Biography of Francis Lester Hawkes

The old saying, that North Carolina is a good place to start from, is the key-note to the greatness of her people, as well as a term of reproach as accepted by them. All great men must seek the large centers of civilization in order to give to the world their message, but the great principles of their lives come from the land of their birth. A State is to be measured by the number of its good and great men, and not by material or physical predominance. Even intellectual gifts and culture cannot make a people great, but may … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Galland, S., Dr.

Dr. S. Galland, physician and surgeon, came to North Topeka, Kan. In 1870, and practiced medicine a year; thence to Kansas City, Mo., and practiced his profession two years, when he moved to Dodge City, Kan., and permanently located, where he has been engaged in the practice of medicine until 1878, since which time he has retired from active business. He was born in Posen, Prussia, Germany, May 11, 1822, and was educated in his native country. He graduated from the old school of medicine at Berlin, in the class of 1847. Practiced in Germany two years, when, in 1849, … Read more

Biography of Mark Carley

Mark Carley was one of the founders of the city of Champaign: His name appears again and again in connection with the early annals of that city and of Champaign County, and always he appears as a man of force, of almost unlimited enterprise and of a public spirit that was in keeping with his many successes in private life. He knew much of the world by experience and had come to Champaign County soon after returning from an excursion to California during the great gold excitement on the Pacific Coast. His own life was to a large degree the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James Brown

Jim Brown purchased land in Section 25 of Battle Township, Ida County, Iowa, on October 10, 1873. On March 29, 1874, he came back to live on the farm. James Brown was born in Perry County, Ohio, January 16, 1843. He was from a family of 13 children, nine sons and 4 daughters. His father was John Brown and he was born in 1800 in Waterford County, Ireland, and at the age of 15 came to the United States, landing at New Orleans. He worked for 7 years in the Carolinas and Georgia, and then located in Perry County, Ohio, … Read more

Biography of Jonathan Wilkins

Jonathan Wilkins, one of the earliest inhabitants of Athens, was a man of very considerable learning, and for some time taught a pioneer school. Of his son, Timothy Wilkins, the following reminiscence is furnished by Dr. C. F. Perkins; it is hardly less strange than the history immortalized by Tennyson in 11 Enoch Arden.” Mr. Wilkins was skillful and enterprising in business, but, through no fault of his own, became embarrassed, was hard pressed by creditors, and pursued by writs. In those days, when a man could be imprisoned for a debt of ten dollars, to fail in business was … Read more

Mulvehill, J. T. Mrs. – Obituary

Mrs. J. T. Mulvehill, a former resident of Union, died in the Baker Hospital Sunday, December 1, 1918. The funeral took place Monday, December 2, from the Catholic Church in Baker. Josephine La Notte Mulvehill was born in New Orleans, May 28, 1862, and died in Baker, Oregon, December 1, 1918. She was taken suddenly ill Friday night November 29-her ailment was pronounced acute diabetes. She was rushed to St. Elizabeth’s hospital at Baker, early Saturday morning, where every possible aid was given her, but she passed away Sunday forenoon at 11 o’clock, surrounded by all her family. The Mulvehills … Read more

Biography of Hiram C. Whitley

Hiram C. Whitley. The State of Kansas is filled with interesting men, many of them known to the world at large. The city of Emporia had several. One is a prominent business man, who for upwards of forty years had given his time and energies to the upbuilding of that locality. This is Hiram C. Whitley who was at one time chief of the secret service division of the United States Treasury. The story of his life, particularly the early years, reads like a book, and in fact his experiences have been described in a book which was published about … Read more

Biographical Sketch of H. Clay Lewis

Mr. H. Clay Lewis, one of the enterprising young farmers of Lake County, is the son, of Robert A. and Mary (Donaldson) Lewis and was born in Lake County, January 5, 1860. Mr. Lewis was raised on a farm, and when a boy had few school advantages. When seventeen years of age he went to New Orleans and entered Dolbear’s Commercial College, but the death of his father prevented him from completing his course, as he then returned to Lake County and assumed charge of his father’s farm. On December 25, 1884, he married Miss Maggie H. Harper, daughter of … Read more

Slave Narrative of Reverend Williams

Interviewer: Miriam Logan Person Interviewed: Rev. Williams Location: Lebanon, Ohio Place of Birth: Greenbriar County, West Virginia Date of Birth: 1859 Age: 76 Occupation: Methodist minister Miriam Logan Lebanon, Ohio July 8th Warren County, District 2 Story of REVEREND WILLIAMS, Aged 76, Colored Methodist Minister, Born Greenbriar County, West Virginia (Born 1859) “I was born on the estate of Miss Frances Cree, my mother’s mistress. She had set my grandmother Delilah free with her sixteen children, so my mother was free when I was born, but my father was not. “My father was butler to General Davis, nephew of Jefferson … Read more

Biography of Jacob Kamm

No history of navigation upon the Willamette or Columbia would be complete without reciting the part borne by the subject of this sketch. From the time the demands of travel and commerce created business of any magnitude in this direction, down to the present time, he has been more or less prominently connected with this interest, and especially important was the part he bore in the incipient stages of its development. He was born in Switzerland, December 12, 1823. At the age of eight, with his father, who had resigned his commission as captain in the Swiss army, he came … Read more

