The scope of a man's usefulness is to be determined by his own metewand;
his success in connection with the practical duties and responsibilities
of life is determined by his intrinsic powers and the application of the
same. Popular appreciation of the value of a man’s labors is given with
no equivocal verdict. The pertinence of these statements is clearly
shown in the career of Lewis B. Pulley, who is one of the well known and
highly esteemed citizens of his native county and whose hold upon
popular confidence and esteem in the same is evidenced by the fact that
he is the only county official of Williamson county who has to his
credit and distinction three successive elections to office. He is
circuit clerk of Williamson county and is now nearing the close of his
third term in this important position, his administration of the affairs
of which has been marked by carefulness, fidelity and distinctive
executive ability.
Mr. Pulley was born on a farm in East Marion
township formerly Crab Orchard precinct, Williamson county, Illinois,
seven miles east of Marion, the judicial center of the county, and the
date of his nativity was September 8, 1856. He is a son of Washington
and Eliza (Owen) Pulley, the former of whom was born in Lunenburg
county, Virginia, in 1818, and the latter of whom was born in the state
of Tennessee. Washington Pulley was a son of William Pulley, who came
from the Old Dominion state in an early day and numbered himself among
the pioneer settlers of Williamson county, Illinois, where he secured a
tract of government land and reclaimed a farm. Here both he and his wife
passed the remainder of their lives and their names merit enduring place
on the roster of the sterling pioneers of this section of the state.
William Pulley died several years prior to the inception of the Civil
war, and the remains of both him and his wife were laid to rest near
their old home in East Marion township.
Washington Pulley was a
child at the time of the family removal from Virginia to Illinois and
was reared to manhood in Williamson county, where he had his full quota
of experience in connection with the trials and hardships of the pioneer
epoch. His educational advantages were necessarily limited, owing to the
exigencies of time and place, but he became a man of strong character
and well extended mental ken. He secured from the public domain a tract
of land and with the passing of years succeeded in bringing his farm,
which was not a large one, into such productiveness as to yield adequate
returns and provide for the wants of himself and his family, the old
homestead farm being now owned by his son Lewis B., whose name initiates
this review. His sterling attributes of character ever commanded to him
the high regard of his fellow men and he was one of the well known and
popular citizens of East Marion township until his death, which occurred
in the year 1880. In politics he was originally a Whig, but upon the
organization of the Republican party he allied himself therewith. He was
a great admirer and strong supporter of President Lincoln, and though it
was not permitted him to serve as a soldier in the Civil war he did all
in his power to further the cause of the Union during that climacteric
period of the nation's history. Both he and his wife were devout and
consistent members of the Christian church. The devoted wife and mother
survived her husband by nearly a quarter of a century and was summoned
to eternal rest in 1904, at the venerable age of eighty-two years. Her
father, William Owen, came from Tennessee to Illinois in an early day
and settled in Williamson county, which continued to be his home until
his death.
Washington and Eliza (Owen) Pulley became the parents
of eight children, concerning whom the following brief data are given as
a consistent portion of this sketch: Mary is the wife of William L.
Hern, of Carbondale, this state; John T. died in Williamson county,
leaving a family; Eliza is the wife of Thomas Davis, of Marion,
Williamson county, where J. M., the next in order of birth, also
resides; Amanda is the wife of James Hearn, of Marion; Lewis B. is the
immediate subject of this review; Miss Susan likewise maintains her home
in Marion; and Eldridge S. is a prosperous farmer near the old
homestead.
Lewis B. Pulley passed his childhood and youth under
the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the farm on which he was born,
and his early educational discipline was secured in the, district
schools. His higher academic training was secured in the Southern
Illinois Normal University, and as his sphere of manual activities was
curtailed through an accident which necessitated the amputation of his
left arm, when he was nineteen years of age, he early formulated plans
for entering a vocation in which this physical handicap would not
figure. Alert and appreciative as a student, he prepared himself for the
work of the pedagogic profession, and in this important field of
endeavor he gained success and popularity of no uncertain order, as he
brought to bear ambition, energy, self-control and a well disciplined
mind. He began teaching in the district schools soon after attaining to
his legal majority and with this phase of educational work he continued
to be successfully identified for a period of fourteen years, the
greater part of his service having been in the country schools.
During these years of earnest and effective endeavor Mr. Pulley had
firmly entrenched himself in the confidence and esteem of the people of
his native county, and in 1900 he first appeared as an aspirant for
public office. He sought nomination as the Republican candidate for
circuit clerk and in the nominating convention defeated two strong
competitors.
He was elected to the office in November of that
year and upon the expiration of his regular terra of four years this
effectiveness and acceptability of his services were most emphatically
shown in his nomination without opposition and by his election by a most
gratifying majority. At the next election, that of 1908, candidates for
the office seemed to spring up all over the county, like soldiers from
the dragon-teeth sowed by Cadmus, and notwithstanding the spirited
opposition thus brought to bear Mr. Pulley was decisively victorious in
both the nominating convention and the ensuing election, in which
latter, as already stated, he had the distinction of being the first
county officer of Williamson county to be elected for a third successive
term. Under these conditions further words to mark the efficiency of his
administration and the popular verdict passed upon the same are not
demanded. In politics Mr. Pulley has ever been arrayed as a stalwart in
the camp of the Republican party and he is well fortified in his
convictions and opinions as to matters of public policy. As a
broad-minded and loyal citizen he takes especially deep interest in all
that touches the material and social welfare of his home city and native
county, and he has resided in Marion since 1900, when he was first
elected to his present office. He and his family are members of the
Christian church and are active in the support of the various
departments of its work.
On the 14th of October, 1886, in the
neighborhood in which he was reared, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Pulley to Miss Annie L. Tidwell, one of the eight children born to Dr.
John F. and Martha J. (0’Neal) Tidwell, who came from Tennessee and
established their "home in Williamson county in the pioneer days. In
conclusion of this review is entered brief record concerning the
children of Mr. and Mrs. Pulley: Lula B. is the wife of Leslie O.
Caplinger, and both are deputies in the office of her father; Walter L.,
who was graduated in the department of pharmacy of the Northwestern
University, is engaged in the drug business at Chicago; Guy L. likewise
is a druggist by profession and is identified with this line of
enterprise at Murphysboro, Jackson county; and Leamon T. remains at the
parental home. Mr. Pulley is a member of the Elks fraternity,
affiliating with Marion lodge, No. 800.
Extracted from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, by George W. Smith, volume 2, page 999.