USA > Ohio > Memoirs of the lower Ohio valley, personal and genealogical : with portraits, Volume I > Part 38
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mond, Mattie, Willie, Horace, Lemuel, and two who died in infancy unnamed. Lemuel is also deceased, Essie is the wife of Lawrence Givens, and the others are at home.
ALLEN T. SPIVEY, editor and pro- prietor of the Shawneetown, Ill., News- Gleaner, was born six miles west of that town April 5, 1875. He is a son of Thom- as J. and Sallie (Smyth) Spivey, and a grandson, of Thomas S. Spivey, who was born in North Carolina, of English ances- try, and who was one of the pioneers of Southern Illinois, settling in Gallatin county in 1832. There he took up a tract of government land and followed farming all his life. He was an influential man, in his day and one of the leading Democrats of the county, serving as justice of the peace and in other minor offices until 1850, when he was elected county judge for one term. He was also active in building up the Presbyterian church. At the time of his death he was sixty-two years of age, but his wife lived to the advanced age of eighty-four. They reared a family of three sons and seven daughters, only two of whom now survive, viz .: Carrie Spivey, of Shawneetown, and Louise, who is a Mrs. Kanady, of New Albany, Ind. Thomas J. Spivey was born in North Carolina in 1830. He came to Gallatin county with his family when two years of age. When about nineteen years of age he crossed the plains to California, where he followed mining for about two years, when he returned home via the isthmus, and for the rest of his life followed farming with the exception of the last four years. His wife died in 1879, aged forty-five years. In 1893 he removed to Junction City. He died in Shawneetown in 1897. Like his father before him, he was an unswerving Democrat and a member of the Presbyterian church. Of the children born to him and his wife Quinton is in Alaska; Minnie is a Mrs. Smyth of Gallatin county; Margaret is Mrs. Loomis, of Evansville, Ind .; Addie married a Mr. Willis and lives at Mt. Vernon, Ill. ; Anna married a Mr. Kanady and is now deceased; Wal- ter W. lives at Shawneetown; Samuel S. is at Paducah, Ky .; Ger- trude is a Mrs. Kanady and lives in Gallatin county; Allen T. is the subject of this sketch; and Marshall lives at McLeansboro, Ill. Allen T. Spivey received his education in the public schools, graduating
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from the Shawneetown high school in 1893. He then went to Evans- ville, Ind., and took a complete course in the commercial college of that city, graduating in 1895. For about a year he was employed as a bookkeeper, but in 1896 started in to learn the printers' trade in the office of the Gallatin Democrat. After three years in that office he went to Henderson, Ky., where he became the city editor of the Daily Gleaner. In 1900 he went to St. Louis for a short time, but returned to Shawneetown, where for a few months he was employed as a reporter on the Democrat. Next he served as a bookkeeper in a hardware store for a short time, but the journalistic instinct had been developed in his make-up, and in November, 1901, he started the Sharoneetown Gleaner. The following March he bought out the News and consolidated the two papers under the present name. Mr. Spivey is one of the youngest and most aggressive journalists in Southern Illinois. His paper is fearlessly Republican in its politics, and it is the official organ of the party in Gallatin county. Personally he has been somewhat active in political affairs, and held the office of city treasurer for one term. He is a member of the Modern Wood- men of America and the Presbyterian church. On Christmas day in 1901 he was married to Miss Mollie Wright, a native of McLeans- boro, and they have one child, Mittase Wright, born Sept. 10, 1902.
