USA > Illinois > St Clair County > Portrait and biographical record of St. Clair County, Illinois : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 20
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he located in East St. Louis, and two years later became a real-estate agent, and afterward general paymaster for the Wiggins Ferry Company, but resigned in 1889, and has since lived in retirement at his pleasant and comfortable residence at No. 70 Pennsylvania Avenue. His wife was Catherine Rudtge, a native of Coblentz, Germany, and by her he became the father of two sons and three daughters, one son being now deceased. The paternal grandfather was born in Holland and be- came well known as an architect of more than or- dinary ability.
Dr. H. J. de Ilaan spent the first nine years of his life in St. Louis, Mo., and although he after- ward became a resident of East St. Louis, Ill., he still continued to pursue his studies in St. Louis, where he first attended a German institution, later entering the Sacred Heart College at Ruma, Ill., where he graduated in the Latin course at the age of eighteen years. Succeeding this, he was for about three years Assistant Railroad Agent for the Wiggins Ferry Company, at the end of which time, as it had always been his desire to study medicine, he became a disciple of Esculapius in St. Louis, under the able instruction of Dr. Prewitt, and in 1881 entered the Missouri Medical College, in which he remained until 1883. In order to further perfect himself in his profession, he went to Berlin, Germany, in the spring of 1883. While an attendant of Berlin University, one of the professors under whom he studied was the now celebrated Dr. Koch. He graduated in 1885, with the degree of M. D., and soon after returned to East St. Louis, not, however, before he had traveled over the most of the Continent and had taken special medical courses in Vienna, Paris and London.
Our subject is familiar with both German and French, and this aided him largely in his deter- mination to avail himself of every opportunity which presented itself to increase his practical knowledge of his profession, and, in pursuance of this design, he attended the International Medi- cal Congress at Copenhagen in 1884, and after- ward visited the principal points of interest in the Scandinavian Peninsula. In 1885, he opened an office in the First National Bank Building and
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entered upon the practice of his profession, and it was not long before the public began showing its appreciation of his ability, his earnest effort, and his conscientious devotion to the duties of his profession, as it always shows appreciation of gen- uine merit. With professional skill which brought him the best class of patronage, he combines the tact which makes fast friends of the patients who come to him for treatment, and the closest and most assiduous attention to business has swelled his annual ineome to goodly proportions. This has also been increased by judicious investments in real estate, in which business he has shown him- self shrewd and far seeing.
Our subjeet was the prime mover in establishing St. Mary's Hospital in 1889, and since June, 1890. he has been its Surgeon. 1Ie was married in 1886 to Miss Nell Bergen, who was born in Litch- field, Ill., and by her has three bright children: Adrian, Nellie and Marie. He has recently been bereft of his wife, whose untimely demise occurred in 1891. The Doctor has a pleasant home at the corner of Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Ave- nue, and is in receipt of a handsome income from his real-estate ventures and practice. Ile did much to boom the town, and has ever been one of its most enterprising citizens. He is a member of St. Henry's Church, and is a Democrat polit- ically.
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L R. ALEXANDER FEKETE, the efficient Postmaster of East St. Louis, Ill., and a well-known physician of this section, was born in Buda Pesth, Hungary, December 2, 1827, of which country his father, Lonis Fekete, was a Government officer. The latter died in the '40s. His wife, Elizabeth Sabo, was born there and bore her husband five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the youngest, and is the only one now living. Dr. Alexander Fekete was reared and educated in the gymnasium under Jesuit instruc- tion, and, after completing his course there in 1845, he entered the University of Vienna as a medieal student; but at the end of three years he
became involved in the Revolution of 1848, in which he served during the eighteen months that it was in progress. He was a member of the Le- gion of Vienna, became First Lieutenant, and was wounded in the battle of Hermannstadt, on the 10th of January. 1849. ITis wound was in the left thigh, which prevented him from making his escape, and he was taken prisoner, Three months later, he effected his escape, and made his way to Turkey: in the spring of 1850 he left Con- stantiople with Kossuth, on board an American vessel of war, and for some time thereafter was in the hospitals of London.
