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BIOGRAPHIES OF MACOUPIN COUNTY SETTLERS


JOHN M. AHRENS- John M. Ahrens, the lumber merchant of Staunton, was born November 30th, 1828, in Holstein, Germany, the son of John Ahrens and Anna Lucks. He obtained a good business education, attending school till seventeen years of age.  When he was twenty-seven years, he emigrated to America. He came directly to Staunton, where he had a brother living. This was year 1855. He had learned in Germany, the trade of cabinet-maker, and followed that business for about twenty years in Staunton, carrying on in connection with it a furniture store. In 1867, he began the lumber business. In the year 1858, he was married to Eliza Ruther, who was born in Hanover, Germany, and came to Illinois in 1847. By this marriage he has had ten children, of whom nine are now living. He has always been a Republican, and his first presidential vote was cast for Lincoln in 1860. For fur years, he acted as clerk of Staunton Township; he served at different times, and is a member of town board of trustees, and has held other positions. He is a member of the German Methodist Episcopal Church, and a citizen who became an excellent reputation for strict honesty and integrity.


J.H. ARNETT- Was born in Bird Township , Macoupin County, Illinois, September 28, 1838. Thomas Arnett, his father, was a native of North Carolina. The family is of Scotch ancestry on the paternal side, and on the maternal English. Thomas Arnett removed from North Carolina and settled in Overton County, Tennessee, where he remained until 1834, when the family removed to Illinois, and settled in Morgan County, where they remained one year, and then came to Macoupin Co., and settled in section 18, town 10, range 8. He bought land there and remained two years, and then moved to section 20. In 1850 he purchased school lands in section 16, and removed there and remained until his death, which occured February 24, 1874. He married Elizabeth Reeder, who was a native of Tennessee. She died in 1864. There was twelve children, five of whom have survived the parents-four sons and one daughter, all of whom are residents of Macoupin County, except William, who is a school teacher, and at present is in Lake County, Oregon. The subject of our sketch spent his boyhood days at work on the farm, and attending the common schools in the winter season. In 1863, he in company with his brother William and a man by the name of Gilmore, crossed the plains to California, where he engaged in mining, at which he continued for several years. He returned home via New York. After his arrival at home, he purchased the farm on which he now resides. On the 21st of May, 1874, he was united in marriage to Miss Hannah, daughter of John and Mary Mills. She was born in Macoupin Co. Her parents are natives of England. Harrison is the maiden name of the grandmother of Mr. Arnett. She was very closely related to Wm. H. Harrison, President of the United States. In politics, Mr. Arnett is a Democrat. His first vote was cast for Stephen A. Douglas, and since that time has been a strong adherent of the party. He has held the office of town clerk since the organization of the county under township organization. He was also elected Justice of the Peace in 1868, an office he held for sevral years. He is the father of three children, two girls and a boy.



HENRY W. BEHRENS- Henry W. Behrens, proprietor of the hotel at Mt. Olive, was born at Neuenberg, in Oldenburg, Germany, April 30th, 1848, the second of five children, of William Behrens and Talke Hansen.  His father was a weaver and a farmer. When quite young, Mr. Behrens determined to emigrate to America.  He left his native country, August 15th, 1866, landed at New York, and from that place came to Alton, and the same year to the neighborhood of Gillespie, where he lived nine years.  Part of the time, he ran a threshing machine.  In the spring of 1875, he moved to Mt. Olive, put up the building now used by him as a hotel.  In 1878, he erected another substantial brick building, the lower part of which is now occupied by him, as a saloon and the upper part as a hall.  In the summer of 1873, he married Martha Arkebauer, daughter of Gerd Arkebauer; she was born near Mt. Olive in 1854.  They have two children.  Mr. Behrens has been one of the active business men of Mt. Olive.  In the summer of 1879, he made a trip to Germany, and revisited the scenes of his younger days, and had the pleasure of meeting many old friends and acquaintances.


