James Dodwell. The career of James Dodwell, pioneer harnessmaker of Butler County and a well known resident of the county seat, El Dorado, is one considerably apart from the ordinary and of unusual interest. In its unfolding it had invaded various fields of endeavor and the occupations of war and peace, and through it Mr. […]
Wolf Lewis. The modern merchant is the man who knows what the people want and supplies the best facilities for meeting those wants. He acts on that solid commercial principle that real success is only a return for an adequate service rendered. Of Champaign merchants of this class there is no more conspicuous example than
George J. Babb is a native of Champaign County, and has made a good record as a practical farmer and business man, and his name stands equally high as a citizen whose support can be depended upon for those movements and enterprises which reflect the public good. Mr. Babb was born in Hensley Township, September
Daniel Morrissey. In the case of this well known citizen of Champaign success speaks for itself. Perhaps a few men remember the time when Daniel Morrissey was helping run a small weekly paper. That was more than half century ago. He early succumbed to an irresistible impulse to buy land. He bought with unlimited faith
Lee M. Van Wegen is one of Champaign County’s well known citizens who started life with no particular advantages and assets and by self denial, thrift and industry gradually accumulated those means which represent financial independence. He was a successful farmer for many years, and was also at one time engaged in manufacturing at Champaign.
Francis G. Jaques. One of the early and most prominent members of the Champaign County bar was Francis G. Jacques, who began practice here prior to the war and continued his work with unabating interest until his death on November 14, 1896. Mr. Jaques was born in New York City January 5, 1839, a son
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
William L. Gray, M. D. The professional services of Dr. William L. Gray in Champaign County cover a period of more than a quarter of a century. In the quiet performance of his duty he has attended a large private practice, and has likewise become well known through his work in behalf of local institutions
Merit V. Cuppernell and his wife, Mary M., were both born near Sackett’s Harbor in New York State, were married there and in 1870 came to Champaign County, Illinois, where they spent the rest of their years, performing the duties of their home and private business and also extending their influence widely throughout the community.
Rev. Andrew Scott. The qualities of real manhood and the power of leadership were never in greater demand in church work than today. The clergy have always been men of education and of fine moral standing, and with these qualities the successful pastor must now combine the spiritual enthusiasm and some of the same enterprise
Z.C. MILLS. – Z.C. Mills of Seattle, Washington is a native of the Empire state, and was born in 1834. While yet in his boyhood, his parents moved to Illinois, where he grew to manhood and received his education. After he had reached his majority, he engaged in business with his father. He was successful;
HON. PETER G. STEWART. – Peter Grant Stewart was born on the 6th of September, 1809, in Stanford, Delaware County, New York. When eight years of age he moved to Jefferson, Scohane County, where he received a common-school education, and learned the trade of a watchmaker. He followed the occupation of watchmaker and jeweler in
MATTHEW NEEVES. – Mr. Neeves, a prominent citizen of Pendleton, Oregon, was born near Syracuse, New York, in 1830. He there received a common-school education and remained until he was twenty years old. Going west to Galesburg, Illinois, he made his way in that new section in the capacity of a Yankee school-master. After one
JOHN H. SHIELDS. – The reader of this sketch can find elsewhere within these pages an excellent view of the mill and lumber yard of the gentleman named above, and upon glancing at its proportions will not dispute the assertion that Mr. Shields stands well to the fore among the more prominent of the lumber
HON. JAMES P. STEWART. – In a notice of the Honorable James P. Stewart by the local press, when his name was presented for the suffrages of his fellow-citizens for a seat in the legislature of Washington Territory, it was most truthfully said: “he is a man of affairs, – a big, bronzed, broad-shouldered man,
EDWARD S. SMITH. – The death of Edward Slade Smith, at San Francisco, California, on December 31, 1885, and incidents relating to his life gathered from recollections of Judge Charles H. Berry, Honorable John A. Mathews and Doctor James M. Cole. Edward Slade Smith was born in what was then Chemung, now Schuyler county, in
C.A. SANDER. – This is one of those redoubtable men from Prussia who have helped to make our country great. He was born in 1840. At the age of twenty-five he came to America. He first engaged in milling in Florida. He followed the same business in New York and Kansas. He followed the same
THOMAS SMITH. – Mr. Smith, whose life labors have had as their result in one particular the upbuilding of the handsome village of Winchester, near the Umpqua River, was born in Oxfordshire, England, February 12, 1823; and he crossed the Atlantic with his parents in 1830. The first American home was at Rochester, and a
CAPT. HIRAM SMITH. – Capacity for business may make a man a miser or a shark. Generosity may make him a pauper. In the one case he may so use his talent as to over-reach and distress his neighbors; and in the other he may impoverish himself and become a burden rather than a benefit
DR. ALDEN H. STEELE. – “Olympia will always be a place for pleasant homes,” says one of her citizens well qualified to render an opinion, – the gentleman whose name appears above. The wide streets, magnificent shade-trees and comfortable residences of the capital of Washington Territory, together with her delightful climate, an extensive view of
