FIRST BORN OF THE CHILDREN of Jacob Sneed Vertrees and Nancy Hobbs, Perry pioneers, was Mary E. Vertrees, born
at Perry July 30, 1837. Her name was a favorite one in both the Vertrees and Hobbs families. Captain John Vertrees
of the Revolution had a daughter Mary. Captain John was the great grandfather of Mary E. Vertrees of Perry. Booth
Tarkington, in his story of "The Turmoil," dealing with the Indiana branch of the Vertrees family, gave
to his heroine the name of Mary Vertrees.
Mary E. Vertrees was never married. She lived all her life at Perry and Griggsville, living to an old age, and
was the first in the family of five children to die. She died at the home of her sister, Mrs. Anna E. Shoemaker,
in Griggsville, March 22, 1908, aged 70 years, seven months and 22 days. She is buried in Old Baptist cemetery
at Perry.
John Eaton Vertrees, long in business in Pittsfield and noted as a prohibitionist in the early days of that movement,
was the second of the children of Jacob Sneed and Nancy Hobbs Vertrees. He was born at Perry and fitted himself
for teaching. He taught his first school at Fish Hook in Fairmount township when he was 17.
Mr. Vertrees graduated from Shurtleff College during the Civil War, in which he had enlisted on the Union side.
He served for five months in the postoffice department, in the arsenal at Rock Island. After the war he resumed
his school teaching and taught in all for 25 years. During 16 years of this time he was connected with Grand River
College of Edinburg, Missouri, first as an instructor therein. Later he became president of the college, which
was under control of the Baptist board. While at Grand River, he prepared General Enoch Crowder for his entrance
examinations to West Point.
John E. Vertrees on July 26, 1867 married Armida A. Ayre, who was born August 12, 1831. They had four children:
Lillia Roxanna, Read and Carl (twins), and Jacob Royal Vertrees.
Lillia Roxanna Vertrees, born in Edinburg, Missouri, February 9, 1869, is owner and proprietor of the Vertrees
Book Store, located on the north side of the courthouse square in Pittsfield. In choosing a business life she followed
in the footsteps of her father who for many years was among Pittsfield's leading merchants. Following the father's
retirement from the mercantile field, Miss Lillia and her half-brother, Robert Vertrees, continued to conduct a
stationery and book store in the Pittsfield House block.
Read and Carl Vertrees, twins, were born October 26, 1871 in Edinburg, Missouri. Read was associated with his father in the old People's Store in Pittsfield from the beginning of that enterprise in 1890. Prior to that, while his father was operating the old city custom mill, he peddled goods at retail through Pike county, establishing a reputation that later was of great benefit when he and his father went into the retail merchandising business.
Read Vertrees was gifted with those gentle and gracious traits of character that distinguished some of his Virginia ancestors, traits described in the commentaries of some of the old Vertrees family chroniclers. When he died, the Reverend J. DeWitt Leek, then pastor of the Pittsfield Congregational church, said at his funeral, "We believe that our brother came as near attaining perfection as is possible for a human being to do in this world, and I believe that all who knew him have been made the better by his life."
Read came to Pittsfield with his father in 1882. He attended the Pittsfield public schools and graduated from the high school in 1891. He went into the store with his father following his graduation and later became a full partner therein. He remained associated with his father in the store until the fall of 1912 when his health failed and he went to Artesia, New Mexico, where he remained until his death.
Read joined the Baptist church at an early age, thereby maintaining the church traditions of the Vertrees family through several generations. He contributed liberally to the support of his church, and, as a friend remarked at the time of his death, he was one "who every day lived his religion."
Read Vertrees died at Artesia, New Mexico, May 12, 1920. His sister Lillia and his half-brother, John, then of Peoria, were with him when he died. His body was brought to Pittsfield and interred in the family plot in the West cemetery, the I. O. O. F., of which he was a member, having charge of services at the grave.
Carl Vertrees, twin brother of Read, also came with the family to Pittsfield in 1882. He became prominent in the educational field, finally locating in the state of Washington, at Easton, and for many years was principal of the Easton schools. He was a successful science teacher and also took great interest in athletics, coaching numerous winning football and basketball teams.
Carl graduated from Shurtleff College in 1899. In 1900, at Upper Alton, he married Virginia Gilham. There were no children by this marriage. Following his graduation, he began teaching school. His first teaching was in White Hall and next in the high school at Decatur.
