Biography - Noel Whitehead
HON. NOEL WHITEHEAD. Among men everywhere there must always be leaders.
Persons not naturally demonstrative to too great a degree, with a high
regard for the rights of others, and possessing proper ideas as to the best
means of advancing the interests of their communities, are doubtless best
fitted for leadership. They do not always attain to that position, but when
they do their very character serves as a guarantee that the tasks intrusted
to them will be well and faithfully performed, and that portion of the world
which comes under their influence will be bettered in its condition because
of their services. Noel Whitehead, whose admirable administration of affairs
in discharging the duties of the office of mayor of Vienna has established
the wisdom of the assertion that he would prove as able an official as he
has a business man, although still a young man, has had a remarkably busy
career and is connected with some of the leading industries of this section
in an official capacity. Mayor Whitehead was born March 7, 1874, in Tunnel
Hill, Johnson county, Illinois, and is a son of Sylvester and Mary (Brooks)
Whitehead.
Sylvester Whitehead was born in the state of Arkansas, in 1849, and came to
Johnson county, Illinois, in 1854 with his father, James Whitehead, and his
brother, John, who served in the Civil War four years under General John A.
Logan, participating in the battles of Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge,
Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and various other smaller engagements, and
participated in Sherman's famous "March to the Sea." He died in 1906. The
grandfather of Mayor Whitehead was engaged in agricultural pursuits in
Johnson county for the remainder of his life, and his son Sylvester was
reared to the life of a farmer, but forsook the soil to engage in mercantile
pursuits in the town of Tunnel Hill. He served as postmaster at that point
for many years, was a successful business man, and became the owner of much
valuable property, and at the time of his death, September 1, 1909, was one
of his section's most highly esteemed citizens. Mr. Whitehead married Mary
Brooks, who was born in 1849 and died in 1898, and they had a family of four
children, of whom three died in infancy.
Noel Whitehead attended the public schools of Tunnell Hill, the Cape
Girardeau (Missouri) Normal School and the Southern Illinois Normal
University, and in the spring of 1893 completed a business course at Quincy,
Illinois. He then entered into partnership with his father in the mercantile
business, where for two years he served as assistant postmaster, and in 1895
came to Vienna and became assistant cashier of the First National Bank, of
which his father at that time was vice-president. In July, 1898, he returned
to Tunnel Hill, where he took charge of the business, retaining his interest
therein until 1906, in the meantime maintaining a residence at Vienna. Since
April, 1910, Mr. Whitehead has been connected with the Egyptian Land and
Loan Company, of which he was one of the organizers, the present corporation
consisting of D. Esco Walker, C. W. Mills and Mr. Whitehead. The company
does a large general land and loan business, and has holdings throughout
this part of the state. Mr. Whitehead is the owner of fourteen hundred acres
of Johnson county farming land, is a stockholder in the First National Bank
of Vienna, and has varied interests all over this section. He has all the
essential qualities of a successful business man. Quick to perceive, ready
to act, he meets minor business questions with quiet ease, while, careful to
act rightly, larger matters are the subject of his full consideration.
Honorable and honest in affairs, thoroughly informed on general business
questions, logical in reasoning, considerate and broad in his judgment of
general business conditions and tendencies, and a most certain and intuitive
judge of the character of men, Mr. Whitehead proved his capability to
successfully handle his own affairs, and the people of Vienna were quick to
see that he would be equally successful in handling the affairs of the city.
In April, 1911, he was elected to the mayoralty chair, and his
administration has shown that his fellow citizens' confidence was not
misplaced. Mayor Whitehead is very well known in fraternal circles,
belonging to the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Consistory of the Masonic order;
the Independent Order Odd Fellows, the Knight of Pythias, Marion Lodge No.
800, Benevolent Protective Order Elks, and the Order of the Eastern Star,
while his wife is a well known member of the Daughters of the American
Revolution.
On August 21, 1893, Mr. Whitehead was married to Estella Chapman, daughter
of Pleasant T. and Mary Chapman, and three children have been born to this
union: Noel Paul, Clinton Sylvester and Mary Estella. Noel Paul is attending
a private military academy at Staunton, Virginia, while the other children
are students in the Vienna public schools.
Extracted 14 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, volume 2, pages 787-788.
