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 61
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proving this style of machine. They have de- voted all their energies to the important interest of building a grain saver and eleaner, and to their growing business. In 1878 it was deemed best, for many reasons, to organize under the State law as a stock company, with Cyrus Thompson and Hugh W. Harrison as associates of the old members of the firm and under the corporate name of the Harrison Machine Works. As others claimed the invention of the name, the Belleville Vibrator, to distinguish a different machine, Messrs Harrison called theirs the Belleville Separator. It has since been suggested. owing to its merit in saving the largest pereent- age of grain, that it be called the Belleville Grain Saver. The experience of nearly forty years, the suggestions received from thousands of the best threshers the hundreds of tests they have made in all grain, and the success and great demand for the "Belleville" in all parts of the country, must and do impress the threshers and farmers and help them in deciding where to get reliable threshing machinery. They guarantee and assure the threshers and grain- raisers a machine that will save the grain.
The threshing-machines they build are not experi- ments. In the season of 1880 many new-style thresh- ers were thrown on the market in their vicinity, but they failed to save the grain and were returned to the manufacturers or their agents. Farmers and threshers cannot afford to lose ten or twelve days' time on an untried machine, or one that will not save the grain. The Belleville Separator in no instance failed to give entire satisfaction. The Belleville is built by experienced men, well edu- cated in the requirements of this class of work, with long years of experience, and ample facilities for testing every improvement. In August, 1873, this company purchased large buildings near their thresher works and fitted them up with the best tools obtainable for building first-class engines. There is no similar establishment better fitted East or West than this for making good thresh- ing engines. These engines have proved all and more than the manufacturers expected of them, in having more power, consuming less fuel, requiring less water, using steam more economically, and be- ing more durable and more easily managed. The extension of this engine and thresher trade to var-
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ious parts of the country is a noticeable feature, speaking much in favor of the machinery. They sell thresher outfits in Illinois, Missouri, lowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Ten- nessce, Louisiana, Texas, Montana, Dakota, C'olor- ado and Mexico. In this age of steam and tele- graph, when knowledge is quickly and widely disseminated, the best is sought and will be had.
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The Harrison Machine Works are located on the ('airo Short Line Railroad in Belleville, cover sev- eral acres of ground, and are fitted up with the latest and most improved machinery, having all the convenience for doing a large and satisfactory business. The completeness and magnitude of the works are an agreeable surprise to all who visit them, and by the addition of large shops, and the purchase of new lathes and tools, they have increased their capacity twenty-five to fifty per cent. It is a pride to the locality to know that such an establishment has grown up in the Mississ- ippi Valley in the face of the sternest competi- tion, and through the energy and pluck of men born and reared in St. Clair County, III. While there are larger works elsewhere, of greater age and more extensive capital, yet there are none more complete, with better tools or more skilled mechan- ics. Their traction engines have and will attract much attention. Messrs. Harrison and Buchanan have made special efforts to build an engine pro- pelled by its own motive power attached to rear or hind wheels, and this they have accomplished more successfully than in any in the market. Their speciality and business is making threshing ma- chinery. They build nothing else, and devote their entire energies to making and perfecting machinery to thresh and save the grain of the farmer in the easiest and cheapest way.
Hugh W. Harrison, Secretary of the Harrison Machine Works, is a native of Illinois, born in Belleville April 26, 1853, and is a son of Thomas O. and Eliza J. (Calbreath) Ilarrison. llis grand- father, James Harrison, with his great-grandfather, Thomas Harrison, were among the earliest pioneers of St. Clair County. Thomas O. Ilarrison, father of our sujeet, was educated in Belleville and at MeKendree College, Lebanon, Ill. When a young man he entered the mill with his father and there
learned the business tlioroughly. Later, with his brother, C. G. Harrison, who is now in Los Ange- les, Cal., he purchased the business. The Harrison Mill was located at the west end of Main Street, and still stands as built by the Harrisons. It is the leading mill of the city and the flour, which is well known throughout Europe, is still known as the "T. Ilarrison Brand." They sold that mill in about the year 1858 or 1859, and went to Hast- ings, Minn., where they built flouring mills and operated them until the death of Thomas ()., which occurred in 1861. C. G. Harrison then sold out and went to Los Angeles, Cal. Thomas O. Harri- son had married in Belleville. III., Miss Calbreath, daughter of Ilugh Calbreath, of Shiloh Valley and one of the pioneers of that place. To Mr. and Mrs. Harrison were born five children, four sons and one daughter, who are named in the order of their births as follows: llugh W., C. W., F. L., T. G., and Olive, who is now the wife of R. F. Waugh, of Belleville.
