CHARLES SHUMAN. Sullivan, Moultrie County, is happy in having among its list of citizens a number of men who are deeply interested in educational affairs, and sufficiently capable of being intelligent guides of its public schools. Among such we count Mr. Shuman, a practical and successful farmer living in Sullivan, and managing a farm upon sections 7 and 18, East Nelson Township. He there has a splendid property of four hundred and forty-two acres, which is well stocked, and most of it handsomely improved. He is a thrifty and practical farmer and stock-raiser and handles fine breeds of stock.

Besides his agricultural pursuits he has been for some five years associated with the Sullivan Progress as he removed to Sullivan from East Nelson Township several years ago. He was elected in 1882 by the Democracy of the county to the office of County Clerk, which position he filled with much satisfaction for eight years, his second term closing in 1890. For a number of years he was a member of the Board of Supervisors while living in East Nelson, and has been in the county since 1861. He was educated for a teacher at Lebanon, Ill., where he was graduated at McKendree College in the-Class of '72, and afterward taught in St. Clair County for some four winters. He had been a student in the city schools of Shelbyville before entering college. He began to teach in the public schools in 1872, and then engaged in farming for a number of years. Mr. Shuman was born in Philadelphia, Pa., February 21,1843, his father, Charles G. Shuman, having come to the United States from Germany when a young man, and having learned there the trade of a shoemaker. In that city he married his wife, Mary Eberhart, who was also a native of Germany, and who had come to this country when young. After the birth of two children this worthy couple removed to Louisville, Ky., and there the father started a shop and conducted a prosperous business until 1847, when he removed with his wife and family to Edgar County, Ill., and there built up a trade at Dudley. In that village Charles G. Shuman passed away in 1877, having reached the limits of three-score years and ten. He was a Lutheran in religion and a Democrat in politics. In his religious principles his wife sympathized most cordially, and she is still connected with the Lutheran Church, and is living in Edgar County, at a ripe old age.

Five sons and two daughters of this family are now living and are self-sustaining. He of whom we write was married in East Nelson Township, to Miss Mary McPheeters, who was horn in Fayette County, Ky., January 25, 1848. She is a daughter of Maj. Addison McPheeters, for whose fuller history our reader is referred to the biography of Mr. A. W. McPheeters. Mrs. Shuman was quite young when her parents came to Illinois, and here she received her education and made her home until marriage. She is now the mother of four children, all of whom are still under the parental roof except one son, who has passed to the better world. Those who are at home are Bertha, Bliss and Irving. Mrs. Shuman is an earnest and active member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where the entire family attend service. Mr. Shuman is prominently identified with the Blue Lodge of Masons, No. 704 of Sullivan, and is at present the Treasurer of the lodge. He is a great lover of education and one of the most useful members of the School Board.

Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, 1891 - p. 657/658

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