Biographies: P

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Thomas Patton	I. Francis Proctor
Peter Phillips	John C. Proctor
James Preston	Norman Purple
Samuel Preston	more to come...

PATTON, THOMAS E. The present prosperity of Logan Township is traceable, and a large measure, to the efforts of the pioneers, who came here in the latter '40s, and with well-trained muscles and intelligent management, tilled the undeveloped land, and put in the seed with his prophecy of autumnal reward. From a small beginning, and with crude implements, these men from the east fostered a paternal interest in the latent resources of their surroundings, and planted and garnered with increasing largeness, as the experience of years laid bare the peculiarities of climate and soil. Through all these years Mr. Patton has labored faithfully and well, and his neighborhood knows no more enthusiastic advocate of Illinois as an agricultural region. He was born in Adams County, Ohio, August 14, 1822, and comes honestly by his special aptitude for farming, for his parents, Thomas and Jane (Glasgow) Patton, who were born in Virginia, spent the greater part of their lives on a farm. The younger Thomas became, while still young, a valuable assistant to his father, and during the summer months worked early and late, the small leisure permitted during the winter season been devoted to attendance at the old log schoolhouse down back of his father's orchard, on George's creek. October 4, 1844, he married Martha H. Finley, who was born in Adams County, Ohio, January 22, 1823, and three years later, in 1847 removed from the familiar surroundings of his youth to Logan Township, Illinois, of which he is still one of the honored and also one of the most venerable members of the community. Politically he is a prohibitionist, but has never allied himself with the official undertaking of this locality. With his wife and family he is associate with the United Presbyterian church.
To Mr. and Mrs. Patton have been born of the following children: Robert M., born June 27, 1845; Haddasah J., born in September, 1846; Thomas D., born March 14, 1850; William H., born June 22, 1852; John T., born April 4, 1854; James R., born February 1, 1856, and died January 26, 1858; Martin L., born November 8, 1857, and died May 29, 1860; and Ralph A., born January 12, 1867. Ralph A. Patton has charge of the old homestead, and is making a success of stock-raising and general farming. October 12, 1892, he married Jessie Bariga, who was born in Minonk, Woodford County, Illinois, June 7, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Patton are the parents of three children: Martha, who was born November 15, 1893; Kester T., born May 30, 1895; and J. Herrell, born March 24, 1897. (Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 1902, pages 745-746, submitted by Janine Crandell)

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PHILLIPS, PETER E.: Merchant: was born in Hallock Township, Peoria County, February 9, 1863. He is the son of Charles O. Phillips and grandson of Walter Evans, the first Supervisor of Hallock Township. He got his start in life by working in a brick yard at Northampton, and in 1883, having saved $200, he established a grocery and general store at that place. He has managed well and his business has proved successful. He was married to Louisa, daughter of Mortimer Willard, and they have four children: Charles E., Blanch, Harry and Orin: Harry dying in infancy. Mr. Phillips has been a very successful man; starting with nothing, he saved his earnings and invested them wisely. He was appointed Postmaster at Northampton in 18890, the office having been established there mainly through his efforts. He is a Republican, and was Justice of the Peace eight years, and Tax Collector two years. He is a prominent Odd Fellow, member of the Modern Woodmen of America of the Mystic Workers of the World, and of the Rebekahs. (Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 1902, page 707, submitted by Daniel Grachek)

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SAMUEL PRESTON. Farmer; born in Shelby County, Ohio, June 9, 1836; he received a common-school education. His paternal grandfather was David Preston; his maternal grandparents, David and Rebecca Platt, were born in New Jersey, which was also the birthplace of his parents, Joseph and Rebecca (Platt) Preston. The father died in Ohio, and the mother in Trivoli, Illinois. Samuel Preston was married to Ellen Wilson, a native of Trivoli, September 28, 1856. They had 9 children: John Alexander, Oscar Jacob, Samuel, Hannah and Anna (twins), Alice and Nellie. Mrs. Preston was born at Mills Creek, Ohio. She was the daughter of Matthew and Hannah Wilson, who located in Timber township, Peoria County, Illinois, where they died. In 1862 Mr. Preston enlisted in Company I, Thirty-second Illinois volunteer infantry, and was with the Army in Sherman's memorable march to the sea. He was injured while on service by having a log fall upon him. At the close of the war he came to Elmwood township and engaged in farming, where he followed until 1890, when he removed into town. He owns a place north of the cemetery in Elmwood, where he is employed much of the time. (Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 1902, page 695, submitted by Janine Crandell)

