Buffalo Hart Township

Buffalo Hart Township

Buffalo is a village of about four hundred inhabitants, and situated on the line of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad, and was laid out and platted in May, 1854, by Charles R. Wells, the plat was described as the "southeast part of the northeast quarter, and the northeast part of the southeast quarter of section ten, and southwest part of the northwest quarter, and the northwest part of the southwest quarter of section eleven, township sixteen, range three west."

The village was platted and recorded under the name of Buffalo, the railroad company named the station Mechanicsburg; while the post office was called Watson. It was only after several years of continuous eft'ort that the names of the station and post office were changed to Buffalo. These several names caused much perplexity and difficulty, as may well be imagined.

The first house erected in the village was by Josiah Green and Harvey Thompson, and a store was opened by them under the firm name of Thompson, Green & Co. This was in 1854.

The post office was established immediately after, and Harvey Thompson was appointed the first postmaster. The present postmaster is A. F. Hollenbeck.

The village has steadily grown until it now contains two dry goods stores, three grocery stores, one harness shop and hardware store, one drug store. There are three practicing physicians and one retired physician. Those in active practice are Dr. Leslie Gillett, Dr. L. P. Rogers, and Dr. John C. O'Conner. Dr. Peter T. Leeds is an old time practitioner, having been in the township about fifty years, and has retired from active practice. There are two blacksmiths' and one wagon shop, one elevator, and one steam flouring mill.

Flouring Mill

The steam flouring mill was erected in 1859-60, by Baker & Enlow, at a cost of about $5,000. George McDaniel has owned the mill since 1866, and it is now run by McDaniel & Sons.

Elevator

The building was erected as a warehouse in 1858, by John Dikeman, and was among the first buildings in the place. In 1878, it was remodeled, and an elevator machinery put in. It is now operated by E. R. Ulrich, who handles here about ninety thousand bushels of grain annually.

Temperance

The village is now regarded as a temperance one. There has not been a saloon tolerated in the place siace 1875, and the retail traffic is under complete control of the authorities. There were, at one time, four saloons in the place, and much drunkenness, but none of consequence of late years.

Religious

There are now two church edifices in Buffalo - that of the Methodists and Christians. In early times, the station at Buffalo was connected with the Mechanicsburg and other churches, forming a circuit of the Methodist Episcopal church, and so continued until the present house of worship was erected, in the fall of 1867. The place of worship for the society in Buffalo previous to occupying the new church, was in the school house. The first preacher who did regular pastoral work in Buffalo, was Rev. Richard Holding, in 1860-01. Mr. Holding remained one year. About this time, Buffalo station was disconnected from Mechanicsburg and attached to Dawson. The pulpit was filled by several men, successively, until 1866. In the fall of that year, Rev. Mr. Colt was appointed and entered upon the discharge of his duties. He was very efficient in securing funds for building the church. Isom Enlow, as one of the building committee, was the principal actor in the construction of the building. The house was dedicated in the spring of 1868, by Rev. Hiram Buck. The charge has been fairly prosperous, having been instrumental in breaking up the license system and the traffic in liquors in the village, and has lent its combined influence to prohibit the retail of it, for five or six years past. In 1877, the society erected a new frame parsonage, at a cost of |! 1,000. The membership of the church is about seventy. It has a prosperous Sunday school, with an average attendance of about eighty scholars. Rev. W. S. Calhoun is the present pastor. The present trustees are, Isom Enlow, Wesley Hathaway, F. W. Herrin, James H. Dawson, B. L. Hall, J. C. O'Conner, and Joseph McDaniel.

The Christian Church

The Church of Christ (or Christian Church) of Buffalo, was organized January 3, 1876, by Elder Samuel Lowe. The following declaration M'as adopted and signed by those entering the organization: and in the knowledge of the truth, and wishing to observe the divinely instituted worship for the children of God, and to hold forth the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to a perishing world, hereby band ourselves together in an organization to be called the 'Church of Christ, at Buffalo, Sangamon county, Illinois.'

