USA > Illinois > Portrait and biographies of the governors of Illinois and of the residents of the United States > Part 41
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he spent the winter. It was his intention to re- move to the West, but he was urged to go to Rays lill and enter upon the practice of Dr. Hudson. who had just died. After a year and a-half, how- ever, he came West and located in Sterling, III., but there was no need there for more physicians, so he spent the succeeding summer in Grand De- tour. Ogle County, removing thence to Amboy, Lee County. After a year. however, he emigrated South.
Dr. Eberle married Miss Marab, daughter of Henry Shipley, of Baltimore. She lived in Cherry Grove, Carroll County, and was a niece of Gen. Winfield Scott. She was a woman of great force of character, determination and ability, and bore a strong resemblance to Gen. Scott, having the same firm mouth, indicating great decision, and her other feature, as shown in her portrait re- call at once the fine physique and similar tem- perament of the old hero of the Mexican War. She died September 26, 1888, in her fifty-seventh year. Beloved by all, a wide circle of friends mourned her loss. She was very beautiful in youth, and her loveliness of feature was an index to her greater beauty of character. Unto the Doctor and his wife were born the following chil- dren: William Winfield Scott, who engaged in law practice in Bloomington and Chicago, but is now an attorney of Portland, Ore .; Ilomer J., a railroad employe living in Mattoon, Ill .; and Grant, a jeweler of Portland, Ore.
After his marriage, Dr. Eberle removed to Louis- ville, Ky., but, on account of the excitement pre- ceding the war, after a year removed to Terre Haute, Ind., where he remained for seven years, enjoying a large practice. Ile also preached each alternate Sunday, and was Superintendent of the Sunday-school, but his arduous duties affected his health and he went to Chicago. Finding there was no lack of physicians there, he went to Rock- ford, Ill., where he engaged in office practice, but his friends in Sterling requested his return, and he acceded, and there he remained till June, 1880, when he came to Pana, where he has since made his home. The Doctor was trained in the allo- pathie schools, but becoming convinced that the practice of the homeopathic line of the science is
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the only correct one, he made a special study of it, and has since given his patrons the benefit of his researches in that direction. Ile has had a wide practice, and for thirty-nine years has met with most excellent success-a well-deserved tribute to his skill and ability. Ile is a member of the State Medieal Society, and attended the World's Medi- cal Congress in Chicago. ITis life has been an honorable, upright one, and he has been a healer of the mind as well as of the body, for his words of encouragement and Christian influence have aided many.
R EV. EDGAR WARNER CLARKE, who is now pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Pana, Ill., is widely known among his den- ominational brethren, and in the county where he makes his home is held in high esteem by a large circle of friends. The history of the community would be incomplete without his sketch, for although be has resided here for a com- paratively short time only, he has done much to mold public opinion, and his influence will long be felt after he is no longer numbered among the citizens of the neighborbood. Ile was born on the old Clarke homestead, near Milton, N. Y., May 29, 1825, and is the fifth child of Nathaniel and Han- nah Clarke. He received excellent educational privileges, and after a four-years course grad- nated from Williams College, of Berkshire County, Mass., August 16, 1848. Ile then spent three years in the Union Theological Seminary of New York City, from which he was graduated on the 18th of June, 1851. He had been licensed to preach by the Presbytery of North River at Freedom Plains, Dutchess County, N. Y., on the 16th of April previously, and delivered his first sermon in the church of Dr. Pennington, D. D., of New York City, who, a colored man, was then a fugitive in England from his master.
The same year, on the 9th of October, 1851, Rev. Mr. Clarke was united in marriage by Rev.
W. T. Eustis, of Chapel Street Church, of New Haven, with Miss Martha A., daughter of Luther Northrop, of New Haven, Conn., formerly of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. She was a native of Con- necticut, born in Bethlehem, Litchfield County, on the 4th of August, 1824. Her education was ac- quired in the Poughkeepsie Female Academy and Leroy Seminary, now Ingham University. She possesses excellent ability as an instructor and has been a teacher in Poughkeepsie, Marlboro and New Haven, Conn., and in Riverside Seminary, of Milton, N. Y. She early became a member of the First Dutch Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie.
