Portrait and biographical album of Warren County, Illinois : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 47

Author:
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Bros.
Number of Pages: 794

USA > Illinois > Warren County > Portrait and biographical album of Warren County, Illinois : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 47

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In political belief and relations, Dr. Graham is a Democrat.

The marriage of Dr. Graham to Miss Emma Alcock, was celebrated Feb. 14, 1880. They have one child, named Frederick. The mother was born in Suffolkshire, England. The Doctor and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian Church.

ohn Coddington, holding a good title to 200 acres of A No. I land, located on sec- tion 15, Berwick Township, where he re- sides and is engaged in the vocation of an agriculturist, was born in Warren County, Ohio, Aug. 9, 1828. He is a son of Wm. Codding- ton, born in the State of Maryland, and who married Miss Naoma Ervin. She died in 1828, after having borne her husband nine children-Anner, Polly, Sarah, Angeline, Eliza, Benjamin, Samuel, James and John. .

John Coddington, the subject of this notice, was married to Miss Emily Whitman, in 1851, in this State. She was born in Warren County, Dec. 23, 1834, and was the daughter of Wm. Whitman, a pioneer settler of this county. She died March 30, 1880, and of her union with Mr. Coddington the fol- lowing children were born : Naoma, March 17, 1852 ; Wm. C., Aug. 9, 1854; Harriet A., Nov. 12, 1856 ; Ella M., Oct. 7, 1858; Etta, March 1, 1860; Elmer E., Jan. 6, 1862 ; Mattie, March 25, 1866; Frank B., Aug. 23, 1869; Cora B., July 22, 1872. Three of whom are deceased, namely : Naoma, who died April 20, 1854; Wm. C., July 31, 1855, and Harriet A., Sept. 29, 1857.

The second marriage of Mr. Coddington occurred

RESIDENCE OF M. S. REES, SEC. 32., KELLY TOWNSHIP.

RESIDENCE OF AARON YARDE, ALEXIS.

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April 26, 1883, at which time Mrs. Julia Williams, born Jan. 9, 1850, became his wife. They have one child, Roy, born April 19, 1884.

Mr. Coddington is pleasantly situated on a fine farm of 200 acres, and he has the same under an advanced state of cultivation. On the place is a good resi- dence, two stories in height, surrounded by good sub- stantial outbuildings. In addition to the cultivation of his land, Mr. Coddington is devoting considerable of his time to the raising of fine stock, his specialty being the Short-horn, of which he has 27 head ; and in the raising of fine horses, his specialty is the Nor- man.

He and his wife are members of the Christian Church, and in politics Mr. Coddington votes with the Republican party.

A aron Yarde, a well-known and highly re- spected resident of Alexis, is a pioneer of Warren County of 1847. He is a native of Somersetshire, England, and was born Nov. II, 1810. His father was a farmer and he was brought up on the same place where his ancestors had lived for many years. He was the second in order of birth of a family of five children, namely: John, who was married to Mary A. Cle- ment, a native of Somersetshire, England, and the mother of four children; Mary A. became the wife of Isaac Hooper, and was the mother of eight children ; she is now deceased. Moses died at the age of 23 years; Daniel resides in his native place and is married to Miss Mary Rowland. They have a family of nine children.

The maiden name of Mr. Yarde's mother was Ann Cousins, who was the daughter of Bartholomew and Mary (Hawkins) Cousins, both of whom were born in 1778. The father died when Aaron was 17 years old, and he was then at liberty to choose a business in which he hoped to do better than as a farmer. He apprenticed himself to learn the trade of a stone- cutter and a general stone-mason, and followed that business 12 years, in his native shire. After that, until 1843, he was occupied in farming. In April of the year named he sailed for this . country. He

was accompanied by his wife and five children, and the family took passage from Plymouth. They crossed the ocean in a merchant vessel and landed at the port of New York after a voyage of six weeks. From New York they went direct to Geauga Co., Ohio. Mr. Yarde bought a farm of 45 acres at the rate of $8.50 per acre. About one-third was under the plow, and the remainder was not cleared of the natural forest. Mr. Yarde built a small frame house sufficient for the accommodation of his household and proceeded to the work of removing the forest growth. He cleared 15 acres. In the spring of 1847 he sold his place for $ro an acre. While he lived there, in addition to the work of clearing the acreage mentioned, he had been engaged in work at his trade also. After making sale of his land he came to Warren County. He bought 80 acres of land on section 3, on what was then designated Town- ship 12, and is now named Kelly Township. The whole place was entirely without improvements and the proprietor proceeded first of all to erect a struc- ture for the shelter of his family. He built a small log house and stables, and broke and fenced 25 acres. He retained the ownership of the place until 1850, when he sold out and bought a farm on section 10, in the same township. It had been improved to some extent, a frame house had been built on it, and it was all fenced. Mr. Yarde built a good barn and other farm-buildings and planted fruit and shade trees. The place contained 160 acres, and at the time he determined to sell it, it was in an excellent condition for profitable operations.