" In this organization nothing is to be accepted as authorative in all matters of faith and practice, but the word of God contained in the Old and New Testaments."

Twenty-six names were appended to this declaration of faith, and George W. Ellington, Thomas J. Underwood and John W. Jacobs were chosen elders and Z. T. Greening, Joseph Ellington and Thomas Hegerman deacons. May 21, 1876, and ordained May 26, by Elder G. M. Goode. Afterwards Samuel Garvey was ordained as an additional elder.

The first pastor of the church was Elder E. T. Brooks, who was called to the charge, February 1, 1876, and continued till July, 1878, when he was succeeded by Elder John Lemons, who continued in charge of the church three years, terminating his connection in August, 1881. Since the organization of the church fifty-three additional names have been entered on the record.

The village school house is a fine two-story brick structure, containing three schools, four cloak rooms and a hall. The building is thirtyfour by forty-eight, and was erected in 1870, at a cost of about $7,000. William A. Robinson, Jonathan Putnam, and one other, were the directors, at that time. Four village lots comprise the grounds. The enumeration of the district is one hundred and twenty of school age; the average attendance is about ninety; the amount of money annually appropriated by the district now reaches $1,200. The present board of directors are, Ezra Gamble, W. F. Herrin, and J. C. O'Connor. The present principal is Benjamin F. Wiley; the school is a graded one.

As illustrating the amount of business annually done by the railroad company at this station, the following is given: In 1880 there were shipped four hundred and seventy-four cars of grain, sixty-six cars of tile, and one hundred and twenty-six cai's of live stock. The tickets sold amounted to $42,000, for the year.

Ixcoiu'Okatiox Tile Works

The Buffalo Tile Works were established in the spring of 1877, by Foudy, Eyman & Co. - A. J. Fondy, H. H. Eyraan and Samuel Hugenberger. The works manufacture all sizes of tiling, and use a twelve-horse power engine, and the tile are made by a Tiffany tile machine. The capacity is sixteen hundred to two thousand eight-inch tile per day, and four thousand to five thousand four-inch and six thousand to eight thousand three-inch tile per day.

The village of Dawson is located on the line of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad, about twelve miles from Springfield. It was laid out in May and June, 1854, by Thomas Lewis and Joseph Ledlie, on a part of the southwest quarter and northwest quarter of section eight, township sixteen, range three west. It was so named in honor of Hon. John Dawson, one of the "Long Nine." The village has now two churches, a good brick school-house, an operating coal shaft, three stores and one physician. The coal company has given much impetus to the trade of the village.

James William Alvey, merchant, Mechanicsburg, is a native of Sangamon county, Illinois, and was born in Springfield, in 1834. William Alvey, his father, was a Kentuckian by birth, and married Madeline Watson, of the same State, in Sangamon county. He learned the hatter's trade in his youth; and moving to Springfield, Sangamon county in 1835, and married in November, 1825. He then engaged in the manufacture of hats by hand, the process then in use. Being the pioneer in the business in Central Illinois, he opened a small store which w^as stocked with his work in addition to that made to order. From the product of his skill and industry the early settlers of the Sangamo country for many miles about Springfield were supplied with head gear. In about 1846, he moved with his family to Iowa and settled on a farm. He died in Marengo, that State, some eight years later.

The subject of the memoir is the fourth of their family of six children, three of each sex, and commenced his mercantile life in Springfield in the grocery of J. W. Bates at twelve years of age. After clerking a year or two for him, and about the same length of time for Reuben Buchanan, young Alvey went with his parents to Iowa, where he continued clerking in a general store. Returning to Springfield he was employed several years in the store of his brotherin-law, S. B. Fisher. In 1867, he embarked in the mercantile business as proprietor of a general store in Mechanicsburg, and has prosecuted the business there since that time. He carries a stock of $10,000 to $12,000, and has an annual trade of 120,000 to 125,000.

