USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > Portrait and biographical album of Vermilion county, Illinois, containing sketches of prominent citizens of all the governors of the state, and of the presidents of the United States, Volume I > Part 25
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James and Lania (Hardman) Parrish, the parents of our subject, were natives respectively of Bel- mont and Coschocton counties, Ohio. The Par- rishes were originally from Pennsylvania, in which
State the mother's family also flourished quite na- merously at an early day. The parents were mar- ried in Kosciusko County, where the father success- fully pursued his trade of carpenter and joiner, and lived to be seventy-two years old. The mother died when our subject was a lad of seven. leaving besides himself, an older brother, Joseph. and a sister younger. Hannah. now Mrs. W. B. Shane, who lives in Smithfield, Ohio.
G UY C. HOWARD. Among the most promi- nent merchants of Armstrong, Mr. G. C. Howard takes the lead. He is noted for his success and excellent business qualifications. Ile was the son of Joseph, whose father, Nathan, was a native of Ohio, and who was of English descent. This gentleman came to Ilinois among the pio- neers, and located three miles northeast of Dan- ville. Ilis wife, Nancy, was of Irish ancestry. This worthy couple were blest with six children; Joseph, Clinton, Milton. Richard: Julia, who mar- ried C. Campbell, and died in this county; and one other, who died quite young. Our subject's father. who was born in Ohio, is the eldest of these chil- dren. Here he was united in wedlock with Miss Barbara Snyder, a daughter of Asa B. Spyder. who was also a pioneer. Of this marriage there was but one child. our subject. The father had been pre- viously married to a daughter of Ralph Martin. another pioneer of this county. It was here in Vermilion County that the father died in the year 1850, eighteen months after the birth of their son. The mother lived and devoted all her attention to her child, whom she reared on the farm with great care and precision, and whom she has educated in the district schools. When he became of age he was married to Miss Emily, daughter of William Il. Price. This happy event occurred in April, 1878. lle was profitably engaged in farming until 1887, when he found employment as a clerk for a Mr. Tilton. in Potomac. for about eighteen months. From here he came to Armstrong, where he has a general store and where he enjoys great prosperity. His stock is valued from $3.000 to $5,000. llis
J. Miller Please
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trade runs from $12.000 to $15.000 a year. Ile carries an unusually fine line of general merchan- disc.
Mr. Iloward is a Democrat, and a member of the A. F. & A. M. of Potomac, his wife being a mem- ber of the " Eastern Star" of that lodge. When our subject began business he had nothing to help him on but a determined character and a pair of willing hands. These, however, are effectual in- struments, and never fail to prove themselves true weapons in his battles with the ordinary obstacles of life. From what we have already seen of his energy, we cannot but predict for him a bright and prosperous future.
JOHN M. MCCABE. This friend of the laboring man has made for himself an un- deniably fine record in connection with the important question which is to-day absorb- ing the minds of intelligent men everywhere. A man of more than ordinary talent and possessed of large information, he has not only studied this but many other questions of political economy. and his published opinions have had a marked effect upon the complexion of party politics in this part of the State. A man of broad and liberal ideas, and with the faculty of giving voice to his opinions in forei- ble language, he has for years been a power in the community, and has, it is evident, sought to exert his influence for good and good only. Mr. Me- Cabe, while alliliating with the I'nion Labor party, is also a strong advocate of prohibition, and fa- vored a union of the two parties.
We are constrained, before proceeding further. to glance at the home surroundings of Mr. MeCabe, who has one of the most pleasant and inviting mansions in Fairmount and vicinity-a large. old- fashioned house, built in the early days, and situ- ated on the corner south of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It stands on an eminence gently sloping to the south, while stretching cast is a fine orchard containing large and spreading trees. a useful okl- fashioned garden, and twenty acres of pasture, in the midst of which is a fish pond stocked with German carp. Recently the School Directors have
purchased two acres of the twenty for the purpose of building a fine graded school building. The whole premises are both comfortable and elegant. and form one of the most attractive features in the Inunudscape of this region. The tile works. of which Mr. McCabe is proprietor, and which lie at the north end of Main street, were erected in 1882, and have been prosecuted successfully since that time.
