USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II > Part 53
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After completing the windmill Mr. Gilbert remained to operate it as miller. This mill is frequently referred to and was an historic structure. It stood on the site of the present home of Frank Armold in Payson Township. It was operated as a toll or eustom mill. The wind mill or sweeps were erected on a stone tower sixty feet high. The wings were thirty feet long, giving the total diameter of the wheel sixty feet. At that time this was as much a marvel of construction as many years later the famous Ferris wheel of the Chicago World's Fair. William Gilbert was an expert machinist, as the construction of this mill will prove. From the top of the tower was afforded a great range of vision, and Mr. Gilbert always kept a spy glass for use by the visitors. Some of the more venturesome would elimb out to the end of one of the sails and he carried aloft until eighty or ninety feet above ground. From that high posi- tion it was possible to obtain a complete view of Quiney, Hannibal and other places. Mrs. Wharton grew up practically in the shadow of this mill, and is one of the best authorities concerning its history. Her father survived her mother about twenty years. Mrs. Wharton recalls that the first school she attended in Adams County was taught by a half Indian named Clymer.
EDWARD P. ALLEN has found his hours and days fully engaged in the practice of a busy lawyer sinee his admission to the bar, and though a young man in years there need be no hesitation in ascribing him place among the leaders of the Adams County legal profession.
Mr. Allen was born at Quiney January 15, 1884, and is a son of John A. and Anna M. (Lane) Allen. His father, who died at Quiney in November, 1906, was a prominent citizen and had lived in Adams County since 1868. Prior to that he had made a gallant record in the Union army during the Civil war, had attained the rank of lieutenant colonel and for a brief time served as mil- itary governor of North Carolina during reconstruction times. He was in the tailoring business at Quincy for a number of years, but is perhaps best remem- bered through his long service of thirty-five years as justice of the peace. He was born in New York State, and his wife, who died in February, 1908, was a native of Ohio. They were the parents of four children: John C., Anna M., Robert C. and Edward P. The first three are now deceased.
Edward P. Allen after finishing his work in the public schools of Quiney took up law study privately and was admitted to the bar in 1907. Along with a gratifying private elientage he gave six years to the office of city attorney and for two years was master in chancery. Mr. Allen has twice been a eandi- date of the democratic party in this congressional distriet for Congress, in 1914 and 1916. He is prominent in the orders of Masons and Elks and a mem- ber of the Episcopal Church. September 8, 1909, he married Miss Maude Homan. They have one daughter, Anna Lane, born December 12, 1910.
TIMOTHY P. CASTLE. It is probably true that nothing has advertised Quincy to the world at large so much as stoves made in this city. The stove industry is a primary one, at the very foundation of the city's industrial prosperity. For
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over half a century the name Castle has been intimately associated with this business, ever since the grandfather of Timothy P. Castle, who also bore the name of Timothy, acquired a large share of stock in a local stove foundry which in the course of time was developed as the Comstock-Castle Stove Company. The head of this industry for many years was the late Chauncey Castle, and the destinies of that large manufacturing corporation are all being successfully guided by Timothy P. Castle.
The latter did not merely succeed to a position left vacant by his father, but had earned and thoroughly qualified himself for big responsibilities in this industry independent of any family connection.
Timothy P. Castle was born at Quincy in September, 1873. Concerning the history of the family more information will be found following. Mr. Castle was liberally educated and after the public school course at Quincy entered Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, where he prepared for college and then spent 116 years in Harvard University. He returned home in 1895 to begin work in a minor capacity with the Comstock-Castle Stove Company. His first duties were those of shipping clerk. He has been in almost every de- partment of the business, and for several years was secretary-treasurer of the company, from which he assumed his executive responsibilities as president.
Along with a successful position in business affairs Mr. Castle has always manifested a deep interest in everything that affects the welfare and advance- ment of Quincy as a city. He is an enthusiastic republican, and in Masonry is affiliated with Lambert Lodge, No. 659, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is also a Knight Templar. October 6, 1897, he married Miss Edith Berry, a native of Quincy and member of one of its oldest and most respected families. She is a daughter of Colonel W. W. Berry and Georgia (Hewitt) Berry. Her father, who died in 1895, was one of Quincy's eminent lawyers. Mr. and Mrs. Castle have two daughters: Georgeann and Elizabeth.
