History of Peoria County, Illinois

Caldwell, Silas, res. Elmwood, blacksmith and carriage maker of the firm Venn & Caldwell, was the son of John and Mary Caldwell, natives of Pennsylvania, where they lived and died.

The subject of this sketch was born in Washington county, Pa., on the 23^rd day of October 1833, was reared on a farm and received a common school education.

Emigrated to Indiana in 1851, and remained two years; thence to Illinois, where he remained three years and in 1857 went to Jackson Miss., where he remained a short time, engaged with Phillips, Kall & Co., plow manufacturers; he married Miss Thena Tyler. The fruit of this marriage was five children, three of which are still living: Lucy F. Caldwell, John W. Caldwell and Fannie Caldwell. Members of the Congregational Church of Elmwood. Mr. Caldwell has also been a member of the I. O. O. F. Lodge No 122, for twenty-one years.

Douglass, Wm. of the firm of Douglass & Son, emigrated in the year 1862 to Elmwood from Belleville, Canada and commenced in the carriage and wagon business on the site where Elmwood foundry and machine shops now stands, and continued until the Fall of 1866.

Engaged in the mercantile business of Douglass and Vansickle, which business he followed until the death of Mr. V,. Messrs. Jones and Vandervoort purchasing an interest the firm name was changed to Douglass and Co. In the year 1871, Mr. D. disposed of his interest and bought out S. Caldwell, and again entered into his old business of carriage and wagon making as the firm of Douglass and Venn.

In the Spring of 1878, W. H. Douglass purchased the Venn interest, since which time the firm is known as Douglass and Son. They make a specialty of fine work, employ eight men and do a business from $10,000 to $12,000 a year. Wm. Douglass was a blacksmith by trade and is the oldest carriage maker in the town.

In 1878 he embarked in the farming implement trade, as the firm of Douglass & Co., Wm. H taking charge of the same. Mr. Douglass is one of the solid reliable business men of Elmwood.

Jones, Henry W. farmer, Sec 34, P.O. Peoria. Henry Jones, the father of the subject of this sketch, was of Welch parentage, and was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, where he grew to manhood, and married Sarah Zinn, who was of German and English extraction. They immigrated to Ohio about 1804, and settled in Gallia county, where Henry W. Jones was born on the 7^th of February, 1819.

In November, 1831 they came to Illinois and settled at Peoria, spending the first Winter in a small log cabin that stood at the foot of the Main street bluff. In April 1832, they moved out to the Rocky Spring (on the Farmington road) and settled on what is still known as Jones’ Prairie, where Henry W. grew to man’s estate. He has lived in that immediate neighborhood ever since, and is justly entitled to be regarded as one of the old settlers.

He has been closely identified with the growth and development of Limestone and Kickapoo townships. On the 20th day of October, 1842, he married Miss Rebecca, daughter of Reuben and Nancy Miller nee Sturgeon, who was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, 28th December, 1821. In 1844 they moved from Limestone to this township; spent the Summer of 1845 in Jo Daviess county, settled on their present farm. From a stumpy quarter-section, Mr. Jones has made a handsome and attractive farm, the result of his own industry and mechanical integrity.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones have had twelve children: Clarissa C. Jones, was born November 15, 1843, married Francis Peppard, June 1860; Lovina Jones, born February 15, 1845, married Charles Daly, November 1869; Amanda E. Jones, born March 8, 1847, married Thomas Newcomb (third husband) July 24th, 1876; Charles P. Jones, born July 5, 1849, married Miss Caroline Daly, November 17, 1869; Lucinda Jones, born March 21, 1851, married Robert Acol, June 18, 1873; James H. Jones, born February 21, 1853, married Alice Brown, December 1, 1876; Malinda J. Jones, born February 24, 1855; John F. Jones, born November 28, 1856, died…

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Note: Clarissa Jones is the daughter of Henry W. Jones’s father. Henry W. Jones had a daughter, Caroline C. Jones who married Francis Peppard.

