Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 46

Author: Wilcox, David F., 1851- ed
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 952

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William D. Meyer was edneated in the publie schools of Quiney, and at the age of fourteen went to work learning the cooper's trade. He was employed for a time making barrels for his father, and at the age of seventeen was put in charge of the business as superintendent. Then in 1891 his father gave him a start in the business by establishing him in partnership with Mr. J. E. Koeh in the lime business. This partnership was continued for ten years, at the end of which time Mr. Meyer bought out Mr. Koch and at his father's death acquired the interests of the other heirs and merged the two plants. He now has facili- ties for the manufacture of great quantities of crushed limestone, of commercial lime and of general building material products. Mr. Meyer gives much eredit for the success of his business to his office manager and the latter's daughter, who is the efficient bookkeeper of the establishment.

Mr. Meyer married Ella E. King, who was born in Quiney, daughter of Michael King, a farmer of Melrose Township. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have four children : William F., who lives in Quiney and is married and has two children ; Ehner, who was educated in St. Francis College and is a member of the Meyer & Peters Cement Construction Company ; Ruth, who was edneated in the city schools and the Gem City Business College and is now bookkeeper in the Illinois State Bank of Quincy ; and Dolly, a student in the Gem City Business College. Mr. Meyer is a republican and is affiliated with Lambert Lodge No. 659, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, with the Royal Areh Chapter and with the Con- sistory, and his wife is a member of the Eastern Star. He was formerly affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is also a member of the Travelers Protective Association.

JOSEPH J. LUSK. Everyone knows in a general way the revolutionary changes effected by the introduction of horseless carriages as a means of trans- portation. But perhaps no resident of Quincy appreciates these changes more thoroughly from experience than Joseph J. Lusk, the veteran liveryman. Mr. Lusk entered the livery business at Quiney nearly forty years ago. He built up a splendid business, with the best of equipment and some of the finest of horses, and he sustained it snecessfully when his active competitors numbered almost a score. It is his distinction that he and one other man alone have survived the competition of the automobile, and today the only real livery establishment that does not also boast a sign as a garage is that of Lnsk, at 438 North Sixth Avenue.

For a quarter of a century he has had his location in that district of the city. At one time he maintained a large barn 50 by 180 feet. When driving was one of the most popular pastimes he kept tallyhos and was also secretary of the Gentlemen's Driving Club at Quincy during the five years of its ex- istence. The president of the club during that time was John Wisdom. Mr. Lusk was for twelve years secretary and treasurer of the Liverymen's Associa- tion of Quiney, from the time it was organized until it went out of existence.

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These clubs and associations served their time and went down as a result of the coming of the automobile. Mr. Lusk states that at one time Quincy had fifteen livery barns. Then as now it was Mr. Lusk's pride and ambition to serve his customers with the very best of rigs and be able to supply a service nexcelled in every point.

Mr. Lusk came to Quincy in 1879, and for several years was a buyer and dealer in horses. He was associated with the well known old horseman of Quincy E. K. Sweet, and later bought Sweet's interest and establishment.

Mr. Lusk was born in Ohio March 16, 1843, but when six years of age his parents moved to Pike County, Illinois, where he grew up and received his early education. His first occupation was that of druggist. He learned phar- macy in every detail and in 1875 moved from Pittfield, Illinois, to Camp Point in Adams County, and for the next four years was proprietor of the leading drug store of that town. Even after coming to Quiney he was for several years in the drug business.

Mr. Lusk is honored as a veteran of the Civil war. He was a youth at the time and weighed less than 100 pounds, but managed to get enrolled in Com- pany D of the Seventh Illinois Infantry and did clerical service until the close of the war, and his honorable discharge. He is an honored member of John Wood Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and is affiliated with the Elks Lodge of Quincy.

While a resident of Camp Point Mr. Lusk married in Quincey Mary Aron. She was born in Adams County, and was reared and educated here, her parents being early settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Lusk have two children : John J. and Gene- vieve Aron. The son was educated in the Quincy High School and in the State University and is now doing a large business as a traveling salesman for the Globe Wernicke Company, well known manufacturers of library and office furniture. The territory he covers is through the Central West, including Illinois, Missouri and Northern Michigan. He is unmarried and is a promi- nent Mason, being a member of the Scottish Rite Commandery and the Temple of the Shrine at Springfield.