In May, 1860, Mr. Alvey married Alzina Brown, who was born in the State of New York, and came with her parents to Sangamon county, Illinois, when a small child. Mr. and Mrs. Alvey have a family of two":daughters and four sons, namely, Melvina, Helen B., James William, Jr., Henry Pickrell, Homer Watson, and Robert Edwin Alvey. Melvina was educated at the Bettie Stuart Institute, and is accomplished in music and has a special talent for portrait work. Helen B. is attending the Springfield High School. Imbibing the political proclivities of his father, who was a Henry Clay Whig, Mr. Alvey has been a firm Republican since 1860.

Corneliics Everett Christiance, railroad agent, at Buffalo, was born in Lee county, Illinois, in the town of Brooklyn, in 1835, and was the first white child born in the town. Abram V. Christiance, his father, married Caroline Barkydt. They were both natives of Schenectedy, New York, and were the parents of sixteen children, of whom three sons and two daughters are living. They were the third family to settle in Brooklyn, Illinois. Cornelius started at railroading as a helper, in Buffalo, in 1860. In February, 1862, he entered the army as a member of Battery F, First Illinois Light Artillery. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee, and followed its fortunes under the command of Generals McPherson and Logan, successively. Mr. Christiance participated in all the battles of Sherman's army to Altoona. He was promoted from private to sergeant, and was acting orderly when mustered out, March 7, 1865. The first Avinter after retiring from the service he was employed as night operator at Bement, Illinois, and March 1, 1866, returned to Buffalo, where he was made station agent, and has filled the position to the present time. June 1, 1865, Mr. Christiance united in marriage with Miss Fannie W., daughter of Dr. William Hesser, of Jerseyville, Illinois. Three sons have been born to them, namely: Wilbur, aged thirteen years; Everett, aged eleven, and Harvey,

Meredith Cooj^er^ son of M. and P. Cooper, was born September 11, 1836, in Sangamon county, Illinois, apd was married March 18, 1874. He has one child, Annie L., born March 7, 1875, in Williams township, Sangamon county, Illinois. Mr. Cooper was a farmer and stock dealer for a long time, in that township. During the railroad riots at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1877, he lost a large number ot sheep, which were en route to eastern markets, which was an entire loss to him, as no settlements were ever obtained from the railroad company. He now is superintendent of the Sangamon County Poor House, which position he has held since March 18, 1878. Mrs. Cooper is the daughter of Wm. and Elizabeth Watson, who came from England and settled near Springfield, Illinois. Mrs. , Watson is still living in Springfield. Mr. Watson died there in September, 1873. Mr. Cooper's mother is still living, near Williamsville, at the age of eighty-seven.

Sertrand Dawson. - Mr. Dawson was born April 10, 1827, in Bracken county, Kentucky, and came to Sangamon county with his parents in 1827. His father, John Dawson, was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, November 24, 1791, and his mother, Cary Jones, was born in Nicholas county, Kentucky, May 22, 1801, where they were married October 9, 1817. Mr. Dawson and his wife - Katie Rea, daughter of David Rea and her mother (Susan Sitz) Rea - live adjoining the town of Dawson, it being named after his family. Part of the land on which the town was built was owned by Mr. D. It was entered by Francis Springer and others. the land patent dating March 3, 1843. Mr. D. has sold ten acres of his land adjoining the town to a coal company, who are engaged in mining. Coal is found in abundance at a depth of about two hundred and fifty feet, and of an excellent quality. Mr. D. is engaged in farming and stock dealing, and one of the enterprising men of the township.

