Jefferson County, Illinois - Biographical sketches, 1909 (part 6 of 6)

At the expiration of the time indicated Mr. Peavler removed to Jefferson county and purchased land near Spring Garden where, in due season, he became a successful farmer and prominent citizen, owning at one time four hundred and firty-six acres of fine land. He married in Washington county, Indiana, November 27, 1834, Miss Nancy McKinney, daughter of Alexander and Susannah (Turner) McKinney, natives of Virginia and early settlers of Washington county, the union resulting in the birth of twelve children.

Gabriel Peavler was a man of excellent qualities, honest, straightforward, industrious and one of the large farmers and influential citizens of Jefferson county during the period of his residence in this part of the state. A sincere Christian and devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, he did much by word and example to improve the words of his community and was long considered a model of upright manhood and honorable citizenship. He lived to the age of seventy-three, dying in the year of 1892 at the old homestead near Spring Garden and was mourned not only by his relatives and neighbors of that locality, but also by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances throughout the entire county. Mrs. Peavler, who proved a fit companion and helpmeet for such a worthy husband, passed to her reward in January, 1 895. She was highly esteemed for her many admirable qualities. In early life she united with the Methodist church and for many years was a sincere and much respected member of that communion and a true type of devoted Christian womanhood.

Dr. James Warren Peavler, son of Gabriel and Nancy Peavler, was a native of Washington county, Indiana, where his birth occurred on July 20, 1 840. When two years old he was brought to Illinois by his parents and until his sixteenth year lived in Clark county, where he attended school and laid the foundation of his subsequent career of honor and usefulness. Removing with the family in 1856 to Jefferson county he continued his studies in Spring Garden township for ten years and at the age of eighteen became a teacher, to which calling he devoted his attention during the two years ensuing. When twenty years old he began the study of medicine at Mount Vernon in the office of his cousin, Dr. H. J. Peavler, with whom he remained three years and then entered the medical department of the University of Michigan from which institution he was graduated in 1864. After receiving his degree he located at Knobs Prairie, Jefferson county, where he practiced with marked success for five years and at the expiration of that period went to Chicago, where he spent one year in professional work, during which time he also attended lectures in one of the leading medical colleges of the city. Desiring to add to his professional knowledge and become in the true sense of the term a healer of human ills. Doctor Peavler took a course in a medical college in St. Louis, from which he graduated and subsequently attended the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, from which he also received a degree. He spared no pains nor expense to keep abreast of the times in his profession, made many original researches and investigations in medical science and was for many years the best known and among the most successful physicians and surgeons in Jefferson county.

Doctor Peavler was married August 4, 1867, to Victoria Hagle, daughter of John W. and Mahala (Boswell) Hagle, of Jefferson county, who bore him seven children, namely: Eugene M., whose name introduces this sketch; Mrs. Minnie Hamilton, of Benton, Illinois; Mrs. Mazie Boswell (deceased) ; Ethel, bookkeeper for Record & Sons, Mount Vernon; Hagle, of Chicago; Clytie, superintendent of the Mount Vernon Hospital, and Harry, who died in infancy. Doctor Peavler departed this life at Spring Garden, December 31, 1891. His widow, who still survives, occupies the old home place in Spring Garden township and is spending the evening of a useful life in the midst of her family and friends who seem to vie with each other in ministering to her comfort and rendering her honor.

Eugene M. Peavler, to a review of whose career the residue of this sketch is devoted, was born in old Williamsburg, Jefferson county, on June 29, 1 868, and spent his boyhood under the parental roof in Spring Garden township, receiving his early educational discipline in the public schools. From his childhood he evinced a desire for books and study and after completing the common branches, he entered the Northern Indiana Normal University at Valparaiso, where he devoted four and a half years to close and critical study, finishing during that time the scientific and law courses and attaining to high standing as a student. During his boyhood, youth and young manhood he always worked upon a farm during vacations.

With a mind well fortified by intellectual and professional training Mr. Peavler after securing a degree from the above institutions was duly admitted to the bar and engaging in the practice at Benton, Illinois, soon built up a fairly lucrative legal business. After a brief period at that place he found a wider and more inviting field for the exercise of his talents in the city of Mount Vernon, where he forged rapidly to the front among the rising young lawyers of the

Jefferson County Bar and gained his proportionate share of patronage. His progress since locating at the county seat has been steady and continuous and from a comparatively modest beginning his practice has grown in magnitude and importance until he now has a large and lucrative clientele, including many of the best people of the city and county, while his services are frequently in demand by clients in other courts. In 1905 he was elected City Attorney and so ably did he discharge his official functions that he was re-elected two years later and still holds the position. Since entering upon the duties of his office Mr. Peavler has been untiring in behalf of the interests of the people and it is not too much to say that the present city administration is by far the best and most satisfactory in the history of the municipality.

For the first time since the city was incorporated the liquor traffic has been successfully defeated and its forces routed, but not until after an agitation of many years, during which the contest between the saloon elements and the friends of law and order was bitter in the extreme and the cause of much uneasiness on the part of the civilly disposed of the populace. Much of the credit for this signal victory is due to the determined efforts of the able City Attorney, who lead the fight by bringing offenders to justice and by strictly enforcing the law until he finally succeeded in abolishing the traffic and inaugurating an era of law and order which has since earned for Mount Vernon the reputation of being one of the most peaceful and quiet towns of its size in the state.