The educational advantages of our subject were received in Ilastings, Minn., St. Louis and Me- Kendree College, after which he entered the Har- rison Machine Works, where he learned the trade of machinist, boiler-maker and moulder, becoming familiar with all departments. lle entered the business first in 1870, and for sixteen years has filled the position of Secretary. Ile is a persever- ing, thorough-going, energetic business man and is eminently deserving of all business success. Ile is highly esteemed in the community. Mr. Harri- son was married in Virginia, Ill., on the 26th of September, 1877, to Miss Parthenia F. Tureman, daughter of J. II. Tureman, and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is at present Steward. He has been Trustee, Usher, etc. Mr. Harrison has shown his great appreciation of secret organizations in general by becoming a member of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, Knights of Pythias, Knights of Honor, Associated Order of I'nited Workmen, Modern Woodmen .of America, and is a Knight Templar in the first-mentioned order. Mr. Ilarri- son gives almost his entire attention to the ma- chine manufacturing business, and the present officers of the Harrison Machine Works are Will-
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iam C. Buchanan, President; Lee Harrison, Vice- president; Cyrus Thompson, Treasurer; and Hugh W. Harrison, Secretary. The works cover about ten acres and give employment to about two hundred and fifty men the year round. The cap- ital stock is $300,000.
AMES AMOS WILLOUGHBY is Postmaster of Belleville, Ill., and associate proprietor with Mr. Thomas of the Advocate. In an early . day there arrived in America the Willoughby family. representatives of the Eng- lish race, which has contributed so much to the thrift, industry and prosperity of this country; and one of their direct descendants was William E. Willoughby, who was born in Kent County, Del., March 7, 1823. He came with his father, William, to Illinois in 1833, where he grew up, and, so far as outward circumstances could mould, became thoroughly Americanized. They settled on the American Bottom, in St. Clair County, near Collinsville, where William Willoughby was called from life.
William E. Willoughby was first married to Miss Penn, who died without issue, and on the Ist of January, 1852, was united to Miss Mary Moore, their union proving a very happy one. She is the second daughter of William and Margaret ( Alexan- der) Moore, the former of whom was born in Geor- gia and the latter in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Wil- loughby was born on the 14th of June. 1825. at the old family homestead. near Belleville, where her parents settled either in 1814 or 1815. Through the ardent devotion of her father to educational interests. she had all the advantages in that line that the unorganized subscription method of that day afforded-in chance empty cabins, on slab seats, with neither backs nor desks, with the light peep- ing through a single row of glass, 8x10 inches in size, sashed in by the removal of as much log on either side of the humble edifice, where usually the "rule of three" was the goal of ambition.
cated on a farm on Looking Glass Prairie, north of Summerfield, where he actively and success- fully pursued the avocation he had been reared to-agriculture and stock-raising. As a result of Ins marriage vow, his family was enlarged by the birth of four children, of whom James Amos was the second in order of birth; he first saw the light of day on Looking Glass Prairie May 2, 1855, and was brought up on a farm, where dur- ing his minor years, when not at school, he took cheerfully an active part in the routine labors of agricultural life. By studious application he mias- tered the common English branches; after which he entered McKendree College, and in the ('lass of '74 was graduated in the scientific department with the degree of A. B. He next, wishing to acquire a knowledge of law, the underlying stratum of our liberties and the ethical channel through which justice is measured to the people, entered the l'niversity of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, as a law student, and in 1876 received a diploma of admission to the Bar of Ann Arbor, and a short time later of Belleville, III. Attracted by the seeming fair profits druggists were receiv- ing at that time, Mr. Willoughby engaged in that business in 1877, and followed it at Leba- non, Ill., until December, 1880, although the busi- ness did not meet his expectations remuneratively or congenially.
