The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 100

Author: Le Baron, Wm., Jr. & Co., Chicago, Pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : W. Le Baron, Jr.
Number of Pages: 1092

USA > Illinois > McLean County > The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 100

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F. ROEDIGER, grocer, Bloomington ; was born in Saxony, Germany, June 21, 1833, where he was raised, schooled and served a regular apprenticeship at the trade of a miller : he came to this country in 1853, and located in Bureau Co., Ill .; here he found employment upon a farm, remaining some three years ; he then removed to Minnesota. where he remained until 1860; in that year came to Bloomington, where he has since lived; he began in mercantile life, by engaging in the bakery business: this he continued until 1872. when he opened a grocery store : he is now located at. 1107 North Main street, where he keeps a grocery store with a well assorted stock. He married Miss Lucetta Bittig, formerly of Bavaria, Germany, July 5, 1861 ; they have a family of four children.

MISS SARAH E. RAYMOND, Superintendent of the Bloomington Public Schools, Bloom- ington ; was born in Lisbon, Kendall Co., Ill., where she receive I a common school education, and in 1860 taught her first school ; she graduated in 1866, from the State Normal School, of Normal. Ill .. then taught two years in Newark. Ill., and in 1868 came to Bloomington and accepted a position in one of the ward schools as teacher, then as Principal, and was finally appointed Superintendent in 1874, which position she has filled ever since. Miss Raymond has been remarkably successful as a teacher and Superintendent, aud has the determination and good judgment which achieve success, and a pleasant manner and kindly disposition which make her deservedly popular.

REV. ERHARDT RIEDEL, Pastor of the German Lutheran Church, Bloomington ; was born in Bavaria, Germany. in 1824; came to America in 1848, and first located in Wentworth Co., Ohio, where he was licensed as preacher under Dr. W. Sihler, who was President of the Senate of Ohio, Missouri, and other States ; he has taught school and preached in different parts of Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa; in Franklin Co., Mo., he taught school about two years ; thence to Cape Girardeau Co., thence to Cape Girardeau City, where he remained about nine years, engazed in preaching : Rev. Mr. Riedel was also locited, for a short time, in Dubuque, Iowa, thence to Cook Co., Ill., about twenty-five miles south of Chicago, where he remained about seven years : while there, his congregation erected a very handsome church, at a cost of $22,009: from Cook Co. came to Bloomington in 1876; here he has done much good in the church and the sehools.

J. D. ROBINSON, florist, Bloomington ; owns one of the finest and best-arranged floral gardens in Bloomington, if not in the State : he was born and brought up in the city of Bloom- ington, and has had abundant experience in the nursery business ; was at one time working in Phoenix Nursery. His father, James Robinson, was one of the pioneers of McLean Connty ; was born in Saratoga Co .. N. Y., March 11, 1808; he was engaged in business in Saratoga Springs for some years and then came West and located in Bloomington, in the spring of 1836. taking a place as clerk in the store of Haines & Son. In 1838. he formed a partnership with the late James Allin, continuing for three years, and was afterward with Judge David Davis. In

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1856, he was elected President of the Bank of Bloomington, in which position he continued until his death, which occurred Dec. 7, 1874.

JONATHAN H. ROWELL, was born at Haverhill, N. Il., on the 10th day of February, 1835. He came to Illinois, and settled at Stout's Grove, McLean Co., in July, 1849. He went to the schools of that day. and gathered such knowledge as their limited facili- ties afforded. He worked on a farm and taught school alternately from the time he was okdl enough to take a school until 1855. Rowell was then 20 years old, and at this date we find him beginning a regular course of study at Eureka College ; a companion at this school says that Jonathan was one of the most untiring, steadfast and persevering students in the institution, and that his early mastery of mathematics was wonderful ; he could make a mental calculation in less time and with more accuracy than most scholars could with slate and pencil; he was absorbed in study, and read everything within reach: it was in mathematics, however, that he especially distinguished himself at College, and his persevering study and final triumph was rewarded by the appointment to the chair of mathematics, a position which he filled ereditably for a year. In May, 1861, the first faint mutterings of civil war reached him at Eureka: and when they were followed by a call for troops, Prof. Rowell quitted the halls of learning for the tenteil fiel 1 ; he enlistedl 'n the spring of 1861, in the 17th Ill. Inf. ; he was elected Ist Lient. of Co. G, which was raised in Woodford Co. : he was promoted to the Captaincy in 1862; after a brilliant service of three years, he returned home to the pursuits of a peaceful life. He attended the law department of the Chicago University : here Capt. Rowell applied himself with dili- gence, and in 1865 he graduated with an especially fine record, being the valedictorian of his class. His mind being thus stored with legal lore, the next movement in order was the realiza- tion of something from the investment ; he immediately began practice in Bloomington ; a part- nership was formed with Tipton & Benjamin, which continued through the years of 1866, 1867 and 1868. His energy aud ability soon demanded recognition, and, in 1868, he was elected State's Attorney for McLean, Logan and De Witt Counties, and prosecuted with distinguished ability for four years. The partnership now with the Hon. J. M. Hamilton was formed in 1871. Capt. Rowell is one of the most successful criminal lawyers in Illinois, and this result has been reached by his own efforts. When he began his education, and upon entering Eureka College, he had $40 and a suit of clothes, and these constituted his worldly possessions. It was a struggle for success which sometimes looked dark and uncertain, but indomitable will triumphed over adverse circumstances.