Of the children of this worthy couple, Herbert Marsh, an adopted son, who was born in Buffalo, N. Y., May 5, 1853, died in North Evans, Erie County, N. Y., September 2, 1853. Charles Na- thaniel, an adopted son, who was born in Aurora, N. Y., May 21, 1853, died of consumption in North Evans, September 21, 1855. Emma Northrop, who was born in North Evans November 10, 1854, died of consumption in Medina, N. Y., September 27, 1858, and was buried in North Evans. Walter Hopkins, who was born in North Evans, on the 25th of October, 1855, there died January 4, 1856. Sophia Adelia, who was born in Medina on the 12th of October, 1856, died in that place June 14, 1857. Edgar Luther, who was born in Medina on the 25th of January, 1858, was Professor of Mathematics in Irvington College for five years, but is now a fruit-grower of Pana, residing with his parents. Albert Oscar, who was born in Me- dina on the 23d of May 1859, was a teacher, in Irvington College, but is now an architect of St. Louis, a member of the firm of Matthews & Clarke. lle was married September 27, 1888, to Grace Emma Brownlee. Frances Elizabeth was born in Rochester, N. Y., August 29, 1854, adopted from the "Home of Rochester" in February, 1859, educated at Riverside Seminary, at Milton, N. Y., and on February 3, 1873, became the wife of Clark- son Jennings. They now reside in Baltimore, Md., with their three children: Lora Marian, Amy Louise and Arthur Edgar. Louise, born in River- side Seminary, Milton, N. Y., December 2, 1864, was educated at Washington Seminary, Irvington College and Knox College. She taught in the
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High School of Pana for two years and two years in Blair, Neb., where she is now the Principal of the High School.
After being licensed to preach, Rev. Mr. Clarke spent one year at Yale University as a resident graduate. His first call was to the Congregational Church of North Evans, where he went in May. 1852, being ordained and installed by a council December 9, 1852. In March, 1856, he accepted a call from the church in Medina, N. Y., but left that place with broken health in May, 1861, and spent one year on the old Clarke homestead. lle then established the Riverside Seminary at Milton, which he and his wife conducted until June, 1869, and then sold. Removing to Cornwall, N. Y., he there preached for the Presbyterian Church for two and a-half years, but declined to be installed. Ile has served as Commissioner to four General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church, On the 11th of June, 1868, he received the degree of A. M. from Williams College. Receiving a call from the Congregational Church of Sterling, Ill., he be- came its pastor September 1. 1872, there remain- ing for a year and a-half, when he removed to Richview, III., in April, 1874, having purchased the Washington Seminary at that place. Five years later he sold the seminary and removed to Irvington, Ill., in April, 1880, to take charge of Irvington College. Irvington College had been established as an agricultural school. Mr. Clarke conducted it for five years as a boarding-school with marked success, in fact he has met with an excellent degree of success in all his educational labors. Ile preached in Richview from 1876 to 1881, also in Nashville for two summers, and for two years in the Methodist Church of Irvington.
The location of his Cornwall seminary in New York was a popular summer resort. Near there was the old home of N. P. Willis, and it was at that time the home of E. P. Roe, the novelist. Rev. Mr. Clarke frequently visited "Idle Wild," the old home of Willis, with whom he was on intimate terms, and was familiar with all the places of note in that locality, one of the most interesting spots in New York, Ilis work there was of a very en- tertaining character, and on leaving that church his successor was the Rev. Lyman Abbott.
On the 1st of Mareh, 1885, our subject began pastoral work for the First Presbyterian Church of Pana. He would at first agree to remain but five months at this place, but from year to year he yielded to the earnest solicitation of his friends, and consenting finally, on the 29th of May, 1893, on his sixty-eighth birthday, he was formally in- stalled as pastor. The church has flourished un- der his able ministration and he has added to it about one hundred and fifty new members. The house of worship has been remodeled and painted, and a pipe organ has been secured. This church stands at the head for its liberality toward mis- sionary work. Mr. Clarke is a member of the Board of Ilome Missions and has the oversight of the churches in Christian, Shelby and Moultrie Counties,
Rev. Mr. Clarke and his family reside upon a fruit farm, a mile west of Pana, which is con- ducted by his son. In politics, he has always been on the side of reform, and is a supporter of the Republican party. The cause of temperance finds in him a stanch advocate. His life has been de- voted to Christian service, and he has followed in the footsteps of the Master. preaching and teach- ing wherever he has gone. He has the love not only of his entire congregation, but of all who know him in this community.
