USA > Ohio > Memoirs of the lower Ohio valley, personal and genealogical : with portraits, Volume II > Part 23
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CAPT. BELFIELD BERKSHIRE BRADLEY, of Cairo, Ill., was born at Petersburg, Ky., Sept. 13, 1855. He is the son of Capt. Dillon Bradley, an old Ohio and Mississippi river steamboat cap- tain, who was accidentally drowned in the Ohio river April 22, 1876, by having his skiff capsized by a steamboat. He was born at Madison, Ind., in 1812. The mother of the subject was Mary Ann Toomey, born at Dayton, O., in 1814, dying in Trimble county, Ky., in 1884. Six children were born to this union: Henry Clay, James Dillon, William S., Amanda, Mary E., and Belfield Berkshire, the subject of this sketch. Only two sons are now living- Henry Clay Bradley, an ink manufacturer of Cincinnati, O., and the subject. James Dillon Bradley learned the saddler's trade and for twenty-five years was engaged in that business at Roche- port, Mo., where he died in the early eighties. William S. Bradley enlisted in the Confederate army, serving under Gen. John Morgan, and was killed at Mt. Sterling, Ky., while in active service. Amanda was married to Mr. D. C. Peck and died in Trimble county, Ky., July 7, 1904. Mary E. Bradley never mar- ried and died in Trimble county, Ky., in 1898. Captain Bradley spent his boyhood days in his native town. At the age of sixteen he left home and became an office boy in a box factory in Cincin- nati, the property of his brother, Henry Clay. Prior to this he had earned his first money by ferrying people across the Ohio river at Petersburg in a skiff. At the age of eighteen years he bor- rowed $400.00 and with the money bought a small steam pas- senger boat, thus starting the first passenger packet line be- tween Lawrenceburg and Aurora, Ind. This boat was named the Water Witch. Later it was succeeded by another called the Western Wave, which he sold just before buying the Little Queen, a somewhat larger boat. With this boat he for several years plied the river between Rising Sun and Lawrenceburg, Ind. He then
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had the Charles L. Grant built to order, but soon found her too heavy a boat for the Upper Ohio at all seasons of the year. Mak- ing a trip to New Orleans on this boat he disposed of her to good advantage. Returning to Petersburg he purchased a half interest in the steamer P. D. Dale, with which as its captain, he plied the Ohio for two years between Madison and Patriot, Ind. His next pur- chase was the tow-boat W. B. Cole, with which for two years he engaged in the coal trade. This boat proving too small, he dis- posed of it and bought, in Pittsburg, a much larger one, the Geo. W. Stone. He had as partners in the Geo. W. Stone the Huntington and St. Louis Tow-boat Company, of Cincinnati, the partners' interest being two-thirds. In 1891 he sold his interest to his partners and came to Cairo, where for a year he was the manager of the Huntington and St. Louis Tow-boat Company. In 1892 he bought the Nellie Speer together with several barges, using them in the lumber and log trade on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers until Jan. I, 1900, when he sold out to the Monongahela Coal & Coke Company of Pittsburg, Pa. He then entered the employ of that company and has been its local manager, at a handsome salary, at Cairo ever since. Captain Bradley is an Elk, a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Cairo board of trade and a charter member of the Alexander club. In politics he is a Democrat and in religious matters leans toward the Christian church. On Nov. 16, 1888, he married Miss Isabella Hull McAroy, of Rising Sun, Ind. One son has blessed this union, Master Fred, now fifteen years old.
H. E. HALLIDAY, president of the H. L. Halliday Milling Company and the Halliday Elevator Company, of Cairo, Ill., was born in that city Aug. 8, 1872, being the eldest son of the late Henry L. Halliday, founder of the milling company, who died in 1895, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. H. E. Halliday, familiarly known to his friends as "Harry," graduated from Racine college of Racine, Wis., and immediately after graduation became connected with the H. L. Halliday Milling Com- pany. Beginning at the bottom of the ladder, as a mere employe, he rolled barrels. Later he became a clerk and held various posi- tions, his object being to familiarize himself with every phase of the business. Upon the death of his father in 1895 he succeeded to the presidency of the concern, which position he still holds. As the nominal head of the family and manager of the H. L. Halliday estate, Mr. Halliday in 1897 built what is known as the Halliday elevator, II-16
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organized the company and became its president. This property was destroyed by fire in 1898. The following year the present large ele- vator was begun and completed in 1900. It has a capacity of 500,000 bushels of grain and is capable of handling 100 car loads a day. It is fully equipped with machinery for handling grain from the boats on the Ohio river and for loading river boats for export trade. Mr. Halliday is a member of the board of trustees of Racine college, of the Alexander club, a director of the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad Company and a member and director of the Cairo Board of Trade. On April 8, 1897, he married Miss Nelly Gallagher, of Zanesville, O., and three children have blessed this union: Henry E., Jr., Eleanor and Russel.