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JAMES S. PRESTON. Farmer; born in Delaware County, New York, August 31, 1840, the son of Zerah and Angelina (Patterson) Preston, natives of New York. James S. Preston married Eliza E. Reed in Medina township February 16, 1863. She is a daughter of Thomas B. and Frances (Wilkinson) Reed, born in the Medina township February 10, 1843. Thomas B. Reed was born in Rensselaer County, New York, November 27, 1799. He emigrated to Ohio in 1819, married in 1821, and came to Peoria county in October, 1829. His wife, Frances Wilkinson, was born in North Carolina October 4, 1802, and died in the Medina July 5, 1869. They had 6 children and were members of the Baptist church. In 1830 Mr. Reed bought 160 acres in section 3, in the Medina township, where he resided till his death, which occurred March 22, 1875, at which time his property was valued at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He went from Peoria county as a soldier in the Black Hawk War in 1832. Politically he was a Democrat and, for a number of years, a justice of the peace. The Reeds are of English extraction and among the leading families of New England. They trace their ancestry back to 1680. The children of James S. and Eliza E. Preston are: Frances E., wife of C. P. Albright, of the Medina township; Angeline M., wife of A. H. Bristol, of Hallock township; Mary, wife of Frank Cook; Merritt E. and Jenney E., both deceased; Bertha I.; George J.; Hiram A. and Hattie H., at home. Mr. and Mrs. Preston by prudence and good management, have added to the farm left him by his father, which now contains 240 acres. Mr. Preston is a Democrat. Mrs. Preston and her two daughters, Bertha and Hattie, are members of the Central Union denomination in the Medina. (Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 1902, page 759, submitted by Janine Crandell)

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I. FRANCIS PROCTOR. Francis Proctor, elder brother of E. Allen and John C. Proctor, was born in Henniker, New Hampshire, July 31, 1817. For generations, the Proctor family, in both of its branches, has been identified with New England history. Francis Proctor's great-grandfather, Isaac Proctor, was a native of Ipswich, Massachusetts, as was his wife, Lucy Proctor, nee Goodhue. Their son, Lieut. John Proctor, was born at Manchester, Massachusetts, and married Hannah Cogswell, whose birthplace was Essex (Ipswich) in the same State. They were the parents of Francis Proctor's father, Capt. John Proctor, who was born in Manchester-by-the-Sea, July 7, 1788, and married Edna Dean, a native of Hamilton, Massachusetts, born in the same year as her husband. Edna (Dean) Proctor's parents were Captain Israel and Edna (Dodge) Proctor, both of whom were natives of Hamilton, Captain Proctor's immediate ancestor (and great-grandfather of the Peoria Proctor family on the maternal side) being Israel Dean, also a native of Hamilton, married Anne Storrs, whose birthplace was Mansfield, Connecticut. From this genealogical record may be traced the name of Edna Dean Proctor, the gifted poetess of New England and sister of the Proctor brothers of Peoria, who inherits her name from their mother.
     Mr. Proctor's education was obtained at his birthplace and in Keene, New Hampshire. In 1838, he left Henniker and taught school in New Jersey, Indiana, and in Mississippi, until 1841, when he came to Peoria, and bought a quarter section of land on the West Bluff. Here he engaged at first in stock-raising and afterwards in growing choice fruit. In March, 1843, he was married in Peoria to Loville Aiken, who was born December 6, 1816, in Deering, New Hampshire. Mrs. Lovilla Proctor died August 27, 1881. Their children were Henry Francis and Edna Dean (Mrs. Field).
     Upright, independent and honorable in all his dealings, Mr. Proctor is a man of quiet tastes and habits, yet always intelligently interested for the best good of the community, and always ready to do generously his part as a citizen. From his pleasant home on the Bluff, with its commanding outlook, he has seen the city gradually extending and covering the green prairie below, where, in the early years of his residence, only herds of cows were feeding. His son, Henry Francis Proctor, was a soldier in the Civil War, enlisting (August, 1861), at the age of seventeen years, in the Forty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and giving continuous, faithful, exemplary service until he was killed, June 6, 1864, in a skirmish with guerrillas in Arkansas, as the regiment was returning from the Red River expedition. His body was brought to Peoria and buried in its beautiful cemetery, and his grave is one of those that Decoration Day sees heaped with flowers. He was a young man of such excellent character and promise, that his death was deplored by all who knew him, in the army and at home.
     Mr. Proctor's only grandchild is Francis Proctor Field, who was born in Peoria, August 7, 1876, and is now a student of medicine in New York City. When the Spanish War came, in 1898, he left Columbia University to enter the army with the Twenty-second Regiment New York National Guard, of which organization he was a member, and remained with the army until the war was over, when he resumed his studies. (Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 1902, page 537, submitted by Janine Crandell)

