USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II > Part 56
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In nothing was he more consistently active than in promoting and main- taining good educational facilities. He was an advocate of a high school in his township, but he had to work against heavy odds to secure such a school. As he and his friends showed unrelenting determination to secure such a sehool, the opposition resorted to a trick to defeat the move. They voted to build a schoolhouse, but the terms provided that the building should be erected on the Mississippi River bottoms. and this provision was of course so ridiculous as to defeat the proposition for the time being, but Mr. Scarborough kept up the campaign, and in 1867 had the satisfaction of seeing a fine school building erected in Payson and one which stood and served its purpose until 1915. He was for many years a director of the school. The first principal to manage the school in the new building was T. C. Poling, now one of the most prominent business men of Quincy. Another early principal of the school was S. F. Hall.
The late Mr. Scarborough was a man of deep religious convictions. While attending Western Reserve College he united with the Congregational Church at Hudson at the age of seventeen. He united with the church at Payton November 26, 1843, and on the 25th of May following he was elected church clerk, being then nineteen years of age. He was re-elected to that office at every annual meeting until at the time of his death he had served nearly seventy-one years. He tried to resign in 1913, but the church refused to aceept his resigna- tion, and elected an assistant to perform the duties. July 1, 1865, he was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of the church and held that offiee until his death. On January 1, 1868, he was elected superintendent of the Sunday school, and with the exception of fifteen months held that office until January 1, 1912, giving forty-two years and nine months to the service. He was a delegate from the Quincy Association of Congregational Churches to the National Council, was a corporate member of the American Board of Com- missioners of Foreign Missions, for four years was chairman of the County Sunday School Convention, and attended many state Sunday school eonven- tions and was active in other chureh organizations and causes.
It was especially fitting that his funeral services should have been eon- ducted in the church which he had served so long and faithfully and which he loved so well. The pastor officiating was assisted by Rev. David E. Rodd, a former pastor for ten years, and who had officiated at the funeral of Mrs. Sear- borough. It is appropriate to quote a brief tribute written by his pastor : "Consecrated to the cause of Christ, he labored earnestly, giving both of time and money to the advancement of the Kingdom of God on earth. His personal devotion was reflected in his daily life, especially during the last few years of enfeebled age the Bible has been his constant companion, the source of his comfort and strength. His eyes grown dim with age, a Bible of large print was constantly by his side or in his hands.
"The memory of this Father in Israel reading his well worn Bible, finding solace and strength in its sublime truths has been an inspiration to his pastor -such a life can not fail to leave its impress upon the community. The promise of the Father is fulfilled in him: 'Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn eometh in his season.' "
In November, 1849, Mr. Scarborough married Miss Julia Seymour, a native of West Hartford, Connecticut. She died in January, 1856, and her only child died a few months later. Mr. Scarborough married for his second wife Harriet Spencer, daughter of Moses and Julia (Flagg) Spencer, of West Hart- ford, Conneetient. She was born January 1, 1820, and died in 1903. Her daughter Julia died at the age of seven years, and the only surviving member of the family is Henry Flagg Scarborough.
HENRY FLAGG SCARBOROUGH. Through the career of Henry Flagg Scar- borough many of the admirable qualities of his late father have been per- petuated as distinctive influences in the life and affairs of Payson village and township.
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He was born November 7, 1859, in the house which his father built fully seventy years ago and in which he still resides. The house has, of course, had many changes. It was added to its original form and in 1872 was remodeled and again in 1896. Mr. Scarborough has also built a new house on the farm for his farm superintendent.
He was educated in the public schools of Payson and at Knox College, Galesburg. He became a partner with his father in the ownership and manage- ment of their extensive land and farm interests, and he prefers to be classified as a general farmer, though for a number of years the most profitable feature of his agricultural enterprise has been apple growing. The horticultural interests of Mr. Scarborough are in a sense a continuation of the pioneer enter- prise of his unele Deacon Scarborough above referred to. On the various farms under his ownership he has extended his apple orchards until they contain more than 120 acres, and his production many years has ranged from 5,000 to 8,000 barrels. During the packing season more than forty persons are employed in the orchards and packing houses.
