Morgan County IL

Biography of Shelby D. Taylor

Shelby D. Taylor. A large tract of Champaign County’s fertile acres have been developed and improved by Shelby D. Taylor, who still owns one of the valuable farms of the county, though for a number of years he has lived retired at Champaign. Mr. Taylor came to Champaign County thirty-five years ago. He was born in Morgan County, Illinois, May 15, 1851. His parents, both natives of Kentucky, were George and Polly E. (Tucker) Taylor. His father was born July 20, 1805, and died September 23, 1886, and his mother was born August 15, 1807, and died January 22, 1894. … Read more

Biography of Louis J. Oatman, M. D.

Dr. Louis J. Oatman, physician and surgeon of St. Louis, was born December 13, 1874, in O’Fallon, Illinois, a son of Dr. Charles R. Oatman, whose birth occurred in Belleville, Illinois, and who was of French descent. The grandfather was Dr. Christopher Lorenzo Oatman, a native of Alsace, France, when he came to America in 1832, settling in Belleville, St. Clair county, Illinois, where he resided till the time of his death in 1846. He was a graduate of the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and practiced his profession as a well known and capable physician and surgeon of … Read more

Biography of Harry J. Miller

Harry J. Miller has been one of the business factors in the Town of Olsburg for over a quarter of a century. He was formerly engaged in agricultural pursuits in that rich and fertile district of Pottawatomie County, but now gives all his time to the management of a garage and the real estate business in Olsburg. His people were pioneers in two states, Tennessee and Illinois. His grandfather was born in Tennessee about twenty years after the close of the Revolutionary war and before the opening of the nineteenth century. In 1818 he took upon himself the responsibilities of … Read more

Biography of Lewis Corbin True, Col.

Col. Lewis C. True. Some interesting distinctions belong to this veteran soldier and lawyer who now lives retired at Kansas City, Kansas. He came to Kansas soon after leaving the army, and spent several years combating the hardships and plagues which afflicted the farmers in that period in Franklin County. Unable to make progress as a farmer, he took up the study of law, and in 1871 was admitted to practice in Cherokee County. He spent five years in general practice at Chetopa, and was then elected county attorney of Labette County. Kansas had just enacted its state wide prohibition … Read more

Biography of Hon. William A. Conn

Hon. William A. Conn, of San Bernardino, is one of those strong individualities in the pioneer history of California, who by his force of character and intellect stamped his impress upon the early civilization of the Golden State. Though a number of the first years of his residence on the Pacific coast were passed in the northern part of the State, at San Francisco, yet for a third of a century Southern California has had the benefits of his public-spirited patriotism, his business attainments and his generous philanthropy. Mr. Conn was born in 1814, on the West India Islands, where … Read more

Biography of William Penn Watson

WM. PENN WATSON. – Of those who came to the Pacific Northwest in pioneer days and settled within its boundaries, and closely identified themselves with its material, social and political welfare, the exemplary citizen named above took a very active and foremost part. He was born December 18, 1828, in Morgan county, Illinois. When he was only three weeks old, his mother closed her eyes in death; and the infant left behind was confided to the care of foster parents, Allen Q. Lindsey and wife, who gave the orphan boy the best of attention and one of the best of … Read more

Biography of Augustus Titus

AUGUSTUS H. TITUS is a man that has a wide range of experience both in the affairs of life in its ordinary occupations and also in pioneer experiences, having passed through practically all the various vocations usually met with in frontier life, as mining, camping, opening up a new farm, as well as the incidents of danger and adventure with which such existence is frequently attended, beside much fighting with the savages in various places; universally manifesting both a cool and wise judgment and capabilities and valor and courage that are the constituent parts of the true man and progressive … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John White Rodgers

John White Rodgers, farmer, Sec. 18; P. O. Campbell; owns seventy acres; was born in Morgan Co., Ill., Feb. 10, 1831, and lived with his parents on the farm until 23 years of age. He was married to Margaret Elizabeth Gillinnater April 5, 1854; she was born in Effingham Co., Ill., Jan. 18, 1836; they have bad six children, five of whom are living, viz., James F., Mary L., William B., Hiram M. and Henry G.; deceased-Isaac E. Mr. Rodgers was Overseer of the Road one term and was elected Justice of the Peace, which office he now holds. His … Read more

Biography of William Miller Kenton

William Miller Kenton first came to Kansas nearly forty years ago, acquired an interest in a homestead in Rice County, and by his subsequent exertions had developed a large amount of fine farming land and is one of the leading men of affairs and citizens at Chase. Mr. Kenton was born in Bracken County, Kentucky, October 4, 1850. His Kenton ancestry goes back to the earliest period of colonization of the Kentucky country and the name of Kenton is a famous one in old Kentucky, and doubtless there is some relationship between this branch and the noted Simon Kenton, one … Read more

Biography of Allen C. Mason

ALLEN C. MASON. – The well-known fact that a city presents, as a whole, the characteristics of the individuals who compose it, finds no better illustration than in the city of Tacoma, Washington. It is wide-awake, enterprising and progressive, and is such not only because of its unrivaled location and its commanding position as the terminus of the great Northern Pacific Railroad, but because its business men are themselves possessed of a spirit of progressive enterprise, are thoroughly imbued with confidence in the great destiny of their city, and are united in their efforts to promote its welfare. Prominent among … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Robert James Frackleton

Frackleton, Robert James; manufacturer; born, Chandlorville, Ill., 1868; educated, Illinois College, Jacksonville, B. S.; married, New York City, 1907, Constance Louise Chandler; en-gaged in banking for six years and manufacturing for eighteen years; pres. The Chandler & Price C.; director Frackleton State Bank; director The Reliance Gauge Column Co.; director The Cleveland Folding Machine Co.; member the Union, University, and East End Tennis Clubs.