Mrs. Margaret Dunniclc, widow of Nicholas Dunnick, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, November 15, 1821. Mrs. Dunnick was born in Fayette county, Ohio, December 3, 1826, her maiden name being Mantle. They were married in Fayette county, Ohio, in October, 1844. Two years later they moved to Illinois, remaining a part of the winter in Springfield, and the following four years were spent on a farm on Lick creek, north of Chatham. From there they moved to Mechanicsburg, where they bought the old Mechanicsburg Mill, which was the first mill built in the township They have seven children, all born in Sangamon county: George J., born January 16, 1851; Angie Lee, December 2, 1852; Fannie, August 4, 1854; Kate, July 25, 1856; Emma F., June 7, 1858; Lennia, June 24, 1864; Clyde, August 25, 1866. Twenty-five years ago Mr. Dunnick built the present Mechanicsburg Mill, which he afterwards sold, and again purchased five years since, and it is now a part of the estate. The family live now on their farm near the village. Mr. Dunnick died SepJ tember 15, 1881, after an illness of but four days, and a well spent life of almost sixty years. He was an energetic, conscientious business man, and his whole life's conduct was marked by the strictest integrity and regard for the rights of others. During his life he was called upon to fill a number of local offices, and he and wife were members of the M. E. Church, He was a steward in the church of which he was an efiicient and useful member for many years.

Jatnes H. Freeto, hardw^are and queensware merchant mechanicsburg, has been engaged in business in the village about twenty years. He carries 'a stock of f 4,000 to $5,000, embracing hardware, stoves, glass and queensware, and a general assortment of tinware, of which he manufactures a considerable quantity, and also does a jobbing business in roofing, spouting, and cornice work.

Mr. Freeto was born in the State of New York, December 4, 1834, and was reared from three years of age in Dupage county, Illinois, whence he came to Sangamon county in the spring of 1860. He started a tin shop and stove store in Mechanicsburg soon after coming, and ten years ago added that of hardware.

James H. Freeto and Hannah M. Brown were married in Dupage county, Illinois, in 1858. Mrs. Freeto died April 19, 1365, leaving two 'daughters, Minnie L. and Florence May, and Mr. Freeto married Miss Rebecca J. Loughridge, November 29, 1867. She is a native of Arkansas, from which State her family fied as refugees during the war of the Rebellion, being friends of the Union. Four children have been born of this marriage, namely: Evalena S., born December 11, 1870; Luella Maud, November 13, 1872; Ida Marion, August 4, 1877, and George L.,born July 19, 1880.

Jacob jY. Fullinii'ider, farmer, residence section twenty-five, was born June 5, 1814, in Shelby county, Kentucky, and there passed the first twenty years of his life on a farm. Henry Fullinwider, his father, was a Pennsylvanian by nativity; spent a portion of his early life in Maryland, and from there went to Kentucky when a young man, where he soon after married Harriet Neil, who was born in Virginia. Ten children were born to them, of whom seven were sons, and three daughters. In the autumn of 1833, Mr. Fullenwider came to Sangamon county, Illinois, purchased a tract of land in what is now Mechanicsburg township, and returned to Kentucky for his family; but while there he took sick and died, in August, 1834. In the fall of that year, the widow and nine children moved to the new country of the Sangamon, arriving after a thirteen days' journey, on October 11. The family settled on land now forming a part of the homestead owned by the subject of this article, where his mother afterwards died, January 31, 1867.

