Sangamon County, Illinois - Biographical sketches, 1881 (part 5 of 21)

timith & Brother, fancy bazar, No. 405, south side of the square, is owned and conducted by WilJiam F., and Fred Smith, natives of Massachusetts, where William was born in April, 1833, and Fred in November, 1835. The former came to Illinois and settled in McHenry county, near Galena, until he entered the army, in the fall of 18bl. He was two years in the service as a member of the Ninety-fifth Illinois Infantry, and being disabled by sickness, was discharged in the fall of 1863. William began his mercantile life in Boston at the age of twelve, and after recovering his health sufficiently, formed a partnership with his brother Fred who had come West in 1863, and entered into business in Springfield, in October, 1863, with a stock of fancy goods and notions to which has been added druggist's sundries. The firm moved into their present splendid store in April, 1880. They occupy two stories of the building, twenty by one hundred and fifty feet in area, and do a large wholesale and retail business in the lines of goods above noted, ranging from $50,000 to $80,000 a year. In 1880, they established a school of designing and decorative needle-work, in which a lady superintendent and assistants are employed to give instructions in all kinds of ornamental handiwork with a needle. All orders for stamping and for this decorative needle -work are carefully and promptly executed in this school. This new enterprise is meeting wiih very encoui aging success.

William Smith is a member of the Masonic order, and the G. A. R., Stevenson Post, and is a staff officer of the Second Brigade, I. N. G. He has been twice married, first in 1857 to Electa J. Loomis, in McHenry county. She was born in Pennsylvania and died in Springfield, Illinois, in 1872, leaving four children. In April, 188], he married Ada Richardson, of Springfield, born in Connecticut.

Thomas C. S^nith, undertaker and dealer in funeral requisites, South Fifth street, has been in the business at that point since 1864, and erected the building he now occupies in 1870. It is a brick structure, 20x154 feet in area, three stories high. The first floor and the rear part of the second story are devoted to his business, and admirably adapted to the purpose. The store is furnished with elegant walnut cabinets, used as depositories for caskets, coffins, and funeral goods. These cabinets are the climax of perfection in beauty and convenience for preserving and exhibiting this class of goods. They were made to his order and under his personal supervision, and are the conception of Mr. Smith after visiting the finest undertaking establishments in many of the Eastern cities. Combining the choice features of all, his place is the completeness of harmony, and the embodiment of good taste, in the adaptation of means to ends. The stock of goods kept is very large, and embodies every grade.

fl. Taylor Smith, Vice President of the Ridgely National Bank, was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1825 ; is the son of Joseph Smith, who was a native of Loudon county, Virginia, moved, when a boy, to Kentucky, and engaged in the dry goods business in Frankfort, where he married Miss Sallie, daughter of Rev. John Taylor, a Baptist clergyman of renown in that State. They moved to Illinois and settled in Sangamon county, on a iarm, in 1834. A few years later, Mr, Smith embarked in the dry goods trade in Springfield, but resided on the farm. He was elected to the legislature, and served in the session of 184 4-5, and died in August, 18fi3. The subject of this sketch returned to Woodford county, Kentucky, and took a course in the High School. In February,

1844, he entered the employ of Hawley & Edwards, of Springfield, as store-boy in their dry goods house. At the end of a year, he went into his father's store, remaining two years ; then became the junior partner in the store, where he was first employed, in company with Ninian Edwards, the firm title being N. W. Edwards & Co. After several changes of partners, Mr. Smith sold out the business to Messrs Kimber & Co. He was appointed Postmaster of Springfield, by Andrew Johnson, without solicitation, and served during the year 1868, till General Grant's accession to office, when, being a Democrat, Mr. Smith retired. In March, 1870, he succeeded E. B. Pease, deceased, in the hardware business, as a partner of O. W. McKinstry, continuing until the death of the latter, in February, 1874, soon after which the stock was sold to S. liudson, and Mr. Smith retired. In October of that year he was made Vice President of the Ridgely National Bank, having been one ot its directors since its organization, October 1, 1866. In 187'2,he was elected one of the directors of the Springfield Iron Company, a posit'on he still holds. In 1850, Mr. Smith married Sophia N., the second daughter of N. H. Ridgely, President of the Ridgely National Bank. Four children have been born to them, two living - Frederick E., an attorney, in Springfield, who graduated from West Point Military School in 1876, and Miss Jessie Taylor Smith, at home.

Lafai/ette Smith, of Smith & Hay, wholesale grocers. East Washington street, is a native of Sangamon county, Illinois, born in Springfield township in 1834. His parents, Greenbery B. Smith and Nancy Killen, were born and reared in Kentucky. After marriage, they came to Illinois, and settled in Sangamon county in 1831. They both died in Springfield, he aged seventyeight and she seventy-three years. Lafayette left his father's farm and located in the city in the fall of 1858, and embarked in business as a grocer. At twenty-two years of age, he married Harriet A. Buchanan, who was also born in Sangamon county. Her mother, now aged sixtynine, came to the county when eight years old. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have a family of three sons and one daughter. The eldest Frank B., aged twenty-two years, is a graduate of Rush Medical College, Chicago; Edwin F., eighteen years old, having graduated from the City High School at sixteen, is collector for the Ridgely National Bank; Harry L. Smith is eleven, and Eloise lona Smith is two years of age. Besides these, they have had several children, now deceased. Mr.

Ethan A. Snively, Clerk of the Supreme Court of Illinois, is a native of this State, born in Fulton county in 1845. After a limited attendance in the common schools, he went to the printer's trade, at sixteen years of age, in the city of Havana, Mason county, Illinois, in the office of the Squatter Sovereign. He spent about a year and a half there, and the same length of time in the Ledger office, at Canton, Fulton county; sold goods as clerk a short time; was employed as foreman in the printing office at Lewiston, and in January, 1866, became proprietor of theRushville, Schuyler county. Times, which he published as a Democratic journal two years and a half, and sold it. He then started the Galesburg Times, which continued nearly a year, and suspended. Soon after, Mr. Snively became city editor of the Peoria National Democrat, retaining that position during 1869 to 1871, in the fall of which year he took charge of the Carlinville Enquirer, published it for the company and as proprietor until the spring of 1877, when he sold it. He then spent a year as traveling salesman for the Springfield Manufacturing Company. In the spring of 1879, Samuel Reed, his present partner, issued the first number of the Macoupin County Herald, and employed Mr. Snively to edit it. January 1, 1880, they purchased the Enquirer, and discontinued the Herald. Under their joint management, the Carlinville Enquirer is one of the live Democratic journals of the State. In 1878, Mr. Snively was elected Clerk of the Supreme Court of Illinois for the term of six years, and entered upon the duties of the office in December of that year. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Illinois Press Association, and was the President of that society for the years 1879 and 1880. Mr. Snively married Miss Kate Dubois, a native of Carlinville, Illinois, in February, 1876.

Charles Smoroioski, Secretary of the Illinois Watch Company, was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1846; was reared and educated in the Royal College, in his native city, from which he graduated in 1863. In 1867, he crossed the Atlantic, and locating in Chicago, he entered the employ of R. G. Dunn & Company, in connection with their commercial agency. Severing that relation at the end of two years, he came to Springfield in 1870. January 1, 1878, he engaged as clerk for the Illinois Watch Company, and six months later was promoted to his present position.

Mr. Sinorowski united in marriage with Mips Christina Moore, in \8li, in Springfield, Illinois. He is a member of the American Legion of Honor, Amity Council, No. 409, Springfield.

Joseph II. Spear., of the firm of Spear & Loose, lumber merchants, Washington street, between Ninth and Tenth streets, is a native of Springfield, Illinois, born in April, 1853. His father, David Spear, was born in Ireland; emigrated to the United States, and after living some years in Kentucky, settled in Springfield prior to 1840, and was engaged in the dry goods business in the city about a quarter of a ceutur}'. He died a number of years ago. Joseph operated in hard-wood lumber quite extensively in Springfield for about four years, before forming the present partnership, woich occurred in the early part of 1880, and their yard was opened in March of that year. Their stock comprises a large assortment of building and finishing lumber, soft and hard woods, and sash, doors, blinds, nails, and builder's material generally, in which they already have a heavy trade, their sales for the fraction of the year 1880 reaching 160,000, with a considerable increase in the corresponding months of 1881.

Phil M. Springer was born in Springfield, Illinois, July 15, 1840. Owing to ill health, after twelve years old he was unable to attend school. His education was therefore gathered from his father's library at home, during the eight years following. A good portion of this time was devoted to the study of natural history and the making of collections, chiefly in entomology and conchology. Pencil drawings and water-color paintings were also favorite pastimes with him in those days. After he was twenty years of age, improved health enabled him to engage in the active pursuits of life, and his education was continued in the school of practical business experience.

In 1864, he rendered some assistance with his pencil in illustrating the first two volumes of the Illinois Geological Survey. The next year he was engaged at the Chicago Academy of Science, in similar work. Indoor confinement and lake breezes proving injurious to his health, he returned to Springfield, in the summer of 1865. In November of that year he and his younger brother Frank began the improvement of a tract of land on the North Fork of the Sangamon, eight miles east of Springfield. This land had been entered by their father, many years before. They commenced by erecting a small frame house in the midst of what was then a wild forest. With a pair of yearling mules, a light wagon, a cow, and a few pigs and chickens, and the hope usual to beginners, of speedily acquiring wealth, they were as happy here and worked wiih as hearty a good-will as ever two young men did anywhere. Thus originated the well known firm of Springer Brothers, and the place since known among breeders and stockmen a& "Haw Hill." The breeding of Berkshire pigs, Cotswold sheep and Light Brahma fowls has engaged the attention of the firm ever since. The circuit of their shipments has extended from Massachusetts to Colorado, and from Minnesota to Louisiana and Texas.

