USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > Portrait and biographical record of Macoupin County, Illinois : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with biographies of all the governors of the state, and of the presidents of the United States > Part 62
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RIAL M. SOLOMON. It gives us pleas- ure to represent in this BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, dedicated to the residents of Macoupin County, this gentleman, who is one of the oldest citizens of Illinois now living in this section, a man well known and much respected.
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He was formerly actively engaged in agricultural pursuits and acquired a goodly amount of prop- erty thereby. Ile is now living in honorable retirement from business in the village of Palmyra.
A native of Muhlenberg County, Ky., our sub- ject was born October 4, 1821. His father, Henry Solomon, was born December 6, 1799, in Franklin County, N. C. He was a son of Lewis Solomon, who was a native of the same State, and was there- reared and married. He finally removed to Muhl- enberg County, Ky., and was a pioneer of that region. In 1825 he came to illinois with his fam- ily, making the entire journey by land. He became one of the early settlers of Morgan County and was a resident there until his removal to this county. He was one of the first to settle in North Palmyra Township, where he secured a tract of Government land, which he improved into a good farm, and there he passed quietly away in the month of August. 1849. He served as Justice of the Peace before the county was organized and was the first justice elected after it became a county. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Bowden. She was a native of Franklin County. N. C., and a daughter of John Bowden. She pre- ceded her husband in death a few months, dying in February, 1849.
The father of our subject was a child when the family took up their abode in Kentucky and there he grew to a stalwart manhood. He learned the trade of a shoemaker in his youth. In 1825 he left his home in Muhlenberg County, and bringing with him his wife and two children, he came to Illinois, journeying by land to his destination. He arrived at Jacksonville October 19. and found but one house on the present site of the city, though the town had been platted the previous August. That house was of logs and still stands one block east of the Square, a relic of the past. It is weather- boarded, the boards having been rived by hand, and the flooring was drawn from St. Louis. The greater part of the land was still in the hands of the Government when Mr. Solomon settled there and as he had but $6.50 in his possession he was unable to purchase any. He rented land for two years and at the end of that time was enabled to buy a claim to a tract,
which now joins the city. There was a log house on the place and a few acres of the land broken constituted the improvements. He held onto his claim for two years and then entered it at the land office at Vandalia,
In 1835 the father of our subject soll his prop- erty in Morgan County at the rate of $10 an acre, a good advance on the purchase price, and with the proceeds he bought Government land in this county in what is now known as Sonth Palmyra Township. He erected a log house and at once set about the hard labor of clearing a farm. There were no railways then in this part of the country and the farmers had to go to Alton to market. Mr. Solomon lived to see a great change wrought in the face of the country and he did his share of toil necessary to subdue the forces of nature and make this a rich and flourishing agricultural region. With the exception of one year, he con- tinued to occupy his farm until death elosed his career at a ripe age in 1876. He was twice mar- ried. The maiden name of his first wife, mother of our subject, was Rebecca James. She died in Muhlenberg County in 1823. The step-mother of our subject was named Elizabeth Krous and she was a native of Kentucky. She died on the home farm in 1888 in her eighty-second year. Three of her children are now living.
Our subjeet is the only survivor of the chil- dren of his father's first marriage. He was but four years old when the family eame to Illinois. lle attended the first school ever taught in Jacksonville, which was held in a log cabin near the square on the south. The seats were made by splitting logs and hewing one side smooth and there were no hacks to them. The building was heated by a fire in a rude fireplace and lighted by removing logs from the walls and pasting greased paper over the aperture. Each family had to pay money for the teaching in accordance with the number of seholars sent to school.
As soon as he was large enough Mr. Solomon assisted his father in the farm work, and he con- tinned an inmate of the parental home nutil he was twenty-four years old. When he was seventeen years of age his father gave him $50 and told him to do whatsoever he liked with it. The
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enterprising youth wisely invested it in forty acres of Government land in South Palmyra Township, entering it at the land office at Edwardsville. Two years later his father again gave him a like sum of money and he judiciously exchanged it for forty acres of land in Barr Township, adjoining his first entry. He never located on the land, but eventually sold it at $5.25 an acre. He then bought one hundred and ten acres in Barr Township and took up his residence there- on. He did well as a farmer and from time to time bought other land until he had four hundred acres in his possession. In the fall of 1888 he re- moved from his homestead in Barr Township to Palmyra and has since lived retired in this village.