Mr. Peavler has also heartily seconded the administration in the matter of public improvement, which includes many miles of street paving. His advice in the law relating to such enterprises being especially valuable and saving the city much expensive litigation. He has been much in the public view and as a lawyer and official makes duty paramount to every other consideration, being untiring in look- ing after the interests of his clients and equally so in his efforts to promote the city's material advancement and the moral welfare of the people. Mr. Peavler's legal career has been eminently satisfactory and as already indicated, he has achieved an honorable standing among his professional brethren of the local bar and his friends look forward to a bright and promising future in which he shall win additional laurels and attain to still higher official station. Ml. Peavler is a member of the Knights of Pythias and an active and influential worker in the lodge to which he belongs. He was married September 29, 1 902, to Miss Martha Stites, of Trenton, Illinois, a lady of culture and refinement, who presides over his home with becoming dignity and who is popular in the best society circles of the city. To Mr. and Mrs. Peavler one son has been born, Warre Stites. Mr. Peavler is a broad minded man of liberal ideas and tendencies, a believer in progress and ready at all times to lend his best efforts to promote the good of his fellow men. His personal popularity extends to the bounds of his acquaintance and in both public and private life he fills a large place in the city of his residence where he is numbered among the notable men of his day and generation.

Samuel D. Cooper

Among the early settlers of Ohio county, Indiana, was an Englishman by the name of Cooper. He left a son named Eli, who, on reaching his majority, learned the trade of cooper. He lived in his native state until 1843, when he removed to Crittenden county, Kentucky, where he remained until 1847, in which year he took a load of barrels to New Orleans. This was the period of the great cholera plague, which devastated the Crescent City, causing the loss of thousands of lives and one of the victims was the Kentucky cooper, who took sick shortly after his arrival and soon perished from the deadly disease. In early life he had married Elsie Wallingford, a native of Maysville, Kentucky, who died in 1 854. Of their six children, Samuel D. is the only survivor. Alexander died in 1856, Mary Ellen in 1866, Nancy E. in 1857, Laura L. in 1898 and William M. in 1866.

Samuel D. Cooper was born near Rising Sun, Ohio county, Indiana, February 14, 1842, but spent his early life in Crittenden county, Kentucky. In 1861 in joined Company K, Third Regiment Kentucky Infantry, commanded by Capt. Thomas Barnett, of Crittenden county, and served two years and five months. Being captured at Lafayette, Kentucky, he took the oath of allegiance, came north and settled near Mount Vernon, where he has ever since been one of the honored citizens of Illinois. For three years he was engaged in farming, but being elected Constable of Mount Vernon township, he removed to town. After serving four years as Constable, he was elected City Marshal of Mount Vernon, in which office he served two years. Sheriff Goodrich appointed him to the position of jailer and he retained this office for ten consecutive years. In 1886 he was elected Sheriff of Jefferson county on the Democratic ticket and served acceptably in this important office for four years. After retiring from the Sheriff's office he was elected Collector of Mount Vernon and later was chosen Justice of the Peace, in which capacity he served seven years, when he resigned to accept the position of Police Magistrate, which had been conferred upon him by popular vote. At the present time he is serving his second term and rounding out a varied career of office-holding, which has shown at once his efficiency and continually growing popularity.

Vernon. They have been blessed with an unusually bright family of children, of whom two are dead and five living. Of the latter, William M. Cooper, the eldest child, is a railroad engineer at Marble, Colorado ; Eugene, the fourth in order of birth, still remains at home; Thomas C, the fifth child, is an employe of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad at Mount Vernon, and Richard T. is a freight conductor on the Illinois Central Railroad at Carbondale, Illinois; Vernon S., the youngest child, is a telegraph operator in the employment of the Southern Railroad and located at Mount Vernon ; Elsie E., the second child, became the wife of Louis Karcher, of Shawneetown, Illinois, but is now deceased; Laura L., who was third in order of birth, is also numbered among the dead; Thomas and Richard, who are twins, served for a year as soldiers in the Spanish- American war and the former afterward spent three years in the Light Artillery service of the United States army. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper are members of the Methodist church.

Arthur T. French

In 1832 Joseph French, a native of North Carolina, settled about nine miles northwest of Centralia, Illinois, and for three years was proprietor of a tavern on the old stage coach line, running from Vincennes to St. Louis. He died during the fifties, after becoming the father of thirteen children, a number of his sons being soldiers during the Civil war and one dying in the Andersonville prison. One of these sons, L. B. French, who was born in Clinton county, Illinois, removed to Jefferson county in 1890. He was engaged in the grocery business for ten years in Franklin county and became the founder of the town of Boulder, in Clinton county, which he served as the first postmaster, besides conducting other lines of business for three years. After locating at Mount Vernon, he was employed by the Mount Vernon Car Mnaufacturing Company in various capacities and continued with this concern until his death, which occurred February 2. 1902. He married Mary D. Foster, of North Carolina parentage, who died at the age of thirty-seven, at Thompsonville, Illinois, after becoming the mother of three children: Nellie, who died in 1875, at the age of six years; Arthur T. and William, who died in 1882, when three years old.

Arthur T. French, the only survivor of this family, was born at Mattoon. Illinois, October 12, 1874. and was completing the fifth year of his age when he suffered the loss of his mother. After going through the lower grades in his native place, he graduated from the Mount Vernon high school in 1895. During 1897-98 he taught literature and history in the Mount Vernon high school. During the Spanish war he enlisted in Company F, Fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and went with his command to Cuba. The regiment was stationed at different times in Jacksonville, Florida, Havana and other points in Cuba, being attached to the corps of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee. Besides his military duties Mr. French acted as court reporter and special war correspondent for the Mount Vernon Daily Register, to which paper he contributed seventy-eight letters during his absence. While at Jacksonville he was detailed to help care for the sick of his regiment, there being over six hundred cases of typhoid fever among the members. He assisted his chaplain in writing a history of the regiment and contributed to the volume a poem entitled, "Cuban Isle," which was widely copied in the newspapers of various states. Another poem, "Marching Through Cuba," was published in the papers of St. Louis and other cities. After his muster out at Augusta, Mr. French returned to Mount Vernon and taught school during 1899-1900. In the fall of the last mentioned 3S year he entered the Northern Illinois College of Law and in 1901 was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. His ability to finish the prescribed course in one year was due to the fact that he had previously taken a correspondence course in law, which familiarized him with the elementary principles of the science. On May 14 and 15, 1901, he took the bar examination at Des Moines, Iowa, was admitted to practice and opened an office at Cedar Rapids. After a short time in this Iowa city he returned to Mount Vernon, took the bar examination in December, 1901, and immediately resumed practice and has continued the same up to the present time. Over his protest, he was elected Justice of the Peace on the Republican ticket and conducts the business of that office in connection with his general practice. His fraternal connections are extensive and conspicuous. For five years he served as secretary of the Modern Woodmen, for four years as master of finance in the Knights of Pythias and at present is keeping records and seals in Jefferson Lodge No. 121, of the same order.