The subject of this sketch was born in Dearborn County. Ind .. Feb. 19, 1844. and is the fifth child in a family of nine, the offspring of Alex and Rhoda (Knapp) McCabe, who were natives respect- ively of Ohio and North Carolina. The father followed farming after his marriage, in Dearborn County. Ind., to which he had removed with his parents at an early day. Grandfather Knapp was a native of New York State. Alex McCabe, after his marriage, continued in Indiana until 1872, then removed with his family to Stanberry, Mo., where he and his excellent wife still live. Six sons and two daughters lived to become men and women.
Mr. MeCabe, our subject, attended school quite regularly until a youth of eighteen years. mostly in the winter season, and worked on the farm with his father. In 1863, desirous of starting out in life for himself, he left home, arriving at Fair- mount with a capital of $2.37, and in debt $5 to his mother for money borrowed to help him get away. Arriving at Fairmount, he engaged in work for Mr. James M. Dougherty, about one mile north- east of town, and with whom he remained until the fall of that year. The winter following he taught school at Walnut Grove. The year following he attended school at Danville a short time, and sub- sequently resumed work on a farm.
In the meantime our subject had his mind in- tent upon establishing a home of his own, and in the fall of 1864 was united in marriage with Miss Mary E., daughter of Mr. Samuel Dougherty. The maiden name of Mrs. MeCabe's mother was Jane Dalby, and Miss Mary was the third child in a family of seven. The newly wedded pair set- tled on a rented farm, where they struggled along amid many difficulties and drawbacks, Mr. MeCabe farming in summer and teaching school in winter until the spring of 1880. Ile then resolved to
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change his occupation. and abandoning the farm. secured an interest in a flour mill at Fairmount. He withdrew from this eighteen months later, and turned his attention to the manufacture of tile. He put up an old-fashioned Indiana tile shed on a small seale, using one kiln. By the exercise of great industry and energy his business advanced slowly but surely, and in time he was obliged to enlarge his facilities. Ile now has one of the most extensive factories of the kind in his part of the State, and in addition to the first products, has added brickmaking and roofing-tile of a new de- sign known as "Donaklson's patent." which is by one-half the lightest roofing-tile ever manufac- tured in any country.
Mr. MeCabe has now the only manufactory, ex- cepting a flour mill, in the town, and the people of this vieinity are justly proud of this enterprise, which gives employment to a number of men. and enters largely into the success and reputation of its industrial interests. At present (June, 1889) the works demand the services of fifteen men, with a prospect in the near future of the number being doubled. The buildings and equipments are fully in keeping with the demands of the business, which is not only a credit to the town, but to its instigator and proprietor.
In polities Mr. MeCabe always has an opinion and is never afraid to express it. Ile was in for- mer years an ardent Republican, but of late has not been tied to any party. He was a delegate to the National Labor Conference at Cincinnati, Ohio. and was nominated for Representative in this dis- triet on the Union Labor ticket in 1888. Ile has oflieiated as Justice of the Peace, Village Trustee and School Director, and has been for years a member of the Knights of Labor. the Good Tem- plars, the Grange, and the Masonic fraternity, hokl- ing in each organization important offices. Ile and his excellent wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Fairmount, and for some time Mr. MeCabe was Superintendent of the Sun- day-school.
Only two of the four children born to our suh- jeet and his estimable wife are living, both daugh- ters. The eldest, Effie, was married in March, 1889, to Owen MeClenathan, and they live five
miles east of Fairmount. Elsie. a bright child of nine years, is pursuing her studies in the village school, and is a fine amateur musician. playing well on both organ and guitar.
Among other valuable features of this volume. the portraits of influential citizens of the county hold no second rank. And of these portraits an important place belongs to Mr. MeCabe, the friend of the lahorer.