THOMAS PIERCE ROGERS, M. D., Bloomington, whose portrait appears in this work, was born Dec. 4, 1812, in Cotumbiana Co., Ohio ; his ancestors came from the north of Ireland; his grandfather, George Augustus Rogers, was born about the year 1735, in the north of Ireland, and was educated at Oxford for the ministry, but gave up that calling and accepted a commission in the British army ; he came to this country as Colonel in the army under Gen. Braddock, and was at the battle of Bloody Run (or Braddock's defeat ), and also with Gen. Wolfe when he stormed Quebec; after peace was declared, he returned to England, resigned his commission and came to the United States about the year 1774; his son. Alexander Rogers, the father of Dr. Rogers, whose sketch we are writing, was born in 1773: the family first settled in Frederick Co., Md., where it stayed until 1786, when it moved to Fayette Co., Penn .; there Mr. Alexander Rogers married Catharine Wallahan, who was born in Carlisle, Penn. In the year 1798, Dr. Rogers' grandfather, father and all their connections moved on the extreme frontier, then the wilderness of Ohio; there his father settled on a farm. The subject of this sketch received such an educa- tion as could be obtained in the little, round-log schoolhouse of a new country ; at the age of 17, he went to a select school at New Lisbon, and finished his education at a Quaker institution at Salem ; he then returned home, working one or two years, and continuing his course of study ; he chose the profession of medicine, and began his study in Tuscarawas Co., Ohio ; he finished his course of study in Philadelphia, and returned to Tuscarawas Co., where he practiced in company with Dr. Lewis ; in the spring of 1838, he started for Illinois on horseback, and came to Marshall Co. ; and, in the month of March, located at Decatur, Macon Co., and soon afterward formed a copartnership with Dr. Thomas H. Reed, from Nashville, Tenn. ; Dr. Rogers afterward moved to Washington, Tazewell Co., and formed a copartnership with Dr. G. P. Wood, which continued for seven years. In June, 1840, he married Miss llarriet Wilcox, of North Bergen, Genesee Co., N. Y. ; she died four years after her marriage ; they had one child-Harriet Julia, who died at the age of 9 months. In May, 1846, he married Mrs. Minerva Burhance, a widow lady with one daughter. In 1848 Dr. Rogers learned from Stephen A. Douglas, in Peoria, that the Illinois C'entral Railroad would surely be built, and this decided him to move to Bloomington for a per- manent home ; he moved to Bloomington in March, 1849, and continued the practice of medicine up to 1867, when he retired from his profession, having been a successful practitioner for thirty years ; he then engaged in agricultural pursuits. While practicing his profession, he was three times chosen a delegate to the National Medical Conventions ; he was twice chosen a delegate to State Medical Conventions. Dr. Rogers has been more or less connected with politics since com- ing to the West ; while at Decatur, he held the office of Postmaster for two years ; in 1848, he was selected at the Convention, at the village of Waynesville, to be a candidate for State Senator, but was defeated ; in 1862, he again received the nomination of his party for State Senator, but