- In 1872 Mr. Yarde came to Alexis and took pos- session of the residence which is now occupied by his family. He is still an extensive landholder and the proprietor of a farm comprising 160 acres in Mercer County, situated two and a half miles from the village of Alexis. He also owns 17 acres of valu- able land adjoining the place where he resides.

Mr. Yarde was married May 7, 1835, to Charlotte Cousins. She was the daughter of Bartholomew and Jane (Sweet) Cousins, and a native of Somersetshire, England. She was born Nov. 12, 1806. Of the eight children of whom they became the parents, six are yet living. Caroline H. is married to John M. Richardson, now deceased. She resides in Iowa and has seven children. Jessie, the widow of Charles Pine, resides in Kelly Township, and has a family of six children. Lucy is the wife of Isaac R. Greene,

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of Galesburg, Ill., and has a family of seven chil- dren. Albert lives in Kelly Township, on the old farm and was married to Eliza Lyddon ; they have five children. Charlotte is married to B. F. Gilmore, of. Nodaway Co., Mo. Charles F. P. is a citizen of Alexis, and a sketch of his business relations appears on another page. Mrs. Yarde died Oct. 6, 1870, on the old homestead in Kelly Township. Mr. Yarde contracted marriage a second time with Patience M. (Fraber) Allen, March 7, 1872. They were married in Knox Co.,Ill. She was the widow of Nelson Allen. Mrs. Yarde is a native of Saratoga Co., N. Y., where she was born July 4, 1810. She is the daughter of Jacob and Rebecca (Herrick) Fraber ; the former was a native of Germany and came to this country when quite young. The mother was born in New York, of English ancestry. Mrs. Yarde was the mother of three children by her first husband, all of whom died in infancy. She has a great fond- ness for children, and has reared no less than five, whom she has taken by adoption.

Among the many views of residences given in the pictorial department of this ALBUM may be found that of Mr. Yarde on page 474.

oseph W. Vorwick. The only manufac- turer of the Vorwick celebrated road-cart is located at Monmouth, where he began in a limited way to operate a shop upon his own responsibility in 1879. He first opened out as a repairer of all sorts of vehicles, his capital consisting of his strength and skill, but from the very beginning, almost, the capacity of his shop showed increasing business, until he now stands at the head as a manufacturer in his line in this coun- try.

The patent of Mr. Vorwick, being an anti-horse motion road-cart, is the nearest a perfect success that has ever been reached in that most useful and economical of all vehicles. Mr. Vorwick was born at Fort Madison, Iowa, Feb. 1, 1849, and was the eldest of five sons born to Joseph and Elizabeth Vor- wick, natives of Germany. He was schooled at Fort Madison and Burlington, Iowa, and at the latter

place, when about 16 years of age, began the trade of carriage painter, which he perfected at Galesburg, Ill , some three years later. From 21 to 29 years of age, Mr. Vorwick did " jour " work through the vari- ous cities of the country, and in 1875 planted him- self at Monmouth, with the determination to man a shop of his own by the time he should arrive at the age of 30 years. That he succeeded has already ap- peared. In addition to the Vorwick Road-Cart, he manufactures all sorts of first class carriages and buggies, and the truth compels us to place his name in the ALBUM as the representative man, in his line, at the city of Monmouth.

. Mr. Vorwick was married at Monmouth, in 1876, to Miss Jennie Eilenberger, daughter of Daniel Eil- enberger, who died while a soldier in the Union army. Mr. and Mrs. Vorwick have two children- Ida and Maudie.

was

illiam S. Paxton, a pioneer carpenter, contractor and builder, at Monmouth, was born at Rock Bridge Co., Va., Dec. 22, 1811. His father, William Paxton, was a native of Pennsylvania, and of Scotch- Irish ancestry.

His mother, Margaret (Struthers) Paxton, was born in Scotland. The sen- ior William Paxton was a farmer, and brought his four sons up to that occupation. The family removed from Virginia to Ohio in 1812, and resided there up to 1831, at which time they came to Monmouth, set- tling soon afterward on a farm six miles northwest from town, where the old gentleman died in March, 1861, in the 82d year of his age. His wife died in 1845, when about 62 years of age.

