A-B BIOGRAPHIES
Alexander County Illinois Genealogy Trails
Source: History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois. Edited by William Henry Perrin, ©1883 Chicago: O. L. Baskin and Company, Historical Publisher, Part V, Elco Precinct, pg. 218.
Marshall Augustine, general storekeeper, P. O. Elco. John Augustine, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Ohio and there followed the occupation of drover and farmer. In that state, also, George Augustine, the father of Marshall, was born in 1811. When about twenty years of age, the father went to Missouri and from there he soon after came to Illinois and settled in this county, where he married Rachel Cauble, daughter of Jacob Cauble. Soon after his marriage, he moved to Dongola, Union County, and there our subject was born December 11, 1840, and was the second of four children. The father, who was a physician, soon after subject was born, came to Wetaug, Pulaski County, and again soon after moved to a farm near Ullin, in the same county where he both farmed and followed his profession. Our subject attended the schools of Pulaski County until about twenty years old and then attended McKendree College in St. Clair County. After he had returned home, he spent the next four or five years partly at home and in teaching schools, following the latter for about five terms. In 1866 he commenced life for himself on a rented farm near Ullin, where he remained for only two years. He next commenced working at the saw mill of Morris, Rood & Company, acting as lumber clerk. There he remained for about twelve years. In 1881, he came to Elco and, purchasing the stock of dry goods and groceries then owned by a Dr. Gibbs, at this place, he now keeps a general store. Subject was married May 6, 1866 to Susan Norman, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Short) Norman. She is the mother of four children, two of whom are living--Alice and Lena. In politics, he is a Republican and is at present serving as Township Treasurer. Subject is also a member of the Elco Lodge, No. 643, I.O.O.F.
Source: History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois. Edited by William Henry Perrin, ©1883 Chicago: O. L. Baskin and Company, Historical Publisher, Part V, Thebes Precinct, pg. 228.
Dr. H. C. Barkhausen, physician, Thebes. Prominently identified among the old physicians of this county is Dr. H. C. Barkhausen, born April 1, 1819 in Prussia, and educated in his native country. In 1835 he came with his parents to this country, where the father, H. A., engaged in farming in Pulaski County. This was a new business for the elder Barkhausen as he had always been an architect. In one year the family removed to Jonesboro precinct, Union County, where they continued rural pursuits until 1845, when they went to Thebes Precinct, Alexander County. Soon after, the father took a contract to construct the Alexander County Court House at Thebes, then the county seat of said County. This structure he completed in 1848. The subject, at the age of twenty-six years, began the study of medicine with Dr. Fisher, of Thebes, with whom he remained two years, and began practice in Stoddard County, Mo., and in two years he returned to Thebes, where he enjoyed a lucrative practice until 1875, when he retired to his country residence about one-half mile from town, where he resides. He was married June 18, 1844 to Catherine Hunsaker, daughter of John and Annie (Shaw) Hunsaker, the result of which union being three children--Adeline, wife of Henry A. Phanert, of New Mexico; Louise, wife of Dr. J. A. M. Gibbs. She is Superintendent of Alexander County Public Schools. The third child is dead. Our subject is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and is a stanch Democrat. (Note H. C. Barkhausen is buried in the Unity Cemetery.)
Contributed by Frank Beasley
William H. "Will" Beasley was born in
St. Clair County, Illinois in December 1873, son of William and
Phebia Ann Beasley. His parents had four children, Minerva J.,
John, Emma and William. His father's parents were William and
Letitia Griffith Beasley. This William was born in KY and his
wife, Letitia, was born in VA. Will was united in marriage on
February 20, 1896 to Dora Jane "Dorrie" Thompson,
daughter of John T. and Nancy Jane Sharp Thompson. Dora was born
near Elco, Illinois on January 3, 1879. Will and Dora had four
children: Harry Lee, born June 1, 1897; Ollie M., born November
30, 1898; Minnie L., born August 8, 1900 and John C., born July
24, 1902. Dora died in Elco of a sudden death five months after
her father, John T. Thompson's death on October 23, 1904. Will
Beasley's date of death is unknown, but is believed to have been
in the early 1920s. While no documentation exists, it has often
been told that Will Beasley came to Elco after killing a man in a
card game in Cairo to escape any possible punishment. At that
time Cairo was considered to be a great distance from Elco
because of heavy forests, swamps, etc. Shortly after his wife's
death, Will left his children with his wife's relatives in Elco
and became somewhat of a traveling vagabond. During the rest of
his life, he returned many times to Elco to visit and stay with
his in-laws.
Will and Dora's oldest son, Harry Lee, was primarily raised by
his mother's sister and brothers, Nancy, John and William
Thompson. Lee attended Elco Grade School; attending an additional
year to further his education since no high school at that time
was available to him. His early years were spent occasionally
doing day labor jobs, hunting, fishing, trapping and collecting
wild herbs and roots. In 1917 Lee entered the U. S. Army during
World War I, but after less than 90 days was discharged as
"unfit for duty" because of tuberculosis. Lee first
married Avis M. Miller on August 27, 1918 in Elco. They had three
stillborn children and a daughter who is still living. Avis died
during childbirth on October 19, 1926. Lee later married Mattie
Belle Cantrell on February 4, 1929 at the Clinton County
Courthouse, Carlyle, IL. Lee and Mattie Belle had five children,
three of whom are still living. Jackie Lee was stillborn January
2, 1930 and Mary Louise was killed in an automobile accident with
her father on April 5, 1941. Mary Louise and Harry Lee Beasley
are both buried in the Delta Cemetery. Lee's sisters, Ollie M.and
Minnie L., were shunted around from related family to family.
