Marion County, Illinois - The whole text, 1909 (part 13 of 27)

Lucy, who married Moses Wainscot, lives in Kinmundy township; Elizabeth, who married William Jones, is deceased; Mary, who married Thomas Jones, is deceased; Margaret is deceased; William is living in Kinmundy township; Samuel, our subject. Samuel Morris attended the schools in his native community and remained at home until he was twenty-three years old. In December, 1875, he was married to Mary Eagan, of Foster township, Marion county, the daughter of William and Martha (Holt) Eagan, natives of Tennessee. Her parents lived and died on a farm in Foster township. Two children have been born to the subject and wife, May, the wife of Edward Kidder, of Fayette county, Illinois, who lives on a farm and who is the father of these children; Elva, Josie, Dortha, Cleo, Marjie, John. The seventh child is deceased. The eighth child is Willey. The subject's second child is named Stella. She is married to Abby Cox, living near Cairo, 111. She was educated in the public schools of the county.

In the spring of 1876 our subject settled on a farm in Kinrnundy township, having bought a place which he worked until 1883, when he came to Foster township and purchased one hundred acres of valuable land in section 12, on which he made extensive improvements until it now ranks with the best farms in the county, being well tilled the soil not having been injured, always producing excellent crops. He has prospered by reason of his habits of economy and careful management until he now owns two farms, the other in Kinmundy township, consisting of one hundred and fourteen acres. These places grow abundant crops of hay, wheat, corn and oats. The subject raises large numbers of cattle and hogs, also other stock, including fine horses and good sheep. He carries on general fanning with that discretion and energy which always abundantly rewards the toiler. He has devoted his life to the free and independent life of the farm. He has long voted the Democratic ticket, but has not aspired to office. He is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Morris is held in high esteem by all who know him and that includes most everyone in Foster and Kinmundy townships, as well as a great many throughout the county, where he is regarded as one of its representative citizens.

John Samuel March

No man in Raccoon township, Marion county, stands higher in the estimation of his fellow citizens than the gentleman whose name forms the caption of this sketch, owing to the fact that his life has been so modulated as to result in the accomplishment of great good not only for himself and family, but also the community at large.

John Samuel March was born February 4, 1847, in Cleveland county, North Carolina, the son of John and Elizabeth (Warlick) March, both natives of that county. The mother's people were natives of Penn- sylvania, while those of the father were of Scotch-Irish descent and lived in the old Tar Heel state. The subject's father had only a limited education. He grew up and married in North Carolina, and in 1850 went to Smith county, Tennessee, where he purchased a farm on which he lived until 1860, when he sold out and came to Marion county, Illinois, and bought one hundred and twenty acres of land in section 35, Raccoon township. It was partly in timber and had an old log house and stable on it. He bought the place of Stephen D. Hays. Here he worked and made a good living, and he died on this place in 1884, his wife having died in 1878. They were members of the Missionary Baptist church. He was a stanch Republican. To them five children were born, namely : Mary married Thomas A. McNeilly, of Raccoon township ; Margaret first married David Whisnant and later George Williams. They are both deceased. Peter, who married Virginia E. Hays is deceased, and his widow married Isaac W. Mc- Bride, of Raccoon township. He is a farmer as was also Peter March; Elizabeth Jane, who married John Watson, died in California; John S., our subject, is the youngest child.

The subject of this sketch had but little opportunity to attend school. He lived at home until he enlisted in the army. His patriotic fervor led him to give up the pleasures of home and enlist December 15, 1863, in Company E, Sixty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and he was discharged March 6, 1866. He was sent to Little Rock,

Arkansas, where he spent the winter doing guard duty while railroads were being constructed. He went to Pine Bluffs, Arkansas, and was there until July, 1865. Then he went to Ft. Gibson, Cherokee nation, Indian Territory, where he remained until his discharge. He was a private all through the service, and he nearly lost his sight. His eyes are still very bad as a result of the disease contracted during his army career. On July 4, 1867, Mr. March was united in marriage with Harriett S. McColgin, of Raccoon township, Marion county, the daughter of Hamilton and Ruth (Morrison) McColgin, natives of Tennessee. They came to Illinois early and settled in Raccoon township, section 27, and 1878 went to Newton county, Missouri, in which county they died, Mr. McColgin in the fall of 1902 and his wife in the spring of that year. They were the parents of nine children, namely : Sarah J., who married Milton McCaslin, lives in Newton county, Missouri; Harriett S., wife of our subject ; William died at the age of twenty-one years ; John lives in Oklahoma ; Mary is the wife of John Clark, living in Newton county, Missouri; Ella, who married Thomas Grimes, lives in Oklahoma ; James, who is deceased, married Laura Maffitt; Nancy Jane is the wife of Cicero Hobson, of Newton county, Missouri ; Alice, the wife of Floyd McKee, also lives in Newton county, Missouri. Hamilton McColgin was a soldier in the Mexican war, enlisting at Salem, in the regiment with Gen. James S. Martin, marching across the desert to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and under- going many hardships. The grandfather of Mrs. March, Joseph Morrison was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Nine children have been born to the subject of this sketch and wife, namely : Lillian E. married Richard Fowler, of Raccoon township, this county ; Laura Belle and Flora Jane are twins, the former married George A. Mercer, of Raccoon township ; Flora married Joseph C. Parkinson, also of Raccoon township; John W., the fourth child, lives in Evansville, Indiana, and is general traffic manager of the Igleheart Milling Company of that city. He married Gertrude A. Hall ; Henry Franklin, the fifth child, is station agent of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Company at Cartter, this state. He married Mabel Hodges. Mary A., the subject's sixth child, who has been a teacher for the past five years, is living at home; Minnie Ruth is bookkeeper and stenographer for J. J. Bundy, an attorney at Centralia ; James Edgar, who married Gertrude Pearl Morton, is a farmer in Raccoon township; Carrie Maude is living at home. The children of the subject are all well educated. John W. and Mary A. attended school at Alma, this state, also Carbondale, Illinois, the former having graduated at Dixon, this state. After his marriage the subject lived on the old homestead for one year and went to Newton county, Missouri, where he remained for about eleven years, carrying on farming and mining, making a success of each. He came back to Raccoon township and bought the old home place of one hundred and sixty acres in section 35, on which he has made all the improvements which are extensive and show good judgment. In 1900 Mr. March bought one-half interest in the Hall and Lawrence coal mine at Chandler, Indiana, which he sold out after successfully operating it for four years. The subject has always been a farmer and he at present carries on general farming and raises fine horses, mules, hogs and cattle, no small part of his income being derived from his live stock.

He has been supervisor and school director. He is a member of Masonic Lodge No. 721, Blue Lodge at Dix, Illinois. He has held all of the stations. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Dix. Mrs. March is a member of the Christian church. They are popular and well liked in their neighborhood, known as honest and kindly disposed people.

Henry G. Holt

The subject of this sketch has had a .varied and, to a considerable extent, an eventful career, throughout which he has maintained unsullied his integrity and exemplified a character worthy of emulation. Henry G. Holt, the venerable and well known farmer of Foster township, Marion county, Illinois, was born on the old Holt homestead in Foster township, this county, December 28, 1830, the son of John F., and Elizabeth (Jones) Holt, both natives of Georgia. They came to Lebanon, Illinois, in an early clay. The subject's grandfather, Harmon Holt, a native of Georgia, married Isabelle Foster, of Georgia, and they were pioneers near Lebanon, Illinois. They later came to Marion county, where they secured wild land and were among the first settlers. He was always a farmer. Both he and his wife died in this county, after rearing a large family. The subject's grandfather Jones, was also a native of Georgia, who came to Illinois and settled in Foster township. He was a farmer, and he and his wife reared a large family, named as follows: James, Samuel, Joseph, Thomas, Rachel, Polly, Elizabeth and Eli.

John F. Holt, the subject's father, grew up in Georgia and came north with his parents to Lebanon, Illinois, and in about 1827, came to Foster township, Marion county, settling among the pioneers in section 10. The subject's grandfather got two hundred and eighty acres of land, which was all wild. On this he erected a log house, where he lived and died, having improved the place. The following children were born to the subject's father and mother: Martha, deceased, was the wife of William Eagan, who is also deceased ; Henry G., our subject; Matilda was married first to Martin Hopkins and second to John Cox, the latter is deceased : Polly, who is deceased, married James Arnold, who is also deceased; Isabelle married Thomas Evans, and they are both deceased: Sarah married Jackson Lansford and they are both deceased ; Samuel married Susan Atkins, of Kinmundy township: Davenport and Hardy, twins,

The subject's father was always a farmer and made his home with his parents until his death. He held several township offices. He was a Democrat. He was long a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. They both died on the place where the subject lives.

