Decatur Township (part 18 of 46)

Frank R. Goode was the onl}- child born unto his parents. He acquired his education in the public schools and when fourteen years of age he lost his father. He entered upon his business career as a clerk and at first received no salary, gaining, however, experience concerning mercantile methods. The first money he received for his services was eight dollars per month, and gradually his wages were increased until he had reached the age of sixteen years. He then worked upon the road as a traveling salesman for the Wichita Produce Company of Wichita, Kansas, being associated with that house until nineteen years of age. He then took charge of the wholesale house at Hennessey, Oklahoma, owned by the M. T. Gillock Milling Company, the territory extending through Oklahoma and with headquarters at Hennessey. Mr. Goode spent altogether sixteen years in Kansas and Oklahoma, remaining in the west from 1880 until 1896. In the latter )'ear he came to Decatur and entered the employ of the F. B. Tait Manufacturing Company for the purpose of selling a windmill patent. In

September, 1897, he engaged in the patent business on his own account opening an office in Decatur exclusively for the sale of patents. In 1897 he secured a patent upon an invention of his own - a clothes line grip - which he sold in 1898. In the latter year he took out a patent for a slot rending machine and the same year secured a patent on an invention for laundry packing and wrapping. In 1900 he again became a traveling salesman for the F. B. Tait .Manufacturing Company, having charge of the gasoline department for one year. In 1903. he invented a spring hitch for farm wagons and machinery and he carries this on sale in connection with his patent business. His specialt)', however, is patents and during his nine years connection with this line of activity he has placed some fort}' different patents on the market, many of which have become paying inventions. Two important ones have been the equalizer for gang plows and the surface blade attachment for cultivators. Mr. Goode has made several trips to Washington, D. C, in the interest of his patents and his office is located at No. no A\'est Prairie street, Decatur.

In 1899 Mr. Goode was united in marriage to Miss Gertrude Wisher, a daughter of C. W. ^^'isher, of Decatur, and they have one child, Ruth Beatrice. He is well known in connection with industrial and manufacturing interests throughout this portion of the country and has done an important business by placing upon the market many inventions which have proven of value to the business world.

J. P. STOUTENBOROUGH. The subject of this biography is one of the leading citizens of Maroa township, where he has spent his entire life. He is not only engaged in farming and stock raising but is also interested in a number of dif- ferent enterprises which have been of decided advantage to his section of the county, promoting- its material welfare in no uncertain manner. As a business man he is notably prompt and reliable and he has attained a leading place among the representative men of the community in which he lives.

Mr. Stoutenborough was born in }iiaroa township in 1865, a son of Anthony and Sarah J. Stoutenborough. His father was one of the early settlers of this county and is now living a retired life in Maroa, honored and respected by all who know him. He is a brother of Garrett Stoutenborough, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. The primarj' education of our subject was obtained in the public schools of Maroa and he later attended a business college at Decatur.

At the age of twenty years Mr. Stoutenborough commenced operating his father's farm, having previously become thoroughly familiar with every department of farm work. He now owns one hundred and si.xty acres of the old homestead but has charge of the entire tract of four hundred acres, which is under a high state of cultivation and well improved with good and substantial buildings. His place is supplied with all modern conveniences, the house is heated by a furnace and there is a good system of water works. Mr. Stoutenborough has always been more or less interested in stockraising and now has some pedigreed stock of the Hereford and shorthorn breed of cattle. He is a director of the Farmers' Mercantile Association; is also interested in the Citizens' Bank of ^^aroa and was instrumental in establishing elevators at Rowell and Maroa. He possesses good business and executive ability and the success that has come to him is certainly well deserved.

of Maroa. She first attended school in Friends Creek township, this county, and later pursued her studies at Galesburg, Illinois. Both Mr. and .Mrs. Stoutenborough are members of the Christian church and he is also a member of the blue lodge and chapter of the Masonic fraternity and the Order of the Eastern Star at Maroa. He votes with the Republican party but has never consented to hold office, preferring to devote his undivided attention to his business interests which have become quite extensive. He is a true type of western progress and enterprise and in all his undertakings he has prospered thus far, his success being the logical result of his careful and correct business methods.

Augustus Harpstrite

AUGUSTUS HARPSTRITE. The name of Harpstrite early became well known in connection with agricultural interests and the subject of this review is now the owner of splendid tracts of farm land in Alacon county. The name is also a well known one in commercial circles, for during thirty years Augustus Harpstrite was engaged in the grocery business in Decatur. Now he is living a retired life and all that he possesses has come to him as the legitimate reward of his own labors. He was only three years of age when brought to this country, but is of German birth, having first opened his eyes to the light of day in Baden on the 4th of March, 1830. He is the third son in the family of John B. and Mary (Roamar) Harpstrite, who in the year 1833 severed the connections that bound them to the fatherland and came to the new world. They braved the dangers incident to an ocean voj'age at that time when weeks were required to make the trip while only days are now demanded for the voyage. -Sixty-one days had passed ere they reached the harbor of New York, and after living al a minibcr of ])lacos in the east the family home was established at Delphi, Indiana, where Augustus Harpstrite spent about six years, pursuing his education in the public schools (luring that time. The year 1844 witnessed the removal of the family to Illinois and the estalilishment of the family home in Clinli.in count}-. Air. Harpstrite of this review largely passed his early life upon a farm and for some time made his home with his sister. In Clinton county he also continued his education in the public schools antl he was early instructed in the value of industry and perseverance in the active affairs of life. The habits which he thus formed have been strong elements in his later success.

In October, 1855, Mr. Harpstrite came to Macon county and settled upon a farm near Albion in South Wheatland township. In 1857, however, he went to Chicago, afterward to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was employed for a time, while later he located in Belleville, Illinois, and was employed as a farm hand at eight dollars per month. It is from such a humble beginning that he has steadily worked his way upward until his name is now enrolled among the pros- ])erous citizens of Decatur. After five months at farm work near Belleville he removed to Michigan in 1858, but in the same vear came to Decatur and located in the first ward.

In the meantime Mr. Harpstrite had managed to save a small sum from his earnings and began business for himself as a grocer. His stock of goods was limited, but he gradually increased his facilities in order to meet the growing demands of his trade and for long years he had one of the best equipped grocery houses of this city. His courteous treatment of his patrons, his earnest desire to please and his fair and honorable dealings won him many customers and he conducted a successful enterprise from 1858 until 1888, when he sold out to -Mr. Apple. As his financial resources increased he also invested in realty and is to-day the owner of five valuable farms in Macon county in addition to considerable citv property. His labors have been very helpful in the upbuilding of Decatur and its improvement is attributable in consideralde measure to his eliforts, for he has erected twenty-eight dwellings and business houses here. These he rents and the financial returns from his property are sufficient to supply him with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.

^^'hile Mr. Harpstrite began business with very small means he soon gained a reputation for honesty and persistency of purpose and it is safe to say that throughout his entire career he never took advantage of the necessities of his fellow men in any trade transaction. In all of his dealings he paid one hundred cents on the dollar. There has been no sensational chapter in his business career, his wealth not coming to him as the result of a single fortunate deal, but as the direct outcome of earnest and long continued effort.

Hiram Arnold

HIRAM ARNOLD. Hiram Arnold, who was an honored veteran of the Civil war and who for many vears was a representative of agricultural life in Macon county, was born on the 29th of February, 1840, in Marshall county. West A'irginia. where the city of Wheeling now stands. His parents, Joseph and Lucretia (Alannon) Arnold, were natives of Virginia and the father there followed the occupation of farming. The paternal grandfather was engaged in building steamboats which sailed on the Ohio river. During the early boyhood of our subject the parents removed to Misssouri and subsequently to Illinois and in the schools of this state he acquired his education. He had just attained his majoritj' at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war and becoming deeply interested in the events which aroused the country at that time, he espoused the Union cause, enlisting in Company E, Fifty-seventh Illinois N'olunteer Infantry, with which he remained for nine months. lie was in the hospital and because of physical disability was then discharged. Later the government granted him a pension in recognition of the aid he had rendered the country and because of the ill results which followed his military career.

h was on the 2Slh of January, 1868, that Mr. Arnold was united in marriage to Miss Mary ICUen Ward. I'or his second wife he chose Elizabeth I lurst. and by that union had one son ami five daughters: Mary Lucrelia, the wife of 1. N. Newberry, a farmer of Osbornville, Illinois, by whom she has three children; Sarah M., the wife of J. W. Fillers, who follows farming near .Mount Auburn, and has two children ; Ellen S., the wife of Philip Wetzel, a carpenter of Blue Mound, by whom she has one living child: Ithamar. at home: and Dora May, the wife of Henry Ehlers, a car inspector of Decatur.

.Mr. .\rnold was a member of the United Brethren churcli and exemplified in his life his Christian faith and belief. He gave his political allegiance to the Republican ])arty and he had fraternal relations with the Grand .A.rmy of the Republic. Throughout his business career his attention was given to farming and he was the owner of eighty acres of land in Pleasant View township, which is slill in the jjossession of his widow, lie ])laccd his land under a high state of cultivation and the fields returned to him golden harvests, so that tlie sale of his crops brought to him a comfortable living. Me died January 24, 1903, when in his sixtythird year, and his remains were interred in llall cemetery. The qualities of his manhood and the strength of his upright character had gained for him the confidence and regard of his fellow men, so that his death was deeply regretted.

