USA > Ohio > Memoirs of the lower Ohio valley, personal and genealogical : with portraits, Volume II > Part 31
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sketch; Eudora, who died in 1877 at the age of twelve years; Philip S., died in 1896 at the age of twenty-five; Abraham L., a farmer in Gallatin county; Edwin, a school teacher in the same county ; Addie, wife of Louis McLain, of Halliday, Ark .; and Hattie, at home. Some time after the death of the mother of these children Mr. Bowling was married to Miss Jane Stinson, of Saline county, Ill., and one daughter, Helen, has been born to this second mar- riage. Dr. John W. Bowling was about seven years of age when his parents came to Gallatin county. After a preliminary education in the district schools he spent one year at the Southern Illinois col- lege, located at Carmi, and one year at Ewing college in Franklin county. He then taught for three years, studying medicine in the meantime as opportunity presented. He then took three courses of medical lectures, one year at Evansville, Ind., and two years in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Keokuk, Ia., from which he was graduated with the class of 1887. Returning to Illinois he commenced the practice of his profession at Omaha, in Gallatin county, and soon built up a lucrative business. In the winter of 1901-2 he took a post-graduate course in the Post-Graduate school of Chicago, and in the latter year removed to Shawneetown, where he has ever since been engaged in general practice. In recent years he has devoted considerable attention to general surgery, in which he has performed some noteworthy operations. Dr. Bowling is a member of the American, the Illinois State, the Southern Illinois, and the Ohio Valley Medical associations, and the Medical society of Gallatin county. He is surgeon for both the Louisville & Nashville and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern railways; was county physician for eight years; is examiner for all the reputable old line insurance com- panies doing business in Southern Illinois; and is a member of the pension examining board of Shawneetown. In politics he has always been a stalwart Republican; was a member of the county central com- mittee from the time he attained his majority until his removal to Shawneetown ; served for ten years as secretary of the committee, and has several times been called upon to serve as a delegate to state con- ventions. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Modern Woodmen, in both of which he is popular because of his many sterling qualities. In 1885 he was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Davis, a native of Posey county, Ind., and to this union there have been born three children : Albert Leslie, Emory Emmons and Ethel Gail.
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GEORGE L. HOUSTON, of Shawneetown, Ill., state's attorney for Gallatin county, was born in that county June 8, 1870. His parents, Samuel and Nannie (Adams) Houston, were both natives of the county and there passed their whole lives. Samuel Houston received a common school education, and upon arriving at manhood became a farmer, which occupation he followed through life. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted in Company L, Sixth Illinois cavalry, and served until the close of hostilities. The exposure incident to army life affected his eyesight, and soon after the war be became totally blind. His general health was also impaired and he died on Dec. 24, 1874, his wife having died in the first week of the same month. They left three children: George L., the subject of this sketch; Alexander, who died in 1883; and Walter, now a farmer in Gallatin county. George L. Houston was only about four years old when his parents died, and he was taken into the family of his father's brother, William Houston. About a year later his uncle died, and he then found a home with Martin Doherty, living about ten miles from Shawneetown, where he remained until he was about twenty years of age. Up to the time he was sixteen years old his opportunities to attend school were very much restricted by circumstances, and being without parents, or other intimate relatives to direct his course, his knowledge of books was quite limited. But, beginning when he was seventeen, he applied himself assiduously to his studies in the district schools for three seasons, and when he was twenty secured a teach- er's certificate. After teaching a six months' term he attended the Hayward college at Fairfield, Ill., for a ten weeks' term, and then worked on a farm the remainder of the season until the school year opened. He taught another term, the following winter, and then attended a short term at the Southern Illinois college at Enfield, after which he again found work as a farm hand. In the spring of 1892, after teaching another term in the country schools, he went to Shawneetown, and in the following September was appointed to a posi- tion as deputy in the office of the county clerk. Mr. Houston filled this position very creditably for six years. During the first three years of that time he devoted his leisure hours to the study of law and in February, 1895, was admitted to the bar. Although engaged in the clerk's office he commenced the practice of his profession in a limited way and soon won the respect of both bench and bar by his earnest- ness and dignified bearing in the courts. In the spring of 1895 he was elected city attorney of Shawneetown, and was twice re-elected, serving six years in all. In 1900 he was nominated by the Democracy
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of Gallatin county for the office of state's attorney, and was elected to the position in November of that year. His record during his four years' term was so satisfactory that when the Democratic convention met in the spring of 1904 he was nominated for a re-election. Mr. Houston owes his success entirely to his own energy and determina- tion to succeed. Left an orphan at a tender age he has fought the battle of life up to the present time against odds that would have discouraged one with less courage. Yet he never faltered, believing in the old adage that "Where there is a will there is a way," and his career is proof that such is the case. He was married on July 6, 1901, to Miss Mabel, daughter of George Grater, an old resident of Gallatin county.