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was again defeated ; he has been honored by his party by being made a member of every Demo- cratic State Convention, except one, since 1844 ; has been chairman of the Democratic Central Committee, MeLean Co., for eighteen years out of twenty-four ; was appointed a delegate from Illinois to the Convention at Baltimore, which nominated Franklin Pierce ; he was an alternate delegate to the Charleston Convention ; was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention, when Doug- las was nominated. When the war came, the Doctor took strong ground for the Union, and did much work in getting volunteers, and took the stump and advocated crushing the rebellion out by the power of arms. In 1864, he was a delegate to the Convention which nominated McClel- lan for President ; when the Liberal movement was inaugurated, Dr. Rogers moved actively and efficiently in the matter, and was placed in nomination as its candidate for the Legislature under the minority representation system ; he was elected a member of the Lower House of the Assem- bly, and has been re-elected every two years since ; and is at present serving in that capacity, and is recognized as one of the most active and far-sighted of its members.

OWEN T. REEVES, Bloomington. The subject of this sketch was born Dec. 18, 1829, in Ross Co., Ohio ; after a period at the common schools of the day, he entered the Wesleyan Uni- versity, at Delaware, Ohio ; his studies were pursued uninterruptedly with the highest results, and he graduated one of the most thoroughly learned students that ever went out of the institu- tion, in 1850; he received a merited compliment by being retained in the institution as tutor ; he also filled the responsible position of Principal of the Chillicothe, Ohio, High School for four years, and engrafted upon the schools of that city many important changes in study and system which remain to this day ; he was recognized as one of the leading and most advanced educators of the day in Ohio : meantime, and during his active school service, he read extensively the primary law works, with a view to entering into the practice of the law, a profession for which he had certainly many natural qualifications. In 1854, Mr. Reeves was attracted to and located in the then young but promising city of Bloomington, Ill. ; his known large experience in public- school matters operated to bring his services in demand ; he drew up the charter of the Union- School System, of Bloomington, in 1857; for five years he served faithfully and intelligently as a member of the Board of Education : the magnificent system of schools in this city, and their flourishing condition, are results, in a great measure, due to the efforts of Mr. Reeves ; and he yet watches their development with earnest solicitude. In 1861, he was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors for Bloomington Township: in 1862, he was appointed City Attorney ; in these offices Mr. Reeves is said to have discharged the duties incumbent upon him in a faithful and praiseworthy manner, devoting to them his whole time and talents. In the latter part of 1862, when the country was struggling in the throes of civil war. Mr. Reeves responded to the call for troops, and, with commendable energy and patriotism, organized the 70th Illinois Infantry Regiment ; this regiment he commanded as Colonel with marked distinction ; after his service in the army, Col. Reeves returned to the walks and pursuits of private life. In 1867, he procured the charter for the L., B. & M. Railroad, and took a prominent part in the organization of the company and the construction of the road ; this varied and important business occupied actively all his time ; when the road was leased to the Wabash, Mr. Reeves became General Solicitor of the leased line, and continued such so long as the road remained in the hands of the Wabash. In 1874, Col. Reeves joined Judge Benjamin in the organization of the Bloomington Law School ; during all this time he has enjoyed a large and important law practice : in the month of March, 1877, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court.

MRS. GEN. GILES A. SMITH, Bloomington. History is but a plain, unvarnished state- ment of facts, whether these facts be relative to the works of art or of nature; and if of the lat- ter, it may be of nations, kingdoms, States or individuals, the truths are just as important to be left upon record ; there was many a hero in the war of the late rebellion of whom the world is yet ignorant, or to whom history has not done justice. We would here mention the name of Gen. Giles A. Smith, as we purpose giving a brief biographical sketch of his life. To go into detail would require a volume half the size of this. He was a native of Jefferson Co., N. Y. ; was born Sept. 29, 1829 ; remaining at his native place until he had grown to man's estate, and had received his education ; leaving his native place, he came west as far as London, Ohio, where, for, a short time, he was engaged in business ; he then went to Cincinnati, and for two years was in the employ of Day & Matlock, wholesale dry goods merchants. In 1856, he was married to Miss MeLain, who is a native of Madison Co., Ohio, and a resident of London at the time of marriage : the same year they became residents of Bloomington, where she still resides. From this date until 1861, he was engaged in the mercantile and hotel business, being engaged in the latter business just previous to entering the army. From a Sunday until the following Thursday he closed the hotel, settled his private affairs and raised a company of soldiers ; he entered the service as Captain of Co. D, 8th Mo. V. I., the regiment being commanded by his brother, Morgan L. Smith : in the fall of 1861, he was stationed at Paducah, from which place, with his regiment, he took part in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson ; also the battle of Shiloh and siege of Corinth, where his regiment was first in the rebel works, and took posses- sion. After the capture of Corinth, his regiment went to Memphis as a part of the 15th Corps ; here Gen. Smith was promoted 10 the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and, on the promotion of his brother to a Brigadier. he was promoted to the rank of Colonel : he soon after took part in

