Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 81

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

USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II > Part 81

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Thomas B. Dempsey received his education largely at Bloomfield in the public schools. He lived on the home farm and became owner of it while his father was still living. He was as provident and thrifty in managing land and its resources as his father had been before him, and the farm as it is today repre- sents much of his labor and thoughtful care. Among other improvements he erected a large barn 40 by 44 feet, with all facilities for convenience and dis- patch for farm work. There is also a substantial seven-room house on the farm. A well 132 feet deep was dug a few years ago which is noted for its good drink- ing water. The land is all productive and thoroughly cultivated and the possibilities of its cultivation now devolve upon his youngest son, Orville Demp- SCV.

October 26, 1887, Thomas B. Dempsey married in Ellington Township Minnie Aneals. She was born on her father's fine farm in section 10 of Elling- ton Township, and was educated at the public school and also in Chaddock College at Quincy. Mrs. Dempsey has proved a most devoted wife and mother and incidentally an able manager of the farm and home. Her father was Francis A. Aneals. He was born in Boone County, Missouri, October 30, 1826, and was brought to Adams County by his parents in 1832. His father died during a cholera epidemie in 1833. Francis Aneals married in 1847 Almira Frost, who was born in Athens County, Ohio, June 5, 1827. They began as farmers in Adams County, and some years later bought their place in section 10 of Ellington Township, where he made a fine estate of nearly 300 acres, one improved with the best of buildings. Francis Aneals died there October 28. 1908, at the age of eighty-two. He was a republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife died June 27, 1906. Francis Ancals and wife had one son and two daughters. Ella is the wife of William Reynolds and lives in Portland, Oregon, being the mother of two children, Hallie and Mamic. William Aneals is in the railway mail service and lives at Fowler, Illinois. He married Clara Diekhut and their family consists of Roy, Pearl. Myrtle and Dorothy. Mrs. Dempsey is the mother of five children : Frank, born at the old home, is now a successful contractor in St. Louis. He married Lydia Schlipman, of Ellington Township. Their children are Frank, Jr., and Thomas H. Elmer Dempsey is a farmer in Honey Creek Township of this county. He married Ruth Seekman, and has a son. Gerald E. H. Myra was edueated in the local schools and is now the wife of John Schipman, of Ellington Township, and has a son, Eugene J., born in 1917. Laura Grace, who was educated in the public schools, still lives with her mother. The youngest son is Orville Dempsey. IIe has proved a most competent manager of the old Dempsey homestead. The children were all confirmed in St. Joseph Catholic Church. Laura and Orville are competent musicians, she playing the piano and he the violin. Orville is also a singer, having a melodious voice. The late Thomas Dempsey was a democrat and his sons have the same politieal allegiance.

MAJ. REUBEN WOODS, Surgeon of One Hundred and Nineteenth Volunteers. The nineteenth century furnished to the people of the United States oppor- tunities which were never excelled by any age of the world, and these were taken advantage of by many men of enterprise, ability and determination, and

Reuben Hordy

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

1229

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

by none with more spirit and high resolve than by the subject of this sketch, Dr. Reuben Woods, Major and Surgeon of the One Hundred and Nineteenth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers.

A brief sketch of his forebears will give some indications of the elements which combined in him the efficiency, the zeal, the lofty spirit, the high aspira- tions and the untiring industry which characterized Doctor Woods through a life of vicissitudes, of adventure, of danger, of capture by the enemy, of ex- posure to disease. through all of which his undaunted courage sustained him and brought him to an advanced age in the peace which he so richly won.

In the seventeenth century the Scoteh Covenanters, expanding in numbers from their native heath, sought the more fertile and less peopled vales of the north of Ireland to found new homes. Among these were the progenitors of the Woods family, who settled in County Tyrone, and who maintained their sturdy Scotch Presbyterianism through all changes of surroundings.

In 1792 a branch of the family headed by John Woods, came to America and settled in the coal regions of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Here Jolin Woods inet and married Miss Nancy Ann Peairs whose parents had come to America in 1750. Her father, Joseph Peairs, of Holland Dutch Presbyterian stock had bought a piece of land from one of William Penn's Indians, the parchment title deed of which shows the picture of a hatchet and a pair of moccasins, the con- sideration given for the land. This farm is still in possession of the Peairs family and the Presbyterian Church twice rebuilt by the family is still open for worship.

