Macoupin County
ILGenWeb

Biography - H. O. PINKERTON

There are some men who seem born for success and advance steadily in any vocation to which they devote their attention. They are blessed with clear judgment and are incited to effort by an ambition which is satisfied with nothing short of the full accomplishment of worthy objects. H. O. Pinkerton, who is identified with the clothing and men’s outfitting business at Gillespie, belongs to the class thus briefly outlined. Born at Indianapolis, Indiana, September 25, 1875, he is a son of Thomas and Lucy (Russell) Pinkerton, the former of whom was born at Coshocton, Ohio, and the latter in Montgomery county, Illinois. The father came to Nokomis, Montgomery county, Illinois, when he was a young man and engaged as a barber in that place where he resided for a number of years. There he was married to Miss Lucy Russell and in 1884 or 1885 he removed with his family to Kingman, Kansas, where he continued about ten years. He then went to El Reno, Oklahoma, and was a citizen of that place at the time of his death, about 1901. The mother was married in 1909 to A. S. Hollingsworth and is now living with her husband in Pasadena, California.

H. O. Pinkerton secured his education in the common schools of Nokomis and at the age of fifteen he began his business experience as a clerk in the store of J. W. Russell, of Nokomis, an uncle on his mother’s side. Mr. Russell is one of the old merchants of the town and has been in business there since 1870. For eight years Mr. Pinkerton continued with his uncle, during which time he gained a practical knowledge of mercantile affairs. He was then placed in charge of a branch store of his uncle, at Hillsboro, but after a little over a year gave up his position in order to become traveling salesman for a Chicago furnishing goods house. He represented this concern to the satisfaction of his employers, in northern Illinois and the state of Iowa, for a period of four years, making an extensive acquaintance among some of the most flourishing business men throughout the region in which he traveled. In 1904, having decided to begin business on his own account, he retired from the road and opened a clothing and gents’ furnishing establishment at Gillespie, since which time he has been prominently identified with the business interests of the community and is recognized as one of its reliable and progressive citizens.

In October, 1903, Mr. Pinkerton was married to Miss Isa Miller, a daughter of Judge Amos Miller, of Hillsboro, and a granddaughter of Judge J. E. Rice, who for many years presided upon the district bench at Carlinville. One child, Amos Miller, has been born to this union.

Mr. and Mrs. Pinkerton are valued members of the Lutheran church and are well known socially in this city. Mr. Pinkerton gives his support to the democratic party and served for three years as a member of the school board, being also a member of the building committee at the time the new schoolhouse was erected. He is actively connected with the Knights of Pythias of Gillespie and also with the Commercial Club, being vice-president of that body, and he can claim a large and increasing circle of acquaintances who admire him for his upright character and friendly disposition. He has been from his youth active and capable in business and prosperity has come to him as the direct result of his untiring industry and sound business judgment.


Extracted 14 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 325-326.


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This page was last updated 07/01/2022