JOSEPH FOSTER, a prominent farmer, living near Ridgway, Ill., is a native of the Buckeye State, having been born near Monterey, Clermont county, O., Oct. 17, 1844. He is one of a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, born to Dennis and Abigail (Whitaker) Foster, natives of Ohio. Joseph Foster received a common school education and grew to manhood on his father's farm. When the One Hundred and Fifty-third regiment Ohio volunteer infantry was being organized he enlisted as a private in Company I, for the one hundred days' service, and was stationed with his regiment on the Potomac river guarding the line of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. Prior to his enlistment in this regiment he had been a member of the Ohio State Guards. His brother Frank was also in the service. In 1865 Dennis Foster removed with his family to Gallatin county, Ill., his son Joseph accompanying them. The father
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settled upon the farm adjoining the one where Joseph now lives, and there passed the remainder of his life, dying at the age of sixty-five years. In 1867 or '68 Joseph Foster bought a tract of forty acres where his residence now stands, though at that time the land was covered with timber. He built a hewed log house sixteen by eighteen feet, with one room and only one window, and in 1867 married Julia A. Moye. They began their married life in this humble home, but by a life of industry and frugality they have prospered, so that now in their declining years they can enjoy the fruits of their labors. Mr. Foster now owns 400 acres where he lives, about 300 acres of which is in a high state of cultivation, and at other points in the county he owns 205 acres more. All this has been accumulated by his industry and foresight, and he is one of the finest examples of self-made men. He takes a laudable interest in public questions, and in political matters in identified with the Republican party. He and his wife are the parents of the following children: Alverson, living near Ridgway ; Ida J., wife of Frank Miner, of Gallatin county ; Abbie, wife of George Bell, residing near Ridgway; Charles, a farmer near his father ; Lola, wife of Richard Alwalt, near Asbury; Lulu, wife of John Hardy, also near Asbury ; Russell, Lane and George, the last named born March 23, 1892, and died September 22d, of the same year.
GEORGE T. EDWARDS, a farmer and stock raiser of Ridgway township, Galla- tin county, Ill., was born on Aug. 16, 1865, near Blairsville, Posey county, Ind. His great-grandfather is said to have been the first settler in that part of the Hoosier State, and his grandfather, Richard Ed- wards, was born there about 1809, some seven years before the state was admitted into the Union. Both Richard Edwards and his father became large land owners, the latter buying government land in that early day as low as twenty-five cents an acre. Richard Edwards lived to be seventy-five years of age, and in his day was an influential citizen of Posey county, where he passed his whole life. George T. Edwards now owns 166 acres of land that formerly belonged to his grandfather, who bought it years ago for $15 an acre. Isom Edwards, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born on the same farm as his father, and there grew
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to manhood. On Feb. 2, 1854, he married Miss Esther, daughter of George T. and Lucetta (Culley) Downen, old residents of that sec- tion. Her grandfather, Timothy Downen, was one of the first set- tlers there. Isom Edwards and his family lived in Posey county until his death, when his widow removed to Gallatin county, Ill., and located on the farm where her son George now lives. On Aug. II, 1891, she was married to Abner Crunk, who is now eighty-two years of age. The children born to Isom and Esther Edwards were George, Jane, wife of William Roark, living near Ridgway; and John, also a resident of Gallatin county. George T. Edwards obtained his educa- tion in the common schools and lived with his mother until 1884. He was then united in marriage to Miss Ollie E. Downen, and soon after- ward located on the farm where he now lives, a tract of 166 acres all under cultivation with the exception of about eleven acres. At the time he settled on the place there were only about thirty acres cleared. He has made all the improvements on the farm, devotes a great deal of his time to the raising of registered Hereford cattle, and is regarded as one of the progressive farmers of the county. Politi- cally he is a Democrat and he and his wife are members of the regu- lar Baptist church. They have had three children: Clara, Edith and one other who died in infancy and Cora, now living.
J. LOUIS DEVOUS, a well-to-do farmer, living one mile east of the town of Ridgway, Ill., was born in Brown county, O., Sept. 5, 1852. His parents, Isadore and Catherine (Bartell) Devous, were both natives of France. (For an account of ancestry see the sketch of Joseph Devous elsewhere in this work.) When he was about six years of age his parents removed to Gallatin county, where he grew to manhood. He acquired his education in what is known as the Lane school house, in Equality township, and remained at home with his parents until 1880. On April 30, of that year, he married Miss Susanna Wargel and located on part of the farm that he now occupies, just across the road from his present resi- dence. The house in which he went to housekeeping was an old school house, one of the first frame school houses in that part of the country. It is still standing. In 1885 he bought a tract of sixty
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acres where he now lives, and two years later built his present dwell- ing, which is one of the best in that part of the county. Altogether he owns 124 acres, well improved and nearly all under cultivation. Mr. Devous is a Democrat in his political affiliations, though the only office he has ever held was that of school director, which he held for several years. The children born to him and his wife are Thomas, Julia, Leonard, Stella, Rosella, Isadore, Harry and Louis. Of these Thomas, Julia, Leonard and Stella are now living, the others being deceased. Mr. Devous and his family belong to the Catholic church and take a deep interest in its many worthy charities.