Mr. Solomon was first wedded in November, 1844, to Miss Jane Norman, a native of Tennessee. Their married life was one of mutual helpfulness and felicity. It was terminated by the death of the faithful wife in 1876 in the home that she had helped her husband to build up. The second mar- riage of our subject, which took place in March, 1879, was with Mrs. Elvira (Bradshaw) Wiswell. She was born on a farm adjoining the city of Jack- sonville, Morgan County, January 21. 1823. Iler father, John Bradshaw, was a native of North Carolina. Ile removed from there to Tennessee, whence he came to Illinois in 1817, this State then being a territory. Ile resided for one year in a hlock house on the American Bottoms, as the Indians were then numerous and troublesome. In 1818 he went to Morgan County, where he entered a tract of Government land which now joins the city of Jacksonville on the east. Hle erected a rude log cabin, riving the boards for a roof, making a puncheon floor and splitting boards for the door, which had wooden hinges, and a wooden latch that was raised by a string put through the door and hanging on the outside. Ile had no nails to use in building the structure. Later he built a hewed log house, sawing the lumber for it with a whip saw. He made that his abode until his death in 1845. The maiden name of his wife was Fanny Elkins. She was a native of Kentucky. She passed from life to death on the home farm at Jacksonville in 1865.
Mrs. Solomon lived with her parents until her
marriage. She learned to weave and spin and in her early married life made all the cloth used by the family. She was first wedded at the age of fifteen years to Eugene Wiswell, a native of Ver- mont and a son of Joseph and Catherine (Deal) Wiswell. Mr. Wiswell served in the late war as Quartermaster in the Ninety first Illinois Infantry. After the war he engaged in the mercantile busi- ness at New Orleans, where he died of yellow fever in 1866.
After the death of her husband Mrs. Solomon returned to Iroquois County, this State. She is the mother of eight children by her first marriage, of whom the following is recorded : Elvina, Mrs. Skeels, lives in Iroquois County; Nancy A .. Mrs. Douglas is a resident of Clinton, Mo .; Catherine F., Mrs. Lindsey, lives in Iroquois County ; John W. lives at Lee, Summit County, Mo .; Lou, Mrs. Thisler, resides at Bergen, Ky .; Flora, Mrs. Austin, resides at Abilene, Kan .; Cora, Mrs. Doolittle, is a resident of Jacksonville; Josephine, Mrs. Shank, lives at Palmyra.
Mr. Solomon has six children living by his first marriage: Elizabeth J., Mrs. Hinckle, a resident of Pana, Christian County, Ill .; Mary J., Mrs. Ross, lives at Wilber, Neb .; Melvina, Mrs. Edwards, is a resident of Denver, Colo .; Benjamin F. lives in Oklahoma, and Samuel C.
Our subject is a Christian in deed and word and a member in high standing in the Baptist Church. Ile is as sound in his polities as in his religion and is an unswerving adherent of the Democratic party. Mrs. Solomon belongs to the Christian Church and is an active worker in the fold.
G ARDNER CASE, a retired farmer who re- sides in a pleasant and beautiful home on Franklin Street, Bunker Hill, has lived in this place for twelve years, coming here from his farm in Bunker Hill Township, where he had lived since 1842. He obtained the land unbroken, and put it in a splendid state of cultivation. He then sold it and purchased a large farm of more than eight hundred and fifty acres in Montgomery
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County, and this be now owns. Ile was a practi- endl farmer and stock-raiser, especially in the line of swine and sheep.
Mr. Case came to this State from Connecticut in 1812. Ilis birthplace was ten miles west of liart- ford, Conn., and his ratal day was February 14. 1818. Ilis father, Nathan Case, was born and reared in Connecticut, and became the largest land owner in his township. Ile devoted himself largely to the culture of fruit and the manufacture of cider and died at the old home at the age of seventy-two years. He was a Whig in his political views, and was sent by that party to the State Legislature. He was a member in good and regular standing of the Congregational Church, as was his wife, whose maiden name was Lucy Moses, who was born in Hartford County, Conn. She died in the prime of life, when her son, our subject, was only six years old. Nathan Case was married a second time to Edna Gillett, who also died in Hartford County. The grandfather of our subject was a patriot of the Revolutionary days, Jedadiah Case by name, who was a brave soldier, a good citizen and a promi- nent farmer of Connecticut.