ANGUS M. L. McBANE, a retired lawyer and merchant of Shawneetown, Ill., and ex-judge of Gallatin county, is justly entitled to be classed as one of the foremost citizens of the city. The McBane family is of Scotch origin, the grandfather of Judge McBane coming from Scotland in the early part of the nineteenth century and settling at Cannonsburg, Pa., where he reared a family of children. One of his sons, Dr. A. M. L. McBane, was born at Cannonsburg in 1808. He received a fine literary education, which was supplemented by a complete course in the science of medicine. After graduating from medical college he traveled extensively through Europe, and upon returning to America located at Louisville, where he soon won emi- nence as a physician. In 1836 he went to Parkersburg, W. Va., and practiced there until 1842, when, in company with his brother Wil- liam, he came to Illinois. The two brothers bought 1,600 acres of land where Metropolis City now stands, and 600 acres on the opposite side of the Ohio river in Kentucky. Here Dr. McBane passed the remainder of his life, in the practice of his profession and in looking after his large landed and commercial interests. His death occurred July 3, 1860. In 1836, while living in Louisville, he was married to Miss Ellen Willard of that city, though a native of New York. She was of English and French extraction, her father, Rev. Joseph Wil- lard, having been an Episcopal minister at Newark, N. J., as early as 1806. Later he came West and died at Marietta, Ohio. He was a descendant of Maj. Simon Willard, who was somewhat famous in the early history of Boston. Dr. McBane and his wife had five children, viz .: Angus M. L., the subject of this sketch; Joseph, a graduate of the New Orleans Medical college, died on shipboard while cross- ing the Atlantic and was buried at sea; Ellen, deceased; Marietta,
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widow of William Ward, living in Chicago, the mother of three chil- dren, one son, Frank, being a traveling man and secretary of the Standard club; and William A., who was a real estate and insurance man of Metropolis City at the time of his death in 1903. Angus M. L. McBane was born at Parkersburg, W. Va., Sept. 8, 1837. He was but five years of age when his parents came to Illinois. Ever since that time he has resided in that state and has been identified with the growth and development of Massac and Gallatin counties. He obtained his early education in the schools of Metropolis City, one of his teachers being Robert G. Ingersoll, who afterward achieved a world-wide reputation as an exponent of Agnosticism. Although nominally a student at this time young McBane was really an assist- ant teacher, Mr. Ingersoll devoting most of his time to Latin and history, leaving the greater part of his other school work to McBane. Later Judge McBane graduated from Princeton college of New York, after which he returned home, took up the study of law under Hon, C. G. Simons and W. H. Green, and in 1860 graduated from the law department of the Kentucky State university, at Louisville. He began practice at Metropolis City, but scarcely established himself when the Civil war broke out. His desire was to enter the service of his country, but the recent death of his father made it necessary for him to remain at home to look after the large estate and to care for the family. However, he organized two companies, one in White county, Ill., and the other at Ford's Ferry, Ky., both of which were mustered into the army as part of the Forty-eighth Illinois infantry, of which he was made adjutant, but for reasons already stated he was compelled to resign the position. He accompanied Grant's forces from Paducah to Pittsburg Landing, and in the capacity of expressman for Grant's army was present at the historic battle of Shiloh. In 1864 he removed to Shawneetown, where he was elected county judge the following year and held the position for four years. In addition to his large law practice Judge McBane became interested in the mer- cantile affairs of Shawneetown. For several years he conducted one of the largest general stores there and was a large buyer of grain. In 1877 he practically retired from both professional and commercial life, and since then has devoted his time to the management of his large and varied investments. He was married in 1862 to Miss Mary, daughter of John D. Richeson, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. They have no children. Judge McBane is a member and past dictator in the Knights of Honor ; has been president of the Business Men's association ever since it was organized in 1890; was once a
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candidate for state senator, and is always active in promoting the gen- eral welfare of the community in which he lives. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
