Portrait and biographical album of Knox county, Illinois, Part 81

Author: Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago; Chapman Brothers, pub
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1130

USA > Illinois > Knox County > Portrait and biographical album of Knox county, Illinois > Part 81

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In all these our subject escaped unhurt. For a brief time he was detained as forager, and was dis- charged June 15, 1865 ; returning again to Illinois, he engaged with his old employer, Abraham Clearwater, of Ontario Township, for whom he bad previously worked eight years. In company with his brother Andrew, he purchased his first land, a tract of 160 acres. The latter now lives in this township. The present farm of 160 acres was purchased in 1875. This is in an exceedingly high state of cultivation, and his success as a farmer has made itself appar- ent in almost every department in which he has had a hand.

On the 19th of February, 1873, he was married at the home of the bride's parents, in Walnut Grove Township, to Ann, daughter of Hugh Andrews (referred to in our biographies of Hugh and John

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Andrews). Mrs. Main of this notice was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 15th of May, 1849, and was only six years old when her parents first came to the United States. She received her education in Altona. and resided with her parents up to the date of her marriage. By this union there have been three children-Thomas P., Maggie M. and Jennie G. Mrs. Main is a leading member of the Presby- terian Church, and is an excellent mother and care- ful wife. The Republican party has in Mr. Main a gen- tleman who has always stood firm to its pris ciples. Though not ostentatious in his political expressions, he, however, keeps a watchful eye upon the political movements of his time.

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xon. John C. Cover is the present Mayor of the city of Knoxville. He is a stanch Re- publican and takes an active interest in local politics. Mayor Cover was born eight miles from Gettysburg, Adams Co , Pa., on the 9th of March, 1829, and is the son of Jacob and Mary (Jones) Cover, both natives of Maryland. He grew up from boyhood in the county of his birth, and his father, who was a tanner by trade, took him as an apprentice to learn the same when he was 14 years of age. Learning the trade, John followed it until 1854, at which time, being a young man of 25, with an earnest wish to get on in the world, and sturdy business principles, he launched his little boat on the wide sea of commerce, and purchased for him- self a general store in Adams County, Pa., at a point known as Flohr's Church. His efforts being pros- pered, he sold out after a successful trade which lasted until 1856, and at this time, having disposed of his property to his satisfaction, he came to Gales- burg, where he bought out a clothing store and com- menced in this line of trade. This store he retained but a short time, coming to Knoxville in 1857, and opening a provision store. At the end of one year devoted to this business he was elected City Marshal and appointed Deputy Sheriff at the same time. These offices he held four years, and in 1862 was elected Sheriff for a term of two years, afterward ap- pointed Deputy Sheriff, and in 1866, he, with Will- iam Armstrong, took a contract for the erection of an almshouse for the county. This was completed in 1867, and in the fall of that year he opened a book.

and stationery store, in which he continued up to 1883, when he disposed of the same and changed to the druggist's business. This he followed only one year, at the expiration of which time he sold out to his son, who still carries on the business.

In the year 1866-67, Mr. Cover was elected Al- derman, and in 1869-70 Mayor, which office he has filled in a manner reflecting much credit upon him and his many friends, by his just and equitable man- ner of dispensing public affairs. He holds the office of Justice of the Peace, to which he was appointed in 1885, the date of his re-election to the Mayoralty.

The subject of our sketch formed a matrimonial alliance with Isabella Mary L. Cooper, who was born at Gettysburg, Pa., Aug. 30, 1831. This happy event was celebrated Nov. 16, 1852. Mrs. Cover is the only daughter of Thomas J. and Margaret (Barr) Cooper. To Mr. and Mrs. Cover have been born one son and three daughters, as follows: Margaret E., wife of Frederick Smith, whose home is in Corn- ing, Iowa; John F .; Mary Alice, who wedded Orton B. Arms, and who resides in Knoxville, and Mabel L., the youngest daughter, at home with her parents. Mr. Cover has given his children the benefit of a thorough education, the two older daughters being graduates of St. Mary's School.

