W. E. CHAMBERS is one of the wide-awake and enterprising young business
men of Murphysboro, now engaged in general merchandising. He comes from a
southern family. His father, C. C. Chambers, was a native of Virginia, and
when a young man emigrated to Tennessee, where he met and married Martha
Draughon, a native of Robinson County, that state, and a daughter of John
Draughon. Mr. Chambers then turned his attention to farming, which he
continued for many years. He is still living in Tennessee, at the advanced
age of ninety, and with one exception he is the oldest man in the county. He
formerly owned over four hundred acres of land. He served as one of the
County Commissioners and is an honored and respected citizen. Mrs. Chambers
passed away in 1878, leaving five children, all of whom yet survive.
Our subject was born in Robinson County, Tenn., January 22, 1849, was
reared on his father's farm, and in the common schools acquired his
education. He continued under the parental roof until 1869, when he began
clerking in a store near his home. The following year he went to
Springfield, Tenn., where he was a clerk in a dry-goods store until January
22, 1871, when he went to Carbondale, Ill., and soon afterward came to
Murphysboro. Here he embarked in the wholesale liquor business with D. T.
Garrett, continuing operations along that line for five years, when, during
the panic of 1876, they were forced to close out their business. With
characteristic energy, however, Mr. Chambers opened a grocery store in the
Fox Building, on Main Street, and to that trade devoted his energies until
1882, when he built the store which he now occupies, and formed a
partnership with John M. Reeder, since deceased. Subsequently S. W. Gill
purchased the interest of Mr. Reeder, and the firm of Chambers & Gill did
business until September, 1891, when our subject purchased his partner's
interest. He is one of the oldest merchants in years of continuous trade in
Murphysboro. He also has some real-estate interests in this city.
Mr. Chambers was united in marriage in 1874, with Miss Mary, daughter of H.
H. Fox, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work, and who is a native of
Somerset Township. Their union has been blessed with a daughter and a son,
Nannie D. and Walter H.
In his political views Mr. Chambers is a
Democrat. He served as Jailer of Murphysboro from 1880 to 1882, and was a
member of the first School Board of the city, which position he filled for
four years. During this time the new west side school house and the high
school building were erected. The cause of education has ever found in him a
warm friend and he has done much for its advancement. For two years he was
Alderman of the Second Ward, and his influence was ever given for the
promotion of those enterprises which were calculated to prove of public
benefit. During that time the electric lights and water works were
established and the sewerage system laid. Public-spirited and progressive,
he is a citizen whom Murphysboro could ill afford to lose.
Extracted 01 Aug 2020 by Norma Hass from 1894 Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry, and Monroe Counties, Illinois, pages 695-696.