John H. Oren

John H. Oren, a well known and enterprising business man of Decatur and now proprietor of the industry conducted under the name of the Decatur Hard Plaster Company, was born in this city June 17, 1859, his parents being George and Mary (Miller) Oren. The father was a native of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and came to Decatur in the early '50s in company with Jackson Fisher, making the tri]) from Pennsyhania in a wagon. He was then a young man and in this county he learned the trade of a plasterer and later entered into partnership with Mr. Fisher under the firm style of Fisher & Oren. They did a large contracting business as plasterers and their services were in constant demand, a liberal patronage bringing to them a good income. Mr. Oren continued an active factor in the industrial circles of the city until his death, which occurred in August, 1899, when he was sixty-seven years of age. His wife, a' native of Virginia, died in 1897, at the age of sixty-three years. She was a representative of the old historic Miller family and was a daughter of "Aunt Polly" Miller, one of the pioneer settlers of the state. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Oren were born five children : John H.. the subject of this review; Margaret, the wife of John Diller ; Frank; Lizzie, the wife of Charles Jacobs; and Clara, the wife of Harry Misenhelter.

John II. Oren received but limited educational privileges yet mastered the common English branches of learning which prepare one for life's practical duties. He began learning the plasterer's trade with his father when seventeen years of age and subsequently became interested in the com- pail}-, doing contracting on his own account and having charge of the business for twelve years. He became associated with S. F. Perry, who was a practical plasterer with an experience of over twenty-five years in business at the time the partnership was formed. When, in 1897, the Decatur Rock Plaster Company became financially embarrassed, resulting in the forced sale of the plant, the firm of Perry & Oren bought the outfit and established the Decatur Hard Plaster Company. They began experimenting for the production of a material which would prove superior to anything known in that line and their experience and skill enabled them to perfect a wall plaster better than anything placed upon the market to which they gave the name of the Decatur hard wall plaster. All contractors and builders recognize the fact that there has been nothing placed upon the market equal to that which is now manufactured by the Decatur Hard Plaster Company. The basis of this is gypsum rock, which is secured from deep mines. It is manufactured by men who have devoted many years to securing and making the best that can be made and as the chief element in the hard plaster it makes an article of superior worth. That the Decatur hard plaster has become popular and that its value is recognized by contemporaries throughout the country is seen by enumerating many fine buildings in which it is to-day used. In Decatur it is seen in the Orlando Powers block, the Cumberland Presbyterian church, in a number of large business buildings, together with some of the best private residences of the cit)^ It is now recommended by every contractor in the city and by business and professional men generally. The plant is located at No. 341-343 Wabash avenue, where the firm is not only manufacturing and dealing in hard plaster, but where they also deal in lime, hair, cement and other materials. Mr. Oren has ever worked conscientiouslv and has gained a splendid reputation among all classes of citizens as a business man of integrity and worth, well meriting a large share of the public patronage. He manufactures two forms of plaster. The first is known as the Decatur hard plaster, which has all the ingredients ready mixed and to which simply water needs to be added and the second is the Decatur hard plaster compound which requires the addition of sand. In placing this product upon the market Mr. Oren has given to the world a material of marked value in building operations and he certainly richly merits the success which is now accorded him.

Mr. Oren has been twice married. In 1887 he was joined in wedlock to Miss Maggie Tiernan, of Dalton, Illinois. They lived happily together for five years and then in 1892 Mrs. Oren was called to her final rest. In 1894 ^Ir. Oren was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Mary Millard, a daughter of Captain C. C. Mason, of Mount Pulaski, Illinois. They have two children: Elsie May and George ^lason. In his political views Mr. Oren is a Republican where questions of national importance are involved, but at local elections he votes independently of party ties. He belongs to the Fireman's Association, to Coeur de Lion lodge. No. 17, K. P., and to Decatur District Court, No. 39, of the Court of Honor. He finds his chief source of recreation in fishing and hunting, but allows nothing to interfere with his faithful performance of business duties and no man enjoys a more enviable reputation because of the fidelity which he manifests in meeting business obligations.

Captain James H. Glore

CAPTAIN JAMES H. GLORE. A\'hen the tocsin of war sounded and brave men from all parts of the country flocked to the standard of the nation Macon county sent its full quota of gallant soldiers to the field and among this number was Captain James II. Glore, who won his title through the valiant aid which he rendered to the nation. Because of this and because of his loyalty in citizenship in times of peace he is well worthy of representation in the history of j\Iacon county. He was, moreover, one of the pioneer settlers here, establisjiing his home in this county in 1850.

.\ native of Kentucky, his birth occurred in Brownsboro, Olden county, on the 27lh of November, 1834. His parents, Milburn and Sarah (Clark) Glore, were also natives of Olden county, and in the year 1850 the father removed with his family from Kentucky to Decatur, where he became associated with business affairs as a manufacturer of brick. He owned and operated a brickyard for many j-ears and the product of his factory was utilized in the construction of many important buildings here at an early day. Later he turned his attention to the grocery business, which he carried on for a few years and subsequently he lived a retired life, spending his last days in rest from further labor and in the enjoym.ent of the comforts which his own energy and industry provided. He passed away in 1887 and his wife has also departed this life. They were the parents of ten children : Wash, who now resides in Chicago; I.on. a resident of St. Louis; Scott and Norman, both deceased; James H.; Relda, the wife of Captain Bingham, of Decatur; Amy, the wife of Andrew Hill, of this city ; Alice G., who is now librarian of the Decatur Free Public Library; Valissa, the widow of Edward Moore, of Decatur ; and Ella, also in this city. All were well educated in the best schools of Macon county.

Like the others Captain Glore attended the public schools and subsequently he assisted his father in the conduct of the brickyard here. At the same time he learned the trade of a brickmason and assisted in the erection of many of the best brick buildings of this city. Until the war broke out he followed that pursuit, but after the inauguration of hostilities he could not content himself to remain at home while his country was in danger and therefore he enlisted as a private of Company K, One 1 lundred and Sixteenth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. This regiment was organized in 1862 and with the exception of two companies its members were all sons of Macon county. Mr. Glore was afterward promoted to the captaincy of his company and served in many important engagements of the Civil war. AVith his conmiaud he remained at Camp Macon (luring the months of August, September and October and on the 30th of September, 1862. was mustered into the United States service. On the Sth of November, the regiment was ordered to ^lemphis, where it was attached to the First Brigade, Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps of the Army of the Tennessee. Its active service began in Grant's campaign in central Mississippi and included Sherman's Yazoo expedition, meeting the enemy in battle at Christian Bayou and afterward at Chickasaw Bluffs. Later came the Arkansas expedition, including the investment and capture of Arkansas Post. In General Grant's efforts to gain a foothold in the rear of Vicksburg the One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois joined the expedition up Steele's Bayou and after other encounters with- the enemy rejoined the corps and fought at Jackson, Mississippi, Champion Hills, Bridgeport and in the assaults on Vicksburg. After tlie fall of this city the regiment advanced on Jackson and in September, 1863, moved to Memphis, Tennessee, 'thence marching to Chattanooga. They participated in the battles of Tunnel Hill, Missionary Ridge and afterward marched to the relief of Knoxville. On the 4th of May, 1864, began the Atlanta campaign and with Sherman's great army the One Hundred and

Sixteenth Illinois moved toward the soutlieast. During this time Captain Glore and his men were in tlie engagements at Snake Creek Gaj). Resaca and New Hope Church and at the last named Captain Glore, who was then lieutenant, was wounded. Then followed other encounters with the enemy in the Atlanta campaign, concluding in the great battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864, and later the siege of the city resulting in its surrender. For three months the One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment had been under tire continually night and dav. On the 15th of November they started on the march to the sea and then came the Carolina campaign, ending in the battle of Bentonville, the last engagement of the war. followed by the Grand Review in Washington, where with the other representatives of the victorious army Captain Glore and his men received the plaudits of the nation. On the /th of June. 1865. with his command. Captain Glore was mustered out.

After the war he returned to Decatur and established a woodyard, which he conducted for a few years or up to the time of his marriage in 1870. The lady of his choice was Miss Frances E. Gunther. a daughter of George and Susan Gunther, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Tennessee. Her father came to America in 1832 and settled in Ohio but after a short time removed to ^lacon county, Illinois, being one of its early residents. Here he first operated a saw mill and later purchased a tract of land in South Wheatland township, whereon he engaged in general farming up to the time of his death in 1849. His widow, long surviving him, passed away in Decatur. in 1901. Captain and Mrs. Glore became the ])arents of two children : Sarah Alice and George G., both with their mother. The latter was born March 28, 1882, and is now a machinist by trade.