When our subject was a boy there was only one school in Foster township and he had to go two miles to attend this. It was a subscription school. Our subject remained at home until he was twenty years of age. He was married in 1851 to Esther Arnold, who was born in Alabama, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Arnold. They were reared in Alabama, and came to this county in about 1846, having lived in different places, finally locating in Foster township, where Mrs. Arnold died, her husband dying in Texas. He was a farmer. The subject's wife passed away October 29, 1907. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Holt. They were the parents of nine children, four of whom grew to maturity, namely: Elizabeth, who married William Morris, a farmer in Kinmundy township; May Margaret is the wife of Wesley Doolen, of Foster township: John F., is living on the old homestead, and he is married to Lucy McConnell; Rhoena, who remained single, is deceased.

After his marriage our subject and his wife located where he now lives, having remained here continuously to the present time. He carries on general farming in such a manner as to gain a comfortable living and lay up an ample competency, being considered one of the leading agriculturists of the township. He raises all kinds of grain and hay and live stock. He raises Durham cattle, Poland China hogs and a good grade of horses. He formerly raised sheep. He has never had to buy corn to feed his stock, his place always producing an ample supply. His fine farm consists of two hundred acres. He at one time owned considerably more than this. His farm is kept in a fine state of improvement. Mr. Holt has always voted the Democratic ticket and was at one time supervisor of Foster township. He is a member of the Methodist church and a liberal subscriber to the same. He started in life in a rather humble manner, but he was thrifty and a hardworker and success has abundantly rewarded his efforts and has reared his family in comfort. He is known to be a man of honesty in all his dealings with his fellow men and is one of the best known and most influential citizens of Foster township.

Mrs. Nancy J. See

It is with pleasure that the biographer adverts to the life of the estimable lady whose name appears at the head of this sketch, for she is one of the much admired of the elderly women of her community, residing in a comfortable home in Kinmundy township, surrounded by all that could make the golden evening of her well spent life comfortable and happy, knowing that her life has been so lived that she can look back over her long and happy career with no compunction of conscience for misspent days.

Mrs. Nancy J. See was born December 10, 1831, five miles northwest of Odin, Marion county, Illinois. Her mother and William J. Bryan's grandmother were sisters. The husband of the subject was Michael See, a native of West Virginia, having been born in Mason county, March 18, 1824. Michael See, the great-grandfather, was killed by the Wyandot and Shawnee Indians, who also killed his grandfather, both of whom were buried at Point Pleasant, West Virginia. William See, uncle of our subject's husband, was in the War of 1812. All of his great uncles were Revolutionary soldiers and stanch American colonists.

Michael See was twenty years old when he left Virginia and came with his mother, four brothers and several sisters to Marion county, Illinois, his father having died when he was five years old. He was one of nine children, five brothers and four sisters, all of whom reached maturity, married and raised families of their own. To Michael and Nancy See nine children were born, seven girls and two boys, whose names follow: Samuel R., Virginia, Sarah A., Leander, Nancy, Florence, Cornelia, Harriett and Clara. Mrs. See has three grandchildren.

and sixty acres, which comprised the old See homestead and which is one of the most desirable places to live in Kinmundy township. The land has been under an excellent state of cultivation and the natural strength of the soil has been preserved. A comfortable income is realized from the crops and stock which the place produces from year to year. The dwelling is substantial and surrounded by fine old shade trees, a good orchard and all that can make life worth living. Although Mrs. See is in her seventy-seventh year at this writing, 1908, she is hale and hearty and in full possession of her mental powers and it is a delight to hear her tell of the olden times, when the country was wild and uncultivated, of the methods of making a living in those days which were, indeed, primitive compared with those of the opulent present. She is a Democrat in principle and is a great reader, keeping pace with the progress of the years and is well informed on political, religious, educational and scientific questions of the day. Mrs. Nancy J. See is one of those sterling pioneer characters, whose like is now not frequently met with. She cooked for the first men who put the railroad through1 Marion county. Her people were Methodists, but she is a member of the Baptist church and has always taken a great interest in church work or in fact, anything that -has had as its object the development of the public welfare in any way. One always feels better after sharing her optomistic spirit and basking in the genial sunshine of her nature.

Harmon Foster

The subject of this sketch is an enterprising farmer of Foster township, Marion county, where he has spent his long and useful life, being closely associated with its material welfare. A thorough agriculturist, whose career happily illustrates what industry can accomplish when properly applied and intelligently directed.

Harmon Foster was born in Foster township, July 5, 1840, the son of Hardy and Mary (Jones) Foster, both natives of Georgia, who came north to Illinois with their parents when children, settling near Lebanon, where they grew up and married. Hardy Foster was always a farmer. They came to Marion county, this state, in 1823, and settled in section 17, Foster township. There was not a white settler at that time in the township which was named for this family. Red men and wild beasts were their neighbors. Mr. Foster put up a rail pen in which to live, later he put up a log cabin, then a comfortable house. The nearest settler was eight miles. He had seven hundred acres of land. He is described as a physical giant, over six feet tall, large, rugged and strong. He took an active part in politics and was a member of the legislature from 1837 to 1840, and did much toward strengthening the legal statutes of those times. He was a Democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died in 1863, his widow surviving until 1875. Eleven children were born to them, namelv: Martha, Mahala, Sallie, all de- ceased; John was captain of Company D, One Hundred and Eleventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded at Ft. Mc- Alister, having been shot through the neck. He died in 1874. William, the fifth child, was a stock dealer who lived at Kinmundy, this county, and who is now deceased ; Annie died young; Isabelle, who married Benjamin A. Morgan, is deceased ; Thomas died young; Polly was killed by guerillas in Missouri; Harmon, our subject; Bettie married Thomas Neville, of Kinmundy.

The subject of this sketch attended the subscription schools and received a limited education. He remained at home until he reached the age of twenty-seven years. He was married November 20, 1867, to Lucinda Hathaway, of Patoka township, Marion county, and a daughter of Leonard and Louisa (Wright) Hathaway, both natives of Tennessee, the former of Giles county, the latter of Maury county. Mr. Hathaway moved to Marion county, Illinois, in 1825, and Mrs. Hathaway followed in 1829, she coining with her parents; Mr. Hathaway came with his mother and her family. They first settled in Clinton county, Illinois, near Boulder. Mrs. Foster's parents married in Clinton county in 1837, in which year they located in Patoka township, Marion county, first settling on the Warrington place, later he secured three hundred and sixty acres of wild land. He was a successful farmer. He died in 1875, at the age of sixty-two years, and his wife died in 1896, at the age of seventy-six. They were members of the Cumberland

Presbyterian church. Eight children were born to them who grew to maturity, namely : Nancy, John, both deceased ; James is living with the subject and wife; Lucinda, the subject's wife; William is a retail merchant at Sandoval, Illinois; Joseph is living with the subject and wife; George W. died in July, 1903 ; Harrison E., who is in the dairy business at Peoria, Illinois.

Four children have been born to the subject and wife, namely: Mary L., wife of E. L. Stevens, of Tonti,. Illinois, and the mother of five children, Clarie, Arthur, Paul, Leona and Emma; Lizzie is the wife of E. N. Norris, of Patoka, Illinois, who is a photographer, and they have four children, Ideline, Halvern, Ralph and Wrinfred; Flora L. is the wife of F. M. Griffin, a farmer in Foster township, and she is the mother of two sons, Marion F. and Lester W. ; Arthur Hardy died in 1885.

After the subject's marriage he located on his present place and built the comfortable and beautiful home in 1880, where he now resides. He has made all the improvements on the place which is equal to any in the township, producing excellent crops from year to year. He has one hundred and twenty-three acres in section 8. He has always been a farmer and is regarded as one of the best in Foster township. He carries on general farming and stock raising, always owning some fine, stock of various kinds.

held other minor offices. He is a faithful member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Xo people in this township are more popular than Mr. and Mrs. Foster, who are industrious and honest in all their relations with their neighbors.

James W. Arnold

The subject of this sketch is a citizen of Foster township, Marion county, and he is so loyal to what he considers his duty that no personal consideration will deter him from its accomplishment. It is such worthy citizens as Mr. Arnold who have made this county the productive and prosperous region that it is today.

James W. Arnold was born in section 9, Foster township, February 14, 1847, the son of John Wesley Arnold, who was born in Alabama, he the son of John Arnold, of Georgia. He married Elizabeth Webb and they came to Illinois, settling near Charleston in 1825, where they remained for one year, when they went back to Alabama. Twelve years later they located near Lebanon, Illinois, where they remained until 1844, when they moved to Foster township, Marion county, buying land there. Later they went to Ellis county, Texas, where Mr. Arnold died in 1887, at the age of eightyseven years. His wife died in Foster township, this county. Mr. Arnold was a farmer and also owned a mill. The following children were born to them : William ; Nancy, of Cairo, Illinois ; John W., Joseph ; Adeline, who is living in Missouri ; Margaret, Esther, Ivey, living in Oklahoma ; James A., Felix, Nathan of Texas; Fletcher was killed at Atlanta, Georgia, during the Civil war.