The daughter, Genevieve, graduated from the Quincy High School in 1909, spent one year in a finishing school in Virginia, and received her degree from the Illinois State University in 1917. She is now doing Government work as assistant county adviser of Domestic Science and IIome Economics. Mr. Lusk is also affiliated with Bodley Lodge No. 1, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

JUDGE SAMUEL ALEXANDER IIUBBARD. An able and accomplished member of the Illinois bar, devoted to his profession, Judge Samuel Alexander Hub- bard, of Quincy, has ever directed his mental and legal equipments to the benefit of his many clients, and now controls a large business. which is constantly in- creasing in extent and importance. A son of William J. Hubbard, he was born in Johnson County, Ilinois, near Goreville.

Born in Alabama, October 2. 1837, William J. Hubbard was brought by his parents to Illinois when a child, and as a young man settled on a farm in the near vicinity of Goreville, where he was successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits for many years. He married Rhoda Ann Escue, a native of Tennessee, and of the eleven children born of their union Samuel A., the subject of this brief review, was the eighth child in succession of birth.

After completing the course of study in the public schools Samuel A. Hub- bard entered the State Normal School at Carbondale, and was there graduated from the Latin and English department with the class of 1893. Having previously decided upon a professional career, he spent the ensuing three years reading law under the preceptorship of Judge F. M. Youngblood, of Carbondale, a lawyer of prominence, and in 1895, at Mount Vernon, was ad- mitted to the Illinois bar. In February, 1896, Judge Hubbard located at Mount Sterling, this state, where he built up a fine practice, being associated while there with various attorneys at different times, among them having been George

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H. Lee, Wilson M. Reid, and former state's attorney W. I. Manny. His suc- cess as a lawyer and his popularity as a man and a eitizen was made evident in 1902, when he was elected judge of the County Court of Brown County. a position of importance which he filled satisfactorily for four years. After coming to Quincy the judge was for a time associated in practice with the well- known lawyer H. E. Schmiedeskamp.

Judge Hubbard married October 11, 1898, at Redfield, Iowa, Phebe Ham- mond. She was born in Earlville, La Salle County, Illinois, a daughter of Prof. H. E. and Azelia (Richardson) Hammond, and comes of early and honored New England ancestry. Her father, a well-known educator, has rendered most excellent and efficient service as principal of different public schools. Five children have blessed the union of Judge and Mrs. Hubbard, namely : Karl, of Quincy; Vera; a boy that died in infancy ; Lois; and Ruth.

Politically Judge Hubbard invariably supports the principles of the demo- cratie party. He is a member of the State Bar Association and of the County Judge Association. The judge is prominently identified with many of the leading fraternal organizations, being a thirty-second degree Mason ; a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; of the Daughters of Rebekah; of the Knights of Pythias; the Modern Woodmen of America ; the Loyal Order of Moose; the Order of Eagles; and the Stags. He also belongs to the South Side Boat Club.

GEORGE WOOD GOVERT. The name Govert has enjoyed a place of exceptional prominence in the Adams County Bar for a long period of years. George W. Govert himself is one of the younger lawyers, but no less successful because his experience eovers a shorter term of years than some of his professional brethren. He is a son of one of the veteran lawyers of Quincy, William H. Govert.

William H. Govert, his father, was born at Fort Madison, Iowa, September 10, 1844, but grew up on an Illinois farm. He graduated with honors from Illinois College at Jacksonville in 1867, and in 1870 took his law degree from the University of Michigan. On being admitted to the bar he located at Quincy, where he formed a partnership with Joseph N. Carter under the name Carter & Govert. By the admission of Judge Joseph Sidley the firm beeame Sidley, Carter & Govert, and in 1888 Theodore B. Pape went into the firm, succeeding Judge Sidley. As Carter, Govert & Pape the firm was continued until Judge Carter's election to the Illinois Supreme bench in 1894. In 1872 William H. Govert was elected city attorney of Quincy, and in 1876 succeeded Judge W. G. Ewing as state's attorney of Adams County. With the exception of those two positions his time and energies have been chiefly taken up with the private practice of law and the management of extensive business interests. At dif- ferent times he was connected as an officer and director with the Collins Plow Company, the J. R. Little Metal Wheel Company, the Quincy Corn Planter Company, the Gem City Stove Company, the Quincy Engine Works, the F. W. Menke Stone & Lime Company, the State Street Bank, the Rieker National Bank and the Quincy National Bank. September 25, 1873, William H. Govert married Miss Rosa F. Wood, of Jacksonville, Illinois. They were the parents of three children, George Wood, Anna, wife of Herschel Earhart, of Quincy, and Edith, wife of Boyd Castle.