William S. Paxton received a fair education at Xenia, Ohio, and from 16 up to 18 years of age, worked at milling. He then learned the carpenter's trade and followed it almost without interruption un- til 1854. Since the latter date he has been engaged in wagon making. As a carpenter and contractor he erected the first court house in Warren County, and roofed the first hotel. He returned to Ohio, in 1854, and lived in Erie County ten years. While there he enlisted in the Third Ohio Cavalry, but be-

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fore muster was disabled by falling off his horse, and consequently saw no service in the war.

The subject of our sketch was married in Erie County, Ohio, to Almira Harrison, who was born in Amsterdam, Montgomery Co., N. Y., April 7, 1815, and their only child, a daughter, Ella, is now (Octo- ber, 1885) an accomplished teacher in the public schools of Nebraska.

Mr. Paxton has long been a member of the Pres- byterian Church. Was an old line Whig, from the the funeral of which party he joined the Republican procession.

It will be seen by the date of his arrival here, that he was indeed an early settler, and he probably had more to do with the very inception of the town of Monmouth than any other man living. In fact his brother and F. B. Talbot, now living in Iowa, broke the first ground for the erection of the first building at this place. We should not forget to mention that he was Adjutant of the First Warren County regiment of Illinois Militia, in 1834, and was connected with the organization until it was disbanded.

grs. Mary Osborn is a pioneer of Warren County, and is one of the oldest living of the early settlers of Sumner Township. She was born in Gallia Co., Ohio, Oct. 5, 1810, and is the daughter of Daniel and Annie (Thorp) Moler. She is the daughter of pioneer parents, who located in the earliest period in the county in which she was born, and they lived there until 1825. In that year they went to Indiana and located about six miles from La Fayette. There their daughter was married to James Moffit. Their union took place Oct. 16, 1828. Her husband was born in the vicinity of Zanesville, in the Buckeye State. They lived in Indiana until the fall of 1832, and started thence for Illinois with an ox-team. They had at that time two children. They took with them the machinery for housekeeping and performed all the duties relating to the business of living on the route. When they arrived at the Illinois River, on their way, they determined to pitch their tent there for the winter. They moved into a vacant log house

and when the spring opened they again yoked their oxen and pushed forward to Warren County. Mr. Moffit made a claim on the northwest quarter of sec- tion 19, in the (then) township 12, now Sumner Township. He proceeded to cut logs, and built a shelter of the primitive kind, common to pioneers. They were well off for cows, having driven three from Indiana. These furnished a good portion of their living while on the road and after their arrival at the places where they took up their abode.

On the 8th day of June, 1832, Mr. Moffit suddenly died. In the midst of the newly made widow's dis- tress, the Indian difficulties that preceded the out- break of the Black Hawk War made it necessary to put aside every other consideration. A block-house was erected for the protection of the settlers and for some time the women and children were kept in it for safety, while the men were in the fields. They were there when the murder of William Martin oc- curred, and saw the savages when they rushed from the field where their victim had been at work, bear- ing aloft the scalp. Mrs. Moffit was terrified and took one of her children in her arms and fled into an adjoining corn field. Her sister took the other and followed her. They ran into a field of buck- wheat, where they laid down. They were in terror lest the children should cry out and reveal their hid- ing place. But the little ones kept still, and when the other men of the settlement returned from the fields they went back to the block-house.

Many of. the women remained in the block-house until the termination of the Black Hawk War, and the defeat of the haughty chief who instigated it converted the Indians into fiends and made them subservient to the whites for personal considerations. Mrs. Osborn remained in the block-house until the fall of the year, when she again took possession of her cabin home. She was its occupant until her second marriage, but the land was managed by rent- ers.

Aug. 21, 1834, she became the wife of John C. Osborn. He was born in North Carolina, Mar. 30, 1804. He passed the early years of his life there, and was married while he remained in the State of his nativity. His first wife survived her marriage but a short time. In 1832 he came to Warren County. He made his first location near Monmouth. When he married his second wife he became the manager of her estate and continued to attend to its interests

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WARREN COUNTY.

until his death. Under his care it greatly increased in value and he erected a fine set of farm buildings on it. He died March 18, 1874.

The children of Mrs. Osborn by her first husband are both deceased. George P., Permelia A., Mary Jane, John M., Sarah E and Maria are the names of those who were born of the second marriage. The oldest is the manager of the homestead of his mother

illiam A. Mitchell. Among the promi- nent citizens of Hale Township, as well as successful farmers, we place the name of William A. Mitchell. He has a clear title to 240 acres of good farm land, in an ad- vanced state of cultivation, located on section 3, Hale Township, where he is engaged in the voca- tion of his life. He is a native of Ohio, having been born in Greene County, that State, July 13, 1838.

