Champaign County, Illinois - The whole text, 1918 (part 11 of 23)

Mrs. Eeese is a very active member of the Methodist Church and is and has been for some years president of the Ladies' Aid Society. She is a member of the Eastern Star and has served as marshal of that order. In politics Mr. and Mrs. Eeese have opposite affiliations, she being a Eepublican and he a Democrat. Mrs. Eeese is a very ardent supporter of the cause of temperance.

The success which he "has enjoyed in a business way Mr. Eeese owes not only to his own capable efforts but to the wisdom and counsel of the good wife who has stood by his side. They have one of the pleasant and hospitable homes of St. Joseph, on Lincoln Street, and while enjoying its comforts they may look back with pardonable pride upon the labor of the years which has made it all possible.

ANDREW EKBLAW. For forty-one years Andrew Ekblaw has been a resident .of Champaign County. The management and cultivation of the land and its resources have furnished him an occupation and business, and as a practical agriculturist he has few peers in this part of the state.

Mr. Ekblaw was born in Sweden in 1854, a son of Johannes and Charlotte Ekblaw. He was reared and educated in his native land and was eighteen years of age when with other members of the family he came to America in 1872. The Ekblaws first located near Springfield, at New Berlin. There were seven children, Andrew being the third in age. All these children were educated in the schools of Sweden.

ten years of age her father died, and two years later, in 1872, she and a brother and her widowed mother came to America. Four of the Johnson children had preceded them to this country and had found employment in Chicago. Mrs. Ekblaw lived in Chicago until her marriage.

Mr. and Mrs. Ekblaw after their marriage located near Rantoul on the farm of John Collison. They were young, energetic, had the thrifty virtues of the people of Sweden, and by honesty of purpose have distinguished themselves as successful farmers and have reared a family of which any parents might well be proud. It is a growing practice among many farmers of modern times to handle land as managers rather than as owners. This has been Mr. Ekblaw's course during his long and active career. For thirty-two years he lived on the Collison place and for the past five years he and his wife have had their home on the Battles place, now the property of Lawyer H. I. Green of TTrbana. During his entire career in Champaign County since 1876 Mr. Ekblaw has had only two places of residence and activity. He is a careful and methodical farmer, the well tilled fields giving every evidence of his ability, and his efforts have been liberally rewarded in the comfortable provision for themselves and in those means necessary to properly educate and train their children.

Mr. and Mrs. Ekblaw are the parents of six children, five sons and one daughter, named Walter Elmer, Carl John Theodore, Emma Irene, Eddie Lawrence, George Albert and Sidney Everett. Mr. and Mrs. Ekblaw from the start realized the advantage of good educational advantages, and sent their children to the district school of Pleasant Ridge. The children were all studious and attentive to their work, and all of them finished the course of the Pleasant Ridge school. Walter Elmer taught for three years at Harwood Center and in the Battles school for three years, after which he entered the University of Illinois, taking the regular scientific course in three years and two years later received his Master's degree.

The name of Walter Elmer Ekblaw has perhaps been spoken with more frequency in Champaign County in recent months than any other one citizen. In fact his fame is well established over the state and nation. In 1913, as geologist and chief assistant, he joined the Donald B. Mac- Millan Arctic expedition in search of Crocker Land. The University of Illinois helped defray the expenses of the expedition, which was fitted out chiefly by the American Museum of New York. Mr. Ekblaw was the special representative of the state university. The purpose of the expedition was to locate the land claimed to have been discovered by Admiral Peary. In this they were disappointed and when the expedition returned in 1917 the announcement was given the world that Crocker Land was a "mirage." Early in September, 1917, Mr. Ekblaw arrived at Champaign, having come post haste to his old home and his alma mater after getting off the boat at Sydney, Cape Breton Island. He was accorded an enthusiastic reception both at the university and in his home town of Rantoul and was paid such honors as few men of Champaign County have ever received. It is noteworthy that even the newspapers of the large cities, so completely filled in these days with war news, devoted a column or so to the arrival of the distinguished young explorer. The Chicago Tribune of September llth reported Mr. Ekblaw as saying in part: "While we were disappointed because Crocker Land, in whose existence Admiral Peary believed, turned out to be a mirage, we felt that the expedition accomplished a great deal. At times we were confronted with the hardest of difficulties, but in some way succeeded in getting around them. We did not find the life so hard, however, after we became acquainted with the conditions and ways of the country and people.

Breton Island, where we were unable to proceed on account of our ship being wrecked. We fitted out another ship and the expedition again set out. This time we reached Greenland. It was along the last of August and by the latter part of September we had established our headquarters at a little village called Etah. Here we had built a house and other necessary buildings.

"The longest trip that I ever made was 1,200 miles. We discovered and explored three new fjords, after which we returned to our camp. All the time we were in Greenland we were about 750 miles from the North Pole, and the closest that I ever got to the pole was about 500 miles."

"Ekblaw," continues the Tribune account, "was a member of the Illinois football squad in his college days, and when he went North he put a football in his kit. This resulted in the organization by the scientist of the first Eskimo football team in history. 'My quarterback could not see over the center's head and all my men were built close to the ground,' said the explorer. They had a fine disdain for the rules and used to pile up promiscuously, but they had a. good working knowledge of the object of the game and liked to play it on the ice.'

"Just before Ekblaw sailed for the polar regions his engagement to Miss Augusta May Krieger of Peoria, a graduate of the University of Illinois, then teaching in Highland Park, was announced. Miss Krieger agreed to wait and she was on the dock at New York to welcome her fiance."

