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OTHER BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES:
BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY,
ILLINOIS
by H. W. Beckwith
Publ. Chicago: H. H. Hill and Company, Publishers
1879
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Danville -
LEVIN T. PALMER, Danville, real estate and
loan agent, was born on Long Island, New York, on the 3d of
December, 1814. His father, Charles Palmer, was
born on the 18th of December, 1790, in Newtown, New York; he was
engaged in farming, and died on the 30th of August, 1822.
Mr. Palmer received a common-school education in his
native state. In 1835 he came west to Illinois, and in
July of the same year located in Danville, which he has made his
home principally ever since. He first commenced to clerk
for Dr. Fithian, having arrived here a poor boy, and with
only twenty-five dollars. He clerked on year for Dr.
Fithian, and then went to Milwaukee, where he remained for
several years, when he returned to Danville and entered the
dry-goods and general store business in company with Richard
T. Leverich, whose biography and portrait appears in this
work. These gentlemen continued in business about fourteen
years. From the mercantile business Mr. Palmer
entered the loan and real-estate business with Thos. C.
Forbes. This firm was dissolved, and Mr. Palmer
then, in 1872, entered into partnership with his son, Charles
J. Palmer, which firm to-day is L. T. and C. J.
Palmer, real estate and loan agents. Mr. Palmer
was married on the 17th of August, 1842, to Miss Esther
Gilbert, who was born on Ontario county, New York, on the
29th of November, 1824, and is the daughter of Solomon
Gilbert, who was born in Massachusetts on the 19th of June,
1787, and died on the 5th of February, 1857. He married
Esther Green on the 6th of April, 1809; she was born in
Massachusetts on the 13th of December, 1789; she died in
Danville on the 31st of January, 1839. Solomon Gilbert,
when very young, moved with his parents to Ontario county, New
York, where he married Esther Green, a daughter of
Captain Henry Green, who was a soldier of the war of 1812;
Mr. Gilbert also was a soldier of the war of 1812.
In 1828 they started for the far west, and arrived in Danville
in July, after being out since April. They came via
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by flatboat to Cincinnati, then by
wagon to Iroquios county. Mr. Gilbert built the
first grist-mill in Danville.
Source: History of
Vermilion County, Ohio - Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 -
Page 384 |
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Newell
Twp. -
EZRA PETERS, Bismark,
physician, surgeon, oculist and aurist, was born
in Licking county, Ohio, on the 4th of July,
1846, and is a son of
Mary (Dicas)
Peters. He enlisted in Co. C, 95th
Ohio Vol. Inf.,
on the
12th of August, 1862, when but sixteen years of
age. He was engaged at Richmond, Kentucky,
where he was taken- prisoner; held three days
and paroled;
took part in
the battle of Jackson, Mississippi, on the 14tb
of May, 1863;
siege of
Vicksburg;
siege of
Jackson;
battles of
Tupelo, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee;
the siege of
Spanish Fort, Alabama, and was mustered out on
the 14th of August, 1865. He began his
education at the University of Michigan, where
he spent two years, taking two courses of
medical lectures at that institution. He
practiced medicine first at Grand Rapids,
Michigan;
then at
Central City, Nebraska, and again at the former
city eight years altogether. He entered the
Bennett Eclectic College of Medicine and
Surgery, graduating therefrom on the 21st of
February, 1878, and on the 23d of the same month
graduated from the Chicago Collegeb
of
Ophthalmology and Otology. Since his recent
settlement at Bismark, Mr. Peters has
successfully operated for cataract in
a number of cases, extracting the lens and
restoring sight. He has contributed one of these
cases to the Chicago
Medicat Times. He was
elected vice-president of Illinois State
Eclectic Association, held at Springfield on the
4th and 5th of June, 1879, and was delegated to
the national association, which convened at
Cleveland, Ohio, on the 18th of June, 1879.
He was married on the 1st of' September, 1869,
to Edith Conrad.
Source: History of
Vermilion County, Ohio - Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 -
Page
968
Submitted by
Mary Paulius |
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Danville -
JOSEPH PETERS, deceased. Joseph
Peters, the subject of this sketch and whose portrait
appears in this work, was born in Franklin county, Ohio, on the
19th of May, 1819. His father was a native of
Pennsylvania, and his mother of Virginia. They were of
English and German descent. But little of the surroundings
of his early life is known. In 1833 he came of Vermilion
county, Illinois. For several years he was engaged in
almost any honorable employment that would furnish means for him
to complete his education. After completing his literary
studies he began the study of law under Mr. J. J. Brown
of Danville. In 1840 he went to the city of Springfield to
be examined, with a view to being admitted to the bar.