"Phil." as he is usually called by all who know him, resided on the farm until the fall of 1875, when his business relations with the American Berkshire Association required his return to Springfield, thus leaving the farm to the immediate care of his brother; it being still con ducted however, by Springer Brothers, as formerly. Since February, 1875, he has served as Treasurer or Secretary of the American Berkshire Association - part of the time in both capacities. He is now Secretary of the Association, and editor of the Record, four volumes of which have been issued under his care. From 1875 to 1881, he served continuously as Assistant Secretary of the Sangamon County Agricultural Board. In 1881 he was elected Secretary, by the Board. He has been for many years, and is still Secretary of the Sangamon County Bible Society.

Besides the interests above mentioned, which have engaged his attention, he has devoted considerable time to newspaper work, writing chiefly far the agricultural press. During the last twenty years he has been the statistical correspondent and reporter of Sangamon county, for the Department of Agriculture at Washington. His residence in Springfield, is on Governor street, between Lincoln and Baker Avenues.

Joshua B. Sprague, M. D., Springfield, Illinois, was born in Washington county, Ohio, January 14, 1826, fourteen miles above Marietta, on the right bank of the Muskingum river. His first occupation was working on a farm, and was afterwards flat-boating, steam-boating, peddling books, and merchandising, until he was twenty years of age. Desiring more education, he attended College, at Beverly, Ohio. He was married at twenty-three years of age, to Miss V. F. Martin, of Coal Run, Washington county, Ohio. In 1848, went to Elizabethtown, Indiana, where he was engaged in the drug business, and remained about four years; on account of the failing health of his wife, he returned to Beverly, where he read medicine with Dr. Ross. In 1866, he went to Marietta, Ohio, where he continued the reading of medicine; in the years of 1862-3, attended lectures at the Cincinnati Medical College. The Doctor practiced in various parts of Pike and Christian counties previous to coming to Springtield, and during the years of 1868-9, he attended the Rush Medical College, at Chicago, Illinois, where he graduated; and in 1872, he went to Monticello, Piatt county, where he practiced previous to coming to Sangamon county, Illinois, where he is now engaged in the practice of medicine. The Doctor makes a specialty of chronic diseases, and warrants a cure in all cases of epilepsy.

Warjidd Stalei/, Springfield, Illinois, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, May 7, 1815; was the son of Peter and Edna (Todd) Staley; father of German descent and mother of English. In 1835, he married Miss Mary A. Horn, daughter of John and Christina Horn; she was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, September 4, 1817. The fruits of this marriage were six children, four of whom are living, viz: William H , born August 17, 1838; Margaret S., December 22, 1842; Charley E., September 26, 1845; John W., April 27, 1850. Mrs. Staley died April 8, 1880, a sincere Christian and a kind mother, loved and respected by all who knew her; she is mourned by a large circle of friends. Mr. and Mrs. Staley lived together over forty years.

Royi. Alexander Starne, was born iu Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 21, 1813. His parents were Maurice and Mary Stone. Alexander attended school until he was sixteen years old, then entered the drug store of T. W. Dyott, as clerk, where he remained until 1836. Leaving Philadelphia, he arrived at Alton, Illinois, on the first day of May of that year. He continued his journey to Griggsville, Pike county, where he commenced as a general merchant. September 23, 1840, he was mari'ied to Miss Rebecca Hatch, by whom he had one daughter, Lucy Ann. Mrs. Starne died March 1, 1840, loved and respected by a large circle of friends. In 1847, Mr. Starne was married to his present wife, Mrs. Elvira S. Swetland, and by this marriage there are three sons and one daughter. In 1839, Mr. S. was elected Commissioner of Pike county and served three years. In 1842, he was elected to the House of Representatives and served until 1845. In the meantime he had sold out his stock of merchandise and removed to Pittstield, Pike county, here he was appointed by Judge Purple, Clerk of the Circuit Court, and when subsequently this office was made elective.

he was elected for four years. In 1S52, hiving been elected Secretary of the State, he removed to Springfield, and at the close of his term, in 1856, he Avas chosen President of the Hannibal and Naples Railway, and again removed to Griggsville for the purpose of giving personal supervision. This road is now an important link to the Wabash and Western Railway, and was completed under the successors of Mr. Starne in 1864. In 1861, from the district composed of Pike and Brown counties, he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention, and in 1862, was elected State Treasurer. He again removed his family to Springfield, where he has since continued to reside. In 1872, he was chosen Senator from the county of Sangamon.

Out of public life he has conducted an extensive business, being owner of the West End Coal Mines in which his sons, Maurice and Charles, are associated under the firm name of Starne & Sons. The life of Mr. Starne has been one of great activity. His public services have been highly appreciated. He has a cheerful disposition, makes friends everywhere. Although he has taken an active part in public affairs, he makes no pretentions to oratory; but his good sense and plain manners of forcibly presenting facts, has sometimes staggered his opponents of more pretention. In his domestic life he is kind and affectionate. He loves his home and family and there he is always to be found when not engaged in business duties.

Oscar F. hardware merchant,northeast corner Fifth and Washington streets, has been conducting the same branch of merchandising since the spring of 1863, in the same location. From that date until January 1, 1870, as a partner with J. T. Warne, and since, alone. He carries a stock of legitimate hardware and house-furnishings of $15,000, and does a business of §130,- 000 to 135,000 a year. Mr. Stebbins was born in Franklin county, Mass., in 1832; was brought up there ; began mercantile life at fifteen years of age, passed the first six years in a country store, then two years as an apprentice in a store in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1854, he came west to St. Louis, and was engaged nine years with Plant Brothers, dealers in hardware and agricultural inplements, at the close of which he located in Springfield. Mr. Stebbins has for ten years been an active member of the order of Odd Fellows ; in 1 880 was chosen delegate to the Grand Lodge of the State. He married Miss Sarah E Warne, a native of New York City, in St. Louis, in June,

William Steiger, Springfield, Illinois; born near Freiburg, Baden, Germany, May 25, 1816, and emigrated to this State in the spring of 1852, and located at Springfield; being in limited circumstances, he worked by the day and month for John Busher. a butcher. In 1854 he embarked in business for himself, in a small way; and continued till 1868, when he retired from business; his two sons then took hold, and have made it one of the leading business firms of this branch in the city, having four markets where they cut their meat. They use in their business eighteen hundred head of cattle, eighteen hiindred head of sheep, fifteen hundred head of hogs, besides their calves and lambs. They also do a jobbing business in dried beef, hams, etc. William Steiger married Miss Julia A. Schneider, of Germany; she was born February 16, 1816. There was a family of eight children, seven of whom are living. Mr. Steiger landed in this country without anything, and had to borroAV money to bring him to Springfield; but "by industry and economy has secured a fine property.

Henry StorJc, steam laundry works, Springfield, Illinois, was born in this city on April 25, 1861; is the son of George and Malinda Stork, natives of Germany. Mr. Henry Stork received his education in the ward schools of Springfield, which he pursued till he was fifteen years old, when he began to learn the trade of blacksmithing with Drake & Palmer, Springfield, Capitol Boiler Works, After working one year and a half he was given charge of a forge, and continued with this firm till February 19, 1881. Mr. Stork took charge of the Springfield Steam Laundry Works, February 21, 1881, as proprietor. The works were established 1863, and is the leading establishment of the kind in Springfield, and has a large trade, turning out, in fine laundry style, six hundred shirts per week. Mr. Stork was married in Springfield to Katy Malters, daughter of Mrs. Mary Malters, native of Germany. Mrs. Malters had three children, of whom two are living, Caroline, who was born in St. Louis, and Katy, a native of Springfield. Mrs. Stork is a member of the German Lutheran Church. Mr. Stork is a member of the English Lutheran Church.

James C. Sutton, contractor and builder, residence 516 East Jefferson street, has been a citizen of Springfield since 1841. He was born in Summerset county, New Jersey, August 22,1813,

