ROBERT W. ALSBROOK. The milling interests of Johnson county form one of
this section's most important industries, and the cities of New Burnside and
Vienna, lying in the center of a great grain district, have become leading
shipping points. The firm of Alsbrook Brothers, proprietors of the Farmers
Mill and Elevator Company, the leading milling concern of Johnson county,
has been built up by Robert W. and Arthur B. Alsbrook, who have become
prominent factors in the business world of Johnson county, and the junior
member of the company, Robert W. Alsbrook, of New Burnside, is the subject
of this review. Mr. Alsbrook was born October 30, 1872, at Marion, Illinois,
and is a son of Stephen Wesley and Sarah (Blankenship) Alsbrook, and a
grandson of a native of Wales, who immigrated to the United States at the
age of twenty-one years, settled first in Pennsylvania, and later moved to
Tennessee, where he was engaged in farming until his death.
Stephen Wesley Alsbrook was born in Robertson county, Tennessee, and was
reared to agricultural pursuits, coming to Southern Illinois in 1859, when
he was thirteen years of age. He located at Marion, Illinois, and was first
engaged in farming, but later established himself in the drug business, in
which he continued until his death, in 1872. He married Sarah Blankenship,
daughter of Isom Blankenship, of Williamson county, and they had two sons,
Arthur B. and Robert W.
Robert W. Alsbrook was not born until about six months after the death of
his father, and his education was secured in the schools of Marion and New
Burnside, and in Creal Springs College, which he attended for two years. In
1888 he became railroad telegraph operator for the St. Louis and Paducah
Railroad, which is now a part of the Illinois Central system, and in 1889
went to Paducah, where he was station agent and telegraph operator. In 1894
he entered the service of the N. C. & St. L. R. R., and until 1895 was city
passenger agent at Memphis, but in that year took a trip to California and
worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad for two years and as bookkeeper on
the Leland Stanford ranch for one year. He returned to New Burnside in 1898
and became a member of the Alsbrook Store Company, where he continued until
1909, and in 1910, with his brother, bought the flouring mill at New
Burnside, establishing the firm of Alsbrook Brothers. In March, 1911, they
purchased the elevator and mill at Vienna, and the capital invested in this
enterprise exceeds sixteen thousand dollars. The capacity of the New
Burnside mill is sixty barrels per day, and the elevator at Vienna has a
storage capacity of thirty thousand bushels, and eight men are employed. In
1911 a new elevator was erected at New Burnside, with a capacity of ten
thousand bushels, and the mill is doing such a thriving business that it is
necessary to keep it running night and day. In the accomplishment of their
work the brothers have very little time, and today even they are harder
workers than any of their employes, and their success in business is largely
attributed to the close personal attention they have always given every
detail in their business, they never allowing goods to be misrepresented in
any manner. As a business man Mr. Alsbrook is recognized as possessing the
utmost ability, push and energy, and as a citizen none stand any better.
Mr. Alsbrook is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and the Odd Fellows. He and
his mother, with whom he resides at New Burnside, are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church, and have been prominent in its work.
Extracted 16 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, volume 2, pages 793-794.
| Jackson | Williamson | |
| MO |
 |
Johnson |
| Alexander | Pulaski |