On October 12, 1904, Mr. French was married to Miss Pearl Thompson, of Prophetstown, Whiteside county, Illinois, a scion of one of the old families of that section. The home farm on which she was born has never been out of the family name since it was entered from the government in pioneer times. Mr. and Mrs. French are members of the First Presbyterian church at Mount Vernon.

Grant Irvin

It was in 1820, when all west of the Alleghanies was still a wilderness that Abraham Irvin decided to leave his home in Stoddardville. New York, and seek his fortunes amid the prairies of lUiwall's history of JEFFERSON CO., ILL. 595 nois. After the usual overland trip of those times, Abraham and his four-year-old son, George W.. reached the Ohio, on which they floated down many miles with a raft as their means of transportation. The landing was made at Shawneetown and the final settlement on a farm near Macedonia, in Hamilton county. The son remained there until 1836, when he removed to Jefferson county, where he made his home for thirty-six years. In 1 872 he returned to Hamilton county, but after an absence of fifteen years, again came to Jefferson county. In 1 889 he went to Sangamon county, where he remained until his death, which occurred May 9, 1893. He married Sarah Cleghorn, a native of Tennessee, who is still living at Mount Vernon. Their four children were: Runyon. deceased; Mrs. Mary Marsh, of Oklahoma; Grant and Mrs. Dora Shirley, of Mount Vernon.

Grant Irvin, the third of the children in order of birth, was born in Moore's Prairie, Jefferson county, Illinois, November 10, 1 868. As a boy, his time was divided by experiences on the farms in Jefferson and Hamilton counties, and he alternately attended the schools of both localities. Taking up his residence at the county seat, he worked for three years in the Mount Vernon car shops and served six years on the city police force. He was elected second lieutenant of a company in the Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he did service during the Spanish-American war, being stationed in Cuba. After his discharge he re-enlisted and served two years with a regiment in the Philippines. After his return from the Orient he relocated at Mount Vernon and has served as policeman under six different mayors. In 1906 he was elected Sheriff of Jefferson county as a candidate of the Republican party, his opponent being the Marshal of Mount Vernon, under whom he was then serving as a policeman. His fraternal connections are with the Knights of Pythias and order of Ben Hur.

On May 1 , 1 907, Mr. Irvin was married to Miss Julia, daughter of Wade Hungate, of Hamilton county. Their only child is a boy named Runyon, born March 28, 1908. Mrs. Irvin is a lady of talent and accomplishments. For sixteen years she taught acceptably in the public schools of Mount Vernon, resigning her position in order to marry the man of her choice. At one time she passed a civil service examination at St. Louis and ranked third in a class of seventy-five applicants. She is a member of the First Baptist church at McLeansboro. There are no more popular people in Jefferson county than Mr. Irvin and his clever wife. They stand well in all circles, social, educational, business and political.

Gen. Charles W. Pavey

Forty years ago this was one of the most familiar names in Illinois, made so by the distinguished public service of him who bore it. His activities extended over a wide field, including notable military service, distinction as a state and federal official, besides prominence in the world of business and the varied duties of citizenship. We hear first of this family in Kentucky, where Isaac Pavey was settled for some years but eventually removed to Highland county, Ohio, where he died at the age of eighty years. His son, C. T. Pavey, a native of Kentucky, accompanied his father to Ohio and became a prominent partner and stockraiser in Highland county, where he died in 1 848. He married Lucinda Taylor, a descendant of President Zachary Taylor, and they had six children, of whom only one survives, being Charles W. Pavey, who was born in Highland county, Ohio, November 8, 1835, and remained on his father's farm until early manhood. He acquired the ordinary common school education by attending terms near home and in the schools of Greenfield and Athens. His first business venture was in merchandising, which he carried on until 1857, when he removed to Illinois and settled at Mount Vernon. He there conducted a grocery store with success until 1862, when he assisted in raising Company E of the Eightieth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, of which he was elected second lieutenant. He accompanied his regiment to Louisville, but in September was detached to the Fourth United States Battery and placed in charge of a section. He remained with this command until the battle of Perryville, where it was so decimated and shattered as to necessitate its disbandment. Lieutenant Pavey was ordered to report to General McCook, but soon obtained permission to rejoin his company with which he remained until the arrival at Murfreesboro, where he was ordered to brigade headquarters for staff duty. He served as brigade inspector until the spring of 1863, when the expedition of General Straight was organized to raid in the rear of Bragg's army. When reaching Nashville, he was placed in command of a battery and participated in the battle of Lone Mountain, in Alabama, where he was wounded and left on the field. Being captured by the enemy he was confined for a time in prison at Knoxville and other places, but finally sent to Libby. He spent twenty-two and a half months in this dismal den and was held with five other officers as hostages. At one time they were sentenced to death and were placed in close confinement in a cell under the prison for one hundred and five days. After this they were sent to the North Carolina Military Penitentiary, where they remained until the outbreak of the prisoners in 1 864 when they were removed to Danville, Virginia. Charged as one of the instigators of the outbreak, he again fell under suspicion of a similar offense at Danville, which resulted in his being placed under a heavy guard and again sent to Richmond, where he was removed in the same old cell in close confinement. This was his sad fate until February, 1865, when they were exchanged, as the parties for whom they were held were not executed. The exchange was brought about by Generals Oglesby and Logan, assisted by friends of the parties on the other side. Upon his arrival at Washington President Lincoln granted him a leave of absence and a permit to visit the Southern prisons. After the battle of Nashville he reported to General Thomas for duty, but being deemed unfit for active field work, he was ordered to report to General Rousseau for light duty. He remained there until the close of the war, when he returned to Mount Vernon and engaged in the milling, grain and general merchandising business, which he followed until the spring of 1 880, when the firm sold out to Stratton, Ferguson & Company.