Later, Mr. Vertrees went to the state of Washington and began teaching in the schools of that state, his first school being near Renton, Washington. He taught also at North Yakima and Camis, Washington, and at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. His last school work was at Easton, Washington. He sponsored a state teachers' organization in Washington that was successful in raising teachers' salaries in that state.
In Washington, Mr. Vertrees married again, his second wife being Mabel Grosscup, a niece of the noted Judge Grosscup of Chicago. By this marriage there were two sons, John Paul and Benjamin Carl Vertrees. John Paul, 28, is an engineer and for some time has been located at the site of the Grand Coulee Dam, a huge government project in Washington which will take about four years more for completion. Temporarily he has been designated to supervise the designing work for Washington State fish hatcheries. The other son, Benjamin Carl, 24, resides in Ellensburgh, Washington, where he is a representative of the New York Life Insurance Company.
Carl Vertrees died of pneumonia in a hospital in Ellensburgh, Washington, January 25, 1930. He is buried at Spokane, the home of Mrs. Vertrees's parents, her father being a retired Presbyterian minister. Carl was an ardent supporter of the work of the Y. M. C. A., giving much of his time to the cause. He was a Mason and a member of the Knights of Pythias.
Jacob Royal Vertrees, fourth of the children of John Eaton Vertrees and Armida A. Ayre, was born July 16, 1873 at Edinburg, Missouri, and died the following September 27, seven days after the death of the mother, Armida A. Ayre Vertrees, who died September 20, 1873. Mother and child are buried at Edinburg.
On June 8, 1875, John Eaton Vertrees was again married, his second wife being Sophronia Jane Peery of Edinburg. She was born there July 16, 1851, a daughter of Robert Wallace and Elizabeth Eleanor Peery.
Mrs. Vertrees had attended the public schools of Edinburg and then enrolled in Grand River College from which she graduated. After graduation she taught in the public schools at Trenton, Missouri. She married Mr. Vertrees while he was serving as president of Grand River College.
By this marriage there were four children, namely: John Ernest, Herbert H., Anna Louise and Robert Peery Vertrees.
John Ernest Vertrees was born at Edinburg, Missouri August 15, 1876. Coming with his parents to Pittsfield in 1882, he attended the Pittsfield public schools and graduated from the high school in 1896. He taught school in Pike county and later took a business training course in Brown's Business College at Peoria. For several years he was employed as a field secretary for Brown's. Then he became identified with the Trulex Calendar & Novelty Company of New Jersey, as traveling salesman, which position he held until his death.
As a child he was baptized in the First Baptist church in Pittsfield. He was a 32nd degree Mason.
On June 9, 1927, John E. Vertrees, Jr. married Harriet Bierman of Peoria, a school teacher. They had no children. Mr. and Mrs. Vertrees, her brother, Ralph Bierman, and her brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. William Oepke, resided together in Peoria.
John Vertrees, Jr. died suddenly at his home in Peoria on July 5, 1934. He is buried in Spring Dale cemetery at Peoria. His widow resides at 908 North Jefferson Avenue, Peoria.
Herbert H. Vertrees, the second child in the second family, was born in Edinburg, Missouri, October 26, 1877, while his father was still president of Grand River College at that place. At the age of five, he came with his parents to Pittsfield, of which city he later became mayor. He attended the Pittsfield schools, then Shurtleff College, and later took a course at Brown's Business College at Jacksonville.
Along the great Illinois river course that bounds Pike county Herbert Vertrees as a boy sought fresh water pearls in the countless mussel shells that abounded along the shores. He became so absorbed in this pursuit that almost before he was aware he had acquired an intimate knowledge of fresh water pearling that made him a commanding authority on this subject. In fact, he came to be regarded as one of the foremost American authorities in this field.
Being a militant conservationist in all matters pertaining to wild life and natural resources, Vertrees turned his attention to the conservation of fresh water mussels and contacted numerous noted governmental leaders in his campaign for such conservation. In 1913 appeared his authoritative book, "Pearls and Pearling," regarded as a manual of authority by naturalists, hunters, trappers and fishers. The book went into a second edition in 1929.
Mr. Vertrees has also written many short magazine articles and has read papers before various groups in which he presented the need for conservation of the country's pearl resources. For years he was a pearl buyer for the firm of Valimohamed Abbahusein Motiwala and Company of Bombay, India.
Vertrees, descended from a warrior line and an ancestry that in Europe crusaded in ancient times for religious freedom, has also been active in efforts to strengthen national patriotism. He is responsible for the fourth Friday in each April being observed as patriotic conservation Day in various parts of the country, and in 1931 he went to Springfield and secured the incorporation under the laws of the state of Illinois of the American National Patriotic Society of which he is president. The ritual for this patriotic order was written by Mr. Vertrees.