After partially learning the c irpenter trade there, he came to Illinois, April, 1839, and completed it with a cousin in Jacksonville, Morgan county, remaining there about eighteen months. Sooxi after coming to Springfield, he entered into partnership with a brother-in-law, Samuel Simpson, and began building by contract; and as no money was to be had for work, they made some novel trades. On one occasion they received as pay a lot of rolls from the carding machine; on another a |25 clock and one hundred head of geese. The clock Mr. Sutton still owns. It is a good time-keeper, and has never had but one dollar expended on it. Mr. Sutton's first shop was an old school house, which stood a few feet east and on the opposite side of Washington street from the Chenery Hotel. He has erected many important business blocks and other buildings in and about Springfield. It is a sufticient testimonial of his mechanical skill and business integrity to note that such representative citizens as Col. John Williams, Hon. Milton Hay, and others, have employed him to do all their building for more than forty years. He and his brother, G. A. Sutton, were partners in the business many years, and were contractors for some of the work on the old State House. In those days they employed from twenty-five to thirty mechanics. Mr. Sutton is gradually retiring from active labor, having made a competence by industry, and only takes small jobs, or superintends work for others November 23, 1843, Mr. Sutton married Miss Clementine Simpson, in Springfield. She was also a native of New Jersey, and came to Sangamon county in the fall of 1839. Her father, John P. Simpson, settled in Fancy Creek township, near the present site of Williamsville. Mr. and Mrs. Sutton are the parents of three sons and two daughters, all living. Stephen P., the eldest son, is in the building business; James S., the second in age, is clerking in a grocery; and George E. attending the High School. Maggie is now Mrs. G. S. Pennington, and resides in Pittsfield, Pike county; Mary Ella resides with her parents in the homestead, which they have occupied since 1852. During the civil war, Mr. Sutton was for a time Assistant Quartermaster, under Col. John Williams. He was for many years a member of the Board of Water Commissioners; superintended the construction of the sewer system of the city. In early life he was a Democrat in politics, but has been a Republican since the birth of that party. He is a stockholder and one of the directors of the First National Bank of Springfield, tharles I\ Siciyert, Auditor of Public Accounts for Illinois, was born in Baden, Germany, in November, 1843, was brought by parents to the United States at the age of nine years. The family settled in Kankakee county, Illinois, in 1854, and he there attended the district school in winters and worked on the farm in summers until seventeen years old. At the age of twelve years he became 8elf-sup}Dorting, starting out as an ox driver at four dollars per month, which was increased the next year to six dollars, and the third year to eight dollars per month. During that time he assisted in breaking over four hundred acres of raw prairie with ox teams. In August, 1861, Mr. Swigert entered the United States Army as a member of Company H., Forty-second Illinois Infantry. On the 9th of May, 1862, during the siege of Corinth, he was struck with a six-pound solid shot which carried away his right arm from the shoulder to the elbow, leaving the hand dangling by a strip of skin. No aid was at hand, and he grasping the wound firmly with his left hand, thus saving his life by preventing hemorrhage, walked three quarters of a mile to the rear, was then put in an ambulance, and while on the way to the hospital was run away with for a mile over a corduroy road during which he lay on the bottom of the vehicle still staying the life-current with his remaining hand. After spending three weeks at the field hospital he was sent to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, thence to Quincy, Illinois, from which place he was discharged in December, 1862. Mr. Swigert was one of the twenty sharp-shooters of Captain Hottenstein's company who ran the blockade of the Island No. 10 on the "Carondelet," on the Friday night previous to the battle of Pittsburg Landing, and spiked the enemy's guns for a distance of twentytwo miles leaving the river clear down to Memphis, then preparing the way for the capture of 7000 Rebel prisoners and the large quantity of supplies on that island immediately following. Upon retiring from the army Mr. Swigert spent a year in Bryant & Stratton's Business College as a student; then taught two terms of school in Kankakee county, and in May, 1865, entered the postal service as carrier in the west division of Chicago, remaining until October, 1866, when he became Deputy County Clerk in Kankakee county, till September, 186'7; spent the school years of 1867-8, and 1868-9 in the Illinois Soldiers' College at Fulton; and in the fall of 1869 was elected Treasurer of Kankakee county, and re-elected on the Republican ticket five times successfully, serving until be resigned to qualify for his present office, November 24, 1880, to which he was appointed by the Governor to fill the vacancy caused by resignation of Senator T. B. Needles. He was elected in November for the term of four years, commencing January 10, 1881. In December, 1869, Mr. Swigert married Lavina L. Bigelow, in Kankakee county, born in the State of Vermont. They have a family of four sons. Mr. S., is the son of Philip Swigert and Caroline Lewender. His mother died in 1869, father is a resident of Kankakee county.

W. S. Tho7nas, M. Z>., Springfield, Illinois, was born in Franklin county, Ohio, April 22, 1821. His father was a botanic physician, and. the son was brought up in the same school. He has made it his study for life. When twentyone years old he attended lectures, and gradur.ted in 1845. In 1851, he came to Illinois, and located in Pike county, where he followed his profession until 1865, when he came to Springfield; has followed his profession ever since. He married Miss Anna Courson, of Muskingum county, Ohio. The doctor thoroughly understands this businet-s, gathering herbs and plants from all parts of the country, and shipping all over the United States and Europe.

Thomas J. Tliompsofi, Justice of the Peace, was born in Philadelphia, where his parents settled soon after their marriage. His father. John Thompson, was born near Belfast, Ireland, and was of English ancestry, while his mother, Margaret Coleman, born in Belfast, was descended from Scottish Covenanters. Their religion was as their ancestry, one Episcopalian and the other Presbyterian. The subject of this sketch was taken by his parents when a child to Ohio, and he received his early education at the public schools of Dayton (at which place he was injured on the play-grounds and crippled for life,) and Springfield, in that State Passing from the High School at the latter place to Wittenberg College, ai the same place, he finally completed his collegiate education at Williams College, with the class of 1874. The succeeding year he passed as principal of the Williamstown Academy, at the town where Williams College is situated. The next three years he spent in the study of law with S. A. Bowman, one of the leading lawyers of Ohio, thence he came to this city, in the winter of 1879, and was engaged as private secretary for Hon. Bluford Wilson, of this city. In the spring he was admitted to practice in the courts of Illinois, and since that time has been engaged in the practice of the law and in short-hand reporting. At the spring elections of 1881, he was elected a Justice of the Peace on the Citizens' and Democratic tickets, by a very complimentary vote. On entering upon the duties of his office he at once took a stand for reform in relation to the fees charged in such courts, and in consequence of that and an impartial discharge of his duties, is now enjoying a fair compensation. Mr. Thompson is now twenty-eight years of age, and expects, at the close of his present term of office, to return to the practice of law. He is, like most persons of Irish parentage, a Democrat in politics, and was Secretary of the Democratic State Central Committee during the late campaign, and will, no doubt, be on hand for a similar work again, as with him it is a work of love.

Louis H. 7\c^7ior, County Clerk of Sangamon county, has been in public life from fifteen years of age. He is a native of Morgan county, Illinois, born in 1843. His father. Barton P. Ticknor, was born, reared, and married Hannah Smith, in Brown county. New York, came to Illinois, and settled in Morgan county, in an early day; engaging in farming. Louis' mother died in his infancy, too early for him to retain any remembrance of her. He was educated in the public schools, and obtained a situation in the Circuit Clerk's office of Morgan county, at the age of fifteen. April 16, 1861. he left the office to enlist in Company B, Tenth Illinois Infantry, the first company registered in the State. Having completed his term of enlistment, he retired from the service at the end of four months, suffering fi'om ill health. In the spring of 1862, he entered the Paymaster's office, St. Louis, as Clerk; left there in the fall of 1803, and came to Springfield, and soon after became deputy in the County Clerk's office, retaining that position until December, 1873. In November, 1874, he was elected Sheriff of Sangamon county for two years, on the Republican ticket, by a liberal majority, and in the autumn of 1877 was chosen to his present office by the same party.

Mr. Ticknor was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Deyo, in February, 1867. She was born near Fairfax Court House, Virginia. The fruit of their union is one son, Fred, born August 9, 1868.

Justus Townsend, Springfield, Illinois, was born in Ulster county. New York, July 17, 1828, son of Joseph and Nancy (Tompkins) Townsend, natives of New York; was reared on a farm and attended school in the winter. When seventeen years of age he went to the Academy at Liberty, and also one term at Albany. Afterwards, was engaged in EUenville, New York, in a drug store, prosecuting his studies in the meantime. Soon after, he attended a practical course of lectures at the old Crosby Street Medical College. In 1851, went to Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1852. In January, 1853, commenced practice in Sullivan county, New York, where he remained two years; then to Sioux City, Iowa; from Sioux City, he went to Dakota, in 1861, and while there was elected Territorial Auditor of Dakota, where he remained until the war broke out; then to the Indian Territories, where he was Acting Assistant Surgeon, and had charge of the surgical department at Fort Randall. In 1864, came to Springfield, where he has been engaged in the practice of his profession since. In 1869, he married Mrs. Clara Brown, a native of Sangamon county, and former wife of John H. Brown. There were two sons and one daughter from former marriage, one son and one daughter still living. The Doctor is a member of three different medical societies, viz: The State, the Sangamon County, and the Central Illinois Medical Society. He is also physician of the St. John's Hospital.

Frank W. Tracy, President of First National Bank of Springfield, is widely known as one of Illinois' ablest business men, and most esteemed citizens. His physical and mental organism is of the finest American type, embodying the attributes of a sterling manhood - strong bodily powers, a clear, forcible intellect, great social qualities, and high moral integrity. This rare combination of elements has won for their possessor the implicit confidence of the commercial public, and the firm friendship of resident citizens and visiting statesmen and people of note, many of whose monied interests he]has been the faithful custodian. Mr. Tracy was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, July 31, 1834. His father, J. P. Tracy, who was purchasing agent of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and a man of superior business qualifications, furnished his son with the most liberal educational advantages of that city. Frank was graduated from Baltimore College in the class of 1851, and soon after moved with his father's family to Mason county, Illinois, where the senior Tracy engaged in farming. Frank entered the employ of Mr. Henry Foster, a dry goods merchant of Beardstown, Illinois, remaining four years in the store. In 1856, he became |book-keeper for Messrs. Nolte & McClure of that place, in which position he rendered complete satisfaction and formed many lasting friendships. In 1863, Mr. Tracy came to Springfield and entered one of the city banks as teller. The following year he and several other gentlemen perfected the organization of the First National Bank of Springfield, and he was chosen its casliier. The financial flood-tide then fairly settingin throughout the country, resulting from the civil war, the geographical location of Springfield and its growing prosperity as the capital and political center of the greatest agricultural State of the Union, all contributed to usher the young bank upon an era of marked "Success, which is noted in the history of the banking interests in another chapter of this work. Fifteen years of uninterrupted faithful services as cashier, during which many millions of dollars of government and private funds has passed through his hands, were terminated by the election of Mr. Tracy in 1879 as President of the bank. Aside from his duties as a banker, Mr. Tracy has been active in developing the interests and resources of the State, as director of a number of manufacturing and mining corporations, which have proven public benefactions. As a member of the Board of Education of the city, he has for years been a zealous friend and advocate of liberal education. He officiated as a director of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, during which he did efticient work in solving the transportation problem in this State. On October 23, 1855, Mr. Tracy united in marriage with Miss Sarah Jones, of Cass county. They have reared a family of two sons and two daughters. The eldest son is now assistant cashier of the bank, and is a young man of bright qualities and great promise.

