1906 Historical Encyclopedia Of Illinois & History of Morgan County IL

GAILEY, Byron Sinclair, M. D., physician and surgeon, Jacksonville, Ill., was born at Prentice, Morgan County, Ill., November 9, 1873, the son of Dr. Watson W. and Mary E. (Sinclair) Gailey. His father for several years a resident of Morgan County, was born near New Castle, Pa, in 1842. During the Civil War he served as Surgeon with the Seventh Army Corps, Army of Virginia. He was graduated with the class of 1863 from Philadelphia University of Medicine and Surgery. Removing to Morgan County in 1864, he first taught school in the Mauvalsterre District in order to obtain sufficient funds to enable him to open an office for the practice of his chosen profession. His first location for practice was in Jacksonville, where he remained until 1866, in which year he settled in Prentice. Since 1877 he has been established in Ashland, Ill. He has come to be regarded as one of the most successful practitioners in Cass County.

Dr. Byron S. Gailey received his preparatory education in the public schools of Ashland. Entering the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, he was graduated therefrom in 1895 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He has also had the advantage of post-graduate work in Chicago, New York and Vienna, in each of those cities confining his research to diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Since his location in Jacksonville, May 1, 1897, he has devoted himself to practice in this special department of medicine and surgery, and although a comparatively young man, has already established a reputation as an expert in this direction. For some time past he has been in charge of the eye and ear work at the Illinois Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. Dr. Gailey's sole fraternal connection is with the Masons and Elks. He was united in marriage September 29, 1898, with Anna P. Smith, of Island Grove, Sangamon County, Ill., a daughter of John P. Smith, now a resident of Jacksonville.

GALLAHER, William Green, Rev. , (deceased), Presbyterian minister, was born in Roane County, Tenn., February 27, 1801, a son of Thomas and Mary (Green) Gallaher, both natives of Pennsylvania. James, father of Thomas, located in the wilderness of Eastern Tennessee between 1810 and 1820. Thomas came to Illinois in 1833, locating in Sangamon County, where he died in 1843. Early in life William G. Gallaher was a teacher. In 1823 he entered Greenville (Tenn.) College, and afterward studied theology under the instruction of his older brother, Rev. James Gallaher, and Rev. Frederick A. Ross. In 1827 he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Holston, Tenn. His health became impaired and for two years he traveled through the South, a portion of the times as a missionary. At Winchester, Ky., he preached for two years, and in the fall of 1831 he located at Cincinnati as copastor of the Third Presbyterian Church, of which his brother, James, was pastor. In that city, March 12, 1833, he married Sarah Kautz, and in the same year removed to Sangamon County, Ill., locating on a farm near Berlin. Soon afterward he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Pisgah, Morgan County, and continued in that pastorate for thirty-one years, donating his entire salary to the various charities of the church, and supporting himself and a large family by the successful management of his farm and other business enterprises. Mr. Gallaher was deeply interested in the cause of education, and served for many years as Trustee of the Jacksonville Female Academy and of Blackburn University. His death occurred in Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ill., December 8, 1881.

GIBSON, G. C., farmer and stockman, residing on his well-improved farm on Section 20, Township 14, Range 9, Morgan County, was born in Township 13 December 3, 1850, the son of John M. and Mary (Davidson) Gibson. The paternal grandfather, James Gibson, and his wife, Hannah, were natives of Tennessee and came to Morgan County in the spring of 1830. James Gibson entered 240 acres of Government land soon after reaching the county, which he farmed during his life, and at his death, in the winter of 1855-6, left five children, of whom John M. Gibson, the father of G. C., was second. He bought the old homestead, but later sold it and purchased another farm in the neighborhood, on which he died in 1890. His widow, who survives him, was born in 1829, and makes her home in Jacksonville.

G. C. Gibson attended the district school and later was a pupil at Whipple Academy and Illinois College in Jacksonville. His home has always been on the farm, and at the age of twenty-five he commenced his career as an independent farmer. He devoted thirteen years of his manhood to teaching, an occupation for which he was well fitted, being a man of broad intelligence, good memory, patience and perseverance.

Mr. Gibson was married December 24, 1875, to Lavinia Carlile, daughter of H. and Anna (Cooper) Carlile, and they became the parents of four children, all of whom are living: Edward H., who is principal of the High School at Bloomfield, Ind.; Hattie M., who is a graduate of De Pauw University and resides at home; Willis Stanley and Charles R., students of the university named. For two terms (1893-99) Mr. Gibson was a member of the Board of County Commissioners; and has been a member of the School Board several terms, Clerk of Road District six years, and was a Census Taker in 1900. He moved to his present farm of 120 acres in 1877. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Court of Honor, and a Republican in politics.




GILLETT, Philip Goode, LL. D., for thirty-seven and a half years Superintendent of the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, Jacksonville, Ill., was born at Madison, Ind., March 24, 1833, and died at his home in Jacksonville October 2, 1901. He was generally recognized as one of the highest American authorities on he education of the deaf. He was the son of the Rev. Samuel Trumbull and Harriet Ann (Goode) Gillett, the latter a descendant of John Goode, of Whitby England, a Virginia colonist of the seventeenth century, through Philip Goode, who emigrated from Prince Edward County, Va., to the Miami Valley, Ohio, in 1805.

The record of the Goode family has been traced back to the close of the tenth century. In the reign of Ethelred II, in the year 988 A.D., Goda, Earl or Thane of Devon, a Saxon, commanded the inhabitants of that shire in a fight with the Danes. He was the first of the family mentioned in the historical records in England. The line from Richard Gode, who lived in the fourteenth century, is as follows, down to Harriet Ann Goode, who was a representative of the sixteenth generation; Richard Gode; William Gode; William Gode; William Gode; Walter Gode; William Good or Gode; Walter Goode; Richard Goode; Richard Goode, born in 1580 and died in 1650; John Goode, the immigrant from Whitby, born in 1620 or 1630; Samuel Goode, born about 1655 to 1658; Samuel Goode, born in 1700; Robert Goode, born 1720-30; Philip Goode, born March 15, 1777; Harriet Ann Goode, born August 24, 1813. John Goode, the founder of the family in America, first settled in the Barbados between 1643 and 1650, and came to the Colony of Virginia some time prior to 1660. Samuel, his son, was born on the Barbados Islands between 1655 and 1658, and accompanied his parents to Virginia. His son, Samuel, was born in Henrico County, Va., about 1700, and afterward lived in Prince Edward County, Va. Robert, son of the second Samuel, also a resident of Prince Edward County, was born between 1720 and 1730. Philip, father of Harriet Ann Goode, was born in Prince Edward County, March 15, 1777, and died at Campbell Courthouse, Va., September 24, 1824. He married Rebekah Hayes.