George Wood Govert was born at his mother's old home in Jacksonville, Illinois, June 24, 1874. He attended the Quiney public schools and in 1895 graduated from him father's alma mater, Illinois College. He received his A. B. degree from Yale University in 1896, and in 1900 completed the law course and was given the LL. B. degree by the University of Michigan. On re- turning to Quincy he took up practice with his father and became junior member of the firm Govert, Pape & Govert. Abont 1908 this firm was dissolved and he has sinee practiced as head of the firm Govert & Lancaster. He is also presi- dent of the Collins Plow Company and vice president of the Gem City Stove

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

John Nftiny

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Manufacturing Company. He has one child, a son, George, Jr., of high school age.

JAMES M. BUFFINGTON. The service by which James M. Buffington is best known throughout Adams County is his long continuance in the office of county recorder, the duties and responsibilities of which have been borne by him with utmost efficiency for ten consecutive years. Prior to coming to the courthouse Mr. Buffington was a successful teacher, and was also supervisor from his native township.

He was born in Beverly Township of Adams County May 13, 1872, a son of Oliver P. and Elizabeth (Penny) Buffington. His father, who was born at Chambersburg, Pike County, Illinois, in 1832, has spent his long and industrious career as a practical farmer and is now living retired in Beverly Township at the age of eighty-five. The mother, who was born at Whitehall Plantation in Louisiana, died December 25, 1898. In their family were eleven children : George W., of Barry, Illinois; Jennie, living at home; Lilly, deceased; John, of Hamlet, Nebraska ; Oliver P., Jr., a farmer in Beverly Township; Ray, deceased ; James M .: Harry, of Sparkman, Arkansas; Bert H., of Pike County, Illinois; William, of Beverly Township; and Sidney C., of Beverly Township.

James M. Buffington grew up on his father's farm, and is one of the farmer boys of the county who have been promoted to positions of executive trust and responsibility. He attended local schools until he was seventeen and then went to teaching, a vocation he followed eight years. His fellow townsmen in Beverly Township elected him supervisor, and the four years spent in that office gave him much experience in handling publie affairs. Mr. Buffington was elected county recorded in 1908, and by repeated re-elections his administration of the affairs of office has been endorsed and his further tenure of office is subject almost entirely to his own will and judgment, sinee his popular support is thoroughly united and sufficient to give him a majority whenever he appears as a candidate.

Mr. Buffington has been an active worker in democratie ranks, is a member of the Masonie Order and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. In May, 1905, he married Miss Ethel Kelly, also a native of Beverly Township. They are the parents of two children, Elizabeth and Ray Monroe.

JOHN WILLIAM HENRY. Sixteen miles northeast of Quiney and a mile south of the village of Paloma is one of the most complete and adequate farm homes in Adams County. It has a situation convenient to everything, has fertile land, long and eapably tilled and with resources' carefully conserved, and in the aggregate represents the labors and the good judgment of its owner, John William Henry, whose name further serves to reeall one of the old established families of the county.

Mr. Henry was born in Liberty Township of this county April 8, 1863, a son of Alexander and Julia A. (Morgan) Henry. Alexander Henry was born in Londonderry County, Ireland, in 1820. At about the age of twenty, in com- pany with a sister Jane, he came to the United States and soon afterward located at Quincy. His sister about 1842 became the wife of John Callahan. She spent the rest of her life in Adams County. Alexander Henry was employ- ing himself as a farm hand, but had made little progress toward independence when in 1850 he joined several other young men on a partnership basis and together they acquired an equipment of five yoke of oxen and wagons and other facilities and started overland for California. They made the journey in the summer, and encountered many Indians and buffalo, but had no serious dangers attending their progress. One of their oxen, which had become foot- sore, they sold to an Indian for $5. On arriving in California Alexander Henry worked in mines one year, and afterwards had a elaim which netted him $40 a day. This was really fietitious prosperity, and at the end of eighteen months, when he returned, he brought baek just about as much as he could have earned