CAPTAIN ALFRED L. CASTLE. The Castle family has been in Adams County for over eighty years. Among their many interests and honorable activities two points stand out with special prominence. One is the connection of the family for half a century or more with the primary industry of Quincy, stove manu- facturing, and members of three successive generations of the family have given much of their energies and have gained their individual fortune in that business. The other noteworthy feature of the family history is its patriotic and military record. The late Chauncey H. Castle was a brave and gallant defender of the Union during the Civil war, and his son, Captain Alfred L. Castle, along with numerous business responsibilities and burdens has a record of service both in the Spanish-American and Philippine wars, and has been identified as an officer with the Illinois National Guard for over twenty years.
The founder of the family in Adams County was Timothy Castle, who came from Wilmington, Vermont, to this county in 1835. He was a man of affairs. and until his death in 1880 did much to further the progress and development of Quincy. Among other financial interests he had a considerable share of stock in one of the pioneer stove foundries of Quincy.
Chauncey H. Castle, a son of Timothy Castle, was born at Columbus, Illinois, July 10, 1843, and moved to Quincy with his parents in 1858. He had barely completed his education in the public schools and at Quiney College when he left his studies to enter the army as a private in Company I of the Seventy- Third Illinois Infantry. He was only eighteen years of age when he took his place in the ranks, and soon afterwards was made acting sergeant major. He was diligent and faithful in the performance of every duty required of a soldier, and gave full proof of this when at the battle of Chickamauga he was shot four times, in both legs, both arms and in the hand. These severe wounds terminated his military career.
In 1865, still bearing the marks of his army service, he went to work as shipping clerk in the stove foundry in which his father had bought a large
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interest in 1863. Three years later Chauncey H. Castle was a partner in the business and in 1880 the Comstoek-Castle Stove Company was incorporated. This business had its origin in 1849, when Allen and Enoch Comstoek started one of the pioneer stove making plants in the West. For fully forty years Chauncey Castle was one of the moving and guiding spirits in the stove in- dustry at Quincy. But the lines of business in which he had some part and influence, and the causes and institutions to which he contributed, would make a much longer list. He served as president of the Stove Founders National Defense Association for ten years, was a director of the American Straw Board Company, from 1892 for many years was an aide-de-eamp on the staff of the National Commanders of the Grand Army of the Republie, was a director in the State Savings, Loan and Trust Company, the Newcomb Hotel Company, Graee- land Cemetery Association, the Quiney Freight Bureau, the Chamber of Com- meree, was one time president of the Quiney Commercial Club and was presi- dent of the Mulliner Box and Planing Company. Another important public service was rendered through his chairmanship of the committee of local Quiney citizens which succeeded in bringing to completion the extensive improvements of the Burlington Railway at Quiney.
Chauneey II. Castle died at Quiney May 2, 1909, in his sixty-sixth year. He married Mary Parker, a native of Knox County, Illinois, who died in April, 1915. Seven of their children are still living: Julia A., of Quiney; Ella G., wife of Dr. Franeis L. Reder, of St. Louis, Missouri; Timothy P., of Quiney; Alfred L .; Elizabeth H., wife of Walter E. Williamson, of Quiney, of whom meution is made on other pages of this work ; Mary E., of Quincy ; and Clara E., wife of Robert F. Day, of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Captain Alfred L. Castle was born in Quiney March 2, 1875. He attended the local public schools and then entered the Western Military Academy at Alton, Illinois, where he took the full course and during his military training filled every office from corporal to first lieutenant, graduating as brevet seeond lientenant in the Illinois National Guard. In 1894 he became second sergeant of Company F at Quiney and sergeant major of the battalion, and in April, 1897, was made first lieutenant and adjutant of the second battalion. At the out- break of the Spanish-American war he was battalion adjutant of the Second Battalion, Fifth Regiment, and he also recruited a full battalion of four eom- panies, which, however, were never called into service. In 1899 he volunteered in the Forty-Fifth Infantry Regiment and went to the Philippine Islands as first lieutenant, where he saw two years of active service.
