USA > Illinois > Shelby County > Shelby County in the World War > Part 15
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
When you meet your antagonist, do everyting in a mild and agreeable manner. Let your courage be as keen, but at the same time as polished, as your sword. -Sheridan.
Our Country ! In her intercourse with foreign na- tions may she always be right; but our country, right or wrong.
-Stephen Decatur.
Patriotism depends as much on mutual sufferings as on mutual success; and it is by that experience of all fortunes and all feelings that a great national character is created.
-Disraeli.
Courage, when it is not heroic self-sacrifice, is some- times a modification and sometimes a result of faith. -J. C. and A. W. Hare.
JOHN L. SCHUTTE
Private John L. Schutte's career as a soldier was short. Death struck him down before he left the train- ing camp, and he failed of his ambition to meet the Hun on the battle field. The young man got into the game early in the conflict between the United States and the Central Powers, but it was only for a few months. He was one of the county's second contingent, and was inducted at Shelbyville on September the 19th. 1917. On that day he was sent with others to Camp Taylor, Ky., where he remained until February 16, 1918, when he was stricken with pneumonia and died two days later, at the age of 27 years. He was a member of Battery D, 327th Field Artillery. His body was brought to the home of his parents at Sigel, where it was buried with military honors.
Private Schutte was a son of Mr. and Mrs. John II. Schutte, well known residents of southeastern Shelby county. It was there the dead soldier was born and reared, and where he won and enjoyed the respect and esteem of all who knew him.
There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country.
-Addison.
We join ourselves to no party that does not carry the flag and keep step to the music of the Union. -Rufus Choate.
Our country, whether bounded by the St. John's and the Sabine, or however bounded or described, and be the measurements more or less; still our country, to be cherished in all our hearts, to be defended by all our hands.
-Robert C. Winthrop.
CHARLES V. SETTLES
Unlike most of the men of the Gold Star section, it was the privilege of Charles V. Settles to die in his own home, receiving in his last illness the loving care of his mother and others dear to hiin. He passed away at his home in Shelbyville, September 15, 1918. His death was due to tuberculosis, which he contracted sev- eral months before, and which led to his honorable dis- charge from army service on the 8th of the preceding Apri !.
Settles, who was barn driver for the Mook & Weil stables in Shelbyville, was inducted into service Feb- ruary 22, 1918, and sent to Camp Taylor. A little later he was transferred to Camp Sevier, S. C., and it was while there that he began to decline. After his dis- inissal from the army he was in such a state of health that he was unable to work, and continued to decline until the end came.
Mr. Settles was born March 22, 1892, at Iola, Ill., and became a resident of Shelbyville in 1903. His father died when he was but three years old, and later his mother remarried. She is Mrs. Alice Perryman, now resident of Decatur, Ill. Ile is survived also by four sis- ters and three brothers. The sisters are Mrs. Charles lfarrell and Mrs. A. T. Young of Taylorville, Mrs. Charles Winson of Shelbyville and Miss Alice Perry - man, who lives with her mother in Decatur. brothers are Frank Settles of Shelbyville, Ed Settles of The Decatur, and Charles Settles, who at the time of his brother's death was in the canteen at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Mich.
The funeral of the young soldier was held from the family residence in Shelbyville at 2:30 o'clock p. m., Tuesday, September 17, 1918.
The patriot reveals the secret of his soul when he gladly dies for his country, and sacrifices his life upon the altar of his inspiration.
-Timothy Titcomb.
FRANK SHERLOCK
Frank Sherlock, a Shelbyville soldier who was a member of Company 1I, 130th U. S. Infantry when that outfit left Shelbyville October 9, 1917, died January 2, 1919, of bronchial pneumonia, and his body rests in for- eign soil.
Sherlock, who was a son of the late Andrew W. and Nancy Sherlock, and was born in Shelbyville April 27, 1888, enlisted with Company II of the old Fourth regi- ment, Illinois National Guard, May 25, 1917. His en- listment was on the day preceding the big cyclone which did so much damage in Shelby and Coles coun- ties, and his first service as a militiaman was with the
company in the devastated area at Mattoon. Then and after the company went into training at Camp Logan, Houston, Texas, word came back that Sherlock was inaking a "fine soldier." Similar reports came back from overseas. A harnessmaker by trade, Sherlock was transferred at Camp Logan to the Supply Com- pany as regimental harnessmaker. lle was still in that department when the regiment went overseas, and con- tinued in that capacity, doing splendid work in Europe. At the time of his death Sherlock was survived by his mother, who died a little later in grief over the death of her son. He also left two sisters, who are Mrs. F. W. Casselman and Mrs. J. W. Jackson, both of Shelbyville, and one brother, George Sherlock, also of Shelbyville.