The subject of this biographical sketch, was one of the younger of the five children born to his mother. When twenty-one years old he left Con- nectieut and came to Illinois, and began life for himself on a new farm in Bunker Hill Township, this county. Here he has made his fortune and here he has built up a reputation as a man of pure habits and sound character. Every one who knows him rejoices to speak well of him. His marriage took place in Montgomery County, Ill., his bride being Fannie Gallaher. She was born in West Vir- ginia, in 1839, eight miles from Harper's Ferry. Her natal day was December 29. She is the daugh- ter of Sidney and Jane (Iloward) Gallaher, both Virginians. Mrs. Gallaher died at the age of twenty-seven years. Her husband lived to be sev- enty four years old. He spent a number of his later years in Illinois, but returned to Fairfax County, W. Va., before his death. They were both earnest and conscientious members of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church.
The wife of our subject is one of three daugh- ters of her parents, all yet living. and all having
established homes of their own. Mrs. Case was reared in Johnstown, W. Va., and is a lady of rare intelligence and of most lovely character. She has hosts of friends in Bunker Hill. She has been the mother of two children, one of whom Maud, died in infancy ; Harvey, who is still at home, is a grad- uate of the Bunker Hill Academy; Mrs. Case is a member of the Congregational Church. Hler grand- father was a native of Ireland, who came to Amer- iea when a young man and lived and died in West Virginia, passing away in extreme old age. Mr. Case casts his vote for the Democratic party, to which he has always been attached.
OHN P. HENDERSON is well known in financial eireles not only as a part proprie_ tor of the Bank of Virden, but as one of the prominent farmers and stock-raisers of the county, owning and occupying a large and well- ordered farm in Virden Township. Hle was born in Garrard County, Ky., January 15, 1833. His father was James Ilarvey Ilenderson, a Virginian by birth, coming of Scoteli ancestry. Ile removed with his family to Kentucky in the early years of its settlement, and then went from there to Indiana in its territorial days, and located near Blooming- ton. There were but few whites in that part of the country then, and as the Indians were numer- ous and hostile, the whole neighborhood lived for some time in a fort.
The grandfather of our subject was a resident of Indiana during the War of 1812, and one of his brothers took part in that conflict and never was heard from afterward. In 1830 Grandfather Hen- derson came to Morgan County, Ill., and spent the "Winter of the Deep Snow" there. Soon after he took up his residence among the pioneers of Greene County, loeating on a tract of timber and prairie land near Whitehall, where he spent the remainder of his life in improving a farm, dying in 1849. IIe married Nancy Provine, who died at the home of the father of our subject about two years after her husband's death.
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James Harvey Henderson was very young when his parents removed to Indiana, where he grew to manhood. At the age of seventeen he began to learn the trade of a blacksmith, receiving sufficient money to clothe and board himself. At that time blacksmiths used to make chains, wedges, axes, hoes, and even the horse shoes and the nails with which to put them on. Ile worked evenings to make those things to sell, and in that way earned his first money, which was the basis of a fortune. After completing his apprenticeship Mr. Henderson returned to Kentucky and carried on his trade in that State. Ile married during his residence there, and in the fall of 1837 came to Illinois once again, bringing with him his wife and the two children that had been born to them in Kentucky. The journey was made with a pair of oxen and a horse to lead, attached to a covered wagon, in which were all their earthly possessions.
