Hoiles, Charles

Born: 1819-03-28 Burlington, New Jersey

Died: 1884-05-14 St. Louis, Missouri

Flourished: Greenville, Illinois

Charles Hoiles was a tailor, merchant, and state legislator. In around 1837, Hoiles left his native New Jersey for Ohio, where he learned the tailor's trade. He arrived in Greenville, Illinois, in 1840, working as a tailor for two years before entering the mercantile business. In November 1842, Hoiles married Elizabeth Morse, with whom he had five children, three of whom died in infancy. In 1858, Hoiles won election, as a Democrat, to the Illinois House of Representatives, representing Bond and Clinton counties in that body from January to February 1859. As a state representative, Hoiles helped Stephen A. Douglas defeat Abraham Lincoln for U.S. Senate in January 1859. In 1860, Hoiles owned real property valued at $15,000 and had a personal estate of $2,000.

Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Illinois Historical Bond County Biographical, ed. by Warren E. McCaslin (Chicago: Munsell, 1915), 714; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 222; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 30; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Greenvile, Bond County, IL, 196; Gravestone, Montrose Cemetery, Greenville, IL.