Mr. Vertrees was twice elected mayor of the city of Pittsfield, in 1929 and 1933, and, along with his numerous activity, including Red Cross and Boy Scout work, he has been connected with the bookstore business carried on by his half-sister, Miss Lillia Vertrees.
Anna Louise Vertrees, third of the children of John Eaton and Sophronia Peery Vertrees, was born in Edinburg, Missouri, January 19, 1879. She died in Pittsfield October 29, 1882 and is buried in the Vertrees family plot in the Pittsfield West cemetery.
Robert Peery Vertrees, latest born of the eight children of John Eaton Vertrees, was born in Pittsfield November 1, 1887. He attended the Pittsfield schools and later became associated with Miss Lillia Vertrees in the conduct of the Vertrees Book Store. In 1920 he contracted influenza, which developed into pneumonia; he died in the People's Hospital in Chicago February 3, 1920. He is buried in the Pittsfield West cemetery.
John Eaton Vertrees, coming to Pittsfield with his family in 1882, took charge of the old city custom mill which stood at the corner of East Washington and Illinois Streets, east of the public square. He operated this mill for several years and later, after disposing of the mill, engaged in the real estate business. Then, in 1890, he and his son Read opened a little notion store at the northwest corner of the square. This business grew rapidly. Read, after his graduation from high school, was taken into full partnership and the store was moved to larger quarters in the old Dickson building on the north side of the square, where James Clark's Daily Cleaners establishment and Mrs. Clark's Dainty Dress Shop are now located. The Vertrees store became known far and wide as The People's Store, and for years had a large and satisfied patronage.
The People's Store continued to operate under the Vertrees management until the fall of 1912 and in the spring of 1913 the stock was sold to T. H. Willhite & Son. In this trade Mr. Vertrees acquired a dozen residence properties in Decatur, Illinois, which he superintended for some time. In 1915 he acquired a cotton plantation of 960 acres in Concordia Parish in the state of Louisiana. This was known as Orchard Grove Plantation. Mr. Vertrees went to Louisiana to supervise this plantation, a work later assumed by his son, Herbert. The elder Vertrees suffered impairment of health in Louisiana. He later disposed of this plantation.
Returning to Pittsfield, he made this city his home the remaining years of his life. He died in Pittsfield on January 12, 1920 and is buried in the West cemetery. A Civil War veteran's marker at his grave records him as a corporal in Company D, 133rd Illinois Infantry.
John Eaton Vertrees was prominent in the Pittsfield Baptist church and influential in all civic and religious movements. He was a life-long Prohibitionist, and an uncompromising one, advocating the principles of the Prohibition Party at a time when its members were considered in many quarters as fanatics. He was fearless in espousing causes in which he believed; with unswerving faith he held to the course that he considered right. His rugged integrity was as a rock in the community.
Mr. Vertrees' widow survived for many years. Born in Missouri July 16, 1851, she died in her home in Pittsfield September 13, 1934, aged 83. She is buried in Pittsfield West cemetery. Early in life she had united with the Baptist church. She was a prominent member of the W. C. T. U. in Pittsfield.
In the Pittsfield West cemetery lies also the body of Mrs. Vertrees's sister, Dr. Margaret Eleanor Peery, who was born at Edinburg, Missouri, August 19, 1856, and who died in Butte, Montana, September 19, 1903. She had come with the Vertrees family to Pittsfield in 1882, after her graduation from Grand River College of which Mr. Vertrees had been president. She taught school in Pittsfield and Roodhouse, and in 1897 she graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa. She then practiced as nurse and physician in Pittsfield and Carthage, Illinois, Monticello, Missouri, and Keokuk, Iowa. On September 1, 1903, she and her nephew, Herbert H. Vertrees, started for the northwest and at Butte, Montana, she was suddenly seized with acute pleurisy and died there.
Herbert H. Vertrees and Miss Lillia Vertrees still reside in the old home of the Vertreeses at the corner of Jefferson Street and Memorial Avenue in Pittsfield. This house, once the home of the Colonel Rosses, is one of the oldest residences now standing in Pittsfield. It was built by Colonel William Ross, founder of Atlas, in 1835, and was then one of the finest private dwellings in the old Military Tract, its large rooms, wide halls and lofty ceilings being the admiration of all.