The second son of Mr. Andrew Ekblaw, Carl Ekblaw, graduated from the Rantoul High School, taught for two years at Prairie Star school and has since taken his master's degree at the University of Illinois and for a time was an instructor there. In 1916 he completed further studies in Yale University. At the present writing he is professor of rural architecture in the Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas. Carl married Miss Alma Heuman of Elgin, Illinois, also a graduate of the university. The only daughter, Emma, is still at home with her mother. The son Eddie is his father's active assistant in the management of the farm. The fifth child, George, is a graduate of the Rantoul High School, taught two years at Wesley Chapel and also at Battles school, and entered the University of Illinois in the fall of 1917. The youngest child, Sidney, now fourteen, has completed the work of the grammar schools and is in the Rantoul High School. It is a source of pride not only to the parents but to all the people of Champaign County that the Ekblaw sons have so distinguished themselves in the work of teaching, scholarship and practical affairs.

Mr. and Mrs. Ekblaw are active members of the Lutheran Church at Paxton, still retaining the faith in which they were reared in the fatherland. Mr. Ekblaw is a Republican in politics.

ALBA J. FLATT. In a business way Mr. Flatt has been most prominently known in the community of Leverett in Champaign County, whern he has the finest grain elevator in this section of the state and where for many years he has been the active medium through which an important bulk of the local grain production has been marketed. Mr. Flatt in recent years has had his home in the city of Champaign.

While a resident of Champaign County most of his life, Mr. Flatt was born near Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, July 6, 1863. His parents, James H. and Matilda L. (Campbell) Flatt, both natives of Canada, came to Champaign County in 1865, and both lived here the rest of their days. The father died in July, 1908, and the mother in June, 1912. James H. Flatt was for many years a well known farmer in Champaign County.

They were the parents of eight children : Charlotte, wife of William Whittmore, of Emporia, Kansas; Silas Edgar, who died at the age of eighteen; Ormond B., of Champaign ; Alba J. ; Carrie, wife of L. S. Rupert, of Blocmington, Illinois; Annie L., deceased; George J. of Champaign; and Ira J. W., of Denver, Colorado.

Alba J. Flatt grew up on the home farm in Champaign County, attended the local schools, and at the age of twenty-one began helping his father in the management of the large farm of four hundred eighty-seven acres near Leverett. He assumed most of the responsibilities connected with this place until he was married, and he then bought eighty acres for himself. From farming Mr. Flatt gradually enlarged his range of activities and in 1895 engaged in the general merchandise and grain business at Leverett. He has built two elevators in that town, and the second one is the best equipped structure of the kind in the central part of the state. He still continues his mercantile operations at Leverett under the firm name of A. J. Flatt & Son.

Mr. Flatt married January 5, 1887, Miss Mary F. Irle, a native of Champaign County. They have three children: Pearl L., wife of L. W. Roberts, of Leverett; Ross A., associated in business with his father as senior member of the firm A. J. Flatt & Son ; and Nellie I.

In 1910 Mr. Flatt removed to Champaign and has since occupied his fine home at 1102 West Church Street. He has served as alderman from his home ward, and while living in the country was honored with several townsiiip offices. Mr. Flatt has attained the Scottish Rite Consistory degrees in Masonry and is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he is a Republican, and his church home is the Presbyterian.

BENJAMIN H. McKiNSEY is one of the younger business element of Champaign, a vigorous and progressive citizen and a man who makes good his promises and professions at whatever cost or sacrifice to himself.

He was born in Urbana, August 21, 1888, son of Jacob and Mary E. (Young) McKinsey. His father was born at Antioch, Indiana, while his mother is a native of Leverett, Champaign County. Jacob McKinsey came to Champaign County about 1886, locating at Urbana, and for a number of years was an agent for Cole Brothers, lightning rod manufacturers. He continued a resident of Urbana until his death in 1896.

The only child of his parents, Benjamin H. McKinsey had the advantages of the common schools and early sought a means of earning his own living. In 1906, at the age of eighteen, he went with the Champaign Gas Company and worked as a gas fitter about two years. Another two years he was employed in Urbana as a boiler maker helper. Mr. McKinsey then entered the establishment of Mr. A. Peters, and for the past eight years has been in his employ.

On December 23, 1909, he married Miss Stacia Hall, a native of Champaign. They have one child, Lawrence. Mr. McKinsey is a Democrat and has served as alderman from the First Ward. He has always been interested in politics and has served three years as democratic committeeman. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic lodge.

WILLIAM J. DOWNING is one of the men of strength and successful record as a farmer in Ogden Township, and his name has also been identified with that locality in a civic way.

He was born in Ogden Township, a son of Alvin and Serene (Hayden) Downing. His parents were natives of Indiana. Mr. Downing was one of two children, his only sister dying in infancy.

Mr. Downing received his education in the Ogden schools and at the age of twenty-three he married Miss Cora Freeman. She was also born in Ogden Township, a daughter of Edmond Freeman and member of one of the pioneer families of Champaign County.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Downing settled on eighty acres in section 17 of Ogden Township, a place belonging to Edmond Freeman. This has been developed as their permanent home. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Downing, one of whom died in infancy. The other three are Chester, Verna and Virginia. Chester and Verna are of school age and are bright and intelligent students in the Ogden schools. In October, 1915, Mr. Downing was bereft of his beloved companion and wife, who died after an illness of six weeks. Thus left alone Mr. Downing has continued to live on the home place and has kept his children with him and is carefully directing their education and training.