Albert S. Trapp^ M. D., Springfield, Illinois, was born in Germany, June 30, 1813; the son of John Frederick and Eva Maria (Marline) Trapp; father was a prominent lawyer and a man of influence. Albert H., attended school in his boyhood, also commenced reading medicine. Having some unpleasantness in Germany, he went to Switzerland, where he graduated in the Surick University. In 1836, he came to the United States and located in St. Clair county, Illinois, where he immediately commenced the practice of medicine, and remained there twentyone years; then came to Springfield, where he has been ever since. In 1854, he was elected to the legislature from St. Clair county. He married Miss Minnie Michael, who was born in Germany, October 25, 1823; there are three living children, Augusta, born February 21, 1848; Fred erick, born April 9, 1851 ; William, born October 23, 1854. The Doctor is a member of the School Board which position he has held nearly twenty years; takes a great interest in the education |

Charlton C. Troxell^ of the firm of Troxell & Dubois, dealers in farm implements, buggies, ph;T3tons, spring wagons, farm and garden seeds, hides and pelts, corner of Jefferson and Fourth streets, is the son of William Troxell and Louise C. Staley, who were both natives of Washington county, Maryland. Three children, Charlton C, Mansfield S., and Laura L., were born of their marriage. Mrs. Troxell was born in October, 1836, and died in October, 1874. Her husband died in November, 1877. He established this business in Springfield in 1865, and conducted it until his death, when for a short time it was continued by his son, in company with W. Staley, then was bought by the present firm. The subject of this sketch has been continuously in the agricultural implement trade since, save a month or so spent in the grocery business. The firm keeps a large stock of the best patterns of farm machinery, buggies, phfetons, and spring wagons, and also seeds for the farm and garden. The concern does an extensive and prosperous business.

William Troxell settled in Springfield, Illinois, in 1861, and previous to engaging in thesale of farming tools, carried on a shoe and harness store.

Joseph Trutter, grocer and butcher, corner First and Jefl'erson streets, began business as a butcher in Springfield in 1866. In 1874, he commenced erecting the brick building he now occupies, sixty by forty feet in size, opened a grocery and meat market in it the following year, and has conducted both branches of business to the present time. He keeps in stock quite a complete line of groceries, and has a trade in the two departments of more than $20,000 a year. Mr. Trutter is a German by nativity, born in January, 1841; came to the United States when twelve years of age; spent ten years at Long Branch, New Jersey, as a laborer on a farm. He then joined his father in the butcher business in Springfield, Illinois. Mr. Trutter, senior, also emigrated in 1853, and settled in Springfield in 1S57, residing there until his decease, in February, 1879. In April, 1866, Joseph married Miss Ellen Sauer, born in Switzerland, but brought up from a small child in Sangamon county. Their family consists of two boys and three girls. Mr. Trutter is a member of the St. Vincent Benevolent Society, and he and family belong to the Catholic Church.

gaged in this brancli of merchandising, both in Springfield and at several other railroad points. He embarked in the grain traffic five years ago, and has steadily increased the volume of business until he shipped, in 1880, two thousand cars of the dilerent cereals, chiefly over the Wabash and Springfield & Northwestern railroads, finding a market in Toledo and Baltimore. For twenty years previous to engaging in this, he had devoted his attention to buying, feeding and shipping live stock, mainly cattle. Mr. Ulrich is a New Yorker by nativity, born in Duchess county, in 1829. His father, Augustus L. Ulrich, was a woolen manufacturer in that county. He died in 1841, and the same year Edward came with his mother to Sangamon county, Illinois, and settled in Springfield, which has been his home since. He was for a time employed as an errand boy and sub-clerk in a general store ; later was identified with the lumber business for a time, and also carried on farming, which still receives a liberal share of his attention in the management of a large farm west of the city. In March, 1853, he married Maria V. Vredenburgh, a New Jersey lady by birth, and daughter of a pioneer merchant in Springfield. They have seven surviving children - four sons and three daughters.

tZoJm B. Vasconcellos, of the firm of Vasconcellos & Goveia, grocers, 1135 North Sixth street, was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, in May, 185;]; started in life as a jockey boy before he was eight years of age, and has been entirely self-dependent ever since. He followed that pursuit till 1869, visiting seventeen States, while thus employed. Leaving that he obtained employment as a laborer on a construction train of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad; later he became a brakeman, and in November, 1875, was made conductor, which position he held till November, 1880, then resigned to embark in the grocery business. His parents were Manuel Vasconcellos and Ida Nunes, natives of Maderia Island, and born in 1812 and 1814 respectively. They came to the United States and settled in Jacksonville, Illinois, thirty-three years ago, being the first Portuguese to immigrate. Mrs. Vasconcellos was the mother of twelve children, nine now alive Six of the seven sons were at one time engaged in railroading; Joseph, the second son, was accidentally killed in Springfield May 1, 1881, while performing his duties as yard-master, for the Wabash Railroad, after having been eighteen yeais in that company's employ. The subject of this sketch married Estelia Stringham, a native of Ohio, in September, 1879.

M. R, Goveia, was born in Springfield, in November, 1855; is the son of Manuel Goveia, who settled in this city in 1849, immediately after emigrating from Maderia Island, his birth place. He is a painter by trade, married Mary DeFrates, also of foreign birth. The subject of this sketch has been identified with the grocery business since 1872, as clerk until 1875, when he located in that portion of the city where he and his partner are now doing business. They have a fine local trade.

John Vetter, grocer. 111 North Fifth street, started in business at that point in September, 1878. He keeps in stock a complete variety of family groceries, staple and fancy, of |4,000 value, and has a trade of 120,000 a year. Mr. Vetter is a native of Germany, born in Hessen, and is twenty-five years old He emigrated to the United Slates in 1873; worked the first nine months on a farm in St. Clair county, Illinois, then came to Springfield. His first wages were $2 a month, which was soon imcreased as his worth was demonstrated. By incessant industry and rigid economy he saved 8800 with which to commence the grocery business in 1878. His trade is quite extensive both in city and country and rapidly increasing. Mr. Vetter obtained a good German education in his native land.

e/. /S. Vrodenhurg, deceased, was born in Somerset county. New Jersey, March 11, 1809. He entered a large di-y goods house in New York City, when a boy, and remained until he was twenty-one years of age. He then married Miss Ann Doremus, daughter of Francis Doremus, of New York City; the same year came West and bought land in this county, and soon after returned for his family, and located here permanently in 1832. The old homestead is at present owned by his son Peter. He remained on the farm until 184], when he came to Springfield and engaged in merchandising on the north side of the Square, and was known as No. 4. In 1852 he sold out and returned to the farm until 1856, when he again came to the city and engaged in the lumber business which he continued until his death. The business is now owned and controlled by his son, Peter. Mr. Vredenburg was a member of the City Council two years, and in 1865 was elected to the office of Mayor; was senior elder in the Presbyterian Church; he died March 9, 1879, leaving a widow who followed him in October, 1 880. They left a family of eight children, MariahD., (now Mrs. E. R. Ulrich, of Springfield) Francis and Peter of this city; Thomas D., now of Springfield, who enlisted in 1861, in the three months service; again enlisted in the Tenth Illinois Cavalry as a private, and was promoted step by step until he became Lieutenant Colonel of the r'egiment. He participated in all the engagements of the regiment; he married Miss Maria Reynolds, daughter of the Rev. William M. Reynolds, and they had one child, William R. The next son is John S., now engaged in the wholesale business at Chicago; was also in the same regiment with his brother, and was promoted as Captain. Annie, (now Mrs. Partridge, of Missouri); Margaret and LaRue, a graduate of Ruger's College, New Jersey, and one of the rising attorneys of Springfield. LaRue was married to Miss Minnie N. Tapping of New Jersey, October 20, 1881.

Hiram Walker, money loaner and real estate dealer, Springfield, Illinois, was born in Loudon county, Virginia, April 10, 1811, son of Daniel and Sally (Bail) Walker; mother a native of Pennsylvania, whose parents came over in the ship with William Penn. When a young girl, she went to Loudon county, Virginia, where she grew to womanhood and married. Mr. Walker was of Scotch descent. The subject of this notice was raised on a farm until he was seventeen years old, when he learned the trade of iron worker. In the spring of 1835, he came to Illinois, and located on Horse creek, Sangamon county, where he commenced farming. His health failing, he went to Taylorville, Christian county, where he remained ten years; thence to Springfield, where he has been engaged in his present business ever since. Mr. Walker is one of the most extensive dealers in the county; has bought and sold thousands of acres of land, and is at present owner of two thousand acres of improved lands in this county.

