History of Illinois And Her People

By Professor George W. Smith M. A. 1927

Transcribed by Laurie Selpien

Francis M. BROCK

Isaac A. Brock

Jacob C. Brock

Lawrence A. Blackburn

George W. Blackburn,

HAMPTON S. BURGESS

WILLIAM O, WARREN M. D.

HALLECK B. WARREN M. D.

Francis M. BROCK

Is a resident of Fairfield, known for many activities and relationships, county official, merchant, lumber dealer, banker and former postmaster. He was born on a farm in Wayne County, Illinois, January 15, 1852. His family was one of the first to settle in the Ohio River Valley. The founder of the family there was Jacob Brock, a native of Pennsylvania, of English ancestry.

Isaac A. Brock, son of Jacob was born April 26, 1790, in a block house that stood on the original site of the settlement that is now Cincinnati, Ohio. Isaac Brock finally came to Illinois and spent his last years on a farm in Wayne County, where he died April 28, 1870. He had married Elizabeth MUGG, and they were the parents of Malinda, Matilda, John W. M., Jacob C., Melissa and Isaac. Of these children John W. M. was a soldier in the Civil War.

Jacob C. Brock, the father of Francis M., was born near Stafford, Ohio, December 17, 1827. He married in Ohio Rebecca Flick, was a native of Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania-German ancestry. Jacob C. Brock followed farming in Wayne County, was a republican in politics, and he and his wife were members of the Christian Church. He died March 16, 1901, and his wife lived to the age of eighty-four. Their children were Allie, Francis M., Viola, Charles, Jennie and Irwin.

Francis M. Brock lived on a farm to the age of twenty, getting his education in the common schools, and his independent career started with no special advantages to mark him out and make his course easier than that of the other young men of his age. On leaving home he spent two years in Missouri, following different line of work, and for four years was a traveling salesman for a hardware house, with headquarters at Austin, Texas. Returning to Illinois, he married in 1878 Miss Ella Collins. She was born in Ohio and came with her parents to Wayne County, Illinois in the late ‘50s. Mr. Brock  after farming a year engaged in the grain and seed business at Cisna, and then for four or five years was a general merchant there. In 1886 he was elected County Clerk on the Republican ticket and in 1890 was reelected, holding the office eight years. For over thirty-five years since leaving this county office he has been financially interested and more or less active in the lumber business. Mr. Brock in 1904 became cashier of the First National Bank of Fairfield, serving seven years. In 1910 he was appointed Postmaster, and filled that office a little over four years. Since 1911 he has been president of the Southern Illinois Lumber Company, which now operates nine yards in different towns in the southern part of the state. Since 1920 he has been president of the First National Bank of Fairfield. Mr. Brock through all the years has been active in local politics and for some time was chairman of the County Republican Committee. He is a member of the Christian Church, is a Royal Arch Mason and a Member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His first wife died in 1919. She was the mother of the following children: Glenn, wife of S. T. Pendleton, of Fairfield; Edna A. wife of Robert A. Cox, of Phoenix, Arizona; Frank Leslie, of Fairfield, secretary and treasurer of the Southern Illinois Lumber Company, who married Mary Moran. Mr. Brock in 1921 married Mrs. Alice M. HILL Freshwater.

Lawrence A. Blackburn

Produce merchant, has through his remarkable energy and faculties for handling a business made up of many details developed the largest independent produce commission business in Southern Illinois, with headquarters at Fairfield. It is said that Mr. Blackburn started his business career with only $20 in cash and a debt of $6. He was born on a farm in Wayne County, Illinois, November 10, 1887, son of George W. and Ella (Paul) Blackburn. He is of Colonial and Revolutionary ancestry. His father, George W. Blackburn, was a son of Johnson Lourana (WALLACE) Blackburn, a grandson of William Blackburn, who married a Miss Wolfe, great grandson of Joseph and Mary May Blackburn and Joseph was the son of John Blackburn, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1752 and died in Shelby County, Kentucky, in 1835. John Blackburn served as a soldier of the Revolution, enlisting from Little York, Pennsylvania. His first enlistment for one year began May 18, 1776 and on July 18, 1777, he enlisted for three years. The Blackburn family is English, Scotch and Irish.