Our subject then entered the political arena and was elected the first Recorder of St. Clair County by the Republican party, over John Ben- ner, in 1880, and held the position very effici- ently for four years. Upon again making the race, in 1884, he was defeated by two hundred and eighty-two votes, as the county had a Demo- cratic majority of seventeen hundred votes. In 1885, soon after the expiration of his official du- ties, in connection with Mr. Thomas, he began publishing the Belleville Advocate, the leading Re- publican paper of the county, and is still pursuing that calling, stimulated to action through the in- spiration of a strong, ardent and un wavering faith in the assumed fact that Republican politics will best serve public interest. Hle is an honest man. true to his convictions, and enjoys, regardless of
After his marriage, William E. Willoughby lo- | political theory, the esteem and confidence of his
J. Om. Johnsen
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acquaintances, and now, as a result of a spotless life and active political devotion, is Postmaster of Belleville, to which position he was appointed February 14, 1890, entering upon the duties of his office April 1. The postal receipts for the year ending April 1, 1892, were $12,000. The city has a free delivery, with seven carriers, and two men are constantly required in the office, Samuel Stookey being Deputy.
Although not a member of any church, Mr. Willoughby is a believer in and leans toward the Methodist doctrine. Realizing the fact that it is not good to live alone, on the 11th of No- vember. 1886, he was united in marriage with Miss Lizzie V. Hughes, daughter of ex-Sheriff and Postmaster James Hughes (deceased). Socially, Mr. Willoughby is a member of the Ancient, Free & Accepted Masons. The Advocate is an ably con- ducted paper and has a circulation of eighteen hundred. Ilis father is still living at Lebanon, and is highly honored throughout that section as an upright, useful and loyal citizen. The mother is deceased.
L EWIS M. JOHNSON. We know that the poor we have always with us, and the gen- tleman whose name opens this sketch has had the sorrows of this preponderating class brought more closely to his notice than have the majority of people. He who becomes Overseer of the Poor in any district must unite in himself many qualifications. among which should be great kindness of heart with great firmness of will. These desirable characteristics Mr. Johnson pos- sesses, and is therefore well fitted for the difficult position which he holds.
The grandfather of our subject, Moses Johnson, was a very early settler in Orleans County, N. Y., where he brought his family in 1811. Ile became a farmer in that fertile section and there he re- mamed until the death of his wife, when he removed to the Far West, and there died, The
father of our subject was born in eastern New York, and bore the name of Lyman. Ile was reared in Rochester and there married. Ile car- ried on farming until 1850, when he located m Rochester and became connected with the police and detective department, and was one of the most valuable officers in the Government employ dur- ing the war, causing desolation to the bounty jumpers. The mother of our subject, Charlotte Drew, was born in Oneida County, N. Y., and passed away in 1813. She was the daughter of an early settler in Oneida County who followed the trade of basket-making.
Our subject was the third eldest child in a family of seven children, and is the only one now living. one brother having given up his life for his country. Lewis Johnson was born in Rochester, N. Y., June 13. 1837, and was reared in his native city, where he attended the public schools. In 1856 he went to Saginaw City, Mich., and ran an engine for one season. During the following year lie became second engineer on the steamer " .James Raymond," and towed the floating palace with Spaulding & Reger's circus from Hennepin, Ill., to New Orleans, and up the Red and Cumberland Rivers, and then back up the Ohio to New Al- bany, where he left them. He then went to Pa- ola and ran an engine in a gristmill for four months. Tiring of that occupation he took charge of the stage between Paola, Ind .. and Louisville, Ky., and drove it with four horses. In 1859 he went to Orleans. Ind., and became connected with a firm dealing in lightning-rods, but in the winter of 1860 he worked in a sawmill at that place.
The marriage of our subject took place May 16, 1861, in Orleans, to Miss Jennie R. Hamilton, who was born in Orange County, Ind. About that time the call came for defenders of the country, and Mr. Johnson was among the first to respond. lle enlisted July 10, 1861, in Company G. Twenty-fourth Indiana Infantry, and helped to raise the company for the three months' service. When the call came for three years, he again bravely went forth to meet the uncertainties of a soldier's life, lle was mustered in as Sergeant in a company at Vincennes under ex-Gov. Ilovey, and was sent to Missouri in the Army of the
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West. There they were engaged in the pursuit of Price and then were stationed at Carondelet, guarding the gunboat while it was being built. Later, the regiment was sent South and was soon in the thickest of the struggle. They were at Fts. Donelson and Ilenry. Shiloh, Corinth, the ex- pedition of the Gulf and White River, Champion Ilill. Black River, the siege of Vieksburg, then on to Jackson and New Orleans, in the campaign in Louisiana, and the expedition up the Red River. During this time and in the Grand Review at New Orleans, our subject was in command of the company. When his time of service expired, in the spring of 1864, the regiment was at Natchez, and there he received an honorable discharge. He had a fine record, and there are those who remem- ber that at Grand Gulf he it was who volunteered to drive the engine of a transport to run the hloekade.