Mr. Downing is an attendant of the Christian Church of Ogden and his wife was a member of the same denomination. He was reared a Republican and has always voted that ticket and fraternally is identified with the Knights of Pythias. He is a very successful farmer, raising large crops of oats, corn and wheat and is giving much attention to live stock. His record is that of a worthy and honorable citizen, one who enjoys a large circle of friends, and his name stands high among the men of Champaign County.

CHABLES E. KELLER. The position of court stenographer is which calls for speed and accuracy in execution and intense concentration of mind. The records of the testimony taken in court are too important in character to be handled in any slip-shod manner, and the individuals designated for this kind of work are therefore chosen for their reliability and fidelity as well as for their intelligence and mere physical attributes. The court reporter of the Circuit Court of Champaign County, Charles E. Keller, has been the incumbent of his present position since 1915 and his skill and exactness have gained him the approbation of the bench and bar. He is an alert and reliable young man, and as he is a product of Champaign County the people here have watched his advancement with interest.

Mr. Keller was born on a farm in Scott Township, Champaign County, Illinois, December 3, 1889, being a son of Peter and Ella Belle (Flowers) Keller. His father, a native of Hocking County, Ohio, came to Champaign County when a young man, and here adopted the vocation of farm- -ing, which he followed for many years, or until his retirement. He was industrious and enterprising and developed a handsome property in the vicinity of Bondville, but the accumulation of a competence made it unnecessary for him to labor any more and he is now living in comfort at his home in that village. Mrs. Keller, who also survives, is a native of Champaign County. There were two children in the family : Charles E. ; and Bessie Opal, who is unmarried and resides with her parents. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Charles E. Keller's boyhood home was in the vicinity of Bondville, and the schools of that place furnished him with his preliminary education. He was reared on the farm and trained in the matters that go to make up the skilled husbandman, but like many other farmers' sons before him he answered the call of the city, and in order to train himself for a career in the busy, energetic life of the larger centers pursued a course in bookkeeping and stenography at the Brown Business College at Champaign. When he had completed his studies there, Mr. Keller secured a position in the office of Judge Boggs, of Champaign, with whom 'he re- mained from July, 1908, until 1915, in which latter year he was appointed to his present position. As before noted, he has "made good" in the official capacity of Circuit Court stenographer, and has made numerous friends among the officials and attaches of the Court House at Urbana, where his office is located.

Mr. Keller was married October 4, 1911, at Champaign, to Miss Ethel Matilda Rayburn, who was born in Champaign County, and they are the parents of three children: Ernestine, born July 25, 1912; and Charles Irwin and Chester Edwin, twins, born July 20, 1916. Mr. Keller maintains an independent stand in politics. He is a Mason and a Pythian Knight, and he and Mrs. Keller belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church at TJrbana.

MOHTIMER KILBURY of St. Joseph is an old-time resident of Champaign County, having been identified with the cultivation of its soil and the management of increasing burdens of business and public life for over forty years.

Mr. Kilbury was born at Darby Plains, Ohio, a son of Asa G. and Ruth (Clark) Kilbury. The Kilbury family were Colonial settlers in Vermont. They started West about the time of the beginning of western migration in the early part of the nineteenth century. They drove to Ohio in covered wagons. There were two brothers making this journey, one of them the father of Asa Kilbury. One morning after breaking up their night camp one of the brothers hitched up and started on ahead, driving along until he came to a fork in the roads, where he took one route. His brother followed him somewhat later, and after making a careful examination decided that his brother had taken the road to the right, whereas, as a matter of fact, it was the left road. He drove on, and, thus separated, they continued their journeys and never met again.

Asa G. Kilbury was born June 24, 1806. He grew up in Ohio, and when he started out for himself he gave his father all the money he possessed, reserving only $1 as a luck piece. He settled at Darby Plains, Ohio, where he married Ruth Clark and as farmers they acquired a large amount of property. Asa Kilbury died January 5, 1884, and his wife, who was born February 27, 1815, died September 20, 1885. They were the parents of six sons and three daughters.

Mortimer Kilbury received his early education in Ohio and came to Champaign County in the spring of 1873, when a young man, locating in section 31 of Ogden Township. Here he and his brother James S. worked land which had been previously bought by their father from the Government at $1.25 an acre. It was an extensive tract and the two brothers did much to improve it and make a fine farm of the land.

On September 23, 1877, Mortimer Kilbury laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage to Mary Louise Frederick, who was born in Vermilion County, near Fithian, Illinois. Her parents were Richard A. and Parmelia (Allhands) Frederick. Mrs. Kilbury with her brothers and sisters attended the Central district school. She was one of a family of four sons and five daughters.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kilbury located on the farm where Mr. Kilbury had been previously employed, and they continued to reside there for a number of years and laid the foundation of their permanent prosperity. After the death of Mr. Kilbury's father in 1884 the son inherited a part of the land and gradually he expanded the scope of his holdings and his operations as a farmer and stockman.

have devoted themselves to the proper rearing and training of their children. They sent them to the district schools and also to the St. Joseph High School, all of them graduating from high school. The sons were students in the University of Illinois and one of the daughters, Mabel, attended Northwestern University at Evanston. Winifred was a student in the Champaign High School and also the Academy at Evanston. The daughter Jeannette was graduated with honors from the Urbana High School with the class of 1917, having taken all her four years' work in that school and having gone back and forth from home to school on the interurban car morning and evening, rain or shine. She is now teaching the Shilo school.