Mr. Scarborough succeeded his father as clerk of the Congregational Church at Payson. The last entry made by his father in the office was under date November 26, 1911. Mr. Scarborough is also active in affairs and is now in his eighteenth year of consecutive service as supervisor of Payson Township. It is an indication of his great personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens that he was elected to this office on the republican ticket in a strongly democratic community. He was first elected in April, 1901. He has represented the County Board at various state conventions as super- visor. Mr. Scarborough has never been satisfied with a mere routine of his duties in this public office. Some years ago he listened to an address by Judge Tuthill of Chicago on the care and duty of the state toward children. His interest was was so aroused that he became an ardent advocate of such care and supervision of dependent and delinquent children, and working hand in hand with women's organizations gained the consent of the board to establish a detention home on Sixth Street in Quincy. This home after a brief trial proved so valuable that the Board enlarged its scope, joining its functions with those of the overseer of the poor, and eventually bought the old Henry J. Ricker Home to be used especially for the care of dependent children in the county.
In 1885 Mr. Scarborough married Miss Mary Estella Wolfe, daughter of Rev. George B. Wolfe, at that time a minister at Payson. She died in 1900, leaving a son, Joseph Kingsbury, who is now a student in the Western Military Academy at Alton. In 1903 Mr. Scarborough married Mrs. Jennie (Thomp- son) Robbins, daughter of Philo E. Thompson.
GEORGE FRED EISENBERG is a prosperous farmer of Ellington Township, a man of genial traits, large and physically well proportioned, weighing 200 pounds, and has proved himself equal to the emergencies of life as they came up.
Mr. Eisenberg was born in Melrose Township May 21, 1884, a son of Fred and Louisa (Mueler) Eisenberg. The parents were both born in Germany and were brought to the United States when young people. They were married in Quincy and started out as tenant farmers in Melrose Township. In 1895 Fred Eisenberg moved to Ellington Township and bought 120 acres in section 18, where his son George F. now resides. He labored effectively here for many years, made many improvements, and in 1910 left the Ellington Township farm and moved to a comfortable home in Riverside Township, where he and his wife are now living retired, the father at the age of seventy-two and the mother at sixty-eight. They are members of St. John's Lutheran Church on Seventh Street in Quincy. Fred Eisenberg was always interested in local affairs in Ellington Township while he lived there, and held several minor offices. He is a democrat.
George Fred Eisenberg is one of a family of seven sons and one daughter,
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all of whom are married and all but one have children of their own. He received his early education in Melrose Township, and also in the schools of Ellington Township, and for the past eight years sinee his father retired he has been in active control of the 120-aere farm and has shown his ability at producing fine erops and keeping the farm up to the pink of perfection. The farm produces some wonderful erops of hay, also elover, and Mr. Eisenberg has some fine Shorthorn eattle and a number of good hogs. The old home in which he lives was built about seventy years ago by a Mr. Penrose, and is one of the substantial briek houses that stand as landmarks in the community.
In Quincy, October 26, 1910, Mr. Eisenberg married Miss Sarah Bumgard- ner. She was born in Quiney, June 23, 1885, and obtained her education in the schools of that city. She is a daughter of Otto and Fannie (Wollet) Bum- gardner. Her father eame from Pennsylvania and her mother was born in Quiney, and they lived for many years at Quincy. Otto Bumgardner died at Quiney at the age of sixty years. Mrs. Bumgardner is still living there at the age of sixty-three. Mr. and Mrs. Eisenberg have one daughter. Graee E., born December 23, 1913. The family are regular worshippers in St. John's Lutheran Church in Quincy. Mr. Eisenberg is a demoerat and has served as road com- missioner, township elerk and tax collector of Ellington Township.
WILLIAM PILLATT. While William Pillatt was never a resident of Adams County, the county knows and esteems Mrs. Pillatt, who is a woman of remark- able enterprise and would easily stand as one of the most successful farmers and dairy proprietors in the county. She owns a large farm in Missouri, where her husband lived, but her chief interests at present are a dairy farm a short distance east of Quiney. She manages that with consummate skill and ability, her principal assistant being her daughter.
The late William Pillatt was born in St. Louis in 1854. His father was born in Northern Franee, and after coming to America married at St. Louis Emeline Johnson, a native of Maryland who had grown up in St. Louis. The father died before the birth of his only son and child, William Pillatt. The mother married for her second husband James Willhoff, a native of England. and they then moved to Lewis County, Missouri, buying a farm where they reared their family and where they died when quite old. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and of their eight children two daughters are now deceased.
