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DAVID C. CHASE.
Age falls upon some men like a gracious benediction at
the end of the lesson of life. With whitened hair
and measured tread, the venerable aspect of age is an
open book in which even the youngest and most
thoughtless can read the story of life, whether the
experience has been one of adventure, and colored and
broidered o'er with romance and tragedy, or whether
adopting a fixed principle as a guiding star, the aged
man has ever steered his course by its guidance.
Our subject has just passed his three-score years and
ten, and any one who looks upon his rugged but serene
face can see therein that his has been an experience
guided by the principles of rectitude and honor; that no
matter how frail the superstructure may now be, that the
base and foundation is of adamantine firmness; for
character never grows old.
David C. Chase is a native of Indiana. His
parents, however, both came from the Empire State.
His father was William J. Chase, and his mother
Eunice (Chamberlain) Chase. They married in
Indiana, and settled immediately after their union in
Washington County, where they lived and made the journey
of life together until death claimed them for its own.
Our subject's father was a shoemaker by trade, although
he was engaged to some extent in farming, but his
preference was for the exercise of the trade that he had
learned in youth. Both parents were victims of the
cholera, and both passed away in the month of August,
1833. They had six children and of these our
subject was the eldest.
The original of our sketch was born in Washington
County, Ind., May 25, 1821. Left an orphan at the
age of twelve, he was obliged to struggle as best he
could for a maintenance. He went to Lawrence
County, Ind., and there grew to manhood, learning in the
meantime the blacksmiths; trade, which he followed until
1852, and the imagination pictures the smithy at the
meeting of the roads, where farmers brought their
horses, and over the injured tire of an ancient vehicle,
discussed crops and politics and every subject within
the ken of the rural mind. "from Homer down to
Thackeray, and Swedenborg on hell." The fact
remains, however, stripped of fancy, that our subject
succeeded in his work, receiving such returns for his
labor as to justify him in taking until himself a
companion and wife, which he did June 26, 1845, in
Orange County, Ind. His bride was Miss Hannah
Hostetler, a daughter of Christian and Elizabeth
(Hardman) Hostetler. They had nine children,
Mrs. Chase was the seventh in order of birth; she
was born in Orange County, Ind., Dec. 1, 1823. In
1852 Mr. Chase and his wife came to Illinois, and
settled in Coles county, there living until January,
1853, when they came to Lovington Township, this
country, since which time he has here been a resident.
He lived on his farm which he had purchased upon first
coming here, until the fall of 1885, when with his
family he removed to the village of Lovington. He
now rents his farm, which comprises one hundred acres of
good land, and it brings him a very good income.
Three children have grown up about our subject and his
wife. Elizabeth E. is the wife of Thomas
Spilker; Francis M. married Miss Margaret
Morthland; and David C. took to wife Miss
Mary Haley. Three children died in infancy.
Since coming to this State, Mr. Chase has
followed agricultural pursuits, and has been reasonably
successful in his chosen calling. In politics he
has ever taken an active interest, and is an ardent
adherent of the Democratic party, having very positive
views in regard to the efficiency of the governmental
principles and rule of that power. Mrs.
Chase, who is a kindly and intelligent old lady, has
been a member of the Christian Church since girlhood.
Her husband is a Universalist in his belief.
Mrs. Chase is a sister of
Noah
Hostetler, of Lovington, of whom a more extended
history can be found in another part of this volume.
Source:
Portrait and Biographical Record of
Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois -
Published: Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co.
1891 - Page 725 |
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WILLIAM G. COVEY, editor
and proprietor of the Moultrie County News, has
had that paper under his control since December 15,
1887. It is a six-column quarto and a spicy
weekly, issued at Sullivan, Ill. Mr. Covey
succeeded J. H. Dunscomb in the management of
this paper, which had its origin Dec. 10, 1884, under
the management of Messrs. Hollingsworth & Green,
being the successor of the Sullivan Journal which
had a checkered experience. The gentlemen just
named entitled their sheet the Sullivan News
until Dec. 25, 1886, when it be-became full-fledged as
the Moultrie County News, having in the meantime
become the property of Mr. Dunscomb, who changed
its political color from Independent to Republican, the
position which it now holds.
The News has a good circulation and a large
advertising patronage and it is having an admirable
success under the hand of Mr. Covey, who was a
novitiate in the newspaper business when he took it in
charge. He had formerly been an agriculturist in
Coles County for some ten years and also taught for
about three years in the public schools of the county.
He came to Illinois in March, 1875, and taught for one
year in Douglas County before settling in Coles County.
Our subject was born in Brattleboro, Vt., Nov. 6, 1852.
His Welsh ancestors were early settlers in Vermont
during the Colonial days and the family was prominently
identified with the early history of that State.
For generations the old stock was content to remain
among the Green Mountains, but during the present half
century the younger members of the family became imbued
with the Western fever and have scattered west of the
Alleghanies. Most of the family who remained in
Vermont are adherents of the Baptist Church.
Clark Covey, the father of our subject, was born
and grew to manhood in Somerset, in the Green Mountain
State, and after reaching his majority was married at
Brattleboro to Lestina A. Farr, a native of the
adjoining State of New Hampshire. She came of an
old and highly respected New Hampshire family who had
for generations farmed in Chesterfield. The early
wedded home of this couple was in Brattleboro, where
Mr. Covey conducted a meat market and later farmed
for a while before coming to Illinois, in 1855.