The Gillett family was founded in America in 1630. On May 30, 1860, the ship "Mary and John" arrived at Nantucket, Mass., from England with 140 passengers, the congregation of the Rev. John Washburn and the Rev. John Maverick, who had been chosen their ministers at Plymouth, England, at which point they had gathered from Devonshire, Dorsetshire and Somersetshire. This colony first settled at Dorchester, Mass., and in 1635 removed to Windsor, Conn. Among them were two brothers, Jonathan and Nathan Gillet. Dr. Philip Goode Gillett was descended from the former, the line being as follows: Jonathan, Jonathan, Jr., Thomas, Jonah, Simeon, Simeon, Jr., (who married Salome Palmer, a daughter of John Smith of Connecticut). Their youngest son was Samuel Trumbull Gillett, who was born in Madison County, N. Y., February 19, 1809. The latter first spelled his name as Gillet, in accordance with the style adopted by his forefathers.

The Goode family presents a long roll of patriots who served their country in the Indian wars, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. In church and state and all the professions the family name has been carried high. Samuel Trumbull Gillett entered the United States Navy as a midshipman, and was graduated at the head of a class of sixty, which embraced Admirals Dahlgren, Briggs, Glisson and Rowan, and Captain Semmes of the "Alabama." Resigning his naval commission, he entered the ministry, and for more than half a century was prominent in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was the father of four sons: Philip Goode; Francis Trumbull, Paymaster in the United States Navy; Simeon Palmer (the only survivor), Commander in the United States Navy, President of the Citizens' National Bank of Evansville, Ind.; and Dr. Omer Tousey Gillett, late of the medical faculty of the Iowa State University.

Dr. Philip Goode Gillett was graduated form Asbury (now DePauw) University in 1852 and became a teacher in the Indiana Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, with the expectation of studying medicine later; but the needs of the deaf so impressed him that he decided to make their education his life work. When called to Illinois, April 26, 1856, his engagement was "on trial.: As no other engagement was ever made with him he continued there "temporarily" for over thirty-seven and a half years.

When he assumed the duties of Superintendent of the Institution, Dr. Gillett was but twenty-three years of age, and some who were inclined to doubt his capacity at the time styled him "that boy who has come to run the deaf and dumb." Only 22 out of 107 pupils and only two teachers remained. How well he succeeded in the difficult task of creating and organizing a new corps of officers and teachers, winning public confidence and gathering old and new pupils, is shown by the report of the Board of Directors, December 26, 1856, which states that "the Institution opened this session with the largest number of pupils it has ever had - 109." The report goes on to congratulate the State on having secured a man of such vigor, accomplishment and especial fitness for the difficult position. That this congratulation - renewed by succeeding boards again and again during his long administration - was ell deserved then, and always continued to be, was evidenced by the high opinion of others engaged in the same work when, at the World's Congress Auxiliary of the Columbian Exposition, he was chosen presiding officer of the World's Congress of Instructors of the Deaf, an appointment later approved by the unanimous vote of the Conference of Principals of American Institutions for the Deaf. Twenty-two pupils when he took charge - a few short of six hundred in 1893! For many years the enrollment in the Illinois Institution exhibited the largest aggregation of deaf persons in the world. And Dr. Gillett did not permit the institution in his care to excel in numbers alone. It was among the first to afford methodical manual training; the first to recognize the fitness of educated women for this work by employing them; the first State institution to teach methodically articulation and lip-reading; first to establish a really useful library, containing over 15,000 volume of history, poetry, fiction, travel, science, art, biography and carefully chosen reference works. Dr. Gillett make fitness the sole test for employment of teachers, a fact so widely known that from this corps of instructors ten have been called to superintend similar institutions.

Dr. Gillett wielded a ready and powerful pen. In evidence of this fact stands the paper read before the convention of American Instructors at Indianapolis in 1870, which was formally adopted by a unanimous vote as the expression of he view of the profession. This document has been one of the authoritative guides in the organization and management of boarding schools for the deaf. He made some written contributions to science, and his formal reports have a brevity, force and fecundity of ideas, instead of words, that have caused them to be highly valued. In the midst of his many duties he made time for much evangelistic and Sunday-school work. He was President of the International Sunday-school Convention at Indianapolis in 1872, which, under the leadership of B. F. Jacobs, adopted the International System of Uniform Lessons; and for fourteen years he was a member of the International Committee and in close touch with the great biblical students and Sunday-school workers associated with him in the preparation of the courses of Scripture study. Deeply interested in Freemasonry, he was a charter member and First Eminent Commander of Hospitaler Commandery, No. 31, K. T., of Jacksonville. He was married May 2, 1854, to Ellen. M. Phipps, of Indianapolis, who survives him. Their children are: Charles P. Gillett, present Superintendent of the Institution with which his father was identified so long; Philip F. Gillett, M.D., of Elgin, Ill.; Mrs. Harriet G. Cole, of New York City; and Alma Gillett, of Jacksonville.