Here he was directed to the residence of Mr. Abraham Lincoln.
Mr. Lincoln had been married but a short time, and when
called upon by Mr. Peters was found sitting in the shade
of a tree, reading to Mrs. Lincoln. He often remarked
many years afterward, when hearing people speak lightly of her,
that he could only think of Mrs. Lincoln as he saw her
when making that call - pleasant, social, and in every word and
jesture a lady. After being examined by Mr. Lincoln,
at the proper time and place he was admitted to the bar.
From Springfield he went to Marion county, where he practiced
law until 1845, when he returned to Danville. Here he
followed the practice of his profession as a principal business.
For a time he filled the office of police magistrate, and in
1858 was elected county judge. He also represented the
county in the lower house, and at the time of his death, which
occurred on the 4th of July, 1866, he was a member of the state
senate. During the rebellion of 1861-65 Mr. Peters
served his country as quartermaster of the 135th Ill. Vol. Inf.,
a history of which regiment is found in this work. He was
a member of the order of A. F. and A. M., and also of the M. E.
Church. On the 20th of October, 1842, he was married to
Miss Henrietta Blakeley, who is a native of Christian
county, Kentucky. Their family consists of four children,
as follows: Anna B., Mary E., Prier G. and
Willie.
Source: History of
Vermilion County, Ohio - Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 -
Page 377 |
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Newell Twp. -
OBADIAH PHILLIPS,
Bismark, farmer, was born in Newell township, Vermilion county,
Illinois, on the 22d of October, 1844, and is
a
son of William and
Julia Ann (Luckey) Phillips. He enlisted in Co.
B,
25th Ill. Vol. Inf.,
on the 4th of August, 1862, and was in the battles of
Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Kenesaw Mountain, and
Peach Tree Creek. The 25th was mustered out on the 4th of
August, 1864, and his time not having expired, he, with others,
was sent to the headquarters of the fourth corps, where he
remained, doing duty, the rest of his term. He was present at
the battles of Franklin and Nashville, and was mustered out on
the 9th of June, 1865. Mr. Phillips was married on the
25th of January, 1866, to Martha
E.
Eidwell.
They have six living children:
Nellie,
Emma, Willie, Josie, Ross, and Morton.
Source: History of
Vermilion County, Ohio - Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 -
Page 960 |
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Newell Twp. -
ROBERT PHILLIPS,
Bismark, merchant, was born in Switzerland county, Indiana, on
the 22d of January, 1835, and is a son of William and Julia
Ann (Luckey) Phillips. He came and settled with his
parents at Myersville in 1841.
He
worked nine gears
in
the Myersville mill.
He
was married on the
20th of
January, 1879, to
Martha Cating. In politics he is a republican.
Source: History of
Vermilion County, Ohio - Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 -
Page
965
Submitted by
Mary Paulius |
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Elwood Twp. -
J. C. PIERCE, Ridge Farm, dealer
in groceries and agricultural implements, was born in Vermilion
county, Indiana, on the 1st of January, 1840, and was raised on
a farm. He enlisted in the late war in 1861, in Co. A,
25th Ill. Vol. Inf., as private, and was in the battles of Pea
Ridge, Chickamauga, Atlanta and Peachtree Creek. He
reenlisted on the 3d of Feb., 1865, in Co. E, 150th Ill. Vol.
Inf., as quartermaster. He served until the 1st of
February, 1866, and then came to Ridge Farm and commenced the
grocery business. He started with about eight hundred
dollars' worth of groceries. He commenced selling
agricultural implements in 1869. Mr. Pierce has
held the office of supervisor of township four years, and
justice of the peace, which office he still holds. He was
married on the 1st of Nov., 1864, to Lydia B. Smith, who
was born in this county. They are the parents of five
children: Frank, Mark, Mary,
Charley and Terrence. Mr. Pierce
is a mason and a republican. His parents were natives of
Pennsylvania.
Source: History of
Vermilion County, Ohio - Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 -
Page 603 |
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Blount Twp. -
WILLIAM POTTER, Danville, farmer and
stock-dealer, section 27, was born in the state of New York, on
the 16th of August, 1817. He came to this state in 1830,
settling in New Town. He was married on the 26th of July,
1847, to Hester Lane, who was born in Franklin county,
Ohio, in 1823. They have seven children by this marriage:
Elijah, William H., Eliza J., John F., Mary E., Lincoln A.
and Andrew J. Mr. Potter had but little
property with which to start in life, his first tax being only
six cents; but he has by hard labor, economy and good
management, acquired a property of four hundred acres of land.