John Wesley Arnold married Nancy Jones, of Foster township, Marion county, the daughter of James and Laura Jones. He settled in section 9, Foster township, where he secured wild land and made a home. He was always a farmer and stock raiser and owned five hundred acres of good land. He was active in politics, being a Republican, and was at one time Supervisor of Foster township. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was born in 1820 and his death occurred in 1889. His wife was born in 1827 and died in February, 1905. Seven children were born to them as follows: James W., our subject; Mary E., who married Alexander Mussey, living near Vernon, Illinois ; John I. is living retired in Foster township ; Elizabeth married John Doolen, living at Kinmundy, this county ; Joseph T. lives at Kinmundy ; Eli M. is in the oil business at Shawnee, Oklahoma; Rosie E. married Isom W. Doolen, living at Vernon, this county.

James W. Arnold, our subject, attended the home schools. He remained a member of the family circle until his marriage, November 18, 1869, to Permelia J. Robb, who was born in Kinmundy township, the daughter of Samuel and Agnes Pruitt, who were pioneers of this county and who died here. The following children have been born to the subject and wife : Cyrus Elmer, a farmer in Foster township, who married Ann Green and who has one child, Gladys; Samuel W., living in section 3, Foster township, was married first to Jennie Green, and his second wife was Isabelle Nichols. He had two children by his first wife, Doris and Dale, and two children by his second wife, Thelma and an infant born in 1908. Lola Etta is the name of the subject's third child, who is the wife of Cyrus Green, of Foster township, and the mother of four children, Glen, Lovell, Anna and Russell; Orin M., graduate of the Business College of Dixon, Illinois, married Laura Garrett, of Foster township, is farming and they have two children, Florence and Harold D. The subject's children were educated in the home schools, receiving careful mental training, and they all give much promise of successful futures.

After Mr. Arnold's marriage he lived on the old home place for two years when he bought the place where he now lives, consisting of one hundred and eighty-three acres. He at one time owned considerably more but gave it to his children. Besides his farming Mr. Arnold successfully operated a saw mill for a while. He also managed a store at Lester, Illinois, for two years and was also successful in this venture. He was postmaster of that town, giving entire satisfaction to all concerned. He made all the improvements of his farm which now ranks among the best in Marion county. He has a most excellent and valuable apple and peach orchard, consisting of forty acres, also of small fruits. He carries on general farming and stock raising. He is active in politics, being a Republican, and he has filled all the township offices. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In his fraternal relations he is a Mason, the Blue Lodge, No. 398, at Kinmundy, Illinois. Mr. Arnold is well known throughout Marion county for his industry and his honesty in dealing with his fellow men.

Joseph Wesley Atkins

The entire life of our subject has been spent within the borders of Marion county, where he commands uniform confidence and esteem in the community in which he has lived and labored, not only for his own advancement but also that of the general public here.

Joseph Wesley Atkins, better known as "Doc" Atkins, was born March 22, 1858, in Foster township, this county, the son of Nathan D. and Mary (Garrett) Atkins, the former having been born in 1817 and the latter in Georgia in 1829. The subject's father came with his mother when a small boy to St. Clair county, Illinois, where the mother died, then Nathan came to Marion county in an early day and secured wild government land in Foster township, where he developed a good farm and where he died in 1880, his wife having survived him until 1907. Nathan Atkins was a wellknown farmer and was liked by everyone in his communitv. He was a Democrat, but never held office. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church. The subject's grandfather, Moses Garrett, was a native of Georgia. He married Hannah Morris, of that state. He came to Illinois and bought unimproved land which he developed, devoting his life to farming. He was a public man and for many years Justice of the Peace and a loyal Democrat. Both he and his wife are sleeping the sleep of the just. To them were born the following children, Winnie, Thomas, Mary, James, Sarah, Elizabeth, Cynthia, Benjamin and Frances. The following children were born to Nathan Atkins and wife: Moses B., deceased; John W., deceased; Thomas B., died in Texas; Margaret F., deceased; Joseph W., our subject; George L., deceased; Richard M., of Kinmundy, Illinois; Hannah C, of Kinmundy township; Mary E., who is single and living on the old home place ; Cynthia C. is also living on the old home place; Nathan L., deceased.

The subject of this sketch was educated in the home schools, remaining a member of the family circle until he was married, February i, 1881, to Harriett Doolen, of Foster township, and the daughter of Benjamin Doolen, one of the pioneers of Marion county. He married Laura (usually called Ann) Jones, who passed to her rest March 30, 1894.

In 1881 the subject located in section 2, Foster township, where he remained for a period of five years, and in 1886 moved to where he now lives in the same section of this township. The land was then wild, but being a hard worker he soon had the land well improved and built a comfortable and substantial home and convenient out-buildings. He now owns one hundred and forty acres of excellent land which is very productive and yields a comfortable living and he carries on general farming and stock raising. He is a good judge of all kinds of live stock and no small part of his income is derived from his sale of stock.

Mr. Atkins has never aspired to public office, being content to merely cast his vote with the Democratic party. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Atkins is considered among the leading young farmers of Foster township and a man of excellent habits and good reputation for honest dealing and clean living.

Samuel W. Jones

The honored subject of this sketch is a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of Marion county and is personally identified with the industrial interests of this section of the state where he has spent his life, being the owner of a fine farming property in Kinmundy township.

Samuel W. Jones was born in Marion county, Illinois, September 15, 1858. and he has preferred to spend his entire life within ' the borders of the same, where lie believed he would have better advantages among the people where the Jones family had long been noted for their industry and honesty, than he would have in other counties of this or any other state of our great Union. He is the son of Jackson C. and Margaret (Whiteside) Jones. A history of the subject's father and mother and their ancestry will be found under the head of James R. Jones, whose sketch appears in another part of this volume.

Our subject received his early education in the district schools where he applied himself in a diligent manner to his books and received a fairly good education, having fed a large herd of his father's cattle in the meantime. He left school at the age of nineteen and began farming, which enterprise he has since been identified with and which he has made a great success, being recognized today as one of the leading agriculturists of his community. He has prospered until he has become the owner of a valuable farm consisting of one hundred and thirty-five acres. His land is under a high state of cultivation and the soil has been kept in a very good condition through proper management until excellent crops are reaped from it year by year, the subject being thus enabled to make a comfortable living and also lay by something for the future. He has a good income also from his stock, being especially interested in the raising of Poland China hogs and Shropshire sheep, both being noted for their excellent quality, for Mr. Jones certainly understands the . successful handling of stock. He has a nice, modern and comfortable dwelling and a large number of good outbuildings, in fact everything about

Our subject was united in marriage September 20, 1877, to Hannah Atkins, who was born in Foster township, Marion county, December 24, 1861, the daughter, of Nathan Atkins, who was born August 28, 1817, in Alabama. He came to Illinois when a young man and took up government land, cleared a farm which he continued to work the rest of his life and on which he reared a family of twelve children, eight boys and four girls, five of whom are still living. Their names are James, Moses, John, Thomas, Barbara, Margaret, George, all deceased: Joseph, Richard, Hannah, Elizabeth and Catherine, all living. Nathan Atkins has long since passed to his rest. He married Mary Garrett, the daughter of Moses and Hannah Garrett, pioneers of this county.

Our subject and wife are the parents of three living children and one child that is dead. Their names are, Charles W., William O.. deceased; Bessie C., and Mary J. Charles W. Jones married Susie Pearson, and they have one son, named Carroll G. William Pearson, the father of Charles W. Jones's wife, was born in Marion county. Her mother's name was Emiline Anglin, who was also born in this county. William Pearson was the father of six children, two boys and four girls. Mrs. Hannah Jones was educated in the country schools of this county where she diligently applied herself until she was sixteen years of age when she was married to our subject who was nine- teen. She is a good housewife and mother, of a cheerful disposition and is beloved by all who know her for her many beautiful traits of character.

Our subject, while not a member of any church, is a believer of the principles of Christianity and good government. He is a stanch Democrat and his support can always be depended upon when any measures looking to the public good are at issue.

The Bryan Family

In giving the genealogy of the Bryan family, who have long been considered among the most noted and highly esteemed of Marion county, Illinois, there are some characteristics which the reader will at once note as being particularly strong and plainly marked throughout the entire lineage. First, as a family whose veracity is never questioned ; second, they are noted for being strictly honest in every detail of social, political and business life; third, those who are Christians are very devoted, believing emphatically in a prayer hearing and prayer answering God, believing that He guides man in every right act of life. The publishers of this work are glad to be able to give their readers an insight into the life records of this remarkable family and can state with all authenticity that the sketches contained herein are to be relied upon.

William Bryan, the great-grandfather of Hon. William J. Bryan, was born in England and was married there, having come to America before the Revolutionary war, settling in Culpeper county, Virginia. Five children were born to them, namely : James, John, Aquilla, Francis and Elizabeth. James moved to Barren county, Kentucky. Aquilla went to Ohio. One of the girls married a man named Baldwin. Nothing further is known of these families at present.

