William B. BAIN, a young man of more than ordinary energy and business
capacity, who is popular in social circles and influential in local
politics, is one of the leading merchants of Vienna, the city of his
birth, where he conducts a well-appointed dry-goods establishment. He
was born January 8, 1861, and is a son of the late John BAIN, who was
for many years one of the foremost business men of this city.
John BAIN was a native of Hopkinsville, Ky., and was born January
11,1817. His father, who bore the same name as himself, was a native of
North Carolina, whence he removed to Tennessee, and from there to
Kentucky in the early years of its settlement. In 1821 he again
emigrated, and journeying to this State with his wife and eight
children, he selected for his future home a tract of Government land in
the forests, six miles northeast of the present site of Vienna. He thus
became one of the advance guard of those brave and sturdy pioneers who
faced the dangers and hardships of life on the frontier with intrepid
courage, and began to develop the rich agricultural resources of this
region, which under them and their successors has been transformed into
a valuable farming country. He worked diligently at clearing and
tilling his farm, and there his well-spent life was rounded out by
death at a venerable age. His wife, who in her maiden days was Martha
BROOKS, is supposed to have been a native of North Carolina, and she
too died in this county.
The father of our subject was four years old when his parents brought
him to their new home in the wilds of southern Illinois. As soon as he
was large enough to be of any use, he began to help his father on the
farm, and remained with him until he attained his majority. He was of
an enterprising disposition, with a decided talent for business, and
his tastes for mercantile pursuits led him to open a store for the sale
of merchandise a mile and a-half from his father's home. There were no
railways in the vicinity, and his goods had to be transported with
ox-teams from Metropolis. A few years later he removed his business to
Vienna, as a more advantageous location, and was a resident of this
city until his death, December 28, 1886. He was a man of marked force
of character, clear-sighted, far-seeing, prompt to act, shrewd and wise
in money matters, and one of the most successful business men of
Johnson County, exerting a marked influence in the promotion of its
interests.
The wife of John BAIN, to whom he was married September 2, 1841, and
with whom he lived in true wedded happiness forty-five years, is
quietly passing her declining years in the old home in Vienna. She bore
the maiden name of Winnie HARRELL, and was born September 29, 1824, in
Johnson County, coming of one of its earliest pioneer families. Her
father was Elias HARRELL, who was a native of North Carolina, where he
was reared and married. After the birth of four children he and his
wife concluded to seek a new home for themselves and offspring in the
wilds of the far western frontier, and set out with a team on the long
and weary journey overland, camping and cooking by the wayside whenever
tired of travel, or night overtook them. Mr. HARRELL was one of the
first to take up land in what is now Bloomfield Township, and he
erected a hewed-log house for the shelter of his family, that humble
dwelling being afterward the birthplace of his daughter, Mrs. BAIN. He
and his wife spent their remaining days on the farm that he reclaimed
from the forests. There being no convenient markets for the purchase of
what were considered in those days the luxuries of life, and no
railways leading out into the great world beyond, they had to live in a
primitive manner, subsisting chiefly on home produce and wild game,
such as deer and wild turkeys, which were very plentiful. The children
were dressed in homespun, the handiwork of their mothers, who had to
spin and weave all the cloth used in the family. Mrs. BAIN is an
earnest Christian and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to
which her husband also belonged. In politics, he was a Republican for
many years, but during the last part of his life was a Prohibitionist,
being a man of strong temperance views.
Our subject has five brothers and sisters living, namely: Fanny, James
Preston, Sidney Ann, Medora and James C. He had fine educational
advantages in his youth, which fitted him for any walk in life that he
might enter. Obtaining the preliminaries of his education in the city
schools of Vienna, he was afterward a student at the Southern Illinois
University, from which he was graduated in the Class of '83, with a
good record for scholarship. When a mere boy he had learned the details
of business by clerking in his father's store, and after his father's
death he formed a partnership with Samuel JACKSON and his son, A. G.,
they succeeding the firm of Bain & Jackson. They continued the
business together under the firm name of Samuel Jackson & Co.
until the store and stock were destroyed by fire December 26, 1891.
After that catastrophe our subject was out of business until August 4,
1892, on which date he bought his present establishment of the Chapman
Store Company. He has a neat and attractively arranged store,
completely stocked with a varied and extensive assortment of dry and
fancy goods, boots, shoes, etc., and from the start has been well
patronized by the people among whom he has always lived, and who take a
personal interest in one who has grown up in their midst to an active
and useful manhood. He is a bright young man, of ready wit and sound
common sense, and with firm convictions on all subjects with which he
is conversant. In politics, he is an ardent Republican, and his
counsels are valued by his party in this section, which has sent him as
a delegate to different district and State conventions, and to the
National Convention at Minneapolis in 1892 as an
alternate. He has many friends and is one of the
leading spirits of Vienna Lodge No. 248, K. of P.
Mr. BAIN was married January 15, 1890, at McPherson, Kan., to Miss
Lotta C., daughter of J. M. PANCOAST, and a native of Lincoln, Neb.
Their home is one of the pleasant social centres of Vienna, and is
brightened by the little child that has been born to them, and whom
they have named June.
transcribed by Nan Starjak
Source:
The Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope and Hardin
Counties
Chicago
Biographical Publishing Co., 1893
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