OHN N. MARION is one of the foremost agrieulturists of Stonington Township, and owns a valuable farm on section 27, ad- joining the corporation of Stonington. He has acquired a fortune since coming to this county when a young man, at which time he was entirely without means. The birth of Mr. Marion occurred in Knox County, Ohio, March 26, 1831. His fa- ther, Jolin Marion, was of German descent, and was born in Newton, N. J., in 1803. His father was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, Mr. Marion remained in New Jersey until arriving at
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manhood, when he removed to Knox County, Ohio, and there engaged in farming until his death, in 1849. His wife, who was also of Ger- man descent, was born in Knox County in 1805, and had the honor of being one of the very first white children born in that county. Her parents were among the first settlers of that region, and suffered many hardships, both from privations and from the Indians.
Our subject is one of seven sons and two daugh- ters, of whom he is the fourth ehild. Jacob II. is now living a retired life in Clarence, Mo .; Frank W. is editor of the Plant City Courier, of Plant City, Fla .; Lodenia is the widow of Henry Ilowe, and makes her home in Omaha, Neb .; and Elizabeth is the wife of John 1. Trimmer, an agriculturist residing near New Point, Mo.
Until his twenty-second year John N. Marion assisted his father in carrying on the old home- stead. He then married Miss Lizzie Coleman, who was born October 18, 1829, in Knox County, Ohio. She is a daughter of Ichabod and Barbara ( MeKirmot) Coleman. The former was born in Washington County, Pa., in 1802, and the latter was a native of Ireland. Iler father was only a year old when his parents located in Knox Coun- ty. In early life he was a machinist, but later turned his attention to farming. Ile died in that county at the age of seventy-five years. Ilis fa- ther, who came from Germany, took part in the Revolution. Mrs. Coleman was only three months old when her parents came from Ireland to Amer- ica. Her father was a highly educated man and taught school in Dublin, and in Harlem, N. Y. The death of Mrs. Coleman occurred in Knox County, when she had attained to fifty-three years of age. The only son and child of our subject and his wife, Frank II., was called from this life at the age of thirty-three years.
After his marriage Mr. Marion emigrated to Holt County, Mo., making the trip by team. Ile rented a farm for five years, after which he bought a tract of land, to the cultivation of which he gave his attention until 1860, when he left the State on aeconnt of the imminence of the Civil War. Coming to Christian County, he rented a farm for three years, after which he purchased a
place of forty acres. As the years passed he greatly extended his domain, and is now the owner of four hundred and sixty acres of highly fertile land.
Mr. Marion was not given much advantage in the way of an education in his youth, and was quite a young man when he attended the district schools for three months in the year in order to increase his knowledge. Ile has been an exten- sive reader and is mainly self-educated. In poli- ties he casts his ballot for Democratie nominees, and, though not a member of any church, contrib- utes liberally to churches and benevolent work. For a number of years he has served as one of the School Directors. In this community, where he is so well known. he is universally respected.
E MANUEL T. LEIGH is one of the honored pioneers of Illinois, having been a resident of this State for seventy years. He has made his home for fifty-four years of this time in . Bear Creek Township, his place of residence being situated on section 21, where he owns a valuable farm. Mr. Leigh experienced many hardships during his early years in the Prairie State, and well remembers when wolves, rattlesnakes and wild animals of various kinds were very numerous.
The birth of our subject occurred in Prince Ed- ward County, Va., July 27, 1816. His parents, Emanuel J. and Martha (Thomason) Leigh, were likewise natives of the Old Dominion, where their marriage was celebrated. The father was a soldier during the War of 1812, entering the service as a Captain, and being later promoted to the rank of Major. Afterward he followed merchandising at Prince Edward Court House for many years. His store having been destroyed by fire, he moved to Indiana in October. 1822, and remained there during the winter. In the spring of the following year he took his family to Illinois and made a set- tlement on a farm three miles southeast of Ed- wardsville, Madison County. For this place,
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which is now valued at over $100 per acre, he paid $3 an acre, after having lived upon it for seven years. For a period of eleven years he engaged in cultivating the farm, and during his residence in that county was Commissioner for eight years. Later he removed to Brushy Mound, in Macoupin County, living on a farm there for five years. In 1839, he permanently located on land which is now comprised within the limits of Bear Creek Township, and which is the present home of our subject. The father was much respected in this community and with his wife held membership in the Methodist Church. He passed from this life February 15, 1848, when in his seventy-third year. Mrs. Leigh survived him three years, dying at the age of sixty-eight. The Leigh family is of Eng- lish descent.