It is a brave act of valor to conteinn death; hut where life is more terrible than death, it is the truest valor to dare to live.
-Sir Thomas Browne.
Perfect valor is to do without witnesses what one would do before all the world.
-La Rochefoucauld.
CHARLES F. SMITH
But little information concerning the service record of Charles F. Smith was available, as relatives received but the simple notice from the war department that he had died of wounds received in action. Ilis mother, Mrs. Mary E. Smith of Holland township, has but the melancholy satisfaction of knowing that her son, whom she gave to his country, but whom she hoped to take to her arms again at the close of the war, was bravely fighting for the freedom of the world when he met his death at the hands of the enemy. According to the statement received, his death occurred August 3, 1918, but it is not known in just what manner he received the wounds which took his life. He was in a hospital when the end came.
Smith was born in Holland, Ill., October 29, 1894, and at his death was 23 years of age. He was reared on the farm, and before his enlistment was employed at Meadows, Ill. Ife enlisted February 16, 1918. at Bloomington, and was assigned to Company C of the 39th Division. He was at Camp Mills, L. I., about two months before he sailed for France.
Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither is, in my opinion, safe. -Burke.
We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our for- tunes and our sacred honor. -Thomas Jefferson.
If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms-never, never, never. -William Pitt.
If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot.
-John A Dix.
CHESTER W. SPHAR
Chester W. Sphar, a Shelby county registrant, died of pneumonia in France on the 22d of October, 1918, according to official messages received by his relatives at Tower Hill. He was inducted by the Shelby County Local Board at Shelbyville on the 27th of May, 1918, with a contingent of sixty-five men, and sent to Hat- tiesburg, Mississippi, where he was trained at Camp Shelby. Later he was transferred overseas, and gave his life in a losing battle with the prevailing epidemic.
The man who loves home best, and loves it most un- selfishly, loves his country best. - J. G. Holland.
JAMES FRANKLIN STIVISON
James F. Stivison, a Moweaqua soldier who was in service at Camp Holabird, Md., for three months, suc- cumbed to the influenza and pneumonia epidemic in the hospital at Fort McHenry, Md., after an illness of only seven days. He enlisted at Shelbyville September 3, 1918, and was assigned to the Motor Transport unit 321. At Camp Holabird he served as cook until stricken with his fatal illness.
Stivison was born at Moweaqua, October 15, 1892, and was a farmer. Before his enlistment he was en- gaged in agricultural pursuits on his own farm near Moweaqua. Ile was a son of William and Lena Stivi- son of Moweaqua.
CLARENCE SUTTON
Clarence Sutton, a Shelby county youth who died from wounds received in action in France, was a son of Henry and Rosetta Sutton of Windsor. He was born near Farmersville, Ill., August 13, 1897, and died September 17, 1918. The story of his death is told in the following letter from the Bureau of Communication, American Red Cross, to his parents, under date of Oc- tober 29, 1918:
"Private Sutton's company was encamped in a wood about fifteen miles from the front. About 10 p. m. three German aeroplanes bombed the woods, and Pri- vate Sutton was struck by a piece of shrapnel which penetrated his brain. At Field Hospital No. 332 he received immediate attention and was then hurried to Evacuation Hospital No. 7. Everything possible was done for him by the devoted American doctors and nurses. An operation was started in the faint hope that it might save his life, but he died a few min- utes after they had begun. The Red Cross chaplain was praying at his side all the time until the hour of
his death, which was forty minutes after midnight on the morning of September 17. That day he was buried in the hospital cemetery, a lovely spot on the side of a hill. Chaplain Kelley conducted the service, and he was buried with military honors. When we are able to send you a photograph of his grave you will see that it has the same loving care that it would have had if he had been buried at home."