LUCIEN WINSLOW GORDON, M.D., who for almost a quarter of a century has practiced his profession at Equality, Ill., can trace his ancestry back to. Archi- bald Gordon, a native of Scotland, who was the leader of a powerful clan during the Stuart uprising about the middle of the eighteenth century, and was compelled in consequence to leave his native land to save his life. For a time he lived in France, but just before the beginning of the French and Indian war he came to America, settling either in South Caro- lina or Northern Georgia. He lived to a good old age, his death occurring about the time of the beginning of the Revolutionary war. His three sons, John, William, and Robert, all served under General Greene in the Revolution, the first named attaining the rank of colonel. This John Gordon was the great-grandfather of Doctor Gordon, who is the subject of this sketch. He was born in Scotland, accompanied his parents to France and afterward to America. As a reward for his services during the Revolution he received the cus- tomary grant of land, located in what is now either Portage or Trum- bull county, O., where he passed the remainder of his life. He married Susanna Bacon, a member of the old Virginia family of that name, and they had four sons: James, Robert, Archibald and Jona- than. (The names of the last two are not certain.) Robert Gordon, the second son, was born at Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, about the year 1794, and passed his whole life in that vicinity. At one time he was one of the most prominent men in that section. He followed the vocation of making brick and erecting brick buildings, and did an extensive business. He was still in his minority when the war of 1812 broke out, but he enlisted as a "powder-monkey" in Commo- dore Perry's fleet, and served in the famous battle on Lake Erie. After the war he married Janet Porter, and they were the parents of the following children: Thomas Winslow, Isabella M., Anan Irwin, Robert Porter, George Washington, Maria, Alta, Zina, Etta C., William Wallace, and Samuel Quimby. Thomas died in 1901, aged
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eighty-two; Isabella now lives at Ravenna, O., as the widow of John Wheatly; Anan lives at Cameron, Mo .; Robert died at Beaver Falls, Pa., where some of his descendants still live; George Washington was the father of the subject of this sketch; Maria married John Gotts- chell and died soon afterward; Alta also became the wife of John Gottschell and died at Waterloo, Ill .; Zina died single; Etta C., lives at Warren, O., as the widow of Walter Nichols; William Wallace served in the Second Iowa infantry during the Civil war and died at Trenton, Mo .; and Samuel is now living at Ravenna, O. George W. Gordon was born at Warren, Sept. 23, 1830. He was educated in the high school of his native town and about 1856 graduated from the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery. In 1852 he was united in marriage to Miss Sabine M. Tweed, of Ripley, O. Her father, John Tweed, was an ensign at the battle of Lake Erie, and his father was settled on a Revolutionary land grant in Brown county, O., in the Virginia Reserve. Soon after graduating from the medical college Dr. G. W. Gordon was elected demonstrator of anatomy in the institution and held that position until the death of his wife in 1859, when he removed to Little Rock, Ark. Here he soon established a lucrative practice, but in 1861, on account of his pronounced opposi- tion to secession, he again returned to the North, and at St. Louis enlisted in Foster's Independent Ohio cavalry. He was at once elected lieutenant and was later commissioned captain in Birge's Second Missouri sharpshooters: He was next commissioned assistant surgeon of the Eighteenth Indiana infantry by Gov. Oliver P. Morton, and subsequently rose to the position of surgeon with the rank of major. In July, 1864, he was discharged for disability, came to Gallatin county, Ill., where he owned some land, and took up his residence there. As soon as he had sufficiently regained his health he resumed the practice of medicine, locating at Equality, and continued in that occupation until his death, Aug. 6, 1892. In November, 1864, he was married to Laura M. Campbell, widow of Lieut. Josiah Campbell. She was a daughter of Rev. Z. S. Clifford, who was chaplain of the Twenty-ninth Illinois infantry and a Lincoln elector in 1864. He was a native of New Hampshire and a cousin of Daniel Webster. Mrs. Laura Gordon died in 1888, and Major Gordon afterward married Flora R. Dively of Equality, who is still living. To the first marriage there were born two sons, John Robert and Lucien Winslow, the former of whom died in infancy and the latter is the subject of this sketch. To the second marriage five children were born, viz .: Laura, now the wife of Harry Huntsman, of Stamps, Ark .; George Ravenscroft,