HENRY L. HALLIDAY (deceased), one of the most prominent citizens of Cairo, Ill., in his day, a miller of wide and unsullied reputation, was born in Pomeroy, Meigs county, O., March 7, 1842, and died at his home in Cairo, Sept. 2, 1895. His father was a native of Scotland, and his mother of Ohio. In 1856 he settled in Wayne county, Ill., where he remained for several years. Then he engaged with his older brothers in steamboating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers until 1860, when he came to Cairo. Thrown out of employment by the breaking out of the Civil war, Mr. Halliday went to LaCrosse, Wis., where he clerked in the freight depot of the LaCrosse & Milwaukee railroad. The close of navigation threw him out of work there and he returned to Cairo, where he entered the service of Captain Hatch, chief quartermaster of Gen. U. S. Grant. Mr. Halliday remained in the quartermaster's department until 1862, serving successfully under Captain Hatch, Captain Baxter and Colonel Dunlap. At this time his older brothers organized the firm of Halli- day Bros., whom Henry served for some years as bookkeeper and cashier, when he was admitted to the firm. He remained with this firm until Jan. 1, 1895, when he organized the H. L. Halliday Mill- ing Company, of which he became president. In 1898 the George Mayo mill was sold under foreclosure and the Halliday Brothers, to protect their interests in the shape of money advanced Mr. Mayo, were compelled to take charge of the property. From that day until his withdrawal from the firm Mr. Halliday gave his attention to that branch of the business in connection with the grain business of the firm. The H. L. Halliday Milling Company operates a mill of 700-barrel capacity, its products being sold principally in the South and Southwest, where they have an excellent reputation. Mr. Halli-
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day was not only a representative citizen of Cairo, but also of South- ern Illinois, where his name was a synonym for honesty and integrity. In banking affairs he was equally prominent, being vice-president of the City National bank of Cairo. He was an honor to the milling industry and belonged to a generation of millers notable for great achievements, both in the making of flour and the development of American trade. He took a deep interest in national milling affairs, being a frequent attendant at the conventions of the Millers' National associations, where he made many friends by his unassuming but no less real worth. His natural bent of mind led him at all times to stand for what was progressive and for the best and most worthy interests in civic affairs. Owing to the geographical position of his mill, his field of operation was somewhat limited. By a thorough understanding of his business environment, by a conscientious atten- tion to his business interests and by an irreproachable rectitude in his dealings, he built up a reputation second to no other man engaged in the milling business. His death was truly a heavy loss to his fellow millers as well as to the world at large. On March 7, 1867, Mr. Halliday married Miss Laura Evans, of Batavia, O. He had four children : Mrs. E. H. Capen, St. Louis, Mo .; Mrs. L. H. Kelsey, Chicago, Ill. ; H. E. and Douglas Halliday, of Cairo.
DOUGLAS HALLIDAY, secretary and treasurer of both the H. L. Halliday Mill- ing Company and the Halliday Elevator Company, Cairo, Ill., is a native of that city. He is the youngest child of the late H. L. Halliday, whose sketch appears else- where in this work. His early training was received in the public schools of his home city, after which he entered the pre- paratory department of St. Paul's school, an Episcopal institution of learning in Concord, N. H., where he studied three years. This preparatory work was done to enable him to enter Yale, but the sudden death of his distin- guished father in 1895 changed his plans entirely. Instead of enter- ing Yale, he returned home and went to work for the H. L. Halli- day Milling Company and learned the business from its very founda- tion. After holding various positions he was in 1899 made secretary and treasurer of the company. This important and responsible posi-
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tion he has up to this time filled with superior ability. His success in this position led to his appointment to a like position in the Halli- day Elevator Company, one of the largest concerns of its kind in Southern Illinois. In 1902 he married Miss Emma Halliday of New Orleans, one of the most popular young ladies of that Southern metropolis.
