his majority, and was employed as a farm laborer three months, and then for two years was occupied in mining in California. This was in 1852 and 1853 and spring of 1854. Subsequently he engaged as a stock-dealer, buying and selling in Coles County. He then sought a new field of op- erations in LaSalle County, of which he remained a resident ten years, and at the expiration of that time accumulated a snug little sum of money, a part of which he invested in the land which he now occupies. Upon this he has effected great improve- ments since taking possession, so that it has become one of the most desirable homesteads in Livingston County.

More than thirty years ago, on the 12th of Feb- ruary, 1856, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Manema MeMunn, of Coshocton County, Ohio, and born in 1838. She is the danghter of Samuel and Sarah (Burt) MeMunn, who were among the most worthy members of the farming community of Coshocton County, but passed to their long home many years ago. The young peo- ple first began housekeeping in Mattoon in 1857, and the household cirele was gradually enlarged until they became the parents of mine children : Charles D., now a resident of Strawn; Norah V. is the wife of Robert A. Hamilton, a general merchant of Strawn; Sally married B. F. Landis, of Fayette Township; Frank married Miss Mollie Goembel, and is farming ir Fayette Township; Luey, Ger- trude, Belle, John B. and George W. are at home with their parents.

Mr. Curyea meddles very little with political

& Beardoler

fr. JE. Hilton

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LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

matters, but defends anti-monopoly doctrines. He was elected to represent Fayette Township in the County Board of Supervisors in 1879, which office he held three years, and has been School Trustee also for three years. He is considered entirely re- sponsible and reliable, and a solid citizen of whom the township may justly be proud.

C ELESTUS BEARDSLEY, of section 27, Es- men Township, is a model farmer and dairy keeper. He was born in the town of Mc- Donough, Chenango Co., N. Y., on the 22d of No- vember, 1823, and was the fourth child of a family of ten. His parents were Belah and Rebecca (Smith) Beardsley, natives of Litchfield County, Conn., the father of the village of Kent, and the mother of Goshen; their parents emigrated to New York during their youth. The paternal grandpar- ents were William and Rachel (Benton) Beardsley : he was a farmer, and fought in the War of 1812 as a private, being crippled in the hand by the burst- ing of a gun. The maternal grandfather was Jo- seph Smith. The father of Mr. Beardsley was a practicing physician the greater portion of his life, and died in his ninety-fourth year, on the 6th of July, 1887. He was born on the 5th of October, 1793. His long and eventful career was one of great usefulness, and he was devotedly attached to his profession. His last days were spent with his children, who resided in New Jersey, His excel- lent wife was born on the 24th of April, 1795, and died in March, 1875.

Mr. Beardsley was educated in the common schools, and worked on a farm until he was seven- teen years of age; he then followed the tow path on the canal. At seventeen he left home, and for the next seven years his life was a checkered one; he worked at all kinds of common labor, as oppor- tunities presented themselves, and on the 19th of August, 1847, at the age of twenty-four, he was married, the lady of his choice being Amanda Palmer, the second child in a family of six born to George R. and Mary Ann ( Briggs) Palmer, natives of Rhode Island, where Mrs. Beardsley was born on the 9th of June, 1826.

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Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies , Part 65

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers Number of Pages: 1208

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 1208