In the fall of 1850, he erossed the Atlantic to America and reached New York at the end of six weeks. Hle became a clerk in a drug establish- ment in that city, but m 1852 came West to St. Louis, Mo,, where he followed the same oeeupa- tion, and completed his medical studies, which had been so seriously interrupted. He graduated as an M. D. in 1851 at the St. Louis Medical College, after which he located in Clinton County, and was married the same year to Miss Kate Fisher, who was born in Kentucky, a daughter of William Fisher, a tiller of the soil, whose father had been a Revolutionary soldier, as was also her maternal grandfather. Dr. Fekete remained in Aviston, 111., for about five years, and was then a resident of Marine, Madison County, until the opening of the Civil War. May 19. 1862, he enlisted in the ser- vice, and was made Assistant Surgeon of the Fifth Missouri Cavalry, and was in Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas fighting bushwhackers. In 1864, he be- came Surgeon of the regiment, with the rank of Major, and on the 14th of April, 1865, was mus- tered out of the service at Rolla, Mo., the same night that President Lincoln was assassinated.
About May 26, Dr. Fekete located in East St. Louis, and for many years thereafter, while on his long rides over the country to visit his patients, he carried his drugs in his saddle bags. As a medi- cal practitioner, he has shown the same tenacity of purpose and the same devotion to duty that he showed upon the field of battle in two hemispheres. and his painstaking professional effort has placed him in an independent financial condition. He is a practitioner of the homeopathic school, and
Comando Reinecke
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has been since 1877. In the year 1880, he made the race for County Coroner on the Garfield ticket, but the county was largely Democratic, and he was defeated by a small majority. In December, 1889. he was appointed Postmaster of East St. Louis hy President Harrison, and on the 1st of February, 1890, he entered upon his duties. At that time it was a third-class office, but it is now second-class, and has a free delivery.
The Doctor has a pleasant residence at No. 223 Collinsville Avenue, where he and his family dis- pense a refined hospitality. He has two children, Thomas L. and Ida M. The Doctor has been As- sistant County Physician for years, and was Health Officer also for some years. Politicaily, he is a strong Republican.
C ONRAD REINECKE, of Belleville, is Presi- dent and owner of the majority of stock in the Reinecke Coal Company, beside which he owns extensive mining interests near the Louis- ville & Nashville Depot and at Madisonville, Ky. Born in Martsausen, Kurhessen, Germany, May 19, 1844, our subject is a son of Frederick and Mary (Gundlach) Reinecke, who became resi- dents of Belleville, Ill., in 1850. The father had learned the miller's trade in his native land, but after becoming a resident of America he did not engage in any special business. His family con- sisted of two sons and two daughters, of whom the only survivors are the subject of this sketch and one sister, Eleanor, the wife of John Brown. Both parents died in this country.
Conrad Reinecke acquired a practical education in the public schools of St. Clair County and made fair progress in his studies, as he was an ambitious youth and was anxious to obtain sufficient educa- tion to fit him for the practical duties of life. After leaving school, he turned his attention to blacksmithing, at which he worked until 1865, be- coming thoroughly proficient in the business. At the age of twenty-one years, he began coal-mining as superintendent and manager for John A.
Reeves, with whom he remained until 1871. At that time, having through economy and prudence acquired sufficient means, he became a partner of William M. Reeves, a son of his former employer. in operating a mine at Reeves Station. At tlie end of three years he came to the conclusion that he could make more money if he embarked in business alone, and with this object in view he leased some coal land and -ank a shaft, which he is still operating. He has gradually increased it to its present capacity and now takes out about seven thousand bushels of coal per day. He has shipped as many as fifteen thousand bushels per day on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and gives employment to about fifty men. He has purchased the coal underneath about one hundred and sixty acres of land and has been an important factor in the development of the bituminous coal resources of Western Illinois.
The mine of which Mr. Reinecke is owner is equipped with all the necessary machinery and appliances for the successful operation of the busi- ness, and the management and practical details of the work are in the hands of a man who is thor- oughly familiar with every branch of the business. He is the organizer of the Reinecke Coal Company, which has a capital stock of $100,000 paid up. I. Bailey is the Secretary of this company, also Treas- urer and General Manager. Shipments of hiscoal are made exclusively by rail to all parts of the South, where the product of his mine is especially noted as a superior quality and is in large demand throughout the territory covered by his trade.