The family of which our subject is a member numbered eleven children, as follows: Albert G., Jane, Emanuel T., John, Martha A., Daniel D., Indiana, James M .. David, Mary, and one who died in infancy. Of this large family only one, Emanuel, yet survives. His boyhood was passed in his native county and in Madison County, III. His educational privileges were of a limited de- scription, as schools were few and poorly conducted in those early days. In fact, many hardships were necessarily endured by those early pioneers who paved the way to the present prosperity of this State. Until he was thirty years of age, Mr. Leigh never boasted the possession of a pair of boots or an overcoat. ITe remained with his par- ents until separated from them by death.
On the 5th of February, 1812, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Leigh and Miss Mary Ann, daughter of John and Betsey ( Reed) Hill, the former born in Virginia, and the latter in Lexing- ton, Ky. Eleven children graced the union of our subject and wife. Martha A. became the wife of James Boyd, now of Palmer. They have had a family of ten children. Benjamin F. is the second in order of birth and lives on the old homestead. William T. wedded Miss Jennie Simpson, now de- ceased, who became the mother of three children. Noah, Ross and Flora. David G. is living with his father. James W. married Miss Angie Curvy, and makes his home in Palmer. They have one
child, a daughter, Cora. John H. took for his wife Miss Minnie Heuffner, and they have one daughter, Bessie. Their home is three miles northwest of Palmer. Elizabeth, who is now de- ceased, was the wife of John Kline, and was the mother of a son, Elmer. Julia, who is now Mrs. William Clark, has one child, Maude. The fam- ily tives three miles east of Palmer. Lydia Marga- ret, who lives in Raymond, Ill., is the wife of William Starr. Clara resides at home, and one child who died in infancy completed the family. The faithful wife and mother of these children died in 1886, in her sixty-eighth year.
For some years Mr. Leigh was connected with the Odd Fellows' fraternity. He has never de- sired office, but served for one term as Supervisor of his township. In former years he was a Whig, and has acted with the Republican party ever since its organization. Ile has been a witness of vast changes in Christian County, in the develop- ment of which he has taken an active share. On his arrival here there were no fences, and grain was reaped with a scythe or a small sickle.
R. GEORGE FRINGER, who is engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Pana, is one of the well-informed physicians of the county, holding an enviable reputation among his professional brethren. Thorough preparation and study in various colleges have well fitted him for his life work, and his deep researches have gained him a skill and ability that now win him a liberal patronage.
The Doctor was born in Carroll County, Md., March 24, 1834. and his parents, George and Susan (Null) Fringer, were natives of the same State. Their family numbered six sons and a daughter, as follows: Alice Ann, now the wife of Samuel Bow- ers, of Baltimore, Md .; George W., Nicholas. Mi- chael M., Jacob, Worthington and Ephraim J. The father of this family was a miller by trade and fol- lowed that business near Taneytown, Md., where
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he died in 1847, at the age of forty-three years. He was a member of the German Reformed Church, and his wife is a Lutheran in religious belief. She is still living, at the advanced age of eighty-four. The Fringer family is of German descent, and was founded in America by the paternal grandfather of our subject, who for many years resided in Mary- land, and died at the age of eighty. Hle reared a family of four sons and two daughters. The ma- ternal grandfather, Michael Null, was also a native of Germany, and died in Maryland when past the age of eighty years.
The Doctor was reared in the State of his na- tivity and acquired his literary education in its public schools and in the seminary of Taneytown. At the age of seventeen he started Westward and spent one year near Tiffin, Ohio, after which he returned to Maryland. A year later he removed to Indiana, and thence to Shelbyville, Ill., where he made his home from 1859 until 1866. Ilis next place of residence was Tower Hill, where he con- tinned to reside nntil 1889, since which time he has made his home in Pana.
At the age of twenty-eight, Dr. Fringer began the study of medicine in Shelbyville, where he was at that time engaged in the drug business. lle af- terward took a course of lectures in the Missouri Medical College, of St. Louis, in 1863 and again in 1869. In 1865, he was a student in Rush Medical College of Chicago, but four years later was grad- nated from the Missouri Medical College. In 1889, he received a diploma from the College of Physi- eians and Surgeons of St. Louis. He has ever been a close student of his profession and has done all in his power to perfect himself in the seience.