Nancy Ann Peairs was born on this farm. While she was still an infant the family were hurried into Fort Duquesne for safety during an Indian up- rising, and while there little Ann, the pet of the soldiers, learned to walk.

Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Woods moved to Mercer County, Pennsylvania, where they purchased a farm. In this clearing in the primeval forest, they brought up their family of ten stalwart sons. James J. the fifth son married Miss Jane Thompson and Reuben, the second son in their family of four sons and three daughters, was born on a farm near Greenville, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

In 1845, Mr. James Woods emigrated, first going to Munroe, Wisconsin, but the rigorous winters of 1845 and 1847 induced him to seek a milder climate. He then came to Adams County, Illinois, and settled on the well known Mound Farm, six miles north of Barry, Pike County. He brought west with him his aged mother, whose gentle presence filled the home with kindly cheer until the day of her death.

Here the boy Reuben grew to early manhood. At the age of seventeen he went to Galesburg where his father's elder brother, William J. Woods, a re- former. a hater of slavery and of strong drink, was publishing a newspaper. This paper. The Free Democrat, was the organ of the advanced thought in that center of education.

Here the young man entered Lombard University and acquired that solid education which prepared him for active life. During vacations, our student taught school and while teaching at Payson, Adams County, he met a young woman of such grace and culture that the farmer boy was captivated by the loveliness of the girl and the brilliancy of her intellect. She was Miss Anna Shepherd, whom he afterward married. While in Payson he studied medicine under the direction of Dr. Moses M. Bane, who was later the colonel of the Fiftieth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers and he took his course of medical lec- tures at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Then came the Civil war. Doctor Woods immediately offered his services to. his country and was appointed assistant surgeon, One Hundred and Nine- teenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers and mustered into the United States serv- ice October 10, 1862. On June 10. 1864, he was promoted surgeon of the regiment.

Vol. II-32

1230

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

We cannot here give the history of this splendid regiment. It served in Kentucky and Tennessee, in the battles with General Forrest at Rutherford and Dyer Station. At Dyer Station, Doctor Woods, who had been ill for more than a fortnight, was captured with other invalid soldiers and then paroled by Gen. Norman B. Forrest. The regiment served in the campaign of West Tennessee, to Memphis in 1863, with General Sherman in Mississippi, culminat- ing in the capture of Meridian, in the Red River campaign with General Banks, with its disastrous results, and in the Yellow Bayou, Louisiana, fight under Gen. A. J. Smith. Then the regiment distinguished itself in the battle of Gun- town, Tennessee. It then reported to General Halleek at St. Louis and pur- sued General Price in the Missouri eampaign, a march of 700 miles. From thenee up the Cumberland River to General Thomas, December 1, 1864, the regiment had a glorious part in the battles of Nashville and Franklin and in the pursuit of General Hood's retreating battalions. But there was no rest for the One Hundred and Nineteenth. It was rushed down the Mississippi and across the gulf to Mobile Bay to the siege of Spanish Fort and took Fort Blakely on the 9th of April, 1865, after the war was over.

After the war, Doctor Woods took a post graduate course at Bellevue Hos- pital Medical College, New York, receiving his degree in 1866. He practiced medicine successfully in Chicago and in Payson for some years. Interested particularly in diseases of the eye, he qualified himself by special courses in ophthalmology in Chicago and in New York and then went to the Pacific Coast. He was the first oculist who located in Oakland, California, where he estab- lished an excellent and memorable reputation. Called back to Illinois by family bereavement, Doctor Woods opened an office in Quincy in 1881, and soon ac- quired a large practice from adjacent territories.

In the family home a genial old-fashioned hospitality has been limited by the prolonged ill health of Mrs. Woods. Always unselfish, Doctor Woods has aceepted this disappointment with a patient, tender watchfulness, which through- out the years, has surrounded his wife with every comfort which love could sng- gest or science devise. Precluded from taking part in general social affairs. Doctor and Mrs. Woods have maintained an unobtrusive, persistent influence in intellectual and hnmane activities for the welfare of the city.

The doctor has long since discontinued professional work and is devoting his time to the management of his farm property in the south part of the county. In this pleasant health-giving pursuit he is spending his ripening years with the consciousness of having done his full dnty during a long and strenuous life.

THE REV. JOSEPH ORLANDO METCALF, A. M., 1815-1900. The ancient Hebrew words "With long life will I satisfy him," apply well to the memory of a worthy man, whose years on earth were eighty-five, whose years in Illinois were fifty-four and whose years in Adams County were given to work of excellence and quickening power.