Dr. Gillett's pupils loved him, his associates and contemporaries respected and admired him, his intimates and his family perhaps alone fully recognized the "sweetness and nobility of character, the loftiness of aim, the loyalty to country, to friends, to duty, and all the sweet assemblage of noble parts of a personality deserving of honor, worthy of loving remembrance," and a high ensample for the emulative following of American youth entering upon the realities of life. In the "American Annals" Joseph C. Gordon, who succeeded Dr. Gillett as Superintendent, gave an estimate of the character and services of the latter, a portion of which follows: "True to the traditions of the older schools for the deaf, no labor or duty affecting the pupils was delegated to others so long as it was possible for Dr. Gillett to perform it himself . . . Under his influence large numbers professed religion. The spiritual welfare of the deaf was always nearest Dr. Gillett's heart, and one outcome of this interest was his establishment of a mission station for the deaf in Chicago, which has grown into an organized church with numerous outlying stations, served by a regular pastor with several assistants . . . In reorganizing the Illinois school Dr. Gillett established and maintained high standards in the selection of experienced teachers specially qualified for the work, so far as possible. In carrying out his policy a few teachers were trained in the school; but, believing that "it required seven years to make a teacher," Dr. Gillett preferred to draw upon other schools. He sought out superior talent earnestly, and during his superintendency the institutions in at least eleven States were drawn upon in his efforts to obtain able assistants. In the long run these obligations were well repaid, for the Illinois school has furnished ten Superintendents for schools in other States, besides two college professors and one college President . . . During Dr. Gillett's superintendency a number of additions were made to the land owned by the institution. Perhaps nothing better illustrates the Doctor's pertinacity of purpose than the fact that a valuable addition to the front lawn was secured by him only after presenting the matter to successive legislatures for twenty-nine years before success was attained . . .

"It will be remembered that the first conference of principals, which was held in Washington City in May, 1868, was called mainly to determine what attitude the old institutions should take in regard to teaching speech to the deaf, a subject brought prominently before the profession at that time by the opening of oral schools in New York City and in Northampton, Mass., and by Dr. Gallaudet's report upon his visit to schools in Europe. Although Dr. Gillett has been trained as a "sign teacher", and at that time was unfamiliar with any other method of instruction, he, in company with Harvey W. Milligan, M.D., at that time at the head of the Wisconsin school, concluded to brave the prejudice of the times and to visit the Northampton school in order to judge for himself of the practicability and efficiency of the instruction there afforded without recourse to the sign language. The work there done was a revelation to these gentlemen, and they did not hesitate to assume a liberal attitude toward the innovation. Dr. Gillett at once became a leader in the progressive wing of the profession, which secured modification of some of the resolutions presented to the conference and the passage of the resolution favorable to the teaching of speech in all schools for the deaf. Immediately upon his return home he presented a special report to the Trustees and Governor, and with the consent of the authorities an oral department was established in the Illinois school at the opening of the term in September, 1868.

"The pitiful condition of children not deaf, but feeble-minded, appealed so strongly to the sympathies of Dr. Gillett that he took active measures in their behalf, and after much urging the Legislature was induced to found the Illinois Institution for Feeble-minded Children. This new institution was located temporarily near the State School for the Deaf, with Dr. Gillett as Superintendent; he remained in charge until he found a worthy successor in the person of Dr. C. T. Wilbur. Dr. Gillett was instrumental in the organization of the Illinois State Board of Charities, which probably largely owes its establishment to his energetic efforts in that direction. The active direction of this board was tendered to him, but he declined the appointment . . .

"Early in life Dr. Gillett connected himself with the Methodist Church, and was always active in religious work . . . He engaged in evangelistic and Sunday-school work throughout the State, laboring with his personal friends, Stephen Paxson, William Reynolds, A. G. Tyng, John H. Vincent and Dwight L. Moody, in efforts which have left their impress upon the State. He was also active during the Civil War in the work of the Christian Commission, and thus became a close personal friend of George H. Stuart, President of the Commission . . . He was a delegate to three General Conferences of his own church. In 1888 he was Chairman of the Sunday school Committee of the General Conference, and he was twice President of the Illinois State Sunday-school Convention. He was President of the Eleventh Convention of the Instructors of the Deaf, which met in California in 1886. It might be said that this was a trans-continental convention, which was an informal session, at least, on a special train all the way from Chicago to California, the arrangements for which were made by Dr. Gillett.

"After thirty-seven and one-half years of continuous service as Superintendent of the Illinois School, Dr. Gillett's connection with the school was severed in consequence of the introduction of the so-called spoils system, with a change of administration in the State. Dr. Gillett was called almost immediately to a wider and, in some respects, more important field of usefulness, as President of the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, in which capacity he visited every State and every school for the deaf in the Union. . . . His great energies were directed to aiding the work of teaching speech to the deaf, a cause which had the approval of the profession in America as expressed by the action of several conferences of principals and conventions of instructors, and the Doctor's visits to the various institutions proved occasions of great profit in almost every instance. Dr. Gillett's health did not prove equal to the great strain placed upon him, and growing infirmities finally compelled him to abandon an active career. The closing years of his life were spent in the retirement of his home until the end came."

GILLHAM, James, Hon.. - Hon. James Gillham was one of the best known pioneers of the county. He was a veritable prince in all the qualities that are supposed to unite in the physical, mental and moral character of a noble and worthy prince. He also located a very early date within the present bounds of Scott County, near Riggston. Mr. Gillham was a member of the Senate during the session of the Thirteenth General Assembly. As a man and as a citizen he left his impress deeply and broadly on the community in which he lived.

GILLHAM, William, Hon.. - William Gillham was one of the noblest of Morgan County pioneers. He lived in what is now Scott County, near where Riggston is situated. He was repeatedly elected County Commissioner, and was a member of the Lower House of the Eleventh General Assembly.

GILLHAM, William Waits, a well known undertaker of Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ill., was born on the old Gillham homestead, fifteen miles west of Jacksonville, January 9, 1872, the son of William A. and Rebecca (Waits) Gillham, who were natives respectively of Illinois and Kentucky. The founder of the American family was Thomas Gillham, a native of Northern Ireland and of the Presbyterian faith, who came to the United States in 1730 and settled in Virginia. He was the father of seven sons and four daughters, and all his sons and his four sons-in-law served in the Revolutionary War. The author of a "History of the State of Illinois," published in 1849, says that the Gillhams were strong supporters of morality and order. Though born in a slave State they recognized the corrupting influence of that institution, and firmly opposed its introduction into Illinois. The same authority claims that the Convention party of 1824 owed its defeat to the Gillham family and their kinsmen, who, in an almost solid phalanx, cast 500 votes against the proposition to make Illinois a slave State. James Gillham, one of this stalwart company and the grandfather of William W. Gillham, moved to Illinois from the Carolinas in 1805, taking up Government land in what was afterward Morgan County, and is now in Scott County which has remained in the same name, as when preempted from the Government. James Gillham died in 1869, honored and beloved by a host of friends.