After his marriage Captain Glore purchased a farm in South Wheatland townshi]), three miles southeast of Decatur^ where he spent his remaining days, carrying on general agricultural pursuits and also worked at the mason's trade during the busy season. His life was one of activity and usefulness. He died February 27, 1886, respected by all who knew him because in all life's relations he had been loyal to duty, honorable in business, generous in friendship and loving and considerate of his famih'. For fifteen years he served as a school director in South ^^'heatland township and the cause of education profited by his earnest efforts in its behalf. In politics he was independent, supporting the men rather than the party. However, he kept well informed on the issues of the day and took great delight in all political arguments. In all his business undertakings he was very successful. Socially he was connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Decatur and he maintained pleasant relations with his old army comrades through his membership in the Grand Army Post of this city. He held membership in the Christian church, to which his wife yet belongs and there was in his career naught that could be censured by his fellow men, because he had been ever actuated by honorable motives. After his death Mrs. Glore resided upon the home farm until 1890, when she returned to Decatur and purchased her present residence at No. 412 South Main street, where she and her two children now reside.

J. S. BUFFMEYER. For many years J. S. BufTmeyer was actively identified with the farming interests of ^lacon county but is now living a retired life on section 2. Whitmore township, having acquired a competence which enables him to lay aside all business cares and enjov a well earned rest. He was born on lliL- 141I1 of Xovcmber, 1834, in IV-nnsylvania, of which state his parents, Joseph and Anna (Shaffer) P.uffmeycr, were also natives. He was their only child. In 1856 the family removed to Illinois and first located west of Chicago. Subsequently our subject became a resident of McLean county, this state, and from there removed to Moultrie county. It was in 1879 that he came to Macon county and purchased fortyacres of land on section 2, Whitmore township, which had already been placed under cultivation. Later he added to his farm another tract of forty acres on section 11, just across the road from his former purchase, and he was actively engaged in the operation of his land for some years. In connection with general farming he engaged in stock raising to some extent and met with good success in tlie raising of hogs. Since i8g6 he has practically lived retired, leaving the management of the farm to his son Iosei:)li. who now devotes considerable attention to the raising of fruit. The farm is verv productive and yields a handsome return for the care and labor bestowed upon it.

In 1854 Mr. Buffmeycr was united in marriage to Miss Mary Hartman, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and to them have been born, ten children, those still living being John, who is married and lives in Oregon; Joseph, who is single and resides upon the home farm ; Benjamin, who is married and also follows farming in Whitmore township: Lou, wife of Frederick ?^lyers ; and Annie, at home.

Mr. Buffmeyer has served as school director one term and as ditch commissioner five years, being the present incumbent in the latter ofifice. Fie and his family are members of the German Baptist church and stand high in the community where they reside. Hospitality reigns supreme in their pleasant home, which is a modern frame residence, surrounded by spacious lawns.

beautiful shade trees and an abundance of llowers. In his political affiliations Mr. Buii'mexer is an ardent l\ei)ublican and he takes <|uite an active and inlhu-ntial part in local affairs, his opinions carrying weight with his neighbors and many friends.

Enoch A. Gastman

ENOCH A. GASTMAN. Enoch A. Gastman has a record hardly l)aralleled in the history of the country for through forty-one years he has remained at the head of the Decatur schools. Several times has he handed in his resignation, but each time the school board and his fellow townsmen have urged him to remain in the l^osition, which he has so lK)norably and creditably filled. No city in this great commonwealth has a better school system than Decatur and this is attributable in large measure to the earnest efforts, marked ability and untiring devotion of Enoch A. Gastman. He has been so closely and prominently connected with the educational and moral interests here that no history of the community would be complete without the record of his career. It is a widely acknowledged fact that the most important work to which a man can direct his energies is that of teaching, wdiether it be from the pulpit, from the lecture platform or from the schoolroom. Its primary object is ever the same, the development of one's latent powers that the duties of life may be bravely met and well performed. It would be iml)ossible to estimate the intluence of the life of Mr. Gastman upon those with whom he has come in contact, but there are hundreds of i)eople who have been under his instruction and who acknowledge their indebtedness to him f<ir so shaping their course in early years that in later life they have become valued factors in the affairs I if the various conuunnitic'S in which they lia\e lived.

Enoch ^\. Gastmaii is a native of Xew York city, but almost his entire life has been passed in Illinois and he has the deepest love for the state which has so honored him. His natal day was June 15, 1834, but in April, 1838, he was brought to McLean county, the family home being established near Hudson. His early life was quietly passed in a manner not unlike that of most boys of the period. Books were always a source of pleasure to him and his interest in the work of the schoolroom prompted him to enter upon the teacher's profession as he neared manhood. He was twenty years of age when on the loth of October, 1854, he first took his place in the schoolroom as an instructor, being employed in Saybrook, Illinois. In the year 1855 he was a student in the Illinois Wesleyan University and in the following year he accepted a position as teacher in Kappa, Illinois, where he remained for nine months, or throughout the scholastic year. In 1857 he entered Eureka College and on the 5th of October of that year he matriculated in the Illinois Normal University. It was on that date that the institution opened and he was graduated with the first class on the 29th of June, i860. On the loth of the following September \lr. Gastman became connected with the schools of Decatur, being assigned to a position as teacher in the third grade. In the spring of 1861 he taught a three months' term of school in Hudson, Illinois, and on the 12th of July, 1862, he was appointed the first superintendent of the city schools of Decatur and the first principal of the high school. Here he has remained continuously since. To give an entire history of his life would be to present a faithful picture of the work done along educational lines in Decatur. During the forty-one years of his active superintendency marked progress has been made, Decatur keeping abreast with the universal improvement along educational lines. At first Mr. Gastman received a salary of only two lunulred and seventy dollars for six months' term of school, but gradually he was advanced until he has received on an average of seventeen hundred and twenty-eight dollars and fifty cents per year for each year of the four decades in which he has been superintendent. Only twice during this entire period has he ever spoken of salary to the school board. At the beginning of the second year he was re-appointed to his position with no advance, while another man doing the same work received an increase of five dollars per month. Mr. Gastman spoke of this matter to the school board and was given the increase. Later, when he was receiving a salary of nine hundred dollars per year he was offered a school in a neighboring city with the salary of twelve hundred and fifty dollars per year. Wishing to accept the more remunerative position, Mr. Gastman asked to be released from his contract with Decatur and the board replied to this request by advancing his salary to twelve hundred. Many important positions have been offered him, for his reputation has spread far and wide and his name has been inscribed liigh on the roll of prominent educators in Illinois. Again and again he has received flattering offers, and at one time he decided tQ accept one. Accordingly he presented his resignation to the school board, but it was at once proposed that his salary should be advanced to twenty-five hundred dollars per year and that he should be elected for a term of five years. Certainly no higher testimonial of the public regard or of his great usefulness could be given. .\s long as Mr. Gastman wishes to remain in the position it is undoubtedly his. He has, indeed, become a part of the school system of Decatur. He has instituted many measures of the greatest and most permanent benefit to the schools ; his own zeal and interest in the work have inspired and encouraged his teachers : and his co-operation

Avith the piqiils li:is led to splendid results along character development as well as intellectual progress. As far as possible he has become personally acquainted with all of the students and has watched with keen interest their course in life after leaving school. During his superintendency more than a thousand diplomas have been assigned to the graduates of the high school of Decatur and thus leaving his guidance young men and women have gone out in the world, many of them to attain to prominence and honor in the active, tiseful and important walks of life. Mr. Gastman has always been a close and earnest student of social and economic questions and of all things pertaining to the progress of the world. His interest of course has centered along the line of his chosen field of labor and he has been quick to adopt all new measures which he believed would contribiite to intellectual progress and improvement, i'ublic spirited in an eminent degree his labors have been of the greatest benefit to l^ecatur and his name figures conspicuously in connection with the educational history of the state. For a half centurv he has been a teacher of Illinois and for thirtv-two years of that time has been a member of the state board of education, during which time he has been acquainted with all of the state superintendents, being a personal friend of all but two of the number.

In Julv, 1862, Mr. Gastinan was united in marriage to Miss Frances A. Peterson, of Sublette, Lee county, Illinois, who died seven months later, and in August, 1864, he was again married, his second union being with Miss Caroline S. Sargent, of Claremont. New Hampshire. At the time of their marriage she was a teacher in the Decatur schools. Unto them five children were born, tho.se still living being Elizabeth G., wife of John H. Powell, of Seattle, Washington ; and Louise, at home with her parents. Frances died at the age of three years. Winthrop E., who was a graduate of Michigan University and an electrical engineer by profession, died at the age of twenty-five years. Floyd A. died at the age of nineteen while a freshman at Ann Arbor. The two sons died in 1893 within ten days of each other. Mr. and Mrs. Gastman have a pleasant home on West North street, where they have resided for thirty-eight years.