HobertWebster, grocer, 913 East Monroe street, has operated in that line of merchandising since 1870, in Springfield, and for the past seven years at the above number. He keeps a general assortment of family groceries for the retail tiade, and does a business of $10,000 a year. Mr. Webster is a native of Birmingham, England, and was born in 1828. In 1853, he came to America, and lived three years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; came to Illinois, and settled in Springfield in 1856; in 1860, went to Texas and spent two years; thence to California, and engaged in mining from January, 1863, until July, 1868, when he returned to Springfield. Mr. Webster sent to England for his father, James Webster, who came over in 1857, and carried on the grocery business in Springfield until his

Hoioard K. Weber, cashier of the First National Bank, is one of a family of four children, and the younger of two living sons of William and Mary Weber nee Phillips; and was born in Maryland, June 27, 1843. His father was a Virginian by birth, and his mother is a native of his own State. Mr. Weber was educated in Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Owing to the excitement caused by the war of the Rebellion, he left school in the junior year, expecting to enter the Confederate army; but his father, being a War Democrat, opposed the measure, and by way of compromise induced him to come to Springfield, Illinois, in 1863, to visit some friends. He at once saw the struggle in a different light, became a Republican in politics, cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and has voted with that party since. Soon after locating in Springfield, Mr. Weber was appointed Assistant Commissary Sergeant of the post of Camp Butler, and held the office till the war closed; then left it to become messenger in the First National Bank. In 1879, he was elected to his present position. He is a Master in the Masonic fraternity, and a member in the Knights of Pythias. In Denver, Colorado, on September 20, 1879, Mr. Weber was united in marriage with Kate M. Gaw, of Baltimore, Maryland. They have one son, James Horace. Mr. Weber is a member and trustee of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. His father and mother reside in Maryland, aged respectively seventy-four and sixty-six years. The brother, William E., is Cashier of the Third National Bank, Cumberland, Maryland.

William C. Wenzel, grocer, 306 North Fifth street, established the business at that point in 1878. He keeps a general stock of goods for the retail trade, and has a business of 811,000 per annum. Mr. Wenzel was born in Germany in 1853; came to the United States at the age of sixteen years, locating first in Clinton county, Iowa. In 1872, he changed to Crawford county, that State, and in August, 1874, came to Springfield. He spent four years in the Lutheran Concordia College, from which he graduated in 1878; during the two last years he preached a portion of the time, and continued his ministerial labors a year after leaving the institution. In the latter part of 1878, he retired and engaged in the grocery business soon after. Mr. Wenzel married Katie Annie Maise , in May, 1879. She is

Gerhard Weste^iberger, furniture dealer and manufacturer, 417 East Adams street, located in the business at that number in 1861; first as joint proprietor, but has been sole proprietor for fifteen years. His stock embraces a large assortment of parlor, bedroom and kitchen furniture, occupying four floors of his building, twenty by seventy-five feet in area. He is a practical cabinet-maker, and carries on manufacturing in a moderate way, employing several hands, and conducts a thriving business. Mr. Westenberger is a native of Germany; emigrated to the United States when twelve jears of age, settling in Springfield, Illinois, in July, 1848. He learned the trade early in life, and has steadily pursued it. In 1860, he married Mary Louise Bretz, in Springfield; she was a native of Kentucky. Her mother was a Kentucky lady, and married Mr. Bretz, a German by birth, in Frankfort of that State. Mr. and Mrs. Westenberger have nine living childrcH, four sons and five daughters, and one son deceased. The eldest daughter is now married. He and family are members of the Catholic Church. His father carried on building and the manufacture extensively in Germany, and moderately after coming to Springfield, where he died about twelve years ago, aged nearly eighty-two yeai's. His widow resides in the city, over seventy years old. Their family of four sons and a daughter are still living.

Floyd K. Whittefnore, cashier of the State National Bank, of Springfield, is a native of Cayuga county, New York, and is thirty-five years of age. When a small boy he came with his parents to DeKalb county, Illinois, and was there educated in the district and high schools. Upon the election of Hon. James H. Beveridge to the office of State Treasurer, Mr. Whittemore came to Springfield as his deputy, and after the completion of his term of office, accepted the position of cashier in Jacob Bunn's banking house. After over four years service in that capacity, Mr. Whittemore, having been chosen cashier of the State National Bank, retired to enter i;pon the duties of his present office. He has earned a place in the front rank among Springfield's business men. His father, some years a widower, resides in DeKalb county, Illinois. Mr. Whittemore has never married.

ColoneUmnes White, Springfield, Illinois, was born in Adams county, near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, March 28, 1796; son of James and Polly White. He was reared on a farm and received an elementary school education. When twenty-one years of age, he engaged in the stock business, buying and selling, his principal market being Philadelphia and Baltimore, till 1864. February 4, 1830, he came to Springfield, where he still kept up his stock business, dealing in land, owning one thousand eight hundred acres in this county. The Colonel is over eightyfive years of age; a man who has accumulated large fortunes; but by endorsing for others, has lost heavily. He is a man who has always been temperate, using neither intoxicating liquors or tobacco; is a strong Spiritualist, believing that he has communications from some of his old acquaintances that have passed away; has always been just in his dealings, never taking a cent that did not belong to him, and always paying the last dollar for men that he has gone security for, paying over $50,000; is a member of the Good Samaritan, and Masonic orders.

Silas M. Whitecra/t, farmer, Springfield, Illinois, was born in Bath county, Kentucky, on the sixth day of March, 1828; son of John and Rachael (Arnet) Whitecraft ; father of Irish and mother of English descent. In 1835, his parents emigrated to this county, and located in Woodside township, where he remained one winter, then removed to Christian county, then back to this county, when Mr. W. entered Government lands and made a home, where he resided until his death, which occurred in July 25, 1847. In 1879, while his mother was returning from the fair, she was thrown from a wagoa and killed. They were members of the Pi'esbyterian Church, and died as they had lived, sincere Christians. Mr. Whitecraft planted the first orchards in this part of the country. The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm. In 1864, he married Miss Lottie Price, daughter of Abram Price, of Madison county. New York. They have four children, viz : Mattie, Lottie, Mabel and Bessie. Mr. Whitecraft has been identified with the interests of the county for over forty years ; is one of the large and enterprising farmers of the central part of Illinois ; he raises and feeds two hundred and fifty head of cattle and two hundred head of hogs.

George W. Whitecraft, retired farmer, residence corner of Eighth and Douglas streets, was born in Bath county, Kentucky, in September, 1830. His parents, John Whitecraft and Rachel Arnett, were also natives of the same county, where they married and moved to Sangamon - now Christain coianty, in September, 1835. His father died on the old homestead sixteen miles southeast of Springfield, in 1847. His mother was killed by a runaway team while returning from a fair at Springfield in September, 1875. Tiiey were the parents of six sons and a daughter, of whom the subject of this memoir is the youngest. His active life was all spent on the farm in the neighborhood of the old homestead in Christian county. In October, 1873, he purchased the property he now occupies and moved to the city. Mr. Whitecraft married Susan Williams, November 10, 1853. She is the daughter of Josiah Boynton Williams, of Cotton Hill township, Sangamon county, Illinois, where he settled forty-three years ago. Susan was born about three miles north of his present home in January, 1834, and is one of a family of five brothers and four sisters, eight of whom survive. Her parents are both alive, father aged seventy-two, mother sixty-seven years. Two brothers and a sister of Mr. W., reside in Christian county, and one brother in Springfield. Mr. and Mrs. Whitecraft are members of the Second Presbyterian Church. They own five hundred acres of fine farming land and a comfortable home in the city. In politics he is a Republican.

Dudley Wickersham, grocer, 609 Monroe street, has been engaged in that branch of mercantile life, in that location, twelve years. His store is large, being one hundred and fifty-seven feet deep, and amply stocked with the finest staple and fanc}^ groceries in the market. He makes a specialty of the best grades of goods, and his store, which is a model of its class, abounds with the most tempting edibles, in which he conducts a very large retail trade. Col. Wickersham is a Kentuckian by nativity, born in Woodford county, where the first eighteen years of his life were passed on a farm. At that age he began mercantile life as a clerk in the town of Mortonsville. In 1844, he came to Springfield, and entered the employ of Col. John Williams, as salesman in his dry goods store. In June, 1846, Mr. Wickersham enlisted in the Fourth Illinois Regiment, Col. E. D. Baker commanding, and served a year in the war with Mexico. He started out as Corporal, and was promoted to Sergeant of Company A. Among the important battles in which he participated was that of Cerro Gordo, where he helped to carry General Shields from the field, in what was then supposed to be a dying condition. Returning home, Mr. Wickersham resumed work for Col. Williams, till he set him up in business in Athens, where he carried on a general store three years, then closed out and came back to Springfield. He became a pai'tner in the dry goods firm of Smith, Edwards & Co., | which relation continued until lie entered the army in September, 1861, as a member of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry, of which he was appointed by Governor Yates, Lieutenant Colonel, and two months later was elected Colonel. He commanded the regiment through the nearly four years of his military career. He was connected with the army of the frontier, west of the Mississippi, and saw much hard service. Owing to failing health. Colonel Wickersham resigned iu May, 1865, and was unable to engage in business for nearly a year. After retiring from the service, he was appointed United States Assessor for the Eighth District, and filled that office several years, at the termination of which he embarked in the grocery trade. Colonel Wickersham is a Mason, and has taken all the degrees of the Order, to Knight Templar. In 1847, he married Miss Margaret Dickey, in Springfield. She was born in Kentucky, but brought up from childhood in Sangamon county, Illinois. They have two surviving children, William, salesman in the store, and Carrie, at home.