Mr. llenderson located at Carrollton, then a small place, and became one of its pioneer mechan- ics, opening a shop for the purpose of carrying on trade, and operating it two years. At the expira- tion of that time he entered Government land six miles east of Whitehall. He erected a log house, also a smithy, and devoted a part of his time to his trade and the rest, to his farm, residing there until 1853. About 1850 he came to Macoupin County and entered six hundred and forty acres of Government land in what is now Virden Township. In 1853 he took up his residence upon it, building his dwelling oo section 10, and in the years that followed he devoted himself assiduously to improv- ing his farm. In the fall of 1883 he died in the comfortable home that was the result of his une- mitting toil. He was more than ordinarily fortu- nate in the prosecution of his calling, and had become one of the wealthy farmers of the county, whose name will ever be held in respect as that of one who aided in developing the riches of the county, and who, though not one of its earliest set- tlers, is deserving of a high place among its pio- neers. The maiden name of his wife was Almira B. Reid, and she was a native of Kentucky. She departed this life on the home farm in Greene County in 1845, leaving three children, namely : Samuel B., who died in 1849; John P .; and Mary,
who married John Woodson, and died at St. Louis in 1880, leaving two children, Julia and Alma.
In the pioneer schools of Greene County our subject received his education. These temples of learning were rudely furnished with benches made of puncheon, with wooden pins for legs, and with- out backs or desks. A log was taken out of the wall of the house to admit light. The country surrounding his early home in this State was in a wild condition, as the pioneers had not made much headway against the forces of nature at that period, and deer, wild turkeys and other game were plen- tiful. Ile was quite young when he began to assist his father in the farm work, and he continued to live with him until he attained manhood, In 1856 he turned aside from the calling to which he had been bred, to engage in the mercantile business at Virden, and carried it on there successfully the en- suing four years. In 1863 he decided to try his fortune in the Golden State. and with fifteen others he started for the Pacific Coast in the month of April, taking quite a number of horses and mules to dispose of in California, The little party made the entire journey overland across the plains by the way of the Platte River Valley and Salt Lake. In the month of August our subject and his com- panions arrived at Marysville, where they disposed of their stock, and in December of the same year he started homeward hy way of the Isthmus, ar- riving one month later.
After his return from California Mr. Henderson accepted the position of clerk to Sheriff Wills, who was then County Tax Collector. Ile remained with him two years, and then began to improve a farm west of Virden. In 1873 he sold that place and purchased the one on which he now resides of Dr. Orange B. Heaton. This farm contains four hun- dred and eighty acres of fine, well-cultivated prai- rie land, well stocked with cattle and horses of high grade, and amply provided with buildings of a neat and substantial class, and all the modern ap- plianees for carrying on agriculture to the best ad- vantage.
Our subject is a man of large enterprise, and he- sides managing his extensive farming affairs very successfully, be is interested in the banking busi- ness. In 1887 he formed a partnership with B. F.
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Caldwell, E. D. Keys, W. T. Lewis and George .J. Patterson, to establish the Bank of Virden, and he is still a member of the firm. The bank has had a prosperous run of four years, and is firmly founded ; in the confidence of the people, who regard it as one of our safest and best managed monetary in- stitutions, and its credit is high wherever it has financial dealings.
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The marriage of Mr. Henderson with Miss Maxie Z. Bronaugh was solemnized in January, 1867, and their happy wedded life has brought them one daughter, whom they have named Almira L. Mrs. Henderson is a daughter of John and Louisa ( Poin- dexter) Bronangli, of whom a sketch appears on an- other page of this work. Mr. Henderson is a man of sensible and sound views on all the important questions of the day, and is well dowered with tenacity of purpose, sagacious and independent judgment and other traits necessary to success in any vocation. Ile has not staid to question whether or no "life is worth living," but has done his best to make it so by doing his whole duty wherever placed. In his politics he is unswerving in his allegiance to the Democratic party. Both he and his good wife are exemplary members of the Christian Church, and are of high repute in their community.
A lithographie portrait of Mr. Henderson is pre- sented on another page of this volume.
AMES H. ROHRER, one of the oldest resi- dents of this county, is prominent and well- known as a member of its farming eommun- ity who has for many years been active in helping to develop its agricultural resources, and so has materially promoted its rise and progress. For more than thirty years he has owned and oceu- pied his present farm, which is pleasantly situated in Scottville Township, and is as well improved and cultivated as any within its bounds.