In 1882 General Pavey was appointed by President Arthur Collector of Internal Revenue for the Thirteenth Illinois District, with headquarters at Cairo. He was one of the delegates from the Nineteenth District to the Republican National Convention and which nominated Garfield and Arthur. He was also a delegate to the National Convention in 1876, being one of the faithful supporters of General Grant in the memorable contest for the nomination for President for the third term. He was a candidate for Congress against R. W. Townsend, but his party being in the minority, he was defeated. He was appointed by Governor Cullen commander of the Third Brigade of the Illinois National Guard, located on and south of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and held this position for years with the title of general. In 1 888 General Pavey was elected State Auditor and served in that office for four years. After retiring President McKinley gave him the appointment as examiner for the United States Court, in which position he served until 1907 and resigned.

well known pioneer citizen of Jefferson county. Their children are : Eugene M. Pavey, engaged in the manufacture of automobiles at Houston, Texas; Louis C. Pavey, cashier of the Ham National Bank of Mount Vernon; Neil P. Pavey is in the real estate business at San Francisco; Misses Mabel and Alice Pavey, at home. General and Mrs. Pavey are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the entire family enjoy a high social position.

Thomas J. Mathews

Holding a distinctive prestige among the representative business men of Mount Vernon, and in many ways an influential force in moulding and directing public sentiment. Thomas J. Mathews, hardware merchant, is entitled to specific mention in this work. He was born at Grayville, White county, Illinois, on February 25, 1856, the son of Thomas Mathews, a native of Ireland, who came to America in 1828, being then fourteen years of age. He made his way to Grayville and in time established himself in the grocery business, continuing in that vocation in the same town until his death, in 1889. Our subject's mother, Eliza (Jacobs) Mathews, was born in the neighboring state of Indiana, and was descended from English ancestry. She was the daughter of Daniel R. Jacobs, one of the early school teachers of White county, Illinois She passed to her reward in 1 897, and was the mother of seven children, six of whom are still living, Mary and Ella are at home. The next in order of birth was Thomas J., our subject; he and James F. now living at Mitchell, Indiana, are twins; George D., of Grayville, Illinois, and Mrs. L. L. Emmerson, of Mount Vernon.

he attended the city school until completing the work in the grades. As a lad he was of a studious turn of mind, and viewed things from the practical standpoint, and these characteristics have in a measure clung to him in his years of maturity. He became associated with his father in the grocery business and continued in that line for several years. For four years, from 1 885 to 1 889, under Cleveland's first administration, he served as postmaster at Grayville, and operated a book store in connection with his official duties Following the term in the post-office Mr. Mathews became County Treasurer and Collector of White county, taking his residence at Carmi, the county seat. His four years of service in this office were marked with his usual energy and integrity, and the affairs of the county were carefully and economically managed.

In 1895 Mr. Mathews came to Mount Vernon and went into the hardware business with Mr. Hinman, by purchasing the interest of Mr. Moyer, who had previously been a member of the firm. Since taking up this work the business has not only prospered, but has become greatly extended. A full stock is constantly maintained, and courteous treatment as well as skill in discerning the demands of the trade has brought a substantial patronge.

In addition to the ready and active discharge of the many duties devolving upon him Mr. Mathews has taken a leading part in the social and civic movements. He was captain of Company A of the Ninth Regular Illinois National Guard while residing in Grayville, being appointed by Gov. Shelby M. Cullom. This position he held for five years, and then resigned as his business affairs were such that he could not spare the time for the proper discharge of the necessary duties. His enterprise and public spirit, however, were recognized by his neighbors and friends, and he was chosen for several terms as president of the Carnegie Library Association, of Mount Vernon, and did effective work. The Retail Hardware

Dealers' Association chose him as their president during the years 1907-1908, and this appointment has met with the most hearty support of the association.

One of the leading forces in the recent years in the way of educating the people and in moulding public opinion is the Chautauqua movement, as generally engaged in now in the Middle West. Mr. Mathews has been made president of the Mount Vernon Chautauqua Association, and great confidence is placed in his executive ability and high standard of moral excellence. He is a member of the fraternity of Odd Fellows, and belongs to the Presbyterian church, thus rounding out a many sided and useful career as a citizen.

Fred P. Watson

Deeds are thoughts crystalized and according to their brilliancy and luster do we judge of the worth of an individual to the community in which he lives. The study of the life of the progressive business man and public-spirited citizen, seldom fails to offer much of pleasing interest and valuable instruction. The subject of this review, who is the head of one of the largest business firms of Mount Vernon, Illinois, and a man of much more than local repute in industrial and commercial circles, affords a striking example of the type of American character and progressive spirit which conserves public interest while promoting individual enterprise and success.

Fred P. Watson is a representative of the best elements of western and eastern life, inheriting as he does the sturdy characteristics and sterling qualities for which his ancestors on both sides of the family were distinguished, his father having been a native of Illinois, and his mother of New England. He was born July 22,

1 865, in Mount Vernon, being one of four children whose parents Samuel H. and Anna A. (Goetschius) Watson, who are mentioned elsewhere in these pages, and spent his childhood and youth in the city of his birth, receiving early in life the instructions which made for practical mental development and strength of character which formed the foundation of his subsequent career as one of the most successful and influential business men in the southern part of his native commonwealth.

