BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of Coles County, Illinois - Chicago - Wm. LeBaron, Jr., & Co.
1879
 

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Charleston Twp. - HON H. A. NEAL, attorney at law, Charleston; is a native of New Hampshire; he was born in Tuftonborough, Carroll Co., Dec. 13, 1846; he was raised on a farm until he was ten years of age, and then his parents removed to Great Falls, N. H.; he attended the public schools of that city until 1863, when the family returned to the farm; in the fall of 1864, he entered the army as a member of Co. K, 1st N. H. Heavy Artillery, and served till the close of the war; on his return, he attended one term in the Academy at Effingham, N. H., and the following winter taught a country school; in the spring of 1866, he went to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and pursued a commercial course of study in Eastman's Business College, where he graduated in September following; he at once came West, and engaged in teaching in Coles Co.; the next year, he became Principal of the Grammar School in Paris, Ill., and, in 1868, went to Watseka, Iroquois Co., Ill., where he had charge of the public schools for three years; the winters of 1871 and 1872, he spent in the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, reading during vacations in the office of Wiley & Parker, in Charleston; he was admitted to the bar in June, 1873, and began practice in Charleston; in 1875, he entered into partnership with Messrs. Wiley & Parker, the firm becoming Wiley, Parker & Neal; in 1876, Mr. Parker moved to St. Louis, since which time the firm has been Wiley & Neal.  He was married June 17, 1873, to Miss Lizzie Jones, of Paris, Ill.; she died in October, 1874, leaving one child - Orra E.  In 1876, Mr. Neal was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Legislature, and re-elected to the same office in the fall of 1878. Source:  History of Coles County, Illinois - Chicago - Wm. LeBaron, Jr., & Co. - 1879 ~ Page 528

harleston Twp. - J. W. NEAL, M. D., physician and surgeon, Charleston; was born July 22, 1851, in what is now Cumberland Co., Ill., but then a part of Coles Co.; his father.  William Neal, is a prominent and wealthy farmer and stock-raiser, who came to the State fifty-five years ago, at the age of 8 years, from Bourbon Co., Ky.; Dr. Neal remained at home on the farm till he was 19 years old, then entered Lee's Academy, in this county, graduating in 1871, and at once began the study of medicine with Dr. T. B. Dora, of Mattoon.  The winter of 1872-73 he attended a course of lectures in the Eclectic Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio; in the spring of 1873, he began practice with Dr. Dora, and the following spring removed to Stockton; in September, 1874, he entered Bennett Medical College, Chicago, graduating and receiving his degree of M. D. in January, 1875.  On the 19th of May following, he married Miss Lizzie McCrory, daughter of James McCrory, of Stockton, and removed to Hutchinson, Kan.  On the 17th of February, 1877, he was elected Vice President of the State Eclectic Medical Society, at Topeka; in October, 1877, he returned to the Eclectic Medical College, in Cincinnati, where he graduated Jan. 22, 1878, receiving the first honors of the institution, being selected by his class to deliver the valedictory address; he at once located at Charleston, and entered upon the practice of his profession.  They have had two children - Gertrude, born Mar. 7, 1876, and Fred M., born Feb. 18, 1878, and died Mar. 26, of the same year. Source:  History of Coles County, Illinois - Chicago - Wm. LeBaron, Jr., & Co. - 1879 ~ Page 528