Private Sutton enlisted at Sullivan, and left that place as a member of C Company, 130th U. S. Inf., 33d Divi- sion. In May, 1918, he left Camp Logan, Houston, Texas, where the regiment had been in training since the fall of 1917, and crossed with his company to France, where he was soon under fire. As young Sut- ton was a member of the Moultrie county company and went into camp and across seas with that company, his service record is not in the archives of Shelby county. However, his death added another to the list of heroic dead accredited to this county, and his name is revered as one of Shelby's gallant sons.
LAWRENCE H. SUDKAMP
Lawrence HI. Sudkamp, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Barney Sudkamp of Sigel, was born on the farm northeast of that village on the 15th of January, 1896. He grew to young manhood on the farm, and was employed with his father in agricultural pursuits. He was one of the first boys of the county to respond to the call to military service, and was inducted with the second contingent of men summoned by the Local Exemption Board. On the 19th of September, 1917, he left Shelbyville for Camp Taylor, Ky., where he was placed in the 327th Field Artillery, Headquarters Company, as first class saddler. In January, 1918, he was transferred to West Point, Ky., where he was taken seriously ill. He was taken back to the base hospital at Camp Taylor, where he un- derwent an operation for mastoid abscess. Following the operation, which was a severe one, he showed some signs of improvement, but later grew worse and died May 28, 1918.
The body of the dead soldier was taken to the home of his parents at Sigel, where the funeral was held and burial took place in the Catholic cemetery at Sigel.
Hle is survived by his parents, 4 sisters and 5 brothers.
IRA WATKINS
Ira C. Watkins, formerly of Oconee but in the United States regular army since 1910, was killed in action on the French front, April 27, 1918. At the time of his death he was within six days of being thirty-seven years old. He was the second son of the family to die in the service, his brother Albert, who joined the army in the Spanish-American war, dying in an army hospital in Washington, D. C., in 1903.
Ira Watkins enlisted in February, 1910. At the time of his death lie was a member of Company D, Machine Gun Battalion. Through all his military service he dis. played the true characteristics of a real soldier, and when the end came he met his death bravely.
Watkins was survived by his mother, Mrs. Mary J. Watkins of Oconee. his wife and son Ira Verne. four sisters and one brother.
JOHN PINKSTON WEAKLEY
John P. Weakley of Moweaqua was the only Shelby county soldier to yield his life on German soil. He died in a hospital in Germany while there with the army of occupation. His death was due to spinal meningitis, to which he fell a victim after passing through some of the thickest of the fighting of the war without a scratch. His death occurred on May 27, 1919, on the first anniversary of his call to the colors. On May 27, 1918, he was inducted by the Fayette County Local Board, and left with a contingent of Fayette county men for Camp Gordon, Ga., where he was assigned to 26th Company, 3d Replacement Regiment. On July 14 he left Camp Gordon for Camp Merritt, N. J., and on July 20 sailed for England, where he landed ahout Au- gust 5. On the 9th of August he reached France, and was placed in 11th Co., 1st Inf., Tr. Reg. Directly after the battle of Vesle river he hecame a member of the Fourth division, and was in the front line on the 5th of September, little more than three months after leaving home. For ten days he was on the Verdun sec- tor, where he helped hold the line, and after being re- lieved by the French, went immediately to the Meuse- Argonne great offensive. During his fighting he served on three battle fronts, and was under fire 57 days. He was under the hottest fire, bullets passing through his clothing, sleeves and pack, but he did not receive a scratch.
Later a letter came to his mother. mailed from Coblenz, where he was with the army of occupation. He stated he was suffering from a stomach disorder, and said he would take a train for the border and ex- pected to arrive in the United States about the middle of June. The next message told of his death in the Evacuation hospital No. 49, at Coblenz. He was witli the 59th U. S. Inf., 4th Div., at the time of his death.
Weakley was born in Shelby county November 17, 1893, the son of James and Rossea Weakley. His father is dead. Besides his mother he is survived by five brothers and two sisters.
VOLLIE L. TRESSLER
Vollie Lane Tressler, a young farmer of Lakewood, died at Fort Logan H. Roots, Ark., Thursday morning, March 14, 1918. His death was due to measles and pneumonia, with which he had been ill at camp for four weeks. The body was brought to the home of his par- ents, Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Tressler, at Lakewood on the day following his death. It was accompanied by Dean Tanner, a comrade in arms, and Miss Lillian Tressler, a sister of the dead man, who had been summoned to her brother's bedside when his condition became crit- ical.