In due time he became a pupil of the schools and after attending the same until finishing the prescribed course of study, entered a college in St. Louis, where he made substantial progress in the higher branches of learning and earned an honorable record as a diligent student of the higher branches of learning. At an early age he became interested in business pursuits and after receiving a valuable practical training under the direction of his father, subsequently became associated with the latter in the handling of implements, pianos, and organs, the firm thus constituted becoming in due time the most successful of the kind in Mount Vernon, and earned for the partners a wide reputation in commercial lines throughout Illinois and other states. Later the elder Watson retired from the enterprise, leaving the management in the hands of the junior member of the firm who, after a successful career of ten years, affected a co-partnership in 1890 with his brother, Harry W. Watson, under the firm name of Fred P. Watson & Brother, which continues and now commands a very extensive and lucrative business, being the largest and most successful enterprise of the kind, not only in Southern Illinois, but in the entire Middle West.

The growth of this large and far-reaching establishment which has been remarkable bears eloquent testimony to the ability, judgment and reliable business policies of the members of the firm who are classed among the most enterprising and progressive business men of their state, and whose continued success thus far bespeaks still greater advancement in years to come. Since 1888, the year in which the enterprise was established, it has grown from a modest beginning into a mammoth concern, the meanwhile adding collateral branches of trade as the patronage increased until at this time the business takes a very wide range, including wholesale and retail dealing in pianos, organs, piano-players, music-boxes, phonographs and many other kinds of musical instruments, also rubber-tired novelties, buggies, surreys, phaetons, spring, freight and farm wagons and other vehicles in addition to which the firm is also among the largest wholesale manufacturers of harness in the state, besides dealing extensively in saddlery, collars, whips, robes, dusters, saddle blankets, pads of all kinds, brushes, curry-combs, turf goods and leather.

Two years after the organization of the present firm it suffered a severe loss by fire but immediately thereafter was commenced in a new and much larger and more commodious building, which being completed in due time is now one of the finest and most attractive structures in the city. It is a large three-story brick edifice, with thirty thousand feet of floor space, admirably situated in one of the best parts of the city and furnished throughout with everything calculated to facilitate business and make it a model of the kind. Ten traveling salesmen represent the firm on the road, in addition to whom a large number of clerks and artisans are employed, the growth of the business being such as to call for extra men from time to time in order to meet the demands of the trade. In addition to the main house in Mount Vernon the firm has so extended its interests as to require a number of branch houses, the most important of which at the present time are at Paducah, Kentucky; Marion, Herrin and Carbondale, Illinois, all doing a profitable business and steadily growing in magnitude and importance. The firm prestige it has gained in industrial circles has given it an influence second to that of no other house of the kind in the country. Both members are accompHshed business men whose abihty has long been recognized and appreciated and whose judgment in matters connected with their various hnes of trade is seldom if ever at fault.

Fred P. Watson is a gentleman of high character and unimpeachable integrity and the continuous growth and success of the firm is largely due to his fine executive ability and familiarity with broad views of men and things, believes in progress in all the term broad views of men and things, believes in progress in all the term implies and realizing the need of the public, has endeavored by every legitimate means within his power to meet the same and at the same time build up a business which shall redound to his own financial success and add to his reputation and influence as one of the leaders in a branch of trade which has done much for the advancement of his city and given it an honorable standing among the important business centers of the state.

Aside from his immediate industrial and commendable interest, Mr. Watson is connected with other enterprises, being a director of the Ham National Bank of Mount Vernon, and for a number of years a heavy stockholder in the same, also a stockholder in the Third National Bank, besides owning stock in various local industries which he helped promote and the success of which is largely due to his untiring efforts. Not only in the business world has he demonstrated his judgment and discrimination but also in the social life of Mount Vernon, where he is recognized as a forceful factor and leader, whose efforts have contributed materially to the welfare of the city and the happiness of the people. Although long in the public view he is destined to occupy a still larger place in the sphere of endeavor to which, in the main, his attention has been devoted and to take a more active and prominent part in the affairs of his fellow men in years to come than in time gone by.

Mr. Watson is a thirty-second degree Mason and stands high in the confidence and esteem of his brethren of the Mystic Tie in the local lodges with which he holds membership and throughout the state. He is also a Shriner, Knights Templar, a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a Republican and well informed concerning the principles and history of his party, but he is by no means a politician in the sense the term is usually mentioned, nevertheless he discharges the duties of citizenship as becomes a true American and is ever ready to maintain the soundness of his opinions and support his favorite candidates. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church and has been the superintendent of the Sunday school of his church for years and is otherwise active in church work.

The domestic life of Mr. Watson dates from July 31,1 906, when he was happily married to Miss Alenia Johnson, of Mount Vernon, daughter of Dr. A. C. Johnson, one of the city's successful physicians and surgeons and trustworthy citizens, the union bemg without issue. Believing in using the good things of this world to useful and practical ends Mr. Watson has surrounded himself with many of the comforts and luxuries of life, not the least being a pleasant and attractive home, which is the abode of ideal domestic happiness and the center of a gracious and generous hospitality which is liberally dispensed to all who cross the threshold.

George Warren Fairchild

A careful inspection of the conditions that surround the growing boys and girls of our land have led many to the conclusion that there is no place better adapted for the development of true and noble manhood than the farm, where all the social virtues, re- ligious sentiments and patriotic impulses culminate in a citizenship noted for sterling worth and strength of character. As a general thing the life on the farm is uneventful inasmuch as the farmer is confined to the one business of tilling the soil, which of itself is a close and exacting occupation. But unless their work is done there can be no progress, and the wheels in other departments will soon cease to turn if the work of the plow, the binder and reaper should stop for a season. Therefore, though a quiet unassuming class, the farmer is indispensable, and everyone who has contributed to this line has not only helped himself but the whole community as well.