JAMES J. LOGSDON, one of the larg- est farmers and land owners of Gallatin county, Ill., living on the New Haven road, five miles from Shawneetown, was born on May 14, 1838, near Napoleon, Ripley county, Ind. His father, Thomas B. Logsdon, was born on what is known as "Sandy Ridge," near Shawneetown. When he was about nineteen years of age he went to Ripley county, where he mar- ried Miss Mary Muir, and was for some time engaged in conducting a general store at a place called Tall Bridge, not far from Napoleon. He died there in October, 1846. James J. is the eldest of five children. Joseph M. was killed in 1872, by the recoil of a gun ; Thomas B. is a retired farmer of Shawneetown; Prudence is the wife of J. W. Gregor, of Indianapolis, Ind .; and Mary lives with her brother James. When about eight years of age James J. Logsdon had the misfortune to lose his father by death, and about three years later his mother remarried, her second husband being William Love. In the spring of 1861 James went to Indianapolis, and in the fall of that year came to Gallatin county. On March 21, 1861, he was mar- ried to Nancy A., daughter of Joseph Logsdon, and a native of Gal- latin county. (For a more extended account of the family genealogy see the sketch of Joseph Logsdon.) To this marriage there were born two children, both of whom died in infancy. His wife died early in 1863, and about a year afterward he went back to Indiana. There he was married in the spring of 1865 to Miss Prudence Eliza- beth Muir, and soon after his marriage returned to Shawneetown. They remained there but a few weeks, however, going to Raleigh, Ky.,
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where he conducted a general store for about two years. At the end of that time he again returned to Shawneetown, rented a farm from his brother for one year, and in October, 1869, settled on the farm where he now lives. To his second marriage there have been born the fol- lowing children: Margaret, Robert L., James J., Jr., William, Joseph, Rosa; Thomas B., Fannie M., and Annie. Margaret is the wife of James Gray, living near her father; Robert also lives in the vicinity ; James J. is at home, and the others are deceased. Annie was the wife of Douglas Case. Mr. Logsdon owns 800 acres in his home farm, 500 of which is under cultivation; 60 acres near Round Pond; 96 acres in another tract; a half interest in another farm of 160 acres; and is one of the heirs to 1,400 acres in the river bottoms, 600 of which is under cultivation. One of the farms he owns is that where his father was born. Until quite recently he was active in buy- ing and selling live stock, but in more recent years has devoted most of his time and attention to looking after his farming interests. In politics he is a Democrat, and was for ten years the supervisor of the poor. He is a member of the Shawneetown Lodge, No. 838, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is always a welcome attend- ant at the lodge meetings.
EDGAR RIDER, a farmer living near Shawneetown, Ill., was born on June 3, 1839, in what is now Harrison county of West Virginia. At the age of twenty-one years he left his father's farm and went to Cincinnati, where he worked with an uncle in a blacksmith shop one winter, and in March, 1861, came to Gallatin county. During the spring and summer of that year and also a part of the following year he worked on a farm. In the fall of 1862 he helped to organize the First Illi- nois heavy artillery, but as one hundred and fifty men were required and that number could not be easily obtained the organization was merged into the Fifty-sixth infantry. The officers who could not get positions in the infantry were released, Mr. Rider being one of the number. He then enlisted as a private in Company K, One Hundred and Thirty-first Illinois volunteer infan- try. He was soon afterward made corporal and went through the entire war with that rank. His first engagement was at Chickasaw
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Bayou, after which he was at Arkansas Post, the first battle of Vicks- burg, the siege of that place that followed, Spanish Fort, Fort Blakely, and was then in Texas until September, 1865, when he was dis- charged. After the siege of Vicksburg, where his regiment and the Twenty-ninth both suffered severe losses, the two were consolidated, afterward being known as the Twenty-ninth. After the war he returned to Shawneetown and opened a retail meat market, which he conducted successfully for seventeen years. He was then engaged in buying and shipping stock for a while, after which he turned his attention to farming. In this line he has been successful, being the owner of 170 acres of good land which he cultivates according to the most approved methods. Mr. Rider is a Republican and while living in Shawneetown was a member of the board of aldermen for eight years. He also served nine years as road commissioner. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Grand Army of the Republic. On May 10, 1867, he was married to Miss Isabelle O. Seeley, and their children are: Emma, wife of William Rosolott; Oliver, John, Bertha, wife of Edward Slaton; Med; Jessie, wife of James Logsdon; Edith, who married Charles Martin and afterward died; June, the youngest, who died in early childhood, and one who died in infancy.