John Bryan, the second son and grandfather of Hon. William J. Bryan, was born in 1790. In 1807 he married Nancy Lillard, a representative of one of the finest old southern families of Virginia, and she is remembered as a very refined and cultured woman, endowed with more than ordinary intelligence. In 1828 they moved to Cobal county, Virginia, and lived there two years. From there they moved to Mason county, Virginia, where they lived and passed to their rest and where they lie buried. To them ten children were born. The oldest, William W., was born in 1808. He married Emily Smith and about 1838 moved to Lincoln county, Missouri, near Troy. They were the parents of four children, namely: William Hamilton, John J., Gallic and Virginia. William W. Bryan reached an old age and died a few years ago, his wife following him to the other shore only a few months later. William H. Bryan is an honored and respected citizen of Troy, Missouri, and he has a nice Christian family. Callie and Virginia are noble Christian women. John J. is deceased. John J.

Bryan, ST., died in early manhood. Howard died in infancy. Jane, the oldest daughter, married Joseph Cheney, a wealthy hat manufacturer of Gallipolis, Ohio. She was left a widow with six small children whom she reared to be useful women and men. Their names were : Robert, Mary, Russell, Linna, Harriet and Emma. She spent the last few years of her life at various places, wherever she preferred to stay, spending seven years with the family of Judge Silas L. Bryan. The last three years of her life she lived with Mrs. Mollie Webster, one of her nieces, whom she comforted in her early widowhood. She was the idolized aunt around whom all the nieces and nephews clustered, who regarded her as an earthly saint. She was never heard to utter an unkind word against any of God's creations. The night she was called from earth she praised God aloud with every shortening breath.

Xancy Bryan married George Baltzell and moved to Walnut Hill, Illinois, where she died. Two sons were born to them, Silas L. and Russell B. Both are active business men, the former living at Hammond, Louisiana, and the latter at Centralia, Illinois. Nancy is described as a very handsome woman, refined and cultured. To her early training, motherly care and prayers. Judge Silas L. Bryan owed much of his success in life.

Martha Bryan married Homer Smith, of Gallipolis, Ohio, and moved to Illinois. She was left a widow with two small girls, Jane and Mary. She was called from earth before the girls were grown. Jane made her home with Russell Bryan and Mary with Judge Bryan's family. Jane was a successful school teacher for several years. The mother was a very devoted Christian and always had family prayers and is today a sainted mother. The youngest daughter, Mary, now Mrs. Mollie Webster, has been a widow several years. She manages a large farm very successfully, and she is a great temperance and church worker. She has been county president of the White Ribbon Army for a number of years and is also treasurer of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in the Twenty-first Congressional District of Illinois. It was she who taught Hon. William J. Bryan his little infant prayers. She taught and trained him in his first boyhood speeches. When he was in Salem once visiting his old home they reviewed some of the scenes and incidents of their interesting childhood days.

Silas L. Bryan, father of Hon. William J. Bryan, was born in Culpeper Court House, Virginia, in 1822. He came to Illinois in 1842, where he lived, died and was buried. He worked on a farm at nine dollars a month, saving his money to defray his expenses at McKendree College. During the winter while at college he would chop wood on Saturdays to help pay expenses. Many of his colleagues made fun of him, but in after years many of them, came to borrow money of him and to seek his legal advice. He was a man of sterling qualities, the kind that always make for success when rightly and persistently applied. He was a very devout Christian, always had family prayers, and he promised the Lord if He would prosper him to get through college he would pray three times a day the rest of his life. This promise he faithfully kept, praying morning and evening at his home, and at noon wherever he happened to be. He would drop on his knees and ask God's blessings. He was a member of the Marion county bar for a period of thirty years, a member of the State Senate for eight years, and for twelve years was Circuit Judge of this judicial district. He was a member of the convention that framed the present state constitution of Illinois. He was a man of unusual tact, shrewdness, soundness of judgment and force of character, and it was from him that Hon. William J. Bryan inherited his gift of oratory and his brilliant intellect. He imbued the boy with lofty ideals and taught him by example and precept how to make a grand and noble man. Silas L. Bryan married Mariah Elizabeth Jennings, a woman of many praiseworthy traits and a devoted Christian wife and mother. She gave the best part of her life to the care of her family. . She was truly "a mother in Israel." To this union were born nine children, namely: John H., Virginia, William J., Russell, Harry, Frances, Charles, Nancy and Mary. John and Virginia died within six weeks of each other when young. William J. was born March 17, 1860. He was taught at home until ten years of age, after which he attended the public schools for five years, during which time he gave evidence of being a most precocious child and one to whom the future augured great things. He afterward attended college at Jacksonville, Illinois, where he made a brilliant record for both scholarship and deportment. He then studied law in Chicago in the office of Lyman Trumbull, making rapid progress from the first. He was admitted to the bar and successfully practiced for some time, finally entering the political arena, since which time his career has been too meteoric to need reviewing here, since his record is well known to all, and is given in detail in another part of this volume. Russell Bryan died in early manhood. Frances has a nice comfortable home in Shaw, Mississippi, and is a jolly, whole-souled woman, loved by everyone. Charles is a very successful business man in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nancy is a quiet, refined and modest girl. She was at one time William J.'s private secretary. Mary, the youngest of the family, became a successful school teacher. She has winning ways and is a great favorite. Russell Bryan, the youngest brother of Judge 'Bryan, came to Salem in 1841. He was familiarly known to all as "Uncle Russ," being well known throughout the county. He was endowed with a wonderful memory. Often when dates or records of events seemed obscure he was referred to, and seldom failed to give the correct names, dates or places desired. He had stock scales in Salem for thirty years, or since 1878, and his weights were never questioned. He never went in debt for anything, and he never had a law suit, and as a result of his upright life he was honored and respected by all who knew him. He married Amanda L. Tully, -who was always a very bright and active woman, a fine financier and business woman of unusual ability and acumen. Twelve children have been born to this union as follows: Anna E., Alice J., John E., Lewis -O., Andrew R., Mark T., Silas L., Rosa A. The ninth in order of birth died in infancy. Minnie M. was next in order; then Emma A. and Adis M. Anna chose the teacher's profession when quite young. She successfully taught for twenty-four years, and after she became a widow and had reached the meridian of life attended one of the state normals and graduated therefrom, since which time she taught in a normal training school in Chicago and later in Salem. Alice J. is a very domestic woman, and her's is one of the coziest homes in Salem. She is a natural artist and at one time was quite a cultured singer. John E. is a prosperous lawyer in Salem. He was a school teacher for many years, and has served as Master in Chancery for eight years. He is noted for his honor and integrity. (A fuller sketch of John E. Bryan appears elsewhere in this volume.) Lewis O. is a lawyer at Van Buren, Arkansas, and is quite wealthy. He is noted for his true philanthropy and is the poor man's friend. Andrew R. lives in Salem and is highly esteemed by all who know him. Mark T. died when six years old. Silas L. died in infancy. Rosa A. lives a mile from Van Buren, Arkansas, on ^ fine fruit farm. She is a woman of thrift and has a bright, interesting family. Minnie M. is a resident of Indianapolis. Emma A. resides in Centralia, this county. Adis M. is in the real estate business at Van Buren, Arkansas, and has become noted as a politician.

Elizabeth Bryan, the judge's youngest sister, married George Baltzell, and they live at Deer Ridge, St. Louis county, Missouri. She is the mother of the following children, namely: Anna, Albert, Florence, Edwin. The last named died while in college. They are influential and highly respected in their community.

Thus it is no wonder that this family should become so useful and influential and should be leaders of society in its various phases, when we consider how they have kept the even tenor of their way, how they were reared in "the fear and admonition of the Lord," and how they have kept the faith of their worthy ancestors, maintaining in all the relations of life that strict integrity and loyalty of principle to lofty ideals and honorable records in private, commercial, professional and public life. The influence for good to humanity and the amelioration of the human race of such a noble family is too far-reaching and inscrutable to be measured or contemplated with any degree of accuracy. Truly such characters are as "a shining light which grows more and more unto the perfect day," purifying, refining, strengthening and encouraging the wayworn traveler on life's rugged steeps, teaching the less courageous that he who would ascend to the heights of life where the purer atmosphere that inspires the souls of men may be breathed, must be true, loyal, ambitious, energetic, honorable and of indomitable energy

J. E. Bryan

The gentleman whose name heads this sketch has long enjoyed prestige as a leading citizen of the community in which he resides, and as an official against whose record no word of suspicion was ever uttered he has been for years an important factor in the history of Marion county, Illinois. His prominence in the community is the direct and legitimate result of genuine merit and ability, and in every relation, whether in the humble sphere of private citizenship or as a trusted public official, his many excellencies of character and the able and impartial manner in which he discharged his every duty won for him an enviable reputation as an enterprising and representative self-made man. He was for some time a prominent figure at the local bar, but desiring the more prosaic routine of the abstracter, he abandoned the legal profession and has for many years successfully conducted an abstract office in Salem, being known throughout the county in this line of work.