His taxes have since been as high as $250 a year. He went
in an early day to Chicago from Blount township on foot,
carrying his clothes on his back, and there worked for
seventy-five cents a day digging the cellar for the first brick
house ever built in Chicago. His father lived to be
eighty-eight years old and his mother ninety-three. Mr.
Potter is a republican, and does not belong to any
church.
Source: History of
Vermilion County, Ohio - Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 -
Page 896 |
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Grant Twp. -
JOHN S. POWELL, Hoopeston, druggist, was
born in New York city on the 23d of February, 1840, and is the
son of Edward and Harriet (Everett) Powell. At the
age of twelve he was indentured to Dr. William G. Wood,
of Harlem, in the drug business, and placed under the
supervision of the doctor's brother, James Wood, a
thorough pharmacist. He served an apprenticeship of five
years, during which time he was required daily to learn a
prescribed task and undergo examination by the doctor. He
became by this means a good Latin scholar. When seventeen
he went into some of the leading drug stores in the city, where
he finished his professional education. In 1860 he
immigrated to Illinois, and on the 14th of April, 1861,
volunteered in Co. A, 12th Ill. Inf., Col. McArthur, for
three months. He was mustered out at Cairo on the 2d of
August. In the following month he reenlisted in the 30th
Ill., and was appointed hospital steward of the regiment, and
served in that capacity till the expiration of his three years'
term, when, in September, 1864, he veteraned. He bore a
part in the battles of Belmont, Forts Henry and Donelson,
Shiloh, and the Vicksburg campaign, including the actions at
Clinton, Jackson, Champion Hills, and finally the siege and fall
of the Gibralter of the Mississippi. At the battle of
Champion Hills, on the 16th of May, 1863, he fell into the hands
of the enemy, but was released to remain with the army till the
fall of the city. The general acceded to his request, and
put him on duty a hospital steward in Gen. Logan's
division hospital. After the capture of Vicksburg he was
ordered to report to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, as a paroled
prisoner of war, where he remained until exchanged; then
returning to that city he was placed on detached service in the
office of the medical director of the 17th Army Corps.
Availing himself of the department library at command, he
resumed and diligently prosecuted his studies. He appeared
before the board of medical examiners, consisting of surgeons
Patterson, Wilson and Bouschee, and passed a
successful examination, and in January, 1865, was commissioned
assistant surgeon of the 52d U. S. Col. Vols. He was given
charge of a ward in U. S. hospital No. 3, at Vicksburg, and also
a small-pox hospital. He remained there on duty till he
was mustered out of the service, in May, 1866. He returned
to Illinois and engaged in traveling in the wholesale drug
business. On the 2d of August, 1871, he stopped in
Hoopeston, and in the following winter purchased the store and
stock of drugs belonging to Frank Hoffman, and has
continued the business to the present time, having secured a
large and increasing trade. He was married on the 25th of
January 1874, to Miss Lizzie Webb. They have one
child, Robert Lennox, born on the 20th of February, 1876.
Mr. Powell is a conservative in politics and a
Universalist in religion.
Source: History of
Vermilion County, Ohio - Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 -
Page 746 |
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Newell Twp. -
MARTIN POWELL, State Line, farmer, was
born on the 13th of December, 1811, in Llanwenarth parish,
Monmouthshire, England, and came with his parents, Thomas and
Jane (Pritchard) Powell, to America in the spring of 1823,
and settled in Dearborn county, Indiana. At the age of
twelve he went to Baltimore, Ohio, where he spent five years in
learning the trade of cloth-dressnig and carding, but he has
never followed the business. On his return to Indiana he
went into the woods and began clearing up land and farming.
On the 12th of April, 1838, he was married to Jeanette
Churchill. Between the years 1835 and 1845 Mr.
Powell labored in the capacity of pedagogue in the log
schoolhouses of Indiana. At the different times in his
life he has filled the sacred desk. His two sons,
Thomas and John, served in the army during the
rebellion, the former three years in the 33d Ind. Inf., and the
latter two years in the 86th. Mr. Powell is a
highly-respected and valued citizen, who is always prominent in
local enterprises. He has held some town offices. He
owns six hundred and eighty acres of land, worth $20,500.
He has five living children: William M., Thomas C.,
Mary A., Alvah M. and Eliza J.
Source: History of
Vermilion County, Ohio - Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 -
Page 964
Submitted by
Mary Paulius |
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Pilot
Twp. -
W. H. PRICE, Pilot,
farmer, came to Vermilion county when young.
He was born in Ohio on the 4th of July, 1827.
He reached Illinois in 1830. His father's
family came to two miles north of Danville.
Here the son stayed till he was sixteen year
old. At that time he began life for
himself, with nothing but his ability to start
on. He worked out three years. He
remained in the neighborhood of State Line till
twenty-three years old. He was married in
January, 1850, to Mary A. Cazzatt.
