Greenville Illinois

Biography of Julius Weiss

Julius Weiss. Recently the Topeka Daily Capital had an illustration on one of its pages showing a banquet table surrounded by a group of some of the best known and most prominent veteran business men of Topeka. Underneath was a text explaining the occasion. A part of this reads as follows: “Fifty years at the old stand, forty-seven years at the same number and still an active business man. That is something of a distinction. March 1, 1866, Julius Weiss, a young captain of calvary who had served all through the Civil war in an Illinois regiment, opened a grocery … Read more

Biography of William A. Kelsoe

William Austin Kelsoe was born in Greenville, Bond county, Illinois, February 1, 1851. Upon the death of his mother, a few weeks later, he was committed to the care of Mrs. Sarah Phelps, of Pocahontas, in the same county, and her daughters, one of whom is now Mrs. Kate L. Doubt, a resident of St. Louis. From the age of two years until he reached manhood he was a member of the family of William and Martha Greenwood Watkins and lived with them in Pocahontas, Greenville, Vandalia and East St. Louis, Illinois, also for three years on a farm a … Read more

Biography of Henry K. Hartley

The middle portion of the nineteenth century might properly be termed the age of utility, especially in the northwest. This vast region was then being opened up to civilization, and the honored pioneers who found homes in this rich but undeveloped region were men who had to contend with the trials and difficulties of frontier life. Theirs were lives of toil. They were endeavoring to make homes to cultivate farms, establish stock ranches, develop mineral resources, found business enterprises, and from early manhood to old age their lot was generally one of labor; but their importance to the community cannot … Read more