James Wickersham, attorney at law, firm of Wines & Wickersham, is a native of Illinois, born in Marion county, and is twenty-four years of age. After attending school there, he came to Springfield, in 1877, and in July of that year began the study of law in the office of ex-Governor John M. Palmer. In December, 1879, he was admitted to practice in the courts of Illinois, and in March, 1881, opened a law oflice. Previous to that, and up to the fall of 1881, he and his partner, Walter B. Wines, have been engaged in the United States census work, preparing a digest of the criminal laws of the different States as a part of the census report, on crimes and charities. In politics, Mr. Wickersham is a staunch Republican, and was a zealous supporter of Mr. Garfield's principles and administration. Mr. Wickersham married Debbie Bell, in October, 1880, who is a daughter of Isaac Bell, deceased, an early settler of Rochester township. He died the day after Mrs. Bell graduated from the city High School, in June, 1880. Her mother died some years before.

Noble JB. Wiggins, of Leland & Wiggins, Leland Hotel, was born in Newburg, Ohio, October 21, 1841, where he lived on a farm and attended school during the winters; when eighteen years of age, he attended Hiram College, Ohio; remained there one year, when he enlisted in Garfield's Regiment, Company G, Forty-second Ohio Infantry Volunteers, September 19 1861, and remained in the service until December 2,

1864, when he was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio. He then returned to the farm at Newburg, Ohio, where he remained two years when he came to Springfield, arriving here April 6, 1867, and was employed as steward in the Leland Hotel, a position which he held until 18*74, when he was admitted as a partner, in the firm of Leland & Wiggins. His father, Benjamin L. Wiggins, was born in Montpelier, Vermont, and when a young man drove a wagon from Vermont to Ohio, and peddled tinware and Seth Thomas clocks, finally settling on a farm in Cuyhoga county Ohio, where he remained until his death, July, 1864. His wife was Miss Lucy Bates Wiggins, born in Newburgh, Ohio. She died May 1868; she was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and the mother of four children, three living. The subject of this sketch, Noble B. Wiggins, married Miss Clarissa N. Leland, October 21, 1869; she was born in Cleveland, O., and was a daughter of Aaron P. Leland, and Miss Submit (Arnold) Leland. Mr. and Mrs. Wiggins attend the First Presbyterian Church, and have a family of three children, viz.: Horace L., Louis N., and Lucy A. Wiggins.

Henry l]^illiams, furniture merchant and undertaker, 420 East Washington street, has carried on this branch of merchandising in Springfield since 1848, and for six years previously worked in the city as a journeyman cabinet maker. The undertaking feature he has conducted over thirty years. His stock embraces a complete assortment of parlor, bed-room and kitchen furniture, and undertaker's supplies, and does a heavy retail trade, acting upon the " nimble shilling" motto, turning over his capital several times a year. Mr. Williams was born in Massachusetts in 1824; came to Illinois in 1839, and located in Brown county; in 1842 settled in Springfield and learned the cabinet trade; in 1850 he married Sarah Wall, who was born in Ireland. They have a family of two sons. The eldest, James H., is with his father in the store, and is serving his second year as alderman from the Second Ward. Both of Mr. Williams' parents were natives of Ireland. His mother is a resident of Sangamon county, aged eighty years; father died some years ago.

Colonel John Williains, one of the pioneer merchants, and one of Sangamon county's most enterprising, highly esteemed and successful business men, was born in Bath county, Kentucky, September 11, 1808. His paternal ancestors emigrated from Wales and settled in Virginia, where his father, James Williams, was born. His maternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish, of the Presbyterian order, and settled in Pennsylvania. His mother, Hannah Mappin, was born near Pittsburg, in 1776. After marrying, his parents settled in Kentucky, from whence they moved to Illinois in 1823, and settled on the farm still owned by the subject of this memoir, and where they both ended their earthly life a number of years ago.

Mr. Williams' school privileges were confined to the primitive log school house of Bath county, and chiefly to the winter terms, his summers being occupied with labor on the farm; but being fond of books and study he made the most of what advantages offered. At fourteen years of age he began mercantile life, as store boy, in the store of J. T. Bryan, in Kentucky. He received no salary the first year, and the second year |50 and board was the compensation. In the fall of 182.4, having completed his engagements, he, in company with several of his father's old neighbors, came on horseback to Illinois, and after visiting at his father's house two weeks, proceeded to Springfield, arriving October 11, 1824, and at once entered the employ of Major Elijah lies as store boy, at a salary of $10 per month and board. At the end of a year, Mr. lies credited him with 1 150, and offered him for the next year's services |200, which was accepted, and this was the annual amount received for five successive years of labor. In the fall of 1830, Mr. lies wishing to retire from business, Mr. Williams bought his stock on four quarterly payments, started out as proprietor of thestore, with a capital of $800, saved from his small salary in the six years. By energetic application and management, the payments of the purchase money were promptly met, and having a good credit the young merchant bought goods to keep up his stock, and by discounting his bills before due, saved paying interest. Pursuing the plan of his predecessor in honorable dealing and strict justice to his customers, success crowned the years of Mr. Williams' life, which, with two brief intermissions, extended over a period of fifty years, as proprietor of the business, beginning in September, 1830, and closing with the sale of the business to C. A. Gehrmann in September, 1880. A part of this time he had several different parties successively as partners. During the last twenty-five years George N. Black was in company with him.

In 1864, upon the organization of the First National Bank of Springfield, in which he was the prime mover, Mr. Williams became its President, and held the oflSce about eleven years, when he sold out his stock. When the Spring field & Northwestern Railroad was being built, Mr. Williams loaned the contractors $50,000, and other amounts subsequently, amounting in the aggregate to $200,000. The company being unable to repay the money, he had a receiver appointed, and after four years of his administration, the road was sold in 1878, by order of court, and Mr. Williams became the purchaser. Upon the re-organization of the company, Mr. Williams owning a controlling interest, was made President of the road, which office expired by the sale of his stock in July, 1880, to parties in the interest of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company. In the summer of 18V2, Mr. Williams, in pai'tnership with George N. Black and S. H. Melvin, formed the Barclay Coal and Mining Company. They sunk the shaft the same year at Barclay, eight miles from Springfield, on the Illinois Central Railroad. The company - now composed of Mr. Williams, George N, Black and Samuel Yocum - owns eighty-seven acres in fee simple, on which they have erected over forty tenement houses, also the coal right of twelve hundred acres, and fifty coal cars. They employ from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five miners, and mine from four hundred to five hundred tons per day. Mr. Williams owns a number of pieces of city property and several farms, principal among them are the homestead of one hundred and forty acres, in and adjoining the corporate limits of Springfield, and a splendid farm of seventeen hundred acres in Menard county, near Athens, where his father first settled. At the breaking out of the late war. Colonel Williams was appointed Commissary General of Illinois, by Governor Yates, which position he filled six months, till the United States Government was prepared to take charge of the troops. He was afterwards appointed at the head of the Sanitary Commission for Illinois, to receive and forward supplies donated to the soldiers. He served in this capacity, without compensation, about two years. He was nominated and run for Congress in this district in 1856, on the Fremont and Filmore ticket, and ran nearly two thousand ahead of his ticket, but the district being Democratic by about four thousand, he was beaten two thousand one hundred votes. He was one of the Board of "Water Commissioners during the building of the City Water Works. Is President of the Barclay Coal Company. Colonel Williams was one of the original Trustees of the Lincoln Monument Association, and still retains that position. He is also a large stockholder and a Director of the Springfield Iron

Company. In 1840, Colonel John Williams united in marriage with Lydia Porter, a native of Livingston county, New York, but a resident of Sangamon county, Illinois, at that time; six children have been born to them, all living, viz: Louisa I., the wife of George N. Black; Albert P., John E., Julia J., the wife of A. Orendorflf; George and Henry C. Williams. Mr. and Mrs. Williams are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield.

jSamnel tT. Willett, merchant tailor, 227 South Sixth street, came to Springfield, Illinois, nineteen years ago, and entered the employ of Woods & Henkle, as cutter in their clothing establishment, some fourteen years ago, continuing in that relation until both proprietors died, when he was made manager of the business for the estate for two years, at the end of which time he opened a merchant tailoring house on his own account. He moved to his present choice location February 1, 1880, and in August, 1881, put in a splendid stock of gentlemen's furnishings. His stock of piece goods is large and elegant, embracing an assortment of the finest American and imported fabrics for men's wear, which are made up to order in the most approved style. He is doing an extensive, growing business.

Mr. Willett was born in Cheshire, England, in 1829; emigrated to the United States in 1851; worked over eleven years at merchant tailoring in New York City, and then came to Springfield. He is a member of the Masonic Order, Lodge, Chapter, Council, and Commandery; is a member of the Knights of Pythias; is Prelate of Capital Lodge, No. 14; is Past Grand Chancellor for Illinois, having served in that position two terms consecutively; is Supreme Representative to the Supreme Lodge of Knights of the World. He is also an Odd Fellow, since 1853, and has passed through the degrees of the Grand Lodge. In 1860, Mr. Willett married Miss Emma S. Clark, a native of New York City. They have five surviving children, three daughters and two sons; one son deceased.