The son Fred Kilbury is a farmer of St. Joseph Township and married Inez Mullen. The son Asa, a resident of St. Joseph, married Edna Norris of Frankfort, Indiana, and they have a son, Winston N., a manly youth, now numbered among the bright and promising students of the St. Joseph High School. The daughter Winifred married Raymond Jones, an architect practicing his profession at Danville, and they have two sons, Robert Kilbury and Raymond Grant. The daughter Edna died at the age of eight and a half months. The daughter Mabel, whose death in 1914 was a heavy loss to the family and her many friends, while a student in college, met Rev. Arthur A. Halter, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and they were afterwards married and she left a daughter, Mabel Rachel. Mrs. Halter was a fine Christian character, active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a large community of friends felt that in her loss the old saying that death loves a shining mark was again corroborated.

For many years Mr. Kilbury has found himself profitably and pleasantly engaged in the varied pursuits of farming and stock husbandry. A number of years ago he established a herd of Shorthorn cattle and exhibitors at county and state fairs have long known his prize winning stock. He has been awarded numerous premiums, and he produced one fine steer that weighed 2,380 pounds.

A number of years ago Mr. Kilbury bought 130 acres of land adjacent to the village of St. Joseph and at the end of North Main Street erected a commodious and attractive residence, where the family have long had their home. This house, which combines the advantages of both town and country, has been greatly beautified in its surroundings by the planting of fruit and shade trees and careful cultivation with a view to adornment and utility. Mr. and Mrs. Kilbury are attentive members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at St. Joseph and he has served as a trustee of the church. One of his first important efforts in behalf of community improvement was to secure a division of the school district and he donated land from his own place as a school site. He has been elected to and has served in some of those offices which are a mark of public confidence and esteem and are an opportunity for much hard and conscientious work with no remuneration. He has served as school director, and is a stanch Republican in politics. He grew to young manhood when the Republican party was in its prime and the vitality it showed in grasping and solving many great national problems inspired a confidence which has caused him to keep firmly aligned within the party ranks. Fraternally he is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and his wife is a member of the Eastern Star. Mrs. Kilbury has served as associate matron and at present is treasurer of the Eastern Star. She is active in the Woman's Club of St. Joseph and in the Foreign Missionary Society of her church. Mr. Kilbury has been fortunate in having a good wife to stand by his side forty years, aiding him in counsel and advice, and carefully looking after the rearing of their family and the making of their home.

CHARLES ZILLT. One of* the men whose sterling character, energy and industry have given an enviable prominence to Champaign as a commercial and financial center of Illinois is Mr. Charles Zilly, of the firm of Zilly & McKinley, mortgage loans, and who has been a resident of Champaign since 1890. His home has been in Illinois for more than half a century, and he is a veteran of an Illinois regiment in the Civil War.

Mr. Zilly is the example of a poor boy coming from a foreign land and eventually attaining and filling an honorable place in the business life of Champaign. He was born in Switzerland, February 11, 1842, a son of Frederick and Elizabeth Zilly. Both parents died during his early boyhood.

After having had some of the advantages of the schools of Switzerland, Charles Zilly at the age of fourteen immigrated to America. He was practically alone when he came and for the first year and a half he lived with some relatives in the East. From there he came West to Illinois, and while earning his living in the summer by farm work he made up for his earlier deficiencies in the way of an education and especially for his lack of fluency in the English language by attending school in winter seasons. While in school one winter he fell and broke his leg, an accident which disabled him for farm work. In consequence he removed to Chandlerville, Illinois, and was employed in mercantile lines until 1861.

Though a foreigner by birth, Charles Zilly lacked nothing of the patriotism of the true American, and soon after the Civil War broke out in 1861 he was enrolled in Company E of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry. He was with that gallant organization throughout most of the entire war. He rose to the rank of adjutant and was finally given an honorable discharge in 1865.

After the war, in 1867, Mr. Zilly became identified with a private bank, which afterward became the First National Bank of Petersburg, Illinois, and was with that institution for a period of twenty years. His financial judgment brought him other interests and he became associated with J. B. and W. B. McKinley, interested in Western loans, and has since been a member of the firm of Zilly & McKinley, loan brokers.

Mr. Zilly was elected president of the first Anti-License Board at Petersburg, Illinois, when residing there. He is a Republican in politics, an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic and affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1865, soon after the close of the war, he married in Chandlerville, Illinois, Emma Rickard. She died February 13, 1872, and the one child of the union, Carroll K., now lives at Portland, Oregon. On February 12, 1874, Mr. Zilly and Miss Helen L. McKinley were married in Petersburg, Illinois. Five children have been born to their marriage: Mabel H., wife of L. H. Hamilton, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; Fred McKinley Zilly, of Portland, Oregon ; Alice, deceased ; Marie Louise Zilly; and Agnes Elizabeth, wife of F. E. Berger, of Davenport, Iowa.

WILLIAM H. SMITH, who owns and occupies one of the beautiful and attractive country homes near Urbana, represents one of the oldest and most prominent pioneer families of this county.

Here Mr. Smith was born July 22, 1844, a son of Jacob and Margaret J. (Beattie) Smith. His father was a native of Shelby County, Kentucky, and his mother of Virginia. Margaret Beattie went to Kentucky with her parents at the age of eight years, and somewhat later the family went on to Missouri. While en route through that state they were both taken ill, and both died near Jefferson City. They were survived by seven children, who then had to shift for themselves. Margaret Beattie grew up almost among strangers, and after her marriage to Jacob Smith they migrated to Illinois with the Webber family and the family of Stephen Boyd.