They settled in Bloomington, McLean County, and during
the winter the wife and mother was stricken with typhoid
fever and died in the prime of life. Her remains
were subsequently taken back to New Hampshire and laid
in the old cemetery at Chesterfield. She was a
Universalist in religion.
The husband and father then returned to the old home in
the East and some time later contracted a second
marriage, being then united with Mrs. Mary J. Cook,
nee Layborn, a native of Pennsylvania who
became the mother of two children. Cora L.
and Walter is residing in Nebraska where he
teaches vocal and instrumental music.
The mother of these children died in Vermont at the age
of thirty-six years, leaving besides these just
mentioned, two children by their previous marriage.
At the time of her death Mr. Clark Covey was a
soldier in the Civil War and the then acting Governor of
Vermont, Mr. Holbrook, requested the Secretary of
War to grant Mr. Covey a furlough that he might
come home and look after the interests of the six little
children who were left without anyone to care for them,
and on this account he was also ultimately granted a
discharge from service. While in service he had
acted as cook for Gen. Stoughton.
Mr. Covey was some few years later married in
Vermont to Harriet A. Stowe, a native of
Massachusetts, but within a year he died after a short
sickness succumbing to an attack of diphtheria. He
was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and in
politics allied himself with the Republican party.
His youngest daughter was born some five months after
his death. This child Lillian by name, was
separated from the family and for eighteen years her
whereabouts was not known, but the subject of this
sketch, through information given by him a local
biographical writer was recently able to locate her in
Massachusetts. She had in the meantime become the
wife of Edward Green, now of Leominster, Mass.
Our subject is the first born of the two children
granted to his mother, his brother Arthur, being
foreman in a large tape factory in Worcester, Mass.,
having been taken to wife Miss Lenora Lawrence.
William G. Covey was well and carefully educated in
his native State and Massachusetts, being granted an
academic education, thus preparing him for the
profession of a teacher, which he followed for five
years in the East. He was married after coming
West in Cole County, Ill., to Miss Emma R. Martin,
who was born in that county Aug. 20, 1852. She
became a teacher before
her marriage and bears a high reputation as a
cultured and intelligent woman. She is the
daughter of John and Martha (Cassady) Martin,
natives of Kentucky who came to Illinois with their
respective parents when quite young and were early
settlers. They afterward did pioneer work in
Lafayette Township, Coles County. In that home all
of their children were born and there the father died in
January, 1875, having completed his threescore and ten
years. He was a pillar in the old-school Baptist
Church and a man who was honest from principle and the
love of right. His widow, who still survives, is a
member of the same church and resides at the old
homesteads in Coles County.
Mrs. Covey, the wife of our subject, had an
excellent training and education and was ably fitted for
the responsible position of wife and mother. Of
the six children who have crowned the union of this
couple, two have passed to the other world - Lillian
B. and Lettie Lee - both of whom passed away
while young. Those who still remain under the
parental roof are Iva S., Walter S., Jessie B.
was for some time in the office of Township County was
for some time in the office of Township Clerk. He
is a sound Republican in politics and is a member of the
Modern Woodmen of America and is also an Odd Fellow.
Source:
Portrait and Biographical Record of
Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois -
Published: Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co.
1891 - Page 704 |
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JOHN W.
DAWDY. The son of Henry and Eliza Dawdy,
was born in Shelby county, September 20th, 1840;
Daniel Dawdy, the grandfather of the subject of our
sketch, was a native of Kentucky, was taken to the State
of Tennessee when quite young, and grew to manhood in
that State; he was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was
in General Coffee's division under the command of
General Jackson. In 1816 he came to the
territory of Illinois, and settled in what is now
Hamilton county. In 1827 he came to Shelby county
and settled about four miles north of Shelbyville, where
he died in 1852; his wife, who was a Miss Nancy
Tindall, a native of Augusta, Georgia, died the
month after her husband. Henry Dawdy, the
father of John W., married, in Shelby county,
Miss Eliza Earp, a daughter of Simon Earp,
one of the early settlers of Shelby county. After
Mr. Dawdy's marriage he improved a farm in Okaw
township, where he resided until his death, which
occurred in 1846; his partner in life yet survives him,
and is now the wife of John L. Walters, a farmer
in the above township. Henry Dawdy raised a
family of four sons, viz., Daniel J. and the
latter are now deceased. The subject of our sketch
was raised on a farm; he attended the common schools of
his neighborhood, where he received a fair business
education. January 1st, 1862, he was united in
marriage to Miss Frances Knox, a native of
Pennsylvania, who only lived a short time. After
his wife's death he joined the army in the late war.
He enlisted, August 15th, 1862, in company K, 126th
Regiment Illinois Volunteers, under Colonel J.
Richmond; he remained in the service about two years
when he was discharged for disabilities. He was at
the siege of Vicksburg, and other engagements incident
to the operations of this regiment from 1862 to 1864.
Upon his arrival home it was some time before he
recovered his health. In 1867 he married Mrs.
Elgina Allison, a native of Kentucky, but raised in
Shelby county; immediately after his marriage he began
farming in Moultrie county; in 1878 he moved on the
place where he now lives, having purchased this farm of
two hundred and sixty acres two yeas previous.
Mr. and Mrs. Dawdy have one child, John C.
In politics Mr. Dawdy is a republican; he cast
his first vote for Abraham Lincoln.
Source:
1763 Combined History of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois - Publ. by
Brink, McDonough & Co., Philadelphia - 1881 - Page 212 |
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