JOSEPH BOROUGH - an early Macoupin County settler and a signer of the first Illinois State Constitution.


MAJ. J. F. CHAPMAN, farmer and stock-raiser, P.O. Moline, was born in Macoupin County, Ill., in 1826. In 1846, he enlisted in the Fourth Illinois Infantry, Company E and served nearly a year in the Mexican War, was at the battle of Vera Cruz. After returning from the army, he engaged in farming until 1852, and from that time until 1860, was engaged in lumbering at Stanton, Ill., took a trip to California in 1850, and was engaged in mining a short time. In 1860, he sold his mill and lumbering business interests. In 1862, he raised a company at Stanton for the One Hundred and Twenty-second Illinois Infantry, which he organized; and was elected Major of the same, and served until July 1865. He was in the department of the Tennessee, and Sixteenth Army Corps under Gen. A. J. Smith, was in the battle of Parker's Cross Roads, Nashville and Mobile, and some forty other engagements. After coming out of the army, he followed farming until 1870, when he sold out and emigrated to Kansas, locating in Howard County, took a claim on Section 28, Town 31, Range 10, on which he has remained ever since; he has added 160 acres, making a farm of 320 acres, and is now raising stock. His place is well improved, with good buildings, plenty of water, timber and a fine orchard of 140 bearing apple trees and 500 peach trees, and small fruits of all kinds, he has one of the best walnut and maple groves in the county. He was elected County Surveyor in 1876, serving two terms in Elk County after the county was divided; in 1879, he became identified with the Moline Town Company, and has been identified with the company continuously since. He was married in 1847 to Mrs. Joanna Sparks, of Illinois. They have eight children living--Nancy M., Quincy M., Jesse A., Thomas, L.H., Richard, James L. and Schuyler E. He is a member of the E. M. Stanton Post, No. 23, G. A. R., of Hope Lodge No. 155, A. F. & A. M. and Howard Chapter, No. 49.

 

Source: History of the State of Kansas, by William G. Cutler (Submitted by Kyle M. Condon)


JOHN DEWS - When a man, actuated  by pure motives, accomplishes something from which good is derived, he merits the approval of the hearts that love him. A person whom it is proper to praise cannot be flattered, and one who can be flattered ought not to be praised. We feel assured that,  by a quiet and blameless life, he is deserving of mention in the pages of our work. He was born in the beautiful little village of Helaugh, Yorkshire, England, September 15, 1806, son of Thomas and Mary Dews.
The Dews family has lived in Yorkshire for many generations, supposed to be of French ancestry. Thomas Dews was a farmer, and educated the subject of our sketch to farm life. At the age of twenty-two, Mr. Dews upon hearing the chances afforded a young man of energy in this new country, emigrated to America, and landed at New York in the spring of 1829. After traveling in the East for a few months, and not meeting with that success he expected, he became homesick, and as he had money enough to pay his passage across the mighty deep, he returned to his native land. In 1831, he again returned to this country with a determination to remain and succeed in life, if hard work and frugality would accomplish that end. When he landed at New York the second time he immediatly went to Cincinnati. Upon his arrival at that place he found himself in debt thirty dollars to a comrade. He soon found employment in a rock quarry, at eighty-seven and a half cents per day, where he worked for a short time. He then went into a brewery, where he engaged himself for three months, at ten dollars per month.  At the expiration of this time he worked at a foundry about three years, working hard and saving his money with the intention of coming further west and locating. In 1834 he made a trip into this state, and after looking round for a suitable location, his choice finally centered upon Macoupin County, and in that same year, he entered eighty acres of land from the government, but not having sufficient means to improve it, he returned to Cincinnati, where he followed driving stage, and draying for nearly two years. In 1836, he came to Alton, where he was employed in a warehouse for about eighteen months; in the meantime he employed some parties to break and fence part of his eighty acres of land in this county. In 1837 he settled permanently in Western Mound Township and began improving his farm. The same year he was married to Miss Sylvia Morris, of Macoupin County. They have raised a family of six children, five girls and one son; viz; Louisa, Mary F., Elizabeth Ann, Hannah, Abiah Sophia, and William H. The girls are all married and settled in the vicinity of Chesterfield, with the exception of Mary F., who is living in Kansas. William H., is still under paternal roof. Mr. Dews in his boyhood received little educational advantages, but in after life, from sheer necessity, he improved his education sufficiently to transact most any ordinary business. We find in Mr. Dews, a man who started in life without aid, and what he has accumlated of this world's goods has been by hard work, frugality and good management. Mr. Dews has excelled as an agriculturalist, because he has always conducted his farming operations scientifically.
From an eighty-acre start in life, and this eighty gained by menial labor, we find him the possessor of over fourteen hundred acres of land. It is a proof of what energy and frugality will do for a young man in this country, that goes into the battle of life with a firm determination  to succeed. In politics he was formerly an old line whig, but upon the formation of the republican party, he identified himself with that party and continued to vote on that side, but in minor elections he generally votes for those he considers the best men. He was raised under the tenets of the Episcopal Church, though never affliating with any religious act. After he gained his majority, he always liberally supported religious and educational enterprises, beleiving that churches and schools form the basis of moral and intellectual development.