In 1864 our subjeet began work for the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad as brakeman, but later became fireman, and afterward was engineer from Vincennes to Seymour, Ind., until 1869, when he took a position on the Vandalia Railroad, and ran from East St. Louis to Effingham. In 1870 he de- cided to make this eity his home. and was an en- gineer until January, 1892, when he left the road on account of sickness. Ile has had a very fortu- nate railroad life, as he is one of the oldest engi- neers and his only accident was one in which his shoulders were injured. He had the honor of taking the first engine over Eads Bridge, to test its strength. which was also a test of his courage.
In addition to his pleasant residence, which is located at No. 149 Collinsville Avenne, Mr. John- son owns other real estate, and is well-to-do. He is the father of two children: Fannie ( .. now Mrs. S. P. Chapin, of East St. Louis; and Frank I .. who is an engineer on the Merchant's Bridge.
In 1892. Mr. Johnson was elected Chief Super- visor of East St. Louis Township and city. He is a member of the committee on the equalization of public property, and in the spring of 1892 was ap- pointed Overseer of the Poor by the Mayor and C'ouneil. In the MeDowell Post No. 507. G. A. R, he is a prominent member and was the first Commander. He belongs to Enreka Lodge No.
81, K. P .; Rathbone Division U. R. K. P., No. 17, and now is Brigadier-Major and Aid-de-Camp of the Brigadier-Commander of Illinois of the U. R. K. P. Ile is also identified with the Knights and Ladies of Honor, and has been an officer and an active member of the Locomotive En- gineers, Ile has not neglected polities in his busy life, but has been a delegate to the Republi- can State and county conventions.
NDREW B. SMILEY, a retired farmer, living in a beautiful home on the corner of South Jackson and Sixth Streets, was born in this county December 8. 1846. Ilis parents, Mathew A. and Mary C. (Christy) Smiley, were natives of Kentucky and Ohio, re- spectively. the former coming to this State when about thirty years of age. He was married here and died three months before the birth of his son, our subject. The mother continued to reside in the old home place in Caseyville Township, where our subject grew to maturity.
Mr. Smiley, our subject, received his early edu- cation at the public schools, and from there went to the Wesleyan University at Bloomington, III. Upon his return, he engaged in farming with his mother until her death, which occurred July 27. 1889. Mr. Smiley has one brother. Samnel ('., and a half-brother and sister, Joseph Porter and Mrs. Elizabeth Begole, on his mother's side; and two half-brothers and two half-sisters on his fa- ther's side, namely : James A .; William G .; Martha, Mrs. John Dugger; and Emily, married and liv- ing in the South.
Our subject remained on the home farm for about six months after the death of his mother and then invested in two fine farms for himself, one of one hundred and sixty and the other of one hundred and eighty acres, in O'Falion Town- ship. Later, Mr. Smiley purchased land and built a beautiful two-story, pressed brick residence, of modern design, 25x63 feet, finished in hard wood and heated with the hot-water system through-
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out. It is one of the most modern houses in con- struction in the town and is finished inside and ont in the best and most complete manner pos- sible.
Mr. Smiley was married December 17, 1872, to Miss Susan G. Bowler, of the same township. She is a daughter of the soil, and her father, Benjamin F. Bowler, was one of the early settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Smiley have one son, Frank B., now attending the Missouri Military Academy, in Mexico. Mr. Smiley is, politically speaking, a Democrat, but prefers to use his influence in a quiet, private way, feeling that more good can be accomplished in this way than in office. Hle is an active and popular member of St. Clair Lodge No. 24, A. F. & A. M. Mr. Smiley and his esti- mable wife are charming people, whom it is a pleasure to meet, and they enjoy the respect and esteem of the hosts of friends they have made for themselves. not only in the city of Belleville, but wherever they have been.