Charleston Twp. - JAY F. NEAL, dealer in groceries and provisions, Charleston; was born in Tuftonborough, Carroll Co., N. H., June 24, 1835; he is a son of Nathaniel Neal, a farmer of that town; his early life was passed in farm labor among the granite hills, but at the age of 19 years he went to Great Falls, and engaged in teaching just across the river in New Berwick, Me.; he continued teaching during a portion of the year for twelve years.  He graduated at the New Hampshire Conference Seminary at Tilton, N. H., in 1859, and entered the Sophomore class of the Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.  At the end of a year, however, his health becoming impaired, and an opportunity presenting itself to engage in te4aching in the South, he left college, and, going to Bourbon Co., Ky., taught in the Millersburg high school until 1861.  He then came to Charleston and taught two years in the public schools, after which he engaged in clerking for Henry Weiss in the hardware business, and afterward as bookkeeper for the Charleston Woolen-Mill, engaging in his present business in 1870.  He was married by the Rev. W. B. Anderson on the 25th of March, 1863, to Miss Sarah E. Blakeman of Charleston Tp., a daughter of Even Blackman, now of Oswego Co., N. Y.  They have one child - Mary E. Source:  History of Coles County, Illinois - Chicago - Wm. LeBaron, Jr., & Co. - 1879 ~ Page 529

Pleasant Grove Twp. - PATRICK NICHOLSON, farmer, Sec. 12; P. O. Charleston; owns 380 acres was born in Jefferson Co., Tenn., Nov. 6, 1809; resided with parents on farm, helping his father until 21 years of age; came to this State in November, 1830, to what is now Douglas Co.; Mr. N. made several thousand rails for $1 per hundred; worked six months for $8 per month; had nothing but one saddle mare; sold mare and saddle and bridle for $8.  Was married to Elizabeth Ashmore, May 17, 1832; she was born in Jefferson Co., Tenn., Mar. 4, 1814; they are the parents of eleven children, seven living; Patrena A. (now widow of James Balch, deceased), William A., Dorotha (now Mrs. F. A. Endsley, of Greenup), Harriet N., Albert B., Margaret M. (now wife of Thomas Newman, of Hickory Tp.), Ella E.; deceased - Joseph B., born May 30, 1833, died May 24, 1873; James M., born Mar. 26, 1841, died Mar. 28, 1847; Mary P. C., born Mar. 6, 1839, died June 4, 1864; Amos E., born May 8, 1845, died while in 5th Illinois Cavalry, in the fall of 1863.  Mr. N. has held office of Supervisor of Township one term; he was one of the early settlers of this county, and bore his part in the hardships of those days.  He commenced in this township with almost nothing; has by hard labor, economy and industry accumulated several thousand dollars worth of property.  For benevolent purposes his gifts have averaged about $100 a year for forty years, for church and missionary objects; he is a man much respected in the community where he resides. Source:  History of Coles County, Illinois - Chicago - Wm. LeBaron, Jr., & Co. - 1879 - Page 590

Morgan Twp. - JOHN NOCK, farmer; P. O. Charleston; born in Germany Feb. 20, 1835; he emigrated with his parents to America emigrated with his parents to America when 2 years of age; coming directly West, they located first in Ross, then Waverly Co., Ohio, until 1849, when they located in Charleston, Coles Co., Ill., where he learned and worked at the carpenter trade until 1863, at which date he located upon his present place, where he has since continued to live; he owns upon his present place 165 acres, upon which is mostly under cultivation.  He married Aug. 5, 1863, to Mary Golladay; she was born upon the place where she now lives, and where she has lived since her birth, which occurred Dec. 18, 1841; they have seven children now living, by this union, viz.:  Katie and Annie (twins), born Aug. 24, 1864; Minnie, Jan. 4, 1869; John, Oct. 8, 1872; James, Nov. 13, 1874; Jackson, Nov. 28, 1876; Emma, Apr. 17, 1878.  The father of Mr. Nock, John Nock, died in September, 1851; his mother died Aug. 27, 1875; the parents of Mrs. Nock, Moses and Catharine Golladay, were among the early pioneers of Coles Co., locating here in 1836; Mr. Golladay was born in Virginia,  Oct. 15, 1809; Mrs. Golladay was born in Virginia Mar. 25, 1819; she now lives with her daughter, Mrs. Nock, upon the same place where she has resided for upward of forty-three years, and is one of the oldest living settlers now in Morgan Tp. Source:  History of Coles County, Illinois - Chicago - Wm. LeBaron, Jr., & Co. - 1879 - Page 627