The efforts of the subject of this sketch have proven of the greatest
value to his fellow citizens as well as to himself. He has shaped his career
along worthy lines, and they have been discerningly directed along
well-defined channels of endeavor. He is a man of distinct and forceful
individuality, of marked sagacity, of undaunted enterprise, and in manner he
is genial, courteous and easily approached. His career has ever been such as
to warrant the trust and confidence of the business world and his activity
in industrial, commercial and financial circles, forms no unimportant
chapter in the history of Clay county.
Bennett M. Maxey, publisher of
the Flora Journal, was born in Johnsonville, Wayne county, Illinois,
November 25, 1856, the son of Joshua C. Maxey, a native of Jefferson county,
this state, where he spent the greater part of his life on a farm. He was a
sergeant in Company I, Forty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and took
part in the battles of Pittsburg Landing, siege of Vicksburg and other noted
battles. He was killed while in service at Louisville, Kentucky, near the
close of the war. He was regarded by his comrades as a brave and gallant
soldier. Bennett Maxey, the subject's paternal grandfather, was one of the
original settlers of Jefferson county, where he devoted his life to farming,
and lived to an advanced age. Our subject is a descendant of a prominent
pioneer family of Jefferson county. The subject's mother was Elvira A.
Galbraith, whose people were early settlers of Wayne county. She passed to
her rest in 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Joshua C. Maxey were the parents of five
children, three of whom are living at this writing. They are Bennett M.,
Mrs. Belle Sanders, of Du Quoin, Illinois, and Mrs. Mattie Vickrey, of
Missoula, Montana.
Mrs. Maxey was educated in the common schools of
Johnsonville, Wayne county, and in Xenia, Clay county. He also attended
school in Valparaiso, Indiana, having graduated from that institution in
1880, completing the teacher's course. After leaving the university he
taught school for five years. In 1881 he engaged in the drug business at
Xenia which he conducted until 1887, when he sold out and went to
California, where he remained for four years, engaged in the real estate
business and ranching. He returned to Clay county in 1889 and located in
Flora, where he has since resided. He was associated with J. L. Black in the
real estate and insurance business until 1898, in which year he launched in
the mercantile business in which he engaged until 1904, when he bought The
Southern Illinois Journal, the leading local paper of Flora, which he has
continued to manage up to this writing with increasing success.
Mr.
Maxey has other interests of various natures, being interested financially
in several local enterprises. He has served as City Alderman, during which
time he looked well to the city's development in every way possible.
Mr. Maxey was united in marriage in 1880, to Rosa Tully, of Xenia, a native
of Clay county. No children have been born to this union.
In his
fraternal relations, our subject is a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, the Masonic Fraternity and the Order of Eastern Star. Both he and
Mrs. Maxey are members of the Methodist church. In politics he is a
Republican and always loyal to its policies. His paper is an important
factor in local political affairs. It is on a good footing and the plant is
well equipped and modern, having a cylinder press and gas power. Mr. Maxey
owns the building in which the plant is located, and he also owns his
residence property. He deserves a great deal of credit for what he has
accomplished, for his success in the various lines of business he has
followed has been won in the face of obstacles and by his unaided efforts.
Extracted 27 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from 1909 Biographical and Reminiscent History of Richland, Clay & Marion Counties, Illinois, pages 104-105.
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