Biography of James G. Sandidge

James G. Sandidge. In the colonial history of the United States may be found frequent mention of names that are familiar and even distinguished at present throughout the great Middle West. They ring with achievement as in the old days, and although generations have passed since their first bearers lived and labored and increased on American soil, the stock is the same and the vigor of the younger branches gives testimony to the strength of the parent root. A long line of notable men have borne the name of Sandidge, from the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, and the early settlement … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Aldrich, Thomas Bailey

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, son of Elias T. and Sara (Bailey) Aldrich, was born in Portsmouth, Rockingham County, N. H., November 11, 1836. He received his early education at the common schools in New Orleans, La., and at the Temple grammar school in Portsmouth. He commenced a course of study preparatory to entering college, but having the misfortune, in his fifteenth year, to lose his father, he abandoned that purpose, and entered the counting-room of an uncle, a merchant in New York. Her he remained for three years, and it was during that period that he began to contribute verses to … Read more

Slave Narrative of Mrs. M. S. Fayman

Interviewer: Rogers Person Interviewed: Mrs. M. S. Fayman Location: Baltimore, Maryland Place of Birth: St. Nazaire Parish LA Date of Birth: 1850 Reference: Personal interview with Mrs. Fayman, at her home, Cherry Heights near Baltimore, Md. “I was born in St. Nazaire Parish in Louisiana, about 60 miles south of Baton Rouge, in 1850. My father and mother were Creoles, both of them were people of wealth and prestige in their day and considered very influential. My father’s name was Henri de Sales and mother’s maiden name, Marguerite Sanchez De Haryne. I had two brothers Henri and Jackson named after … Read more

Biography of John F. Sheehan

JOHN F. SHEEHAN. – The gentleman whose name heads this brief memoir, an excellent portrait of whom appears in this history, has been a leading business man and resident of Port Townsend, Washington for almost thirty years. Mr. Sheehan is a native of the Sunny south, and was born in Baltimore Maryland, in 1840. When but an infant he suffered the irreparable loss of his father by death. His widowed mother then, with her two sons, our subject being but eighteen months old, paid a visit to Ireland, and at the end of one year returned to Baltimore. John F. … Read more

Biography of Peter Taschetta

Peter Taschetta. One of the early permanent settlers of Leavenworth was Peter Taschetta, a native of Switzerland, born in Canton, January 6, 1822. He was of Italian ancestry, but long before his birth his people, living on the border between Italy and Switzerland, had property in the former country and his parents became Swiss subjects by purchase. The father was interested in stained glass manufacturing and, as a contractor, traveled extensively, particularly in France, overseeing the placing of stained glass in cathedrals and other structures, some of these being rare examples of artistic coloring. He employed a large number of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Robert A. Lewis

Robert A. Lewis (deceased) was a prominent farmer of Lake County, and was born in 1833, in Fulton County, Kentucky; his father was Major R. N. Lewis. Our subject had good educational advantages. In 1855 he married Mary Donaldson, who was born January 24, 1834 in New Madrid County, Missouri at Donaldson’s Point. She is the daughter of Andrew J. and Kate (Baird) Donaldson. Her father was born at Athens, Alabama, but was raised at Nashville, Tennessee, her mother at Chattanooga. Soon after they married they went to Missouri and remained until 1844 when they came to Lake County. Mr. … Read more

Biography of Thomas J. Delaney

THOMAS J. DELANEY. To become distinguished at the bar requires not only capacity, but also sound judgment and persevering industry. These qualifications are combined in no gentleman at the Greene County bar to a greater extent than in Thomas J. Delaney. A careful and accurate adviser, and an earnest and conscientious advocate, his success at the bar has been achieved by the improvement of opportunities, by untiring diligence, and by close study and a correct judgment of men and motives. Like so many of the eminent men of the present day his early career was not a very auspicious one … Read more

Biography of John Dovell

JOHN DOVELL. – Mr. Dovell is one of those men who have belabored fortune, and have knocked about the world until it is sufficient to turn one’s hair gray simply to listen to their adventures. A native of the Azores, of Portuguese parentage and born in 1836, he came to Portland, Maine, at the age of fourteen, and learned shipbuilding. He left in four years and plied his trade in New Orleans, shipping thence to Liverpool, and coming as ship’s carpenter from that foreign port to San Francisco. He soon came up the coast to Portland, Oregon, and worked upon … Read more

Spanish New Orleans

In that city you may go and stand to-day on the spot still as antique and quaint as the Creole mind and heart which cherish it, where gathered in 1765 the motley throng of townsmen and planters whose bold repudiation of their barter to the King of Spain we have just reviewed; where in 1768 Lafrénière harangued them, and they, few in number and straitened in purse but not in daring, rallied in arms against Spain’s indolent show of authority and drove it into the Gulf. They were the first people in America to make open war distinctly for the … Read more