JOHN C. PROCTOR. In looking over the list of the older persons represented in this biographical collection, it is a pleasure to find some who still survive. John C. Proctor is one of these, still in active business, and as attentive to it as at any time during his business career. He was born on the 11th day of October, 1822, in Henniker. New Hampshire, the son of John and Edna Dean Proctor. His education was acquired in the schools of his native town. While the schools of his day were not quite what they are at present, yet the common schools of New England gave all persons an opportunity to become comparatively well educated in the common English branches. It was because of the advantages of the common schools of New England that so many of her sons and daughters, scattered over the whole country, have always proved a success.
     In 1841 Mr. Proctor left New Hampshire for the State of Mississippi. A year later he removed to the State of Illinois, and for a time taught school in Fulton County. In 1843 he came to Peoria. and in the following year commenced the manufacture of agricultural implements with his brother, E. A. Proctor, which business was carried on successfully until 1850. John C. Proctor then engaged in the lumber business in Peoria, and has continued in it from that time to the present.
     He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Peoria, in 1863, was elected its President in 1873, and still continues in that position.
     Mr. Proctor is a rare man. His temperance in all things, and his care for his personal welfare, have enabled him to engage constantly in exacting business without evidencing any of the wear and tear so often seen in business men. He has rarely ever been ill, and, when in the city, has devoted himself daily to the conduct of his business. He is a man of excellent judgment. His advice and assistance have been sought as often and as generally as that of any man in the city of Peoria. He has, without niggardliness or meaness, dishonesty, oppression, fraud or wrong-doing, accumulated a large fortune, and is the owner of many farms in the States of Illinois. Frugal, temperate and careful in his habits, he has been a liberal contributor to the charities of the city and to the churches. He has been on the right side of every question affecting the education or morals, or the religious training of the residents of Peoria. He has built, at his own expense, the Cottage Hospital, and placed it in the hands of a corporation for the benefit of the present generation and those to come, thereby erecting, in this one act a monument to his memory, infinitely more enduring and more valuable than any notoriety that could possibly come from mere political preferment. He has been a successful business man, and his example can be cited to the rising and future generations, as in every way worthy of imitation and emulation. He has not made his money by wild speculation or by oppressing anybody else. It is the result of painstaking, persistent work, of sound judgment, of a careful, temperate and worthy life. No one except himself really knows of the manifold acts of kindness and charity which have characterized his career. The writer of this sketch personally knows of many instances where, through his faith in human nature and his desire to be helpful, he has saved from ruin men who were pushed and oppressed by others intent only upon worldly gain, regardless of the means used for its acquirement—men who deceive themselves, but do not deceive their fellows.
     Mr. Proctor is a brother of Edna Dean Proctor, and he has two brothers still living in Peoria—Francis and Ezekiel—both older than himself, and both remarkable for their retention of all their mental and physical faculties. They are of good, sterling New England stock. They brought with them, from New England, correct ideas of morality, education and religion. They have adhered to their principles, and the result, in their lives, shows the value of the stock and early training of New England. (Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 1902, pages 537-538, submitted by Janine Crandell)