J. E. Bryan was born two and one-half miles north of Salem, July 4, 1851, the son of A. R. Bryan, a native of Virginia and a fine old southern gentleman, who came to Illinois when a boy. He was a tanner by trade and after a busy, successful and honorable career passed to his rest in 1901. He lived first at Shawneetown, then at Mt. Vernon, later at Walnut Hill, then at Salem, where he spent the balance of his life. The mother of the subject was Amanda Tully, whose people came from Tennessee and were among the first settlers in Marion county, having come here when the prairies were overrun by red men and wild beasts, but they were people of sterling qualities and surmounted every obstacle, winning a comfortable home as a result of their habits of industry and economy. The maternal grandfather of the subject was the first Sheriff of Marion county. This family consisted of twelve children, nine of whom are living in 1908, namely: Mrs. Anna Torrence, who resides on the old homestead, where the mother of the subject was born, in Salem; Mrs. Alice J. Kite, who is also living at the old homestead in Salem; J. E., our subject; Lewis O., living in Van Buren, Arkansas ; Andrew R., of Salem ; Mrs. Rosa Kagy, living in Arkansas; Mrs. Minnie Fisher, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Mrs. Emma Shepherd, of Centralia, Illinois; Adis, living at Van Buren, Arkansas. The mother of the subject, who was a woman of many praiseworthy traits, passed to her rest several years ago. Mr. Bryan's father, A. R. Bryan, was a brother of Silas Bryan, father of W. J. Bryan.

J. E. Bryan was reared in Salem, and he preferred to risk his fortunes in his native community rather than see uncertain success in other fields, consequently he has spent his life right here at home. He attended the common schools at Salem, applying himself most diligently to his text books and at the age of twenty began to read law, making rapid progress from the first, and in 1876 he was admitted to practice, his success being instantaneous and he soon became widely known as an able practitioner in all the local courts; but after twenty years of arduous work at the bar, during which time he built up an extensive business and won the unqualified confidence and esteem of a large clientele and of his brothers in the legal profession, he abandoned the law and opened an abstract office in Salem since since which time he has devoted his time and attention to this business with gratifying success as indicated above. In his fraternal relations Mr. Bryan is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Bryan was married in 1876 to Josephine W. Pace, a native of Salem and the accomplished representative of an old and highly respected family. No children have been born to this union.

Something of the confidence which the people of Salem repose in our subject will be gained when we learn that he has been School Treasurer of Salem township for over thirty years- at the time of this writing, 1908. He has devoted much attention to the development of the local public school system with the result that much has been accomplished toward making the Salem schools equal to any in the country. Mr. Bryan was also Master in Chancery for Marion county for a period of eight years, which responsible position he filled with great credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction to all concerned. In business he has always been successful and is at present one of the stockholders of the Salem State Bank. He has ever had the welfare of his community at heart and has always been found willing to devote his time to any movement looking to the development of the public weal, and as a result of his genuine worth, his pleasing demeanor, integrity of principal and honesty of purpose, he is today recognized as one of Marion county's foremost citizens.

Richard J. Holstlaw

Among the best known and highly respected families of Marion county is found the one bearing the name that forms the caption of this article. Richard J. Holstlaw was born in this county on the 3d of April, 1837. He still lives on the farm where he was born and during this span of life he has witnessed most wonderful changes in the progress and development of the country.

Mr. Holstlaw is descended from those hardy pioneers that crossed the mountains into Kentucky and Tennessee, blazing the way through the wilderness, opening up for colonization and occupancy the rich hunting grounds south of the Ohio. This tide of immigrants gradually worked its way westward and northward, crossing the Ohio into Indiana and Illinois and blending here

Our subject's father, Daniel S. Holstlaw, was born near Glasgow, Kentucky, in 1813, toward the close of the second war with England. The treaty at the conclusion of this war stimulated the westward movement and when Daniel was eight years old he came to Paoli, Indiana, with his parents. His mother, Ruth (Middleton) Holstlaw, a native of Tennessee, was the eleventh of fourteen children and came to Marion county, Illinois, in 1833. At the age of nineteen years, Daniel Holstlaw left the Hoosier state and immigrated to Marion county, Illinois. Here he entered a claim and also purchased some land, paying seven dollars per acre. At this time the country was still in its primitive state, and the six children, of whom our subject was the second, became quite familiar with early day methods of getting along.

Among other things that Mr. Holstlaw relates are his school experiences. The expense of paying for an instructor was met on the subscription plan, and all the neighbors joined in to obtain the privilege of a schooling for their children. Wild game of all kinds still abounded in the forests and furnished part of the food for the settlers. One morning Mr. Holstlaw counted thirtyseven deer - after a night when the prairie was on fire, when they could be seen clearly - to say nothing of other game, so abundant then, but so rarely seen now. When we reflect over to the fact that such a span of years has witnessed so great a contrast be- tween the present conditions and those of that day, it seems almost a fiction. Yet one needs but to ponder over the wonderful -changes of the last decade to convince him that we are even now already in the shadow of what will come tomorrow. While now the traction engine pulls the series of breaking plows rapidly through the sod, Mr. Holstlaw recalls the time when he followed the four yoke of patient oxen that composedly drew through the virgin soil the hand-made plow of hickory wood. Today the hay-loader puts the sweet-scented product of the meadow on the wagon and at the driver's feet, while then the dogwood fork, whittled by hand, was the only tool available. Fur and hides were hauled to St. Louis, seventy-five miles away, and court was held in a log structure at the county seat of Salem.

We shall now turn our attention to the domestic relations of our subject. In 1863 he was joined in marriage to Mary (Gagger) Barry. This union, though happy, was destined to be brief, for ere long the young wife was called hence, followed soon after by her infant child. On July 18, 1869, Mr. Holstlaw took as his second wife Rachel Barry, this union resulting in the birth of the following children: Erne I., who became the wife of Louis Barksdale; the son is Forrest D., the second daughter of the family, Carrie A., has become the wife of Walter K. Shook.

The Schwartz Brothers

Eminent business talent is composed of a combination of high mental and moral attributes; although these are essential, there must be sound judgment, breadth of capacity and rapidity of thought, justice and firmness, the foresight to perceive the course of the drifting tides of business and the will and ability to control them. The subjects of this review afford a striking exemplification of this talent, in a very high order of development and of such character as to gain them worthy prestige in business circles and positions of commanding influence.

The Schwartz brothers, Joseph and Frank, are not only twins but their lives and interests have been so closely interwoven, their purposes and ideals so nearly identical and their achievements of such similar character that the history of one is practically the history of both.

As the name indicates the Schwartz family is of German origin, the subject's father, Bernard Schwartz, having been a native of Luxemburg, where his ancestors had lived for many generations. When a young man Bernard Schwartz came to the United States and located at Worcester, Massachusetts, where he worked for some years at the tailor's trade and where in due time he married Christina Lacroix, who was also of German birth. Disposing of his interests in Massachusetts in 1855 he moved to Salem, Illinois, where he opened a shop and conducted a very successful tailoring business for a number of years, the meanwhile by judicious investments and careful management becoming the possessor of a large amount of valuable property in various parts of Marion county, and earning the reputation of an enterprising and praiseworthy citizen. From 1868 until his death in the year 1906 Bernard Schwartz lived a life of honorable retirement, but kept in close touch with business matters, amassed considerable wealth and for a number of years was classed with the financially solid and reliable men of Salem. He was a fine type, of the successful German-American, possessed to a marked degree of the sterling qualities for which his nationality is distinguished, did much to promote the material interests of his adopted city and his death was deeply lamented by all who knew him. Bernard and Christina Schwartz were earnest and devout Catholics in their religious belief and trained their children in the faith of the Holy Mother church, to the teaching of which they have been ever true and loyal. Their oldest child, a daughter, by the name of Flora, is the wife of Michael Berens, and lives in Salem; the twins, Frank and Joseph being the next in order of birth; Christine died when four years of age and Bernard, the youngest of the family, a young man of fine business ability and high social standing, departed this life on the 1 5th day of January, 1907. Like his older brothers, Bernard Schwartz possessed much more than ordinary powers of mind and had reached an important and influential position in the business world, when his brilliant and promising career was untimely terminated by the stern hand of death. He was a graduate of the Salem high school with the honors of his class, after which he took a pharmaceutical course in which he became especially proficient and for a number of years served on the State Board of Pharmacy, to which position he was first appointed by Governor Tanner, and later by Governor Yates and had not death intervened he doubtless could have held the place indefinitely as Governor Deneen signified his intention of reappointing him a short time prior to his demise.

Joseph and Frank Schwartz, to a brief review of whose career the reader's attention is here respectfully invited, were born on August agth, of the year 1859, in Salem, and spent their childhood and youth in their native town. As indicated in a preceding paragraph their lives having been passed under similar circumstances were in most respects strikingly similar, nevertheless to a better understanding of the purposes and ambitions of each it is deemed proper to give their early lives separately.

Joseph Schwartz was reared under excellent home influences and during his youth received from his parents a thorough instruction in the basic principles of morality and correct conduct so that while a mere lad he became so imbued with these principles as to make them a rule by which his subsequent life should be governed. At the proper age he entered the public schools of Salem and in due time completed the prescribed course of study graduating from the high school with the class of 1877. Actuated by a laudable desire for a more thorough scholastic training he subsequently became a student of the State University at Champaign, where he prosecuted his studies and researches until 1881 when he was graduated with an honorable record, immediately after which he engaged in the drug business with his brother Frank, their place of business being the store room on the site originally occupied by the house in which he was born.