He moved to where he now lives in Pilot
township, in the spring of 1852. He bought
two hundred acres of land when nineteen years
old, and paid for it by working at nine dollars
per month. He now has six hundred and
forty acres. He has five children.
He is a member of the M. E. church, and of the
A. F. & A. M.
"Uncle Eli," as Eli Helmick, retired
farmer and minister, is known all over the
country, is one of the few remaining old
settlers who came here at a very early day, and
yet was old enough to have quite a family when
he came. He was born in Randolph county,
Virginia, on the 4th of August, 1802. His
father, Jacob Helmick, was in the war of
1812. The family had moved to Warren
county, Ohio, in 1805. Jacob Helmick
died there in 1815. While his father was
in the war, Eli thought to go ahead with
the work, and in making a wooden wedge for the
purpose of rail-splitting, he cut off his thumb
with the ax. He lived in Warren county
from 1805 till 1819, and in Clinton from 1819
till 1833. In 1830 Mr. Helmick
and old Mr. Freeman Smalley,
whom the old settlers will remember, came to
Illinois on horseback. They traveled all
over this country, and would have moved the next
year had not the threatening Indian troubles
kept them back. But when things quieted
down after the war of 1832, they began fixing up
for the journey. They reached Vermilion
county in 1833. They first stopped two and
a half miles east of where Homer now is.
Mr. Helmick hauled the first load
of goods that ever went to Homer, in 1834.
He stayed on this place till 1836, and then came
to the east side of Pilot township, where he has
lived ever since (residence first in section 20,
town 20 north, range 12 west; residence now in
section 13). When he first came to Pilot
he bought six hundred acres of land, but has
sold off and given to his children till he now
owns three hundred and thirty-eight acres — two
hundred and forty prairie, and ninety-eight
timber. On the 28th of July, 1825, Mr.
Helmick was married to Rachel
Villars. They had nine children, eight
of whom lived to be grown. Four of these
are now living. His son George was in the Ill.
Vol. Inf., 21st Reg. He went out with the
first three-years men. He was in
Grant's regiment. George took
sick at Iron Mountain and came home and died on
the 28th of March, 1862. Eli R., a
younger son, volunteered in August, 1861, and
went with his regiment (35th) to Otterville,
where he died on the 7th of October, 1861.
These sons were both buried in Mt. Pleasant
cemetery. Thomas A. was also in the
army, but he returned. John W. is a
traveling minister in the Illinois Conference M.
E. church. Thomas A. was also a
minister, but died in August, 1877, in Kansas.
Eli Helmick was married a
second time on the 8th of February, 1848, to
Amanda Oakwood, daughter of Henry
Oakwood. They had three children.
Amanda died on the 19th of January, 1875.
His first wife had died on the 7th of March,
1846. "Uncle Eli" has been a
member of the M. E. church for fifty-seven
years. He was ordained local deacon in the
M. E. church on the 22d of October, 1843, by
Bishop Andrews, at Crawfordsville,
Indiana. He was ordained elder at Decatur,
Illinois, on the 4th of October, 1857. He
now has charge of the Pilot circuit. He
was elected supervisor from Pilot township to
fill vacancy made vacant by Samuel
Partlow. He was thus second supervisor
from the township, and continued in the office
for a number of terms. He is now growing
old, but is vigorous and hearty for one in his
seventy-seventh year, he spending his time
preaching, thus being ready for the Master when
he declares the harvest ended and the work done.
Source: History of Vermilion County, Ohio
- Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 - Page 916 |
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Elwood Twp. -
GRANVILLE PUGH, Long, farmer and
stock-dealer, section 36, was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, on
the 2d of February, 1824, and has been a practical farmer
through life. He came with his father to this state in
1830, settling on the Little Vermilion River. He moved,
with his father, to the place where he now lives in 1836, and
here he has resided since. Mr. Pugh, has held the
office of school director thirty years. He was elected justice
of the peace one term, which office he honorably filled.
He was reelected, but would not serve. He was also
supervisor of the township. He was married on the 31st of
May, 1856, to Lydia Thompson. She was born in Parke
County, Indiana, on the 7th of March, 1835. They are the
parents of nine children, eight living: John J., Isaac
N., Ezra K., Harris J., Monroe, Howard, Jane E. and Lydia
D. The deceased was an infant. Mr. Pugh's
father was a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother, of
Maryland. His political views are republican, and he
belongs to the Friends church.
Source: History of
Vermilion County, Ohio - Chicago: H. H. Hill and Co., 1879 -
Page 593 |
NOTES: |