Judge William A. Gillham was born on this farm in September, 1833. He was educated at McKendree College and Illinois College. He served four years as County Judge of Scott County, and was widely known for the impartiality and inflexible justice of his judicial rulings. In 1856 he was united in marriage with Rebecca Waits, who was born in 1836, in Harrison County, Ky. He departed this life at the old home, June 27, 1902.

William W. Gillham attended the public schools in boyhood, afterward graduating from Eureka College, and from the United States School of Embalming in New York. After finishing his preparation for practical life, he located in Winchester, Ill., where, in 1896 he established the firm of Gillham & Barton, undertakers. In 1898 he moved to Jacksonville, where he established a rapidly increasing business. Mr. Gillham is a member of the Illinois State Undertakers' Association.

On November 27, 1901, Mr. Gillham was united in marriage with Eva Davenport, of Jacksonville, daughter of L. M. and Adeline (Magill) Davenport.

Fraternally, Mr. Gillham is affiliated with the A.F. & A.M., Jacksonville Lodge, No. 570; Illinois Lodge, No. 4, I.O.O.F.; K. of P. Lodge, No. 152; M.W.A. Lodge, No. 912; D.O.K.K. Lodge, No. 62; and Delaware Tribe, I.O.R.R. Religiously, Mr. Gillham is a very active member of the Christian Church, in which he was elected Deacon in 1904. He also has the honor of serving on the board which supervises the erection of the new Christian Church edifice in Jacksonville.

GOLTRA, Judson A., retired merchant living in Jacksonville, Ill., was born in Jacksonville May 13, 1843, the son of John W. and Mary A. (Becraft) Goltra. (A sketch of his father's life will be found preceding in this volume.) After attending the public schools of Jacksonville, he engaged in business as a clerk in his father's hat store, and following the death of his father, continued to operate the establishment until 1895 with Charles Goltra as a partner. In the last mentioned year he disposed of his establishment to J. V. Read, who, in 1900, sold out to the firm of Byrns & Goltra, consisting of Frank Byrns and Walter W. Goltra, a son of Judson A. The latter retired from the firm in 1902, since which time the business has been conducted by Mr. Byrns.

Mr. Goltra has always been an active Republican, but has never sought political office. He was a charter member of Jacksonville Lodge., No. 152, K. of P., but is not now identified with the order. On May 21, 1867, he married Elizabeth E. Weller, who was born in Canton, Mo., October 6, 1842, a daughter of Jesse Weller, who removed to Jacksonville for the purpose of educating his children in the Athenaeum. Her death occurred February 20, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Goltra became the parents of the following named children: Albert E., deceased; Thomas A., deceased; Walter W.; Jessie A., wife of Percy Stone of Springfield, Ill.; Emma E. and Roy, residing at home.

GOLTRA, John Wright, one of the early merchants of Jacksonville, was born at Bound Brook, N.J., May 26, 1813, a son of Oliver and Phoebe (Compton) Goltra. In youth he learned the trade of a hatmaker, and, strong in the conviction that Illinois would prove a profitable field for that industry, started overland for this State, in the spring of 1835. He traveled on an Indian pony, the journey consuming forty days, and soon after arriving in Jacksonville established a small store and hat manufactory on the south side of the Public Square, where he remained until 1850. During this time he made, by hand, practically all the hats he sold. The material employed in their manufacture was, for the greater part, beaver and Russian fur. The hats were soft and flexible, weighed about twelve ounces, sold for an average price of $10 in gold coin, and usually lasted about ten years. This manufactory was the first of its kind in Jacksonville, and, in fact, in this section of the State. Mr. Goltra was known as an expert and painstaking workman, and the product of his establishment found a ready sale throughout a considerable territory surrounding Jacksonville. In 1850 he removed to the store building now occupied by Frank Byrns, on the southwest corner of the Public Square, where he continued in business until his death. During the later years of his life he combined with his trade the business of merchant tailoring, in partnership with Joseph Tomlinson.

Mr. Goltra was a man of deep religious convictions. When he arrived in Jacksonville, there were not more than a half-dozen adherents to the Baptist denomination in the place. He became one of the most active leaders in that denomination in the city, and largely through his efforts the organization of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville was made possible. For the last thirty-five years of his life he served as Deacon in that church. In politics he was originally a Whig, but became a Republican upon the organization of the latter party in 1856. He was united in marriage with Mary A. L. Becraft, who was born in Kentucky, August 4, 1820, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Aquila Becraft. Mr. Becraft came to Morgan County about 1828, and settled upon land, a portion of which now is occupied by the Diamond Grove Cemetery. His wife died at the age of fifty years. They were the parents of the following named children: Maria, deceased; Judson A.; Mattie F., deceased, wife of Marcus Hook; Mary, deceased wife of Willard Franch; and Emma, wife of Samuel T. Anderson.


GORDON, John, one of the oldest citizens of Morgan County, Ill., and for a long period one of the prominent residents of Jacksonville, Ill., was born July 29, 1824, on his father's homestead, near Lynnville, Morgan County. His boyhood home was a one room log cabin, 20 by 20 feet in dimensions. The first school he attended, taught by a Mr. Brisbain, was in a log house with a puncheon floor, and greased paper for windows, the room being a portion of a dwelling. At a later period, a log house was built for a subscription school, with similar floor and windows, split slabs for seats and mud chimneys. The teacher was L. B. Tankersley.

At the age of nineteen years Mr. Gordon removed to Steubenville, Ohio, where he attended Scott's Academy for two years. Being the eldest boy, he helped to operate his mother's farm, which he afterward bought, residing on it until 1879, when he moved to Jacksonville. In 1880, he was appointed Postmaster of the city of Jacksonville by President Hayes; also served in that capacity under the Garfield administration, and retained the office one year under the administration of President Cleveland - in all serving nine years.

In 1848 Mr. Gordon engaged in the general mercantile business at Lynnville, Ill., and retained his interest in the concern until 1890. In 1879 he embarked in the wholesale and retail grocery line at Jacksonville, continuing in that line in partnership with John R. Loar, for five years, when he sold out his interest in the concern. He is now the owner of land near Lynnville.