On the 13th of February, 1862, near Gettysburg, Pa., Dr. Fringer wedded Miss Martha V. Cover, a dangliter of Jacob and Mary (Jones) Cover. Three children have blessed this union: William R., Mol- lie V., and Eflic S. The elder daughter is now the wife of John F. Cover. They reside in Toulon, Ill., and have one son, Gus D.
During the late war, the Doctor enlisted in the service as a member of the One Ilundred and Fif- teenth Illinois Infantry, and continued at the front until December, 1862, when he was discharged at Paducah, Ky., on account of physical disability.
Ile and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, and are ranked among the prominent and influential citizens of this eommunity. Besides his pleasant home in Pana he owns two hundred acres of improved land in Shelby County, which yields to him a good income. IIe is surgeon for the Ilhnois Central Railroad Company and for Penwells Coal Mining Company of Pana. In poli- ties, he is a Democoat. He holds membership with the State and Distriet Medical Societies, and is a member of Pana Lodge No. 226, A. F. & A. M., and the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Tower Hill.
APOLEON B. CHALFANT is one of the most prominent and leading stock-dealers of Pana Township. He resides on seetion 30, where he has a good farm. A native of Ohio, he was born near Philadelphia, Tusearawas Coun- ty, on the 9th of December, 1846, and is a son of Abner and Rachel (MeDonongh) Chalfant. The father was born in Brownsville, Pa., and the mother in Tuscarawas County. The paternal grandfather, Charles Chalfant, was also a native of Pennsylvania, but was of French deseent. By trade he was a wheelwright. Hugh MeDonough, the maternal grandfather, was born in Harrison County, Ohio, and was of Irish lineage. He served in the War of 1812 nnder Gen. Harrison, and the father of our subject also bore arms in that strng- gle. Abner Chalfant was a farmer and speculator. He came to Illinois in 1863, and settled in Clay County, where he died in 1865, in his seventy- ninth year. llis wife died in her fifty-second year. They were the parents of four sons and a daughter.
Our subjeet was the third ehild and second son, and is the only one of the family now living. Hle was reared in the county of his nativity, and the common schools afforded him his educational priv- ileges. During the late war he abandoned his text books and the plow to shoulder the musket in his country's defense, and became a member of Com-
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pany E, Fifty-first Ohio Infantry, under Capt. David Chalfant, his brother, and Col. Stanley Matthews. Our subject was then only in his four- teenth year. He was not regularly mustered in, but went as a drummer-boy and remained with the regiment for two years without pay. After his brother was killed at the battle of Stone River he returned home and re-enlisted in Company E. One Hundred and Fifty-second Illinois Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war, be- ing mustered out in Springfield, Ill., September 16, 1865.
. Mr. Chalfant then returned to his father's home in Clay County, Ill., and carried on his farm until 1876. January 13, 1876, he was united in mar- riage with Caroline Bourquin. a native of Tusca- rawas County, Ohio. Her parents were natives of France, who, emigrating to America, located in the Buckeye State in an early day. She died very suddenly on the 15th of June, 1881, leaving two children, Edward and Otto. Mr. Chalfant was again married, October 17, 1887, his second union being with Miss Amanda Speke, a native of San- gamon County, Ill. Three children grace this union, Leon, Garred andMary.
Mr. Chalfant continued in Clay County until 1877, when he came to Christian County, locating on a farm in Rosemond Township, where he re- mained until the 2d of March, 1880, when he re- moved to his present farm. Ile owns one hundred and sixty acres of good land, which is highly cul- tivated, but he is now making a specialty of the breeding of Jersey cattle, having a fine herd of thirty head. In politics he is a Republican, and is a member of Pope Post No. 411, G. A. R., and served for some years as Aide de-Camp on the staff of the Department Commander. Ile attends all the State and national encampments, has been a delegate to these, and in 1893 was a delegate to the National Encampment in Indianapolis. Mr. Chalfant is practically a self-made man, his possessions hav- ing all been acquired through his own efforts. Ile is also a self-educated man, and is one of the best- informed citizens of the community. He has al- ways been a great reader of standard works and has been a special student of history and biogra- phy. He has a fine library, and his familiarity with
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