R EV. MICHAEL OAKWOOD. The strong points in the character of this most etlicient minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, have been his energetie and uniform advo- eacy of temperance, and his devotion to the cause of the Master, as exemplified in his pulpit work. ex- tending over a period of thirty-five years. He is possessed in a marked degree of the gift of lan- guage, and has delivered some very powerful and stirring sermons, calculated to have a lasting effect upon his hearers. A man's habits and disposition are usually indicated by his home surroundings, and the fact that we find Mr. Oakwood the possessor of a fine farm, with all needful appartenances, and surrounded by the evidences of refined and culti- vated tastes, indieates the efficiency with which he has labored and the solidity of his general eharacter. by which he has attained to an enviable position socially and financially among his fellow-citizens.
The subject of this sketch was born in Brown County, Ohio, Nov. 10, 1823. His father was a native of Virginia, of German ancestry, and reared in Tennessee. Being an only son, the name was only preserved in America through him. When a youth of nineteen years he emigrated to Kentucky, where he afterward married Miss Margaret Remley, who was also of German deseent. She, with her parents, had emigrated to Kentucky from Pennsyl- vania, going down the Ohio River on a flatboat. when the Indians were numerous along its shores. The Remleys were a thrifty and long-lived family. the mother of our subject living to nearly the eighty-ninth year of her age.
Henry Oakwood departed this life at the age of sixty-five years. He was a strong, athletic man. of
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very genial temperament, and kept himself well posted upon the general events of the age in which he lived, especially in the politics of the country. He was a warm supporter of the Whig party, and held some of the local offices. among them justice of the peace. Ile followed farming for his occupation. and reared a family of six sons and three daugh- ters. He served in the War of 1812, and partici- pated in the battles of the British and Indians at the fall of the celebrated chief. Tecumseh.
The father of our subject was a resident of Ohio for a number of years, but in 1833 emigrated to Illinois, settling in this county when Michael was a lad of ten years. The people around him were few and far between. and located mostly along the bor- ders of the timber that skirted the streams. The broad prairies were occupied by deer. wolves and other will animals in abundance. A village of In- dians was loented about a mile from the Oakwood residence. which was frequently visited by these native sons and daughters of America, who seemed to enjoy their contact with civilization although unwilling to give up their own rude manner of life.
On account of the limited number of white peo- ple in the new settlement. the early education of our subject was conducted at home, there being no es- tablished school in his township for three years. This want. however. was partially compensated for by the father taking the place of instructor on win- ter evenings, when the children woukl form a semi- circle around the huge fireplace, and, largely by the light of the burning wood. would pursue their evening studies with their books and slates. Greater ambition to excel is seldom witnessed in the school- room than existed in that little family circle, and Michael was greatly encouraged to find himself a little in advance of some of his older brothers in his studies.
By the prosecution of his home studies, with the aid of the later meager school privileges afforded. our subject, with four of his brothers, became a teacher, and still further anxious to excel in learn- ing. mastered some of the higher branches of an English education, and especially delighted in wrestling with difficult mathematical problems and investigating the principles of metaphysical science. Ilistory, both ancient and modern, received a fair
share of attention. He was much interested in the history of the nations of the earth. as made in his own day by their struggles, both in time of war and in peace, the gradual advance of human liberty. and the improved condition of mankind. politically in- tellectually, morally. socially and religiously.
In polities Mr. Oakwood wa- a Republican from the foundation of the party through all its strug- gles and took an active part in promoting its suc- cess. During the Civil War he was frequently called upon to address large gatherings of citizens, and labored as far as he was able to keep alive the enthusiasm necessary to the success of the Union arms. Although never aspiring to political honors, he frequently hell the local offices. Ile was a mem- ber of the board of supervisors seven years. served one term as justice of the peace much against his inclination. and frequently discharged the duties of the other local offices.
Mr. Oakwood very early in life was made the subject of deep religious impressions. Ilis parents were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and in the pioneer days before the country was supplied with church buildings, their large farm house afforded a place for regular meetings for preaching and other religious services. Being lib- eral in their views. there were welcomed under this hospitable roof Methodists. Presbyterians, and vari- ous other religious denominations, who were all permitted to seek God in the manner best suited to their separate views.
Michael Oakwood. at the age of twenty-eight years, united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and soon afterward was licensed to preach, but de- clined entering the itinerant field. He was ambi- tions to study and to - show himself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth," as l'aul advised Tim- othy. So he committed himself to a Biblical and theological course of study.