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and saved had he stayed in Adams County. The return voyage was made by the way of the Isthmus of Panama. Ilis ship was beealmed six weeks in the Pacifie and provisions became scarce and he anticipated starvation before he would see land. He walked partly across the Isthmus and was carried by boat down the Chagres River. Passing the Gulf of New Orleans, he came up the Mississippi and was on the Mississippi at a period of high waters and during an epidemic of cholera. On reaching St. Louis the waters were so high that all business along Front Street was contraeted in the second stories of the buildings. Returning to Adams County, Alexander Henry bought land three miles southeast of Liberty, what is now known as the Lew Miller farm. It was partly improved and under his labor and management it became a really first elass farm. In 1879 he bought the David Pieree farm in Gilmer Town- ship, ten miles from Quiney. He was occupied with many large interests in his later years, and finally retired to Quincy, where he died July 24, 1895, when seventy-five years of age. He had married Julia A. Morgan upon his return from California. She survived him ten years and died at the age of seventy- two. Alexander Henry used his surplus means in later years to make judi- cious loans which largely increased his capital. He served as supervisor of Liberty Township, was a democrat in polities, and always liberal in support of church and charitable enterprises. He and his wife had seven children : Rachael, who died at the age of sixty-two, the wife of Thomas D. Pieree; Charles M., who lives at Paloma ; Mary, wife of O. H. Lawless, of Paloma ; John William; Anna, wife of W. O. Washburn of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania ; Elizabeth, who for many years taught school and is now a professional librarian ; and Harriet, a graduate in medieine who formerly practiced in Quincy and is now the wife of Dr. W. B. Short, of Peoria, Illinois.

John W. Henry has always kept pretty close to the seenes and activities of his boyhood, and has had little disposition to seek the excitement and ad- venture of distant scenes. He was reared and educated in Adams County and lived at home to the age of twenty-six, being a partner with his father four years. At that time his father bought 240 acres known as the Cumberland Samuels farm in Gilmer Township, and the son took the active management for three years. At the end of that time he became owner of 160 acres, while his sister in Pennsylvania owns the remaining eighty. Mr. Henry has steadily improved and increased the value of this farm, and one of the most recent addi- tions to its comfort is the good home that was built in 1917. Mr. Henry may be said to specialize in Jersey Red hogs, and for a number of years has marketed between 100 and 200 head. He also keeps eattle and turns off about a earload every year. He is a democratic voter without any personal interest in polities.

At the age of twenty-eight Mr. Henry married Mary Horn, daughter of Peter G. and Drusilla (Stahl) Horn. Her parents had a farm three miles north of Fowler in Honey Creek Township and both are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Henry have one son, Charles S., who is still at home. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Paloma and Mr. Henry is one of the church trustees.

CARL EDWIN EPLER has been a member of the Quiney bar continuously since 1880, though through a wide range of services his name has become familiar to the profession all over the state. He was one of the leaders in organizing the Adams County Bar Association, and has for many years been a member of the Illinois State Bar Association.

He is a son of the late Judge Cyrus Epler, who for nearly a quarter of a century was on the Cireuit Bench in Morgan County, and his was one of the most honored names in the Jacksonville bar. Judge Cyrus Epler was born in Indiana November 12, 1823, eame to Illinois at an early age, and after his admission to the bar rapidly gained distinetion both in his profession and in politics. He was a member of the State Legislature. From 1872 to 1897, a period of twenty-

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five years, he was judge of the Circuit Court at Jacksonville. He continued practice until a year before his death, which occurred July 9, 1909, at the age of eighty-seven. Judge Cyrus Epler married Cornelia. M. Nettleton, who was born in Ohio in 1834, daughter of Dr. Clark Nettleton. Judge Epler and wife were married in 1852 and their companionship was not broken until his death more than fifty-five years later. Mrs. Cyrus Epler died in March, 1916.

