Johnson County IL Archives History .....Early History Of Simpson IL & Personalities ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarch.org/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarch.org/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Angela DiBlasi ADib102684@aol.com and Tim Casey timcasey5@gmail.com April 3, 2008, 2:18 pm Early History of Simpson IL & Personalities With words, may I paint a picture of early Simpson, Illinois and its personalities. The Town ws first established just west of its present site. (near now what we know as Lay and Veach places.) by William C. Simpson (who is buried in Double Bridges Cemetery). With the coming of the Illinois Central Railroad about 1887 the town was moved to its present location. In the early 1900's my parents: Zera "Zeke" Kerley and my mother: Lue (Keltner) Kerley transferred from his job at Grantsburg as agent for I.C. to Simpson where he was agent for some five years. Then and for several years thereafter there were four passenger trains and two freight trains (beside te extras) each day running from Carbondale to Paducah, Ky. The Trains had to be transferred to boat at Brookport named the "Duncan" and carried them to Paducah. This went on until the brige for trains at Metropolis was built. All communications were by telegraph at the time. Because of so much use of the telegraph keys, my father developed Telegrapher's paralysis in his wrists and finally had to retire. Business boomed here for several years. All freight for Simpson and surroundings was carried by train. All the roads were then dirt and transportation was by wagon, buggy and horse-back. I remember quite clearly when the first depot burned and I scratched in the ashes hunting for pennies. While the depot was rebuilt, the station was established in the granary of the Simpson Roller Mills. It was very amusing for me to sit on the counter and watch my father use the telegraph keys and conduct business of a depot agent. The "74" was an evening mixed train running about 5 P.M. each day. There was a stock pen near the railroad siding and every few days cattle and hogs were brought here (usually driven) and loaded on stock cars to be shipped to market at the "National Stockyards" in East St. Louis. This late evening train would pick up the loaded cars. During the harvesting of hay and corn, etc. these items would be haulded to town by wagon, weighed on scales at the mill, loaded into box cars and shipped to market. Many nights wagons would be waiting their turn to be unloaded. many had to wait until late in the night ot unload. Kerosene lanterns were the only source of light. Long loaded trains had to double at Hog Cliff to get over the grade to Ozark, some six miles north of Simpson. I recall and incident when a freight train was making a running switch at Ozark and the car got loose and began running down the track (then, no air brakes) Ozark agent quickly notified the train crew that was unloading freight at Simpson, stating what had happened. My dad quickly notified the train crew that was unloading freight at Simpson. Hurriedly they got the train on the side track. Luckily the car stopped near the Second Bridge about one mile north of town. It was a this bridge whee there was famous swimming hole for the boys of Simpson. It was here that the fireman on the evening train jumped off the locomotive and drowned. After his forced retirement my father (in partnership with Bert Bynum) bbought the Simpson Roller Mills from Dal Cross. The sound of the old mill whistle was a familiar sount to the residents of town. Uncle Amos Choate was the engineer and Uncle Chas. (Chuck) Anderson was the miller. He knew his business about making flour and was always humming a song at his work, because he was an old time music teacher. They made two grades of flour. "Diamond Floss" was the best grade. Many times they ran behind on orders and had to work a night shift. Fred Taylor was the relief engineer. My father finally bought Bynum's share. Later he sold the mill to A. L. Robbs, who owned the mill when it burned. Through the years Simpson had its share of fires. These began the downfall of the town into a ghost town. My first school teacher was T. T. Kerley at Simson in a one room school. A few of the other pioneer teachers were: Earl Choate (son of Amos Choate), Oscar Anderson (son of Chas. Anderson), Robert C. Verhines, and I.lW. Shelton. there Was a two year High School here for a few years. Here many neighborhood boys and girls got 2 years of High School. with consolidation the Grade School and High School faded away. In its heyday Simpson had a General Merchandise Store and hotel, owned and operated by Uncle Whig Whiteside and his wife. It was a strore where you could find most anything you wanted. Mrs. Whiteside with the hotel and her good meals was well known by all the many traveling salesmen that came t Simpson by grain and lodged at the hotel until they were through making their rounds to surrounding stores. Simpson had a livery stable and the salesmen used it to make their rounds. In those days undertakers were few and far between. Uncle Whig was the undertaker, handling caskets for the community as needed. A son, Jim Whiteside took over the business and ran it bor several years. Beside being a merchant, undertaker, he was a minister. Postmasters as I remember were: Zetta (Meriedith) Stockton, Carroll kelley and his wife, C. V. Kerley and his wife, Pearl. Today John Rushing is Postmaster. Two rural routes were out of Simpson. The early carrriers were: Lee Simmons, R. R. Gray, Arthur Kerley, William Longworth, and Floyd Choate. Today there is only one route and David Hill is the carrier. In its booming days Simpson had a bank The First Bank of Simpson. Dr. T. B. Kerley, J.W. Reynolds and A. L. Robbs were the main stockholders. The First Cashier was Delbert (son of Dr. T. B. Kerley) and his wife Dimple. Later another son, O.R. (Ollin) and his wife Mary took over. It was a blessing for the community to haave this bank for so many years. When it vanished, this was another step down hill for Simpson. ( I have a check tht was written by my grandfather to my dad on 01 Aug 1914. To me it is