Joseph Orlando Metealf enjoyed a happy boyhood in his native town of Lebanon, Connecticut. In the first quarter of the century his parents, at- traeted by the opportunities of what was at that time considered the western country, moved to Clinton, Oneida County, New York. His mother was of Scotch Puritan ancestry, tracing a direct descent from Colonel McCall, who served under the command of Oliver Cromwell during the English eivil war. She was a woman of much intellectual ability, endowed with a strong religious sense and maintained always a close sympathy with the career of her son. Mr. Metealf was a graduate of Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, and of the theological department of Madison University, a Baptist institution, re- named Colgate University, in Hamilton, New York.

In 1846 he married Miss Ruth Chapin White, an attractive young woman

J.G. Metall

LIBRARY 'T THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

M. Shepherd

1231

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

educated at the Young Ladies' Seminary of Whitesboro, New York, where she was much influenced by the teachings of Miss Emily Chubbuck, well known in the literary world as Fanny Forrester, who later became the wife of the distinguished Adoniram Judson, D. D., the pioneer American Baptist missionary in India.

Immediately after their marriage the young couple started on their long journey by stage coach to Illinois, where Mr. Metcalf began his pastoral work in the Baptist Church of Knoxville, the connty seat of Knox County. From there he was called to the Baptist Church of Perry in Pike County, and later became pastor of the Baptist Church at Payson, Adams County. Two little children, Vinet White and his baby sister, came to the home in Payson but remained for a brief time only. In this town. aside from his services as a clergyman, Mr. Metcalf is remembered particularly on account of a private school which he conducted for several years. With thorough, individual in- struction, he prepared young men for a good standing in college or for an intel- ligent management of affairs in active life. Many well known men in the south- ern part of Adams County are representative pupils of his training.

Although successful as a teacher Mr. Metcalf's heart was always in his chosen profession of the ministry, and in the spring of 1860 he gladly resumed church work in Macomb. Afterward he had charge of Baptist churches in Avon, Leland and LaGrange, Illinois. When advanced years made it neces- sary to retire from active pursuits Mr. and Mrs. Metcalf returned to Macomb and purchased a home, desiring to spend among the faithful friends of that city the quiet days that might be allotted to them. During the five years that followed the sudden death of his wife. Mr. Metcalf resided in the family of an endeared acquaintance where every possible kindness and care was given him during his increasing years and waning strength. He was called to the life beyond October 20, 1900.

Mr. Metcalf's pulpit addresses were characterized by careful, studious prepa- ration. However one may have differed from the man in opinion or in meth- ods, it was impossible to be with him and not to recognize his firm convictions of duty and his unswerving allegiance to the highest standards of excellence and righteousness. In every community where he lived he is remembered for his thoughtful attentions and helpfulness as pastor, friend and neighbor. He had a rare power of sympathy for those in sorrow and bereavement; with com- passionate understanding he brought to the sick room encouragement and calm.

The influence of his undaunted endeavor for more than half a century in Illinois is far reaching, potent and lasting.

"I speak of him As he is known to all. The calm delights Of unambitious piety he chose, And learning's solid dignity. He sought not praise, and praise did overlook His unobtrusive merit, but his life, Sweet to himself, was exercised in good Which shall survive his name and memory."

MAXIMILIAN SHEPHERD, M. D., December 28, 1814-March 8. 1880. A dis- tinet type of that old time character "the Country Doctor," whose arduous life of kindly service has furnished theme for verse and story. was Dr. M. Shep- herd of Payson, Illinois.

Doctor Shepherd was of Virginia descent. His parents, Richard and Eliza- beth Wingfield Shepherd, were natives of Culpeper County in that state. Most of their married life was spent in Iredell County, North Carolina. Mr. Rich- ard Shepherd died in Asheville leaving his widow and four children, Thomas

1232

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

Jefferson, Henry Milton, Caroline and Maximilian. Throughout all the years spent on the western prairies Doctor Shepherd treasured his memories of the picturesque scenery of the Blue Ridge around his childhood home. Mrs. Eliza- beth Shepherd married the second time. The family joined a company of neighbors in emigrating to seek new homes in the western country. After crossing the Allegheny Mountains the party divided, some going to Ken- tucky, others to Indiana and Illinois. The names of Wingfield, Stephenson, Nichols. Ewing and Shepherd were familiar in pioneer times and have been honorably maintained to the present day.