SAMUEL HASTINGS, wholesale dealer in feed, Cairo, Ill., was born in Noble county, O., March 31, 1850. He is the son of Hezekiah and Anna (Ball) Hastings, both of whom were born in Ohio. His father for many years followed merchandizing, farming and stockraising with marked success, and is still hale and hearty at the advanced age of eighty years. His mother, daughter of Jonas Ball, died in Illinois in 1885. The paternal grandfather of this sketch was Samuel Hastings, of English birth, who upon coming to the United States located in Ohio. The subject of this sketch is the oldest of nine children. Those living are Noah H., James W., Jonas, Ira, Samuel, Cora and Nannie. Noah and Jonas are farmers in Clay county, Ill .; James is a merchant in New Orleans; Ira is associated with the subject of this sketch in business; Cora is an artist and photographer in Denver, Col .; Nannie is the wife of Rev. O. S. Gard, a Methodist minister of Steamboat Landing, Col. At the age of five years Samuel moved with his parents to Jasper county, Ill., where he was reared on a farm. After graduating from McKendree college, Lebanon, Ill., in 1872, he taught school for three years in Clay county, Ill. For the next five years he devoted his time and energy to stockraising and farming in that county. In January, 1884, he re- moved to Cairo, where for the next seven years he was associated with the wholesale feed firm of Thistlewood & Co., being the manager of the business until 1890. During this time Mr. Thistlewood, the senior member of the firm, was in Kansas. In 1891 he embarked in the wholesale feed business for himself, since which time he has built up a large and lucrative business in the buying and selling of hay, oats and corn. Because of his success and prominence he is a leading member of the board of trade. In politics he is a Republican. For four of the six years that he served on the board of county com- missioners, he was chairman; served as alderman for two years; was for four years a member of the board of trustees of the South- ern Illinois hospital for the insane. Being a member of the Methodist church he takes an active part in religious affairs. On Sept. 24, 1876, he married Miss Anise Burney, of Clay county, Ill., and
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to this union four children have been born : Leila May, Anna Maud, Oris B. and Mary Alice. Leila, a graduate of the Northwest- ern university of Evanston, Ill., is a successful teacher of music in Cairo; Anna Maud, a graduate of Cumnock's School of Oratory of Evanston, is a very successful teacher of elocution, having taught. that subject in the high school; Oris B. is now a member of the junior class of the Northwestern university, and Mary Alice, the youngest, just twelve years old, is a member of the eighth grade of the city schools. With marked success in business and with such an interesting family to gladden his days, Mr. Hastings has just cause to be proud and happy. Honored and respected by all who come in contact with him, whether in a business or social way, his lot is indeed one to be. envied.
GEORGE H. PENDLETON, superintendent of the Cairo ele- vator, Cairo, Ill., is a native of Indianapolis, Ind., having been born in that city Jan. 21, 1871. He is the son of the late R. C. J. Pen- dleton, of Indianapolis, who throughout his career followed railroad pursuits. Later in life he was made an adjuster of the Phoenix Insurance Company, of Brooklyn, N. Y. Maine was the native state of his father. During the Civil war he served as an ensign in the United States navy. He not only served throughout the war but remained in active service several years after its close. When he severed his connection with the navy he located in Indianapolis, Ind., where he spent the remainder of his life, dying at the age of sixty-eight. A few years before the war he married Miss Hannah Davis, a native of the same state. His wife still survives, being a resident of Indianapolis. George H. Pendleton, the subject of this sketch, was next to the youngest in a family of six children- five sons and one daughter. He was educated in the public schools of Indianapolis and those of Rutland, Vt. While attending the Rutland schools he made his home with an uncle. At the age of sixteen he set out to learn the moulders' trade in the Indianapolis car shops, following this calling about three years. When twenty years old he entered the employ of the firm of William P. Harvey & Co., of Baltimore, and went to work as a shoveler of grain in an elevator belonging to that firm at Kankakee, Ill. This marked the beginning of his elevator life. He has been in the employ of that firm and its successors ever since. William P. Harvey & Co. were succeeded by the firm of Carrington, Hannah & Co., it in turn was succeeded by Carrington, Patten & Co., and finally by Bartlett, Frazier & Carring-
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ton, of Chicago, the last named being his present employers. Be- ginning at the very bottom Mr. Pendleton has worked his way up to a responsible and lucrative position. He has done service in ele- vators in Kankakee, Chicago and Cairo. For five years he was su- perintendent of the Danville elevator of Chicago, which had a capac- ity of about 500,000 bushels. For the past two years he has been superintendent of the Cairo elevator at Cairo, Ill., the property of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, and leased to the firm of Bartlett, Frazier & Carrington. This elevator is the largest in Southern Illi- nois, having a capacity of 750,000 bushels of grain. It was built in 1881. Mr. Pendleton is an active member of the board of trade of Cairo and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On Aug. 12, 1897, he married Miss India, daughter of Samuel M. Orr, of Cairo.