Norman H. Purple was born March 29, 1803, in Otsego County, New York. His father was a native of Connecticut, a carpenter by trade and a farmer by occupation. Judge Purple received an ordinary common-school education, supplemented by study in an academy, then common in New England and New York State. He commenced the study of law with Judge N. B. Eldred, in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, but completed his study in the County of Tioga, and was admitted to the bar in 1830. In 1837 he removed to Peoria and settled down to the practice of his profession. At that time there were a number of able lawyers in Peoria and in other cities in Central Illinois. Judge Purple immediately took a prominent position as a lawyer, and secured at once a lucrative practice. He was well read in the law, had been a diligent student of jurisprudence, and hence laid a broad foundation for the technical work of the lawyer. He was industrious, painstaking and accurate.
     From 1840 to 1842 Judge Purple held the office of State's Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, composed of the counties of Peoria, Kendall, Kane, DeKalb, Ogle, Bureau, Stark, Marshall, Putnam and LaSalle. In 1844 he was chosen a Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket, and, in 1845, received from Governor Ford, an appointment as Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, to which he was formally elected by the Legislature in December, 1846. During his incumbency in this office he presided in the courts of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, embracing the western part of the State, making his home at Quincy. Upon his retirement from the bench by the adoption of the Constitution of 1848, he returned to Peoria, and resumed practice there, which he continued for the remainder of his life. He was also a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1862, representing Peoria and Stark Counties in that body, with Julius Manning as a colleague.
     In 1849 Judge Purple published an edition of the Real Estate Statutes of Illinois, embracing the acts of the Legislature relating to descents, limitations, judgments, executions, partition, dower, conveyances and revenue—a most valuable volume for practitioners of that period. There was much litigation then, and for some years subsequently over land titles in the Military Tract. Judge Purple was, perhaps, at the head of the Illinois bar as a real-estate lawyer. He had given the subjects pertaining to estates very careful and thorough investigation, and was authority upon all subjects relating to land titles. This he followed, in 1856, with a compilation of the General Statutes of the State, which became widely known to the profession as the "Purple Statutes." Subsequently he undertook a similar compilation and classification of the laws enacted between 1857 and 1864, but the completion of this work was interrupted by his death. These works, prepared while Judge Purple was upon the bench or in active practice, gave evidence of his industry and zeal in this branch of his profession. He was extremely methodical in all that he did and his work was always done with neatness and dispatch.
     Judge Purple was not an eloquent orator, as were some of his associates in the city during his active career, but no man at the bar surpassed him in the ability of clear, concise, logical statement of a case. His success1before a jury did not depend upon his ability as an orator, but largely upon the logical clearness and force with which he made his opening statement to the jury. In fact, at times, with a good cause, his case was won with his opening statement. He became the leading practitioner in the central portion of the State, in the United States Court, and maintained a decided prominence in this branch of the business so long as he lived.
     He had the respect and confidence of the Judges. He had infinite respect for the law, and he never indulged in any of the tricks of the profession for his success. No man ever entertained more thorough contempt for another than Judge Purple did for any lawyer who would stoop to trickery or dishonesty in a lawsuit. Any lawyer caught in anything underhanded, dishonest, secretive or outside the legitimate rules of practice was forever detested by Judge Purple. He was the soul of professional honor, and entertained a profound reverence for the law, and respect for all who labored to administer it in its purity.
     During the period of his active practice in Peoria, Judge Purple was associated in a partnership capacity and at different times with the following members of the Peoria bar: Halsey O. Merriman and George T. Metcalfe before his elevation to the Supreme Bench, and, at a later date, with Ezra G. Sanger, Lorin G. Pratt and Alexander McCoy—the latter being his partner at the time of his death, which occurred in the city of Chicago, August 9, 1863.
     On January 3, 1831, before coming to Peoria, Judge Purple was married to Ann Eliza, daughter of Hon. Ira Kilburn, of Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Six children were the fruit of this union, two of whom survive at this time: Mrs. Ida Robinson, of this city, and Frank H. Purple, of Colorado.
     Judge Purple's rank in the profession in Illinois was in the very front, and in some departments he was easily the superior of his professional brethren. His office work was a model of neatness and order. His method of putting away and keeping his papers furnishes an excellent example for all young men. He had a place for everything, and insisted upon everything being in its proper place. He was methodical in all his habits, and the soul of punctuality in all his business engagements. He was impatient with all who failed to keep their promises, or were not punctual in meeting engagements. He had no use for a coward or a liar, and none for a pettifogger. Towards all such he indulged in biting sarcasm, in the use of which he was a master. He was friendly and helpful to all young men, honorable, honest and upright, and would lend them a helping hand. As a lawyer, we may safely say that he stood second to no practitioner in Illinois. (Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 1902, pages 538-539, submitted by Janine Crandell)