Carl Edwin Epler was born at Jacksonville, Illinois, November 20, 1857, the third among the seven children of his parents. He grew up in Jacksonville, finished his work in the local public schools, graduated from Illinois College in 1876 as valedictorian of the class, and then for one year was a student in Yale University, from which he received his Master's degree in 1877 and the degree of LL. B. at Michigan University in 1879. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in June, 1879, and in 1880 came to Quincy. The next year he was elected city attorney, an office he filled three years. From 1886 to 1889 Judge Epler was a partner of Col. William Berry, one of the honored members of the Adams County Bar who died May 6, 1895. Among other noteworthy items of Mr. Epler's career it should be mentioned that he was compiler of the Quiney City Code of 1885. As city attorney he also handled some important litiga- tion, including the city bond cases and the old waterworks contract, and not only carefully safeguarded the interests of the city but secured new and more favor- able agreements. He was also instrumental in police court reform, and drafted the ordinance which made the police magistrate a salaried officer instead of being paid by fees. It was due to Mr. Epler that Quincy first floated a refunding bond issue of $150,000 at the then remarkably low rate of interest of 41% per cent.

Mr. Epler was elected state's attorney of Adams County in 1891 to fill the unexpired term of O. P. Bonney. While in that office he conducted the prosecu- tion of W. J. Jamieson for the murder of Charles Aaron. This case was finally carried to the Illinois Supreme Court, but the conviction was sustained and Jamieson was hanged. Mr. Epler was also the principal in the conduct of the noted Knox case, which involved a shooting affray, and the several perjury cases which grew out of it.

In 1894 he was elected county judge of Adams County, and after a service of four years was re-elected in 1898 for a second time. His nomination to the county judgeship in 1894 was more than an ordinary event in local politics, since he defeated within his party a man who had served as county judge continuously for seventeen years. Recognition of Mr. Epler's judicial qualifi- cations was not confined to Adams County, and for several years at various times he was called to sit temporarily as county judge in tax cases in Cook County, Illinois. One of the distinctions of his official term is that he was the first judge in the state to pass on the validity of the inheritance tax law. His decision upheld that law and was subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court. Judge Epler has been interested in various phases of reform and improvement of court procedure and methods, and the profession has generally given him credit for passage of bills urged by the County and Probate Judges Association, as a result of which the time for filing of claims against estates and for con- testing wills was reduced to one year.

On retiring from his office of county judge Mr. Epler resumed private practice in January, 1903. He is a man of many interests both in and out of his profession, is fond of boating and automobiling, is a member of the Episcopal Church, a democrat in polities and has affiliation with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Improved Order of Red Men and other orders.

ELMER LUMMIS. The appointment of Elmer Lummis to the office of post- master at Quincy was based on merit and full qualifications for that office. It is an ideal seldom realized in the civil service system when promotion from one grade to the highest grade becomes possible, and in the case of Mr. Lum-

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mis it has occurred. He went into the Quiney postoffice as a minor employe under civil service rules more than twenty years ago, and has covered prae- tically every part of the service by practical experience. During his long con- nection with the postoffice he has seen the introduction of many of its most important improvements, including free delivery, the inauguration of the pareel post service, postal savings and other features that have done much to broaden and extend the usefulness of the postal department.

Mr. Lummis was born on a farm in Gilmer Township of Adams County April 17, 1871, a son of Joseph and Sarah (Lawless) Lummis, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Grant County, Kentucky. Both families were pioneers of Adams County, the Lawless family locating here as early as 1831 in Gilmer Township. Mr. Lummis' father died at the age of seventy-five, and the mother is still living at the venerable age of eighty-six. Joseph Lummis was a widely known man in Adams County, filled various minor offiees, and from 1868 to 1870 was county treasurer. He and his wife had a large family of ten children : Margaret, widow of Leroy Meyers, of Gilmer township; Henry Frank, who is manager of the Collins Supply Company at Quiney; James P., a resident of Augusta, Hancock County, Illinois; Mary, wife of Edward Sivert- son, of Paloma, Illinois; Emma, wife of B. F. Cate, who occupies the old Lum- mis farm, is township supervisor and deputy sheriff; John L., a merchant at Loraine ; Joseph Howard, of Paloma; Elmer; and Lilly and John, both of whom died in childhood.

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Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 46

Author: Wilcox, David F., 1851- ed Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 952

Author: Wilcox, David F., 1851- ed
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 952