By diligent attention and successful management the Schwartz brothers soon built up a large and lucrative patronage and it was not long until they led the drug business in Salem, their establishment being the largest and most popular of the kind not only in the city but in the county. From the beginning the enterprise prospered beyond their highest expectations and proved the source of an ample income which being judiciously invested in due time placed them on the high road to fortune.

Frank Schwartz, like his brother, spent his early life pretty much after the manner of the majority of town lads but unlike many was not permitted to eat of the bread of idleness, during the formative period of his character when fancy paints with glowing colors the future and holds out to the unwarv those pleasures which have no sub- stantial foundation and which if identified invariably terminate in regret and remorse. Under the guidance of his parents he grew up to the full stature of well rounded manhood with a proper conception of life and its duties and responsibilities and with the idea ever paramount that all true success and advancement must depend upon consecutive toil and endeavor. After obtaining a good practical education in the public schools of Salem, he entered at the age of sixteen the drug store of D. K. Green & Son. where he clerked for a period of four years, during which time he devoted his attention very carefully to the business with the object in view of ultimately engaging in the trade upon his own responsibility. At the expiration of the time indicated he purchased an interest in the establishment, which during the following year was conducted under the name of Green & Schwartz; his brother, Joseph, then bought Mr. Green's interest and under the firm name of Schwartz Brothers, the business grew rapidly in magnitude and importance and, as already stated, soon became the leading establishment of the kind in Salem, and proved to be the source from which no small part of their subsequent fortune grew. Meanwhile the Schwartz Brothers turned their attention to various other lines of business becoming largely interested in real estate, agriculture and horticulture, which with other enterprises of an industrial and financial nature paved the way to the high position they now hold in business circles, and gave them much more than local repute as capable, judicious and eminently honorable business men. Without following in detail the different lines of enterprise to which the Schwartz brothers have given attention, suffice it to state that all of their undertakings have been prosperous and they are today not only the leading business men of their own city and county, but occupy a conspicuous place among the leaders of industry in the southern part of the state. In 1907 they disposed of their drug house, since which time they have not been actively identified with any particular enterprise, devoting their attention to their large property interests and other investments, being heavy stockholders in the Salem State Bank and owning extensive tracts of real estate in Marion and other counties, including one fruit farm of one hundred and sixty acres, two and a fourth miles southeast of Salem, another consisting of eight hundred acres within a reasonable distance of the county seat, besides being associated with Mr. Rogers in the fruit evaporating business, under the firm name of Rogers & Schwartz Brothers, they do an immense and farreaching business. They are also members of the real estate firm of Telford & Schwartz, which with loans and insurance, constitutes the most successful business of the kind in the city. They own the Schwartz Block, one of the largest and most valuable properties in Salem, and as members of the firm of Rainey & Schwartz, own Rainey Lake, also a large pear orchard which adds much to their liberal and constantly growing income. In addition to the interests enumerated the Schwartz brothers have many other valuable holdings in both city and country, including the business block occupied by the Sweeney & Company's drug stock, a large lot at the rear of the State Bank, also quite a num- . ber of private dwellings in various parts of the town to say nothing of a vast amount of valuable personal property and bank accounts, comparing favorably in bulk with those of any other depositor in the county.

Under the name of Schwartz Brothers, by which the firm has always been known, Joseph and Frank Schwartz have filled a prominent place in the business affairs of Salem and Marion county, and from the beginning their careers present a series of continued successes which have placed them among the most progressive men of their day and generation in southern Illinois and earned them state wide reputation in business and financial circles.

They are politicians of the Democratic school and alive to all that concerns the best interest of their party. Religiously they are loyal to the tenets of the Roman Catholic church in which they were reared and for which they have the most profound love and regard contributing liberally to its material support and by their daily lives exemplifying the beauty and value of the principles and doctrines upon which it is based.

Joseph Schwartz was married in the year 1886 to Clara Rose, of Salem, daughter of Gordon Rose, an engineer on the Baltimore & Ohio road, and a most excellent and praiseworthy citizen. The pledges of this union are two bright and interesting daughters, namely : Helen, born in 1893, and Christine, whose birth occurred in the year 1905. The domestic life of Frank Schwartz dates from the 8th day of July, 1896, at which time he was united in the holy bonds of wedlock at Indianapolis, Indiana, with Annie Trimpe, of that city, a union terminated by the death of the wife on Thanksgiving day, 1903, after bearing her husband two children, Mattie Christine and Emma Gertrude, born in 1897 and 1901, respectively. On September 19, 1907, Mr. Schwartz chose a second wife and companion in the person of Mrs. Fannie Simpson, of Salem, a lady of many estimable qualities, who presides over his household with grace and dignity and who is deeply concerned in all of his undertakings making his interests her own and contributing not a little to his success. Fraternally Joseph Schwartz is identified with the ancient and honorable Masonic brotherhood and also holds membership with the Orders of Woodmen and Ben Hur, in all of which he is an active and influential worker, which may also be recorded of his brother, Frank.

Levi Monroe Kagy

In the collection of material for the biographical department of this publication there has been a constant aim to use a wise discrimination in regard to the selection of subjects and to exclude none worthy of representation within its pages. Here will be found mention of worthy citizens of all vocations, and at this juncture we are permitted to offer a resume of the career of one of the substantial and highly esteemed, in fact, one of the leaders of the industrial world of this section of the state, where he has long maintained his home and where he has attained a high degree of success in his chosen field of labor and enterprise.

Levi Monroe Kagy, the popular and well known president of the Salem State Bank, of Salem, Marion county, Illinois, was born near Tiffin, Senaca county, Ohio, December J5> l&55< tne son °f David Kagy, also a native of Seneca county, who came to Marion county, Illinois, in the year 1859. He devoted his life to agricultural pursuits which he made successful and at the time became a man of much influence in his community and well known as a scrupulously honest and public-spirited citizen. He was called from his earthly labors February 8, 1887, after a very active and useful life. The mother of the subject was known in her maidenhood as Sarah Milley. She is a woman of many estimable traits and is the recipient of the admiration and esteem of a large coterie of friends and acquaintances in the vicinity where she is still living in 1908 on the old homestead where she and her worthy life companion settled nearly a half century ago. To Mr. and Mrs. David Kagy were born only two children, Alice A. a woman of fine attributes, who is making her home with her mother; and Levi Monroe, our subject. The parents spared no pains in giving these children every possible care and advantage and the wholesome environment of their home life is clearly reflected in the lives of the subject and his sister.

Our subject lived on the parental farm until he was twenty-five years old and assisted his father with the farm work, giving him all his earnings up to the time of his maturity, and it was while thus engaged in the free outdoor life of the farm that he acquired many qualities of mind and body that have assisted very materially in his subsequent success in life. He attended the neighborhood schools where he applied himself in a most assiduous manner, outstripping many of his classmates, and therefore gained a broad and deep mental foundation which has since been greatly developed by systematic home study and contact with the world. After receiving what education he could in the home schools Mr. Kagy taught several terms of school in a most praiseworthy manner, teaching in the winter months and farming in the summer, having possesed not only a clear and well defined text-book training, but also the tact to deal with his pupils in a manner to gain the best results, at the same time winning their good will and lasting friendship.

After reaching young manhood, Mr. Kagy decided that his true life work lay along a different course than that of farming and school teaching, so he accordingly began to save his earnings in order to defray the expense of a course in Union Col- lege of Law at Chicago, now the Northwestern University, and he graduated from that institution with high honors on June 14, 1883, after having made a brilliant record in the same for scholarship and deportment.

He at once began practice at Salem, where his success was instantaneous, and with the exception of one year spent on the farm after his father's death, he has been in Salem ever since where he is now recognized as one of the most potent factors in her civic, industrial and social life. Mr. Kagy practices with uniform success in county, state and federal courts, and his services are in constant demand in cases requiring superior ingenuity and apt ability. His untiring energy, indefatigable research and persistency have made him successful where less courageous characters would have quailed and been submerged.

Something of the subject's peculiar and unquestioned executive ability is shown from the fact that he was one of the principal organizers in 1903 of the Salem State Bank, one of the most substantial, popular and sound institutions of its kind in southern and central Illinois. Mr. Kagy is president of the same, the duties of which he performs in a manner to gain the unqualified confidence of the public, and the citizens of Salem and Marion county do not hesitate to place their funds at his disposal, knowing that they could not be trusted to safer and more conservative hands. He is also stockholder in the First National Bank of Kinmundy, Illinois. He also helped organize the Haymond State Bank of Kinmundy, and afterwards was instrumental in merging this institution with the First National Bank of that city. Mr. Kagy was appointed Master in Chancery of Marion county in 1889, and afterwards twice re-appointed. He has served as president of the Salem School Board and declined re-election. In all these public capacities he displayed unusual adroitness in handling the affairs entrusted to him.