As previously stated, our subject is a public worker in all that has for its object the advancement of the moral and material welfare of the community in which he resides. He comes of the old-line Whigs and entered the Republican party as one of its char- ter members, being one of the very first to join it at the time of its founding. He cast his first presiden- tial vote for Gen. Scott and his second for John C. Fremont, and has upheld the doctrines of the party represented by the latter since that time. Mrs. Cover came of a direct line of Scotch ancestry, al- though her father and mother were both American- born, the latter entering life in Pennsylvania and the former in Maryland.

charles S. Clark, engaged as an agricult- urist on section 7 of Victoria Township, where he is enjoying success in his voca- tion and is regarded as one of Knox County's respected citizens, was born in Roxbury, Del- aware County, N. Y., June 4, 1835. He is a son of Job W. and Hepsey (Wood) Clark, natives of

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the Empire State, who were married in Delaware County in 1833. The family of the senior Mr. Clark and wife numbered six children, four of whom are still living and bear the names of Charles S., William P., Sarah E. (Mrs. Powell) and Luman R. Those dead are Marion, who married C. 1). Sorn- borger and left two children named Clifford and Clyde. The. Judson died in infancy. Upon arrival in Illinois, in 1855, they first located at Victoria Township, remaining there for two years, when they removed to Copley Township, purchasing 160 acres on section 13, and lived upon the same for one year. Thence they removed to the village of Victoria. By subsequent purchase Mr. Clark, Sr., added to his al- ready accumulated possessions 240 acres. Mr. Job W. Clark died January 24, 1884. His widow still survives him and is residing at Victoria village, aged 70 years.

Charles S. Clark, at the age of 21 years, com- menced to clerk for Whiting & Copley, with whom he remained for two years. He then 'engaged with his father in farming on shares on section 13, in Cop- ley. He worked in this way for three years, when, in 1860, he visited Pike's Peak and mined there for about nine months. On returning to Illinois, he re- sumed farming on section 13, where he remained for four years. In 1865 Mr. C. purchased 160 acres on section 8, Victoria Township, and followed farming there for one year, at the expiration of which tine he launched into the mercantile business at Victoria, in company with Homer Gaines, the partnership exist- ing for one year. He then purchased 110 acres where he now lives, adding to the same by subsequent purchases until he is now the owner of 710 acres of highly cultivated land, the greater portion of which is valued at §75 per acre. Upon his fine farm he has erected a handsome dwelling with surrounding in- provements, costing, together with other necessary and substantial buildings, $2,500. He is extensively engaged in the breeding of Short-horn cattle and the raising of cereals.

March 21, 1861, he was married to Miss Almina Hedstrom. She was born at Farmington, October 12, 1840, and is a daughter of Jonas J. and Diantha (Sornborger) Hedstrom, natives of Sweden and New York respectively. The parents came to Illinois in 1835, and the father engaged in blacksmithing at Farmington, Fulton County, and lived at that place

for four years. In 1843 he purchased 60 acres on section 18, Victoria Township, and with others joined in laying out the village of Victoria, May 11, 1849, one-third of the village plat being located on his land. At that place he also engaged in blacksmith- ing and followed the trade for some years. Mr. Hed- strom was ordained minister in 1840, and was the or- ganizer of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Ameri- can), in 1847, and the Methodist Episcopal Church (Swedish), at Galesburg, in 1852. and the Swedish Church of Victoria in 1850. Jonas J. Hedstrom continued to preach and organize churches until his death, May 11, 1859; his wife died July 6, 1874. The family of Mr. and Mrs. H. consisted of five chil- dren, three of whom survive, and are named Almina, wife of our subject ; Jane, who married a Mr. Becker, and George L.

The names of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Clark are Irwin J., Mary L., who became Mrs. N. C. Robbins; Charles D., Jennie B. and John P. In political principles, our subject is a Greenbacker. He has held the offices of Road Commissioner, School Trustee and Director, and is the present incumbent of the office of Supervisor of this town.

amuel Caulkins. Prominent among the public men of Knoxville, and holding the office of Justice of the Peace, is the subject of this brief personal sketch. He ranks high in educational circles, which enlist his sym- pathies and attention in a marked degree. He is also a deep thinker on matters of public and pri- vate good, and is an important factor in the Repub- lican party as represented in his locality.

Mr. Caulkins was born in Washington County, Ird., Oct. 28, 1821, and his father was a native ot New York, being born in Onondaga County in 1782. His grandfather, who, like his son, bore the name of Joel, was a native of New York, and a soldier of Revolutionary fame, claiming Washington as a com- mander, and drawing a pension all the later years of his life. He departed this life in Onondaga County, .V V., in which part of the State the father of the subject grew to manhood. Early in life he made the acquaintance of and subsequently married Desire

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Barnard, also a native of that county. The newly wedded pair lived in that county until 1819, at which time they removed into Washington County, in which section of the country they were pioneers. Buying a tract of timber, he laid out his farm, locating its boundaries and making that their home until 1857, when he sold out and came to Illinois, settling in Iroquois County. Here he bought a farm and com- menced to work it, which he continued the remainder of his life. His death occurred May 5, 1879, and that of his wife in 1858. In their family Samuel was the seventh child in order of birth.

