McLean County IL

The Village on Downs, Illinois

There seems to be a difference of opinion in regard to the true name of this station. Priceville is the name by which the neighborhood was known for several years; when the station was established near the center of Section 4, in 1870, the railroad officials called it Downs. The same year, the Downs Post Office, which was for several years at Mr. Peasley’s house, was transferred to the station, and the post office authorities have since known it as such. Soon after, the small office of” Delta,” in Old Town; was discontinued, and all mail matter for that place … Read more

Biography of Phineas Lawrence Windsor

Phineas Lawrence Windsor, librarian of the University of Illinois, is one of the ablest men of his profession in the state. He is a native of Illinois, and had a wide experience in library work both in the East and West before he entered upon his present duties. He was assistant in the New York State Library in 1899, and from 1900 to 1903 was in the copyright office in the Library of Congress. From 1904 to 1909 Mr. Windsor held the post of librarian to the University of Texas at Austin. He then accepted his present duties as librarian … Read more

Biography of Joseph E. McGurty

Joseph E. McGurty is one of the successful business men of Champaign, where in the past seventeen years he has built up a large livery enterprise and also a well conducted automobile business. He comes from the country district and was a farmer prior to his business career. Mr. McGurty was born at Colfax, Illinois, December 11, 1869, a son of Hugh and Sarah (Reagan) McGurty. Both parents were natives of Ireland. His father when six years of age went with his parents to Canada, locating near Montreal, where he grew up, and about 1859 he came to Illinois and … Read more

Early Settlers of Dry Grove, Illinois

The two groves on the south side of the township offered as many points for settlement to the pioneer. It is no wonder that these hardy, hunting men should select the places that they did for their early efforts at civilization. These woodlands are still attractive. They are in the upland. There are no marshes nor swamps in them. The ground is rolling and soon dry after the rains. In early spring, the grass is seen peeping out from under the leaves, clothing the woodland with a carpet of green before the somber prairies put on their summer’s garb. The … Read more

History of Martin, Illinois

Town 24, Range 5 east of the Third Principal Meridian, is Martin. It is six miles square; is the second from the east line of the county, and the third from the north and south lines. The center of it is twenty-two miles north of east of Bloomington. The Mackinaw runs entirely across its northern tier of sections, and threefourths of this tier were covered originally with timber. The remainder of the township is prairie-land of the finest kind, both in the richness of its soil and its adaptability to thorough culture at all times. There is practically no waste … Read more

Early Settlers of Money Creek, Illinois

“Old Louis Soward,” as he is universally known among the few who remember him, came to this country from Ohio. He was one of those jolly old frontiersmen who enjoy themselves best away from the haunts of civilization. One to whom the trials and vicissitudes of pioneer life were preferable to the restraints of more advanced society. He was a great hunter. In those days deer were plenty; they might be seen in droves at almost any time. Turkeys abounded in the woods of the Mackinaw and Money Creek. Wolves nightly indulged in their melancholy lamentations over the scarcity of … Read more

Military History of Dry Grove, Illinois

In the Black Hawk war, Dry Grove was well represented. Col. William McCullough enlisted as a private in the company commanded by Merritt Covel. His great courage, spirit and daring are well known by all. James Phillips, Thomas Brown and Berry Wyatt were under Col. McClure. Col. McCullough was on the battle-field of Stillman’s defeat, and there supplied himself with a gun which a hostile Indian was wont to use against the whites. McClure’s command did not reach the scene of action in time ” to save the day ” nor participate in the flight. We are thus saved the … Read more

Biography of Joseph E. Lowery, M. D.

Joseph E. Lowery, M. D. As a competent physician and surgeon Doctor Lowery has been known in Champaign County for a number of years. He began practice over thirty years ago, his early experience in the profession being in the State of Iowa. Doctor Lowery is a native of Stark County, Ohio, where he was born November 13, 1861. His parents, Joseph and Mary (Simmons) Lowery, were natives of Pennsylvania. His father was a farmer and school teacher. In 1869 the family located in McLean County, Illinois, and in 1882 went to Greene County, Iowa, where Joseph Lowery died in … Read more

Biography of Charles D. Welch

Charles D. Welch. Since his admission to the bar in 1899 Charles D. Welch had built a reputation as a sound, hard working and able lawyer, and had also been a factor in public affairs and is one of the leading republicans of Coffeyville, where he had been in practice for the past twelve years. His ancestors were New York State people, having settled there probably before the Revolution. His grandfather, Daniel Welch, was born in New York, but moved from that state to a farm in Indiana and died in Illinois. It was in McLean County, Illinois, that Charles … Read more

Biography of S. C. Tucker

S. C. Tucker, the present mayor of Champaign, has long been identified with Champaign in business affairs and in politics, is also a former mayor of the city and a former city treasurer, and is that type of man whose energy means something in the constructive administration of a city’s affairs. Mr. Tucker was born in Saybrook, Illinois, January 9, 1871, a son of Sylvester and Sarah (McDaniel) Tucker. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother of Illinois. In 1882 the Tucker family removed to Champaign County, where Sylvester Tucker followed his trade as a carpenter until … Read more