On March 23, 1837, Jacob N. Fullinwider and Agnes Bullard were united in marriage. She was born March 24, 1814, in Shelby county, Kentucky, and is the daughter of Reuben Bullard and Elizabeth Gill, natives of Virginia. She came to Sangamon county, Illinois, in November, 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Fullinwider first settled in town sixteen, range two west, about five miles east of the village of Mechanicsburg. Fifteen years later they sold that farm and bought a farm which forms a part of their present estate, and settled on it but a few rods from the splendid dwelling they now occupy. This beautiful brick residence was .erected by Mr. Fullinwider in 1862 and '63, at a cost of |10,000. The barns and other buildings surrounding it cost $2,500. Mr. Fullinwider, being a thorough going, prudent business man, has been successful in a financial way. After having bought the intei'ests of the other heirs to the old homestead, he purchased other tracts about it, until at one time he owned one thousand four hundred acres of fine farming lands. He has given each of his six sons and two daughters 17,000, and still owns a farm of four hundred acres. In early years he voted the Whig ticket, and since the birth of the party, has been a Republican, though he has not been active in politics. He has served Mechanicsburg township two terms in the county board of supervisors, and' has for many years been a zealous and prominent promoter of church and school matters. He has been a member and efticient worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church fortynine years, and has contributed much, both in labor and money, toward its prosperity. Mr. and Mrs. FuUinwider's children are all, but one, married and comfortably situated in life; and for habits of industry, thrift and morality, they are an honor to their parents, and an ornament to society. They are all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and all the sons, save one, are farmers. Marcus L. graduated from Illinois Western University, in 1871, and from Rush Medical College in 1876; and has since July, of that year, been extensively engaged in the practice of medicine in Mechanicsburg, Sangamon county.

J. T. Fullimoider, is a son of Jacob N. Fullinwider, of Mechanicsburg township, one of Sangamon county's best known and most worthy farmers, and largest land owners, who came here in an early day, and has been prominently identified with the growth and development of Sangamon county, and Central Illinois. Our subject was born in Mechanicsburg townshij), this county, November 24, 1853, and is, therefore, twenty-eight years of age. Mr. Fullinwider is essentially a product of Sangamon county, having been born, educated and married here. He married Miss Laura Thompson, daughter of a prominent business man and banker of Mechanicsburg, who came to Sangamon county in an early day. Mr. Fullinwider owns a farm adjoining the village, and is at present engaged in the banking house of his father-in-law, Mr. Thompson.

Samuel Garvey, born August 27, 1825, in Owen county, Kentucky, son of Samuel and Maria (Elliston) Garvey, came to Sangamon county, Illinois, in 1830. He was married in Sangamon county, July 3, 1849, to Sarah 'A. Gideon; she was born January 13, 1828, in Champaign county, Ohio, and came to Sangamon county in 1845. They had five children: Mary A., born May 21, 1850, married to David C. Fletcher, September 9, 1869; Ann M., born August 27, 1853, and remains at home; Catharine J., born October 17, 1854, and married March 7, 1877, to Jacob Rogers; Henry C, born August 13, 1863, now at home with his parents; and Andrew S., born December 27, 1867, and died December 6, 1871. Mr. Garvey has eight grand-children. The family are all Christians.

John Gelling, was born November 13, 1805, in the city of Douglas, Isle of Mann, and came to America in 1830. He landed at New York, and went to the vicinity of Morristown, New Jersey. Hannah Monson was born in 1797, near Morristown, New Jersey. She was of an old

French family that was ftmong the earliest settlers in New Jersey. John Gelling and Hannah Monson were married June 23, 1833, near Morristown. They moved in 1838, to Vevay, Switzerland county, Indiana. Mr. Gelling, his wife, and a girl living in the family, started from Yevay in a wagon, and drove through Indianapolis to Springfield, arriving in October, 1839. Since tliat time he has resided four years in Morgan county. With that exception, he has been in Sangamon county to the present time. They never had any children. Mrs. Hannah Gelling died December 30, 18*72, and John Gelling resides two and a half miles south of Dawson.

In December, 1839, Mr. Gelling entered one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land now adjoining the village of Dawson, and settled on it, and soon after traded it for the land he now occupies, on section twenty-nine, in this township, three and one-half miles west of Mechanicsburg, and twelve miles east of Springfield, and two and one-half miles south of Dawson. His farm contains one hundred and twenty acres of good land, and is worth |60 per acre. When he came to America he worked at his trade of paper making, in New Jersey, as he had done in his native Isle of Mann, so that when he came to Sangamon county he knew but little in the way of farming; but has become, in the last forty years, skillful as a tiller of the soil, and has been successful. Having been a widower for nine years, he has been favored in having his sister, Ellen Charlotte, to care for his domestic interests. She was also a native of the Isle of Mann, where she was born in the year 1818, and came to America in 1852, at the request of her brother, with whom she has made her home since that time. Mr. G. has no other near relatives in America, except two nephews and two nieces, the children of a brother Robert, who died in this township a few years ago. Mr. G. has been a member of the M. E. Church for about thirty years, and his sister is of the same, first in her native Isle, and since, in this country. In 2)olitics they are Republicans,

