Oliver Scott Tippy was born on March 4, 1850 in Williamson County, Illinois near Carterville. He was the son of Mathew Ryburn (2/19/1812 – 2/24/1878) and Margaret Paralee (Campbell) Tippy, pioneers of Illinois and Tennessee. They had six children, 4 boys and 2 girls: Emily, James M., William W., Oliver S., Marion C. and Elizabeth Tippy.
Oliver’s parents, Matthew and Paralee, were married in 1842 and in the 1850 census Matthew and his wife were living in Williamson County, Illinois. There were four children under 6 years of age: Emily E., James M., William W., and Oliver S. Tippy. Oliver was less than a year old.
In the 1860 census, Oliver was 10 years old and he had a younger brother, Marion C. who was 8. They lived west of Marion near Bainbridge. His mother, Paralee, died sometime before the 1870 census.
In 1870, Oliver’s widowed father, Matthew, and his sister, Emily, were living alone. The post office listed is Fredonia, near Carterville.
Oliver’s father, Matthew R. Tippy was married to Sarah E. Jeffrey on February 4th1876. Two years later, on February 22nd 1878, he died and was buried at Hurricane Cemetery near Carterville, Illinois. Oliver served as administrator of his father’s estate.
By the 1880 census, Oliver was a 28 year old livestock dealer. He and S. Blankenship, a 40 year old day laborer, appear to have been living in the household of Marion C. Campbell, a Marion merchant. Oliver is the one and the same person who ends up buying out Campbell’s business selling general merchandise and forming the partnership of Goodall and Tippy with Joab Goodall, Marion’s nephew, in 1885.
The business was established by John Goodall and M. C. Campbell in 1858 and they ran it until 1875 when they added Samuel W. Dunaway to their roster. In 1876, Zack Hudson bought it and ran it until 1885 when Goodall and Tippy took over. They carried a full and select line of general dry goods, hats, shoes, notions, queens ware ( a type of fine Wedgwood Pottery), hardware and groceries. They also engaged extensively in buying and shipping tobacco, handling about 1,000 hogsheads a year.
In 1886, Oliver served as a director on the Williamson County Fair Board. The other directors were Shannon Holland, John H. Sanders, Thomas N. Cripps and Dr. Theodore Hudson. C. H. Denison was president of the board at that time.
For four years, from 1888 to 1891, Oliver was a Marion city alderman under mayors Brice Holland, William T. Davis and Shannon Holland.
In 1896, he had on exhibition, the first hundred pounds of flour turned out by the Johnston City Milling Company for which he paid $10.00.
During the 1890’s he bought and sold various parcels of real estate at tax sales. In 1899 a local paper issued a notice that O.S. Tippy would open a saloon at Johnston City.
When Oliver ran for alderman in the 1899 Marion city elections, saloon and anti-saloon forces collided and the temperance party won the election so Oliver was not re-elected and neither was the contender for Mayor, Joab Goodall, Tippy’s old business partner.
In 1900, Oliver was living at the south end of S. Vicksburg roughly where Hendrickson Street crosses it in the home of Jerome Aikman in Marion. Jerome was the son of William and Mary Aikman, early Marion pioneers. Oliver’s occupation was listed as saloon keeper.
In the 1910 census, Scott was living with several other railroad workers in East Marion Township. He was the railroad camp manager.
The Carbondale Free Press reported in 1915 that, “O. S. Tippy has been employed by the state to look after the West Marion state aid road running west from the city limits (Old Route 13). He is now busy with a crew of men ditching and otherwise improving the road. He will be employed permanently to maintain the road in good condition. This will take but little of his time once it is prepared. The total expense will be paid by the state. “
When Oliver registered for the WWI draft in 1917, he was 67 years old and living at 614 N. Madison with his brother, Marion C. Tippy. Oliver was in mining and was his own employer located on the square. His contact person was Mary E. Tippy, his sister-in-law, Marion’s wife.Oliver was described physically as tall and slender with brown eyes and brown hair.
When the 1920 census was taken, Oliver was renting a room from Joab Goodall who was also living alone. They were living at 203 N. Van Buren Street and he was listed as a railroad contractor.
In 1930 he had moved to the Masonic Home at Sullivan, Illinois and was 80 years old.
Oliver Tippy died, at the age of 81, on July 4, 1931 at the Masonic Home in Sullivan, Illinois where he had resided for 2 years. He was buried in Old Rose Hill Cemetery under the auspices of the local Masonic Lodge. According to his obit in the Marion Evening Post dated July 5, 1931, Oliver S. Tippy was one of the pioneers in railway and highway construction who had large contracts in Mississippi Valley states.
O.S. Tippy doesn’t appear to have ever married, thus he had no children, and does not appear to have ever owned his own home, remaining mobile his entire life.
Notes on his siblings:
Emily Elvira Tippy was born in 1844 and married George T. Dunihoo. They lived in Fredonia, Eight Mile, and Herrin’s Prairie. In 1920 they lived in Herrin. They had five children: Sarah, Archibald Matthew, Marion Curtis, Minnie and James Franklin Dunihoo. She died in 1931.
James Monroe Tippy was born on December 6, 1845. He married Malinda Caroline Hill on February 9, 1875 at the residence of M.C. Campbell. James also married Louise M. Cash Barham in 1890. He was a Rail Road engineer. He and Louise had a daughter, Vinnie. James died on January 7, 1928. Burial was at Hurricane Cemetery.
William Worth Tippy was born on December 28, 1847. He married Mary Ann “Polly” Impsen (1850-1929) on February 12, 1875. They had at least five children: Ida, Stella M., Ednie A., Roger Q.M., and Roscoe W. Tippy. In 1900 they lived in Bainbridge and he was listed as a farmer. In 1910 they were living in Carterville Township. In 1920 they were living in West Marion. W.W. was listed as demented and died on March 16, 1920. Burial was at Maplewood Cemetery in Marion.
Marion Cicero Tippy was born in 1852. Marion and Mary E. Roberts were married March 28, 1888. In 1900 they are living west of Marion. He was a farmer and owned his own farm. They had three children: Millie (Mary?), Elizabeth and Scott Oliver Tippy. In 1910, Marion had his own income and no longer farmed. They owned their own home at 614 N. Madison Street in Marion. In 1920 Marion was a collector of rents. Scott was still home and their second daughter Elizabeth and her husband and baby were living with them.
Elizabeth Hannah Tippy was born on November 11, 1854. Elizabeth H. married George W. Sisney on Sep 9, 1874. George died in 1936 and Elizabeth died on September 12, 1923. There are three other family members buried in the same family plot in Old Rose Hill which have no names. Two of the burials occurred in 1948 and, of those; one is recorded as “baby.” The remaining burial occurred in 1922.
(Extracted from Federal Census Records; WWI Draft Registration Records; Events in Egypt; Williamson County Clerk Records (WCHS); compiled by Colleen Norman)