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living at Acme, La .; Louise, wife of M. R. Moore, of Equality; and two who died in infancy unnamed. No children were born to the third marriage. Dr. Lucien W. Gordon was born at New Hope, O., Aug. 9, 1858, and was but seven years of age when his father located at Equality. He received his education in the public schools, the Enfield college and the Southern Illinois Normal university at Car- bondale. In 1877 he entered the Miami Medical college of Cin- cinnati, and graduated with the class of 1880. On June 26, of that year, he opened an office for the practice of medicine in Equality, and has followed up his profession there ever since. As a physi- cian he is both successful and popular, enjoying the respect of his brother practitioners and the confidence of his patients. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, and both himself and wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. On Oct. 26, 1880, he married Miss Mollie Alexander Lewis, of Ripley, O., and they have one son, Frank Henderson, born Dec. 26, 1882, and graduated from the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy in 1902. Mrs. Gordon is the granddaughter of Capt. Enoch Lewis, who fought under Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe. Her grandmother was Hannah Potts, of the old Quaker family that founded Pottsville, Pa.
JACOB BARGER, a prominent citizen and member of the board of aldermen of Shawneetown, Ill., is a descendant of one of the early settlers of Gallatin county. The Barger family originally came from Germany. The first of the name to come to America was George Barger, who set- tled in Pennsylvania prior to the Revolu- tionary war. Later he removed to Ken- tucky and became one of the pioneers of Breckenridge county. His son Jacob was born in Pennsylvania in 1784. After re- ceiving a limited education there he went to Breckenridge county, Ky., where he learned the carpenter's trade and worked at it for a number of years there. In 1815 he removed to Illinois, locat- ing at Shawneetown on the first day of May of that year. There he entered three hundred acres of land, though for several years he continued to work at his trade before he settled down to farm- ing. He was prominent in local affairs and was for some time trustee of Shawneetown. He died in 1847. In 1809, while still living
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in Kentucky he was married to Miss Elizabeth Seaton. She was a native of Kentucky, was born in 1787, and was a half-sister of Gen. John A. McClernand, who won distinction in the Union army during the Civil war. She died in 1860. The seven children born to this couple are all dead. One of the sons, Joseph B. Barger, was born in Breckenridge county, Feb. 2, 1814, and was little more than one year old when his parents came to Shawneetown. As he grew up he attended the schools of the town and began life as clerk in a store.
Subsequently he engaged to some extent in flatboating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. In 1847 he was appointed postmaster of Shawneetown by President Polk and served until 1850, when he was elected sheriff of the county, holding the office for a term of two years. From 1854 to 1856 he was bookkeeper in the State bank of Illinois, and in the latter year was elected county clerk. This office he continued to hold by repeated re-elections for twenty-six consecu- tive years. When he retired from the office his fellow-citizens pre- sented him with a fine gold-headed cane in token of their appreciation of his efficient services, his uniform courtesy to every resident of the county, and his fidelity to his duty. Upon retiring from his long and honorable career as a public official he lived a quiet life until his death, which occurred Oct. 19, 1900. In March, 1834, he was mar- ried to Miss Louisa M. Carter, who, like himself, was a native of Kentucky and about the same age. She died in 1861. They had seven children, viz .: Elizabeth, Richard, Harrison O., George, Jacob, Josephine, and one who died in infancy. Of these children Jacob is the only one now living. He was educated in the Shawneetown public schools and at the age of seventeen years went into the office of county clerk as a deputy. He served four years under James R. Loomis; four years under Joseph F. Nolen; was then two years with Mr. Nolen in the sheriff's office, and two years with S. M. Smith in the treasurer's office. Mr. Barger then removed with his family to the old homestead which his grandfather had entered, and which has ever since been in possession of the family, and there lived for about ten years, when he returned to Shawneetown. He still man- ages the farm of 204 acres, making frequent trips to it during the spring and summer seasons. Mr. Barger is a member of Lodge No. 838, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and No. 638, Knights of Pythias, and has gone through the chairs in both orders. For the past eight years he has been one of the aldermen of the city and may prop- erly be called a man of affairs. Politically he is a Democrat, and comes from old Kentucky Democratic stock. He has been twice married.
