JAMES W. CASEY.
James W. Casey, now engaged in the grocery business in Roodhouse, where he has made his home for more than a third of a century, and who for a long period was actively connected with railroad service, is a native of Marion county, Ohio, born on the 30th of June, 1833. The Casey family is of Irish lineage. His grandfather, Daniel Casey, was a native of Ireland and after living for some time in Maryland and Virginia, removed to Ohio, his death occurring in Iberia, of the latter state. His wife was Nancy Francis.
William Casey, father of James W. Casey, was born in Maryland, in January, 1802, but was reared in Virginia. He married Sarah Campbell, who was of Scotch descent and was born in Tennessee in 1805. Her parents were James and Mary (Jackson) Campbell, and the former died in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1840, while the latter died in 1856. William Casey passed away February 2, 1893, while his wife's death occurred December 28, 1846.
To the public school system of his native state James W. Casey is indebted for the educational advantages he enjoyed in his youth. For thirty-five years he was connected with the operative department of the railroad service as locomotive engineer. He was first connected with the Rock Island Railroad Company for two years, then with the Wabash Company for a year, and later entered the employ of the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, with which he continued for thirty-two years, working over its entire system and retiring in 1897. He was one of its most trusted and reliable employees, with a just appreciation of the great responsibility that devolved upon him as the custodian of human life, and his fidelity to duty was the distinguishing feature in his business career. On leaving the employ of the railroad he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, establishing a grocery store in Roodhouse, where he has since conducted a profitable enterprise.
Mr. Casey has lived in Roodhouse for thirty-three years, coming here in 1872 when there were only ten houses in the town and there was only a sidetrack here, with room for seven cars. He is a prominent member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and is now chief of local division No. 220. He has been a member of the board of adjustment and representative to six of the national conventions. He has been secretary of the insurance department of the local division for nine years and is very popular in railroad circles ever laboring for the welfare of those connected with the order. His political views are in accord with the principles of Democracy.
On the 10th of November, 1861, Mr. Casey was united in marriage to Miss Margaret George, who was born in Ohio. They have eight children: Mabel C., who in 1896 was married to Alonzo Griffin, of Granite City, Illinois, and has one son, Walter C.; Walter S., a locomotive engineer of Springfield, Missouri; Isolin, who married C. A. Timlin of Chicago; William E., who is married and has two children; Minnie L., the wife of W. A. Aldridge, of Rock Island, Illinois, by whom she has one son, William J.; Donizetta, who married C. A. Draper, of Roodhouse; Amazion B., living in Chicago; and Florence V., who married H. M. Israel and they reside in Granite City. They have one son, also named William J.