On December 1, 1850, Mr. Gordon was united in marriage with Mrs. Sarah Campbell, a daughter of Nimrod funk, who was a soldier under General Jackson, at New Orleans. This union resulted in seven children as follows: William E., a farmer, who lives in Scott County, Ill.; John B., an attorney and Judge of one of the courts of Seattle, Wash.; frank T., a farmer near Lynnville, Ill.; Virginia, who lives in Jacksonville, and is the widow of Richard Vasey; Lilly, wife of Alfred W. Agee, an attorney of Ogden, Utah; Louisa, a teacher in Texas; and Jessie B., widow of Frank Johnson, who was County Superintendent of Schools of Morgan County. On September 5, 1879, six years after the death of the mother of the above mentioned family, Mr. Gordon was married to Mrs. Mary E., widow of Frank Dayton, and one son was the offspring of this union - Harry C., who lives in St. Louis.

In politics, Mr. Gordon was at first a Whig, but has been a Republican since the organization of that party, and voted for Gen. John C. Fremont. He served two terms (1872-76) as Representative in the Illinois Legislature, and officiated for twenty years as Justice of the Peace.

Fraternally, Mr. Gordon is affiliated with the A.F. & A.M., in which order he has been very prominent, having joined it at Lynnville in 1865. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Jacksonville Chapter and Commandery, and Past Master of the local lodge, which he has represented in the Grand Lodge. He is also identified with the I.O.O.F., which order he joined about the year 1865. Religiously, he is a member of the Christian Church.

Mr. Gordon has been a Director in the Jacksonville Bank, and for a number of years was one of the Trustees of the Central Hospital for the Insane at Jacksonville. During a long, busy and useful career he has been one of the conspicuous factors in all that pertains to the prosperity and welfare of the community in which he live


GRAFF, Charles Brice, County Clerk of Morgan County, residing in Jacksonville, Ill., was born near Prentice, that county, April 21, 1868, the son of Washington and Elizabeth F. (Owen) Graff. (A sketch of his father's life will be found following in this volume.) He was educated in the district schools of his neighborhood and at Brown's Business College of Jacksonville. Upon leaving the latter institution he assisted his father on the family homestead until 1890, when he purchased a farm situated about five miles below Virginia, Cass County. One year later he sold this property and purchased a farm of 203 acres near Prentice, which is still in his possession. For two years he was engaged in the grain business and general merchandising at Prentice in partnership with Charles R. Lewis, but has devoted himself principally to agriculture.

Like his father and his grandfather, Mr. Graff is a firm believer in the principles of the Republican party, to whose success he has always contributed of his time and labor. While residing upon his farm he filled the offices of Road Commissioner, School Director and Justice of the Peace. In 1896 he was the nominee of his party for the office of County Commissioner, but was defeated at the polls by 120 votes. In 1898 he was nominated for the office of County Treasurer, but was defeated by 160 votes. In 1902 he received the nomination for the office of County Clerk, and was elected by a majority of 175 votes, despite the fact that the county, with rare exceptions, has always given a Democratic majority.

Mr. Graff is identified with the Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Elks and the Knights of Pythias. He was married October 6, 1887, to Alice, daughter of James W. Johnson of Arcadia, and they have one child, a daughter named Lula Fairree.

Mr. Graff is a man of exceptional business ability, and unquestioned integrity, and, regardless of politics, enjoys the confidence of all classes. He and his brother, Zadock W., settled all the affairs pertaining to their father's estate to the satisfaction of all concerned. He has brought the same intelligence and discernment into the administration of county affairs as he has always exhibited in the conduct of his private business, giving evidence of his belief that public office is a public trust of the highest nature.

GRAFF, Washington, (deceased), who was one of the most successful and highly respected pioneer agriculturists of Morgan County, was born in Nelson, Ky., in 1826, a son of David and Susan Graff. His father, who was also a native of Kentucky, brought his family to Illinois in 1834, locating about a mile and a half south of the site of Arnold in Township 15, Range 9, where he purchased a claim which had been entered upon by another man. Two years later he took up a quarter section of Government land located directly west of the site of Arnold, which he made his home for the remainder of his life. His energy was directed to the improvement of his land and the raising of stock, in both of which undertakings he was fairly successful. Politically he was a Whig and a stanch Abolitionist. He died February 4, 1850, and in the will which he left it is interesting to note some of the valuations placed upon livestock. While horses were appraised at $40 each, cows were quoted at $8, hogs at $1, and sheep at the remarkable value of seventy-five cents. The valuation placed upon wagons was extremely high, on account of the expense of making them in those days.

David Graff and his wife became the parents of the following named children: Two sons-George and Washington; and seven daughters-Susan Willett; Louisa, wife of Samuel McClure; Amanda, wife of Rector Gore; Mary, wife of James Thornton; Ann, wife of Eli C. Ransdell; Elizabeth and Parthenia.

Washington Graff was the youngest child in the family. He received his education in the subscription schools of the county, and was reared to a farming life. In 1849 he joined Captain Heslop's company, which traveled by way of the Sante Fe trail to California. After remaining two years in the gold camps of that State, he returned to Morgan County with about $2,000, the fruit of his operations in the mines and in general merchandising. This money he immediately invested in a tract of farming land lying near his father's homestead. About a year later he purchased a body of land lying on Indian Creek, near Prentice, to which he moved, and where he resided during the remainder of his life. So successful were his farming and stock operations that he accumulated 1,400 acres of land, all in one body, and most of which was exceedingly fertile and easily cultivable. He became one of the influential citizens of Morgan County, and exhibited a deep and abiding interest in the welfare of the community. A stanch Republican in politics, he was the choice of his party for the office of County Commissioner in 1876; and though the normal Democratic majority in the county at that time was about 900, he lacked but 60 votes of being elected. Mr. Graff was a devoted member of the Christian Church, and for a number of years filled the office of School Director. He was a firm friend of education, and invariably secured the best qualified instructors for the school in his district which it was practicable to obtain. He died November 7, 1895.

Mr. Graff was thrice married, and by his first wife, Almarinda Flinn, became the father of seven children: Mary E., William, Margaret, Franklin M., Zadock Wright, Grant, and one child who died in infancy. By his second marriage with Elizabeth F. Owen there were two children, viz.: Charles B. and Lula. His third wife and widow was Minnie Christen, who survives him, and now occupies the home farm near Prentice. She is the mother of the following named children: Almarinda, John W., Katie, Myrtle and Parthenia.