Biography of Charles Percival Whitbread

Charles Percival Whitbread, president of the General Underwriters Company of St. Louis, was born in Edwardsville, Illinois, March 18, 1877, and is a son of James and Minnie Elizabeth (Rinne) Whitbread. The ancestry is traced back through several generations in England, where the records of the family include the following under title “Whitbread of Southill.” “Whitbread, William-Henry, Esq., of Southill, County of Bedford, born January 4, 1795; high-sheriff in 1837, and member of parliament for Bedford in the parliaments of 1818, 1820, 1826, 1830, 1831 and 1832. The Whitbreads are said by family tradition, as appears on an Inscription on … Read more

Biography of John D. M. Conrad

John D. M. Conrad. Among the most interesting men of Salina are those who can justly be named pioneers of this fair city. They have a wealth of experience that no later comers can claim, and it is because of their courage and enterprise that such rich and rapid development had taken place. In John D. M. Conrad, who is the only survivor of a once very important body, the first city council of Salina, is found not only a pioneer of this section but also a veteran of honorable record of the great Civil war. John D. M. Conrad … Read more

Biography of F. E. Kellogg

F. E. Kellogg farmer and stock-raiser near Anaheim, was born in Morgan County, Illinois, April 31, 1822. His parents, Elisha and Elizabeth (Derrick) Kellogg, were natives respectively of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and of Scotch descent. They settled first in western New York, where most of the children were born. They emigrated to Morgan County, Illinois, in pioneer times, where Mr. Kellogg built the first house in the county. Elisha Kellogg was a prominent politician in his day, serving as county judge and sheriff of Genesee County, New York. He died in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, in 1844. The subject of … Read more

Biography of Hiram W. Oliver

HIRAM W. OLIVER. – It is with pleasure that we are enabled to grant to the esteemed pioneer and capable citizen whose name is at the head of this article a representation in the history of the county of Union, where he has labored long and faithfully, both for its advancement and development and for the successful culmination of his various business enterprises, wherein he has demonstrated a consummate wisdom in handling the raw resources of the wild country and in subduing it and bringing forth the wealth that lay wrapped in its coffers of natural stores, while also he … Read more

Dehlin, Nola Brummett Mrs.

Richland, Oregon Nola Dehlin, 75, of Richland, died Oct. 25, 2004, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. Her funeral will be Tuesday at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Jacksonville, Ill. Nola Aileen Dehlin was born on Dec. 5, 1928, at Morgan County, Ill., to Milford Collier and Bertha Lee Leeper Brummett. Nola was raised and educated in Morgan County. She married her loving husband, Richard, at Anchorage, Alaska, in 1958. They were sealed for time and eternity in the Oakland Temple of the LDS Church. After living in Alaska, California, Utah, North Carolina, and Illinois, they settled … Read more

Biography of Eli A. Boutwell

Eli A. Boutwell, a farmer and lumberman of Hopkinton, N.H., son of Samuel P. and Lydia A. (Allen) Boutwell, was born in Barre, Vt., February 25, 1833. His lineage has not been traced; but a little research would probably show that he belongs to the old New England family of Boutwells, of which the Hon. George S. Boutwell, ex-Secretary of the Treasury, is a representative. Its founder, James Boutwell, said to have been made a freeman in Lynn, Mass., in 1638 or 1639, died in 1651, leaving a wife Alice, sons James and John, and a daughter Sarah. The sons … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Holtcamp

Charles W. Holtcamp, serving for the fourth term as probate judge of the city of St. Louis, also identified with important business interests and prominent in Masonic circles as a thirty-third degree member, was born in Decatur, Illinois, September 1, 1859. His father, Charles Holtcamp, a native of Germany, was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church for more than sixty years. His mother, Mrs. Catherine Holtcamp, was born in Ohio. After attending the public schools Charles W. Holtcamp continued his education at Illinois College of Jacksonville, Illinois, and next became a student in the law department of the Washington … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Clarence E. Sanders

Sanders, Clarence E.; lawyer; born, Jacksonville, Ill., June 18, 1867; son of William and Cornelia R. Smith. Sanders; educated, Illinois College, 1889, A. B., Harvard University, 1896, LL, B.; associated with law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, since October, 1896; became member of the firm in July, 1911; member Union, Country, University, and East End Tennis Clubs. Recreations: Tennis and Golf.

Biography of William N. Smelser

William N. Smelser has been a member of the Emporia bar for twenty-five years. His had been an enviable record both as a lawyer and as a citizen, and his ability, industry and his conscientious care have brought him a high position among Kansas lawyers. His family have resided in Emporia more than thirty years, and William N. Smelser was about fourteen years old when brought to that city. He was born in Sturgis, in Southern Michigan, February 2, 1870. The Smelsers came originally from Germany, but have been Americans since about the time of the Revolutionary war. The first … Read more