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WILLIAM M. CASEY is a retired farmer of Centralia, and one of the honored early settlers and prominent citizens of Marion County. The name of Casey is inseparably connected with the history of this community, and like the other members of the family our subject has borne a part in the work of development and advancement in this section of the state. Mr. Casey was born in Jefferson County, ILL., December 15, 1825. His grandfather, Isaac Casey, was born in North Carolina April 5, 1770, and was a son of Randolph Casey, a native of the same state. His brothers were Abraham, Samuel, Randolph and Zadock. The last-named served as Lieutenant-Governor and as Governor of Illinois, and for many years was a Member of Congress. He was also a pioneer Methodist minister. The family is of Irish descent. Isaac, Samuel, Abraham and Zadock emigrated from North Carolina to Tennessee, and in 1818 Isaac and Zadock came to Jefferson County, ILL. The former married Elizabeth Mackey, who was born in the shadow of the Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee, and on coming to Illinois, he located two miles from Mt. Vernon, where he entered large tracts of land from the Government. He had his grandson make a sectional map of the county, and was well posted on all matters pertaining to the welfare of the people. Throughout his life Isaac Casey followed farming and became quite wealthy. His children were Rebecca, wife of Isaac Hicks, a farmer of Jefferson County; William, who followed farming, but is now deceased; Polly, wife of Clark Casey; Rev. Abraham, who was a pioneer Methodist minister and circuit rider; Thomas M., who was a local Methodist preacher; Brunette, wife of Dr. Carter Wilkie; Catherine, wife of Henry Tyler, a farmer of Jefferson County, and the only surviving member of the family ; and Miranda M., wife of George Bullock, who for many years was a tanner of Jefferson County. The father of this family, Isaac Casey, died October 17, 1851, in the faith of the Methodist Church. His word was taken as authority on all matters pertaining to the history of that community. After the death of his first wife he married Jemima Ord. Governor Casey was a soldier in the Black Hawk War, and his son Tom served as Colonel of the One Hundred and Tenth Illinois Infantry during the Civil War. Rev. Thomas Casey, father of our subject, was born in Barren County, Ky., March 12, 1801, and in 1818 became a resident of Jefferson County, ILL. He there married Harriet Maxey, whose brother, Birchet Maxey, built the first house in Mt. Vernon. She was born in Sunnier County, Tenn., in 1801, and they were married October 5, 1819. In fact, there was a triple wedding, which made the occasion one of more than ordinary interest. The other couples were Abraham T. Casey and Vilinda Maxey, and Bennett N. Maxey and Sallie Overbey, the six participants standing at the altar at the same time. After his marriage, Rev. Mr. Casey began the development of a farm. His home was a little log cabin in the midst of an undeveloped tract of land. Deer could easily be shot and bears were frequently killed in the neighborhood. He entered about two hundred and fifty acres of land from the Government, and bore all the hardships and trials of pioneer life while performing the arduous task of opening up a farm. He and his wife joined the Methodist Church in 1819, and he at once was made a Class-leader and soon became a local preacher. He was untiring in church work and the cause was greatly advanced by his earnest efforts. He gave the ground on which Pleasant Grove Church was built, aided in the erection of the house of worship, and when it was destroyed by fire, helped to build the brick structure now in use. The poor and needy found in him a friend, and his neighbors a wise counselor. He passed from this earthly life October 4, 1868, and was buried at Pleasant Grove. His wife, who shared with him in all religious work, and was a faithful member of the Methodist Church for fifty-seven years, died March 15, 1877. In the parental family of eleven children, ten grew to mature years, while four sons and two daughters are yet living. C. M., now residing on the old homestead, was a soldier of the late war; Malyntha Jane died March 20, 1877, at the age of fifty-four; Cynthia E. is the wife of Harvey Gaston, a pioneer of Jefferson County; Parmelia Caroline, who lives in McPherson Kan., is the wife of Capt. B. T. Woods, a veteran of the Civil War; Rebecca V. was the wife of Edward Wood; Mary Sophrona died at the age of twenty-two; Wesley Barger, of Mt. Vernon, was a cavalryman during the late war and re-enlisted as Adjutant of the Eighty-third Illinois Infantry. Nancy Robinson died at the age of twenty-four; Abraham T., who served as aid-de-camp on the staff of General Payne during the late war, is now a lawyer of Lamed, Kan., and has served as State's Attorney; Rhoda married John Henry Dukes, who was a Lieutenant in the Union army. William M. Casey was reared on the old homestead and was educated in a log schoolhouse with a puncheon floor, slab seats and greased paper windows. The history of pioneer life is familiar to him, not from hearsay, but from experience. March 9, 1852, he married Miss Julia E., daughter of Dempsey Kennedy, a native of Tennessee, who later became a pioneer and a prominent farmer of Washington County, ILL. Mrs. Casey was born in Washington County August 22, 1831, and died January 4, 1866. She had three children, two yet living. Dempsey is a painter and decorator of Centralia; Lillie C., a graduate of the Northwestern University at Evanslon, ILL., was married in 1880, at the home of our subject, to Rev. J. T. Musgrove, also a graduate of the Northwestern University, and at present Dean of the University of Colorado, a Methodist school in Denver. Mary Harriet died October 18, 1875, at the age of seventeen. After his marriage, Mr. Casey located in Jefferson, and four years later removed to Washington County, where for ten years he owned and operated a farm of two hundred and forty acres. He then sold the property and came to Centralia, where he has since lived in retirement from active labor. He was married April 28, 1872, to Mrs. Alice Hill, daughter of Thomas Ainsworth, a native of England, and the son of Thomas and Sarah (Townley) Ainsworth. He was born January 30, 1814, and in early life worked in a cotton factory, but after coming to America engaged in farming. Locating in Mason County, ILL., in 1842, he purchased six hundred acres of land and afterward became the owner of fifteen hundred acres in Iroquois County. At present he makes his home in Chandlersville, Cass County, ILL., and though now (1894) eighty years old, he is still one of the most prominent men in this community. In 1837, Mr. Ainsworth married Maria Abbott, who was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1814. They became the parents of ten children, seven of whom are yet living, namely:
Nancy, wife of August Wait, a merchant of Decatur, ILL.; In religious belief Mr. Ainsworth and his wife belong to the Congregational Church. He is a stockholder in the Valley National Bank of St Louis. Mrs. Casey, who was the fifth child, was born July 16, 1847. She first married William Hill, who died ten months after their wedding. Mr. Casey has been a member of the Methodist Church since the age of nine years, and his wife since twelve years old. He has been numbered among its officers for thirty-eight years, and has ever been prominent in its work. He cast his first Presidential vote for Zachary Taylor, and was a Whig until 1856, since which time he has been a stanch Republican. For ten years he served as Township Treasurer of Washington, but has never been an office seeker. He is now practically living retired, but is still a Director of the Old National Bank, Centralia Mining and Manufacturing Company, and the Centralia Fair Association. He is a worthy representative of one of the prominent families of the state, and his honorable, upright life gives him a leading place among the best citizens of the community.
"Portrait and Biographical Record of Clinton,
Washington, Marion and Jefferson Counties, Illinois" |
For corrections or additions, please contact me: Sandy Bauer