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From: History of Illinois and Her
People George W. Hogan
George W. Hogan, was admitted to the Illinois bar forty-six years ago, and while one of the oldest active men in the profession in Hamilton County, he is always well known for his participation in other activities, particularly as a banker. He is president of the People National Bank of McLeansboro, and also of the Walpole State Bank at Walpole, Illinois. He was born on a farm in Hamilton County April 9, 1858. His grandfather Hogan was a native of Georgia, and on coming to Illinois settled in Franklin County, where he died some years later after a surgical operation. His son, John H. Hogan, was born in Franklin county, Illinois, was reared in Franklin County and in 1854 went out to California as a gold digger. He had a moderate success in the quest of gold and on returning to Illinois located in Hamilton County. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted as a private in a company organized in Franklin County, a part of the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry which afterwards was attached to the Thirty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, command by Gen. John A. Logan. He was commissioned a second lieutenant and then a first lieutenant. John H. Hogan was in service until the close of the war and in after years was generally called Captain. His father-in-law, Capt. James Wallace Flannigan, was a soldier in both the Mexican and Civil wars. John H. Hogan married Constance Flannigan. While he was in the army he sent part of his salary home to his wife, who used it to buy half a section of land in Hamilton county. After the war he located on this land, but three years later returned to Franklin county. His last years were spent at McLeansboro, where he died May 2, 1913, at the age of eighty-two. He was a democrat until he went into the Union army, but came back from the war a republican and ever after supported that party. He and his wife had a family of ten children, and seven are living now. George W. Hogan spent most of his youth on a farm, attended country schools, continued his education in Ewing College and read law at Benton and McLeansboro. He was admitted to the bar in 1880, and for ten years was associated in practice with John C. Hall. In later years his law work has been largely confined to chancery and probate practice. Mr. Hogan in 1903 organized the First State Bank at Elizabethtown, Illinois, and was its president five years, until selling his interest. He organized the Peoples National Bank at McLeansboro in 1909, and he has been its president from the beginning. In 1924 this bank and the First National Bank of McLeansboro took over the Cloud State Bank of that city, and since then the Peoples National Bank has occupied the former building of the Cloud institution. Mr. Hogan is regarded as on the leading financiers of Hamilton County, and is in close touch with a wide variety of business interests. He has given a generous share of his time and abilities to the public service. He served a term as mayor of McLeansboro, and after an interval served two other terms. During the second period of service he led the movement for the building and installation of water works and street improvements, carrying the issue against strong opposition. He was a delegate to the last state constitutional convention of Illinois. Mr. Hogan has always been a staunch republican, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, member of the Knights of Pythias and the Methodist Church. He married, September 14, 1888, Miss Pearl Thompson, daughter of Richard Thompson, of Thompsonville, Illinois. They have two children, Lila Thompson and George W., Jr. His son was a soldier in the World war and is now practicing law at McLeansboro. |
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