JOSEPH B. REED, proprietor of the Cairo Foundry and Machine shops, Cairo, Ill., was born in Lowell, Mass., March 16, 1831. He is the son of Thaddeus Reed, a native of Massachusetts, who died when Joseph was only six years old. The mother was Catherine Dow, a native of Maine. She died in Boston, Mass., at the age of seventy-six. After the death of Thaddeus Reed she was married to a Mr. Ballard, a newspaper man of Boston. Joseph B. Reed had one brother, Charles Reed, who died in the early fifties while en route to California as a home seeker, and one sister, Miss Phoebe Ann Reed, of Boston. The late Henry S. Reed, of St. Louis, Mo., once president of the National Bank of Commerce of that city, was a half brother of Joseph B. Reed, being the son of his father by a former marriage. Joseph B. was reared in Lexington, Mass., whither his parents removed from Lowell when he was a child. In early life he learned the machinists' trade in Lawrence, Mass. At the age of twenty-five he went to Cumberland, Md., where for two years he was superintendent of a machine shop. In 1856 he went to St. Louis, Mo., where for many years he was proprietor of the Laclede foundry and machine shops. He came to Cairo, Ill., in 1864, upon the solicitation of the United States government for the purpose of establishing a machine shop to do repair work on the gov-
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ernment river fleet. Upon coming here he founded the present Cairo foundry and machine shops which have been in continuous operation ever since and are among the oldest and most successful machine shops on the Ohio river. During the war he built a number of tugs for the government when General Fremont was in command of the Western army. These tugs were built at the foot of Carr street on St. Louis levee, and used for tenders for the large boats. He also built at the same time two for the Wiggins Ferry Com- pany of St. Louis to be used in the harbor, two for Joe Gartside of St. Louis and two for Captain Sam Brown of Pittsburg, used in Memphis and New Orleans harbors for jobbing and towing coal. Mr. Reed is sole proprietor of the works. He is also sole proprietor of the Cairo iron and machinery supply store in Cairo, which was established in 1871. Mr. Reed is a Republican, but in no sense a politician. In religion he is a Presbyterian. On Dec. 13, 1856, he married Helen S. Stickney of Beverly, Mass., who yet survives. They have had six children, two of whom died in infancy. The four living ones are Joseph H. Reed, of Chicago, where he is em- ployed in a large heavy hardware house; Helen S. Reed, a teacher in the Iowa State college at Ames; Frank S. Reed, associated with his father in Cairo, and Miss Sarah Alice Reed who is at present teaching elocution and history in the Cairo high school.
JOHN T. RENNIE. As the sole owner of the extensive Vulcan Iron Works, of Cairo, Ill., John T. Rennie enjoys a wide reputation among the proprietors of the great machine works of this country. His father who so successfully conducted the business up to the date of his death has been succeeded by his son. When the subject of this sketch was but a year old his father moved to Cairo, where the son has been reared and educated. He became actively con- nected with the business established by his father and of which he is now the sole proprietor, having bought the interest of the other heirs. Mr. Rennie makes it his chief business to supply steamboats with all needed machinery on the shortest notice possible. It is needless to state that the son has conducted the business with the same zeal and energy that characterized his father's management. Push and progres- siveness count here as well as in any other successfully conducted business. Mr. Rennie is an active member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, being one of the trustees of that order. He married Miss Clara Chambers and this union has been blessed with one son, Master Roswell Rennie. Few men have done
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more than Mr. Rennie to build up their home city. Fully up to date and constantly striving to improve his business, it is not to be won- dered at that he has proved so successful.