Mr. Caulkins reached maturity in the county which gave him birth, and during the years of his boyhood and younger manhood assisted his father on the home farm and attended the district school for the purpose of cultivating himself and adding to his education. He had a keen appreciation of advantages of this character and improved them assiduously. He con- tinued at home up to the date of his marriage, which was celebrated Dec. 8, 1842, with Sarah Ann Stewart, a native of Ohio. Near the old homestead he bought land, which he worked until 1855, and then sold it and came to Knox County, where he bought 200 acres of land, on which a log cabin stood, and this, with the 14 acres of broken land, constituted all the improvements on the place. Nevertheless he began the cultivation of the same undiscouraged, hedged it with osage orange, erected a neat frame house, com- modious and durable, and planted fruit and shade trees. His efforts were to his credit, and the results were soon plainly apparent. He continued on his farm until 1882, when he sold and came to Knox- ville, buying his present residence on North street, and a little farm of 58 acres inside the corporate limits of Knoxville.

Mr. and Mrs. Caulkins have calmly and unitedly trodden the path of life together, one in interest, affection and purpose, and their home has been brightened by the advent of seven children, viz .: Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Harper, living in Knox Township; William, whose home is in Orange Town- ship; Henry, who also resides in Knox Township; John, living in Knoxville; Martha, wife of Frank Peterson, whose home is in Orange Township, and Mary, wife of Perry Harper, a resident of Knoxville. Mr. Caulkins and wife are devoted working members of the Presbyterian Church, and support by their -

help and presence all philanthropic, charitable and worthy enterprises, and are highly esteemed as true friends and desirable neighbors.

J. Ross, owning 70 acres of land in Victoria Township, upon which he resides, is en-

G gaged in the calling of an agriculturist and also to some extent in the raising of fine stock. His farm is located on section 10. Our sub- ject was born in New Jersey, April 14, 1835, and is the son of Benjamin and Nancy (Norcross) Ross, natives of New Jersey. The parents were farmers and had a family of Ir children, nine of whom survive, namely: Joseph, Roxana, Samuel, Andrew J., Patience, Benjamin, William, Edward and Hannah. The elder Mr. Ross died in 1856. His widow is still living and makes her home with her daughter Patience.

The subject of our sketch received a good com- mon-school education and remained upon the home farm until 22 years of age. After leaving home he engaged to work out by the month on the farm for three years, and in 1858 came to Illinois, locating in Knox County. At Walnut Creek he rented a farm, upon which he remained for two years, removing thence to near Galva, where he rented another farm for one year. He then removed to Henry County, where he again rented a farm two miles north of Galva. From there he returned to Walnut Creek, where he remained for two years, and in 1864 re- moved to New Jersey, and there lived for 18 months. Six months of this time he worked in a saw-mill and the remainder of the time on a farm. In 1866 he returned to Walnut Creek and rented until 1870, when he purchased 70 acres of land, upon which is his present home, and where he is engaged in farm- ing and the breeding of stock. He has made all the necessary improvements on his farm, and has beau- tified the same by setting out shade, fruit and orna- mental trees. Sept. 5, 1858, our subject was married to Miss Mary A., daughter of Charles and Patience (Chew) Downs, natives of New Jersey. Her parents were farmers in their native State. Mary A. was the youngest of a family of ten children, only three of whom survive. The record is as follows : Bennijah, Charity and Mary A., now Mrs. Ross. Mr. Downs

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLING'3

Clark ilam

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died in 1865. His widow is still surviving and re- sides with her son, Bennijah.

