Union County IL Archives Biographies.....Green, William P. 1854 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 18, 2008, 7:16 pm

Author: George Washington Smith (1912)

   WILLIAM P. GREEN. It is with pleasure that the biographer takes up the life
record of William P. Green, one of the most prosperous and best known of the
citizens of Cobden and a man who is identified in an important sense with its
development and that of the country surrounding. A man of strong commercial
instinct and of considerable executive ability, all enterprises with which he
becomes identified seem pretty sure of success. For twenty-three years a
salesman, he has dealt since 1903 in coal and ice in Cobden and he is also
leasing four valuable farms for apple-growing, being associated in this with the
Lamer Brothers under the firm name of Lamer, Green & Lamer. They have devoted
two hundred and forty acres to this branch of agriculture and have 9,000 fine
trees, all apple. Since 1900, when they first engaged in this interesting work
they have made sales to the amount of $11,043 and have 1,200 barrels in storage,
which raises this amount to $15,000. Mr. Green also sells spraying machines and
has recently sold one car-load of these commodities to fruitgrowers.

   William P. Green was born October 28, 1854, in Union county, Illinois, the
son of William and Cornelia (Bennett) Green. Nathaniel Green, the grandfather,
an energetic South Carolinian, came to this county about 1803. He was the father
of Mastin, David and William Green. Mastin and David were born in South Carolina
and William was born in this county in 1806. The father died here soon after and
the boys located in the Mississippi Bottoms. These brothers are all dead.

   When they located in the Mississippi Bottoms they resided for a time with an
uncle who managed Green's Ferry on the Father of Waters. The boys lived the
wholesome, strenuous life of the pioneer, raising crops in the summer and in the
fall and winter going into the woods where they made a flat-boat on which they
floated their produce down to New Orleans and sold it. They were industrious and
thrifty and in this way accumulated considerable money. In 1844 they were driven
out of the bottoms by floods and they went to the hills. David Green settled on
his farm at Green's Crossing near Cobden and opened a general merchandise store
at that place in 1854. William Green, father of him whose name inaugurates this
review, removed to Jonesboro and continued farming. He owned a section of land
west of that place, and this he tilled up to the time of his death in 1865. This
good man, who was respected and influential in his community, reared a family of
four children. Florence W., born October 26, 1834, died August 15, 1899. He
married Annetta Cover January 17, 1865, and their surviving children are as
follows: Otis, Daniel, John H., Florence E., James A. and Roy. Mollie, second of
the subject's sisters, married Calvin Miller first and after his death became
the wife of A. C. Stage, her present residence being in Chicago. The subject is
third in order of birth and the youngest member of the family is David M., an
Arkansas farmer. The father, William Green Sr., was one of the organizers of the
Union County Agricultural & Mechanical Society, which held the first county fair
in this county. He was a member and deacon in the Baptist church of Jonesboro
and his hand was given to all good causes. In his time he accumulated
considerable wealth. His wife, whose maiden name was Cornelia Bennett, died in
1855, in the infancy of William, Jr.

   William P. Green received his education in the public schools and continued
to reside upon the paternal homestead until 1877. Even as a very young man he
manifested commercial instincts and was most successful as a salesman. He has
ever since been active in this line and in 1880 he established himself
independently in the mercantile business, in which, as previously mentioned, he
remained continuously engaged until 1903. His subsequent interests and
activities have been touched upon. Longfellow has said, "The talent of success
is nothing more than what you can do well and doing well whatever you do,
without any thought of fame." Illustrative of this sentiment has been the life
of the subject and his career should serve as an incentive and inspiration for
others.

   No one could be more loyal to the best interests of the section than Mr.
Green, for it is dear to him with many associations and for over a century has
been the scene of the family history, of which he has every reason to be proud.
Whenever he has served in public office it has been with faithfulness and
efficiency and doubtless even higher honors lie before him. From 1908 to the
spring of 1912 he served as police magistrate ; he has acted as town clerk
several times and for nine years was a member of the Cobden board of education.
In addition to his activities previously mentioned, Mr. Green has other
interests of exceedingly broad scope and importance and has leased 40,000 acres
from the Finley Oil & Gas Development Company in Southern Illinois for the
purpose of prospective oil and gas development. His executive ability, tireless
energy, engineering skill and genius in the broad combination and concentration
of applicable forces, it is safe to say, will make a success of this vast
enterprise. The, company of Lamer, Green & Lamer have also recently engaged in
the buying and selling of fruits and products in carload lots.

   Mr. Green laid the foundations of a happy household and congenial life
companionship by his union in 1886 to Ada B. Lind, of Cobden, daughter of A.
Lind, one of the old residents. Of the five children born to them, three are
living, namely: Joseph B., of California; Cornelia, teller of the Cobden Bank;
and Clarence. The family are active in the good work of the Baptist church and
the fraternal affiliation of the head of the house is with the Knights of
Pythias. The name of Green is widely and favorably known, the third generation
in this section reflecting the good qualities of the first.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People, and its Principal
Interests

BY
George Washington Smith, M. A.
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1912


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