Newton F. Pickle

NEWTON F. PICKLE. Twenty-two \ears have come and gone since Newton F. Pickle became a resident of Macon county, where for some years he followed farming, but is now li\'ing a retired life in Decatur, his home being at No. 2075 North ("hurch street, lie is a native of Bedford county, Tennessee, born June 29, 1834, a son of John and Delilah (Lefler) Pickle, who were also born in lledford county, where the mother died when her son Newton was a lad of fourteen years. The father was again married, his second union being with Miss Sarah Cheeves. He remained upon a farm in his native county until 1863. when he took up his abode in Johnson county, Illinois, while later he established his home in Pope county, 111- nois, where he continued to engage in general farming until his death. There were two children of the family who came to Macon county, the brother of our subject being Joseph Pickle, who arrived here about 1880, settling in the village of ]\Iacon, where he conducted a meat market for a short time. He then engaged in the hardware business for a few years, after which he took up his abode upon a farm in South Wheatland township and engaged in the cultivation of the fields there for a few >ears. He next removed to Piatt county, but after a short time returned to Alacon county and lived retired in the city of Decatur until his death, which occurred Mav 2. 1900.

The educational privileges which Newton Pickle received were meager, as his studies were pursued in a log school-house in his native county. Farm work early became familiar to him through the assistance which he rendered to his father in the cultivation of the fields on the old homestead. After reaching adult age he desired to start out in life for himself, and sought a companion and helpmate for the journey. In Bedford county he wedded Miss Margaret E. Musgrave, a native of the same county, born December 29, 1840, a daughter of Thomas and Harriet (Forbes) Musgrave. Both parents passed away in Tennessee. The father, who devoted his life to farming, died on the 14th of July, 1855. The young couple began their domestic life upon the old home farm and remained in Tennessee until 1859, when they removed to St. Francis county, Arkansas, where IMr. Pickle engaged in farming for two years. He then returned to his native state, but in October, 1863, removed to Johnson county, Illinois, where he followed agricultural pursuits until 1881, when he came to Macon county, Illinois. His first home here was a farm two miles east of Decatur, but after a short time spent on that place he took up his abode in Friends Creek township where he remained for four years. He next removed to !Maroa township, where he carried on agricultural pursuits for five years. He then purchased a farm of eighty acres in ^^^^itmore township and continued its cultivation for four years, after which he sold the property on the ist of March, 1896, and removed to Decatur, where he purchased a lot and built his present home. He owns a large lot and nice residence on the north side of the city and this property is the visible evidence of his life of industry, for he has nothing that he has not gained through his own labors, being entirely a self-made man.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Pickle w-ere born five children : Thomas N., who married Harriet E. Barber and resides in Decatur : Mary Delilah, who died at the age of three vears ; James M., who wedded Emma Phillips and is a groceryclerk of Decatur ; Martha E., the wife of Charles A. Dickey, of Moweaqua, Illinois ; and William F., who married Maud Withgott and is engaged in the real estate and loan business in Decatur.

^Ir. Pickle votes with the Republican party, and while living in. Johnson county held some local offices, but has always preferred to devote his energies to his agricultural interests, and from the tilling of the soil he has gleaned a comfortable competence which now enables him to rest from further labor.

Michael Dempsey

MICHAEL DEMPSEY. Michael Dempsey, a retired mail agent living in Decatur, was born in the city of Dublin. Ireland, on the 29th of September, 1830. His father, John Dempsey, followed the sea and was in the Spanish service at the time of our subject's birth, being captain of a Spanish man-of-war. The mother died when her son was but two or three months old and he was left an orphan at the early age of six years, being then reared bv strangers. He obtained a commonschool education in Ireland and his first independent step in life was taken at the age of nineteen years when he emigrated to America, crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, Jilount Washington, which dropped anchor in the harbor of Boston, on the 2nd of July, 1849. He then went into the country and spent four years in Pelham. New Hampshire, w^orking as a farm hand. Later he went to the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, where he learned and followed the stone-cutter's trade and thus he gained a start in the new world. While residing in Lowell, Massachusetts, he was married in 1854 and in the spring of the following year he came to Illinois, arriving in Clinton at midnight, accompanied by his wife and his brother-in-law, \\'illiam Duim,

In j86i in response to the call of his adopted country for aid to crush out the rebellion which threatened the destruction of the Union, Mr. Dempscy enlisted in Company E, Sixty-eiglith Illinois Volunteer Infantry as a private. He was afterward transferred to Company B, Seventieth Illinois Infantry as first sergeant and was in active service for five months, being discharged in October, 1861, at Alton, Illinois. He then came to the city of Decatur and in the spring of 1863 removed his business here, locating at the corner of Pine and West Williams street, where he has since made his home. He began working at the marble cutter's trade and followed that pursuit for a number of years. About 1876 he entered the railway mail service and remained in that capacity for twelve years on the Wabash Railroad. Six months before the expiration of Grover Cleveland's administration he was given his discharge for political reasons, although he had long been a faithful representative of the mail service. Since 1888 he has lived retired.

On the 26th of February, 1854, Mr. Dempsej' was united in marriage to Miss Mary Dunn, a native of Queens county, Ireland, who emigrated with her brother to the new world in 1850. She was educated on the Emerald Isle and was a daughter of Peter and i\lary (McCabe) Dunn, who spent their entire lives in Ireland. For fort\'-one years Mr. and Mrs. Dempsey traveled life's journey together and the wife was then called to her final rest May 5, 1895. By that marriage there were eight children, two of whom died in infanc\-; John S., a marble worker of Springfield, wedded Miss Mary McGorey.. of Decatur, and they have one child. Flora. Peter J-, who is represented elsewhere in this volume, is the second in the familv.

.Mary is the widow of T. A. Russell ami lives with her father. She has two children, William E. and Margaret Louise, but the latter is known as Jessie. Catherine is the ]irincipal of the W'ood street school of Decatur and is a graduate of the col'ege at Oregon, Illinois. Thomas F. is a piinting contractor, who married Mamie Garber and they have one son, Peter O. Lucy I., the youngest of the family, is acting as her father's housekeeper. Mr. Dempsey and his children are members of St. Patrick's church, to which his wife also belonged. Mr. Dempsey owns a good house and lot in Decatur, his home being one of the best on the street and the plans for this were drawn bv one of his daughters.

Jacob W. Kohr

JACOB W. KOHR. When after years of long and honorable labor in some field of business, a man puts aside all cares to spend his remaining years in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil, it is certainly a w'cll deserved reward of his industr}'.

wrote the poet, and the world everywhere recognizes the justice of a season of rest following an active period of business life. Mr. Kohr is now living retired at his pleasant home on section 5, Whitmore township, and his history is one that shows the accomplishment of well directed labor.

A native of Pennsylvania, he was born in York county. January 18, 1846, and is the ninth in order of birth in a family of ten children, all of whom lived to be grown. His parents, Louis and Rebecca Kohr, are now deceased. He passed the days of his bo3'hood and youth in the Keystone state and is indebted to its public school;; for the educational advantages he enjoyed. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Thirtieth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and after nine months in the service was discharged. On account of failing health he subsequently went to Minnesota and was engaged in steamboating on the Alississippi river for a time.

In the fall of 1868 Mr. Kohr came to Macon county and took up his residence on section 5, Whitmore township, where he at first purchased seventy acres and later added to it a tract of forty acres and still later eighty more acres, but he has since sold eighty acres to his son Samuel after the letter's marriage. In his farming operations our subject met with marked success and as he found that the raising of hogs proved quite profitable he devoted considerable attention to that industry. The house he erected upon his place in 1868 is still standing in a good state of preservation, and in 1892 he built a good barn, has set out trees of various kinds, and he has a number of soft maples which he has raised from the seed. Although his land was full of ponds and sloughs when it came into his possession he has tiled and drained it, and to-day has a very desirable and attractive farm under excellent cultivation. Since 1896 he has practically lived a retired life, leaving the labors of the farm to younger hands.

On the 14th of October, 1868, in Whitmore township, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Kohr and Miss Helen Brown, a daughter of Rev. Ephraim and Jane Brown, who are pioneers of this county and live east of our subject in Whitmore township. Three children bless this union : Ida, Samuel and Nellie. The son, who resides on section 5, Whitmore township, married Ida Birchfield and has two children : Welma and an infant son.

of the Republican party in his community and does all in his power to insure its success. He is now serving as highway commissioner and his official duties have always been most faithfully and conscientiously discharged. In the work of public improvement he has ever borne his part and has never withheld his support from any enterprise which he believed would prove of public benefit. When he came to Macon county the villages of Oreana and Argenta had not yet sprung into existence, and much of this region was still wild and unimproved.

St. Patrick'S Church

ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH. The first Catholic service ever held in Decatur was conducted by Rev. Father Pendergast in July, 1853, at the residence of Mrs. Marvin on West Main street. At the close of that service Mary Phalin was baptized, she being the first child to receive that ordinance in the Catholic church in Decatur. Father Pendergast continued his labors as rector of the Catholic organization in Decatur for one year. In 1854 Rev. Father Cussack, a traveling priest, succeeded to the rectorship and continued in the same until 1859. I" the early days of the church, services were conducted at private residences, one of the favorite places for holding the meetings being the log cabin of Michael Phalin, which was located on the site of his present residence on West Macon street. .\t this time the Great Western (now the Wabash) Railroad was in process of construction. Among the contractors and construction men were a number who were members of the denominational church in the east and the attendance at mass in the early days was considerably augmented by delegations from this laboring class. The attendance at mass finally became so great that it was necessary to find a more commodious place for worship, and during the early days of the pastorate of Rev. Father Cussack, mass was celebrated in the old brick court house, which was located in the southeast corner of Lincoln square.