George W. Blackburn, was born in Indiana and moved to Illinois in 1861. He married in Wayne County Ella (Paul) Durell, a native of Ireland. He followed farming and in later years he engaged in business with his son. He died in 1919. By the first marriage there were four children, and later he married Sina KEEN, by which union there were six children.

Lawrence A. Blackburn grew up on the farm, attended country schools and completed a commercial course at Indianapolis. He had two years of business experience and training as a bookkeeper at Indianapolis and in 1906 located at Fairfield, where with his father as senior member of the firm he established G. W. Blackburn & Company produced dealers, handling poultry and eggs. This business has grown in keeping with the energy of Mr. Blackburn, reaching great volume where its annual turnover is now approximately two million dollars. Branch houses are maintained in many towns of Southern Illinois, Mr. Blackburn’s brother, L. C. Blackburn, having the management of the business in at Olney. Mr. Blackburn is also director in the First National Bank, and is interested in two garages at Fairfield and in the Fairfield Lumber company, and is owner of some valuable farm land. In 1926 he completed perhaps the finest residence in Fairfield. He has long been active in the Methodist Church as a trustee. He is a Royal Arch Mason member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Blackburn in 1911 married Miss Winona Black, a native of White Hall, Illinois. They are the parents of four daughters, Helen, Marjorie, Grace and Jane.

HAMPTON S. BURGESS, Lawyer, legislator and prominent citizen of Fairfield, was born and reared on a farm in Wayne County, Illinois. He was born December 5, 1866, a son of John H. and Mary (WILLIAM) Burgess. His father was born in the county of Wayne, in the state of Tennessee, in 1826, and at the age of twenty-two years came to Illinois settling on a farm in Wayne County. When the Civil War came he volunteered his services in defense of the Union, becoming a private in Company D, Fifth Illinois Cavalry, in which he served two years. Afterward he resumed the pursuit of farming in Wayne County, and continued the occupation until he departed this life in 1897, at the age of seventy-one.

In the country schools Hampton S. Burgess received his education, which was supplemented by attending old Hayward College at Fairfield. He became a teacher in the public schools and for nine consecutive years continued to teach with gratifying success. Meanwhile Mr. Burgess took up the study of law, and in 1895 was admitted to the bar. Two years later he quit the school room as a teacher and gave all his time to his practice in Fairfield. He had a long ranked among the leaders of the Wayne County bar. Since early manhood he has been active in public affairs and in the councils of the Democratic party. He has held numerous offices, including Township assessor for two terms, township supervisor for two terms, serving one year as chairman of the board of supervisors, and in 1900 was elected city attorney of Fairfield. Later Burgess served for two terms as Mayor of his home town. His administrations as mayor were marked by efficiency and wisdom. In 1908 he was elected State’s Attorney of Wayne County, an office he filled for two terms, giving a record as an able and vigorous prosecutor. In 1922 he was again called into official life by election to the Lower House of the General Assembly of Illinois. As a Representative he served with credit to himself and constitutes, gaining the merited recognition, of being nominated for State Senator from the Forty-sixth District in 1924. He was elected and in the State Senate his record has been such as to meet with the approval of all concerned. In his official and public career the service and conduct of Mr. Burgess have been such as to inspire wholesome respect for his character and abilities. He is plain and unostentatious in manner, direct in utterance and is a citizen to be trusted. In church faith Senator Burgess is a Methodist, and in fraternal relationship he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd fellows. On December 27, 1893, he and Miss Lillie Harian were united in marriage, and they have eight children, three girls and five boys. Mrs. Burgess is a daughter of Mr. And Mrs. William D. Harlan of Wayne County, Illinois.

WILLIAM O, WARREN M. D.

Recognized as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Clinton County, Dr. William O. Warren, of Carlyle, is enjoying a large practice, and rendering a very constructive service both professionally and as a private citizen. He was born in Wayne County, Illinois, August 9, 1890, a son of John R. and Mary Ann BURKETT Warren, and grandson of William and Vina Warren, natives of Illinois. The Warrens came about 1830, from South Carolina to Illinois. William Burkett, the maternal grandfather, was a native of Illinois, to which state his father came from Louisiana about 1830. Members from both families served in the war between North and the South, a paternal uncle, Adam Warren, having been killed in action, and a Burkett served in the American Revolution.