JAMES HAYES - Who has been in charge of the Mount Olive coal mines as " pit boss" ever since the mines were opened in 1875, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, January 2, 1841. He has followed the coal mining business all his life, and has the reputation of understanding it thoroughly. His father, Joseph Hayes, was a coal miner at Newcastle, and was " deputy" or " assistant superintendent", and had a charge of a number of men in the coal pits. Newcastle is the great centre of the coal mining business in England. Mr. Hayes went to school for a few years, and when was twelve years old first went to work at coal mining on top of the pits, and afterwards was promoted to a place in the yards. At Newcastle coal mining is carried on extensively, and he had opportunites for learning many practical details of the business. In 1859 he came to America when eighteen years old. Landing at New York, he came to Alton, where a gentleman lived with whom he had been acquainted in England. He found employment at once at repairing cars for the Madison County  coal company on Wood River, and worked for that company till he went into the army. In 1862, he enlisted for three years in Company K, Eightieth Illinois regiment. His regiment was in the Army of the West, and served in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. He was in the Battle with Confederate General Morgan at Perryville, eight miles from Murfeesboro, and was on the raid through Georgia against Gen. Forrest. This raid was made by a brigade of picked men, and the whole brigade was captured six miles from Rome, Georgia. He was taken with the others to the celebrated Belle Isle Prison at Richmond Virginia, but was exchanged after staying there twelve days. He rejoined his regiment at Nashville Tennessee, and next was in the Battle at Lookout Mountain. He had held the rank of second sergeant, but after that battle, it being ascertained that he had some knowledge of the mining business, he was detailed to the Quartermaster's department to superintend the construction of shutes and the mining of coal at Chattanooga for the boats on the Tennessee River.  He was in the quartermaster's department mining coal, and attending to the shipment of goods till the close of the war. He came back to Illinois after the war and worked awhile in Madison County coal company, and then went to O'Fallon, in St. Clair Co., where he was building cars and laying switches till 1873. From that date he was in the mining business in Moro, till 1875, when he came to Mount Olive.
In 1868, he married Ida Sathoff, of Montgomery County, Illinois. She died in 1875. He has four children. He is a republican in politics. His long experience in coal mining has made him a competent man for the position he now occupies. He has learned his business in all its detail, and under his direction the Mount Olive mines have been worked with a high degree of success and efficiency.