Doctor Shepherd's youth was spent in Putnam County, Indiana. At the age of sixteen he began his own support. His industry and economy enabled him to enter the Indiana Asbury University at Greencastle, which was under the management of the Rev. Matthew Simpson, who became a noted bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The institution is now known as De Pauw University. It was there Doctor Shepherd developed the love of choice litera- ture which became an enjoyment and a solace in his future life. At the age of twenty-one he began the study of medicine with Dr. William L. Mahan of Pleasant Garden, Indiana. His reading was continued with Doctors Talbot and Cowgill of Greencastle and he commenced his practice in Pleasant Gar- den in 1838. In 1840 he removed to Payson, Illinois and there undertook his chosen life work so faithfully continued for forty years, a work well done, well remembered, well revered.

Few people living now, realize the hardships, self denial, discouragements and obstacles endured by the pioneer physicians in the Prairie State. Visits were made mostly on horseback, as rough roads, unfrequented by-ways, obscure bridle paths or making a new course through the unbroken prairies and ford- ing streams of uncertain depth made travel diffieult and dangerous.

Very few also realize the watchful preparedness of the pioneer physician who must supply his own remedies and compound his own prescriptions. To do this involved the continual replenishing of a miniature apothecary shop carried in saddle bags especially constructed for such purpose. For the mys- terious depths of the aromatie caverns the doctor drew forth pills and powders, syrups and tinctures, extracts and oils, lotions and liniments, ointments and plasters. One compartment contained a tourniquet, bandages and a small leather case of surgical instruments.

Doctor Shepherd soon became a partner of Dr. David Prinee, the first phy- sician who practiced in Payson, having come there with his parents from Brooklyn, Connecticut. After a time Doctor Prince went to Cincinnati for medical lectures and then settled in Jacksonville, where he became one of the prominent surgeons of Illinois.

Doctor Shepherd formed another partnership with Dr. William Chittenden Harrington, a newly arrived physician from Watertown, New York. The names of these two physicians were household words in a wide range of territory, as their practice extended to Liberty, Burton, Newtown, Kinderhook and Millville, now called Marblehead. Their nearest professional neighbors were in Colum- bus. Barry and Qniney. Neither Doctor Harrington nor Doctor Shepherd made any claim to surgery, aside from minor cases. For major operations they depended upon Dr. Daniel Stahl of Quincy or Dr. David Prince of Jack- sonville.

In 1844 Doctor Shepherd spent the winter attending lectures at the Louis- ville Medical Institute and was graduated in 1845. The college faculty con- tained men of much celebrity, including Dr. Daniel Drake, afterward of Cin- cinnati Medical College and Dr. Samuel Gross, later the eminent surgeon of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.

The increasing population and prosperity of Payson attracted a number of professional men to the place. Dr. Moses M. Bane came from Athens, Ohio, in 1849; Dr. Samuel Sturgis, the first dentist who practiced in Payson,

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

JOHN G. HUMPHREY

1233

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

came from Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1852; Dr. Moses F. Bassett from Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1853; Dr. Henry W. Kendall from Cincinnati in 1856.

At the outbreak of the Civil war, Doctor Bane became colonel of the Fiftieth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers and Doctor Kendall surgeon of that regiment. The intimate acquaintance and warm friendship of these two gentlemen for Doctor Shepherd continued throughout life.

On first coming to Illinois Doctor Shepherd united with the Presbyterian Church of Newtown; in 1852 he transferred his membership to the Congrega- tional Church of Payson where he was an influential and generous member.

In early years he was a staunch democrat but joined the republican party at the time of its formation and gave it always his loyal support.