The late William Pillatt was reared and edneated near Maywood, Missouri, and had the life and experience of a farmer throughout his active eareer. In 1876, in Lewis County, he married Miss Anna Smith. Mrs. Pillatt was born in Lewis County, near Maywood, and was reared and educated there, being a. daughter of James and Virginia (Alford) Smith, both natives of Virginia. Her people in earlier generations were slave holders. James Smith was a son of William and Anna (Brooks) Smith, the former of German parentage and the latter of Seotch aneestry. The Smith family was noted for its longevity. One daughter, Mrs. Mary Gaddis, lived to be more than 102 years of age and died in Indiana, and all her brothers and sisters attained great age.
Mr. and Mrs. Pillatt after their marriage took up farming in Lewis County, Missouri, and continued it there until the death of Mr. Pillatt in 1898. Mrs. Pillatt was left a farm of 120 aeres, and she continued its operation practically for ten years, and in that time inereased it to 200 aeres. It is a well modeled and arranged stoek and grain farm, with excellent buildings, and Mrs. Pillatt still owns it, its operations being carried on by tenants.
In 1906 she moved to Quiney and bought 191/2 aeres on Broadway in Elling- ton Township, in seetion 32, a mile east of the eity limits. Here she continues farming on a eoneentrated seale, operating a dairy and having one of the finest registered Holstein bulls in the county, known as King Regis. She also has a large herd of Chester White hogs. Part of the land is devoted to alfalfa, and with this erop she has had unusual sueeess. Mrs. Pillatt is a bundle of energy
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and enterprise and manages every detail of her business with sueeess. She has a silo 10 by 30 feet adjoining her barn.
Her daughter is Etta Frances, who was born in Lewis County and attended sehool there and also for three years was a student in Chaddoek College in Quiney. Mrs. Pillatt and her daughter are members of the Vermont Street Methodist Episcopal Church.
ALEXANDER REID. It is nearly half a century sinee Alexander Reid came to Adams County. He has made good use of his time and opportunities, has been one of the very sueeessful farmers of Liberty Township, an upright and con- seientions eitizen, and is well spoken among all his neighbors and friends. His home is now a well proportioned and improved farm a half mile east of the Village of Liberty.
Mr. Reid was born in County Derry, Ireland, in 1840. He lived in Ireland, seeured his education, and learned a trade there, serving an apprenticeship of four years as a blacksmith. In 1864 he came to the United States and for three years worked at his trade at St. John's, New Brunswick. From there he went out to California, attracted by reports of good wages paid to men of his trade. He was in California about four years, and 21% years of that time he spent in the employ of a saw mill company. Two brothers had been living for several years in Adams County, and finally he came to visit them. One was John Reid of MeKee Township, and the other James Reid of Liberty Township. John died in MeKee Township and James in Liberty Township. A son of the lat- ter is Stephen Reid, still a resident of Liberty. On coming to Adams County Alexander Reid bought land in the east part of Liberty Township, and that seetion has been his home ever sinee. He cleared up mueh of his land, erected new buildings, and inereased it until he had a good farm of 120 acres. Eventu- ally he turned this farm over to his oldest son, Leslie, who later traded it for land in Mississippi, and moved to that state. In Mareh, 1902, Mr. Reid bought his present place of 121 acres, including a strip of land a quarter of a mile long which enables him to reach a main road. It has a fair house and he has built a barn and other buildings. Ile is now giving all his time to general farming, and has not worked at his trade for many years except for his own use. As a farmer Mr. Reid has done much in the way of soil improvement and has a place not only valuable but of which he may well be proud. Politically he is a republican but has never eared for publie offiee. He and his wife were both reared as Presbyterians and they are members of the church at Liberty, in which he is an elder.