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His first wife was Miss James Ella Parks, a daughter of James S. and Adeline (Goodwin) Parks, of Shawneetown, though natives of Ten- nessee. To this marriage there were born two children: Louise, now deceased, and James S. Mrs. Barger died in 1896, and in January, 1898, he married his second wife, Miss Anna Lawler, a daughter of Thomas B. and Sally Lawler, and a niece of Gen. M. K. Lawler. No children have been born to this union.
JAMES B. TURNER (deceased), late a resident of Equality, Ill., was born at Oswego, N. Y., Nov. 27, 1837. While still in his early boyhood his parents, Charles W. and Sally (Spencer) Turner, removed to Kenosha, Wis., where the mother died a few years later and James went to St. Louis to live with an elder brother, Dr. Carlos Turner. When he was about sixteen or seventeen years old he went to New Orleans on a flatboat and spent some months in visiting different CHAS. W. TURNER. places in the South. He then located at Elizabethtown, Ill., where he became interested in the study of law. After a preliminary course of reading he entered the law department of the Indiana State university at Bloomington in 1857. Two years later he completed his legal education and began practice in Shawnee- town. Shortly after locating there he formed the acquaintance of Miss Eleanora, daughter of John D. Richeson, a prominent merchant of that city and about a year later they were married. He continued to practice in Shawneetown for ten or twelve years, when he removed to Mount Vernon, Ill. After four years there he went to Ewing, in Franklin county, and took charge of a large general store, a woolen mill and a flour mill. Here he organized the Farmers' bank and was president of it for some time. After a residence of sixteen years at Ewing he located at Equality, where he practiced law until his death in 1893. While living at Shawneetown he filled the position of city judge for one term. Judge Turner and his wife had the following children : One who died unnamed in infancy; John D. R., who now lives in Springfield, Mo .; Spencer and Judith Mimms, both deceased ; James B., Charles W., and Jesse M., all now living at Equality ; Min- nie T .; Mary, who died in infancy; Albert R., also deceased, and Eugene Ambrose, now living at Niagara Falls, N. Y. The mother of
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these children died in 1899. Charles W. Turner, the sixth child of the family, was born at Shawneetown, Dec. 13, 1869. While living at Ewing he attended the college there, after which he attended the Southern Illinois Normal school at Carbondale, and took a course in the Bryant & Stratton business college at St. Louis. After the death of his father, in 1893, he took charge, with his brother, John D. R., of the large mercantile establishment at Equality, and the farming interests of the estate. Upon the death of his mother, six years later, he was appointed executor of the estate. In 1900 he went to Grand Rapids and assumed the management of an aunt's business matters during the last years of her life. In the fall of 1903 he returned to Equality, where now resides. Mr. Turner has been successful as a business man. Just before going to Grand Rapids he built the Turner business block and opera house in Equality, which building he still owns. This marked his public spirit and enterprising disposition and shows that he is one of the progressive men of his town. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Court of Honor, and both him- self and wife belong to the Presbyterian church. Politically he is a Democrat, with Prohibition sympathies, though he never "dab- bles" in politics. On Dec. 26, 1900, he was united in marriage to Miss Pet, daughter of George W. Moore, an old resident and prominent grain dealer of Equality. Mrs. Turner was born near Equality, Sept. 26, 1877.
GEORGE W. MOORE, a grain and seed dealer of Equality, Ill., is of Scotch extraction, his ancestors belonging to the same family as Sir John Moore, the cele- brated British general who was killed at the battle of Corunna, Jan. 16, 1809. George Moore, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born at the little village of Montgomery, Hamilton county, O., in 1799. While still in his boyhood he had the misfortune to lose his father by death, and he became the chief support of his widowed mother. Consequently his oppor- tunities to acquire an education were very much restricted, yet by his own efforts he mastered the intricacies of the profession of civil engineer and surveyor, and followed that occupation for several
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