Ollie was married three times, had four daughters, lived in
Urbana and Centrailia, IL, and is buried beside her last husband,
a former U. S. Navy Seal, near her last home in the high desert
of California. Minnie never married, changed her name to Elaine,
acquired an education, moved to Pasadena, CA and eventually
became the Registrar of Pasadena City College. She is buried in a
lavish tomb in the famous cemetery near Hollywoood, CA. The
younger brother, John C., was placed in an orphanage in Cairo
where he was later adopted . His name was changed to Clarence
Johnson and he spent the remainder of his life in St. Louis and
Poplar Bluff, MO. He married and had one child, who died when she
was less than ten years old.
William "Will" Beasley and his wife, Dora Jane, are
both interred side by side in Hazelwood Cemetery, south of Elco.
They are buried just south of the grave of Dora's father, John T.
Thompson. As late as about 1990 there was a small stone marker on
the grave of Dora Jane. This could not be located in February
2006; therefore, their graves are unmarked.
Source: History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois. Edited by William Henry Perrin, ©1883 Chicago: O. L. Baskin and Company, Historical Publisher, Part V, Thebes Precinct, pg. 229.
William Bracken, farmer, P. O. Thebes, was born December 2, 1853 in Alexander County, Ill. He is a son of William and Martha (Witt) Bracken, natives of South Carolina, and early settlers in this county. Our subject received his educational advantages at the country schools. His time, aside from that consumed in the school room, was devoted to the farm. When he was about twenty-four years old, his father died, and he inherited a small piece of land. He subsequently purchased the rest of the heirs' part, and now possesses the entire home place of 240 acres in Section 15, Range 16, 3 west. He was married August 13, 1878, to Mattie, a daughter of Martin Brown. He is a Republican. On the farm an iron mine exists which has been noticed in the township history.
Source: History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois. Edited by William Henry Perrin, ©1883 Chicago: O. L. Baskin and Company, Historical Publisher, Part V, Elco Precinct, pg. 218-219.
Samuel Briley, insurance agent, Elco. Dempsey Briley, the grandfather of Samuel, came from France about 1810, and settled in the State of Mississippi, near Jackson, on the Pearl River. Here John Briley, the father of subject, was born in 1811, and soon after came with his father to West Tennessee. When the war of 1812 broke out, the grandfather enlisted in the army, and was one of the soldiers wounded in the battle of New Orleans, being shot through the lungs. From the effects of that wound, he died a few years later. The father was raised in Tennessee, and after his father's death he was taken by the noted David Crocket, who was living there then, with whom he remained until a young man. When about twenty, he came to Kentucky and there married Lavina Anderson, daughter of James M. and Mary (Carter) Anderson. There were four children born to bless that home, and of that number our subject was the oldest, and was born September 21, 1831 at Mayfield, KY. His father came to Illinois in 1833, settling in Massac County, and there the education of our subject was received, mostly at the old subscription schools of the day. In his seventeenth year, he commenced learning the trade of a house carpenter. He came to Jonesboro in 1852, and in that and other towns he followed his trade until the breaking-out of the war. In 1864 he returned to this county, and settled near Dongola, where he worked at his trade for a short time, and then opened a general store, and remained there until 1872, when he came to the new town of Elco, which was then being founded. He built the first store in the place and there carried on a general store. From that time, he engaged in several enterprises of public utility, building a large number of different buildings, and carried on the grocery, dry goods, drugs and cabinet business in turn. At present he is acting as agent for the Racine School Furniture Company and the Burlington (Iowa) Life Insurance Company. He was married, April 13, 1851 to Charlotte Allen, daughter of James M. and Minerva Allen of Johnson County, Ill. She is the mother of five children, two of whom are living--Elenora (wife of William H. Ralls of Thebes) and Laura (wife of F. M. Carter). He enlisted in the Eighty-first Illinois Infantry, Col. Dollans, Company F, Capt. Campbell, in August, 1862. Remained out seventeen months; was wounded at the battle of Champion Hills, Miss., and was honorably discharged in December, 1863. In politics he is a Republican, and has served three terms as Postmaster. He was elected Justice of the Peace in the fall of 1872, and has served in that capacity since, with the exception of one term. He was elected County Commissioner in 1878, and served there one term. Subject is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, but is connected now with the church at Elco.
Source: History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois. Edited by William Henry Perrin, ©1883 Chicago: O. L. Baskin and Company, Historical Publisher, Part V, Thebes Precinct, pg. 229.