When William A. Mitchell was about five years of age, his parents moved to this county, and here, in the public schools, he received his education, alter- nating his studies therein with labor on the farm. We say his education was acquired in the public schools, but it was only the rudimentary portion of the same, for he supplemented it by a course of two years' study at Monmouth College.

Soon after the Southern States had seceded and had demonstrated their intent, by firing on Sumter, and President Lincoln had called for troops to aid in the perpetuity of the Union, Mr. Mitchell responded. He enlisted in August, 1861, in the 36th Ill. Vol. Inf., and for four years and three months did valiant service in the Union Army. He enlisted as a pri- vate in Co. C, and was promoted to Second Lieu- tenant of the same company. After participating in all the battles in which his reginient engaged, Mr. M. was mustered out of service at New Orleans, Oct. 8, 1865, whereupon he returned to this county, entered upon the peaceful pursuits of a farmer and has continued to reside here until the present time.

The marriage of Mr. Mitchell to Miss Sarah E. Caldwell, was soleninized in Sumner Township, March 8, 1866. Mrs. Mitchell was born in the township in which she was married, Sept. 5, 1848.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are : Frank M., Robert J., Mary E., Effie D. T., Fred- retta I. and Minerva J.

Mr. Mitchell, in politics, votes with the Republi- can party. He has held the office of Highway Commissioner and School Director, and, socially, is a member of Post No. 81, G. A. R., at Kirkwood. He and his wife are members of the United Presby- terian Church.

The parents of Mr. Mitchell, Robert K. and Rachel E. (Townsley) Mitchell, were natives of Ohio. They came to this county in 1843, and the mother died in Hale Township, July 14, 1851, and the father in the same township, Jan. 5, 1865. Their family comprised four children, of whom William A. is the eldest. The parents of Mrs. Mitchell, Thomas J. and Mary (Allen) Caldwell, were natives of Ohio and Illinois respectively. They were married and settled in this county, where her mother died July 29, 1868. Her father yet survives and lives in Sum- ner Township. We give a view of the residence and 1 farm building on page 474.

The grandfather of Mr. Mitchell was of Scotch- Irish origin. The grandmother was of English origin.

E. Lamphere a successful farmer, resid- ing on section 36, Tompkins Township, where he is the owner of 180 acres of good farm land, was born in Oneida Co., N. Y., April 7, 1843, and is the son of Washington and Mary (Hall) Lamıphere. The parents were natives of New York, from which State they came to Illinois, settling in Greenbush Township, where they remained for two years and where the father was engaged in far.ning. From the latter place the father moved to Tompkins Township and became the owner of 80 acres of land located on sec- tion II. He settled on this land with his family and entered actively upon his labors as an agricul- turist, and, by economy and laborious effort, suc- ceeded in accumulating sufficient to purchase an additional 240 acres. He, with his family, continued to reside on his land in Tompkins Township until

UNIVERSITI VITAMINEN

03 H Gardner

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WARREN COUNTY.

he passed to the land beyond the river, his demise occurring in 1872.

J. E. Lamphere, the gentleman of whom we write, assisted his father on the farm, and received the ad- vantages afforded by the common schools, develop- ing into manhood. On arriving at the age of 25 years, he left the parental homestead and purchased 80 acres of land on section 36, where he is to-day residing, actively engaged in following his chosen vocation, that of an agriculturist. Possessing the same qualities as his father before him, of saving what he made, he has been enabled to add to his original purchase until he is at present the owner of 180 acres in Tompkins Township. He has just completed a fine residence, costing $2,200, and in addition to the cultivation of his land he is engaged to some extent in stock-raising.

Mr. Lamphere was united in marriage in 1867, with Miss Emma, the accomplished daughter of A. B. Billings, by whom he had two children-Ralph, who was born March 12, 1867 ; and Grant, who was born Feb. 5, 187 1. At the present writing they both are living at home. The wife and mother died in 1880, and Mr. Lamphere was a second time married, the lady chosen to share his joys and sorrows, suc- cesses and reverses, being Miss Mary Efnor, a native of this State and a daughter of George and Harriet Efnor.

Politically, Mr. Lamphere votes the Republican ticket, and, in religion, he and his wife are members of the Methodist Protestant Church.