Through his own efforts Mr. Reinecke has at- tained to his present enviable financial condition, and has the unbounded satisfaction of knowing that he is not beholden to any one for the prop- erty he has acquired, or for the success with which his efforts have been attended. He has done much for the community in which he is located, and as a business man has the respect of all with whom he has had business relations. He is decidedly practical in his views, has always been a keen ob- server and has had the good judgment to grasp at every opportunity that presented itself for the ad- vancement of his interests, but never at the ex- pense of others.
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February 19, 1884, Mr. Reinecke married Amelia M. Herman, of Belleville, a daughter of .Joseph Herman, a Bohemian by birth, their union resulting in the birth of one child, Harrison. Ile was first united in marriage with Miss Eliza Reeves, and by her became the father of three children: Caro- line, wife of John Penn, of Belleville; Clara, and Fred, who is attending school. Mr. Reinecke and his family are attendants at and supporters of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
D R. H. C. FAIRBROTHER. There are men, and the number is by no means small, who drift into what we are accustomed to look upon as the learned professions in the same way that thousands of men in the lower walks of life drift into the ordinary bread-winning occupations. Having. no special preference for any calling, and without feeling that they have any particular fit- ness for a certain profession, they find themselves drifting in that direction as a result of associa- tions or environments, and in the course of time they also find themselves shouldering responsibili- ties for which they have scant liking, carrying burdens which rest heavily upon thein, and labor- ing in a field which has for them no attraction other than what it yields in the way of annual in- comes. Dr. Fairbrother impresses even those who meet him in a casual way as a man who has drifted easily and naturally into the medical profession, who realizes that he has made no mistake in the choice of his vocation, and who feels thoroughly at home in the position which he occupies. This impression deepens with a more intimate acquaint- anee and familiarity with the history of his life, and leads to the unbiased and impartial view, that the splendid success which he has achieved is the logical sequence of talent rightly used, together with energy and industry never misapplied.
Dr. Fairbrother was born near the village of Bonaparte, Van Buren County, Iowa. His father, Henry Fairbrother, and his grandfather of the same
name, were from Lancashire, England. Ilis mother, Urania Tollman, now in her eighty-sixth year, is of hardy New England stock that can be traced back to near the time of the Pilgrim Fathers. The Tollman family, in April, 1788, assisted in the lay- ing out and settlement of the city of Marietta, Ohio. In June, 1844, Dr. Fairbrother's parents, lured by the flattering reports of greater prosperity in the West, started upon a Westward journey, and halted at St. Louis during the very high water of that season. The St. Louis of that day presented few attractions at best, but at that time all the houses on the river front were half buried in water, and boats landed and received their freight from the second-story windows. Looking to the East over the present site of East St. Louis, there was pre- sented to the view nothing but one broad expanse of water. Not attracted by anything in the out- look here, these homeless emigrants, with very meagre possessions and five little children, wended still further their journey toward the setting sun. They finally settled in the interior of the new State of lowa, then hardly more than a wil- derness, inhabited by the redman and the buf- falo. In this wild country home, in a log house, for there was no other kind, on the 19th of .June, 1845. Henry C. Fairbrother was born. After a few years' residence here, the family, now ten in number, removed to Clark County, Mo., where they followed the occupation of farming.
Upon the breaking out of the war Henry, al- though only sixteen years of age; with his two elder brothers, Philo and John, entered the I'nion army and went South in the confliet of States. They were all wounded-Philo but slightly, John permanently crippled by two musket-ball shots at the battle of Pea Ridge. and Ilenry having his right arm badly shattered in a night engagement with Thompson's band of guerrillas in Southeast Missouri. At the close of the war, he received his discharge in St. Louis, and returned to his old home on the farm in Clark County. It was found, however, that the adventures and exciting scenes of more than three years of army hfe had robbed the plow and the hoe of their former charms. Realizing that his education had been almost lost sight of. he began to cast about as to how he should
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retrieve this loss. Upon the advice of his mother, and brother John, who was then a student there, he began an academical course at Denmark, Iowa, graduating in the classical course of four years, in 1868, at which time he was valedictorian of his class. During the greater part of this time he was dependent upon his own resources, and earned the means for his support either by the occasional teaching of a term of school or by various kinds of manual labor. After graduating he continued teaching for about one year, when he began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. An- gear, at Ft. Madison, lowa. He remained here for a year and a half, maintaining himself in the meantime by work in a drug store, after which he came to St. Louis and entered the St. Louis Medical College.