It was about 1833 that the Smith family came into Champaign County. That was a very early year in the history of this county, and they located on land now included in TJrbana Township. At that time the town of Urbana did not exist. Jacob Smith went to Danville to enter more than t!00 acres of land, at the regular Government price of $1.25 per acre. He was a man of unusual industry and business ability and acquired a large estate. He and his wife had ten children, two of whom died in infancy. The others received their education in the district school known as the Bromley School No. 4, and grew to maturity, married and settled down, the sons becoming progressive farmers and men of recognized ability and success.

William H. Smith grew up in Champaign County and remained at home assisting in the management of his father's farm for a number of years. On August 22, 1880, he laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage to Miss Emma Elder. Mrs. Smith was born at Decatur in Brown County, Ohio, daughter of Eobert and Elizabeth (Mattox) Elder, her father a native of Pennsylvania and her mother of Ohio. Mrs. Smith was one of nine children. When she was a small child her parents moved to Illinois and settled near the Star schoolhouse. In that school Mrs. Smith obtained her first instruction, beginning to attend when only five years of age. Her sister Bell Elder qualified as a teacher in Champaign County at the age of sixteen and for a number of terms taught school.

After the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Smith they decided to establish themselves in a comparatively new country and went to the State of Texas, locating in one of the rugged and semi-mountainous districts of that great state. There Mr. Smith took up the sheep industry for ten years and at times had a flock of 1,500. He also engaged in the cattle business, the open range affording a fine opportunity for grazing. Mr. and Mrs. Smith lived in Texas for about twenty-five years. In the meantime nine children were born to them, named Grace, Elizabeth, Ruby, Willie, Mervin, Mada, Robert, Fred and Erma. The children Mada and Robert died in infancy. The others obtained their first advantages in the public schools of Texas and were then sent North to complete their training in the TTrbana High School. It is an interesting fact that Professor J. W. Hayes, the venerable educator, was not only one of Mrs. Smith's instructors but also taught some of her children. At the present time Fred Smith is a student in the University of Illinois, while Erma is in the Urbana High School. The other children are all established in homes of their own.

Grace Smith married Sidney Prince, who is a contractor and builder at Fisher, Illinois. Their two children are Sidney and Nellie. Elizabeth Smith is the wife of E. J. Dunn, a farmer living at Urbana and their four children are Clyde, Louis, Emma and Roy. Ruby Smith married J. R.. Saddler, a farmer at Ames, Iowa. They have two children, Frances and Henry. The daughter Willie married Ralph Dunn, and they live on a farm near the Smith homestead. Their four children are Frank, Ruth, Ralph and Wilma. Mervin Smith married Verna Johnson and has one daughter, Laura Emma.

About thirteen years ago Mr. and Mrs. Smith returned from Texas to the scenes of their early youth. In the meantime Mr. Smith had acquired 300 acres of Illinois farm land. On returning to Champaign County he located on a farm of 100 acres east of Urbana. Mr. Smith bought this land a number of years ago at prices ranging from $40 to $75 an acre. When he acquired it the land had no improvements, and eighty acres was a continuous grass sod. He has used time and means in developing it, has added many fruit and shade trees, and has a commodious residence situated on a slight eminence, surrounded by a fine grove of stately trees.

Mr. Smith is an ardent Democrat, and believes that President Wilson is the man of the hour and has the ability and the wisdom to bring- the ship of state out of troubled waters.

The Smith farm is a place of much interest from an archaeological standpoint. At one time an Indian village stood on the land. Indian arrowheads have been picked up from the ground, and in a hollow are found many wild cucumber vines which competent authorities say the Indians planted. Mr. Smith has in his possession a fine specimen of Indian whetstone. It was made from a piece of petrified hickory wood, and through the center is bored a hole, through which a buckskin thong was strung so as to make it more convenient to carry.

SAMUEL B. VARNEY. As told on other pages of this work, the founding and early growth of Champaign was largely due to the construction of the Illinois Central Eailway. One of the first active settlers in the community was Samuel B. Varney, a pioneer whose influence did much for Champaign in its formative stages and whose name is one to be spoken with respect and cherished with honor. He died when Champaign was sHU a small and struggling town, and the only one of his children still living is Mrs. L. V. Crane, who resides at 412 West Church Street in Champaign.

The late Samuel B. Varney was born in Albion, Maine, April 27, 1812. He spent many years in his native state, engaged in farming, in the strenuous endeavor to coax a living from the rocky soil, and was also a merchant, manufacturer and hotel proprietor. When the Illinois Central Eailway was built large bodies of land were granted to the company as a bonus, and the company sold this land to investors in many parts of the country. One of the buyers was Samuel B. Varney, who acquired a quarter section four miles from the then new town of Champaign. After making this investment Mr. Varney came to Illinois in 1859, when the railroad had just been completed, and at the same time he bought four lots in the J. P. White Addition, the first addition made to the town of Champaign. On one of those lots he erected his home in 1859, and that old residence is still standing as a landmark of the larger city which has grown up around it. Mr. Varney was in a position to take advantage of the many opportunities then existing in Champaign County, and he not only acquired large property interests, but also did much to improve the city of Champaign. He was especially interested in the West Side Park, helped to plant many trees, and in other ways beautify the new town.