OSEPH REICHERT. The sketch which we now place before the publie concerns the President of the Reichert Milling Company at Freeburg, St. Clair County, Ill. He is the son of Joseph Reichert, who was born, reared and married in Germany. For many years he had cherished thoughts of the land across the ocean, to which so many of his countrymen had gone and obtained homes, and when his family had been increased to the number of eight beside himself and wife, he decided to make the long journey. The biographer has often thought of the courage that a course of this kind must have demanded. Many of our German citizens had never before left the shadow of the home trees before they set out on that voyage into the strange country, where the language was unknown to them, and the customs of the people totally strange. llowever, this record gives little space for moralizing. Sutlice that the father of our subject was one of the householders who left his German home and
with his family set sail for America. They arrived in New Orleans May 30, 1847, thence made their way up the Mississippi River, and finally settled in St. Clair County, where they found many honest, hard-working people from the Fatherland. There Joseph Reichert bought land adjoining the town of Freeburg and lived a good and useful life until his death in July, 1869. Ilis birth of- curred January 24. 1791. The aged mother of our subject was born December 14. 1799, in Bargn. a village of Baden, in Germany, and died in 1882.
After the arrival of the family in this county, the subject of our sketch, who was then a sturdy boy, offered his services to a neighboring farmer at a salary of $6 a month and was accepted. Joseph was at first awkward with the cradle, which was given him with which to cut the wheat, for this rapid and convenient agricultural implement was totally unknown to him. But he watched the others and by the second day was able to keep up with the men who were receiving regular harvest- ing wages. The lad was not offered more pay, al- though he did as much work as any, but he con- tinued here for three months. In the fall of the year, he went to St. Louis and learned the trade of a cooper, remaining there about two years.
Mr. Reichert then returned to his home and on the 28th of October, 1850, he was united in matri- mony with Miss Maria Rauth. From this union there have been eleven children, eight of whom are still living: Louisa, wife of Henry Senth; Mary, wife of John Curan, of Belleville; George, living at Freeburg, and the Vice-president and manager of the Reichert Milling Company: Catherine, wife of Charles Becker, a coal operator of Freeburg; William, Secretary and Treasurer of the milling company; Emma, wife of John Reiter, of Frec- burg: Lena, wife of August Barthel, of Belleville; and lda, living at home.
For four years succeeding his marriage. our sub- ject followed his trade of cooper and with it com- bined farming, but in 1854 he opened a cooper shop in Freeburg. In 1857. he had become so well and favorably known that he was elected Con- stable of the Fayetteville precinct, which office he held until 1862, when he resigned and went into the milling business. Mr. Reichert was obliged
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to go deeply in debt for the mill property, but this action laid the foundation for that success which has erowned the efforts of his life. Fitted by nature for this particular business, all has gone well with him.
During the Civil War, our subject watched closely the fluctuations of the wheat and flour markets, and, by taking advantage of the changes, made a fortune. Ilis practical knowledge of coop- ering, combined with the milling business, greatly aided him in bringing about results. To be inde- pendent was his watchword, and he has striven to make all branches of his business work together. He owns and controls a coal mine as a valuable adjunet to his mill, and he has bought several farms. Ilis eminent business qualifications led his fellow-citizens to elect him a member of the Town Council, of which body he was made President, holding the office for seven or eight years, in fact as long as he would accept it. Mr. Reichert takes a great interest in agricultural affairs and was for five years a member of the Board of Direc- tors of the St. Clair County Agricultural Associ- ation, serving one year as Vice-president of that organization, and in 1879 was chosen President.
In 1879, desiring to see his old home which he had left when a lad, our subject made the trip to his birthplace in Bargn, Baden, Germany, where he was born November 17, 1828, and after this visit was more than ever pleased with the value of American institutions. One of the pleasant memo- ries of his life will ever be his attendance upon the. golden wedding of his parents at the home of his brother, October 1, 1868. There were gathered together on that occasion eight children, thirty- four grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. The event was enlivened with music by the Belle- ville band, and speeches were made by friends. among them Father Bartel, of Hanover, and Bre- feld, of Hill; Maurer, of Columbia; and Janssen, of Mud Creek. Altogether. it was an occasion of much good cheer and a source of rejoicing to the father and mother.
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