In June, 1871, he married Miss Fannie B. Leslie. Mrs. Reid was also born in Ireland and was brought to Adams County when a child. Her parents, Samuel and Margaret Leslie, located in Columbus Township, and spent their last days in Missouri, where they died. Mrs. Reid was twenty-three at the time of her marriage, and is the only member of the family still in Adams County. They had four children to reach maturity. Leslie, the oldest, has already been spoken of as a farmer and land owner in Mississippi. His first wife was Nellie Litz, and there are two children of that union living: Carl Elmer and Esther May. The latter was sixteen months old when her mother died and she grew up in the home of her grandparents and aunt. She is now a schoolgirl eleven years old. Leslie married for his second wife Stella Parriek, and their children are Frank, Albert, Virgil, Hazel and Fay. John Reid, the second son, is unmarried and operating the home farm. Samuel finished his education in the Gem City Business College and for the past sixteen years has lived in Montana. For a time he was bookkeeper in a bank at Billings in that state, but soon bought land sixteen miles from Billings, and is now giving praetieally all his time to his farm. He is also president of a bank at Rapelye, Montana. He is a thorough banker and farmer and has made a great success in that state. He is one of the leading wheat and alfalfa growers in Montana, and in 1918 had over 6,000 bushels of wheat and 200 aeres of alfalfa. He married Daisy
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Maynard, of McKee Township, Adams County, and they have two sons, Paul Maynard and Samuel Sharon. Margaret Agnes, the youngest child, is still at home with her parents.
HENRY SPANGLER is a member of a well known old family of Burton Town- ship, referred to in more detail on other pages. Mr. Spangler is a successful and enterprising farmer, and has a large place fifteen miles east of Quiney on the Liberty Road.
He was born at this old homestead February 2, 1871, and has spent all his life on that one farm. His present commodious and well furnished residence is on a site somewhat removed from the house where he was born. His father built the present residence, or part of it, and the son has since remodeled and extended it.
Mr. Henry Spangler and his brother Jacob were joint owners and operators of this farm for two years. When the estate was settled Henry secured seventy acres as his share and bought the interest of a sister in eighty acres, thus giving him 150 acres. Still later he bought fifty acres from his brother Philip, and this gives him a well proportioned and adequate farm. IIe has also rebuilt and enlarged the cattle barn and keeps some fifteen or twenty head of regis- tered Shorthorn cattle, this being one of his chief sources of revenue. He also markets about fifty Poland China hogs every year.
Mr. Spangler married in 1897 Rosa Gilhouse, daughter of August and Serepta Gilhouse, of Burton Township. Mrs. Spangler was twenty-two years old at the time of her marriage. They have two children, Everett and Otis, both attending school. The family are members of the Lutheran Church at Liberty. Mr. Spangler is a member and president of his local school board.
JOSEPH HOWARD LUMMIS. The important part taken by Mr. Lummis in the affairs of Adams County has been as a teacher, grain dealer and elevator man, real estate owner and farmer, and as a banker and good citizen. Mr. Lummis resides at Paloma and is vice president of the Paloma Exchange Bank.
His parents were Joseph and Sarah (Lawless) Lummis. The record of both of these well known old families is traced in some detail on other pages of this publication. Joseph Lummis was a native of Ohio, son of John and Anna Lummis. The family came to Adams County in 1844 and John Lummis died here in 1866. Joseph Lummis died at the age of seventy-five, but his widow is still living aged eighty-seven. Joseph Lummis was at one time county treasurer of Adams County, and his son Elmer is now postmaster at Quincy.
Joseph Howard Lummis was born January 19, 1866, during the temporary residence of his parents in Schuyler County, Illinois. He spent part of his boyhood in Northeast Township and came to manhood in Gilmer Township. His education was supplied by the country schools and he also attended Chad- dock College at Quiney, where he took the scientific course. With his college training he began teaching at the age of nineteen, and for ten years that was his occupation. Many of his pupils have sinee filled responsible positions in the world, and all of them recall with many expressions of gratitude and esteem their old instructor. He was one of the very successful teachers in the county at the time. On leaving that work Mr. Lummis took up the grain trade in 1898 at Paloma in company with J. E. Lohr. He had charge of the office and also owned an elevator at Augusta, though Paloma was the chief shipping point. At the same time he took up the handling of southwestern lands, and spent considerable time in Old Indian Territory before it was admitted as a state, and acquired some valuable interests in Melntosh County, Oklahoma, where he now owns about 400 acres. This is in the oil district of eastern Okla- homa, and is also being cultivated by tenants as a farm. Cotton is his chief crop, and he has to some extent benefited from the high prices prevailing in the cotton market in recent years. About two years ago Mr. Lummis gave up his active connection with the grain business, and much of his time is now taken
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up with his duties as vice president of the Paloma Bank. As a public spirited citizen he has also served as township supervisor and tax collector of Honey Creek Township, and for fifteen years was a member of the election board. He is a democrat, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a supporter of all worthy movements in his community.
