Biography - Samuel H. Rees
SAMUEL H. REES. The modern pharmacist is a man of many callings, for he
is expected to bear upon his shoulders the burden and responsibilities of
others, and not only must he understand his own profession thoroughly, but
he must be able to rectify and detect the occasional blunders of the medical
fraternity, to give kindly advice to those unwilling or unable to call in a
physician, and to at all times place his establishment and time at the
disposal of the general public. The course of training is long and arduous
and the fitting up of a modern store expensive, and no other line of human
endeavor demands such prolonged hours of service, so that the pharmacist of
today, in order to be successful, must be a man whose love of his chosen
vocation is placed above all other things. One who has proven worthy of the
trust and confidence placed in him, and a man who has been prominent in
public life, is Samuel H. Rees, owner of the only pharmacy at Belknap, a man
than whom there is no more highly esteemed nor popular citizen in the
community. He was born on a farm in Jackson county, Illinois, March 11,
1861, and is a son of the late Dr. Alonzo P. and Jane (Krews) Rees.
James L. Rees, the grandfather of Samuel H. Rees, was a native of Virginia,
of German descent, who migrated to Tennessee and thence to Jackson county,
Illinois, where he became one of the earliest settlers. Dr. Alonzo P. Rees
was born and reared in Tennessee, and as . a young man took up the study of
medicine, which he practiced for many years in Jackson, Johnson and Pulaski
counties. He was one of the earliest practitioners of this section, and at
the time of his death, in 1887, when he was fifty-eight years of age, no man
was better known or more sincerely liked in this part of the state. His
wife, who bore the maiden name of Jane Krews, was born and reared in Jackson
county, and died in 1895, at the age of fifty-six years. They had a family
of seven children, as follows: Samuel H.; John D., who is engaged in the
clothing and general merchandise business at Owensboro, Kentucky; H. F., who
is a United States rural free delivery carrier; Mary D., the wife of Samuel
D. Peeler, one of the leading agriculturists of Cache township; Martha P.,
wife of T. E. Williamson, of Claremore, Oklahoma; Anna, the wife of J. D.
Copeland, of Blythesville, Arkansas; and Nellie, the wife of W. P. Weeks, of
Joppa, Illinois. Samuel H. Rees spent his boyhood on the home farm and
attended the district schools until he was fifteen years of age, at which
time he came to Belknap and secured employment as a clerk in the drug store,
also attending school in the winter and doing sawmill work until he was
twenty years of age. In 1881 he took a position in a drug store at Vienna,
where he remained until 1884, and then went to Murphysboro, where he
followed the same line until the summer of 1886. At this time he came to
Belknap and purchased the business which he has continued to conduct for the
past quarter of a century, his popularity being so great with the people of
his community that no rival establishment has offered competition. Until
1910 he was the owner of a farm near Belknap, but in that year disposed of
it, and he also has engaged in life insurance work, but the major part of
his attention has been given to his pharmacy. He has a full and up-to-date
line of drugs, proprietary medicines, and other articles usually found in a
first-class drug establishment, and his business extends all over Belknap
and the surrounding country. He is the owner of his own residence and the
building in which his business is carried on. A stanch Republican, Mr. Rees
has, up to a year or so ago, taken an active interest in the success of his
party, in the ranks of which he has ever been a willing and faithful worker.
Enjoying to the fullest degree the friendship and confidence of the men high
up in the councils of the party, he has always sought rather to assist his
friends than himself, although at various times he has been mayor, alderman
and school director of Belknap, and has shown marked executive ability. He
started in life without a dollar, his business in Belknap having been opened
on borrowed capital, with no other security than his personal word, but he
was soon able to repay the loan and to build up a profitable business. He
has been, however, a man of many charities, and in giving assistance to his
friends has often embarrassed himself in a financial way. A faithful member
of the Methodist Episcopal church, Mr. Rees has been liberal in supporting
its movements, and, being a modest, unassuming and unostentatious man, the
extent of his charities will probably never be known. Fraternally he is
popular with the members of the Masons, the Modern Woodmen of America, the
Odd Fellows and the Tribe of Ben Hur, to all of which he belongs. During ing
President Cleveland's first administration Mr. Rees was appointed postmaster
at Belknap, and again, on August 1, 1902, he received the appointment to
that position, serving therein until April 15, 1911.
In 1885 Mr. Rees was married to Miss Ella Hartman, of Chester, Illinois,
daughter of Tobias and Mary A. Hartman, the former of whom is now deceased,
while the latter resides in Washington, D. C., and six children have been
born to this union, namely: Walter A., a Methodist minister at Gillette,
Arkansas, who is married and has a son, William; Guy H., a barber by trade,
and now an attendant at the hospital at Kankakee; Mrs. Blanche Carter, who
has one child, Glen; Theodore, a carpenter by trade, who resides at
Gillette, Arkansas; and Edith and Helen, who reside at home with their
parents.
Extracted 14 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, volume 2, pages 736-737.