GRAHAM, LORENZO D., (deceased), pioneer, and, during his life, a prominent and successful farmer, whose home was just east of Meredosia, Morgan County, Ill., was born in Sussex County, Md., October 2, 1806, the son of George and Henrietta (Willis) Graham, and at the age of six years was taken by his parents to Chillicothe, Ohio. Here he remained until 1830, when he came to Morgan County and put in his first crop the season before the "deep snow", in the winter of 1830-31. In 1832 he moved onto the farm where he spent the remaining years of his life, and eventually became one of the wealthy farmers of that region.

Mr. Graham was married October 25, 1827, to Elizabeth Newman by whom he had a family of seven children, of whom Mrs. Elizabeth Andre, of Jacksonville, and Mrs. Martha Isinger, of St. Louis, are the only surviving members. The wife and mother died December 20, 1871. Mr. Graham's second and last marriage was to Caroline E. Looman on April 17, 1873, widow of Henry Looman, and there were four children born of this marriage, viz: Frank, Matilda, H. G. Pawn and Edna. The two sons of Mrs. Graham by her first marriage were Henry and William Looman, who are prosperous merchants of Meredosia. Lorenzo D. Graham held the office of Road Master and School Director of his district and was extensively engaged in the raising and feeding of cattle, dying on his farm July 19, 1896. His widow, Mrs. Caroline E. Graham, is passing her declining years in a pleasant home which she built in Meredosia, where she has other property besides her interest in her late husband's farm.

GREEN, AARON, formerly an energetic and successful farmer of Cass and Mason Counties, Ill., now living in retirement in Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ill., was born in Derbyshire, England, April 15, 1832, the son of Joseph and Anna (Sewerby) Green, natives of Yorkshire, England. In that country Joseph Green owned and operated a large cotton manufactory. He came to the United States in 1847, and, after spending a year in Philadelphia, Pa., proceeded to Illinois, and bought a farm on the Sangamon Bottom, in Cass County. Both he and his wife died in that county-the former in 1850 and the latter in 1849.

Mr. Green received a good mental training in the boarding schools of England. In the fall of 1848, he came with his parents to Cass County, Ill., and after his father's death worked for awhile on the homestead, after which he bought a farm, which he cultivated until 1858. In that year he located in California, where he remained about four years. On his return home in 1862 he enlisted in Company B, Eleventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, in which he served throughout the Civil War. He was one of the sturdy heroes who took part in the famous "Grierson Raid," and was engaged during a large portion of the war as a dispatch bearer for General Chetlain. On his return from California he had purchased 80 acres of land in Mason County, Ill., and after the war he resumed farming, pursuing this occupation successfully in Mason County until 1883. For a few years he also operated a farm in Kansas.

On September 16, 1866, Mr. Green was wedded to Anna J. Logue, of Mason City, Ill., a daughter of Jonathan and Isabel (Lane) Logue. The following named children were the offspring of this union, namely: Charles B., born June 25, 1867; Edwin Joseph, born August 12, 1868; Asabel Anne, born November 28, 1869, died December 13, 1869; Effie Jane, born November 6, 1870; Grace Hannah, born January 6, 1873, died September 16, 1883; and Alice A., born August 24, 1875. The mother of this family died April 27, 1896. On September 8, 1897, in Kansas City, Mo., Mr. Green was united in marriage with Mrs. Bettie Walker, a daughter of Jesse and Anne (Scott) Winterbottom. The former Mrs. Walker was born in Oldham, England, January 24, 1839, and by her first husband she had six children, as follows: James H., who was born September 16, 1862, and died February 2, 1880; Anna Alice, born October 15, 1864, died October 24, 1867; Charlotte May, born May 2, 1867; Sarah Emma, born November 27, 1869; Jesse H., born June 27, 1880; and John Samuel, born January 1, 1883. Mrs. Green's father was a grocer and the father of six sons and three daughters.

In politics, Mr. Green casts his vote with the Republican party. Fraternally, he is a member of the Matt Starr Post, G.A.R. and Jacksonville Lodge, No. 570, A.F.&A.M. Religiously, he is connected with the Baptist Church. While living in Kansas he assisted in founding a church of that denomination at LaCygne, in that State, and served as President of the Board of Trustees. He is a man of high character, and his influence is always exerted in behalf of the right.

GREENLEAF, EDWARD SPARHAWK, grain dealer, Jacksonville, Ill., was born in Williamsburg, Piscataquis County, Maine, June 5, 1838, a son of Ebenezer Poor and Abigail (Lee) Greenleaf. The Greenleaf family in America was founded in 1635 by Edmund Greenleaf, who came from Birxham, Devonshire, England, and settled in Newbury (now Newburyport), Mass. E. S. Greenleaf's grandfather, Moses Greenleaf, settled in Maine, where his son Ebenezer Poor was born. One of his brothers, Simon Greenleaf, was for years a member of the faculty of Harvard Law School, and was the author of a number of legal text books and an authority on evidence. "Greenleaf on Evidence" is still a standard in American courts. Another brother, Jonathan, was a minister in the Presbyterian Church, and the author of widely-known works on "Evidences of Christianity." The ancestors of the family who came from England were originally French Huguenots.

At the age of nine E. S. Greenleaf lost his mother by death, and for a year following he resided with an aunt. In the summer of 1848 the Rev. William Coons Greenleaf, an uncle by marriage, who had been in the State since 1837, returned to New England on a visit; and when he again located in Illinois he brought with him Edward S. Greenleaf. The boy made his home with his uncle in Chatham and in Springfield until 1851, when the latter was stricken by cholera and died. This left him entirely dependent upon his own resources, and entering a watchmaker'' establishment in Springfield, he devoted three years to that trade. In 1855 he became a clerk in the station of the Wabash Railroad at Naples, Ill., and for fourteen years thereafter was continuously in the employ of this corporation. After spending three years at Naples he was made Ticket Agent at Springfield. From that city he returned to Naples as clerk, but a year later succeeded to the agency at that point, where he remained until March 1, 1863. During the three succeeding years he served as Freight and Passenger Agent for the same company at Jacksonville, and on January 1, 1866, became General Freight and Ticket Agent for the St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad Company (now a part of the Chicago & Alton system). On March 1, 1867, he became Superintendent of the Neelyville coal mines, a post he occupied until the fall of 1870, when he was made Superintendent of the Jacksonville Southeastern Railroad Company, whose line between Jacksonville and Waverly was then in course of construction. He served as Superintendent throughout the period when the road was under construction, and continued in that position until 1889.