George Warren Fairchild, of Blissville township, Jefferson county, is one of the many to whom the above remarks apply. . He was born in this township on the 1 8th of August, 1 859. His father, Eli Fairchild, was a native of Ohio, while his mother, Sarah (Place) Fairchild, was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, and died September 28, 1875. Eli Fairchild was born December 1 1, 1829, and departed this life December 1 , 1 907. These parents married in this county and settled in Blissville township, where they lived until the close of their days. Ten children were born into the family, of whom our subject was the second.

He has brought up on the farm and received his education in the common schools of the vicinity, and as he grew to maturity chose farming as his occupation in life. He was married September 12, 1 880, to Miss Maggie Gilbert, daughter of James and Rebecca Gilbert, respected residents of Blissville township. This union, though happy and harmonious, was broken by the death of Mrs. Fairchild, October 21, 1885. She was the mother of two children: Lola, who became the wife of Joseph Fagan, and May, who married Mella Orr, of Los Angeles, California.

Mr. Fairchild's second marriage occurred September 1 4, 1 886, when he was united with Miss Anna E. Smith, of McClellan townwall's history of JEFFERSON CO., ILL. 607 ship. She is the daughter of Vincent and Mary Smith, and was born October 7, 1861. She has become the mother of eight children, five of whom are living, viz., Georgia, Walter, Arthur, Vesta and Willard. Three sons are deceased, Fred having reached the age of eleven years, Charles six, and one son who died in infancy. Mr. Fairchild operates a farm of one hundred and forty acres, almost all of which is under cultivation, with good buildings and modern equipment. He takes an active interest in promoting the welfare and excellent public spirit of the neighborhood.

Samuel H. Watson

The subject of this review is a member of one of the oldest and best known families of Jefferson county, the name of which for many years has stood for all that is noble and upright in manhood and womanhood, and honorable in citizenship. Dr. John Watson, the subject's grandfather, was born in Maryland, and in an early day removed with his parents to Virginia, where he grew to maturity and received an education. After reading medicine under the direction of a local physician, he entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in due time and then began the practice of his profession in which he achieved distinction, and which he followed with marked success to the end of his life. About 1803 he married Frances Pace, and in 1811 moved to Bourbon county, Kentucky, subsequently changing his abode to the county of Pendleton, where he resided until 1 82 1 . In the latter year the family migrated to Jefferson county, Illinois, making the journey overland in a two-horse wagon, which held besides the wife and children all their earthly possessions. They met with many ad- ventures on the way and experienced no little fear from the wild animals which nightly surrounded their camp and made the air hideous with their dismal howling. Arriving at his destination. Doctor Watson first settled on a farm at what is known as Mulberry Hill, where he remained one year at the end of which period he moved to a place on the Vandalia road, one and one-half miles from Mount Vernon, where he lived for a number of years, dividing his time between the cultivation of the soil and the practice of his profession.

To Doctor Watson belongs the unique distinction of being the first physician in Jefferson county and it is needless to state that he was kept quite busy attending to his patients, frequently riding horseback as far as fifty and one hundred miles from home in answer to urgent calls in critical cases. Doctor Watson was of Welsh descent and a man of unswerving honesty and integrity, as well as a physician of much more than ordinary knowledge and skill. He lived a life fraught with great good to his fellow men and was called from scenes of his labors and triumphs June 3, 1845.

John H. Watson, son of the above and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Virginia in the year 1805. When six years old he was taken to Kentucky by his parents, later accompanied the family to Jefferson county, Illinois, where he grew to manhood's estate and received such an education as the indifferent subscription schools of the times afforded. In 1827 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Rankin, after which he worked at the trade of carpentry and in due time became one of the best known contractors and builders in his section of the country. He served twenty-four consecutive years as Justice of the Peace and one term as County Treasurer, in both of which capacities he acquitted himself with ability and honor. John H. Watson was one of the pillars of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mount Vernon, a leading spirit in the organization of the society and his daily life was always conwall's history of JEFFERSON CO., ILL. 609 sistent with his religious profession. He was a Democrat in poHtics as his father had been, became one of the leaders of his party in Jefferson county and as already stated was honored by his fellow citizens with important official positions as a reward for valuable political services. He departed this life on September 26, 1 860, and was buried by the Masonic fraternity, of which he had long been an honored member. Mrs. Watson was a native of Tennessee and belonged to one of the pioneer families of Jefferson county. She bore her husband nine children, among whom was Samuel H. Watson, the subject of this sketch, whose birth occurred in Mount Vernon, Illinois, on the 5th day of November, 1838.

The childhood of Samuel H. Watson was spent in his native town, and when ten years old he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he accepted a clerkship in a business house, serving in that capacity until his eighteenth year. Leaving that city he went to Tamaroa, Illinois, where he clerked until 1860, at which time he returned to Mount Vernon and the following years was similarly engaged with a mercantile firm of the latter place. When the National skies became overcast with the ominous clouds of approaching Civil war, Mr. Watson was among the first of the patriotic young men of Jefferson county to respond to the call of the government in its efforts to arrest the rising tide of rebellion. In the summer of 1861 he enlisted in Company G, Fortieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, entering the service as a private, later rising to the position of quarter-master sergeant, and on April 1, 1862, was promoted second lieutenant in which capacity he served until made first lieutenant the year following. In January, 1863, he was detailed to act as aide on the staff of the general commanding and on March 5, 1864, for fair and gallant conduct, he was promoted to the captaincy of his company, still later being appointed inspector of the brigade, which position he held until the close of the war and in the discharge of his duties he made a record of which any soldier might well feel proud. Mr. Watson was with his command through all of its varied experiences of war, participating in many noted campaigns, thrilling scenes and famous battles, among the more important of which were Shiloh, siege and capture of Vicksburg, Knoxville, Missionary Ridge, Jackson, Mississippi; the various engagements around Atlanta, thence marched with Sherman to the sea and at the close of the war was discharged with a record of duty bravely and uncomplainingly performed, which he regards as a priceless possession.