O.P.Hall, born March 11, 1832_, in Shelby county, Kentucky, is the son of Benjamin L. and Eveline (Pickrell) Hall, and the only one of eleven children born out of Sangamon county. He came to what is now Mechanicsburg, with his parents, in September, 1833; he being about one year old. He was married in Sangamon county, January 20th, 1855, to Susan M. Short who was born October 14, 1833, in Pickaway county, Ohio, and came to Sangamon county, in 1846. They bad six children, five of whom are living, Wm. L., Lewis B,, J. Leslie, Rena, and Oscar E. Mr. Hall manages a large farm, and is extensively engaged in stock-raising. At his elegant home, surrounded by his intelligent and cultured familv, he enjoys life.

W. T. IIall',&o\\ of B. L. and E. Hall, lives on section thirteen; is a farmer and stock dealer; he was born December 21, 1844, in Sangamon county, Illinois; married January 9, 1872, in Jacksonville, Illinois, to Florence M. AYinn, who was born neat Urbana, Ohio, June 12, 1846, and died July 6, 1881. Mrs. Hall's parents. Dr. Chas. and Nancy (Branson) Winn, are both dead. Her father died August 17, 1847, and her 'mother, November 4, 1852. W. T. Hall and familymoved to Salina, Kansas, in 1872, and remained there until 1876, when he returned to Sangamon county. He was engaged, while in Kansas, in general house furnishing, hardware, undertaker's goods, etc., etc. He now has a fine farm, which occupies his entire time and attention.

Wm. F. Herrin, born November 18, 1836, in Sangamon county, is the son of James and Mary A. (McDaniel) Herrin, who came to Sangamon county in November, 1833, and located in what is now Clear Lake township. They are both dead. Mrs. H. died March 25, 1868, and Mr. H. August 6, 1881. Wm, F. married Mary A. North, September 10, 1863, the daughter of Robert North. They had six children: Belle N., James E., Chas. F., Burt Allen, died May 7, 1876 ; Carrie F. and Lettie A. Mr. Herrin lives in Buffalo; is engaged in farming and stock dealing. Mr. n. has one brother, David C, now living in Wheatfield township, and one sister, Mrs. Harriet F. Hewitt, residing in Menard county.

Jacob Morgan (deceased), son of Charles Morgan, was born in Fleming county, Kentucky^ May 20, 1808, and came to Sangamon county with his parents, in October, 1826, where he married Susan Correll, May 17, 1832, by whom he had four children: Josephus, born March 30, 1833, died January 5, 1877; Minerva, born November 8, 1834, died July 21, 1837; Caroline, born July 21, 1837, and married Geo, W. Hesser, and lives on a farm in lUiopolis township; Rufus, born September 16, 1840, died May 12, 1843, His wife, Susan, died October 15, 1848, and he was married again, November 22, 1855, to Mrs, Mary A, Wilson, whose maiden name was Stickel, She was born in York county, Pennsylvania, April 16, 1825. She, with her parents, who were of German descent, had moved to Macon county, in 1837, where they died; they were John and Mary Stickel. She had one son by her former marriage to Jas. J. Wilson, named

Acdifcw S. "SVikon, who was Lorn in Macon counly, Illinois, and married in Bloomington, to Mary idamilton, and had two children. He now resides in Washington, county, Kansas, where he has represented that county two terms in the legislature, and is now Judge of the Twelfth District there. Mrs. Morgan has had by her second marriage the following: Luella, horn September 4, 1856, died October 6, 1877; Selina B., born February 4, 1859, is single, and at home; Anna M., born March 3, 1861, also at home; Charles W., born September 4, 1863, with his mother on the farm, and yet single.