In 1857 Rev. Father Cussack raised money enough to erect a frame church building on a lot in the 700 block on West Prairie street. The lot was donated to the cause by a Mr. Shepherd. In 1859 Rev. Father Vogt was sent to be rector of the church and remained until 1870. The corner stone of St. Patrick's Catholic church, located on East North street, was laid on Alarch 17 (St. Patrick's day), 1863, and was occupied for worship during the following winter.

Rev. Father Walsh succeeded Rev. Father Vogt in 1870 and remained rector until 1873 when Rev. Father Hickey, now vicar general of the diocese, became rector and continued until 1876. Very Rev. Father Joseph Macken succeeded Rev. Father Hickey in 1876. During the pastorate of this pious and assiduous priest the church attained its greatest growth. During his administration, which lasted for a period of over twenty-five years, every branch of the church was thoroughly organized and equipped for assiduous work, and before the death of the priest, which occurred in the month of March, 1898, the membership of the church included over three thousand souls. The new parochial school building adjoining St. Theresa's academy was built during his rectorship, and the convent, which had formerly been the property of the church, was transferred to the order of the Ursuline Sisters. The magnificent parish residence on the lot at the rear of the church was bought from Moses Stafford for twenty-five thousand dollars a short time before Rev. Father Macken's death.

After watching the heart-broken parishioners follow the remains of their loved priest to the last resting place in Calvarj', Bishop Ryan began looking around for some one to take his place. At Mattoon there was a priest who had attained an age barely above that of middle age, but yet who had made signal and distinguished advances in the work of the priesthood of the church. This priest was Very Rev. Father Murphy, the present rector, who was called to the pastorate of St. Patrick's in the early part of Jul}-, 1898, and who said his first mass in the church on Sunday, July 17.

\'cry Rev. Father Jeremiah Murphy is a native of Mill street. County Cork, Ireland, where he was born on Christmas day of 1856. Near to the hallowed haunts of his childhood, at the national school at Cullen, he studied until his sixteenth year, and then for a short time became a preceptor. Obedient to the Divine call he entered St. Brendan's Seminary in Killarney where, with class honors, he completed the classics However, in 1876, at the age of twenty years, he bade farewell to the green shores of Erin and the dear folks at home' and set sail for America. Arriving in this country he commenced at once upon a course of philosophy and theology at the Seminary of St. Francis in Milwaukee.

He was ordained a priest by Right Rev. P. J. Baltes, of the Diocese of Alton, June 29, 1881. His first mass was celebrated July 2, in the Church of Our Savior, Jacksonville, Illinois. The occasion was not characterized by the pomp and display which usually attend such celebrations. It was low mass at which a few dc\ont worshipers assisted, while the only attendaht at the altar was Rev. Father Hickey. For a short time he actetl as assistant priest at Decatur and was then assigned to Virden as a pastor. Later he received charge of .St. Patrick's church at Cairo, Illinois, which mission he resigned to pursue a course of study under the Jesuits. Soon after he returned he received an appointment as pastor at Winchester, w^hcre he built a beautiful church and parochial residence. From thence he went to Mattoon where he remained for six years. In that city St. Joseph's school and numerous other buildings and improvements stand as a monument to his zeal.

Those who know Dean Murphy best know that his work has been tireless and he has accomplished much since his residence in Decatur. On his arrival he found a debt of twenty-one thousand dollars hanging over the church and his constant endeavor has been to sweep that debt out of existence. Those who have watched his incessant labor know that it will not take him a great while longer to accomplish his object. When the debt is finally discharged the fact will no doubt be commemorated by a fitting celebration.

Besides laboring to remove the debt on the church property Dean Murphy has made some notable improvements in St. Patrick's church. The remodeling of the interior of the church at great cost and the installing of a new heating apparatus are among the improvements he has effected.

Charles J. Hartley

Charles J. Hartley is the senior member of the C. J. Hartley Company of Decatur, contractors and builders of special machinery, also doing all kinds of general repair work. The business of which our subject is the head has grown to extensive proportions under his capable management, and the industry to-day is a profitable one, constantly growing in volume and importance.

Mr. Hartley was born in Quincy, Illinois, September 4, 1848, and is a son of James and Sarah (Moffitt) Hartley. The paternal grandfather, Thomas Hartley, was a native of Virginia, who removed from the vicinity of Wheeling, West Virginia, to Kentucky about the close of the Revolutionary war, taking up his abode in Greenup county in the latter state. Tie had loyally served in the cause for inde])cndence with the Virginia troops, taking i)arl in the long war from its beginning to its close and thus valiantly aiding in winning independence for the nation. He resided in Kentucky for a number of years and at length was drowned in the Licking river about 1820. Thomas Mofifitt, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Ireland and, crossing the Atlantic to the new world about 1803, located in Rochester, New York. \\'hile living there he saw General LaFajette, who was paying a visit to America. In 1810 Mr. Moffitt removed to the west and became a resident of Nauvoo, Hancock county, Illinois, where he carried on the occupation of farming. He reached the very advanced age of ninety-six years ere he was called to the home beyond.

James Hartley, the father of our subject, was born in Kentucky, but during his youth went to St. Louis, Missouri, where for some time he engaged in the manufacture of carriages. Later he became a millwright, spending the latter part of his life in Quincy, Illinois, where he died in 1852, at the age of fifty years.

In taking up the personal history of Charles J. Hartley we present to our readers the life record of one who has become widely and favorably known in industrial circles in Decatur. He attended the public schools until about twelve years of age and was then thrown upon his own resources so that the mental training which he obtained afterward was received by study at night. He followed various occtipations in order to earn an honest living, and at the age of fifteen became employed in a machine shop. This gave him opportunity to continue his education by attending night school and he devoted his time to the study of mechanics and natural philosophy, being thus engaged from 1863 until 1868. He was first with the firm of Gardner & Robertson in

^ their jobbing shops and from 18O8 until 1873 was eniploj-ed in the engine works of M. T. Greenleaf in Ouincy. Illinois. Through the succeeding six years he worked in various shops in Hannibal, Missouri, and again went to Ouincy, whence he came to Decatur in 1879. Eor a few months he worked as a machinist in the Union iron Works and then returned to Ouincy and later went to Fort Madison, Iowa, l)ut made a permanent location in this city in March, 1882. Here for two years he was employed in the W. L. Oakes Novelty Works antl then engaged as foreman and superintendent with the Warren & Durfee Wooden Tray Works, filling that position for two years. The firm then incorporated under the name of the Warren & Durfee Manufacturing Company, Mr. Hartley continuing as its superintendent. The manufactured output, however, did not prove successful and the company took up the manufacture of a grain weigher, the invention of William Dunkel, which they continued for two years, but the machine did not prove a success. In the meantime Mr. Hartley had himself patented a grain weigher and in 1897 assumed control of the plant. He began manufacture under the firm name of C. J. Hartley & Company and also established a general machine shop. He associated with him in this business his son, Arthur J, Hartley, when on the 17th of March, 1902, the business was incorporated, under the name of the C. J. Hartley Company. The success of this enterprise has been almost phenomenal. The output of 1902 more than doubled that of 1901. They are contractors and builders of special machinery and manufacture grain weighers and lifting jacks. They also do a general machnie and repairing business and the volume of their trade has grown to extensive proportions.

In 1871 occurred the marriage of ^Ir. Hartley and Miss Eunice Spencer, of Quincy, Illinois, and imlo them were born five children, Arthur J., Josei)h E. and Eh-a Inez, who are li\ing; Florence, who died in 1882; and one that died in infanc}'. Mr. Hartley belongs to Ionic Lodge, No. 31J, F. & A. M.; and Park Lodge, No. 56, A. ( ). l\ W^, of Ouincy, Illinois. 'Jlie record oi Mr. Hartley is that of a man who by his own unaided efforts has worked his way upward to a ])osition of altluence. Mis life has been one of industry and ]ierseverance, and the systematic and honorable business methodswhich he has follow^ed have won him the support and confidence of many. Without the aid of influence or wealth, he has risen to a position among the most prominent men of the state, and his native genius and acquiretl ability are stepping-stones on which he mounted.

.MILTON DE WITT POLLOCK, .M. D. In this enlightened age when men of industry and energy are constantly pushing their way to the front, those who, by their own individual efforts, have won favor and fortune may properly claim recognition. Dr. Pollock has won a creditable position in the ranks of the medical fraternity and although a comparatively 3'oung man he has at the present time a liberal jjatronage which many an old practitioner miglit well in\\ . He is one of the citizens of Decdtur that Pennsylvania lias furnislied to Macon county. His birth occurred in the Keystone state. April 20, 1863, his parents being James II. and Lydia .\l. (Phillips) Pollock, the former a native of Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, born C^ctober 24, 1822, and the latter of Vermont. It was in the fall of 1863 that the family came to Illinois, settling in McLean county near Bloomington, where the father engaged in general farming. He made his home there until 1871, when he removed to Champaign county.