Though Tressler was a Shelby county resident and subject to the draft, he did not await the process of the selective draft machinery, but early in the year made application to the Local Exemption Board for in- duction, and with ten other voluntary recruits left Shelbyville January 10 for Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. Later he was transferred to Arkansas, and died there. IIe was almost 23 years of age, having been born April 17, 1895, in Shelby county. Ile was reared on a farm, and remained at home until entering the service. He was an exemplary young man, and stood high in the esti- mation of all who knew him. lle was the second Shelby county man to die after going to the training camps.
Mr. Tressler was survived by his parents, three sis- ters and two brothers. The sisters are Mrs. Harley Hall, Miss Jettie Tressler and Miss Lillian Tressler, all of Lakewood. The last two named are school teachers, and a few years ago Miss Lillian Tressler was a candi- date for the nomination for county superintendent of schools. The brothers are James and Robert Tressler, both residing in Oklahoma.
The funeral of the young soldier was held from the family home at Lakewood, Saturday, March 16, con- ducted by the Rev. J. E. Bowman. Burial was in the Ridge cemetery.
ROY VANDERPOOL
Roy Vanderpool, born and reared in Shelbyville and a son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Vanderpool, now of Pana, Ill., died in France because of his bravery and in sac- rifice for others. Facing the boche snipers in the town of Albert and disregarding the advice of a British Tom- mie to "make it to the rear," Vanderpool kept up an incessant fire that did much to cover the retreat of his comrades to a place of safety, only to become the target of an enemy bullet that resulted in his death a little later.
Roy Vanderpool was 20 years old, having been born in Shelbyville in 1908. In 1915, when but 17 years old, he enlisted in Company II of the old Fourth regi- ment, Illinois National Guard. He was on the Mexican border with this organization in 1916-17, and left Shelby- ville with Company H, later a unit of the 130th U. S. Inf., for Camp Logan, Ilouston, Texas, October 9, 1917. Later he accompanied it overseas, and was with it in action when he received his mortal wound. At this particular time each platoon of H company was at- tached to a British company, and acting under orders of the British commanders. A daylight patrol of 40 English soldiers and one American from each platoon was ordered into Albert, which was in No Man's Land and infested with German snipers. Vanderpool volun- teered from his platoon and while pouring his fire into the enemy after entering the town was hit by a sniper's bullet fired from the top of a Cathedral. He was car- ried out under dangerous fire and after several weeks in a field hospital was conveyed to the base hospital, where he died October 12, 1918.
Lieutenant MeConnough said of him: "They got the best man I had in my platoon."
Roy Vanderpool Post, American Legion, Shelbyville, Ill., has been named in his honor.
BERT P. WALKER
Bert P. Walker, another Shelby county victim of pneumonia, following a siege of influenza, was buried in the White cemetery, Windsor township, Thursday, October 10, 1918. His death occurred at Camp Taylor, Ky., on the 7th of October.
Mr. Walker was a son of Mr. and Mrs. James N. Walker of Windsor township, where he was born in 1896. On the 28th of June, 1918, he was inducted into the military service by the Shelby County Local Board, and sent from Shelbyville with 185 men to Camp Taylor. Two days before his departure for camp he married Miss Eva Johnson, who in his early demise was left a widow. On Sunday, October 6. Walker's relatives were notified that he was in a critical condition, and his wife, mother and brother Elmer left at once for Camp Taylor. arriving there only a few hours before his death, which occurred on the 7th. The body was brought to Wind- sor, arriving there on Thursday morning. The funeral took place a few hours later, with services conducted by an old friend of the family, the Rev. D. A. Shuck of Findlay.
Besides his wife and parents, Private Walker was sur- vived by two brothers and two sisters. They are El- mer, Carroll, Nellie and Dorothy Walker, all of Wind- sor township.
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordi. nary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
-Isaac Newton.
Patriotism is simple and trustful, like family affec- tion : and its subordinate place in the ordinary life of the nation is seen in the fact that it rarely shows itself except in the national emergencies.
-J. G. Ilolland.
