Biography - Charles W. Mills
CHARLES W. MILLS. It is to such safe, sane and conservative business men
as Charles W. Mills, of Vienna, that Johnson county owes its present
prosperous condition. Those whose only interest in business lies in looking
after personal gains do little or nothing to advance their communities, but
the men who have the welfare of their section at heart so conduct their
operations as to build up and develop the resources of the country about
them, thus opening up a wider field for the prosecution of undertakings
calculated to bring out the best interests of the localities in which they
live. Mr. Mills, the former clerk and recorder of Johnson county, and a
member of the well known real estate concern of the Egyptian Land and Loan
Company, was born in Vienna township, Johnson county, Illinois, November 1,
1873, and is a son of Elihu and Mary (Houston) Mills.
Elihu Mills was born in 1831, in Jefferson county, Tennessee, and migrated
to Illinois when he was sixteen years of age with his father, John Mills,
whose wife bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Manley. They first settled in
Grantsburg township, in 1847, taking up a tract of government timber land
and making a comfortable home in which to rear their family. Thirteen years
after settling in Illinois Elihu Mills contracted his first marriage, and in
1864 he was married (second) to Mary Houston, who was born and reared in
Johnson county. Directly after his marriage Mr. Mills settled on a farm in
Vienna township, and for more than forty years carried on agricultural
operations in that section, becoming widely and favorably known. He reared a
family of four sons and two daughters, as follows: Mrs. Margaret Dixon; P.
N.; Elizabeth, who died in 1882, at the age of thirteen years; Albert W., a
farmer of Grantsburg township; Charles W.; and A. Otto, a farmer and teacher
in Vienna township, residing on the old homestead. Charles W. Mills remained
on the farm and attended the district schools until he was seventeen years
of age, at which time he entered the Vienna High school, and in 1890 became
an educator, teaching in various parts of Southern Illinois for twelve
years. While not teaching he pursued his advanced studies in the Southern
Illinois Normal School at Carbondale, and in 1903 and 1904 resided on the
farm. In March of the latter year Mr. Mills was nominated on the Republican
ticket for the office of circuit clerk and recorder, and during the fall of
the same year was elected to that office, running two hundred and twenty-two
votes ahead of his ticket. This office had never paid its running expenses
until Mr. Mills was elected, and at the first semi-annual report he turned
over one hundred and ninety-two dollars over and above the running expenses,
and continued to do so until at the end of the term he had raised the sum to
over two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars, something unknown to
Johnson county prior to Mr. Mills' official career. He served for four years
in that office, and in 1908 accepted the general agency for the Franklin
Life Insurance Company. His district covers seven counties in Southern
Illinois. During his term as clerk and recorder of Johnson county Mr. Mills
established himself in the real estate and loan business, thus gaining
considerable valuable experience which he was to find of great help to him
in his later and larger operations. He is the owner of one hundred and
twenty acres of fine land, one and one-half miles east of Vienna, which he
operates as a general farm, and also possesses one of Vienna's handsome
residences. He has been a member of the I. 0. 0. F. lodge since 1900, and is
now connected with the Encampment, and during the past twenty years has been
a valued member and consistent attendant of the Christian church.
On December 2, 1905, Mr. Mills was united in marriage with Miss Flarra Luna,
in Iron county, Missouri. Mrs. Mills, who for five years taught school in
her native county, is a daughter of James F. Luna, who served in the Civil
war and died soon thereafter of disease contracted while swimming a river
while on a march in the midst of winter. His widow, who was Miss Mary J.
Mangum, still survives and makes her home in Iron county, Missouri. Mr. and
Mrs. Mills have two bright, interesting children: Mary C., who is five years
old; and Lewis W., who is three.
The Egyptian Land and Loan Company was organized April 1, 1910, by Charles
W. Mills, D. Esco Walker and Noel Whitehead, the latter now mayor of Vienna,
for the purpose of buying and selling lands and making farm loans.
Capitalized at fifty thousand dollars, its operations extend throughout
Southern Illinois and reach the southwest and western portions of the
country, also including lands in Wisconsin, Michigan, Dakota, Arkansas and
Missouri. The concern is a member of the National Real Estate Dealers
Association, this membership giving the firm rights and abilities to place a
prospective buyer in touch with land in any part of the United States.
Business is done on a fair and substantial basis, with equally advantageous
conditions for both buyer and seller, and the personal element, as far as is
possible, is injected into each transaction. Loans are made on a safe basis,
and as all of the partners are men of stability and business integrity, with
years of experience behind them, the firm stands high in realty circles and
commands the fullest confidence of the general public. Personally Mr. Mills
is a genial, whole-souled man, who has never made an enemy intentionally,
and who counts his friends by the hundreds.
Extracted 14 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, volume 2, pages 673-674.