JOHN O'NEAL (deceased) Whose death occured June 30, 1879, was born in the county, Louthn, Ireland,in November, 1812, the son of Thomas O'Neal. He was raised in the same part of Ireland, and in 1836, when twenty-four years of age, emigrated to America. He landed in New York, and from there went to Reading, Pennsylvania, where he secured a position as a foreman, and had charge of a gang, building the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroad. He afterward had a similar situation at Catawissa, Pa., and from that place went to work on the Schuylkill canal, at Pottsville. While at work on the Catawissa railroad, he was married, in February, 1840, to Ann Klingeman, who was born near Catawissa, in Columbia County, Pa., December 11, 1820. Her ancestors were Germans. Her great-grandfather emigrated from Germany, and settled in Berks County, Pa. In June, 1852,  Mr. O'Neal came west. After stopping at Peoria, he settled at Carlinville, having secured a position as foreman on the Chicago & Alton railroad, then being constructed through the county. The track was then laid from Alton to within two miles of Carlinville, and Mr. O'Neal worked on it till the road was finished, and afterward till 1860, and held the position of section boss. February, 1861, he moved to section 18, Hilyard Township, where he had bought 120 acres of unimproved land. This he went to work to put under cultivation. He had never farmed any before, but won the reputation  of being a good farmer, and owned 260 acres of land when he died. He had nine children; Thomas D., who died at the age of fourteen,; Mary, wife of Michael Cooney, living north of Carlinville; John O'Neal, of Independence, Pike County; James, living in Shipman township; Annie, wife of Patrick Dillion, of Shipman; Hugh; Owen, who is managing the farm; Henry, who lives in Shipman; and Stephen A. Douglas O'Neal, still living at home. Mr. O'Neal had been a democrat ever since he came to America, and always did what he could in aid of the democratic ticket. His death resulted from an accident. While getting in his buggy to drive to the town of Shipman, his horse started, he was caught in the wheel, and suffered injuries from which he died in a short time. He had all the warm sympathies and impulses which belong to the Irish character, and possessed many friends.


JOSIAS R. RIPLEY - The present police migistrate of Staunton, was born at Alton, July 18, 1836. His father, George Ripley, was born in Virginia, and when a boy(his parents having died), came to Illinois with an uncle, Tilman West. He grew up in St. Clair County Near Belleville. At Edwardsville, he married Martha P. Randle, who was born in Georgia, near Savannah, and was the daughter of Rev. Josias Randle. Her father settled at Edwardsville, Illinois, in 1818, and was the first recorder of Madison County after its organization. In 1837, he moved from Edwardsville to St. Clair Co., and in 1848, came to Staunton, Macoupin County, and in 1849, moved to a farm in Madison Co., two miles south of Staunton, where he died August 5th 1855. Josias R. Ripley, was the second of five children. He attended school at the various places where his father lived, and in the winter of 1856-57, was a student at Marshall College in Clark Co., Illinois, to which part of the state his mother had removed in the fall of 1856. In the fall of 1858, the family came back to the farm in Madison County. Mr. Ripley was living there till March 1864, when he entered the Quartermaster's department of the Seventh Army Corps, as clerk in which capacity he served till August 1866. During this time he was stationed at Little Rock, and at Duvall's Bluff on the White river in Arkansas. The last year of his term of service he acted as Quartermaster's agent.( there was a small paragraph left, that I was unable to read..)


WILLIAM B. ROBERTS-The Present collector of Hilyard Township, is a native of Kentucky, and was born in Hardin County, in that state, February 7th, 1837. His grandfather, David Rittenhouse Roberts, was in the war of 1812. His father, William C. Roberts, was born at Norristown, Pennsylvania, and when a young man came to Kentucky, and married Mary Gilmore, daughter of David Gilmore, one of the early settlers of Hardin County. David Gilmore, built a mill at the mouth of Gilmore's branch, which was the earliest mill constructed in all that part of Kentucky. Mr. Roberts father lived on Otter Creek, the boundary line between Hardin and Meade counties, and Mr. Roberts was raised in both counties. He was married February 14, 1861, to Kitty Ann Allen, daughter of William Allen, born and raised in Hardin County. In April, 1864, he moved to this state, and went to farming in Hilyard Township. In politics he has been a democrat, though, his father was first a whig and afterward became a strong republican. Since 1873, he has been constable, and in 1879, was elected collector. His five children are: Mary Frances, Julia Florence, Lillie May, Allen Bathurst and Hardin Alexander. He is a man who stands well in the community in which he lives.