He lived only about a half dozen years in Champaign. His death occurred in the city of Chicago, at the home of his daughter Mrs. Crane, November 19, 1866. He had gone to Chicago for medical treatment, but did not survive.

Mr. Varney married in 1833 Miss Sarah Pierson, who was born in Montsville, Maine, but was a resident of Bangor at the time of her marriage. She died in Maine in 1844. In 1845 Samuel R. Varney married Lucy J. White, who died at Champaign in 1895. Samuel B. Varney was the father of eight children. His son Charles P. Varney, who died in 1900, made a record as a soldier in the Civil War, being a surgeon with the Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantry for four years, and afterward served as revenue collector in Georgia.

Mrs. Lauzarah V. Crane, the only living child of the late Samuel B. Varney, was born at the old Varney home at South Levant, Maine, October 19, 1835. She now owns and occupies the old homestead acquired and improved by her father in 1859. She came out to Champaign with her father and was then twenty-four years of age. She had been liberally educated and was one of the first teachers in the public schools of Champaign. On August 26, 1863, she married Archibald M. Crane, of Chicago. Mr. Crane died in Livingstone County, Illinois, in 1879. In 1894 Mrs. Crane returned to her old home in Champaign and has lived here ever since. Mr. Crane was a member of the Masonic Order and was active in the Presbyterian Church.'

Mrs. Crane became the mother of six children, the two youngest dying in infancy. Edward S. is now a resident of Cleveland, Ohio; Charles M., of Chicago; Jonah, of Hartford, Connecticut; and Lauzara B. is the wife of Lee C. Emerson, of Champaign.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN McGATH is one of the old-timers in Champaign County, and has witnessed its growth and development since 1861, the same year that he went out to do service as a Union soldier. He made a creditable record in the army and his entire life has been a record of patriotic devotion and duties worthily and successfully performed.

His birth occurred in Vermilion County, Indiana, March 15, 1841. He is the only survivor of a family of ten children, six sons and four daughters, born to William and Nancy (Fannon) McGath. He was the eighth in order of birth. His father was born near Wilmington, Ohio, grew up and received his education there and also married in Ohio and went across the country in pioneer style to Indiana and settled on a farm in Vermilion County in the valley of the Wabash Eiver. His death occurred there about 1847 and he was one of the pioneers in that section. He was a Jeffersonian Democrat and he and his wife were active Methodists. His wife was born in Ohio and was of German ancestry. She was a kind and loving mother, and after her husband's death she lived for sixteen years at the home of her son Benjamin, and her death occurred in 1900. She was laid to rest at Mansfield.

Benjamin F. McGath grew up in Indiana, acquired a common school education, and came to Illinois when twenty years of age. He had been here only a short time when he enlisted in the Second Illinois Cavalry under Colonel Berry. He was trained and equipped in the Springfield barracks, and was never called into active service during his first four months' term of enlistment. After that he did some recruiting and then joined the Seventy-first Eegiment of Illinois Infantry. This regiment became a part of the Army of the Tennessee under General Grant, and he performed his duties as a soldier in several of the memorable campaigns of the Mississippi Valley. He was present at the battles of Corinth and luka and was finally mustered out and received his honorable discharge at Mattoon, Illinois.

Mr. McGath made his material success in life as the result of hard work and persistent energy. As a young man he worked as a farm hand at $15 a month. Farming has always been his active pursuit and from the soil he has gathered sufficient wealth to provide for his family and for his own needs. In Champaign County he had accumulated a farm of eighty acres, but in 1873 he sold out and moved to Kansas, buying a half section of 320 acres in Russell County. His move to Kansas was an unfortunate one, since it took him into the state during the period when Kansas was scourged by grasshoppers, persistent drought and every other vicissitude known to a farming population. The five years he spent there he raised only one satisfactory crop. Finally selling his land, he returned to Champaign County, soon afterward removed to Vermilion County, Illinois, but for the greater part of his active career was a farmer in Champaign County.

On July 3, 1873, the same year that he moved out to Kansas, Mr. McGath married Miss Permilla Jane Kilgore. Five children were born to their marriage, three sons and two daughters, and four are still living. Clella C., the oldest, is the wife of J. C. Herriott, and their home is at LaJara, Colorado. Mr. Herriott is a farmer and a barber. They have a daughter, Fay. Clella is an active member of the Methodist Church and received her education in the Mahomet High School and for a time taught in Vermilion County. Eoyal K., the oldest son, is also a resident of LaJara, Colorado, and is a barber running a shop with his brother-inlaw. He was educated in the Mahomet High School, is a Republican in politics, and married Miss Katie Brown. Bertie, the third child, is a practical agriculturist at Lynne, Illinois, and has made a success as manager of a large farm of 320 acres. He was educated in the common schools, is a Republican and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his wife are active Methodists. He married Miss Carrie Moore, and their children are named Cleo, Lloyd and Opal. Mary A., the youngest child, is the wife of Edgar Moore, also a farmer, and they reside at East Lynne. Their children are Glenn and Bennie Guy. They are members of the Methodist Church.