John R. Warren, is a retired farmer, a Methodist in religious faith, and a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife had the following children born to them; Adam who married Hassa ELLIS, has a daughter; Halleck, who married Lola KEUHNE, has two sons Fred and William W. who is unmarried; Dr. Warren who was next in order of birth; and Effie and Lou both of whom are unmarried.

Following his leaving the district school, Dr. Warren entered Carbondale, Illinois, State Normal School and took the regular course, following which he entered the medical department of the University of Saint Mary’s Hospital, Saint Louis, and was graduated from there in 1915, with a degree of Doctor of Medicine. For the subsequent year he was interne a St. Mary’s Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, and then entered upon practice of his profession at Carlyle, where he has since remained with exception of the time he was in the service of his country. Each year he does post-graduate work at the Chicago Polyclinic or the University of Saint Louis.

During the late war he entered the Medical Reserve Corps and was commissioned a first lieutenant, and was called to the colors April 3, 1918. He was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, with the First Army Ambulance Corps. And remained there for about three months. Ordered oversees, he sailed from Hoboken, New York, and landed at Brest, France. Sent to the front at once, he was at Chateau Thierry for two weeks as first aid, and served in a similar position for two weeks at Saint Mihiel. From there he was transferred to the Argonne front, and while thus serving the armistice was signed. So heavy had been his duties that he was then       later at St. Lazare, and thence back home, reaching Hoboken in March 1919. For two days he was detained at camp Mills, but was then sent to Camp Grant, and was honorably discharged March 25, 1919, and returned at once to Carlyle and his practice.

In October 1912, Doctor Warren married Flora Ellis, a daughter of Joseph and Grace HARRIS Ellis both of whom are living, he being a retired farmer, and a Baptist in religious faith. Mr. And Mrs. Ellis have four children; Cora, who married Fred Hickey and has two children; Lou, who married Ad Hickey, and they have two children; Elsie, who married Fred Kease, and they have one child. Dr. and Mrs. Warren have no children. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The county, State and National Medical societies hold his membership, and he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Dr. Warren is a very interesting young man of exceptional ability professionally, and keeps abreast on the advancement in his calling. His standing in his home community is unquestioned.

HALLECK B. WARREN M. D.

Has found a congenial sphere of usefulness in the profession of medicine and surgery in the community of Breese in Clinton County, Illinois, where he has practiced for the past ten years, he is also chief physician and surgeon at the St. Joseph’s Hospital at Breese, Illinois.

He was born in Wayne County, Illinois, April 18, 1888, a son of John R. and Mary Ann BURKETT Warren, and grandson of William and Vina Warren, natives of Illinois. The Warrens came about 1830, from South Carolina to Illinois. William Burkett, the maternal grandfather, was a native of Illinois, to which state his father came from Louisiana about 1830. Members from both families served in the war between North and the South, a paternal uncle, Adam Warren, having been killed in action, and a Burkett served in the American Revolution. John R. Warren, is a retired farmer, a Methodist in religious faith, and a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. A younger brother of Dr. H. B. Warren is Dr. William O.  Warren and the two brothers received their educational advantages in practically the same schools. William O. is now engaged in practice at Carlyle in Clinton County.

Halleck B. Warren at age eighteen, in 1906 engaged in teaching and followed that profession in Wayne County until 1910. He then attended college at the Orchid City College at Flora, Illinois, Southern Illinois Normal at Carbondale, Illinois and at Fairfield, Illinois, and received his academic diploma from the St. Louis University in 1911. Received his degree as Doctor of Medicine from the medical department at St. Louis University in 1915. After graduating he had another year of special training as an interne in the St. Louis City Hospital, 1915 – 1916. Soon after graduating in medicine Doctor Warren located at Breese, and has had a busy general practice in that community ever since, except for the period of the World War. In 1918 he joined the color as first lieutenant and for six months was on duty at Camp Upton, New York. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Associations.

Dr. Warren married Miss Lola KUEHNE, of St. Louis. They have two children, Halleck B. Jr. and William W. Dr. Warren is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the American Legion.