CAPTAIN NAPOLEON B. THISTLEWOOD. For upwards of forty years a power in
the business and political life of Southern Illinois, Hon. Napoleon
Bonaparte Thistlewood, of Cairo, is now representing the Twenty-fifth
Illinois district in Congress, and in the councils of the nation is pursuing
such an active and honorable course as to win the hearty approval of his
constituents, his ability and courtesy being undoubted. A son of Benjamin
Thistlewood, he was born March 20, 1837, near Milford, Delaware, where the
immigrant ancestor of the American family of Thistlewood settled on coming
to this country from Scotland in early colonial days.
Benjamin
Thistlewood, whose father. James Thistlewood, was a lifelong resident of
Delaware, was born in 1807, and died in his native state September 25, 1881.
He led a busy, uneventful life, carrying on farming on a modest scale, in
the meantime grinding the grain raised by his neighbors upon the burrs of
his water mill. He cast his first presidential vote in favor of General
Jackson, and after the formation of the Republican party was one of its most
ardent adherents. His first wife, whose name was Eliza Marvel, died at the
age of forty-two years, having borne him five children, as follows: Mrs.
Annie E. Vinyard, who spent her entire life in Delaware; Napoleon Bonaparte,
the subject of this brief biographical record; Philip J., of Cairo,
Illinois, who at his death, which was caused by a railway accident, left a
family; Benjamin F., who died in Delaware, also leaving a family; and Mrs.
Mary Vinyard, of Milford, Delaware. A few years after the death of his first
wife Benjamin Thistlewood married a Miss Hammon, and among the children they
reared were the following named: Mrs. Sarah Nelson, Mrs. Wilhelmina Jacobs,
Theodore, and Albert, all of whom are residents of Delaware.
Growing
to manhood on the old home farm, Napoleon B. Thistlewood laid a substantial
foundation for his future education in the rural schools of his native town,
in the meantime assisting his father on the farm and in the mill, and
developing his natural mechanical talent by keeping in repair the old dam
used to conserve the water power that moved the mill's machinery. As a young
man he began his career as a school teacher in the country schools of
Delaware, and, foreseeing the development of the Mississippi valley, came,
as soon as he had saved enough money to pay his way, to Illinois, locating
at Collinsville in 1858. After teaching school in that vicinity for three
years, Mr. Thistlewood accepted a position as teacher in Mason, Effingham
county, Illinois.
Abandoning the desk in 1862, Mr. Thistlewood
enlisted in Company C, Ninety-eighth Illinois Mounted Infantry. His
regiment, which became a part of General Reynolds' Division of the Army of
the Cumberland, went into active service, as cavalrymen, near Murfreesboro,
Tennessee, and on June 24, 1862, fought at the battle of Hoover's Gap or
Tullahoma. The next engagement of importance in which the regiment
participated was at Chickamauga, Georgia, and the following was in
Farmington, the same state. Subsequently, after one hundred days of
fighting, Atlanta, the- Confederate stronghold, surrendered, and the gallant
Ninety-eighth Illinois Regiment turned back with General Thomas, and after
spending a short time at Gravel Springs started on the Wilson raid. In the
battle at Selma, Alabama, in the spring of 1865, Captain Thistlewood, who
had been promoted from the ranks to the head of his company, was wounded,
but was able to command his company at the assault upon Columbus, Georgia,
the last engagement fought east of the Mississippi during the Civil war.
Being honorably discharged from the service July 7, 1865, at Springfield,
Illinois, the Captain, who with the exception of a brief period had been a
member of General Wilder's famous brigade, returned to his former home in
Effingham county.
Captain Thistlewood subsequently made a visit to
his boyhood home in Delaware, and on returning to Illinois again assumed the
teacher's profession, and taught for a year, after which he embarked in the
grain business at Mason. Coming from there to Cairo in 1872, he continued in
the same business, being in partnership with his brother, Philip J.
Thistlewood, until the brother's death, as previously mentioned. The Captain
dealt in grain, and handled farm products, including tobacco, for many
years, his son being associated with him the latter part of the time. On
retiring from commercial pursuits Captain Thistlewood entered the political
arena, and has since given his time and talents in generous measure to
public affairs.
A strong advocate of Republican doctrines, the
Captain has ever manifested a warm interest in public affairs, whether
relating to city, county, state or the nation. He served acceptably for five
years in the city council, and in 1879 was elected mayor and re-elected to
the same position in 1881. When he first assumed the mayor's chair, Cairo
was found to be deeply involved in debt, a situation that could be remedied
by direct taxation only, for the immediate payment of outstanding
obligations, but the plan of issuing twenty year bonds was adopted, and the
credit of the city maintained. It was during his mayoralty, in 1882, that
occurred the memorable flood that threatened the very existence of the town,
arousing the fear of the business and professional men, who joined the
laborers in carrying sacks of dirt upon their backs to raise the levee above
the surface of the waters of the Ohio river. The subsequent work of Mayor
Thistlewood in the improvement of the levee was one of the important
achievements of his administration, and proved so effective that the safety
of the city from an overflow has never since been endangered. The
municipality spent a hundred thousand dollars upon this work, and the
railroads added fifty thousand dollars in the accomplishment of a situation
that should render the southern end of Alexander county immune from further
encroachments of the watery elements. In 1897 Captain Thistlewood was again
chosen mayor of the city, and two years later received an endorsement at the
polls for a second term, his service as business head of the corporation
aggregating in all eight years.
Captain Thistlewood was elected a
congressman to fill out the unexpired term of Hon. George P. Smith, and
served with such a good record that he was elected to the House of
Representatives in both the Sixtyfirst Congress of the United States, and
the Sixty-second Congress. His interest in the work of securing pensions for
his war comrades prompted his appointment on the committee on invalid
pensions, and he has devoted all of his time and energies to the
encouragement of legislation that will place the ex-soldier of the Civil war
beyond the possibility of want during the few brief years still left him on
earth. He supported the well-known "Sulloway bill" most vigorously, and
hoped for its passage in the Senate, after the house had given it a good
majority, but it fell a victim of interests antagonistic to the brave old
soldier.
For many years Captain Thistlewood was a prominent and
influential worker in the affairs of the Grand Army of the Republic,
becoming a state factor in its membership, and being elected, in 1901,
department commander of Illinois. He is a frequent attendant at the national
encampments of the order, and its society is the only one on which his name
is enrolled.
On September 6, 1866, Captain Thistlewood was united in
marriage with Sarah A. Taylor, of Mason, Illinois, a daughter of Seth B.
Taylor, a wagon maker by trade and a native of Ohio. Two children have been
born to Captain and Mrs. Thistlewood, namely: Benjamin R., who married
Hattie Gibson, died in February, 1910; and Blanche. The Captain and his
family are communicants of the Methodist church.
Extracted 06 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 History of Southern Illinois, Volume 3, pages 1551-1553.
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