In 1894, after finishing his education, Captain Castle became actively iden- tified with the Comstock-Castle Stove Company of Quincy and for a number of years was the representative of the company throughout the South and West. Later for ten years he was secretary and treasurer of the corporation, and in March, 1917, became treasurer of the Channon-Emery Stove Company. He is also a director of the Quiney Hotel Company. In politics Captain Castle is a republican.
In April, 1908, he married Eleanor J. Thomson, who was born at Andover, Massachusetts. They have four children : Eleanor J., Rosamond M., Abby L. and Alfred L., Jr.
WILLIAM H. PUTNAM. There are very few families in Adams County whose continuous residence here covers a century. A century ago the first state had not been carved out of the vast territory west of the Mississippi River, and Illinois had just qualified for entrance to the Union. The Mississippi River rolled an almost uninterrupted course along banks untenanted by white men, and in all this wilderness Adams County had hardly form and shape to dis- tinguish it in any way.
One of the first settlers of that period, a pioneer who came from 1820 to 1825, was the grandfather of Mr. William H. Putnam of Ellington Township. William II. Putnam was born in that township April 13, 1856, and is a son of
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Rufus and Malissa (Simmons) Putnam. Rufus Putnam was born in Adams County September 8, 1833, only a year after the Black Hawk war. He grew up at a time when no public schools existed, and acquired his education in a school supported by subscription. He took up farming and acquired a fine place of 280 acres in Ellington Township. Rufus Putnam is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, living native son of Adams County. He is now eighty-five, and is a venerable and highly esteemed resident of Quincy. He is one of the few men still living who voted with the whig party in early days, and is one of the true and original republicans, having been affiliated with that organization steadily over sixty years. He is also one of the few men still living who heard the his- torie debate of 1858 between Lincoln and Douglas. In the Putnam family there exists an old parchment deed to a tract of land in Adams County, executed under the hand and seal of President James Monroe. Monroe was president from 1817 to 1825, and that is another proof of the early residence of the Putnam family in this locality. Rufus Putnam donated the land on which the Presbyterian church in Ellington Township stands, and for many years was one of the pillars of that church. He married in 1855 Miss Simmons, who died in 1889, and is buried in the Presbyterian cemetery of Ellington Town- ship. They were the parents of six children, the only son being William H. Of the five daughters two are still living, Fannie and Edith, both residents at the old home in Quincy with their father. Both were well educated and are active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and in the Red Cross societies.
William H. Putnam has spent all his mature years as a farmer. He acquired a good practical education in the common schools and attended the Howe and Musselman Business College at Quincy. After his marriage he began farming on part of his father's old estate, and has found in good honest toil all the re- wards to satisfy his ambition and provide for those dependent upon him.
December 7, 1887, Mr. Putnam married Miss Maggie Dunean. Their family consist of three children, two sons and one daughter: Earl D. is a farmer on his grandfather's old place in Ellington Township. He is one of the younger and progressive farming element of the county, and graduated from the Quincy High School in 1908. He married Miss Winifred Simmons, and their two chil- dren are Russell R. and Marjorie M. Earl and wife are members of the Pres- byterian Church and in politics he is a republican. The other son is Rufus Bennett, who graduated from the Quiney High School in 1909 and is now farming in Mendon Township. He married Miss Sallie Ann Johnston. The daughter Helen is a graduate of the class of 1918 in the Quincy High School and is very active in the Presbyterian Church, the Red Cross societies, and the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Mrs. Putnam was educated in the common schools and also attended the Knox Seminary at Galesburg. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church, the Ladies Aid Society and is a participant in Red Cross work. She has nobly filled her sphere of duties as wife and mother.