During the first year of his course his expenses were defrayed by various kinds of work, chiefly in the office of the old Times newspaper. At the end of this time, upon the advice of his professor, Dr. Gregory, he opened an office for the practice of medicine on " The Island " in East St. Louis. A pasteboard card with the name and new title upon it was tacked upon the door of a room in Lovings- ton's Row. The furniture that decorated this office was unearthed from the cellar of Con Fal- lon's saloon on the corner of Sixth and Chestnut Streets, having gone through a sufficient number of bar-room fights to be retired from active busi- ness. What this furniture lacked in quality it made up in quantity, as it formed a fair-sized load for a one-horse coal wagon that was passing that way, and the teaming cost but a trifle. But as luck would have it, the office had two rooms, and every chair and table that had less than three legs was relegated to the back room. Notwithstanding the few attractions presented either in furniture or medical skill, a few straggling patients began to appear, an occasional emergency call was made, and the Doctor, for now he was styled such, man- aged to procure enough in the way of fees to bear the few expenses incurred and complete his medi- cal education, graduating in March, 1872.
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In December of the same year, having obtained a pretty fair start in his profession, he was mar- ried to Miss Mildred A. Carpenter, a teacher in
the public schools of St. Louis, who died of child- bed fever in September, 1882. A few days after her death, Eva, their first-born, a bright little girl in her ninth year, died of scarlet fever. Still liv- ing from this union are Raymond, now in his six- teenth year, and Mildred in her tenth year. In April, 1883, Dr. Fairbrother was appointed by Gov. Hamilton as a Trustee of the State Normal Uni- versity, at Carbondale. During the fall of this year, in order to be better fitted for the discharge of the duties of this position, he visited a number of the Normal Schools of the Eastern States, chiefly those of New York and Boston, and made careful observations of their methods, and brought back with him many suggestions with regard to the conducting of these schools. He had scarcely re- turned, when their magnificent University build- ing, erected at a cost of 8300,000, was consumed by fire. As the State does not insure its prop- erty, there was no insurance on the building, and many were the fears that were felt about obtain- ing an appropriation for its rebuilding. Dr. Fair- brother, accompanied by Judge J. B. Messick and John B. Lovingston, went immediately to Spring- field and laid before the Governor a petition to call a special session of the Legislature to make this appropriation. The petition failed so far as calling of the session was concerned, but it suc- ceeded in all that was expected. It caused the subject to be so freely published and disenssed throughout the State, that when the regular session occurred, the members were so familiar with the matter that, with very little trouble, the appropriation was secured.
Dr. Fairbrother gave personal attention to the erection of the new building, which was one year in construction and is the finest school building in the State, and equal to any in the United States. In November, 1884, he was united in marriage to Miss Kate H. Merry, also a teacher in the public schools of St. Louis, from which union there have been born Henry Merry, who died when a little over one year of age, and Katie May, now in her fifth year. For the past eighteen years Dr. Fair- brother has been an active member of the St. Louis Medical Society. He is a member of the St. Clair County Medical Society, of which he is now the
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presiding officer. He is also a member of the Mis- sissippi Valley Medical Association, and during the meeting of that body in St. Louis in 1861, as Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, he did much to promote its success. He is now Sur- geon for the various railroads entering East St. Louis, and also for the St. Louis Bridge Company. Although a sincere student of medicine and sur- gery and actively engaged in professional work, he has always found time to devote to whatever concerned the interests of his fellow-men. He has always been a strong advocate and supporter of liberal education and has devoted both time and money to the elevation of the public schools of East St. Louis, and in securing their freedom from entanglement with religious dogmas.