MAJOR EDWIN W. HALLIDAY, a retired merchant of Cairo, Ill., was born in Meigs county, O., May II, 1836, his parents being Samuel and Eliza (Parker) Halliday. Samuel Halliday was born in Scotland, and his wife was a native of what is now Meigs county, O. He grad- uated from the University of Edinburgh at the age of nineteen years, and at once came to the United States, crossing the Atlantic in 1818. His mother and six brothers followed him to this country two years later, his father, Alexander Hal- liday, having previously died in Scotland. Upon reaching the United States he at once proceeded to that part of Gallia county, O., that is now Meigs county. There he held the office of county auditor for twenty-one years, after Meigs county was created, a record which for length of service has never been equaled in that county. In 1855 the family removed to Wayne county, Ill., where the wife and mother died on Feb. 18, 1861, in her fifty-sixth year. The following children were born to Samuel and Eliza (Parker) Halliday: Wil- liam P., who was born July 21, 1827, and died Sept. 22, 1899; Jane, born Jan. 29, 1830, married Rufus Putnam Robbins and died April 28, 1885; Samuel B., born July 19, 1832, and died Dec. I, 1868; Edwin W., the subject of this sketch; Eliza, born Aug. 2, 1839, married on Dec. 25, 1862, to Charles T. Hinde of the Spreckles Brothers' Commercial Company of San Diego, Cal., and died April 24, 1899; Henry L., the founder of the H. L. Halliday Milling Com- pany of Cairo, born March 7, 1842, and died Sept. 2, 1895; Thomas Wyatt, the youngest son, born June 10, 1844, and died at Cairo on Sept. 18, 1892, and Mary C., born on April 2, 1847, and is now a resident of Georgia, where she is recognized as a cultured and refined lady of large means and considerable financial ability, as well as a philanthropist of the most liberal type. Three years after the death of his first wife Samuel Halliday returned to Ohio and married Mrs. McKnight, an old acquaintance. To this marriage one daughter was born, Jean by name, who is now the wife of John
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W. Ewing, county clerk of Gallia county, O., residing at Gallipolis. Samuel Halliday died in that county on Aug. 25, 1880, in his eighty- first year. Samuel B. Halliday had four children, three sons and one daughter, all living in Cairo. They are: Ada, the wife of John S. Aisthorpe, cashier of the City National bank; William R., Edwin C., and Horace H., all prominent business men of Cairo. Thomas Wyatt was the fifth son of Samuel Halliday. In 1862 he and his brothers, Henry L. and Thomas W., came to Cairo and were associated with their brothers, William P. and Samuel B., in the grain and commission business, started by the two last named, under the firm name of Halliday Brothers, and at that time in a flourishing condition. In 1866 he married Charlotte Josephine Tay- lor the daughter of Col. S. Staats Taylor. After ten years' con- nection with the grain business he sold his interest to the other members of the firm, to accept a position with his father-in-law in the management of the Cairo Trust Company. A man of vast capa- bilities and possessed of rare business instincts, he was well versed in the law. While not a politician he was successful in politics. He represented his district in, the legislature of the state as a member of the lower house of the general assembly; served as a member of the state board of equalization; on the board of county commis- sioners and as mayor of the city of Cairo. In the latter position he endeared himself most to the people, standing shoulder to shoulder with them in the struggle for municipal supremacy. He was first elected in 1883 and served continuously until his death on September 18, 1892. This length of service, and the wonderful progress in the material welfare of the city during his incumbency, attest his ability and popularity. His ability as a financier was so well known and so widely recognized that President Cleveland tendered him the posi- tion of comptroller of the currency, which flattering offer Mr. Hal- liday declined because of his loyalty to Cairo and his love of home. He left his family $25,000 life insurance, a beautiful home and other real estate. Better than all else, he left them the heritage of a good name. Major E. W. Halliday, the subject of this sketch, left home in 1852 at the age of sixteen years. From that time until 1862 he served as clerk or master on Ohio and Mississippi river steamboats. In 1862 he entered the Confederate army at Memphis, Tenn., join- ing the cavalry regiment of Gen. N. B. Forrest as a private. For- rest was then only a colonel, not having yet become famous. Major Halliday served with Forrest until the latter's promotion to the rank of brigadier-general, when he was detailed for staff duty under Gen.
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Lloyd Tilghman, with the rank of major. He served with General Tilghman until the latter was killed at the battle of Champion Hills, when he took his commander's remain's to Vicksburg and interred them there. Major Halliday remained in Vicksburg during the siege and on the fall of the city was taken prisoner and paroled. After his release from parole until the close of the war he served in the commissary department of the Confederate States of America, having charge of manufacturing. At the close of the war he rejoined his brothers at Cairo, which place has ever since been his home. He was a member of the firm of Halliday Brothers, composed of Wil- liam P., Samuel B., Edwin W., Henry L. and Thomas W. Halliday. The firm, by carrying on various business interests, amassed a for- tune. The Halliday family is not only the most numerous family in Cairo, but decidedly the most conspicuous in a business sense. It has been identified with the establishment and successful operation of many of the most important business enterprises and institutions of Cairo and vicinity, which have served as the life blood of the business affairs of the city. Maj. E. W. Halliday is the only sur- viving one of the five brothers. In 1903 he retired from active busi- ness, leaving the management of the Halliday institutions and enter -. prises to younger representatives of the family. He was married on June 28, 1864, at Macon, Ga., to Miss Emma Witherspoon, of Mem- phis, Tenn., who yet survives together with nine children, three sons and six daughters, five of whom are married. The Major and his wife have seven grandchildren.
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