The record of their children is one that Mr. and Mrs. McGath may review with pride and satisfaction. Mrs. McGath was born in White County, Indiana, January 22, 1848, and represents a family of early settlers in that section' of Indiana. Her parents were John C. and Margaret (Carr) Kilgore. Her father was born in Indiana in 1813, three years before Indiana was admitted to the Union, and he died in 1892. He was a practical farmer, and moved to Mahomet, Illinois, when Mrs. McGath was ten months old. Her mother was also a native of Indiana and died when Mrs. McGath was five years old. In their family were six sons and six daughters, three now living. Mrs. McGath's sister Mary is a member of the Methodist Church and is married and lives in Livingston, Illinois. Her other sister, Silance, lives at Ogden, Illinois, the widow of William Hubbard, and she is also an active Methodist. Mrs. McGath was educated in the common schools and with her husband is a loyal and devout member of the Methodist Church. She has made her home a place of hospitality and has always been devoted to her children and her many friends. Mr. and Mrs. McGath now have a comfortable residence east of Mahomet on a tract of six acres, which furnishes them a beautiful environment for their declining years and also plenty of activity. Mr. McGath is a Republican and has given his zealous support to the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. McGath in their later years have made several trips to the far West, including Colorado, and have wisely and judiciously used the means accumulated by a lifetime of earnest effort and toil.

CHESTER D. BROWNELL is president of the Reliable Plumbing and Heating Company of Champaign. His career, which has been known to the people of this locality since he was a boy, has not been one of spectacular success, but a slow and steady progress from minor duties and responsibilities to something better and larger, and from an employe he became an employer, and is now at the head of a business second to none in efficiency and facilities in the county.

was born in Chautauqua County, New York, April 10, 1873. His parents were Oliver D. and Lucy A. (Sabin) Brownell, also natives of Chautauqua County, New York. His father was a soldier in the Civil War and subsequently a conductor with the Erie Railway Company. In 1876 he removed to Champaign and engaged in the implement business with his brother-in-law, C. J. Sabin. He maintained an active connection with that firm until 1895, when he retired. He also served as chief of police of Champaign under Mayor Sabin and also during Mayor Woody's administration. He was a highly esteemed citizen and is still well remembered in the community. His death occurred April 11, 1905. His widow is still living in Champaign. Chester D. Brownell is their only son, and their only daughter, Pearl, is the wife of E. G. Greenman, of Champaign.

Chester D. Brownell was fortunate in his environment and the magnificent educational opportunities he enjoyed as a boy. He attended the public schools and also had about three years in the chemistry department of the University of Illinois. His first employment was as a bill clerk with the American Express Company, where he remained three years. In 1897 he became identified with the F. K. Robson department store, and for eight years was in the carpet and upholstery department. His experience and thorough knowledge of the business brought him an offer, which he accepted, to open the carpet department in the store of W. Lewis & Company, where he remained a year. From that he acquired an interest in a business of his own in the plumbing and heating department of Walsh, Heuck & Company. In 1905 Mr. Brownell organized the present business of the Reliable Plumbing and Heating Company, his former associate being Pearl Fisher. Subsequently Mr. Fisher sold his interests to Mr. E. G. Greenman, who is secretary and treasurer and Mr. Brownell is president of the corporation.

He was the first master of the Plumbers Association of Champaign, and for five years served as vice-president of the Illinois Master Plumbers Association. He has had some active part in local affairs, and for six years represented his ward on the board of aldermen. He is a member of the Champaign Chamber of Commerce, of which body he is president. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Sons of Veterans, and is a member of the Christian Science Church. Mr. Brownell's present public service is being given as a member of the board of education. In politics he is a Republican.

On June 8, 1896, he married Miss Maud Riffenberick, a native of Champaign. They are the parents of four children : Richard and Dean, twins, the former now deceased ; Marion ; and Chester, Jr.

Lucius NOTES SIZER was a member of the firm Sizer Brothers, comprising himself and his brother Oscar Bertrand Sizer, proprietors of the Maple Lawn Stock Farm in Newcomb Township. Both brothers became too well known to require any extended introduction. They proved themselves capable as farmers, stock raisers, business men and in every relationship of life.

Of the two brothers, Lucius Noyes Sizer was born in Kankakee County, Illinois, November 15, 1860. His brother Oscar Bertrand was born in Champaign County, December 29, 1863. His birth occurred on the farm where he now resides. He is the only survivor of seven children, four sons and three daughters, born to Albert Dann and Mary (Noyes) Sizer.

Mr. Bert Sizer was educated in the Mahomet public schools and acquired the equivalent of a high school training. His life has throughout been devoted to farming and Champaign County has always been his home. His wife, now deceased, bore the maiden name of Emma Judy. Bert Sizer is a Republican, served as road commissioner six years and as supervisor of Newcomb Township four years. He is a member of the Elks Lodge at Champaign and belongs to the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church in Newcomb Township.

The two brothers acquired an estate of two hundred forty acres in Newcomb Township. The Sizer Brothers gave several years to the breeding of English Shire horses. Some of the finest animals of this class in the Middle West have been raised under their supervision. Their fine stock has been awarded many first prizes, trophies and gold medals, their trophy exhibition containing twenty-five silver trophies, three gold medals, won at the state fairs of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa and the International Stock Show at Chicago. One of the finest animals of this class on the Sizer farm today is Tatton Eldorado, which was a first prize winner in the four year class at the International Stock Show in Chicago in 1916. It is an animal of great value and it indicates how the Sizer Brothers were able to make their live stock enterprise a matter of practical benefit to a large community.