Fred W^ilms, President and General Manager of the Wabash Coal Company, has been engaged in the coal mining interests of Sangamon county since 1870. He was first connected with the Western Coal and Mining Company, a corporate organization with an authorized capital stock of $500,000, at first, as its cashier, and later as its manager. The company operated at Riverton, this county, and at Danville, Vermilion county. At Riverton, it re-equipped the old shaft sunk by P. L. Plowlett some years before, having secured a ten years' lease of the mine, and worked a force of one hundred and fifty men, who mined a million bushels of coal per year. This company closed out in 1877. The Wabash Coal Company was organized in March, 1880, with a capital stock of 140,000, and Fred Wilms was made President and General Manager; William Wilms, Secretary and Treasurer. This company sunk a shaft at Dawson, twelve miles east of Springfield, on the line of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, in the spring and summer of 1880. A five-foot vein of coal of very fine quality was reached at a depth of two hundred and fifty feet. This shaft works one hundred miners, who take out one hundred thousand bushels of coal per month. This company is also operating the old junction mine, situated at Springfield Junction, two miles south of the city, Mr. Wilms having leased it in May, 1879. A hundred and fifty men are employed at this mine, and it yields an average product of one hundred and seventy-five thousand bushels per month. The coal from these mines finds a market chiefly at points east and west on the line of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, as far east as Toledo, and west to Quincy and Hannibal. The company has two retail yards, one in Springfield and one in Jacksonville. They also do a large business in hard coals, both at wholesale and retail.

The subject of this memoir was born in Quincy, Illinois, in 1842; from fourteen to twenty years of age, clerked in a dry goods store in his native city; was then six years in the employ of a wholesale and retail boot and shoe house there, as book-keeper and buyer of the stock. At the expiration of this time he engaged in the same line of business as proprietor. In 1870, he sold out and moved to Springfield and has since devoted his attention to coal mining. He has been President of the Springfield Coal Association three years; is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and has passed through all the degrees of the order to Knight Templar. In January, 1867, Mr. Wilms married Anna Dickhut, of Quincy, and a daughter of a pioneer in that place. They have two children, Carrie, aged twelve years, and Fred, six years old.

Edioin A. Wilson, real estate and loan agent, and publisher of the Sunday School journals "Labor of Love," and "Food for Lambs," was born in Carroll county, Maryland, in June, 1840; passed most of his early life in Baltimore City, where he received a good English education. During the years 1863, 1864 and 1865, he was employed on clerical duties in the office of the

United States Sanitary Commission; left there in November, 1865, and after visiting Boston and Indianapolis, landed in Springfield, Illinois, in January, 1866, and still being in the service of the Commission, was engaged in examining and classifying the rolls of Illinois soldiers till November of that year, then resigned to locate permanently in Springfield. Engaging in the real estate and insurance business, he carried both on till eight years ago, when he dropped the latter, and has since chiefly devoted his attention to dealing in and improving city real estate. Besides building many houses for others, he has erected some forty residences on his own property, and now owns thirty-seven occupied dwellings. Mr. Wilson was one of the publishers of the book entitled "Reminicenses of Old Settlers," of Sangamon county, in which he invested $6,000, quite a large per cent of which he has never realized. He is one of the elders of the Third Presbyterian Church, and is Superintendent of its Sunday School. He is publishing two Sunday School journals of the above titles, which are non sectarian in character, and both ai'e extensively circulated. In 1864, Mr. Wilson united in marriage with Miss Cynthia C. Hannon, in Washington City. She is also a native of Maryland. They have two children of each sex alive.

George Withey, of the firm of Withey <fc Brothers, Carriage Manufacturers, Washington street, between Seventh and Eighth streets, was born in Sommersetshire, England, and is fiftyfour years of age. He is one of the five living sons of a family of seven sons and two daughters of James and Jane (Stich) Withey of German ancestry, and who crossed the Atlantic in the spring of 1842, and settled in Sangamon county, Illinois, where the mother died about twelve years ago and the father about seven years ago. The senior Withey was a wagonmaker by trade; the sons took kindly to the sire's calling, and the three who compose the firm, William H., George D., and James, all learned the trade, and two of the brothers have five sons journeymen in the same business and engaged in the factory. The subject of this sketch married Miss M. T. Kiraes, born in Knoxville, Tennessee. They have a family of four daughters. In spite of several serious reverses of fortune the Withey Brothers are doing a large and prosperous business, in which they employ an average of thirty men.

child, and he was left to take care of himself. He was taken by Enos Coles, a blacksmith ; to learn the trade ; but as he had a farm, he was busy there instead of the shop, except rainy days, when he could not work out-doors. He remained with Mr. Coles until he was nineteen years of age, then engaged in Belchertown, Massachusetts, to work by the year, at one hundred and twenty dollars ; remained there three years, and accumulated a few hundred dollars. He spent one winter in Georgia, peddling clocks for a man named Kendall ; the following spring returned to Belchertown, when he hired for two years to the same party he had previouly worked for. Taking his hard earned money, he, in company with a man named Wilson, came to Schenectedy, New York, when they started a paper. Mr. Wood being the money-man in the enterprise, and being ignorant of the business, it was not a successful undertaking, and he sold out to Wilson, getting what he could out of it ; came to Buffalo ; from there to Painesville, Ohio, where he spent the summer, and in August started out with a team and light Dearborn wagon for Illinois, and located in Springfield.

In 1835, he entered land in Island Grove township, which he sold to a Mr. Brown, from Kentucky, who bought a large tract of land in that county. Mr. Wood then went to Berlin, where he built the Half-way House, between Jacksonville and Springfield, and kept it for a number of years. Among his guests were Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Forquer, John J. Harding, Daniel Webster, Martin Van Buren, E. D. Baker, and many men who rose to eminence. He married Miss Sarah Ann Todd, of Bourbon county, Kentucky. She was born May 22, 18L)0. There were eight children, four of whom are living. Mr. Wood held the office of postmaster in Berlin, and was justice of the peace for a number of years.

Henry 'Wohlgemuth^ M. D., may well be placed among those of whom there are so many, so-called "self-made men." He is a native of Germany, was born on the 22d day of May, 1822, in the city of Hanover, and is the eldest son of Frederick and Maria Wohlgemuth, ( parental name, Boehne). His parents were of industrious habits, not possessed of large fortunes. His father died at the age of forty-two years, in Germany. His mother died in the year of 1859, at the age of fifty-four, in St. Louis, Missouri. His brother. Christian, died in St. Louis, Missouri, in the year of 1849, of cholera, at the age of twentythree years. Two sisters are still surviving, both married, and live respectively, one, the

Henry, from his earliest boyhood, applied himself to industrious and steady habits, availing himself of what means his parents were able to bestow, in obtaining an education, and at the age of sixteen years, he chose the study of medicine, and his chief desire was with an ambition to acquire a thorough knowledge of his chosen profession.

In 1845, unknown to him, and being absent from home, his widowed mother and three children, (one son and two daughters) decided to emigrate to America, and informed of their action, though unprepared for so sudden a change, he decided to go with them. They embarked in a sailing vessel at Bremerhaven, in the month of September, 1845. After a long and tedious voyage of sixty -two days they arrived in New Orleans in the month of November. Having friends living in Illinois, they proceeded on their journey up the Mississippi, thence the Illinois river, and landed at Beardstown, where they had friends living. In the winter of the same year the Doctor made his way to Springfield, laboring first under many embarrassing disadvantages, poor in health, poor in purse, unacquainted with the language and an entire stranger among the people with whom he had cast his lot. Springfield, then, with not more than three thousand inhabitanis, now has grown to be a city of twenty-two thousand or more, what was the woodlands and open prairies has given away to stately mansions and fine cultivated farms.

His determination and honesty of purpose, aided by a sound and well-directed judgment, soon overcame all obstacles. Although his health being much impaired, owing in a great measure to a change of climate, together with the many other disadvantages and embarrassing circumstances. Dr. Wohlgemuth opened an office in the spring of 184 6, and began the practice of his profession. Giving himself industriously to his work, he met with marked success, rapidly acquired a knowledge of the language and laid the foundation of an extensive and lucrative practice, his practice extending through a wide circle outside the city, and he was called upon to endure all the hardships incident to a physician's life of about thirty-five years in a country where farm mansions, cultivated fields, and well-worked highways with railroads in every direction, have supplanted the log cabins, dreary prairies, heavy timbers, and almost impassable roads that then existed. The resident physicians, of whom there were some thirteen, besides the scattering ones throughout the country, of whom there were but few, have all passed away except it be one or two in the county, who still survive but no longer engaged in active practice, which leaves Dr. Wohlgemuth, so to say, the pioneer, or oldest physician, in Sangamon county, at an age of sixty years, still vigorous and engaged in active practice.

In August, 1849, Dr. Wohlgemuth was married to Miss Mary Elizabeth Wolgamot, a native of Ilagerstown, Maryland, who removed to Springfield with her parents in the year of 1840, when she was eleven years old. They have had six children, tw© of whom died in infancy. The eldest, a daughter, Mariette, was born June 10th, 1850, and died on the 22d day of October, 1872, beloved by all who knew her. The two sons, Henry I., aged twenty-nine, and William, twentyfive, both promising young men, engaged in merchandise pursuits. The only daughter, Minnie Bell, now a promising young lady, was born July 5, 1865.

Generous and public spirited. Dr. Wohlgemuth has contributed largely to the interest and growth of Springfield, and apart from his regular practice, has held many positions of confidence and public trust.

In 1856, he was elected City Physician, in which capacity he acted until that office was combined with that of County Physician. This latter position he held from 1861 to 1863.

In 1863, he was elected Alderman, and held the office till 1866, and was chairman of inany important committees. He was for one year a member of the Board of Education, and in 1865 was appointed one of the Water Works Commissioners, and while acting in this capacity, rendered valuable service to the city in the construction of the works.

For many years past, the Doctor has been a member of the Board of Managers of Oak Ridge Cemetery, for most of the time has been its President, and it is justly due in saying, to him is greatly due, as also the gentlemen who were and still are his associates, in making Oak Kidge Cemetery what it is, the pride of Springfield.