The union of Mr. and Mrs. Ross has been blest by the birth of two children-Ella and Lizzie, the latter of whom became the wife of John Goff, Sept. 3, 1885. Mr. Ross is a Greenbacker in politics.

lark E. Carr. Sometime in the first half of the 17th century, Rev. John Clark, for alleged heresy, consisting in the advocacy of a doctrine objectionable to some of those Puritans whom Mrs. Hemans said " left un- stained what there they found, freedom to worship God," considered it necessary for him to leave Massachusetts, and he joined Roger Williams in Rhode Island, where he was Acting Governor of the Province in 1669. About the same time Caleb Carr also took up his abode in Rhode Island, where he died while Governor of that colony, Dec. 17, 1695. (See Arnold's History of Rhode Island.) The son of one and a daughter of the other of these two gentlemen, Carr and Clark, intermarried, hence the union of the Carrs and Clarks, the two names whereof have since been handed down from genera- tion to generation, and hence the name of the sub- ject of our sketch, Clark E. Carr, great-great-grand- son of the two old colonial Governors of Rhode Island. His father was Clark M. Carr, and his mother before marriage was Delia A. Torrey. One of her ancestors, Samuel Torrey, was for many years a Presbyterian pastor at Salem, Mass., in the early part of the 17th century, and it is more than probable that he took a hand in the persecutions which re- sulted in driving the Clarks and Carrs out of Massa- chusetts. Clark M. and Delia A. (Torrey) Carr, natives respectively of New York and Connecticut, were united in marriage in Erie County, N. Y., where their four sons, now Gen. E. A. Carr, of the United States regular army; Col. B. O. Carr, a prominent citizen of California; Rev. H. M. Carr, of the Baptist Church, and Clark E. Carr, were born, and where Mrs. Carr, their mother, died in 1839. The father remar- ried in Erie County, and by his second wife, nee Fan- nie L. Yaw, reared a son, Capt. George P. Carr, de- ceased, and a daughter, now Mrs. J. C. Fahnnestock, of Galesburg. The family came West in 1850, spent

some time in Henry County, and located at Gales- burg, in the fall of 185r, where the father, Clark M. Carr, was for many years a prominent and honored citizen. He died in 1876, at the age of 72 years.

Clark E. Carr was born at Boston Corners, Erie Co., N. Y., May 20, 1836. From the age of five years he was kept quite regularly at school, and after coming to Galesburg went through the Sophomore year in Knox College. From here he went to Poughkeepsie (N. Y.) Law School, where he re- mained a year, subsequently entering the Albany Law School, from which institution he graduated in 1857, with the degree of LL. B. Returning to Gales- burg, he at once formed a partnership with Mr. Thomas Harrison in the practice of the law, and three years later with Hon. O. F. Price as Carr & Price, the latter partnership lasting about two years. He subsequently purchased the Galesburg Repub- lican, and for four years, as editor, made it a red-hot political paper (see Republican-Register, this volume). In March, 1861, soon after the inauguration of Presi- dent Lincoln, Mr. Carr was appointed Postmaster at Galesburg. He held this position six full terms-24 years-under Presidents Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield and Arthur, all the time the Repub- lican party was in power. He was a faithful and conscientious officer, and during his entire adminis. tration he was never censured by the department, and scarcely ever criticized. He always surrounded himself with worthy and capable assistants, and it is his boast that, with scarcely an exception, the young men who have grown up in the post-office have taken high rank as worthy and honorable citizens.

Col. Carr has labored actively in politics since he was 20 years of age, during all of which time the Republican party has been the recipient of his best efforts. He stumped his county for Fremont and Dayton, in 1856, and in the various campaigns since that date his voice has been heard in almost every State in the Union. He is regarded as one of the most powerful and effective stump speakers in the United States, and has a rare faculty of not only en- tertaining his audiences, but convincing them. Dur- ing the last four or five great presidential campaigns few men have been of greater service to his party on the stump than Col. Clark E. Carr. He has been a power felt in the East as well as the West, and in the largest cities of the country. He is graphic in his description of both men and measures, and no man

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in the nation has greater use of the powerful weapons of wit and sarcasm than he. He is a speaker of force and ability, and many of his addresses, other than purely political, have been published, republished and favorably commented upon by the leading papers of the country. At the great Union mass meeting of all political parties, held at Chicago, Sept. 23, 1863, called together for the purpose of sustaining Presi- dent Lincoln and encouraging him in his purpose of issuing his great Emancipation Proclamation, Mr. Carr was one of the principal speakers. We are per- mitted to make a few extracts from his address on that occasion. In the course of his address he said : " We are assembled here, citizens of this great re- public, for the purpose of taking counsel together upon questions of the greatest importance. Let no man call himself a Democrat to-night, or a Republi- can, or a Whig, but let us all, without party trammels or partisan interest, turn our attention to our beloved country and ask how we can best assist her in this hour of her great adversity. Let none fear that he will lose his political party. When the proper time comes, when the country is saved, when the breakers are past and the ship of state shall once more reach the open sea, then we can call into existence parties. But at this time, when treason raises its head in our very midst, let us not talk of party." * * * * *

