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
unostentations 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 from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, by George W. Smith, volume 2, page 736.