Mr. Lummis has one special interest which serves to make him known among a select cirele of people outside of his home county. He is a bird lover and student, and for years has studied the bird life of Adams County, has kept close and accurate observations of the annual migrations, the favorite feeding grounds and other faets that serve to determine some of the laws of the bird kingdom. He is corresponding member and reporter for Adams County for the Govern- ment, and also for the National Audubon Society.
In 1896 Mr. Lummis married Miss Ella Carr, daughter of Daniel D. Carr of Coatsburg. Her father served in the Civil war with an Illinois regiment, but for the last twenty years has been a resident of his native state, West Virginia. Mrs. Lummis was born at Coatsburg and was seventeen years old at the time of her marriage. They have two sons: Everett and Joseph, the former a student in the high school at Coatsburg.
CHARLES MORGAN HENRY, of Paloma, is one of the very busy men of Adams County, a fact that is sufficiently explained when it is stated that he is a farmer. Farming as Mr. Henry performs it is a task requiring all that a man has of energy and intelligence, and his part in the patriotic program of the nation is one that allows few vacations or outside interests.
Mr. Henry was born in Liberty Township of this county May 1, 1857, son of Alexander and Julia A. (Morgan) Henry. Alexander Henry was born in County Derry, near Londonderry, Ireland, and came to the United States when eighteen years old. He was one of the youngest of a family of twelve children. All of them came to the United States, usually singly or in groups of two, and those first here helped the others to come. Alexander Henry and his sister Jane came together. Jane afterward married John Callahan. They first stopped in Ohio, but soon joined older members of the family in Adams County. Alex- ander Henry for several years worked as a farm hand. In 1849 he made that trip which called away so many enterprising and adventure seeking yonths from the Middle West, going overland to California in company with his cousin. Joseph McMillan. They drove ox teams, and were several months on the road. When they came back it was by the Isthmus, and Alexander Henry walked across that narrow strip of land dividing two continents, and thence came across the gulf and up the Mississippi River. He was on a river boat during the high waters of 1851, when all business at St. Louis along Front Street was trans- acted from the second story of the buildings. While in California he had perhaps more than the average success as a miner and brought back enough to enable him to start on a farm of his own. This farm he bought in Richfield Township but soon afterward moved to another place in Liberty Township. He married in Richfield Township Julia A. Morgan, daughter of Charles Morgan of LaRue County, Kentucky, where she was born. She was fifteen when she came to Illinois and four years later she married Alexander Henry. For over twenty-five years these worthy people had their home on the farm in Liberty Township. He then moved to a farm in Gilmer Township, the old David Pearce place, but five or six years later retired and made his home in Quincy until his death in 1895, at the age of seventy-three. His widow survived him ten years and was seventy-two at the time of her death. Alexander Henry had sold his old farm before his death. He and his wife had a family of seven children : Rachel, who married Thomas Pearce and died two years ago: Charles M .; Mary J., Mrs. O. H. Lawless, of Paloma ; John W., of Gilmer Township ; Anna, Mrs. W. O. Washburn, of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, un- married ; and Hattie, Mrs. Dr. W. B. Short, of Peoria.
Charles M. Henry lived with his parents on the old farm until he was
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twenty-four years of age. The district schools gave him his early education and he was trained from vouth to the pursuits of agriculture. At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Elizabeth Lawless, member of the well known family of that name in Adams County, and sister of Charles C. Lawless of Paloma. After their marriage they spent four years on the old farm in Liberty Township, and then bought a farm in the northwest corner of the township, and the cultivation and handling of this land furnished Mr. Ilenry his chief oeeupation for a quarter of a century. In 1909 he removed to Paloma, but still owns his Liberty Township farm of 300 aeres and has another place of 300 aeres two miles west in Gilmer Township. This second farm ineludes the old Walter Cate farm, and also 160 acres formerly owned by Mrs. Henry's father. These farms are now occupied and handled by tenants. Mr. Henry also has forty acres adjoining his home in the Village of Paloma. These are the ex- tensive interests which require his undivided energies. Mr. Henry for a num- ber of years has been a large hog raiser and feeder. He has not been in polities, and though elassed as a democrat is really independent in easting his ballot. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has served as trustee and Sunday school superintendent.
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