Illinois, and settled upon a farm. Throughout his entire life he carried on agricultural pursuits and was still living on the old homestead in Champaign county until a short time before his death, which occurred in Foosland, Illinois, June 16, 1899. His wife died on the 4th of April, 1903. She was born at \'ershire, \'ermont, June 25, 1831, and by her marriage became the mother of eight children: Dr. Milton D., of Decatur: Dr. Robert M.. a physician, Dr. Samuel H., a dentist, and Joseph P., a retired merchant, all of Rockyford, Colorado ; David W., a merchant of Foosland, Illinois ; U. S. (jrant, who lives on the old homestead ; and Emma, wife of W. S. Hinton, of Champaign county, Illinois.

At the usual age Dr. Pollock began his education in the district schools of Champaign county and advanced to a grade that would entitle him to receive a teacher's certificate. In the fall of 1885 he became a member of the firm of J. H. Pollock & Sons, general merchants and grain dealers, of Foosland. Illinois, who were recognized at that time as among the heaviest local grain shippers in central Illinois. Disposing of his business interests in January, 1891, the Doctor went west, locating at Rockyford, Colorado, and determining to make the practice of medicine his life work he became a student under the direction of Dr. C. S. Marks, of that place, and on the completion of a course in Rush Medical College, of Chicago, he was graduated in the class of 1895.

After his graduation Dr. Pollock was united in marriage to Miss Emma M. Miles, of Foosland, Illinois, a daughter of Thomas S. and Harriet (Crow) Miles. The young couple began their domestic life in Decatur, where the Doctor opened an office and began the practice of his profession. He has steadily advanced in public favor and if patronage is any criterion of skill Dr. Pollock mav well be accounted one of the most capable jjhysicians of his adopted city. He is a student who reads broadly, thinks deeply and with ready adaptability uses the knowledge that he has gained for the benefit of his fellow men. He holds membership in the Decatur Medical Societ\-, also in the State Medical Society and in the American Medical Association and thus he keeps informed concerning the ad\anced ideas of the profession and the new methods of work that have been instituted and adopted by leading physicians throughout the country. He is a member of the First I'resbyterian churcli of Decatur. He now has convenient and well appointed offices ^t 513, 514 and 515 Powers building.

Edwix J. Roberts

EDWIX J. ROBERTS. For over a third of a century this gentleman has been identified with the farming interests of I^Iacon county, and in the prosecution of his chosen work he has met with excellent success, being industrious, careful and painstaking in carrying on the labors of the farm. His early home was in Xew England, for he was born on the 5th of July. 1842, in Barnstead. Belknap county, New Hampshire, and his parents were George S. and Eliza A. ( Bunker) Roberts, also natives of that state, and the former of Welsh and the latter of English descent. Throughout life the father engaged in agricultural pursuits. Leaving his old home in the east he came to Illinois in 1865, and after spending about three years in Woodford county, he removed to Macon county in the spring of 1868 and settled on the northwest quarter of section 16, Illini township, paying thirty-five dollars per acre for one hundred and twenty acres and sixteen and two-third dollars for the remaining forty acres on which our subject now resides. Here he died in 1897, and his wife passed away in 1885. Their child'-en were Sarah Elizabeth, who died at the age of four years; Edwin J,, of this review ; George F., a physician of MiniieapoHs, Minnesota, who married Ella Tha\er, of Lacon, Marshall county, Illinois; and Everett L., a miller of Gothenburg, Nebraska, who married Anna B. Clarke, a daughter of Bradbury Clarke, of lllini township, this county.

Edwin J. Roberts grew to manhood in his native state and received a good practical education in the conmion schools and at the Pittsfield Academy. He attended the latter institution only during the summer, while through the fall and winter terms he engaged in teaching school, receiving at first thirteen dollars per month and his board and afterwards twenty dollars per month, the highest wages paid at that time. For three winters he taught in the same township in New Hampshire, and after coming to Macon county, Illinois, he had charge of a school in lllini township for three years, his wages at that time being fifty dollars per month. In the early '70s Mr. Roberts made his first purchase of land, consisting of a forty acre tract for which he paid thirty dollars per acre, and later bought forty acres of his brother for fifty dollars per acre. He came into control of the remainder of the old homestead on the death of his father, and to the cultivation and improvement of his farm he devoted his energies for many years, but is now practically living a retired life while he rents his farm. He is secretary of the lllini Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which was formed in March, 1875, with risks which amoimtcd to fifty thousand dollars, but now amount to four hundred and fifty thousand dollars all placed. As there have only been five assessments it is a very safe and economical investment for one. The territory of the company extends over six townships : Niantic, Maroa, lllini, Harristown, Austin and Hickory Points, and it is called the lllini Mutual because the office is located in that township. The present officers of the company are John A. Connely, president ; Charles S. Bullard, treasurer, and Edwin J.

Roberts, secretary, our subject having filled that position for twenty-one years with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.

In 18(14 Mr. Roberts married Miss Sarah Elizabeth Daniels, the only daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Ann (Langley) Daniels. She was born in Lee, Strafford county. New Hampshire, July 16, 1840, and like her husband she was educated in the common schools and Pittsfield Academy, where she took the English course. Harr)' E. Roberts, the only living son of our subject and his wife, was born June 3, 1866. He attended the Wesleyan E^niversity for a time and later was graduated at Grand Prairie Seminary in Onarga, Illinois. He married Miss Abbie M. Eaton, by whom he has one child, Laurence B., born July 31, 1897, and they live on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 17, lllini township. Ernest E., another son, was born November 6, 1870, and died July 2, 1871. Since the age of three years Margaret May Chceseman has made her home with Mr. and ]\Irs. Roberts and has been given the same advantages as a daughter. She was born July 28, 1883, and was educated in the common schools.

As a Democrat Mr. Roberts takes an active interest in political affairs. For eight years he efficiently served as supervisor of his township and was chairman of the board two years of that lime. He was also chairman of the committee on plans and specifications for the new court house. For thirty years he has been an active and earnest member of the Con- .gregational church of lllini township, to which his wife and children also belong, and has been deacon of the same for a number of years. They receive and merit the high regard of the entire community in which they live. Mr. Roberts' public and private life are above reproach, for his career has ever been one characterized by the utmost fidelity to duty.

The contemporary and friend of Abraham Lincohi, a leader in poHtical circles of the state, an extensive farmer and stock-breeder, and one of the most active promoters of agricultural interests in Illinois, a man of strong purpose and unfaltering fidelity to duty, Dr. Johns was an eminent and influential factor in the public life and business circles of Illinois for many years. He was known and honored throughout Decatur and the state and throughout the entire country his name was a familiar one in connection with the advancement and interests of agriculture.

Dr. Harvey C. Johnes was a native of Delaware county, Ohio, born on the 20th of June, 1819, and was in the eighty-second year of his age when his life record was ended. The family name was originally spelled Johnes, but owing to the misdirection of business letters and other communications which came to him it was concluded to drop the "e," and so the present spelling of the name was adopted. It was in 1846 that the Doctor made this change. His early literary education was pursued in Granville, Ohio, and determining to become a member of the medical profession he afterward -entered the Jefiferson Medical College of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, in which institution he was graduated with the class of 1842. Opening an office in Circleville, Ohio, he began practice in that cit_\', but later removed to Piatt county, Illinois. At this time he largely abandoned professional life in order to devote his time and energies to agricultural pursuits because of the splendid opportunities which this state oiifers in that direction. Occasionally, however, he was called to visit a patient and rendered valuable aid in this direction in many a pioneer household. His time and energies, however, were largely given to general fanning and stock raising. He made a specialty of the breeding of cattle and hogs, and throughout his remaining days was identified with agricultural interests.

Johns removed from Ohio to Piatt count v, settling there in the year 1849. Five years later he came to Decatur, and in 1857 '^"'It the family home, which stands on a splendid building site, commanding a fine view of the surrounding country. The furniture of the Doctor and his wife was brought to Macon county by wagon. They owned the only piano between, Danville and Springfield, and it was the first one in Decatur. On the arrival of the piano the question arose concerning a plan for transferring it from the wagon to the hotel in which the Doctor and his wife were boarding. The landlord was questioned as to whether there were an}- men around who could assist in unloading the musical instrument. He replied that there were none, but that court was in session and that when it adjourned several men would come to the hotel for supper and probably assistance could then be gained. The wagon was still standing in front of the door when about supper time three men came walking down the street and volunteered their services in unloading the piano. These men were Abraham Lincoln, David Davis' and Leonard Sweet, who begged that in return for their services Mrs. Johns \\'ould play for them and gladly she complied.

