Biography - D. N. Magner
D.
N. Magner is classed among the reliable and successful business men of the
county. He located at Arthur in 1873, and has since been identified with the
best interests of the village, and is the pioneer of Arthur in the lumber,
coal and cement business.
Our subject was born in Rush county, Indiana, October 30, 1843, and is a son of Z. H. and Margaret (McCorkle) Magner. His father is a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, and his mother of Bourbon county, Kentucky. His father, who was born in 1803, and died in August, 1868, was formerly a merchant at Paris, Illinois. His mother died in 1855, aged fifty years. James Magner (grandfather) was a native of Maryland and a son of a Revolutionary soldier. The Magner family, which came from Ireland, has resided in America since about the year 1650. James McCorkle was a Virginian by birth, emigrated to Kentucky as a pioneer and died there. In 1853 D. N. Magner, then nine years old, came to Paris, Illinois, and upon the first call for troops in 1861 he volunteered in Company H, Ninth Illinois Infantry, and served for three years and four months. He was wounded at the battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, was taken prisoner at the battle of Corinth, and participated in sixty-six engagements during the war. For fourteen years he was in the railway mail service, on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railload and Vandalia line. In 1873 he started in his present business, but in 1880 he sold out to C. A. Reeves. He bought the business back in 1894, and since that time has been carrying on a most successful business. Mr. Magner has been president and trustee of the village board, and is a member of the G. A. R., I. O. O. F. and Masonic fraternities.
In 1862 he was wedded to Miss Mary Thom, of Hillsboro, Illinois. They have three children living: Margaret, Mary and Ruth. He and wife are members of the Christian church of Arthur.
Extracted 12 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from the Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois, published in 1900, page 143.