ALEXANDER SHULTZ - Was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, Novemeber 14, 1829. His father was a farmer, in good circumstances, and in 1836, moved to Grantsville, Allegheny County, Maryland, twenty-five miles west of Cumberland, on the National Road, which was then the main thoroughfare of travel between the East and the West. His father owned there six hundred acres of land, and built a hotel at a cost of seven or eight thousand dollars, and also was the owner of another hotel on the same route, but the building of railroads, changed the current of travel, and rendered the property unproductive. Mr. Shultz grew up to manhood in that county. August 31, 1859, he married Eleonara Glotfelty, who was descended from an old German family who settled in Somerset County, Pennslyvania, before the Revolutionary war, and afterward moved to Allegheny County, Maryland, where Mrs. Shultz was born. After he was married, Mr. Shultz went to farming for himself on rented land, and afterward purchased a farm of three hundred acres at Grantsville. He continued to reside in Maryland through the war, and in 1866, he emigrated to Illinois, landing in Shipman November 16th of that year. In 1872, he purchased the farm of 160 acres which he now owns, in section twenty of Hilyard Township. He has eight children living: Joseph A., Lydia C., now the wife of Elisha Turney, Robert Lee., Bayley., Kitty May., Alexander M., Henry E., and Rosella. In his politics he has always been a democrat, as were all his ancestors before him. He has been one of the leading citizens of Hilyard township; for three years he was assessor of the township, and one year collector. In 1877, he represented the township on the Board of Supervisors, and in 1878, his name was prominently brought forward as the Democratic candidate for Sheriff. The family from which Mr. Shultz is descended, is of German origin. His grandfather, Jacob Shultz, came over from Germany when fourteen years of age, before the Revolutionary War. He settled in Somerset County, Pennsylvannia, and secured his tract of land by what was known as an old "Tomahawk Right". He was one of the old pioneer settlers, and was obliged to go toHagerstown, Maryland, eighty miles distant for salt and iron, which he would transport on pack horses. Jacob Shultz was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mr. Shultz's father, Adam Shultz, was born in Somerset Co., Pennsylvannia; he followed farming, and for forty years also carried on a tannery. His second wife(Mr. Shultz's mother), was Nancy Shockey, also born in Somerset Co.,; her father, Abraham Shockey, served seven years in the Revolution, and after his death, his widow drew a pension as long as she lived. The Shockey family was originally of French Descent. The grandfather of Mrs. Shultz on her mother's side was also in the Revolutionary war; his name was Robert Compton, and he was a native of New Jersey; he was Aid-de-Camp on General Washington's staff, and once, while carrying dispatches, was captured by the British; he was searched, but his papers, which were hid in the lining of his boots, were not discovered.


AUGUST SIEVERS - was born at the village of Dohnsen, near Eschershausen, Brunswick, Germany, September 20, 1823. He learned the carpenters' trade with his father, and also worked on a farm. He and his brother, Henry Sievers, (now farming in Madison County) emigrated to America landing at New York in September, 1849. They worked on a farm in Mercer County, New Jersey, till the fall of 1850, when the father and the rest of the family arrived from Germany. They then came to Madison COunty, Illinois, and his father bought eighty acres of land four miles south of Staunton. He was married in the fall of 1853, to Louisa Miller, who was born at the village of Dielmessen, Brunswick, Germany, who also came to America the same year she was married. He bought out the interests of the five other children in his father's farm, and began farming for himself. In 1867, he bought, for eleven thousand dollars, his present farm in Staunton Township. He owns 385 acres of land; 265 in is home farm;and 100 in Dorchester Township. He has one child, named also August Sievers, but from one-half years old, he also raised a nephew, Hermann Sievers. He stands well among the farmers of Staunton Township. He has always been a democract, and is an industrious farmer and a peaceable citizen.