JOHN R. LOGAN, a farmer near Junction City, Ill., was born near Mounds- ville, Marshall county, W. Va., though at the time of his birth the county was in the Old Dominion. He is a son of James and Belle (St. Clair) Logan, and is one of a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters. In 1855, he came with his parents and brothers and sisters to Galla- tin county, Ill., being at the time about fifteen years of age. They settled in Gold Hill township, where the father died in the year 1876. On Aug. 15, 1862, John R. Logan enlisted as a private in Company D, One Hundred and Twen- tieth regiment Illinois volunteer infantry, and was mustered in at Camp Butler "for three years or during the war." For some time the regiment was assigned to the unromantic duty of guarding railroads, its first real service being at the siege of Vicksburg during the latter part. After the fall of Vicksburg it was sent back to Memphis and
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there did provost duty until the men were discharged in 1865. After the war he returned to Gallatin county, where he has ever since lived. In 1872 he was married to Miss Mary Munch, and commenced farming for himself. He and his uncle bought 80 acres, all in timber, for $5 an acre, and built a hewed log house. Mr. Logan now owns a well improved farm of 100 acres, and although other men may own more land few have their farms in a higher state of cultivation than he. He is a member of the Grand Army of the- Republic, belonging to the post at Shawneetown. Mr. and Mrs. Logan have had the following children: James, Charles, Annie, Edward, John A., David, Minnie, Fred and Bertha. James is in Minnesota; Annie is the wife of Edgar Kanady; John is a school teacher; Edward and Bertha are deceased, and the others live at home.
ROBERT B. CASH, a native and old resident of Gallatin county, Ill., was born at Shawneetown, the county seat of that county, Dec. 9, 1843. His father, William T. Cash, was one of the early settlers in that section of the state. In August, 1861, Robert B. Cash enlisted as a private in Company C, Twenty-ninth regiment Illi- nois volunteer infantry, and was mustered in at Springfield. He received his bap- tism of fire at Fort Donelson, and at Shi- loh was severely wounded by a gun shot in the left thigh. He was placed on board a transport and sent to St. Louis, where he soon afterward received a furlough for fifty days to come home and recover. As soon as his furlough expired he rejoined his command. His next engagement of any consequence was at Holly Springs, Miss., where he was captured, but was paroled, sent to St. Louis, and was soon afterward exchanged. Again he joined his regiment, fought at Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, then at Mobile, after which the regiment was sent to Texas and kept on duty there until the close of the war, not being mustered out until November, 1865. He was at Mobile when a large quantity of captured ammunition exploded and assisted in taking the dead and wounded from the ruins, and in moving the debris. Upon receiving his discharge he returned home, and in 1867 bought the farm where he now lives. He was married in that year to Miss Serena Hall, of Tennessee, and to this marriage there have been born nine children.
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Mr. Cash is a member of the Ridgway Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and of Junction Lodge, No. 434, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In his political views he is a Republican and takes an active interest in winning victories for his party.