B enjamin H. Gardner is a pioneer of War- ren County of 1834. He is a native of Virginia, and accompanied his parents to Kentucky when he was a mere lad. In the fall of the year named, in company with a considerable number of persons who, with himself, were desirous of finding a location in a free State, he came to Illinois. They came with ox teams and wagons, brought their provisions with them, and lived while en route in the Gipsy fashion. They arrived in Monmouth, Warren Co. Nov. 3, and

Mr: Gardner built his own cabin in township 12, range I, (Kelly Township) and in March, 1835, went to this township and made a claim of 125 acres of land on section 30. When the land came into market, he went to Quincy and secured it by purchase from the Gov- ernment. He built a log cabin on the place the same season, and the farm has been his property ever since. He has been, meanwhile, a resident of Abingdon in Knox County, but has never relin- quished the management of the farm. He removed to Knox County to give his children the benefit of the schools there. He has been the owner of other tracts of land and at one time was the proprietor of more than 400 acres in Kelly Township. His prop- erty is well improved and supplied with excellent farm buildings.

The year after he settled in Kelly Township, Mr. Gardner went on horseback to Greenbush, a dis- tance of 25 miles, to procure iron to make a plow, and brought the material back with him in a sack. He then obtained the services of a blacksmith in ? making a " barshare " plow. In 1836 he opened one of the first coal banks in Warren County. It is lo- cated on section 30, and the blacksmiths for a dis- tance of 25 miles around came there for their supplies of coal.

Mr. Gardner was born July 14, 1811, in Louisa County in the "Old Dominion." He is the fifth son of William and Catherine (Hollen) Gardner, both of whom were born in the same State in which their son first saw the light of day. Their parents were of English origin. They removed to Kentucky in 1815, crossing the intervening mountains with their team of four horses. They located in Warren Co., Ky., and were among the first of the settlers there. Two of the uncles of Mr. Gardner, Asa and Reuben, were soldiers in the War of 1812. The former was a lieutenant.

The advantages for the education of children in Kentucky were then very limited, and consisted of such as the common schools of that State at that time afforded. Mr. Gardner went from three to four miles on foot daily for the few months yearly in which it was possible for him to do so, and studied in a log school-house which had no windows. He was 23 years old when he started from his home for the purpose of finding a place to live beyond the line of slavery, which he believed to be the " sum of

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all villanies." He was a Democrat, but nevertheless an abolitionist of the most decided type, and a Free- State man. He left home on the 7th of October, as has been stated, and arrived in Monmouth Nov. 3 following.

His marriage to Jemima R. Wallace took place Jan. 1, 1835. She was born in Warren Co., Ky., April 27, 1816, and was the daughter of William and Nancy (Smith) Wallace. She died Feb. 4, 1861, after giving birth to nine children. Nancy C. is the wife of H. J. Adcock, of Kelly Township; William is deceased; Mary A. married A. M. Johnston, of Nodaway Co., Mo .; Robert is a citizen of Fremont Co., Iowa; Amanda is deceased; George W. lives in the township of Cold Brook; Rebecca is not liv- ing; Benjamin F. has been dead some years ; Ben- jamin E. lives in Kelly Township.

Aug. 23, 1864, the father was again married, Mary A. Deatherage becoming his wife. She was born in North Carolina, in Stokes County, March 28, 1824. She was the daughter of Achillis and Susan (Death- erage) Deatherage, who were of English ancestry, and was third in order of birth of a family of 13 chil- dren, six of whom are living. She came to this county with her parents, who first settled in Mc- Lean Co., Ill., in 1832. Here they remained for four years, when they pushed further northward and found a desirable location in Knox County. Mrs. Gardner was first married Oct. 14, 1841, to Samuel F. Patton, and by him became the mother of four children, two of whom are now living-George W., one of the county officials of Johnson County, and Julia, the wife of G. W. Gardner, of Cold Brook Township. Myra is the name of the only child of the second marriage. She married Emmet Barnett and now lives in Cold Brook Township. Mr. Gard- ner is a member of the Christian Church at Talbot.

There are few men in Warren County more widely known or highly esteemed than "Uncle Benjamin Gardner." He is one of the venerable pioneers who located here before the hand of civilization had dis- turbed the magnificent scenery of prairie and .wood- land. The green flowery carpet which covered the undulating surface of the broad prairies, skirted by forests and groves, must have formed a delightful aspect. The beautiful native flowers and the tall prairie grass have given place to fertile fields. All is changed, and no doubt the pioneers often long to behold the unsurpassed beauties of the scenery so

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Portrait and biographical album of Warren County, Illinois : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 47

Author: Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Bros. Number of Pages: 794

Author:
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Bros.
Number of Pages: 794