Mr. Kagy's happy and harmonious domestic life dates from May 18, 1887, when he was united in marriage to Alice Larimer, the youngest daughter of the late Smith Larimer, an ex-Treasurer of Marion county, an influential and highly respected citizen. Mrs. Kagy is a cultured and highly accomplished woman of many estimable attributes and possessing a gracious and pleasing personality which makes her popular among a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, and she presides over the modern, cozy, elegantly furnished and beautifully appointed home of the subject and family with modest grace and dignity. Into this model home two bright and interesting children add sunshine and cheerfulness. They are : John Larimer, who was born February 22, 1888, now a student, in 1908, in the University of Illinois, where he is making a splendid record ; and Leigh Monroe, who was born March 15, 1901 ; a girl died in infancy.

same; after much drilling it was ready to go to the front. Later Mr. Kagy was appointed by Gov. John B. Tanner, major of Pittenger's Provisional Regiment. Although it was fully ready to go to the front it was not called upon to do so.

Levi M. Kagy was one of the twenty-two men who subscribed twenty-two thousand dollars in order to induce the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad shops to locate in Salem. The public-spirited and energetic disposition of the citizens of this progressive city can be ascertained by the statement that this sum was raised in one night. Mr. Kagy was in San Francisco at the time, but his friends volunteered to vouch for him for eleven hundred dollars, and he promptly paid the full amount upon his return home. Mr. Kagy always practiced law alone until January, 1907, when he took E. B. Vandervort, of Portsmouth, Ohio, as an associate. They have a splendid and well equipped suite of rooms in the Kagy Building. Mr. Kagy, although interested in many industrial enterprises, gives his time almost exclusively to his law practice which is very large and which requires the major part of his time.

Fraternally our subject is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen. He has occupied the chairs in the local Odd Fellows lodge, and is one of the trustees of the I. O. O. F. Old Folks' Home of Illinois, of Mattoon, Illinois.

In politics he is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, with which he has been affiliated from the time of attaining his majority, and he has ever lent his aid in furthering his party's cause, being well fortified in his political convictions, while he is essentially publicspirited and progressive. In all the relations of life he has been found faithful to every trust confided in him and because of his genuine worth, splendid physique, courteous manners and genial disposition he has won and retains the warm regard of all with whom he associates.

William H. Farthing

The subject has long been recognized as one of Marion county's foremost business men, holding high rank among the financiers of the community in which he lives and whose interests he has ever had at heart and which he has ever striven to promote in whatever laudable manner that presented itself. The life of Mr. Farthing has been led along high planes and has been true to every trust that has been reposed in him.

William H. Farthing, the well known banker of Odin, Marion county, Illinois, was born in Odin, February 2, 1869, and not being lured away by the wanderlust that caused so many of his contemporaries to leave the old hearth stone he has preferred to live here. He is the son of George and Susan (Michaels) Farthing, natives of the state of Mississippi, Grandfather Farthing' was from Kentucky, having- come to Marion county, Illinois, in the fifties and settled in this vicinity where he worked a farm, and where he spent the remainder of his days having- died in the seventies. Both he and his wife were Baptists. They were the parents of five children.

The father of our subject was born in Logan county, Kentucky, and received his education in the Blue Grass state. He devoted his life to farming and railroading, and was about sixty years old at the time of his death. He left a widow and six children. The subject's mother is living at the age of fifty-three. Our subject was the second child in order of birth. He received his education in the public schools of Odin, but was obliged to leave school at the age of twelve years, when he commenced clerking in a store in which he continued for ten years, in the meantime developing into an excellent salesman. Being economical, he was enabled at the end of that time to purchase one-half interest in the store from his savings. He continued in this store for another period of ten years, during which time the trade of the firm rapidly increasd, customers coming from all parts of the county, because of the reputation of the firm for fairness and courteous treatment had extended to all localities roundabout. Mr. Farthing finally sold his interest in the store. He then handled real estate and other lines for two years with gratifying success. Then he purchased the bank at Odin, which had been started some time previous. Under Mr. Farthing's management it was soon placed on an excellent basis and it was patronized by the local people and by the farmers in that locality, for Mr. Farthing's name gave the bank a sound prestige, for everyone knew that their funds would be entirely safe entrusted to him, owing to his natural ability as a financier and his reputation for honesty in all his business dealings. The bank is still under his management, he being the sole owner. This bank was first opened for business in May, 1905.

Our subject was first married on November 15, 1893, to Ernie Sugg, a native of Odin. Four children were born to this union, one of whom is living, Ira J. F., whose date of birth occurred August 17, 1898. The subject's first wife was called to her rest April 12, 1901, and Mr. Farthing was again married on September 12, 1906, to Ida A. Kell, of this county, the daughter of James and Martha (McWham) Kell, natives of this county. Joseph McWham is paymaster at the present time in the United States Army. The grandfather, Robert McWham, was a soldier in the Civil war in the One Hundred and Fifty-Third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which lie served about two years and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. Our subject has one child by his last wife, Martha, who was born September 7, 1907.

In his fraternal relations Mr. Farthing is a member of the Masonic Blue lodge, the Chapter, the Knights Templar, also the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the

\\'oodmen and Eastern Star. He has passed all the chairs in the Blue lodge and the Odd Fellows. He has been a delegate to the grand lodge of the state of Illinois. Mrs. Farthing is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Farthing is a Democrat in his political relations and has always been interested in his party's welfare, giving his time and influence to the work of his party in the county. He was elected and served in a most creditable manner as City Clerk, Alderman and was also president of the Town Board and is at this writing Treasurer of the city of Odin. He has long been noted throughout the county for his honesty, integrity and fain dealing, and his interest in all movements tending to promote the county's welfare in any manner possible, and as a result of his sterling worth his integrity and his pleasing manner, he is held in high regard by all classes and has hosts of friends.

Frank Bradford

The subject of this review enjoyed distinctive prestige among the enterprising men of Marion county, having fought his way onward and upward to a prominent position in industrial circles and in every relation of life his voice and influence were on the side of right as he saw and understood the right. He was always interested in every enterprise for the general welfare of the community and liberally supported every movement calculated to benefit his fellow men ; and although the last chapter in his life drama has been brought to a close and he has been called to a higher sphere of action, his influence is still felt for good in his community and he is greatly missed by hosts of friends and acquaintances.

Frank Bradford was born in Weymouth, Medina county, Ohio, August 10, 1852, where he spent his boyhood days and attended the common schools. About 1865 ne came with his father, George Bradford, and family to Flora, Illinois, where the father conducted the old Buckeye House and where Frank engaged successfully in farming and trading until 1879, in which year he was happily married to Mary E. Hull, the only daughter of the late Erasmus Hull, and to this union a son and a daughter were born, the former having died in infancy ; the latter is now Mrs. Roland C. Brinkerhoff. Of Mr. Bradford's own family but two sisters survive in 1908, namely: Mrs. Minnie Bettis, of Arkansas, and Rose Lebus, of Ardmore, Oklahoma. Mrs. Bradford, a woman of many fine traits, is living in Salem in the cozy, substantial and well furnished Bradford residence. Frank Bradford was a descendant of the ninth generation of Gen. William Bradford, of Revolutionary fame. George Bradford, father of our subject, was born in Rowley, Essex county, Massachusetts, and he was called to his rest while living in Arkansas. The mother of the subject was known in her maidenhood as Abalinda Russell, who was born in Hartford, Connecticut, April 10, 1823, and she was called to her reward while living in Flora, Illinois, February 27, 1872, at the age of forty-eight years. The subject's parents were of the best blood and reputation and were much admired in whatever community they lived for their honest and hard-working lives.

\Yhen but a mere lad Mr. Bradford united with the Methodist Episcopal church at Flora, Illinois. He was received into the Methodist church in Salem by letter on December 12, 1879, under the pastorate of Rev. Fred L. Thompson and he remained in that faith, an ardent supporter of the church until his death.