It was on the 29th of October, 1845, '" Circleville, Ohio, that Dr. Johns had been united in marriage to Miss Jane Martin, and after a brief residence of less than four years in the state of their nativity they came to Illinois. In his business afi^airs here the Doctor was very successful. He was also a tvpe of the representative American citizen who while promoting his individual interests likewise advances the general welfare. There is no man in all the state of Illinois who deserves greater gratitude for labor performed in behalf of agriculture and stock-raising interests. He was made a member of the first state board of agriculture of Illinois, but even previous to this time had begun to import thoroughbred stock and was the first to introduce fine blooded stock ' into this part of the country. He it was who introduced Durham cattle into Illinois, and from that time until his labors were ended he was greatly interested in the improvement of stock, and thus added largely to the welfare of the state for prices were proportionately advanced as the grade of cattle, horses and hogs were improved. His farming lands situated in Piatt and Macon county and this portion of Illinois w-ere extremely valuable. The rich productive soil yielded splendid crops, while every equipment conducive to the best interests of his stock was added to his farm. It was in 1852 that the agricultural board of Illinois was organized and Dr. Johns rode a nuile all the way from Monticello to Springfield to participate in the work of its first meeting. He was chosen one of the vice presidents of the board and was elected its second president. For a period of ten years he continued his association with the board in this official capacity and fonned many close and lasting friendships with men prominent in stock-breeding and farming interests throughout Illinois and neighboring states. In conjunction with Mr. Jacoby and James M. Brown, of Springfield, he was sent to Europe by the Illinois State Breeders' Association, to purchase thoroughbred horses and cattle. They performed their mission successfully, bringing some of the finest thoroughbred stock ever introduced into the state. The state legislature had appropriated fiftv thousand dollars for this purpose and the stock sold at such excellent prices that money was returned from the sale into the state treasury. This, together with the introduction of stock made by Dr. Johns indivitlually, formed the foundation of the stock-breeding interests of Illinois. The Doctor continued an active member of the Illinois State Agricultural .\ssociation until about 1864, and u\) to that time he and his colleagues, Mr. Jacoby and Mr. Brown, were the mainstays of the organization. Dr. Johns was also vice president of the National Agricultural .\s.sociation and was one of its managers at the big exposition which was given by the organization in Chicago and which has become a historical event of the state. In business affairs the Doctor was far-sighted, capable and enterprising, and his indefatigable energy and sound judgment proved salient features in winning him most gratifying prosperity.

The Doctor was holh prominent in political and business life, and left the impress of his individuality upon the histor}' of the state in that way. His early political allegiance was given to the Whig party, and in 1852 he was elected a member of the state legislature from Piatt county. He became an active participant in the memorable contest which occurred in the assembly growing out of the election of Lyman Trumbull to the position of United States senator. In that session Dr. Johns first gave his support to Abraham Lincoln, of whom he was a warm admirer and personal friend, but when he saw that many votes were being given to Madison he and other supporters of Lincoln, at Mr. Lincoln's personal solicitation cast their ballots for Mr. Trumbull, who ultimately secured his election. .\t other times, however. Dr. Johns' service was of more decided benefit to Lincoln. The latter was a frequent visitor at the Johns' residence in Decatur and close ties of friendship and of comradeship were formed between the two gentlemen. As a delegate to the first national convention of the Republican party held in Philadeli)bia, Dr. Johns supported John C. Fremont for the presidency and in that convention l)laced Abraham Lincoln in nomination for the vice presidency.

During the war of the rebellion, following the battle of Fort Donelson, the Doctor tendered his services as a volunteer surgeon to C.overnor Yates and was sent to the front to minister to the sick and wounded. He had charge of a boat load of wounded soldiers, and did much effective service during the latter part of the war, his medical skill being of the utmo.st importance in relieving the pain and suffering of those who were wounded in defense of the old flag. He was commissioned regimental surgeon of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth IlHnois Regiment and acted in that capacity until February, 1864, when his own failing health caused him to resign. Earlier in the period of the war he went to Washington to use his best efforts to induce President Lincoln to accept the services of the One Hundred and Fourteenth and One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiments which were then in camp in Decatur and were eager to be called to the front. At that time President Lincoln offered Dr. Johns a position as surgeon in either regiment, but he did not accept. It was largely, however, through his influence that the two regiments were sent south to engage in the successful struggle for the maintenance of the Union. Just before the national election of 1864 Governor Yates sent Dr. Johns to Tennessee to bring back the ill and wounded soldeirs who came home on furloughs and to vote. He continued a most active advocate of the Republican party until 1872, when he voted for Horace Greeley and later became allied with the Democracy. In his last years, however, he took little active interest in political affairs, although he always kept informed concerning questions of local, state and national interest.

Unto the Doctor and his wife were born five children : Hon. W. C. Johns ; Sheridan W. Johns ; Mrs. Fannie W. Sedgwick ; Mrs. C. B. Moore, her husband being commander in the United States Navy ; and Mrs. George C. Danforth. In 1895 the golden wedding of the Doctor and his honored wife was brilliantly celebrated. All of the members of their family were present with many invited guests, and little Frances Moore, their granddaughter, acted as one of the receiving parties and was a most interesting figure on that occasion, wearing a gown that was the wedding dress of the bride fifty years before. Dr. Johns died April 22, 180Q, and is interred in Greenwood. Mrs. Johns still occupies the old homestead in which she lived for so many years with her husband. Her mind bears the impress of many

Dr. Johns was a charter member of the Decatur Club and an active figure in its circles during the early years of its existence. He also held membership in the Odd Fellows Society. He was a man of great strength, a man of commanding personalities, was cordial and genial and the circle of his friends was coextensive with the circle of his acquaintances. His broad reading made him a well educated man, and his unusual!}- strong intellect and ready comprehension and appreciation of everv situation made him a most entertainins: companion. He never faltered in his allegiance to any purpose or plan which he believed to be right and in business circles he sustained an unassailable reputation. His name became a synonym for integrity and while he won success it could not be grudged by the most envious because it was gained by such worthy methods and so honorably used. His ability, great mentality and physical activity enabled him to accomplish much in life and the state of Illinois has been greatly benefited by his residence within its borders.

VV. L, FOULKE. Farming and stock-raising claims the time and attention of W. L. Foulke, who has spent the greater part of his life upon the farm on section 26, Maroa township, where he now resides. He was born in Macon county on the 2d of December, 1873, and is a son of Edward and Adelaide (Callady) Foulke, in whose family were five children, our subject being the fourth in order of birth. The father died October 30, 1 90 1.

W. L. Foulke acquired his early education in the district schools near his boyhood home and later attended the Westfield high school. At the age of eighteen years he left the home farm and has since been dependent upon his own resources for a livelihood* For six years he was einployed in the Vandalia freight office at Decatur, but with that exception his life has been devoted to agricultural pursuits, and he now operates his father's old home farm in Maroa township, in which he lias an undivided interest. At present he is largely devoting his time to the stock business and is regarded as a good judge of farm animals. He is a wide-awake, energetic young -business man, and is meeting with good success in his work.

On the 30th of October, 1901, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Foulke and Miss Lelah Craig, a daughter of \\'illiam H. Craig, and they now have a little daughter, Lydia Adelaide, who was born November 4. igo2. Mr. Foulke is a member of Macon Lodge, No. 8, F. & A. M., and he also belongs to the chapter and commandery of that fraternity, all in Decatur. By his ballot he supports the men and measures of the Republican party, and he takes a commendable interest in public affairs. Well and favorably known, he has many friends throughout his native county, and he enjoys the confidence and high regard of all with whom he is brought in contact either in business or social life.

Simon P. Hoy

Simon P. Hoy is now district agent for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, with hcad(|uarters at Decatur. ]\Iany years of his life were devoted to the active work of the ministry and his influence therein was of no restricted order. His career has been such a one as makes the world better for his having lived and his influence is ever given on the side of right, the true and the beautiful. Decatur numbers him among its valued and representative citizens, and his many friends in Macon county will receive gladly this record of his career.

county, Ohio, his birth having there occurred on the i6th of June, 1837. He comes of New England ancestry. His father, Peter Hoy, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, and there spent a portion of his early life. He was a farmer by occupation and was an active meml)or of the Methodist Episcopal church. He possessed considerable musical talent - a characteristic of the Hoy family - and had a splendid voice. He died early in life, however, passing away on the 13th of August, 1837, his death being the result of a fall in crossing a stream on his return from church. He was a most devoted Christian gentleman, zealous in behalf of the church and its upbuilding, and his life was ever in harmony with his professions. Although small in stature he possessed great strength. He had married Miss Mary Stump, a daughter of Joel Stump, who removed to Ohio from Pennsylvania when a young man, first settling in Pickaway county. He spent the remainder of his life in the Buckeye state. He was a man of great moral worth, of unquestioned honor and integrity and of high ideals as to family life. He was of (jerman lineage and was a member of the Lutheran church which was also the faith of his ancestors. His daughter, Mary Stump, after losing her first husband was again married in 1839 to David A. Hoy, a brother of her first husband. P.y him she had ten children who reached years of maturity, namely : John 1!.. who served in the Civil war as a member of Company II, Forty-first Volunteer Infantry; Joel \\'., who was also a defender of the Union (hiring tlic Civil war for three months; Adam .M.. who belonged to Company H, Forty-first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers; Kathcrine E. ; David W. ; Jacob M. ; Joshua; .Mbert ; Mary E. ; and Julia, the wife of John W". Jinks. All of this family are living.