After his discharge Mr. Watson returned home and for a short time was in the drug business at Mount Vernon, subsequently embarking in the clothing trade, which he conducted with fair success for about one and a half years. At the expiration of that time he went to the West and during the following eleven years dealt in live stock at Ashley, Washington, in connection with which he handled agricultural implements and machinery, besides devoting considerable attention to mining. Disposing of his interests at that place in 1 879 he once more returned to his native county and opened an implement store in Mount Vernon, which has since grown into one of the most successful business enterprises in Southern Illinois, consisting at the present time of various lines of manufacture, in connection with an immense wholesale and retail trade in a large number of articles, including all kinds of carriages, freight and farm vehicles, buggies, surreys, phaetons, pianos, organs and many other kinds of musical instruments, leather goods, harness, collars, robes, dusters, brushes, turf goods and other articles. This large and growing business is now under the management of Harry W. and Fred P. Watson, sons of the subject and among the most enterprising and successful business men in the state (see sketch of F. P. Watson and Harry W. Watson.)

Goetchius, a native of Massachusetts, and daughter of Isaac D. and Ehzabeth Goetchius, both parents born in the state of New York. The two sons already mentioned constitute the family of the subject, Fred P., born July 22, 1865, and Harry W., who first saw the light of day on December 1 6, 1 867.

Mr. Watson is a member of the Masonic brotherhood of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and a pillar in the Methodist church, as was his father before him, and is also his wife. No man has ever proven himself more loyal to his country, his church, and orders, nor one more faithful to the best interest of his native town and county.

Being patriotic, progressive and up-to-date in everything, he naturally espoused the cause of Republicanism in early life and immediately was made a leader, always proving himself a wise counselor and a safe leader. For many years he was at the head of the party in Jefferson county, and under his leadership, old Jefferson achieved her first and nearly all her subsequent victories. He did not aspire to office himself; but was always ready to help other worthy men to positions of honor and trust. Without solicitation on his part he was placed on the Republican ticket as a candidate for Representative and was triumphantly elected by a large majority in a Democratic district - carrying his own county, which was Democratic, by an overwhelming vote.

As a Representative he achieved a state-wide reputation as a safe man in public life, and he was placed on the state Republican committee and kept there as long as he would consent to serve. He was also a member of some of the most important legislative committees.

In 1891 he was made Mayor of his native city and it was he who inaugurated the improvement system of making granitoid sidewalks and bricked streets, which has made Mount Vernon the best city in Southern Illinois - one which can be pointed to with pride. At the time he bricked the square and laid the granitoid walks he was strenuously opposed by many ; but now is highly praised by all for his grit and foresight.

He afterwards served two terms as postmaster of his native city and as such he secured free mail delivery for both city and country, besides many other improvements, which facts are noted on another page of this book, dealing with the local post-office.

Captain Watson was a chief promoter in many of the utilities of Mount Vernon - in the canning and knitting factories - in the establishments of the Loan and Savings Bank and other important improvements.

Among the many useful citizens of Mount Vernon, during its ninety years of existence, none rank higher or will be more gratefully remembered than Captain Samuel H. Watson.

Rynd L. Stratton

There were not many Abolitionists in old Virginia during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, but David Stratton's father was one of them and when he left Lynchburg to seek a new home in the Buckeye state, he brought his slaves along wath him and after reaching Ohio, gave them their liberty. At a later period David Stratton removed to West Liberty, Iowa, where he died at the age of seventy-four. He was a Quaker, and like all others of that faith, hated slavery with all his heart. His son, Stephen T. Stratton, was born in Clinton county, Ohio, but in 1857 removed to Jefferson county, Illinois, where he engaged in business as a dry goods merchant. He was a progressive and energetic man with adwall's history of JEFFERSON CO., ILL. 613 vanced ideas and enlarged views as the results of which qualities he achieved financial success and prominence. He was also patriotic and when the call to arms came in 1861, he raised a company for the war, of which he was elected captain. It became Company E, of the Eightieth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and did good service at the front. After the war Mr. Stratton resumed the mercantile business, which he conducted successfully until his death in 1 898. He married Nancy Jane Lawder, whose parents came in an early day from Campbell county, Virginia, to Highland county, Ohio, where they settled in the vicinity of Hillsboro. Mrs. Stratton ended her life at this Ohio home some sixty years ago, after becoming the mother of four children, all of whom reached maturity. The list includes: Rynd L., subject of this sketch; David F., of Jefferson county; Augustus M., deceased; Amelia R., wife of Dr. A. C. Johnson, of Mount Vernon. The following were by a second marriage: Mary Virginia, deceased wife of Robert F. Pace; Charles T., deceased; Emma Lucinda, wife of James A. Copeland, of Gardena, California, and Anna Gertrude, deceased.

Rynd L. Stratton, the eldest of this family, was born in Clinton county, Ohio, January 17, 1841, and was fourteen years old when his father came to Mount Vernon. The family first located in the northern part of the state and remained there two years before removing to Jefferson county.

Rynd had but a limited education, most of it obtained in the common school of Ohio, but after reaching Illinois acquired some practical business experience by clerking in his father's store. In June, 1867, he engaged in the hardware business on his own account on the south side of the square in Mount Vernon, but since August 8th of that year has occupied his present room. He is one of the oldest as well as one of the best of Mount Vernon's many popular merchants. His line is general hardware and the various kinds of im- plements, in the sale of which he has long enjoyed a widely extended patronage. Besides his regular business, he owns a farm of one hundred and thirty acres near town, to which he devotes considerable attention. He is a stockholder in the Mount Vernon Car Company and a director in the Ham National Bank. He owns a handsome home in the city, besides his business building, which contains fourteen hundred feet of Hoor space, and other rental property. When his father went into the Civil war, he took with him his sons, Augustus M. and David F., the latter of whom was captured in Streight's raid and thrown into Libby prison. Captain Stratton urged his son Rynd to remain at home to take care of the business and younger children.

