Last Updated on October 17, 2011 by
Daniel Messer, proprietor Essex House, Mattoon; was born in Piermont, Grafton Co.. N. H., A. D. 1829; his father was a farmer, and his early life was that of a farmer’s son; in addition to his common-school education, he attended for some time a seminary of a high grade, in Bradford, Vt.; at his majority be left home, and began life for himself; his first employment was that of overseeing a force of workmen on the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad; he subsequently contracted on the Buffalo, Corning & New York Railroad; in 1853, he came West, and contracted on the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad, and on the completion of the road, was appointed Roadmaster from Terre Haute to Yana, which position he held from 1855 to 1860 or 1861; on leaving the road, he next operated the Messer House, in Charleston, till 1867; from 1867 to 1869, he owned and operated a planing-mill, at Charleston; in 1869, he leased the Essex House, at, Mattoon, and has operated it for the past ten years; with a house first-class in all its appointments, and himself possessed of all those necessary qualifications that go to make a successful landlord, he has met with deserved success, and is to-day regarded one of the financially solid men of the city; he is at present a Director in the First National Bank.