Simon P. Hoy at the usual age entered the public schools and therein pursued his studies until he had mastered the common branches of learning. He afterward spent five months as a student in the seminarv at Shelbvville,

Illinois, uiulcr Professor Jerome, and later he engaged in teaching in the district schools of Shelby count}' for three }cars. \Mien tw'entyone years of age, while in Hancock county, Ohio, he was converted and became a member of the United Brethren church, joining the conference in the fall of i860 at Lexington, Illinois, that he might devote his life to the work of the ministry. The church organization was known as the Illinois Annual Conference of the United Brethren church. His first pastorate was the Broadwell mission, over which he had charge for a year. He was next appointed to the church in Decatur, Illinois, where he served for one year, largely advancing the cause of Christianity through his zealous and earnest efforts here. He then located in Shelby county, where he again engaged in teaching school for one year.- On the expiration of that period he re-entered the ministry and filled the pastorate of the church at Washington, Illinois, for two years. At the annual conference in the fall of 1866 he was elected presiding elder of his district, his territory covering ten fields of labor. He was the youngest man in the ministry of this district, but he proved most capable in his labors as presiding elder, and under his guidance the churches did effective work. On the expiration of his term of service in that office he continued in tlie active work of the ministry, preaching at the new Pana mission and afterward at the Macon mission. During the period of his ministry his labors were greatly blessed with accessions in membership. Two churches were also built during his labors in the ministry, one at Wheatland at a cost of three thousand dollars, and the other at Blue Mound, which was also erected at a similar cost. Later Mr. Hoy served the Locust Grove circuit of Shelby county for one year and was then elected presiding elder. At the next annual conference the central Illinois conference was formed and he was given charge of the church at Lexington, Illinois, this being in 187 1. Later he was once more chosen presiding elder and continued to servein that capacity for two years, following which time he was stationed at Streator, Illinois, for one year, and while pastor there the new church building was completed.

In 1874 he located permanently in Decatur and entered the employ of D. Appleton as salesman for the American Encyclopedia. He continued in this line of business until 1882, when he entered the service of the Northwestern ]\Iutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee. Wisconsin. His identification with this corporation covers twenty-one years, and at the present time he is district agent with an office in room 312 of the Millikin Building in Decatur. He has a very thorough understanding of the insurance business, its methods and its scope and keeps in touch with the great volume of detail work incident to carrying on this business throughout the district.

In i860 Mr. Hoy was united in marriage to Miss Amanda F. Morris, a daughter of Nathaniel and Eliza ( Fisher ) Morris. She died in her sixtieth year on the nth of February, 1901. Seven children had been born of this union: Edward M.. who is a druggist of Springfield, Illinois : Mollie, who is the wife of Frank J. Hodgins ; Charles D.. who is bookkeeper for the firm of Linn & Scruggs, of Decatur; Josie E., who is the wife of Harry Lathrop ; Ira B. : and two who are now deceased. These are Alice M., the first born, and Crala L.. the third of the family.

In reviewing the life history of Mr. Hoy it seems that special providence has watched over him and guided him. \\'hen he was but an infant of six months his mother was carrying him in her arms on horseback, when the animal stumbled and fell and the mother and babe were thrown to the ground with great force, but Mrs. Hoy shielded her child by striking upon her own elbows, and though her arms were lacerate«l in a fearful manner the babe was uninjured. During his pastorate at the Broadwell mission rather than miss an appointment for religious service that he had made, Mr. Hoy forded the Sangamon river on horseback at great peril of his own hfe. It was in 1861, at the time of high water. The fording of the river was a very dangerous operation, but he made it in safety, and his compensation for that service was but a dollar and a quarter. On another occasion Mr. Hoy was crossing a stream in a buggy with his wife and cnild when the bridge cut loose from its fastenings and started to float down the stream. Quick as a flash he urged his horse on and plunging into the stream it quickly brought them forth in safety to the shore. Other proofs of the care which the Creator has for his children and which Mr. Hoy has specially received might be given. In his own work in behalf of the church he has greatly promoted moral development. He was a strong forceful speaker, energetic and zealous and willing to make an effort or sacrifice to keep his appointments. No task was too arduous for him, and his labors were attended with splendid results, many additions being made to the church during his various pastorates.

THOMAS 1;. JONES. Thomas B. Jones, a retired farmer residing at No. 1259 West Wood street in Decatur, is a representative of one of the old families of Macon connty. wlmse residence here dates from 1851. Our subject was born in Marion county, Illinois, August 6, 1845, '"'s ])arents being Joseph E. and Sarah (Ncel) Jones, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of X'irginia. They were married very early in life and when Mr. Jones was eighteen years of age they came to Decatur, where he secured employnicnl in the lumber mills as a for*.'man ami later he was engineer in what was known as the l-'astman .Mill. Subsequenth- he was made superintendent of the Macon county poor farm, of which be had charge for eleven years. He then purchased that farm and devoted his energies to general agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred on the 26th of March, 1866. His widow afterward sold the farm and removed to Mount Zion township, where she purchased another tract of land, upon which she made her home until called to her final rest on the 17th of July, 1894. This worthy couple were the parents of five children: Yong P.; Thomas; Amanda, the wife of Martin Cooper, of Decatur; ( )zro, who married Luella .Mbright and is a farmer of Traverse City, Illinois; and William Columbus, who wedded Sarah Grover and now resides on the old home farm in Mount Zion township.

At the usual age Thomas Jones entered the public schools and pursued his education here until he had mastered the common branches of learning and became well fitted to meet the practical duties of life. In his youth he was also trained to the work of the farm and he assisted his father in its operation until his marriage which important event in his life occurred December 8, 1867, the lady of his choice being Miss Martha Roardman, a native of Bartholomew county, Indiana, born June 17, 1841. Her parents were Captain Isaac C. and Margaret (Cheddy) Boardman. Her father served as a captain in the Mexican war for one year and one month and became an early settler of .Macon county, where his extensive operations as a stock-dealer made him known as one of the leading stockmen of the state. He also engaged in the raising of grain on a large scale and his business interests brought to him a splendid financial return. Elected clerk of Macon county, he held that position for a number of years and was also a member of llie Ijoard of supervisors ftir many years. Both he and his wife sjient their last days in Decatur and were recognized as leading and highly respected citizens of that place. In their family were eIo\-cn (-In'Mrcn, namclv: Thomas, who died on the old honieslead in November, 1902, at the age of fifty-six years ; Eliza, wife of Jacob Sine, of Decatur ; Rebecca, who is the widow of Joseph Sine and lives on a farm in South Wheatland township ; Malissa, wife of Yong P. Jones, of Decatur; William, who married Elizabeth McDaniel and resides in South Wheatland township ; Mary, widow of J^mes \\'alton and a resident of South Wheatland township ; Charles, who wedded Mary Eallenger and lives in South Wheatland township ; Edward, who married Mary Blassengame, now deceased, and makes his home in South W'heatland township ; Martha, the wife of our subject; James, who died at the age of nine years ; and Buena \'ista, who died at the age of fourteen.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Jones has been blessed with five children: Margaret, who died at the age of eleven months ; 2\Jary, the wife of John Lambert, who resides upon a farm near Ehvin. this county ; Thomas Smith, who died at the age of fifteen years ; Charles, who married Abbie May and resides on his father's farm in South Wheatland township; and Jessie May, the wife of Frank Sprague, a resident of Oden, Indiana.

After his marriage ^Ir. Jones removed to Decatur and was variously employed there for about a year. He then purchased a tract of land in South Wheatland township, a mile and a quarter southeast of the village of Elwin, and to the improvement and cultivation of his farm devoted his time and energies until the spring of 1903. He had placed his fields under a high state of cultivation and annually harvested good crops. He also raised high grades of stock and his annual sales of cattle and hogs brought him very gratifying success. Removing to the city of Decatur in the spring of 1903 he erected his present home at No. 1259 West Wood street and is now living a retired life, here enjoying a rest which he has truly earned and richly deserves. He still owns the farm of eighty acres in South Wheatland township and also a building lot near his home in Decatur. His political allegiance has been given to the Democracy and his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Elwin. Mr. Jones has been very successful in his business afifairs and is a representative of a well known and leading family of Macon county. His interests were capably managed and sound and keen sagacity characterized all of his business dealings.

Jones Malone

For seventy-one years Jones Malone has been a resident of Illinois, and he has therefore witnessed almost its entire development. He has seen its wild lands transformed into beautiful homes and farms, its hamlets grow into villages and flourishing cities, and all of the interests and evidences of an advanced civilization introduced. Since 1865 he has made his home in Macon county and has been particularly active in promoting its interests.

Mr. Malone was born in Rutherford county, Tennessee, November 10, 1821, a son of W'illiam and Elizabeth (Hodaway) Malone. who were natives of Mrginia, but were married in Rutherford county, Tennessee, where they continued to reside until 1832, when they brought their family to Illinois and settled in Perrv county. There both died when about fifty-four years of age.