HENRY VOGE - Mr. Voge, the owner of the Staunton coal mines, has been living in Macoupin County since 1869. He was born at Opperhausen, Herzogthen Brunswick, Germany, March 21, 1837. He was the youngest of six children of Frederick Voge and his wife, Augusta, who's maiden name was Operman. He went to school til fourteen years of age. While in Germany he learned the trade of a stone cutter and mason. He left his native country in April, 1856. He then was nineteen years old, and wished to be free from service in the German army. Landing at New Orleans, he came to St.Louis, and from there, Belleville, Illinois, where he went to work in the coal mines. He lived at that vicintiy for thirteen years. For twenty-six months, as agent of the German mining and coal company, he sold coal in St.Louis, and part of the time carried on business for himself. January 1, 1858, he married Caroline Timpner, a native of Ahlshausen, in the same part of Germany as himself, and who came to America on the same ship. He came to Staunton on the 1st of June, 1869, and west of town, opened the first coal mine in Staunton. On the building of the Wabash railway, he formed a partnership with William B. Panhorst, now deceased, and opened a coal mine along the line of the railroad. Commencing operations in February, 1871, they began shipping coal the following October. This partnership continued till April 14th, 1877, since which date, he has been the sole owner and proprietor of the mines. He had six children by his first marriage, of whom only one, named Mina, is now living. His first wife died October 28, 1878. He married June 29, 1879, to Lena J. Fritz, of Staunton.He is a republican in politics. He began life without any money or capital, and has aquired is present postition by his own energy and perseverance. He understands the coal business in all its details, and has carried it on with success. He has been an active and successful business man, and to him belongs the credit of taking the first step towards the development of the coal interests of Staunton.


ROBERT WHITELY-Among the many prominent foreign-born citizens, and leading farmers of Macoupin County, stands the name of Robert Whitely. He was born in Yorkshire, England, on the river Ouse, fifteen miles from the city of York, in August, 1819. The Whitelys are an old family in England. The homestead has been in their name for over five hundred years, and still continues in their name. Robert Whitely, his father, was twice married. The mother of Robert died while he was quite young. By the first marriage there was two children, and by the last three. Ann, the sister of Robert, is married to William Thompson, and is a resident of Maryville, California. Robert is the oldest son. In 1844, he came to America, and landed in New Orleans, and came up the river to St. Louis, and from there to Alton, and then to Chesterfield, where he stopped with Captain Gelder. He stayed with the Captain from spring until the following fall, when he hired to Mr. Rocklington, with whom he remained two years, receiving one hundred dollars per year. After this he went to New Orleans, and spent the winter in draying. During the hot summer months he came north, and worked upon a farm, returning in the fall to New Orleans. He continued this thus for seven years. He found the draying business in New Orleans very lucrative.  In 1852 he went to work upon his farm that he had purchased the year before.  He put in a crop that year, and in the spring of 1853, he was united in marriage to Miss Adelaide Morris. She was a native of Macoupin County. Ten children were born to them, three of whom are now living. His wife died December, 1869. The place he purchased in 1851 originally contained two hundred and sixty-five acres, to which he has added two hundred more, making in all over four hundred acres of as fine improved land as there is in Macoupin County. He also raises stock, and has been very successful in his dealing in that direction. He was raised in the Presbyterian faith. He is a republican in politics. In the community where he has long resided none are more respected than Robert Whitely. He is a large-hearted, free-handed English gentleman, whose acquaintance it is a genuine pleasure to make, as the writer of this article can testify.

Researched by James Edstrom and contributed to Illinois Trails by AHLGRIMK@cedarville.edu

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