Morey C. B. farmer Sec 33 P.O. Elmwood. Was born in Butler county O. January 1829 and in 1839 moved to Washington county Mo. In those days the schools were supported by subscription, and there being ten children in the family, his opportunities for education were limited. June 12, 1852, married Miss Mary A. Dickson, who was born in the same county, Oct 8, 1825. They soon after settled on Sec. 33 of this township, where they own 200 acres of land, valued $60 per acre. Liberal in religion. Politically a republican.

Notes: Mary A. Dicksen was the widow of James Clay Dixon who died in 1851. Her maiden name was Mary Ann Pugh.

Morris, H. J., butcher, res. of Elmwood, son of Henry and Ann Morris, natives of England, who came to the United States in 1841, and located in Peoria county, where the subject of this sketch was born on the 22^nd day of May, 1846.

Married Miss Sarah Chapman. She was born in the same county on the 11^th day of August, 1845. They have had four children, two of whom are living, Clarence and Frank. Enlisted in 1864 in the 8^th I. V. I., Co.  H under Col. Shuts; was at the charge and capture of Ft. Blakesley, where the regiment lost sixty men; thence to Mobile and Texas; mustered out at New Orleans; thence back  to this county, where he followed farming until 1874, when he embarked  in the grocery business as the firm of H. J. Morris & Co., and remained in the same business until1877, when he commenced his present business. Is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and the G. A. R.

Notes: This is not the father of Frank Morris who married Emeline Dixon. Frank was her second husband after she divorced Rutledge Hoffman. Frank was born 1852/1853. Also, Henry and Ann had 10 children, none of whom were named Frank.

Sloan, W. T., druggist, P.O. Elmwood.

The subject of this sketch is the son of John and Sebina Sloan, who were natives of Pennsylvania. His father died in 1855, and his mother – now Mrs. Johnson – is a resident of McLean Co., Ill. He commenced the study of medicine under Dr. W. A. Baker of Reidsburg, Pa., in 1868.

In 1870 he attended lectures at the medical college of Cleveland, O., and during the years 1871 and 1872, practiced medicine in Jefferson Do., Pa. He attended lectures at Bellevue Medical College, New York city, in 1873, and in the Spring of the following year graduated, and moved to Elmwood, Peoria Co., where he has since resided and practiced.

He has acquired a good share of the medical practice of the town and surrounding country, and in 1879 added the business of druggist and apothecary. He married, in September 1875, Miss Bertha Vandervoort, who was born in Canada in 1857, and by whom he has had one child, Eleanor Sloan, born in June 1877.

Vandervoort, J. A., retired merchant, res. Elmwood. Emigrated from Bellville, Canada to the town of Elmwood when there was but two business houses in it, and engaged in the grocer’s business in the building opposite the Elmwood house. Style of firm, Jones and Vandervoort.

Both families were compelled to live over the store as there was not a house for rent in town. In the year 1861 or 1862, he bought a small residence of Daniel Caverly and paid him $600 for the same; and was very proud of it as it was the first home he could call his own.

The firm of Jones and Vandervoort in the year 1862 built a brick store in the block adjoining, and in 1876 Vandervoort and Wyley built an addition, twenty-four by one hundred, giving it the name of the block, Palace of Trade. It is one of the finest business rooms in town. The firm continued until the death of Mr. Jones, which occurred June 19, 1871. It was then changed to Vandervoort and Wyley, until June 1878.

On Mr. Vandervoort retiring from business his two sons-in-law and brother formed a partnership as Wyley, Vandervoort and Sloan in 1878, and are the representatives of one of the leading business establishments of Elmwood. The principal features of stock are dry goods, clothing, boots and shoes, hats and caps. They occupy a store one hundred feet long, twenty four feet wide, two stories high and the largest in the place, and their stock is complete in all departments. It is bought with great care and is superior in character to those usually found in towns of this size. The house has an extensive trade.

(Note: The name Wyley in this article refers to Everett Coleman Wiley, J. A. Vandervoort’s son-in-law.)