JOHN W. ROGERS, farmer and stock raiser near Junction City, Ill., was born near Harrisburg, Saline county, of that state, Jan. 31, 1851. His father was born at Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1807. In 1845 he removed to Saline county and bought a farm not far from the present Eagle post office and lived there until the fall of 1851, when he came to Gallatin county and bought 160 acres adjoining the farm on which John W. now lives. Only a few acres were cleared at that time, but he improved the farm and brought most of it under culti- vation before his death, which occurred on Jan. 18, 1889. He was twice married. Before leaving Tennessee he was married to Eliza- beth Booten, and two daughters, Catherine and Polly, both now deceased, were born to that union. His wife died after coming to Illinois and he was married to Mrs. Eliza A. Colbert, widow of Allen Colbert and a daughter of Joseph Logsdon, whose sketch appears else- where. His second wife survived him, dying Feb. 19, 1903, at the age of eighty years. She had two children by her first husband: Margaret, now the wife of Thornton Bennett, of Denver, Col., and Allen, who died in infancy. John W. Rogers is the eldest of a family of four children: William T. died June 28, 1897; Matilda is the widow of George Borroughs of Shawneetown; and Marinda is the wife of James White of Gallatin county. The parents of these chil- dren were both members of the Presbyterian church. John W. Rogers received his education in the district schools near his father's home, and spent one year in the schools of Ewing, Franklin county. At the age of twenty he commenced teaching and followed that occupation for nine years, also assuming the management of his father's farm after he had reached the age of twenty-two years. On Jan. 25, 1880, he was united in marriage to Miss Lucy, daughter of Bluford and Amanda J. (Rose) Robinett, and since then has devoted the greater part of his time to farming. He owns in all 600 acres, 550 of which are under cultivation. One of his farms is that formerly belonging to his father, and which adjoins the one on which he lives. All the improvements have been made since the land came into his possession. In recent years he has given considerable attention to the breeding of fine horses, Polled Angus and Hereford cattle, and he is generally regarded as one of the most intelligent and progressive farmers. in
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his neighborhood. Mr. Rogers is a Democrat and for eight years held the office of justice of the peace. He and his wife are both members of the Presbyterian church, in which he holds the position of deacon. The church to which they belong stands on his farm. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have had ten children. Bluford was drowned when he was four years of age; three died in infancy; Daisy is the wife of Casper Fink, of Equality; Joseph, John, Virgil, James and Tessie are at home with their parents.
ISAAC N. BOURLAND, M.D., a phy- sician and druggist of Equality, Ill., was born at Cottage Grove, Saline county of that state, Jan. 5, 1858. The founder of the family in America came from Ireland during the Colonial period. William Bour- land, the grandfather of Dr. Bourland, was a native of South Carolina. He served in the war of 1812, after which he lived for a short time in Kentucky, and then located in Saline county. He had learned the trade of bricklayer before leaving South Carolina. In 1829 he entered a tract of government land in Saline county and followed farming, in connection with his trade, the rest of his life. He was also inter- ested in the manufacture of charcoal. The first brick building in Equality was erected by him. It is still standing and in a good state of preservation. He married Rachel Slaten, a native of Ken- tucky, and died at the age of seventy-three years. She lived to be ninety-four, and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Susan Moore. Of their children, Ebenezer, John and Francis are de- ceased; Susan is a Mrs. Moore, living in Gallatin county, Ill., and the others live in Saline county. William Bourland and his wife were members of the Old School Baptist church. James A. Bour- land, a son of William and Rachel Bourland, was born on the old homestead in Saline county, Nov. 30, 1830. He received a limited education in the schools of that day, married Nancy Strong, a native of Kentucky, and commenced farming on the place adjoining his father's. There he lived until the death of his father, when he removed to the old home farm where he was born, and where he is now living. Of the children born to James A. and Nancy Bour- land, Gabriel A. lives in Equality; Emma is a Mrs. Proctor, of
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Mount Vernon, Ill .; Isaac N. is the subject of this sketch; Timothy D. lives on the old home place; Elizabeth is a Mrs. Guard, of Equality, and Gertrude a Mrs. Pierce, living in Saline county. The mother of these children died in 1869. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. The father is hale and hearty for one of his age and still takes considerable interest in politics as a Demo- crat. Dr. I. N. Bourland attended the common schools of his neigh- borhood in his youth, and afterward attended the Harrisburg high school and Ewing college in Franklin county. He then taught one term, after which he remained at home on the farm until 1880, when he commenced the study of medicine. In 1884 he was graduated from the Miami Medical college of Cincinnati and commenced prac- tice in the vicinity of his father's home. Six months later he went to Eldorado, where he practiced for about fourteen months, at the end of which time he came to Equality. While at Eldorado he became interested in the drug business, and upon removing to Equal- ity he brought his stock of drugs to that place, where he still con- tinues to conduct a drug store in connection with his practice. Dr. Bourland is a member of the American and the Illinois State Medi- cal associations, and of the Gallatin County Medical society, of which he now holds the office of president. He is medical examiner for several of the leading life insurance companies, and is one of the most popular physicians in the town. Politically he is a Democrat, and in fraternal matters is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, now holding the office of treasurer in Lodge No. 2. In 1875 he was married to Miss Ella A. Greer, who was born in Equal- ity, and to this union there have been born the following children: Allie, Frank, John A., Anita G. and Herbert C., twins, and Ber- nardine. The last named is deceased and the others live at home with their parents.
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