In the meantime, he had engaged in the grain business, establishing elevators at various points along the line. In 1880 he formed a partnership with Francis M. Baker, under the style of Greenleaf & Baker, Mr. Baker assuming charge of the office of the firm in Atchison, Kans., and this partnership continued for a period of about twenty years. Since 1889 Mr. Greenleaf has devoted his time exclusively to the grain trade, and now operates six elevators located as follows: three in Morgan County, two in Greene and one in Scott County. He is also identified with various other enterprises. He is also a Director and Vice-President of the Ayers National Bank of Jacksonville; a Director in the First National Bank of White Hall, Ill.; one of the organizers of and a Director in the White Hall Sewer Pipe and Stoneware Company; Vice-President of the White Hall Railroad Company; Treasurer of the Illinois Telephone Company; Vice-President of the New York & St. Louis Mining & Manufacturing Company; and a Director in the Jacksonville Loan & Building Association.

Mr. Greenleaf is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Elks. An active Republican, he has taken a deep interest in the welfare of his party, particularly in municipal affairs. After having served a term as a member of the Jacksonville City Council, in 1876 he was elected to the Mayoralty and reelected in 1877 and in 1882. During his first two administrations he succeeded in reducing the indebtedness of the city to the extent of more than $60,000.

May 8, 1867, Mr. Greenleaf was united in marriage with Kate Barr Greenleaf, a daughter of Eugene L. Greenleaf, of St. Louis. They are the parents of the following named children: Eugene Lee, of Kingman County, Kans.; Clara May, wife of W. L. Alexander, of Jacksonville; Martha L.; Malcolm Edward; Grace, wife of Dr. William B. Young, of Jacksonville; Moses and Katherine Hodge.


GRIERSON, Benjamin H., General, distinguished military commander in the Civil War, was born at Pittsburg, Pa., July 8, 1826, the son of Robert and Mary (Shepard) Grierson, natives of the city of Dublin, Ireland, who emigrated to this country in 1819, arrived in New York and proceeded to Pittsburgh, Pa., subsequently removing to Youngstown, Ohio, and thence to Jacksonville, Ill. Benjamin H. pursued a course of study in the high school and an academy at Youngstown, Ohio, and passed an examination which would have entitled him to admission to West Point Military Academy, but declined the appointment on account of opposition thereto by his mother. In early manhood he was engaged in teaching music in Ohio, but in 1851, the family having removed to Jacksonville, Ill., he continued in that place his profession as a teacher of music. He possessed musical talent of high order and in early life conducted a noted band and orchestra. Later he spent some five years in the grain and mercantile business at Meredosia, Ill., until about the beginning of the Civil War, when he returned to Jacksonville.

Under the first call for troops issued by President Lincoln he assisted in recruiting Company I of the Tenth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and on May 8, 1861, joined the army at Cairo, serving for three months without pay as aid on the staff of Gen. B. M. Prentiss, with the nominal rank of Lieutenant. He was on duty for a time at Ironton, Mo., and later accompanied General Prentiss on the expedition to Cape Girardeau. October 24, 1861, he was commissioned Major of the Sixth Illinois Cavalry, taking rank from August 28th preceding, but remained on detached service with General Prentiss in Northern and Central Missouri until November following, when he joined his regiment at Shawneetown, Ill. After having been mustered in with his regiment January 9, 1862, he started on February 10th with his battalion, under orders from General Sherman, to Smithland, Ky., and on March 25th received orders to proceed to Pittsburg Landing, but was detained at Paducah by order of Colonel Noble, the Post Commander. On March 28th, he was promoted by choice of the regiment to the colonelcy as successor to Colonel Cavanaugh, resigned. In June following he was ordered to Memphis, Tenn., and on the 19th of that month, by a swift dash with 250 men of his regiment and 50 of the Eleventh Cavalry, routed a force of Confederates under Gen. Jeff. Thompson, at Hernando, Miss., killing and wounding a number of the enemy and capturing 15, besides destroying a large amount of commissary and quartermaster stores, without the loss of a single man. A week later, under order of General Grant, with a part of his regiment and the Fifty-eighth Ohio Infantry, he moved to Germantown, Tenn., where he was soon joined by the Fifty-second Indiana and a section of artillery, from which point important expeditions were made which led to securing a large number of colored men to work upon the fortifications at Memphis. Returning to Memphis, July 18th, he was soon transferred to General Sherman's command, under whose instructions he was actively employed for several months scouting in different directions with uniform success. Mules were obtained, furnishing General Sherman with transportation facilities, enabling him to join Grant's Mississippi expedition. November 26th Colonel Grierson left Memphis in advance of General Sherman's corps, and for the next fifty days was almost constantly in the saddle, successively under command of Sherman, Grant and McPherson. During this time he made a rapid march from Oxford, Miss., to Helena, Ark., destroying rebel camp equipages, wagons, arms and ammunition, also pursuing General VanDorn's forces from near Water Valley, Miss., north into Tennessee, and, after repulsing that General's attack at Bolivar, drove him south of the Tallahatchie.

The cavalry force having been reorganized, Colonel Grierson was assigned to command of the First Brigade consisting of the Sixth and Seventh Illinois and Second Iowa Cavalry, and by order of General Grant reported to General McPherson, then commanding the Seventeenth Army Corps, of which the cavalry brigade formed the rear-guard on the march to LaGrange, Tenn., where it arrived January 14, 1863. Until April following the cavalry force was employed in guarding the line of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad and scouring the surrounding country. Leaving LaGrange March 8, with 900 men of the Sixth and Seventh Illinois Cavalry, after a forced march of 50 miles, Colonel Grierson attacked the rebel forces under Colonel Richardson near Covington, Tenn., effecting a complete surprise, routing the enemy with a loss of 22 killed and 70 captured, besides the destruction of commissary and quartermaster stores, train, ammunition and military records. Colonel Grierson's loss in this expedition was only four men missing.