Soon after his marriage, Mr. Bradford located in Salem and entered upon a long and honorable business career of which all speak with words of praise. Being of a jolly disposition and having a kind word for everyone, he commanded, perhaps, the largest patronage of any single salesman in the community. His scrupulously honest methods and his natural ability also attracted scores of customers. He first entered the mercantile establishment of Hull and Morris. In 1880, Mr. Hull having purchased the interest of Mr. Morris and also the interest of Scott Muggy in the firm of Atkin & Muggy, the two stocks were combined under the firm name of Hull & Atkin, and Mr. Bradford took a position with this firm which soon became E. Hull & Son, changing later to the Hull Dry Goods Company and then to C. E. Hull. Mr. Bradford remained through all these changes, having been regarded as indispensable to the firm's business, until he went as manager for the firm to Kinmundy, where he remained for a short time building up the trade in a very substantial way, and later he was manager for Hammond & Hull in Salem. While conducting the latter business Mr. Bradford suffered an attack of nervous prostration and was very sick for a time. Both for recreation and as a means of regaining his health he began managing his farm, spending only an occasional day in the store; but improvement was not so rapid as was expected for the long and strenuous life in the commercial world had undermined his health so extensively that rapid improvement and even recuperation could not be expected, consequently on Wednesday night, February 6, 1907, when he was planning to attend a meeting of the Pythian Sisters in company with his wife, about 5 130 o'clock in the afternoon, he was seized with an attack of apoplexy while at his home. This soon developed into paralysis of the left side which soon became complete. He remained in an unconscious state until 6 150 the following morning, when the white winged messenger came. The funeral services were conducted at the residence Saturday afternoon following, by Rev. J. G. Tucker, of the Methodist Episcopal church and interment was made in the family lot in East Lawn Cemetery. The floral offerings were beautiful and elaborate from the many friends of the deceased and also from the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodges, the Pythian Sisters and the Rebekahs, of which orders either he or Mrs. Bradford had been consistent members. And the great throng of sorrowing friends and acquaintances that came to pay a last tribute to their much loved friend attested as fully as was possible the love and high esteem in which Mr. Bradford was held by every one who knew him. Public-spirited and liberal he was ever in the forefront of all plans for improvement and the betterment of Salem and his sudden calling away was a distinct loss to the entire community, for his life had been industrious, scrupulously honest and kind.

One of the representative members of the medical fraternity in Marion county is the subject of this sketch, who is engaged in practice in Odin, and who holds high rank in his profession, while his ability and courtesy have won him the confidence and esteem of all who know him.

Dr. Fyke is a successful, self-made man. Peculiar honor attaches to that individual, -who, beginning the great struggle of life alone and unaided, gradually overcomes unfavorable environment, gaining at last the goal of success by the force of his own individuality. Such is the record, briefly stated, of this popular citizen of Odin, Illinois, to a synopsis of whose life and character the following paragraphs are devoted.

Margaret (Wilson) Fyke, the latter being the first female white child born in the county, a distinction of which anyone might be justly proud. The date of her birth was in 1822, and in 1908 she is still living, being in possession of her full faculties. It is interesting to hear her tell of the great development she has seen here since the early pioneer days - wonderful, indeed, the most wonderful progress in the history of the world, having been made during the lapse of her long life. Her people came to Illinois from North Carolina, in 1818, and settled among the earliest pioneers in this locality. They took up government land, and developed excellent farms. Her parents reared their children here and died here at advanced ages. There were three boys and three girls in this family. Grandfather Fyke was reared in North Carolina and moved to Tennessee, where he spent the balance of his days.

The father of the subject was born in 1812, an historic year in our national history. His father was a farmer and lived to an advanced age, having reared a large family. His wife also lived to be very old. The father of our subject came to this county in 1839. His early educational advantages were limited, but he was a great reader and finally became well informed. He was a Methodist and an exhorter. He made political speeches, and was a loyal Democrat. He was Justice of the Peace for thirty years. His family consisted of twelve children, five boys and one girl having lived to maturity. Two brothers of the subject liv-

The early education of the subject of this sketch was obtained in the common schools of this county and one year in McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois. He then commenced reading medicine under the direction of Doctor Davenport, of Salem, where he continued for three years, making a splendid record for scholarship. During this time he attended medical college, part of the time at Chicago and the balance at St. Louis, making splendid records at both places. He commenced practice in 1866, having located in Odin, where he has continued practice ever since. He was successful from the start and his patients are now so numerous that he can hardly find time to do anything outside of his regular work.

Doctor Fyke was united in marriage in 1867 to Minerva Phillipps, a native of Tennessee, the daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Chadwell) Phillipps. They were natives of Tennessee, having moved to Marion county, Illinois, in 1855. They settled on a farm here where they spent the remainder of their lives and where they died, both having lived to an old age, having reared a family of eight children.

Three children, all boys, have been born to our subject and wife, namely: Edgar E., who was born in 1868, who is now a practicing physician, and the father of three children, all girls. The second and third children of Dr. Fyke and wife were twins, Thomas Emmett and Josiah Harley, who

Our subject in his fraternal relations is a Mason, having passed all the chairs in the local lodge. He is a trustee of the Methodist church, of which both he and his wife are faithful members and liberal supporters. The doctor is a loyal Democrat. He is a member and president of the pension board. Dr. Fyke is one of the well known men in Marion county, where his long and successful career has been spent, and has a pleasant and well furnished home in Odin.

John E. Martin

John E. Martin has spent his entire life in Salem, Illinois, having been bom here December 24, 1857, the son of Gen. James S. Martin. His mother was known in her maidenhood as Jane Elston, of English ancestry. The parents of the subject were married in Salem. To them were born seven children, three of whom are living, namely : John E., our subject; Luther, living in Salem ; and Mrs. Grace M. Webster, also of Salem. They all received the most careful training possible by their parents and were given good common school educations. The subject's father, whose life history is given in detail on another page of this work, passed away in 1907, after a long and busy career, and the mother of the subject, who was a -woman of beautiful attributes, was called home in 1889.

John E. Martin, our subject, spent his boyhood in Salem, where he attended the common schools, making a splendid record in the same. He later attended the Claverack (New York) Military School, and a private school at Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, which was later moved to Media, that state. He also went to school at Boonville, Missouri, to the Kemper Family school. In both of the latter he made rapid progress and came out well fitted for life's duties. After leaving school Mr. Martin launched in the dry goods business in Salem in which lie continued with marked success attending his efforts for a number of years, finally moving his store to Sandoval, Illinois, where he also remained for several years, building up an excellent trade by reason of his minute knowledge of this line of business and his courteous treatment of customers, always giving them value received. In 1888 our subject assisted his father, who was State Chairman of the Republican State Committee, in the clerical work, and after the campaign he accepted a position with J. B. Farwell Company at Chicago, as salesman, and he remained with this firm for five or six years, giving entire satisfaction in his work. He came back to Salem about 1890 for the purpose of accepting a position with the Salem National Bank which he has been connected with since that time, giving the managers of this institution entire satisfaction and handling his position in such a way as to increase the prestige of the bank and reflect much credit upon his innate ability. He has prospered by reason of his executive ability and modern business methods until he has accumulated considerable property, owning at this time valuable farming lands. He is also a stockholder in the Salem National Bank.

Mr. Martin's domestic life dates from June 18, 1894, when he was united in marriage with Clara Merritt, the accomplished daughter of Hon. T. E. Merritt, an old and respected family of Salem. This union has been blessed by the birth of five children, two of whom are living and three deceased. Their names are: The first child died in infancy, unnamed ; James Stewart and Margaret Merritt, twins, are both deceased; Merritt Elston and Alice Jane are living, both bright and interesting children.

Mr. Martin takes a great interest in church work, being a member of the Episcopal church, to which his wife also belongs. He has been interested in helping build the new church on West Union street, which is one of the most attractive and subtsantial little churches in Salem. In politics Mr. Martin is a loyal Republican, always ready to lend a helping hand to promote the interests of his community whether along political, educational, moral or religious lines. The home of the subject is nicely furnished, and presided over with rare grace and dignity by Mrs. Martin, who is often hostess to numerous friends of this popular family. Mr. and Mrs. Martin are pleasant people to meet, always courteous and kind.

William Wham

He of whom this sketch is written is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Marion county, Illinois, where he has passed practically his entire life, and he is one of the successful and prominent citizens of Cartter, where he is the leading merchant, being well known to the people of that vicinity as a man of clean business principles and public-spirited, having attained prosperity through his own well directed efforts.

William Wham was born in this county in 1853, the son of William Wham, a native of Tennessee, who came to Illinois when a young boy and settled in Marion county where he developed a good farm and always made a comfortable living. He was a charter member of the Masonic lodge, No. 130, at Salem. He became well known and influential. He passed to his rest in 1893. The mother of the subject was Louisa Anna Rainey, a native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, who came to Illinois, when eleven years old. She was a woman of many praiseworthy traits. She died some six years prior to her husband's demise.

Eight children were born to the parents of the subject, four of whom are living in 1908. They are named in order of their birth as follows: Margaret is the widow of James Mount, of Kell, Illinois; Martha I., living at Cartter, is the widow of William K. Storment ; H. B. owns a farm near Cartter, Illinois ; - William, our subject, who spent his boyhood on a farm near Cartter, working during the summer months, and attending the country schools the balance of the year. His early life was spent in farming, trading and dealing in stock, of which he made a success. After abandoning this he went into the mercantile business in 1895 at Cartter, Illinois, and has been thus engaged since that time, having built up an excellent trade by reason of his courteous treatment of customers and his natural ability. His store is known throughout this locality as the place where the best goods in the market can be obtained at reasonable prices, and his trade has constantly grown from year to year. Mr. Wham has prospered by reason of his well directed energy, and he has become the owner of the Park Hotel at Salem, the leading hostelry of that city, and he is also a director of the Salem National Bank. He also has a large interest in the Robinson oil fields in Crawford county. He was chairman of the building committee for the new building for the Salem National Bank, which was erected in 1908. He also has valuable farm lands. All this our subject has attained by reason of his own unaided efforts, and every dollar he possesses was obtained in an honest manner.