Mr. Jacob Morgan entered the land on which he resided for many years to the time of his death, October 23, 1877. There he located and remained nearly fifty years, being an influential and worthy citizen of the community, holding various offices of trust, and being a leading and useful member of the M. E. Church, and holding various offices thei'ein. The homestead is located on section twenty-one, about two and a half miles west of Mechanicsburg.

William Norred, was born March 9, 1809, in Louden county, Virginia. He was married in 1834 in that county to Elizabeth E. Dowdall, who was born there March 9, 1814. They lived in Frederick county, Maryland, until they had two children, and moved to Sangamon county, Illinois, arriving November 6, 1838, and settled three miles northeast of Rochester, at the mills of Darling & Baker, where one child was born.

Charles H., was born January 19, 1842, in Sangamon county. He was a medical student, but laid aside his books in August, 1862, and enlisted in Company - , One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois Infantry. He was placed in charge of a medical dispensary for the regiment, and later of a hospital; served until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged; attended McDowell College, at St. Louis, and graduated there. He was married in Logan county to Elizabeth Dalbey. They have two children, Charles Elmer and William Asbury. Dr. Norred commenced i^ractice at Dawson, but removed to Lincoln, Logan county, where he now resides, and practices his profession.

Mrs. Elizabeth E. Norred died September 1, 1843, in Sangamon county, and William Norred was married in 1845, in Loudon county, Virginia, to Mary Ann Daneil, who was born in that county, April 22, 1820. She died October 21, 1851, leaving one child, John W., born June 17, 1847, in Sangamon county,and married Mary Richardson, and lives in Middletown, Logan county, Illinois. William Norred was n arried December ]8, 1853, in Sangamon county, to Mrs. Martha Dowdall, whose maiden name was Enlow, a native of W^ashington county, Pennsylvania. She has one child by her first marriage, Silas R. Dowdall. Mr. ard Mrs. Norred had four children: Fenton M., Lauretta, Mary E., and Elizabeth C.

Nelson H. Phmiwer, harness manufacturer and dealer in hardware and stoves, Buffalo; opened business in that village in the fall of 1867, as a harness manufacturer. Seven years ago he put in a general assortment of hardware, and has since carried a stock in that line. He makes all grades of harness, and keeps in stock a variety of styles of saddles, whips and horse clothing. His annual sales aggregate from 85,- 000 to 86,000.

Mr. Plummerwas born in 1833, in Champaign county, Ohio; came to Illinois in 1856 and located a few years in Clinton, then moved to Decatur, and six years later came to Buffalo. In 1876, Mr. Plummer, married Miss Clay Cassity, who was born in Kentucky, and is the daughter of Allen Cassity, now a resident of Missouri, formerly railroad agent at W^heatfield, Sangamon county, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Plummer have two children, Mattie E. and Lee Plummer.

Leonard P. JRogtrs, M. J)., Buffalo village, is the third of a family of ten children, nine living, of Uriah, and Hettie A. Rogers nee Myers, and was born April 20, 1852, in Fairfield county, Ohio. His parents w'ho were both natives of Burks counly, Pennsylvania, were married in 1845. Mr. Rogers learned the carpenter trade in youth and pursued it up to the time of his marriage, but has since devoted his attention to farming. In the autumn of 1854, he moved with his family to Illinois, and settled in Mechanicsburg township, Sangamon county, where they still reside two and a half miles east of Buffalo. The subject of this memoir was educated chiefly in ]>urlingtOB, Vermont; read medicine in Mechanicsburg, Illinois, and attended lectures in Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which he graduated with the degree of M. D., February 15, 1876. On March 10th following, he opened an office and commenced practice in Buffalo. In June, 1877, he was elected county physician, and has filled that office continually to the present time, by annual re-elections. Dr. Rogers has enjoyed a large and lucrative practice from the first, and now has all he can do. He is a member of the Sangamon county. Medical Association. His father was born in 1818, his mother, in 1827.