Logan County, Ky., is the birthplace of our sub- jeet, and there in the humble pioneer home of .Ja- cob and Artemisia (Ashbaugh) Rohrer he first opened his eyes to the light of the world. His
father, who was one of the early settlers of Morgan County, this State, was a native of Ilagerstown, Md. Ile in turn was a son of John Rohrer, who was of Swiss birth. The latter was reared and married in the land of his nativity, and in 1793 came to America, three of his brothers accompany- ing him, one of them settling in Virginia and two of them in Pennsylvania. The grandfather of our subject erected a stone flonring mill at Hagerstown, which is still standing, a relic of the past. Hle operated that mill eight years and at the expiration of that time went to Virginia, whence he subse- quently removed to Kentucky, where he purchased land and gave his attention to farming until de ith closed his mortal career. His youngest son still oceupies the old homestead that he improved from the primeval wilds. The maiden name of his wife was Kate Orendorph, and she was also a native of Switzerland. She died on the Kentucky home- stead.
The father of our subject was a lad when his par- ents went to Kentucky, and there in due time he married and established himself as a farmer on Kentucky soil. In August, 1826, deeming that he could do still better in the more newly settled State of Illinois, he came hither with his wife and the two children that had been born to them, the journey being made by land with a pony and a blind horse attached to a wagon that held all their earthly possessions. They were delayed by sick- ness, and did not arrive at their destination in Morgan County until the 10th of October. They camped near a eabin, and during the night the owner of that dwelling ealled and offered to give up the claim on which it stood and a stack of fodder in exchange for the pony, possession to be given the next day. The bargain was made at once, and on the morrow Mr. Rohrer and his family moved into the cabin. He had but $50 with which to begin life in a new country, and with that he entered forty acres of the land, which was located two miles west of Waverly. The cabin was a prim- itive affair, with a puncheon floor and a mud and stick chimney. while the boards on the roof were held in place by weight poles.
Mr. Rohrer commenced at once the hard pioneer task that lay before him of evolving a farm from
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the wilderness. He had to go way to Alton or St. Lonis to market his grain and other produce, which was a ditlieult journey in those days before railways were introduced in this part of the world. Ile carried on his operations with great success, as he was more than ordinarily gifted with energy and good judgment, and besides developing his origi- nal purchase, he bought other land, and at the time of his death in 1838 had a fine farm of three hun- dred acres of very fertile land, well supplied with good buildings and other improvements. Ile did good work as a pioneer and was much missed in his community. Ilis wife died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Spencer Norvell. She was a native of Bullitt County, Ky., and a daughter of James aud Kate Ashbaugh. She was the mother of four children that grew to maturity: Mary, James, George and Kate.
But few men are as well posted in the carly his- tory of this county as our subjeet. Coming to Illi- nois in his infancy his earliest recollections are connected with its pioneer life, and he has wit- nessed almost the entire development and growth of this section from its primitive wildness. When his father came to the State the greater part of the land was owned by the Government, and has since been sold at sums varying from twelve and a half cents to a $1.25 an acre. The habits and customs of the people were necessarily different from those of to-day, owing to far different environments, as the early settlers of the country had to struggle against the rude forces of nature and had but little time for the amenities of life. This perhaps was but little to be regretted. as perchance the hard- ships that were so patiently and heroically endured brought out many fine traits of character, such as unwearying self-sacrifice. a generous interest in the welfare of their fellow-pioneers, and a warm-hearted hospitality that have never been exceeded by any other people. They were obliged to live chiefly on the products of their farms and on the wild game that abounded on the prairies or in the tim- ber, and were mostly clothed in homespun made by the skillful hands of the women.
Our subject was quite a lad when the village of Waverly was platted, and he watched the men drive the first stakes that marked its bounds, His
education was obtained in the pioneer schools of the time, which were furnished with puncheon benches that had no backs or desks. and the build- ing was lighted by the admission of the sunshine through a hole made in the wall by the removal of a log. When not in school Mr. Rohrer was required to help his father in the farm work, and he con- tinued to remain an inmate of the parental house- hold until he attained the age of twenty-three years. In the meantime, he had earned money enough to pay for the land that he had bought at $4 an acre in Morgan County. There was a log house on it at the time of purchase, and in that le and his bride commenced housekeeping on an hum . ble scale. In 1858 he sold that place and bought the homestead on which he has since resided. It comprises two hundred and sixty-seven acres of as fine farming land as can be found in that vicinity, which is under excellent cultivation, and it is pro- vided with ample and well-built buildings for every needed purpose.
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