In entering upon his ministerial career, Mr. Oak- wood rather adopted the expository and didactie style, and his gifts as a pulpit orator were speedily recognized to be such as would command the re- spect and attention of his bearers. On the 2d of October. 1864. he was ordained deacon by Bishop E. R. Ames. and on Sept. 28. 1873. was ordained
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elder by Bishop I. W. Wiley. During his ministry he has received many into the church, united many in marriage. preached many funeral sermons. and administered upon many occasions the ordinances of the church. baptizing as many as fifty in a day. at other times thirty, twenty and in lesser numbers. He held the office of recording steward for the long period of thirty-one years, besides many other ofli- cial positions in his church.
Mr. Oakwood has been twice married. In 1846 he was wedded to Miss Nancy. daughter of Samuel Copeland of Blount Township, with whom he lived happily for six years. and at her death was left with one child-Samuel II. Their first-born, Elizabeth, died in infancy. In 1853 Mr. Oakwood was again married to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. . John P'. Mills, then of Ross Township. She is still liv- ing, and is a highly-esteemed Christian lady. well educated, and for some time before her marriage was engaged as a teacher. The issue of this union was one daughter and three sons. The daughter. Belle, died at the age of twenty-five years; she was possessed of superior intellectual endowments and a fine Christian character, which, united to her thor- ough education and usefulness as a teacher. con- spired to draw around her a large circle of warm friends. Wilbur. a promising boy. died in the sec- ond year of his age; Edwin. a deeply pious child, and a member in full connection with the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, died at the age of nine years.
John M. Oakwood, the only surviving child of our subject, is now (1889) twenty-three years of age. lle was married in 1888 to Miss Effie, daugh- ter of Rev. A. G. Copeland of Danville. He has been a Christian from childhood and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Ile is well edu- cated, a great lover of books, and has been engaged in teaching in the Champaign county schools for several years, being at present principal of the high school at St. Joseph. Samuel H., the son of the first marriage, has likewise been a consistent mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church since child- hood ; he is now forty years of age. He acquired a good education in his youth. and followed the profession of a teacher several years, after which he embarked in the mercantile business at Newtown.
Ile lived there a few years. then removed his busi- ness to Danville, where he still resides. In 1878 he was united in marriage with Miss Laura Bennett, daughter of John Bennett of Georgetown. Two sons and two daughters were born of this union. but only one child is living. Belva. a promising little girl of four years.
The Oakwood homestead is one of the most at- tractive and beautiful in the township of the same name. and our subjeet, at the age of sixty-six years. with his faithful and estimable companion, sur- rounded by friends and in the enjoyment of a happy home, sees much that is desirable in life. and as op- portunity occurs seeks to alleviate the afflictions of those less fortunate.
Rev. John P. Mills, the father of Mrs. Oakwood. was a regularly ordained local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died at his home in Fairmount Aug. 20, 1882. ITis estimable wife passed away some years before, Nov. 15. 1868. The father of Mr. Oakwood died in October. 1856, and the mother March 8, 1878.
TULIP Y. PETERSON is one of the younger citizens of Grant Township. living on section 5. He was born in Salem County. N. J., Nov. 11, 1847. His parents were named Samuel and Jane (Paden) Peterson, both of whom are now living in Woodford County, this State. The elder Peterson is now retired from active life, being seventy-two years of age, and his wife sixty-seven. Both are hearty and rugged. They are natives of Salem County, N. J., and are descended from Swedish ancestors who settled in this country many generations ago. The elder Peterson was left an orphan at the age of four years, and his mother marrying again, he was brought up in the house of his stepfather, and is essentially a selfmade man. who has made his own way in the world, and now. in his old age is enjoy- ing an ample fortune, the result of years of indus- try and good management. He was married in his native State at the age of twenty-five. but some years later he determined to try his fortunes in the great West, and with his wife and family moved
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to Jefferson County, Ind., but he stayed there only six months, not liking the country, and so. taking his wife, six children and household goods, he came to Peoria, Ill. This was in the fall of 1856, and to support his family that winter he engaged in hauling eoal. his wife also helping to support the family by her labor. Next spring he rented a farm twenty miles west of Peoria and the succeeding year bought a place twenty-five miles northeast of that city. On this latter place he made his home till 1885, when he relinquished all active labor. When he first came to Ilinois. Mr. Peterson was poor in this world's goods, but rich in pluck, energy and ambition. Ile now owns three farms in Wood- ford County. Ill., for the poorest of which he has refused $70 an acre. He owns 400 acres of land altogether. lle also possesses a half interest in the elevator at Benson, a handsome residence there, and other property, also a farm of 160 acres in Grant Township, this county, besides personal property. Mr. Peterson has all of his lifetime been very industrious and has taken eare to avoid public office, attending strietly to his own affairs. Ile and his wife joined the Baptist Church the year after they were married, and for many years he has been an officer of his church in Benson. He was also Trustee of his township. He is a man of genial, happy temperament and kind disposition, upright and honorable in his dealings with his fellow men and is held in universal esteem for his correct life and conduet.