In politics Mr. Putnam is a republican, casting his first vote for James A. Garfield, and has never seen a good reason why he should deviate from the old and time tried principles of that organization. His official record has made him a man of prominence in his home locality. He served as road commissioner, township clerk and is at present secretary and treasurer of the Ellington and Riverside Mutual Insurance Company. He has been of great service to the Sunday school of the Presbyterian church, and his record of nineteen years as superintendent stands to his eredit. Mr. and Mrs. Putnam have traveled ex- tensively. In 1909 they toured the Southwest, including the cities of Fort Worth, Houston and Galveston, Texas. Mrs. Putnam before her marriage visited the Mardi Gras celebration at New Orleans. They have also been to the Pacific slope and Mr. Putnam was a visitor at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. Their home is a beautiful one and is widely known under the name Putnam Spring.
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ROBERT MCINTYRE. A native of Adams County and one who has spent his entire life within its borders, watching its development throughout the years of its greatest growth, Robert MeIntyre is so well known to the citizens of this great agricultural and business district that anything like an introduction seems superfluous. Mr. McIntyre has not been content merely to witness this progress, but has been a participant in the movements for the raising of the standards of agriculture and of general country life, and in his official work as supervisor of Ellington Township has a record that bears inspection from every side.
Mr. McIntyre is of Scotch-Irish ancestry and was born in Adams County May 4, 1865, the youngest of eleven children, five sons and six daughters. These children included : David, who died July 29, 1918, was a well known farmer of Riverside Township, was educated in the common schools but largely trained himself and had a successful career. He was a democrat. Alice, the next in age, is the widow of J. L. Potter, of Quincy, who died in August, 1918. They were the parents of three children. Mr. Potter was a republican and a member of the Episcopal Church. James McIntyre, a retired resident of Quincy, died September 20, 1918.
Robert MeIntyre is a son of Robert and Maria (Enbody) McIntyre. Robert, Sr., was born in the north of Ireland and came to the United States when a young man. His first place of settlement was in Pennsylvania, where he mar- ried, and about 1864 brought his family to Adams County and lived here the rest of his days. He was one of the founders of the Ellington Presbyterian church. By occupation he was a contractor, and his business relations in that field extended over a wide range of country. He was a builder of railroads and bridges, and constructed one of the largest bridges in the East at that time. Through his operations in business affairs he invested heavily in lands in Adams County, and acquired more than 1,250 acres in Ellington and Melrose townships. He was a democrat in politics. He died in 1876, when his son Robert was only eleven years old. Both he and his wife are buried in Elling- ton cemetery. His wife was a native of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and rep- resented both French and Pennsylvania German ancestry. She was a very devout member of the Ellington Presbyterian church.
Robert McIntyre, Jr., grew up in Adams County and had a practical educa- tion in the public schools and also in the Military Academy at Chester, Penn- sylvania, and the Morgan Park Military Academy in Chicago. Since early years his interests and vocation have been identified with farming and stock raising.
February 20, 1895, he married Miss Emily S. Smyth. They have a daughter and son, Edith E. and Robert Ray. The daughter is a graduate of the common schools, both in the country and in Quincy, spent one year in the Woman's College at Jacksonville, Illinois, and is now the wife of Glenn Chatten, of River- side Township. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church. The son, Robert Ray, is now in the eighth grade of the public schools.
Mrs. McIntyre was born in Adams County August 16, 1867, oldest of nine children, two sons and seven daughters, whose parents were William and Bar- bara (Wray) Smyth. Seven of the Smyth family are still living. Elizabeth is a graduate of the Quincy High School, taught three years in her home district, and is now a stenographer at Chicago. Margaret was educated in the Quincy High School and is the wife of Fred Colby, a retired resident of Los Angeles, California. They have a son, William. Edith R., who completed her education in the Quincy High School, is the wife of Arthur Dixon, a hotel proprietor at Wichita Falls, Texas. Jessie, who also attended Quincy High School, is the wife of Lee R. Mathew, an automobile dealer and a grower of oranges, lemons and walnuts at Pomona, California.
William Smyth, father of Mrs. McIntyre, was born near the City of London- derry, Ireland, in 1825, and died in Adams County, January 17, 1906. He was sixteen years old when he came to the United States, and from that time until his death was a resident of Adams County. As a farmer he developed an estate
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of 200 acres in Melrose Township, and he was one of the fine characters of that district and as such is well remembered. Politically he voted as a democrat, and served in some of the local offices, including that of road commissioner. He and his wife were active members of the Presbyterian church of their locality. Both are buried in Woodland cemetery. His wife was a native of the same locality as her husband.