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Sherman's first attack on Vicksburg, and afterward in the attack on Arkansas Post, where his horse was shot from under him, and himself slightly wounded; in the operations resulting in the capture of Vicksburg he took an active and conspicuous part. By a brilliant and daring feat, he, with his regiment, rescued Admiral Porter and his iron-clads, when they were surrounded and hemmed in by the rebels. After the capture of Vicksburg, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, for gallant and meritorious conduct on the field of battle. As brigade com- mander, he took a conspicuous part in the campaign resulting in the defeat of Bragg, and at the siege of Chattanooga and battle of Mission Ridge, where he was badly wounded ; recovering from his wound, he returned to the field as brigade commander in the 15th (then the 17th) Army Corps, under Gen. Frank P. Blair. On the 22d of July, 1864, was fought the memorable battle

of Atlanta, in which Gen. MePherson fell. The heaviest portion of this battle fell on the divis- ion of Gen. Smith. His gallant and heroic conduct on this occasion forms no small part in the history of that eventful day ; he then took part in Sherman's great march to the sea, in com- mand of the Second Division of the Seventeenth Corps. After the surrender of Lee, he, having been promoted to a full Major General, was transferred to the Twenty-fifth Army Corps, and stationed at Brownsville, Tex. After the division of the corps, he declined the commission of Col- onel of cavalry in the regular army, and returned to his home in Bloomington. Ile was appointed by President Grant as Second Assistant Postmaster General, which position he held until his resignation on account of failing health, in 1872. He then became a resident of Bloomington and of San Jose, Cal., but a resident of the former place at his death, which occurred on Sunday, Nov. 5. 1876. Thus perished a brave and gallant soldier, an honored citizen and fond husband and tather. Mrs. Smith is still a resident of Bloomington. She was with Gen. Smith during most of his army life, and many of the scenes and incidents of war are indelibly impressed upon her memory. She has possession of all of the General's papers and commissions of promotion, which are, as they should be, highly prized by herself. She is a lady of fine mental culture, and is amply able to conduct the education of their only daughter.

WILL S. SMITH, was born in Orange Co., N. Y., Feb. 18, 1851 ; he is the eldest son of Matthew C. and Mary Jane Smith, who were both natives of New York State; his father was captain and owner of a vessel running between New York City and Albany, on the Hudson River ; he died February 18, 1857, leaving a family of five children-Anna E. (now Mrs. Dr. S. C. Wilson), Will S., Matthew C. and Frank B. ; during his life-time, however, he recognized the value of an education and made every effort to secure for his children that mental culture which is imperishable ; but Will was not a studious youth ; the glorious fun of fishing, hunting, base ball and other athletic sports, had for him a far greater charm than the problems of his arith- metic, the puzzling intricacies of his grammar, the comprehensive knowledge contained within the pasteboard lids of his geography, or even the polysyllables of his spelling-book ; all told, his schooling amounted to less than four years of constant attendance ; to this day, he acknowledges that it was his fault that not even a common-school education accompanied him when he embarked for himself in the struggle of life ; he applied himself to several vocations and finally settled down to learn the art of printing, which business he is at present engaged in ; he has worked in some of the largest cities in the country ; in 1866, he, with his mother and youngest brother, moved West and settled in Bloomington, III., where his sister and next elder brother preceded them about six months; he married Miss Sue A. Colvin, Nov. 13, 1873 ; she was born in this county ; in 1876, Mr. and Mrs. Smith visited the Centennial Exposition, and made an extended tour through the East, visiting nearly all of the largest cities, and spending some time at his old home, where he had not been for ten years ; in 1878, he went to Chicago, Ill., where he and his wife are at present living.