In 1843 Doetor Shepherd was married to Miss Mary Ann, eldest daughter of Col. John Gill and Mary Vickers Humphrey, who came with her parents from Leesburg, Virginia, to Burton Township in 1836. Mrs. Shepherd was a lady of unusual beauty and grace beloved by all who knew her. The only son, John Humphrey, died in 1848. The following year Mrs. Shepherd was a vietim of acute tuberculosis and died September 28, 1849. She entrusted the little daughter, Anna, to her father's home and eare. Never was trust more faithfully fulfilled. Neither cares nor fatigue prevented the father's watch- ful oversight of the physical welfare and mental growth of his delieate child. From the striet training given in the Payson academies by the Rev. Joseph O. Metcalf and the Rev. William M. Corbin, Miss Shepherd was well prepared for the opportunities afforded in Brooklyn Heights Seminary, conducted by Dr. Charles E. West and Miss Mary A. Brigham, afterward president of Mount Holyoke College. Following her graduation Miss Shepherd taught in Brook- lyn Heights Seminary until her marriage to Dr. Reuben Woods of Chicago. In 1870 Doctor and Mrs. Woods eame to Payson where Doctor Woods was asso- eiated with his father-in-law and continued in practice there for six years. A change of elimate seemed essential for health and Doetor and Mrs. Woods went to Oakland, California, with the promise that Doctor Shepherd would soon follow them to the Pacific Coast. Business complications and elose associa- tions combined to retain him in the old home. A life of leisure ceased to appeal to him and he often expressed a wish "to die in the harness." The wish was granted. Despite the entreaties of the household and of the neighbors he in- sisted on riding through a raging storm to Bluff Hall where a patient was critically ill. To all remonstrances he answered in his firm, quiet way "the man has put his life in my eare. I must not fail him." The exposure resulted in a brief fatal illness. On the eighth of March, 1880, the second physician who came to Payson, the senior physician of Adams County, ended his conse- crated service of forty years.

Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Seldom does the sense of sorrow so pervade an entire community as when the announcement of his death was made known. Sadly and grate- fully was recalled what he had done, what he had stood for, what he was. There was bereavement not only for the trusted physician but also for the giv- ing up of the devoted family friend. There were vivid memories of the low, mellow voice as it spoke words of kindly cheer, of wise counsel, of fatherly comfort. There were sacred memories of hours when the tender clasp of his gentle hand conveyed a heartfelt sympathy which no words could express.

"Honour a physician according to thy need of him with the honours due unto him.

"For verily the Lord hath created him,-and from him is peace upon the face of the earth."

AUGUST F. MEYER has spent all his life in and around Quiney, has been identified with business affairs in that eity, but is now giving his time to the

1234

QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY

productive business of farming, owning a well situated place and a valuable body of land in section 29 of Ellington Township.

He was born in Quincy November 13, 1872, son of William D. and Mary (Benhoff) Meyer. His father was born near Berlin, Germany, and at the age of twenty-one came to the United States, working for a time on a farm near Quincy. He also worked in local pork packing establishments and in 1860 became a lime burner along the Mississippi River. He was one of the first to handle imported cement. He continued the business until failing health compelled him to retire, and in 1891 his son William took his place in the business. William D. Meyer, Sr., died February 9, 1903, when nearly seventy years of age. He married in Quincy Mary (Benhoff) Giesecke. She was a native of Westphalia, Germany, and celebrated her eighty-eighth birth- day May 22, 1918. Her first husband, Mr. Giesecke, and several of her chil- dren died during a cholera epidemic at St. Louis during 1848-49. By her marriage to William D. Meyer, Sr., she had three children: Julia, Mrs. Fred Dralle of Quincy ; William D. ; and August.

August F. Meyer attended the German parochial schools and also the Irv- ing public schools of Quiney. At an early age he went to work for his father in the latter's lime kiln. After the death of his father he kept a livery barn on South Eighth Street, and later provided a large storage house for auto- mobiles, having a building 40 hy 48 and 120 feet. Mr. Meyer has for several years suffered the affliction of partial deafness, and in 1916 he rented his business in town and moved to his farm of eighty aeres in section 29 of Elling- ton Township. He conducts this farm on a businesslike plan, raises large crops and good livestock. and has a fine home of eight rooms.

In Quincy May 2, 1895, he married Amelia Shelp. Mrs .. Meyer, who has been the best of wives and mothers, was born in Quincy January 11, 1876, and was reared and educated there. Her parents were Peter and Wilhelmina (Dickman) Shelp, both natives of Westphalia, Germany. They came when still single by sailing vessel to New Orleans, and thence up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, were married in that city, and afterwards established homes at Quincy. Her father died in Quiney March 1, 1894, lacking twenty- eight days of the age of sixty-five. He was a carpenter by trade. Mrs. Meyer's mother died December 1, 1916, aged eighty-two. Her parents were members of St. Peter's Lutheran Church and her father was a republican. Mrs. Meyer's brother, Herman Shelp, is a former alderman, is assistant supervisor and is married and has a family of sons and daughters. Her sister Hannah is the wife of Joseph Frese, of Quincy. Her brother August lives at Quincy and is married and has two sons. Her sister Minnie is the wife of Edward Reinstorff, of Quincy, and has one son and two daughters. Another brother lives at Quincy, is married, but has no children.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. II, Part 81

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