Mrs. McIntyre was well educated in the grammar and high schools of Quincy, and since her marriage has acquitted herself most creditably in her duties as wife and home maker. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. MeIntyre located on the old McIntyre homstead, hut about 1895 bought 200 acres of fine land in Ellington Township, and here they made their real start in life, heavily in debt, but industry and economy have brought as their rewards a splendid home and farm establishment, improved with a handsome residence, farm and other buildings, and all now clear from obligations. The MeIntyre home is one that many city residents might well envy. It is equipped with acetylene liglits, furnace heat, telephone, rural mail delivery, and many advantages and comforts that city homes are denied.
Mr. MeIntyre is now in his third successive term as supervisor of Ellington Township. In his official capacity among other work he erected a modern school building known as the Standard School, and has liberally supported every movement for improvement of the schools and for good roads. For a number of years he served as school director and road commissioner. In fraternal matters he is especially interested in Masonry, being affiliated with Herman Lodge, No. 39, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Quincy, with the Royal Arch Chapter and the Scottish Rite Consistory. He and his wife are active in the Ellington Presbyterian church. They are numbered among the prosperons farmers of Adams County and own and enjoy for pleasure and for business a good touring car of the Reo type.
GEORGE B. POWELL. Many years of association with the agricultural interests of Adams County have given George B. Powell a recognized position among the practical agriculturists of Ellington Township, where he and his wife own . one of the most beautiful and attractive homes of that rural district. Mr. Powell has spent his active life in Adams County, is known as a skilled tiller of the soil and as a citizen who gives his aid and influence to worthy civic meas- ures and movements, and his business record is irreproachable.
He was born January 30, 1854, youngest in the family of ten children, four sons and six daughters, of George W. and Mary Ann (Beatty) Powell. Four of the children are still living. Frances is the wife of Alonzo Dewitt, a farmer at Shelbina, Missouri. They have one son. They are members of the Christian Church. Francis M. is a resident of Bentley, Hancock County, Illinois, and by his marriage to Miss Anna Campbell has three children. They are also members of the Christian Church. William B. is a retired farmer in Quincy.
George W. Powell was born in Kent County, Delaware, in 1800. He grew to manhood in his native state, had only a common school education, and through- out his active career followed farming. After coming west he lived near Kahoka, Missouri, but from there moved to Adams County, Illinois, and developed a good farm of 140 acres in Ellington Township. He was a democratic voter. He died in Adams County in 1890. His wife was a native of Ireland and was brought when a child by her parents to the United States. The Beattys settled in Southern Illinois. Mrs. Mary Ann Powell died when her youngest child, George, was an infant.
The latter spent most of his youth in the home of his unele, John Beatty, a man of noble character whom it is his delight and pleasure to recall with every mark of affection to his splendid manhood. Mr. Powell acknowledges his uncle Beatty as the source of much of the influence and wisdom which have made him in turn a successful man and citizen. John Beatty was born in Pennsylvania,
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at Philadelphia, and grew up with a good kind man named John Brown, for whom he was named. John Beatty and his two maiden sisters, Catherine and Jane, constituted a fine old household of Adams County, and all of the members of that household took part in the early education of Mr. Powell. These kindly people have all long since passed away, and a monument in Woodland cemetery marks their last resting places.
Mr. Powell after reaching manhood, on October 3, 1889, married Miss Mary D. Dralle. Mr. and Mrs. Powell have had no children of their own, but in the goodness of their heart they have reared three children in their home, and these adopted children regard them with all the devotion of true parents. The first child that came to them was Catherine Shaffer. She was educated in the com- mon schools and the Quincy High School and is now the wife of Harvey W. Allen, who is connected with the Electric Wheel Works at Quincy and lives at 2520 Chestnut Street. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have one daughter, Mary Catherine. The other two children adopted into the Powell home were Emma and Christie Will. Both were given good educations. Christie is a practical farmer and now a member of the Forty-Fifth Infantry Machine Guns, Camp Gordon, Georgia. Both are members of the Episcopal Church.
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