ADRIAN WALL
Adrian Wall, for so many years a resident of Shelby - ville that he was still looked upon as belonging there, though actually a resident of Decatur when he entered the service, died of influenza Friday, September 27, 1918, at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, where he went several months prior to that for training. The in- sidiousness of the disease from which he died is seen from the fact that after his first illness he recovered sufficiently to be discharged from the hospital, then suffered a relapse and died within a day or two. The body was brought to Shelbyville, where it was laid away in Glenwood cemetery on Tuesday, October 1, with honors befitting the dead sailor. The service took place at the graveside, with the flag at half mast and the bugle calls as features of the impressive ceremonies. The body was escorted from the home of a relative. Miss Mabel Hagan, to the cemetery by the Shelbyville Commercial Club in a body, the procession being led by the "colors," borne by Color Sergeant John Wilburn. Many of the former classmates of young Wall were in the assemblage at the grave.
Wall enlisted at Peoria February 8, 1918. in the Ra- dio service. He was called to Great Lakes May 3. 1918, then to get into quicker service secured transfer to be a submarine listener, and was ready to leave for New York when he was taken ill.
Adrian Wall was born in Shelbyville about twenty- two years ago, and was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Wall. Some years later the family moved to Danville, Ill., then back to Shelbyville and eventually to Decatur, where Mr. Wall is a concrete contractor. Following the return to Shelbyville, the son attended the public schools and was graduated from the Shelbyville high school with the class of 1917. He was a member of the Baptist Sunday school and of the church, and his mem. bership remained there until his death. He bore a splendid reputation, was quiet, courteous and kindly. and won and held many friends by his charming char- acteristics.
THE SHELBYVILLE DAILY UNION
GERMANY QUITS: KAISER FLEES
PEACE! GERMANY WAVES WHITE FLAG
THE WINDSOR GAZETTE
--
ARTON &
GERMANY YIELDS
I MIED PREM FIRST
---
-
-
ATZERS
事业食AL NDE員』
The Armistice
In common with the Nation's capital and prac- tically every other city, town and hamlet in the country, Shelbyville and other towns of Shelby County, through an erroneous press report, had the privilege of twice celebrating the signing of the armistice. That the early report was premature was not learned in time to detract from the satisfaction the people had in giving vent to their great delight in the end of the war; and even when they were informed that the supposed cessation of hostilities had not taken placc, they took the matter philo- sophically, secure in the well-founded belief that it would be but a matter of days or perhaps hours, until they could celebrate the verity. And this proved to be true, for within four days of the erroneous re- port of the signing of the armistice, the military authorities representing the belligerent nations had attached their signatures to that fateful document and the war was over.
Announcement that the greatest war in history had come to an end was first made in Shelbyville through a press report that reached the city at ten minutes of twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 1918. Within a minute after the Daily Union, which received the report, had posted the flash in the window, a crowd which rapidly swelled to thousands began to assemble and from a nucleus of a half dozen men who threw their hats into the air and gave three rousing cheers as they read the joyful tidings, a throng of men, women, boys and girls formed into a parade and for hours marched through the streets, demonstrating their happiness with a spontaneity lacking in the later celebration. Early in the game the big siren at the electric light plant cut loose, and its strident but welcome "notes" quickly turned the old town inside out, for out of homes, offices, stores, schools and shops poured the populace, instantly to take up the glad : refrain of "Peace!" Men in shirt-sleeves and hat- less, soldiers of other wars, young soldiers home on furlough, school teachers and pupils, gray-haired men and women, little boys and girls-all with happy and grateful hearts-were participants in the event that will never be effaced from memory of those who experienced it.
In an incredibly short time, too, the country peo- ple began to pour into the county seat, and the wires werc hot between Shelbyville and outlying towns, carrying the tiding, "The war is over!"
Practically all afternoon the demonstration con- tinued, though committees at once began prepara- tions for a monster celebration in the evening. This was held, and for hours to the accompaniment
of a band and every conceivable noise-making in- strument, the people of all ages, sex and color vied with cach other in exhibitions of their joy that was well nigh frantic.
THE SECOND CELEBRATION
But the big peace celebration had to be done all over again! And the people did it with a will.
Plans for an organized demonstration were laid early. In Windsor, Strasburg, Stewardson, Tower Hill and other outlying towns of the county, the celebration started at noon, while in the county seat it was held in the evening, with the people of the other towns participating. Windsor has credit for putting on the first formal celebration.
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.