Tag Archives: belleville
Henry Dietrich
Henry Dietrich was born at Belleville in 1872 and at the age of 13 he was on his own. His father was a coal miner from Germany. Henry’s working career began with a printing apprenticeship to Hans Schwarz, Editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung. Schwarz, a spirited and vigorous editor of the German language newspaper was continually involved in the controversial labor issues of the time and active in the Illinois Association of German-American Press. Dietrich, also a labor activist was elected President [...]
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Colonel John Thomas
Colonel John Thomas - The Thomas family emigrated from Wales to Virginia and arrived in Illinois by 1807. The family constructed a portion of the old stage-coach road from Vincennes, IL to St. Louis, MO (known as the Great Western Mail Route and later the National Road). Thomas participated in formulating the first State of Illinois Constitution and in the formation of the Republican Party. Three generation of the Thomas family were capitalists who were influential in the manufacturing and business [...]
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William H Stuart
William H. Stuart, a marble dealer and stone cutter, sold drugs as a sideline. He emigrated from Pennsylvania in 1816. His brother, Edward R. Stuart, was a partner in the publishing of the News-Democrat in 1859. They were significant land owners in south Belleville, and in 1864, Washington Public School was built on 14 of their lots. In 1819, their father, Alphonzo, was killed in the infamous Stuart-Bennett duel — the only pistol duel fought in the history of the [...]
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Richard Stanley
The Stanley family traveled from New York to PA, SC, NC and finally to Illinois. John and Elizabeth purchased land at Ogles Station in the west end of Belleville. By 1824, Brother Stanley was hosting Methodist church sessions, and Stanley women had married into the Ogle and Phillips pioneer families. Richard Stanley served in the Civil War, learned the nailing trade and returned to Ogle Station to open a nail mill. As many farmers did, he mined coal for fuel. [...]
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Reverend Thomas Harrison
In 1803, Reverend Thomas Harrison, grandfather of Theopolis, arrived in Illinois, and unknown wilderness. Ten years later he built a cotton gin, the beginning of a very successful milling business. Harrison, who migrated from N. Carolina, was of Scot-Irish descent. He had 10 children. By 1831 the Harrisons built the first steam operated mill in the state. The mill, at the west end of Main Street on Richland Creek, burned down and was rebuilt. By 1844, Harrison Mills reported annual [...]