Samuel and Jane Peterson are the parents of eight children, all of whom are living, the family eord being unbroken by death. They are named respectively: Mary P. wife of James 1. Jeter. a farmer in Woodford County; Simeon P., was mar- ried to Sarah Jane Huxtable and is a farmer, tile manufacturer and owner of three threshing ma- chines and is living in Benson, Il .; Philip Y. was next in order, then David C., who married Ellen Deal: he is a butcher in Rossville, this county. Lewis S. and Sarah Jane are twins; the former is married to Emma Ray, living in Benson, where Lewis S. is running an elevator. lumber yard, and also operates a branch bank. Sarah Jane is the wife of George Tallinan, a dairyman of Grant Township, this county; Annie Margaret is the wife
of Cal. Hoff, a farmer in Woodford County, Ill., and Maria Frances is married to ,lames Huxtable, a merchant of Benson, Ill. Beside their children Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have twenty-four grand- children living. and an unusual case, is that they have never lost a child by death, and but one grandchild.
Philip Y. Peterson, was eight years of age when his parents emigrated to Indiana. Ile well remem- bers passing through Danville on their way to Peoria, and says then it was but a collection of small houses, principally shanties inhabited by coal miners. He spent his boyhood on the home farm in Woodford County, Ill, receiving such education as was afforded by the limited facilities of the time and place. The nearest school was three and a half miles away and not a bridge being built in the lo- cality, when he attended school he had to wade across the sloughs the best way he eould. Under these circumstanees he got what little schooling he received. He stayed on the home farm until he was twenty-one, after which he began farming on land belonging to his father, who furnished cach of his boys with a team, and boarded them the first year for half the produce of their farms. lie lived on land of his father's for five years and then bought a place of 120 aeres in Woodford County, and there continued to live until in March, 1882, he sold out and removed to this county. Land here was much cheaper, and just as good as there, and he bought 120 acres of his present home. sub- sequently adding forty more, and he also leases eighty acres, which joins his land on the south. In 1886 Mr. Peterson creeted the fine new modern house which he now oceupies and which makes a comfortable and commodious home for the family.
February 23, 1872, Mr. Peterson was nnited in marriage with Miss Allie Chaney, who was left an orphan at an early age, her mother dying when she was six years old, and her father two years later while he was in the Union army. She was adopted and brought up by a German couple, named Shoup. She was born in Huntington County, Ind., Ang. 10, 1854. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson are the parents of four children, all at home: Katie F., Lillie Dell, Bessie Jane and Myrtle Edna. Mr. Peterson has never held any oflice in this county other than that
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of School Director. He and his wife are members of the Christian Church in Grant Township and he is connected with its Sabbath-school. Bychis neigh- bors who know him best. Mr. Peterson is highly respected as an honest straightforward man and a good citizen.
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ANIEL CAMPBELL stands among the honest, manly, industrions farmers and stock- raisers of Pilot Township who have made its interests their own, and while building up comfortable homes in this pleasant locality have materially contributed to its advance- ment. Ilis fine well-stocked farm on section 12 compares favorably in all its appointments with the best in the vicinity. and is sufficient evidence that he has achieved success in his chosen calling. although he began life as a poor man and has had to work his way up from the lowest round of the ladder leading to prosperity.
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