In public meetings for the promotion of the general good, he is an active participant, and upon all committees where active work is required, his name usually appears. At the present time he is a member of the relief committee for the sufferers from high water, and a great deal of his time is occupied in adjusting their claims and distributing funds. He has also given due attention to the business side of life, and has succeeded in accumu- lating a very fair competence. Ile is Vice-presi- dent of the First National Bank of East St. Louis and is a member of its discount board. He is of a very social nature and domestic habits, and takes great pride in his grounds and residence which is adorned by many beautiful paintings. In politics, he is Republican, and in his theory of life he is guided by the principle of love and service to his family and mankind.
G EORGE L. CORLIS. The grandfather of the pleasant gentleman whose sketeli it gives us pleasure to place before the readers of the RECORD was an English Captain who brought his family to America. His vessel was afterward lost, while it was chartered by the United States Government, and is now in the French Spoliation Claim. In the meantime, he had located in Ken-
tucky, and there practiced medicine, in which he had graduated before he went upon the sea. He spent his last days in Metropolis, III.
The father of our subject was Edwin Corlis, who was reared in Brookville, Ky., where he re- ceived a good education and became a teacher, which profession he followed for eleven years, partly in Kentucky and partly in Metropolis, III., seven years as the Principal of a school. He then became a general broker and is now traveling over the West. He has always been very much interested in school advancement and has served as School Director and Trustce of Metropolis since he stopped teaching. Ile believes in Free Trade and is a Democrat from principle. The mother of our subject was Sallie Scott who was born in Ohio, near Cincinnati, and was the daughter of William Scott, a native of Scotland, who became a farmer in Southern Ohio, and spent his last days there. His eldest son, William, is now a Chaplain in the regular army of the I'nited States. Both parents affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The gentleman of whom we write was one of four children, as follows: Edwin, George, Thrift, and Seott. George was born in Metropolis, III., May 26, 1868, and was reared in the place of his birth. He attended the common schools there and completed the High School course in Cairo, which he accomplished when he was seventeen years old. He then returned to Metropolis and began the study of law under the guidance of ex-Supreme Judge Mulkey and his son, with whom he re- mained for several years. In 1888, he entered Mc Kendree College and graduated from there in 1891 with the degree of LL. B. Ile had been practic- ing in Metropolis during his vacation, and his first case was one of murder, when the brilliant young lawyer had the delight of securing the acquittal of his client. In the spring of 1891, he became a partner with W. W. Edwards, the Dean of the law department of Mckendree College, and is now lo- cated in the Flannigan Building, where the firm engages in a regular law practice.
Mr. Corlis is not disappointing his friends, who predicted from his college triumph, that he would make a name in the future. He was twice selected by his classmates to take the President's chair in
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the Platonian Society and was the salutatorian of his class. He is a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, the church of his parents, and is proud of the connection. The Democratic party finds in him a valiant champion, and we may venture to predict great things for this young son of a college that has sent out many prominent men in the last half-century.
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OUIS BOISMENUE, Chief Clerk in the Heim Brewery of East St. Louis, and a repre- sentative of one of the very oldest families of the Mississippi Bottoms, is a native of East St. Louis, born on the 9th of June, 1861. Ilis father, Louis Boismenue, was a native of Cahokia, this State, but the grandfather, Louis Boismenne, was a native of sunny France, born in the southwest- ern part. When still a single man, the latter came to America, settled in the bottoms of the Missis- sippi River, and followed agriculturai pursuits in Cahokia after his marriage and until his death.
His son, the father of our subject, grew to man- hood on this farm, and when eighteen or nineteen years of age went overland to California with oxen and horses. He remained there several years en- gaged in mining, and then returned to the East, where he tilled the soil for some time. Later, he was engaged in freighting and trading in produce and provisions with the soldiers at the Western forts, going as far West as Ft. Laramie during the war. When the railroad came to St. Joseph, he went from there West for a few years. After this, he was engaged in the livery business on Main and Third Streets for four years, but subsequently be- came Cashier of the East St. Louis Bank, with Col. Jarrott as President. Mr. Boismenne held that position until he had to retire on account of ill- ness, and was succeeded by our subject. He died in 1885, when fifty-six years of age. He was Ald- erman in the city for some time, and in politics was a Republican. He held membership in the Catholic Church. He married Miss Josphine Jar- rott, a native of East St. Louis and the daughter
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