1I. P. SEIBEL, Justice of the Peace, Bloomington ; was born in Bavaria, on the Rhine, June 1, 1831, where he received his education ; he came to this country in 1849, locating in Cincinnati, where he was engaged in book-keeping ; while there he was a member of the School Board for several years ; after which, he was engaged in the mannfacture of pianos, in which business he continued some four years ; he came to Bloomington in 1872, where he has since lived, an enterprising and much respected citizen ; he was instrumental in establishing the paper-mill, which was for a time operated successfully ; he is the founder of the Mænnerchor Society of Bloomington, in which he officiated as President for several years ; for the last two years has served as musical director; this society is one of which the citizens of Bloomington may well be proud. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1877; this, with many other honorable and prominent positions, he has filled with credit. Ile married Miss Catharine Hoffmann, of Germany, Nov. 11, 1855; she was born June 24, 1831: they have a family of five.

THOMAS SLADE, attorney-at-law, Bloomington ; was born in fall River, Mass., in March, 1834 ; he was of Quaker parentage, all of his ancestors for generations haek being of that religious faith ; he received his preliminary education before entering college, at the Fall River high school and at Friends' Seminary, Providence, R. I; in 1856, he entered the regular col- legiate course of Brown University, in the city of Provi lence, which course he finished in three years. After graduation, he remained in the institution as a resident graduate for some months ; in March, 1860, he started for the West ; he landed in St. Louis in the same month, and at once

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entered upon the study of the law, being at the same time employed as a deputy in the United States t'ircuit Clerk's office in St. Louis ; after a few months, in order to devote his entire time to his studies, he abandoned this position and entered the law office of Knox, Smith & Sedge- wick; Mr. Slade continued his law studies until December, 1862, before applying for a.lmission to the bar, at which time he was admitted to the bar of St. Louis, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession in that city. Just at this time, the troubles incident to the rebellion were convulsing the city of St. Louis, composed of so many conflicting elements and factions arising out of the great questions at stake, and Mr. Slade united with the National Guards. a regiment which was at that time kept on duty in the city, at intervals standing guard over prisons and other duty in that vicinity ; being engaged in this service, the work of his profes- sion was considerably interrupted, but he continued to practice as opportunity allowed and was building up a substantial and rapidly-growing business. In 1864, he was a candidate for City Attorney before the Republican convention of St. Louis : five candidates were before the con- vention, but the contest was finally reduced to that between Mr. Slade and a Mr. Stewart, the latter a one-armed soldier, the latter receiving the nomination after a vigorous fight, by a very small majority ; no more fitting complin ent could have been paid to a young min, who arrived a stranger in the city four years before, than the flattering support he receive'l in that conven- tion. In 1865, Mr. Slade decided to leave St. Louis, though regretting to leave the thriving business he had already established ; but, having gone from a cool coast climate, he was never satisfied with the warm sultry climate of the St. Louis region. and for this sole reason he left and came to Bloomington in quest of a cooler and more bracing climate ; he at once effected a partnership with Mr. W. M. Hatch, who was then one of the longest resident attorneys of the place, the firm being styled Hatch & Slade; in 1872, this firm was dissolved : in 1879, he formed a partnership with Mr. H. E. Hadley, who is a young man with very flattering prospects for success : he is a graduate of the Chicago College of Law. Mr. Slade, in 187.', was appointed a member of the State Board of Education.

AUGUSTUS SEIBEL, baker, Bloomington ; was born in Bavaria, Germany, Jan. 23, 1845, and came to this country in 1856, locating in Cincinnati ; for some two years he attended school, then began the trade ot a baker, which he followed until December, 1861, when he enlisted with the 6th Ky. V. I .; he was in many of the heaviest battles and most severe skirmishes of the war; was promoted to 2d Lieutenant, then to 1st Lientenant and Regimental Adjutant ; he was mustered out at Brazos Santiago, Tex , Nov. 13, 1865. His place of business is 713 West t'hestnut street ; he is a practical baker of many years' experience, which enables him to turn out the best of bread, cakes and pies, which can be obtained at the store or from the delivery wagon. He married Miss Margaret Hoffmann, of Cincinnati, July 2, 1867 ; they have been resi- dents of Bloomington since 1868, and have a family of three children living.

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The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 100

Author: Le Baron, Wm., Jr. & Co., Chicago, Pub Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : W. Le Baron, Jr. Number of Pages: 1092

Author: Le Baron, Wm., Jr. & Co., Chicago, Pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : W. Le Baron, Jr.
Number of Pages: 1092