W. S. Minton, of the firm of Minton, Alvey & Van Meter, proprietors of the City Mills, Charleston; was born in Washington Co., Penn., Dec. 10, 1828; at the age of 12 years, he began to work in his father’s mill, and there became familiar with every branch of the milling business; he continued in that for eight years, and in 1848, started with his father in the dry goods business; six years later-1854-he came to Illinois, bringing with him a thousand head of sheep, and engaged in sheep-raising in Vermilion Co.; he soon after removed to Edgar Co., where he traded his sheep for Western lands, and coming to Coles Co., settled on a farm near Charleston; after farming five years, he engaged in merchandising in Kansas, Edgar Co.; in 1864, he removed to Charleston, and with W. G. Wright and A. K. Spears, started in the grocery trade; since then, he has been engaged in the hardware and lumber business, the grocery business and the boot and shoe trade; in 1877, the firm of Minton, Alvey & Van Meter erected the City Mills, a fine brick structure, costing $15,000, containing four runs of stone, and fitted up with the latest improved machinery for manufacturing flour by the patent process. Mr. Minton was married Oct. 14, 1853, to Miss Matilda R. Wright, a daughter of Samuel Wright, now of Charleston, and has two children – Clarence H. and Evangeline St. Clair.
