Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County,
Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with
portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States,
and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890;
page 221-222; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Irenus T. Scudder. There is in the development of every
successful life a lesson to every on; for if a man is industriously
ambitious and honorable in his ambition, he will undoubtedly rise to a
position of prominence, whether having the prestige of family and
wealth, or the obscurity of poverty. We are led to these
reflections in reviewing the life of Mr. Scudder who is a dealer in
drugs and toilet articles in Farmington. He has attained his
present enviable position as a competent and popular druggist by
indomitable energy and a laudable desire to reach the top round of the
ladder of fortune.
At present Mr. Scudder is engaged in a flourishing business, and
owns in addition to his elegant store, a residence on East Street, in
the northern part of the city. He is a gentleman of excellent
taste and fine personal appearance, and has many warm friends in the
community where he makes his home. He has engaged in his present
business since September, 1889, and is doing a flourishing trade.
In addition to his drug business Mr. Scudder is well posted in the
management of telephone lines and fixtures, having charge of the
telephone office, which is located in the back part of his large store.
The birth of our subject occurred in New York State, August 8,
1851, and his parents were John T. and Sarah A. (Taft) Scudder, natives
of New York. He received a good education in the common schools,
and his father being a physician of considerable talent, our subject
had an inherited tendency toward the study of medicine, and was thus
prepare to become an excellent pharmacist. In 1881 he opened a
drug-store in Farmington, and for seven years continued to do a
first-class business. Selling out his interest in 1888, he worked
for two years in the Nebraska Telephone Exchange.
As before stated the father of our subject was an expert in the
“healing art,” and after settling in Prairie City, Ill., in 1853,
continued to practice his chosen profession and enjoyed a large and
lucrative practice. His death occurred there in August, 1867,
after he had attained his forty-fifty year. The mother is still
living, and is over sixty years of age. She bore her husband ten
children, of whom six survive, viz.: Irenus T., our subject;
Albert D., Miner R., Ida M., John L. and Clement V.
A very important even in the life of our subject was his
marriage, which was celebrated February 4, 1885, with Mrs. Caroline
Negly, of Farmington. Mrs. Scudder is a most estimable woman, a
devoted wife and a good neighbor. She was born December 26, 1846,
and was the daughter of M. A. and C. Brown, both of whom are
deceased. Mr. Scudder is a strong Democrat in his political
opinions; socially, he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is
universally conceded to be a business man of unusual ability.