Josiah M. Thompson, dry goods merchant, Mechanicsburg, is one of a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, of John Thompson and Elizabeth Ferguson, who married and settled in Bourbon county, Kentucky, where he was born October 11, 1824, and was brought by his parents to Sangamon county, Illinois, at the age of eleven years. His father being a farmer, he was brought up to, and followed that avocation until 1857, then sold his farm, moved to Mechanicsburg, and in partnership with his elder brother, Harvey Thompson, engaged in the mercantile business, which they have pursued to the present time, under the firm title of H. & J. M. Thompson.

Harvey c% A. T. Thompson commenced selling goods in the burg, m the fall of 1849, and the firm continued till about 1857, when A. T. sold his part to J. M., and the firm of H. & J. M. Thompson has continued since that time. In the year 1837, William and Upton Radcliff had built the old house in which the Thompson firm opened, and continued till 1875, when the present firm built their present large brick house - forty-four by seventy-two, in which they deal in a general line of merchandise, suited to supply all needs of the community in these lines, of which their annual sales have been from $18,000 to $20,000. Politically, the brothers are staunch Republicans.

Josiah M. Thompson and Maggie Munce united in marriage in 1860. She was born in Indiana, in 1837. Her parents emigrated from county Down, Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have three smwiving and two deceased children. The living are : Eliza, John A., and Thomas M. Mr. Thompson is a Mason, and member of Mechanicsburg Lodge, 229.

John Thompson was born March 28, 1783, in Pennsylvania ; went to Kentucky at twenty years of age, and there married Elizabeth Ferguson, who was born in Kentucky, June 18, 1791. They moved from Montgomery county, Kentucky, in the autumn of 1836, and settled one mile west of the village of Mechanicsburg. Of their nine children, four sons and two daughters are living. Mr. Thompson died in Sangamon county, Illinois, October 14, 1855. Mrs. Thompson died November 22, 1868, also in Sangamon county. He had previously been married, and had two children, both of whom, with the mother, are dead. The mother died when the

Andrew T. Thompson, banker, of the firm of Thompson & Brother, has been a resident of Sangamon county, Illinois, since the fall of 1836, and engaged in the banking business in Mechanicsburg, in company with his elder brother, Harvey Thompson, sijice December 1, 1873. The banking house is a private partnership, established under the laws of Illinois, and does a general banking, loan and deposit business. The deposits range from $25,000 to $80,000. The building occupied was erected for the purpose by the Thompson Brothers, in the summer of 1873, and is a-most substantial brick structure.

Andrew T. Thompson is the son of John and Elizabeth (Furguson) Thompson, and was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, January 30, 1827. At the age of nine years he was brought by his parents to what is now Mechanicsburg township, Sangamon county, Illinois, which has since been his home. In 1849, Mr. Thompson first started in business, on his own account, as a merchant by opening a general store in company with his brother and present partner, Harvey, in Mechanicsburg. In 1853, they erected the second building built in the city of Buffalo, and established a store of the same class there. Harvey conducted that store, and Andrew the one in Mechanicsburg. In 1858, the firm sold out the store at Buffalo, Andrew having sold his interest in the Mechanicsburg store to another brother a year or two previously. For a number of years subsequently, the subject of this memoir engaged in dealing in live stock before opening the bank.

In December, 1850, he was united in marriage with Elizabeth C, daughter of John R., anrt Louisa Groves, of Bath county, Kentucky, where she was born in 1833, but brought up from early childhood in Sangamon county, Illinois. Three children, two daughters and a son, are the fruits of their marriage, namely: Laura, now the wife of J. T. Fullenwider; Maggie and William W. Thompson. Politically, Mr. Thompson was a Whig in former years, and a Republican since 1856. He is a member