Early Settlers of Martin, Illinois

The first settlements were, of course, along the river, and most of those who broke the land here and put up their little cabins along the Mackinaw, still live here, enjoying the well-earned fruits of their early privations, trials and hopes. John Wiley and his sons, William, Lytle R. and Silas W., came here from Indiana in the fall of 1835, the year that the land came into market, and entered land on both sides of the Mackinaw, near the head of the timber belt. The elder Wiley made his little home, with the help of his sons, then young … Read more

Biography of Eugene B. Buck

Eugene B. Buck, editor and proprietor of the Charleston Courier. Charleston; was born in Fayette Co., Ind., Oct. 12, 1834; when he was about five years old, his father’s family removed to McLean Co., Ill.; he served his apprenticeship to the printer’s trade in Bloomington; in 1852, he went to Peoria, Ill., and, in 1855, was connected with the publication of the Pekin Plaindealer; in 1856, he was associated with four other journeymen printers in running a co-operative daily paper in Peoria; in 1857, he conducted the Washington Advertiser, in Franklin Co., Mo.; in 1859, he edited the Daily Enterprise, … Read more

Biography of Henry Drum

HENRY DRUM. – Among the progressive, intelligent and enterprising business men who are lending their energy and strength to the constant and rapid development of the great resources of the State of Washington, no name stands higher, or is more widely known and deservedly popular, than that of Henry Drum. No more conspicuous example of the results of careful attention to business, probity of character and steadfastness of purpose, can be cited than the brilliant career of Tacoma’s ex-mayor. It is to this class of young, keen and active workers that the great Northwest is to-day indebted for its magnificent … Read more

History of Potosi, Illinois

Potosi can hardly he called a village, though it has long been a center for the citizens to collect, get their tri-weekly mail, and trade. When the post office was established,. it was, for a time, kept by citizens at their houses. Some thirteen years ago, Dr. H. W. Green, a recently-diploma physician, came here, looking for a place to practice, and soon after, started a drug store, which grew into his present large general trade in merchandise. The post office was removed to his store. Dr. Green, in addition to his extensive medical practice and his general merchandise, takes … Read more

Money Creek, Illinois Roads

In the early history of this settlement, Indian trails were the only roads. There was a very prominent trail passing through the settlement, which connected the Wabash with the Illinois. Indian paths, of course, followed the most direct and convenient course. The first road made by white men did the same. Many of these became regularly-established highways, and, as a result, we find the township crossed in all directions by roads that follow section or half-section lines but little. In townships that are composed of prairie-lands almost wholly, we naturally look for roads on every section line, but, where there … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Lyman W. Childs

Childs, Lyman W.; physician; born, Lee, Ill., Oct. 1, 1867; son of Charles and Ann Eliza Smith Childs; graduate, Illinois State Normal University, 1890, at Western Reserve Medical College, 1894, studied in University of Vienna, 1899-1900; married, Waterloo, Ia., 1902, Colene C. Hogg; issue, Evelyn L., Frances B., Eleanor M., Lyman W., Jr.; member sanitation committee, Chamber of Commerce, for three years; instrumental in introduction of medical inspection in Cleveland public schools; introduced first fresh air school in Cleveland in 1911; house physician, City Hospital, 1894; medical examiner, Cleveland Public Schools, 1910-1913; member Cleveland Medical Society and American Medical Ass’n; … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Virgil W. Johnston

Virgil W. Johnston, banker, with offices at No. 10 Main Street in Champaign, has been a resident of this city for the past eighteen years. He was born in McLean County, Illinois, March 15, 1871. His father James Johnston, a native of Ohio, grew up in Indiana and in 1852 removed to McLean County, Illinois, bought land from the government, developed it as a farm, and lived there prosperous and an influential citizen until his death in 1905. He was a Republican in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. James Johnston married Eleanor Marrs, who was born … Read more

Biography of Richard Yates Kennedy

Richard Yates Kennedy. A man of genial presence, of manifest sympathy, of resourceful brain and high educational standards, is found in Richard Yates Kennedy, principal of the Coffeyville High School. He has bad many years of experience in the educational field, some thirty-three more or less continuous, and there are few problems of a teacher’s life that he has not, at one time or another, successfully solved. Professor Kennedy has been a resident of Kansas since 1887, has valuable property investments in Montgomery County, and social, business and civic interests at Coffeyville. Richard Yates Kennedy was born in Whiteside County, … Read more

Biography of Mrs. Mary E. Burbank

MRS. MARY E. BURBANK. – The wife of Honorable A.R. Burbank was born near Milford, Delaware, January 14, 1827, and is the daughter of Jesse E. and Ellen Eckles. While but a child of sixteen months, she was bereft of her mother by death, and was intrusted to the care of her sable nurse until three years old. At this date she moved with her father and his family of three daughters and two sons to the far West, crossing the Alleghany Mountains in wagons, and settling at Clarkesburgh, Ohio, in the fall of 1830, residing there five years. As … Read more

Biography of Rev. Patrick Joseph Kane

Rev. Patrick Joseph Kane, who for a third of a century has been pastor of the Church of Our Holy Redeemer at Webster Groves, is a native of Ireland but during his childhood days was brought by his parents to the United States and became a pupil in the public schools of Bloomington, Illinois, where the family home was established. He afterward attended a local business college and later became a student in the Christian Brothers College at St. Louis. Having determined to enter the priesthood he subsequently pursued his theological studies in St. Mary’s Seminary at Baltimore, Maryland, and … Read more