Then, having volunteered for the hazardous undertaking, Colonel Grierson entered upon one of the most memorable and brilliant expeditions of the war. On April 17, 1863, under orders received from General Grant, through Generals Hurlburt and Smith, he left LaGrange, Tenn., with 1,700 men, with but three days' rations in their haversacks, and marching south through the entire State of Mississippi, a distance of over 600 miles, sixteen days later arrived at Baton Rouge, La. During the last twenty-eight hours of this raid, Colonel Grierson's force marched 76 miles, had four engagements, destroyed two rebel camps, captured nearly 100 prisoners, and crossed the Tickfaw, Amite and Comite Rivers. This famous expedition resulted in the destruction of 60 miles of railroad and telegraph lines, several locomotives, with over 100 cars-many of them loaded with shell and other ordinance or quartermaster stores; 3,000 stand of arms and the capture of 1,000 horses and mules. The loss to the Confederates amounted to millions of dollars in property, besides 100 soldiers killed or wounded and 500 captured and paroled. A large number of colored men accompanied Grierson's force to Baton Rouge and immediately mustered into Union regiments. Colonel Grierson's entire loss amounted to one officer, one non-commissioned officer and three privates wounded, five left sick on the march and nine missing. The expedition proved the Confederacy "a mere shell," disconcerted the enemy's plans, scattered and drew their forces from vulnerable points, and threw them into such confusion as to render them unserviceable and unable to concentrate against General Grant's forces in the movement against Vicksburg. As a consequence over 20,000 rebel troops were ordered to distant points by Generals Pemberton and Gardner, depleting the strength of the Confederate forces at Vicksburg in the vain attempt to capture and destroy Colonel Grierson and his gallant band of audacious raiders from Illinois, and proving an important factor in the capture of that rebel stronghold three months later. On May 12th following, Grierson's command destroyed the railroad and telegraph between Clinton and Port Hudson, La., took part in a number of engagements and patrolled the region in the vicinity of Port Hudson until its surrender.

The service rendered by Colonel Grierson in this campaign was promptly recognized by President Lincoln by his promotion to Brigadier-General of Volunteers, "for gallant and distinguished service" in his great raid through the heart of the so-called Confederacy-his commission bearing date June 3, 1863, one month before the fall of Vicksburg.

General Grierson took an active part in all expeditions from Western Tennessee into Mississippi in 1864, made with a view of attracting the attention of the rebel forces and drawing their cavalry from the front and flank of the main army under command of General Sherman during the operations of the latter in Middle Tennessee, and especially while General Sherman was concentrating his forces for his famous "march through Georgia." By direction of General Halleck, General Grierson led a rapid and successful cavalry expedition from Memphis, Tenn., in mid-winter-December, 1864, and January, 1865-dealing a destructive blow to the enemy's communications with the South, by destroying railroads, capturing and destroying Hood's army supplies, including ordnance, commissary, medical and quartermaster stores at Vernona, Miss., and capturing the rebel fortification and forces at Egypt Station, Miss. Referring to the famous raid of 1863, General Grant stated in writing, now on file in the War Department, "General Grierson was the first officer to set the example of what might be done in the interior of the enemy's country without a base from which to draw supplies," and that the mid-winter raid of 1864-65 "was most important in its results and most successfully executed."

It is impossible within the limits of the sketch to give a detailed account of even the most important of General Grierson's military achievements during the war period. Suffice to say that, up to the hour of the suppression of the Rebellion, he was engaged in a service calling for gallantry, military skill and able leadership, and was not found wanting, as shown in the reputation conceded to him in the history of that dramatic period.

On February 10, 1865, by direction of President Lincoln, he was assigned to duty with the brevet rank of Major-General and ordered to report to General Canby at New Orleans, to take command of a cavalry expedition through Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. Returning to New Orleans he organized a cavalry force for service in Texas, and later was in command in Northern Alabama with headquarters at Huntsville, where he remained until January, 1866, soon after being summoned to Washington to testify before the Congressional Committee on Reconstruction. While there he was promoted to Major-General of Volunteers, to rank from May 27, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious service during the War of the Rebellion." At his own request he was honorably mustered out of the volunteer service, April 30, 1866.

On the reorganization of the Regular Army, General Grierson was appointed Colonel of the Tenth Regiment U. S. Cavalry, soon thereafter receiving the Brevets of Brigadier and Major-General U. S. Army. He organized his regiment at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., and for nearly a quarter of a century was actively engaged in scouting and exploring throughout the Western States and Territories, being almost constantly in the field or at some exposed post in the midst of the most savage and warlike Indians of the frontiers. In this way he rendered service to the Government quite as hazardous and important as that rendered during the War of the Rebellion. Besides this valuable service at various military posts, he commanded at different times the Districts of the Indian Territory and Pecos, Texas; the Department of Texas; the District of New Mexico, and the Department of Arizona, with headquarters at Los Angeles, Cal., where he received his appointment as Brigadier-General U. S. Army, to rank from April 3, 1890. He was retired from active service on July 8th of the same year, since when he has resided at Jacksonville, Ill.

On September 24, 1854, General Grierson was united in marriage with Alice Kirk, of Youngstown, Ohio, daughter of John and Susan (Bingham) Kirk. She died August 16, 1888. Seven children were born of this union, of whom two daughters and one son are deceased. The surviving sons are as follows: Major Charles H., U. S. A., a graduate of West Point, now at Fort Robinson, Neb.; Robert K., of Jacksonville,.; Benjamin H., Jr., and George M., who are at Fort Davis, Texas, in the ranch business. On July 28, 1897, he was wedded to Mrs. Lillian King, formerly the wife of Col. John W. King, and a daughter of Moses G. Atwood, of Alton, Ill., who moved west from Concord, N. H., in 1837. Mrs. Grierson has one son, Harold Atwood King, general manager of a ranch belonging to General Grierson at Fort Davis, Texas.

In politics, General Grierson is a Republican. Immediately on the organization of that party he became actively allied with it, earnestly advocating the election of John C. Fremont for the presidency, and in the campaign of 1856 was one of very few supporters of Fremont in Meredosia, Morgan County, Ill.

In view of the grandly patriotic career of Benjamin H. Grierson words of encomium are superfluous. His deeds will speak evermore. They are written in imperishable characters on the scroll of his country's heroes, and form an inseparable part of the nation's history.




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