Martin Brown, farmer, P.O. Thebes. Probably the oldest native born resident in Thebes Precinct is the gentleman of whom this is a brief sketch, and who was born September 9, 1834, in this county, the fourth of thirteen children. He is a son of David and Rebecca Brown, who were among the earliest settlers in that section of the county, coming to Alexander County about 1830. The father died in 1865 at an advanced age. Mr. Brown received his education in the schools of this county. He helped his father at home until his twentieth birthday, and then commenced life on a tract of Congress land in Section 7, Township 15, Range 2. On that farm he lived until 1876, and then came to his present location of 160 acres in Section 15, Range 15, Township 3. Besides the home farm, he also owns 140 acres in Section 14 and 11, Township 15, Range 3; forty acres in Section 15, Township 15, Range 3; 200 acres in Section 2, Township 15, Range 3, and 320 acres in Section 27, Township 15, Range 3. He has about 350 acres in cultivation. Besides his large farms, he is also associated with his son, Alfred, in a large saw mill about four miles from Thebes, and with his son, William, in a steam flouring mill in Thebes. Mr. Brown was married, April 30, 1851 to Elizabeth Durham, a native of this county, and a daughter of John Durham, also one of the pioneers of that section. This lady was born February 22, 1834, and is the mother of Alfred, William, Martha (wife of William Bracken, of Thebes Precinct), Henry, Ulysses S., Martin and Thomas L. Mr. Brown was County Commissioner from 1876 to 1879 and has also served as Township Treasurer and Trustee, and School Director. In politics he is a Republican. (Note: Mr. Brown died c1906. Mrs. Brown died Apr. 15, 1909.)
Source: History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois. Edited by William Henry Perrin, ©1883 Chicago: O. L. Baskin and Company, Historical Publisher, Part V, Thebes Precinct, pg. 229-230.
Thomas A. Brown, druggist, Thebes. David Brown, the grandfather of our subject was a native of North Carolina, and came to Union County, Ill., where Calvin Brown, the father, was born. The latter lived there until manhood and then married Caroline Ury of Jonesboro. The father after a short residence in Jonesboro Precinct, came to Alexander County and settled in Thebes Precinct, where our subject was born November 29, 1841 and was the second of four children. After attending school until about twenty, he farmed for eight years; then moved to Thebes in 1867. His first venture was in a saloon, where he remained about two years, and was then appointed keeper of the Alexander County Infirmary, which he held for three years. He then returned to Thebes, and opened his present drug store. In that line he now carries a stock of about $1,000. In December 1882 he was again appointed to his former position. Subject was married April 22, 1866 to Sarah E. Dollman, a daughter of John Dollman, a native of Holland. This lady was born December 16, 1846 and is the mother of four children, two of whom are living--Thomas A., born September 27, 1871 and Pruella Ettie, born August 29, 1876. In politics Mr. Brown is a Republican.
Source: History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois. Edited by William Henry Perrin, ©1883 Chicago: O. L. Baskin and Company, Historical Publisher, Part V, Thebes Precinct, pg. 229.
William Brown, miller, Thebes. This gentleman is a son of Martin Brown and was born in this county September 10, 1856. He attended school until about nineteen years old, and then after farming for about two years, came to Thebes and with his father commenced the erection of a large steam flouring mill, at a cost of $8,000, which is now in operation under the firm name of M. & W. Brown. June 14, 1883 our subject was married to Miss Ella Walcott, an orphan girl raised by Mrs. S. Marchildon. In politics, Mr. Brown is a Republican, and is at present acting as School Trustee.
Source: History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois. Edited by William Henry Perrin, ©1883 Chicago: O. L. Baskin and Company, Historical Publisher, Part V, Elco Precinct, pg. 219.
Henry Butts, farmer, P. O. Elco, is a native of Gallatin County, Ill. His grandfather, John H. Butts, was a native of Georgia, and there, also James Butts, the father of our subject, was born, and came with his parents when quite small to Gallatin County, Ill. In that county the father lived until manhood, and married a Miss Julia Ann Webb. By this union there were eleven children, and of this number our subject was the third, and was born April 8, 1837. His father died when he was about thirteen years of age, and he had to assume the cares of the farm, he being the eldest son; but during the falls and winters he was permitted to go to school some, and obtained a fair education. He remained at hme with his mother until 1864, when having married, he started out in life for himself, first renting a farm of forty acres. He next purchased a farm of 130 acres in that same county. He came to this county in 1879, and settled first near Goose Island. In October 1882 he purchased his present location, a farm of eighty acres, of which forty acres are cleared. Mr. Butts was married in Gallatin County, October 4, 1864 to Mary Catherine Holt, who was born January 8, 1844, and is the daughter of Thomas and Artemesia (Goldsmith) Holt. She is the mother of seven children, four of whom are living--Margaret Ann, born December 23, 1866; William Edgar, born February 20, 1874; Walter Henry, born April 14, 1876; Charles Pickney, born June 27, 1878. Our subject enlisted in the Twenty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Col. Ferril, Capt. Stone, in August, 1862, and remained out until April 21, 1863, when he was honorably discharged on account of disability. Both Mr. and Mrs. Butts are members of the M. E. Church at Elco. In politics, subject is a Democrat.
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Illinois Genealogy Trails
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