After paying a glowing tribute to the memory of Stephen A. Douglas, Mr. Carr continued: "I am for the Emancipation Proclamation. I believe it is just and right and constitutional. The Constitution gives the President authority to put down insurrec- tion, and it follows that he has the right to make use of all necessary power to do so. If confiscation or eman- cipation, the President is authorized to proclaim con- fiscation or emancipation. It is our duty to use every- thing in our power to weaken the rebels and strength - en ourselves. In the language that fell from the in- spired lips of Patrick Henry : ' We are not weak if we make the proper use of the means which God and nature have placed in our power.' At this time God has placed emancipation in our power, as a means to put down rebellion, and it is our duty to make a ' a proper use of it.' * * *

* Is it possible that a loyal man can think the proclamation unjust?" * * *

* (A Voice-" You are an Abolitionist.") "You may call me an Abolitionist or anything if you do not call me a traitor or a sympathizer with trai- tors. What loyal man can object to the proclama-

tion ? If you are in favor of making use of all other means to put down the rebellion, why not make use of this ? Certainly we have the right, under the rules of war, to cripple the enemy in every way in our power. * * *

Free

* Soldiers in the Rebel Army have slaves in their places on the plantation. * * * the slaves and the soldiers must go home.

* I am for the Constitution which gives the Presi- dent authority to put down insurrection. It is the watchword of the enemies of the Government that they are for the Union as it was. I am not for the ' Union as it was' when James Buchanan was President- a union that would allow a member of the Cabinet to steal the arms and money of the Govern- ment for the traitors ; a union that would allow State after State to secede, without an effort to restrain; a union that would quietly see batteries planted against the fort on which waved the banner of the Republic. No, I am not for the Union as it was in those degen- erate times. But I am for the Union as it was in the days of the Fathers, when the power of the Gov- ernment was respected, when pure and wise men oc- cupied high positions, when plunder of the public property was regarded as a crime, when insurrection and rebellion were put down, when the genius of lib- erty presided at the capital. I am for 'the Union as it was.'"

Of an address delivered by Mr. Carr at a Fourth- of-July picnic in 1878, the Chicago Times editorially says: "Among the public speeches on the recent Fourth of July, one of the most sensible and timely was the plain talk of Col. Clark E. Carr, of Gales- burg. It was one of the best Fourth-of-July orations ever delivered, because, in the first place, the speaker did not say one word about the 'glorious Fourth,' or' the day we celebrate ; ' or ' the Nation's birthday' (which it is not), or rehearse any of the other cheap claptrap with which for a whole century Americans have been supplied by conceited asses, ad nauseam." It was a plain talk by a plain man, addressing him- self to an ordinary, plain, common-sense people in relation to one of the most contemptible of all the colossal shams of the times." This address was very generally copied by the press of the country. Almost every leading journal upon the continent copied it with favorable comments, as did also the leading periodicals for the instruction of the youth of the land.

It was delivered at a time when the country was

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agitated by the socialistic elements then threatening the disruption of our internal system of commerce, and arrested general attention because it was a con- clusive contradiction of the claim that the laboring classes were mercilessly ground to the earth, and without hope of relief other than in revolution. After a vivid comparison of the hardships and priva- tions endured by the pioneers of Knox County with the opportunities now opened by other Western and Southern States, Col. Carr continued : " If those men who shouted themselves hoarse in applause of the speakers at the socialistic meeting, recently held in Chicago, would make half the sacrifices and go through half of the hardships, and practice half the self-denial practiced by the men who came 1,500 miles through the wilderness forty-two years ago to locate this Galesburg colony, they would in a very few years be settled in life with such comforts as our pio- neers in this community enjoy. What a difference there is between emigrating now to the West and that of coming when those two boys, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, made their way to Illinois. Now in Nebraska and Kansas and Texas, and in most of the new States you can have a railroad run- ning to your very door. Talk about hard times now. The young man who came to Illinois and started a farm when Galesburg was settled had to give half a bushel of wheat or a whole ham to pay the postage on a letter to his sweetheart."

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Portrait and biographical album of Knox county, Illinois, Part 81

Author: Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago; Chapman Brothers, pub Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical publishing company Number of Pages: 1130

Author: Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago; Chapman Brothers, pub
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1130