The most elaborate history is necessarily an abridgement, the historian
being compelled to select his facts and material from a multitude of
details. In every life of honor and usefulness there is no dearth of
incident, and yet in summing up the career of any man the writer needs touch
only those salient points which give the keynote of the character, but
eliminating much that is superfluous. Thus in giving the life record of the
gentleman whose name initiates this sketch sufficient will be said to show
that he is one of the enterprising and progressive citizens of Richland
county, being a well-known horticulturist and hardware merchant.
John
F. Jolly was born at Grayville, White county, Illinois, December 2, 1850,
the son of John B. and Elizabeth (Ferriman) Jolly, the former a native of
Edwards county, of English parents, and the latter of Jamaica, who came with
her parents to Edwards county when a child, settling in Albion. Stephen
Jolly, grandfather of our subject, emigrated to America from England,
locating at Albion, Edwards county, this state, where he died soon after the
birth of J. B. Jolly, who is now eighty-four years old and the oldest
resident at Grayville, having removed to the latter place about 1847, where
he engaged in merchandising for many years. He accumulated a comfortable
competency and is now retired. His wife passed away in 1851. The subject is
the only child of his parents, his mother having died when he was an infant.
He was reared in Grayville, having been educated in the public schools
there, also went to school at Normal, Illinois. He became deputy postmaster
at Grayville, which position he held for about four years, when he engaged
in the mercantile business under the firm name of Jolly, Spring & Hollister,
for about four years. Soon afterward, in 1877, he came to Olney and engaged
in the hardware business under the firm name of Prunty & Jolly, in which
business he has continued successfully ever since. A few years later the
firm name became J. B. & J. F. Jolly. In 1904 the present firm organized as
Jolly, Wieland & Richardson. These two men had been with Mr. Jolly as clerks
for many years, the former as manager of the store and the latter as manager
of the manufacturing department of plumbing, tinning and heating. The change
was due to the impairment of Mr. Jolly's health.
They carry an
extensive line of hardware, stoves, tinware and in fact a complete and
carefully selected stock of such things at all times, and they carry on a
very extensive trade throughout the county.
Mr. Jolly was united in
marriage in 1880, to Mary Morrison, a native of Olney, the daughter of
George D. and Kate (Snyder) Morrison, the former a native of Ohio and the
latter of Lawrence county, Illinois. The Mormons were originally from
Virginia, and the Snyders of Kentucky. The mother resides with her daughter,
Mrs. Jolly, in Olney. The father died in 1873, at the age of forty-one
years. One daughter has been born to our subject and wife, George Elizabeth,
who was educated at Olney in the high school and at Wellesley College. She
is a winsome and talented young lady and popular in whatever society she
enters.
Mr. Jolly is an active Republican. He was chairman of the
County Central Committee for twelve years, and was Mayor of Olney from 1895
to 1896, during which time he did many things that will be of permanent
benefit to the town, leaving more money in the treasury at the expiration of
his term than ever had been and has been since. His was a most excellent
business administration.
In his fraternal relations he belongs to the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mrs. Jolly is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church, and is president of the Ladies' Guild, which has
raised more money than any similar organization, being largely responsible
for the erection of the new church building.
In 1889, owing to poor
health, Mr. Jolly went to California and after many months returned to his
home much improved. When he came back to Olney it was with the intention of
quitting the confinement of the store and engaging in outdoor pursuits, and
he accordingly became interested in horticulture, and in the spring of 1890,
planted the second commercial orchard in Richland county of eighty acres
adjoining Olney. Since then he has bought adjoining tracts and planted
additional acreage until now he owns two hundred acres of fine fruit land,
set a well selected variety of trees, nearly all of which are bearing. He
has been very active along these lines and is one of the best posted and
well known horticulturists in Southern Illinois. His work and practical
experience and demonstrations, have contributed much to the interest taken
by others in bringing Richland county to the front as one of the leading
fruit sections in this part of the state, and he now has one of the finest
and best kept orchards in the state, from which in 1902 from one hundred
acres he sold the apple crop for ten thousand dollars, it having produced
ten thousand barrels. He employs modern methods in his horticultural work,
and his farm buildings and equipment are of the latest and most up-to-date
in this section of the state. The spraying plant is without doubt the most
complete in Southern Illinois, if not in the state. He has tanks for
manufacturing spray, and the cooking of the same for four thousand gallons
capacity, the cooking being done by steam, and gasoline engines for power in
spraying. Being enthusiastic in horticulture, it naturally follows that he
is a student and active in societies of this nature. For the past ten years
he has been president of the Richland County Horticultural Society, which
was organized about 1888, although its greatest and best work has been
accomplished of late years. He has also been a member of the Illinois
Horticultural Society, and for more than seven years a member of its
advisory committee, which has been of great benefit to horticultural
interests of Richland county. The state makes appropriations for
experimental work in various parts of Illinois and the money is judiciously
expended by the advisory committee at such points wherein their judgment the
best results can be obtained.
Mr. Jolly is a public-spirited man,
always ready to do what he can in furthering the interests of the county,
and he is regarded by all as one of the county's most useful citizens, and
numbers his friends by the scores.
Extracted 26 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from 1909 Biographical and Reminiscent History of Richland, Clay and Marion Counties, Illinois, pages 134-136.
| Jasper | Crawford | |
| Clay |
 |
Lawrence |
| Wayne | Edwards | Wabash |