Mr. Stratton has been married twice. In May, 1864, he espoused Miss Matilda Wiley, daughter of a Presbyterian minister, by which union there was one child, Stephen W., deceased. The mother died in September, 1865, and on August 8, 1867, Mr. Stratton chose his second wife in the person of Mary L., daughter of James K. Jones, of Southern Indiana. The children by this marriage are: Keith T., associated with his father in the hardware store; Olivia P., wife of W. W. Swift, of Mount Vernon; and Chauncey L., who also holds a position in the store. Mr. Stratton is a Knight Templar Mason and has been a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church for fifty-one years, having deposited his letter when he first reached Mount Vernon. He is president of the board of trustees and active in all that concerns the welfare of his religious organization. Mr. Stratton was the pioneer hardware merchant of Mount Vernon, his store being the first established in the town, when it was much smaller than it is now.

J. O. Beck

The present is essentially an age in which the young man predominates and in every professional vocation, especially in those requiring energy and executive ability they are very much in evidence. In this connection the writer takes pleasure in presenting the chronological facts in the career of one of the leading young business men of Jefferson county, a man who by the master strokes of genius rose from obscurity to the management of large and important interests and later by his own initiative established an enterprise which gained for him an honorable reputation not only in his own but in other states and paved the way to the conspicuous place in the business world which he now occupies.

J. O. Beck, manager of the Illinois Bankers' Fire Insurance Company, is a native of Illinois, born in the town of Braidwood, Will county, in June of the year 1881. John Beck, his father, was born in Denmark, and at the age of eight years was apprenticed to learn the trade of sail making. Two years later he shipped before the mast and until his twenty-fifth year followed the sea, sailing during that time to all parts of the globe and meeting with many exciting exexperiences on the world of waters. Retiring from the seas when twenty-five years old he came to the United States and in 1871 settled at Braidwood, later engaging in the lumber and coal trade at Harvey, where he still lives.

Hannah Christiansen, wife of John Beck, was also from Denmark and left that land for America the same year in which her future husband came over. They were married in this country and are the parents of six children, four of whom are living, namely: Peter, Charles and Frederick, of Harvey, Illinois, and J. O., of this review, who is the third in order of birth, and the only one who has left the place where he was born.

J. O. Beck spent his early life at Harvey, where he received his educational training, graduating in 1 898 from the high school of that town. While still a mere youth he went into the insurance business at the above named place, purchasing a local agency on leaving school and in due time becoming widely known in insurance circles by reason of a radical step such as few much older in years and experience would have attempted. Shortly after taking charge of the agency, upon being satisfied that a certain large factory carrying nearly a half a million dollars insurance, and upon which his companies carried sixty-three thousand dollars, was an undesirable risk, he voluntarily canceled all his insurance upon it, thereby forfeiting the commission collected upon same by his predecessor. In less than five weeks after he took this action, the factory burned, a total loss, and his companies had been saved the sixty-three thousand dollars. So pleased were the companies with his action that the vicepresident of the Continental Insurance Company made him assistant special agent for Cook county, an honorable and responsible position to entrust to a youth but eighteen years of age.

After representing the above company in the territory assigned him for one year, Mr. Beck was made special agent of the Hartford Company for the same field, which position he held one and a half years, when he was transferred to Southern Illinois as special agent and adjustor. After serving in the latter capacity until the spring of 1906 he resigned the position and organized the Illinois Bankers' Fire Insurance Company of Mount Vernon, which was incorporated and licensed by the State Insurance Departtnent on August 2d of the same year and later by the Insurance Department of Michigan and Missouri. In due time the company was represented in all the principal cities and towns of the three states by local agents and it was not long until a large volume of business was built up which gave every promising future prosperity and permanency. Owing to the financial panic of the following year, however, which very naturally interfered with the insurance business throughout the entire country, and the excessive losses suffered by the various companies, the board of directors of which Mr. Beck was a member, on September 26, 1908, re-insured all their outstanding business in the Commonwealth Insurance Company of Iowa, thus rendering the policy holders safe and giving them confidence in the management under which they originally took insurance.

Mr. Beck's integrity has always been beyond cavil and his business interests as his every relation of life, show a due sense of responsibilty in harmony with the highest principles of ethics. During the prevalence of the recent uncertainty and distrust in business and financial circles his conduct was above criticism and all with whom he came in contact in a business way reposed the utmost confidence in his integrity and judgment, and the result is that he has since advanced to a high place in public esteem and is now regarded as one of the most honorable and reliable men of his calling in the southern part of the state. On being transferred to Southern Illinois by the Hartford Insurance Company he moved to Mount Vernon, which city he has since made his home and with the growth and prosperity of which he is now very actively identified. He is a stockholder in the Jefferson State Bank, besides being connected with various other local interests and at one time was district chairman of the Illinois State Board of Fire Underwriters comprising nine counties in Southern Illinois.

In politics Mr. Beck is, in the main, independent with predilections in favor of the Republican party in state and national issues. On matters purely local he gives his support to the candidates best qualified for the offices to which they aspire. He is of liberal ideas, keeps informed on the leading questions of the day and although firm in his convictions, which are invariably well fortified, and fearless in the expression of his opinions he is tolerant of the opinions of others and seeks no discussion with those holding views directly the opposite of his own.

Mr. Beck was married September 6, 1902, to Miss Caroline H. Gillette, daughter of the late Rev. C. B. Gillette, of Harvey, Illinois, the father a native of New York and for many years a prominent and influential minister of Will and other counties, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Beck have an interesting family of four children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows: Carrol, born September 20, 1 903 ; John, born November 8, 1 904 ; Oscar, born August 1 5, 1906, and Hubert L., who was born on the 23d day of July, 1 908. The subject and wife are highly regarded by the people of their adopted city and take much interest in all that tends to the social and moral upbuilding of the community. Religiously they hold to the Calvinistic creed and their names adorn the records of the First Presbyterian church of Mount Vernon.