a keep-sake. A hardware store was operated for some time by the Whiteside Brothers and later by Fred Veach. Here you could buy buggies, wagons and most all equipment used in those days. There were two blacksmith shops in town operated by Ivy Reynolds and James (Jim) W. Taylor. Horse shoeing and wagon building were the order of the day. Doctors were: Dr. P.W. Rose, Dr. Miles Jefferson Kerley and Dr. T. B. (Bass) Kerley. , Dr. M. J. Kerley (my grandfather) was a specialist in treating dropsy adn Dr. Bass Kerley a specialist in treating typhoid fever (which in those days was quite common). They were always ready to answer calls by buggy or horse-back regardless of the weather and roads. Dr. Kerley had his office in the back of the bank building. Other stores were operated in town by: Noah Brooks, W. T. Bradley, W. J. Murrie, Lenis "Dude" Murrie and his brothers Ward and Sam, Hartley Dixon, Dewey McCormick, Tom Taylor adn Cletis Morris (who also ran a Gas Station and a Garage) and his wife Marjorie (daughter of T. A. Taylor). William Longworth succeeded the Morris' and the building burned under his ownership. It was downgrade again for Simpson. Restaurants were run by C. S. McKee, T. T. Kerley, Frank Kelley (son of Carroll Kelley), Carl Murrie, (son of W.J. Murrie) and George McKee. These early restaurants were favorite loafing places for youngsters waiting to see the "74" come and go. Carl Murrie also ran a Picture Show in town for some time. Succeeding my father in the depot was S. B. (Spencer) Morris, who learned telegraphy under my father. He moved to Benton and V. O. (Happy) Vineyard took over. The Section Crew was headed by Amos O. Kerley and Walter Mizell. So me of the crew members were Chas. Patterson, Lee Stewart, Ado Street and Ralph Warren. (just to mention a few). At one time Simpson had a well known baseball team. On the mound ws Walter Veach and Herman "Kiddo" Whiteside. T. T. Kerley ws the catcher. J.W. "Wes" Reynolds ran a Monument shop (father of Herbert, Pleas, Ross and Joe.) His markers are in many of the surrounding cemeteries. Tombstones were then cut by hand. I can remember Jimmie Dawes (father of Hal) and J.t. Russell (father of Paul, Bill and Roland) plying their chisels and bits with their steady hands. After the death of Mr. Reynolds, the business moved to Vienna and is now operated by his name-sake J.W. (Joe) Reynolds. I often recall hearing Mr. Reynolds calling Pleas and Ross to get out and do their chores. Mr. Reynolds also farmed many acres in the bottoms south of town. He kept several hired hands to do this. Pleas and Ross operated a Print Shop. I now own the old press they operated. At one time Simpson had a Lumber Yard operated by Wil Taylor and later by A. L. Robbs, as I remember. Back to the early Restaurant business, It was a treat in those days to buy a factory made ice cream cone. They bought their ice ceram (usually Metropolis) shipped by train and packed 5 gallons in a tub, packed with ice. These were days befor we had refrigeration. Ice cream was 5 cents a cone and drinks (coke) 5 cents. A. L. Robbs established a Ford Garage in town just across the road form my old home (now owned by Wayne Chester). Here there was much activity and many a model T and Model A Ford was sold and serviced. Fred Taylor was the mechanic. A. L. Robbs and Robert Lay were among the first ones to own cars that I recall. Simpson had its own Telepone System. Owned and operated by J. W. Reynolds. It was a party line system with the old type crank telephones with the log and shorts being the code. M. R. Burriss and his wife took the system over and ran it quite some time. Then Robbs took it over and central office moved to Robbs. Now Hardin County Telephone System owns it with underground lines and Private Phones. We older ones have seen may changes in many things through our life time. We wonder what can be next? Through the years Simpson has had a Baptist Church. Man of the early resiedents were memvers. It is a growing church today. This church and the Post Office have survieved the passing of time. Today they have a new modern church and the Post Office is new and modern, with John Rushing our present Postmaster. A new Masonic Hall is over the Post Office that originally was over the Whiteside building. The Modern Woodmen of America and the Royal Neighbors of America that were organized about 1909 were located over the Reynolds Monument Shop. These camps flourished for years; but the passing of many members with the passing of time marked their demise. For many years Simpson had a Veteirinian, Uncle Allen Kerley (father of Arthur, Harry, Brantley, Bertie, Caudy and Carney) was always ready to take care of sick stock. During World War I Simpson had its share of boys to answer their country's call. Just to mention one example: Caudy and Carney brothers went through the war side by side and came home safely. Others were not so fortunate. I might mention the coming of that wonderful kerosene Aladdin lamp in our time. Just another great improvement in lighting our man hours of darkness. Some of the family names throught the history of Simpson are: Simpson, Martin, Murrie, Mount, Lay, Dixon, McCormick, Keeton, Robbs, Bynum, Kerley, Keltner, Bradley, Dawes, Russell, Taylor, Smoot, Veach, Anderson, Whiteside, McKee, Choate, Mizell, Hurley, Street, Warren, Morris, Rushing, Trigg, McCuan, Sullivan, Gray, Chester, Lawrence, and many others. Many of these memories of the past still survive with us. Time has made many changes. Sometimes we wonder why? Memories, Oh how sweet of our Ghost Town of today. (From the memory of Owen Kerley) Additional Comments: This is written from my memory of the early history of Simpson, Illinois. Any dates that are authentic or other information that is informative will be appreciated. Please excuse me for personal references or any mistakes you find. (copied by Tim Casey from the Genealogy Dept at Carnegie Library, Vienna IL. Pardon my omission of any names that should be listed. Owen Kerley Simpson, Illinois File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/johnson/history/other/earlyhis16ms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ilfiles/ File size: 12.5 Kb