He has been for many years an active member of the Masonic fraternity, of Sangamon Lodge, No. 4; is a member of the Chapter and Royal Arch, also a member of Elwood Commandery. No. 6, K. T., since 1859, and is at present its Eminent Commander. He has also been a member of other associations.

1854, upon attending lectures, received the degree of M. D. from the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio. In the advancement of medical science, he has taken a special interest, and at the organization of the Medical Association, was elected its President; is also a member of the National Eclectic Medical Association, honorary member of the New York State Medical Society; and in all that pertains to the medical art and the advancement of science, he takes a deep interest. He has amassed a liberal competence. His reputation is that of honor, and unimpeachable.

Christian Wolf, hatter and furrier, Pasfield Block, southwest corner of the square, established this branch of mercantile business in Springfield in 1865, occupying a small store on the north side of the square. Two years after he formed a partnership with John Hablizel, which continued until the spring of 1880, when Mr. Wolf purchased his partner's interest and became sole proprietor. In 1869, the increase of trade demanded more room, and they moved to the large store, 109, west side of the square, which was abandoned for the present elegant quarters in the new Pasfield block in the fall of 1881. Mr. Wolf carries a stock of the finest hats, caps, furs and gentlemen's furnishings in the market, the largest in the State outside of Chicago, and has an annual retail trade of $40,- 000. He makes a specialty of elegant fur goods, of w^hich he sells a large quantity. Mr. Wolf is a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, born in 1838; after being partially educated there, emigrated to the United States, at the age of sixteen years; lived over five years in Cincinnati, Ohio; went thence to New Albany, Indiana; there carried on the hat business on his own account over two years, after which he located in Springfield, Illinois. He married in New Albany in October, 1861, to Jennie Welch, a native of that city. Their family consists of three children of each sex. In 1877, Mr. Wolf was elected City Alderman from the Sixth Ward on the Republican ticket, without effort on his part, but resigned after a little more than two years of service. He is a member of Capital Lodge No. 465, I. O. O. F., and a member of Brigadier General I. N. Reece's staff. I. N. G.

Fresco Wright, Treasurer of the City of Springfield, was born in Somerset county. New Jersey, in 1820. His parents, Presco Wright, Senior, and Jane McKissack, were also natives of that State. The son and subject of this sketch grew to manhood and received an academical education there. He began mercantile life as a clerk at fourteen years of age; and upon coming to Springfield, in 1849, pursued the same avocation, first as salesman for Jacob Bunn, then for Lewis & Adams, and in 1851 engaged in a general merchandising business, as a uiember of the firm of Wright & Brown, which continued five years, at the end of which he sold out and retired. During two of those five years, he filled the ofiice of City Treasurer. In the fall of 1856, Mr. Wright was elected Circuit Clerk of Sangamon county for the term of four years, running six hundred votes ahead of his ticket in the city and township, and was the only Democratic candidate elected at that time. Being a pfonounced War Democrat, he was elected in 1862 to the office of County Treasurer on the Union ticket, by a handsome majority, and served two years. In 1865, he was appointed Postmaster of the city by Andrew Johnson, and filled the position till 1868; was then appointed Assistant Assessor for the two years following; subsequently, he served two years as Deputy County Clerk, and in the spring of 18Y9 was elected to his present office, having been twice re-elected since by a liberal majority. At the age of twenty-four, Mr. Wright married Phebe A. Sutton, in New Jersey They have an adopted daughter, Mettie Wright. Mr, W. is a member of the Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery in the Masonic Order.

James T. Wright, grocer, 421 East Washington street, has been identified with the grocery trade of Springfield for many years. He first started as a delivery clerk, for Forden & Seely ; was afterwards employed as salesman ; in 1872 became joint proprietor with Mr. Forden, and three years later, sole owner, by purchasing Mr. Ford en's interest. In August, 1879, he located in his present store, which is one hundred and fifty-seven by twenty feet in front, and forty feet at the rear end. He occupies two floors, carries a large stock of goods, and has one of the heaviest retail trades in the city in family groceries and country produce. Mr. Wright is a product of Sangamon county, Illinois, born on Round Prairie, in 1840. Thomas Wright came from Kentucky to Sangamon county in an early day, and man ied Sarah Smith, also of Kentucky, but came here in childhood. Their family consisted of one daughter, and the subject of this sketch. Thomas Wright died when James was fourteen year's of age, leaving the widow, who now lives with her son. James left the farm when twenty-two, and settled in the city, which has since been his home. In 1878, he married Mary A. Lloyd, a native of Springfield, who

Fred H. Zahn, merchant tailor, 135 South Fifth street, Lincoln's old law office, established the business in that room, July 8, 1875, with fifteen dollars capital, having lost everything in becoming surety for friends in the East. Upon arriving in Springfield, in 1873, he worked as a cutter two years. Having good credit with friends in Eastern cities, he was able to start with a fair stock of goods, and keeping nothing but the finest grades of American, English, and French suitings, which are made up in the highest style of the art, his business rapidly grew from $9,000 the first year to |2,000 to $4,000 per month, in which over twenty skilled hands are regularly employed. He also keeps a fine line of ready-made clothing for children.

Mr. Zahn was born in Berlin, Prussia, May 25, 1840; from early childhood was brought up in city of Baltimore, Maryland, where he learned the tailor's trade. In May, 1861, he enlisted in the Union army, in the Second Maryland Infantry. In the second battle of Bull Run he was shot through the left lung with a minnie ball which he still carries in his body. After remaining in the hospital six months, he had so far recovered that he started for the front, but being seized with hemorrhage of the lungs, was compelled to return to the hospital, and was afterwards made Hospital Steward, holding that office till mustered out of service in June, 1864. Mr. Zahn married Miss Ellen M. Brown, of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1872. His father, August Zahn, died June 11, 1881, aged seventy-one, in Baltimore, Maryland, where his mother still resides.

Robert B. Zimmerman, of Zimmerman & Prouty, dealers in wall papers, shades, paints, etc., 427 Washington street, and of R. B. Zimmerman & Co., painters, and decorators and dealers in papers and paints, was born in Center county. State of Pennsylvania, October 5, 1811, and is the son of Ezekiel and Esther Zimmerman, the former a native of Pennsylvania, the latter born in South Carolina. Her father, William Swanzey, was in General Francis Marion's army at the time of her birth, and he did not see her until a year old. At the age of seventeen years, Mr. Zimmerman began|learniiig the trade of chair-making and house-painting, in Newton - now Elmira - New York, remaining there four years and a half. After spending another year in Tompkins county, he came West, stopped three months in Indianapolis, and made the first chairs used in the Indiana State

Capital; landed in Springfield, November 18, 1835; passed the early sumnier months in St. Louis, the next year; returned in July, and bought out Mr. Powell, of Phelps & Powell; sold out to Mr. Phelps in 1839, and in company with John A. Mason, carried on a chair manufactory, eighteen months. They then dissolved, and Mr. Z. formed a partnership with A. P. Willard, in the painting business, in 1841. This relation lasted until Mr. Willard's death, in 1865, which occurrence severed a life-long friendship, of the most fraternal nature. For eight years, Mr. Z. carried on* business alone; then took two of his employes, Thomas Armstrong, and Henry Bolte, as partners in one house; and about three years ago took Mr. Prouty in partnership in the other establishment. Both firms do a large business, employing from thirty to forty men in the busy season. Mr. Zimmerman settled in Springfield when it was a village of nine hundred inhabitants, and has been an active business man in the place forty-five years. He married Miss Susan P. Seeley, of St. Lawrence county, New York, on December 25, 1838. She died October 30, 1840, leaving a daughter, Susan L., now the widow of E. L. Gross, late of Springfield. Mr. Z. married Mary C. Townsend, of Calidonia county, Vermont, in October, 1845. They had two sons, both deceased. They reared an adopted daughter, Lizzie Zimmerman, now the wife of M. V. Smith, superintendent of the rolling mills at the National Tube Works, near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In early life Mr. Zimmerman was a Whig in politics, and late years has been a Republican, He has always been a reader, has been a constant patron of the New York Tribune for forty years, of the Evangelical Alliance, forty-five years, and of the Illinois State Journal, since 1836, and has been a member of the Presbyterian Church since 1835. Mrs. Zimmerman was very active in Aid-Society work during the war, even going to the front to see that the supplies I'eached those for whom they were intended.

Frank M. Sperry, Springfield, Illinois, was born at Anna, IJnion County, Illinois, March 6, 1857, when three or four years of age he moved with his parents to Cobden, Illinois, remained here a short time when he went with his mother south, and remained a couple of years during the war at Memphis, Tennessee, Paducah, Kentucky, Bix'd's Point, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois. At the close of the war the family returned to Anna, Illinois, where he remained until nine years of age, when he moved with his parents on his father's fruit farm, one-half mile west of

Cobden, Illinois. He remained here working on the farm and attending the graded schools of Cobden until fifteen years of age, when he was employed as a clerk in the dry goods and clothing store of H. Blumenthal, at Cobden nearly two years. He then attended school one term at Cobden when he came to Springfield, Illinois. He worked here in the Illinois State Journal with his uncle, D. L. Phillips, some fourteen months, when his uncle was appointed Postmaster of the Springfield Post Office, he was then employed here with his uncle until June,

1879, when he went to learn railroading at DuQuoin, Illinois, on the B. & S. I. Railroad, of which his uncle, D. L. Phillips, was President. He remained here as bill clerk in the office of the I. C. and B. & S. I. Railroads, studying telegraphing until the death of his uncle. Major E. T. Phillips, who was station agent. Since that time he has worked for W. J. Young & Co., in Clinton, Iowa, six or eight months. In August,