Albert Dann Sizer, father of these brothers, was born in Otsego County, New York, in 1823 and died in 1885. His ancestry is traced back to colonial days. His grandfather, Daniel Sizer, was a soldier in the Eevolutionary War. He was a private in the Fourth Company under Capt. R. J. Meys from Middletown and in the Second Connecticut Regiment under Col. Joseph Spencer. He served during the siege of Boston, and the remainder of his official record as given in the Revolutionary archives is as follows: Private, November, 1777; Prisoner of war and was exchanged July, 1778; was a corporal March 20, 1780, and sergeant January, 1781, in the Third Regiment from Connecticut; was in the line formation 1781 till 1783 under Col. Samuel B. Webb. Served as a private in the retreat from Rhode Island. Such is the record of his activities as found in the adjutant general's report.

Albert Dann Sizer was reared to manhood in his native state, was educated in common schools and the academy at Batavia, New York, and spent most of his active career as a teacher. His two sons are children of his second marriage. His second marriage occurred in Vermont and in 1857 he came to Kankakee County, Illinois, where he became principal of the Kankakee schools. In the fall of 1862 he removed to Newcomb Township of Champaign County, where in the meantime he had bought 160 acres of land. This purchase is part of the 240 acres now owned and managed by his sons. 'Fifty years have served to bring about remarkable changes in land values in Champaign County. He paid only $5 an acre for his quarter section, but it is now worth $200 or $300 an acre. It was Illinois Central Railroad land and in an absolutely raw and unimproved state when he bought it. In 1865 Albert D. Sizer assumed the principalship of the Mahomet schools, and when his death occurred twenty years later he had put in sixteen years of the time at these schools. Among old time teachers he is rated as one of the most successful and is remembered by many hundreds of men and women now in mature years who went to school to him when children. He was a Republican in politics and began voting in that political faith at the time the party was organized. He and his wife were also members of the Presbyterian Church. They are laid to rest in the Riverside cemetery.

The mother of the Sizer brothers was born in Vermont, September 1, 1831, and died in October, 1899. She was well educated. Her grandfather and her great-grandfather on the paternal side were in the Revolutionary- War, the great-grandfather being a lieutenant. He was of English origin in the Noyes line.

Mahomet and also attended the State University of Illinois, where he was graduated in the civil engineering department with the class of 1884. Though his home was in the country and his time was devoted to the stock farm, Mr. Sizer gave the greater part of his thirty years after leaving college to the civil engineering profession. He made a record for himself in that line in Champaign and Ford counties. It was Mr. Sizer who planned one of the largest open ditches in either of these counties, the big Ford ditch in Ford County, built at a cost of a hundred thousand dollars. For three and a half years he served as city engineer of Champaign, during which period his chief work was paving.

In June 30, 1892, Mr. Sizer married Miss M. Anna Shurts. To their marriage were born four children, three sons and one daughter. Albert Dann, the oldest, is now principal of the public schools of Pesotum in Champaign County. He was educated in the Champaign High School, graduating in 1911, and three years after that pursued his studies in the University of Illinois, in the agricultural course. Albert D. Sizer married Miss Pauline Moss Carter, and they have a son, Albert Carter. Mr. Sizer is a Republican and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bruce Lucius, the second son, finished his education in the Champaign High School with the class of 1912, then entered the State University and was given an appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and spent one year in training in that institution. On account of failing health he had to give up his intention of training for officer in the United States Navy and he is now at Las Animas, Colorado. Donald Eugene, the third of the sons, finished the course of the common schools and is now carrying forward his work of a higher education in the high school at Fisher. The only daughter, Dorothy M., has finished the work of the common schools and has spent one year in the Fisher High School. The parents of these children exercised much care in bringing them up and gave them an excellent training, above the ordinary in preparation for the duties and responsibilities of life.

Mrs. Sizer was born in Tazewell County, Illinois, November 14, 1865, the fourth in a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters. Her parents were Joseph Nitzer and Emily (Blair) Shurts. Three of the .children are still living and Mrs. Shurts and her brother Fred are living in Champaign County. The father was born in New Jersey in 1824 and died in 1906. When a young man he accompanied the family to Ohio, lived there a number of years, and he then moved west and located in Delavan, Tazewell County, Illinois. He acquired land in that beautiful section of the state and finally retired from farming into Delavan, where he spent his last years. He was a Democrat in politics. His wife was born in Michigan in 1836 and died in 1900. She was an active member of the Christian Church. Mrs. Sizer was educated in the common schools, and had two years instruction in the State Normal University at Normal, Illinois. After this preparation she became a teacher and followed the profession for eight years very successfully, and the satisfaction that her labors afforded is well indicated by the fact that she taught five years in one school in Tazewell County. For three years of her teaching she was at Delavan. Mrs. Sizer was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Champaign and of the Domestic Science Club at Fisher. She proved a very able and capable woman in the establishment of her home and in bearing her social duties.

Mr. Sizer was a Republican and the only office he accepted was director of the public schools. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

services his remains were interred in Riverside cemetery at Mahomet, Illinois. The death of Mr. Sizer caused much sorrow amongst his many life long friends in Newcomb Township, as well as the cities of Champaign and Urbana. His life was one of honor, and upright living, and he left a worthy heritage to his children as a man amongst men. Mrs. Sizer died October 5, 1917.

WILLIAM OSCAR DALE. During many years of residence in Champaign County William 0. Dale has reached that enviable position where his word is accepted in business matters the same as a bond, and all his friends and acquaintances repose the utmost confidence in his judgment and integrity. Mr. Dale, with the aid of his capable wife, has developed a fine country home in Mahomet Township, known as the Fern Dale Farm, and' at the same time he has acted on the principle that the community deserved some of his work and has interested himself for a number of years to the benefit and improvement of the local schools.

The Dale family has lived in Champaign County since pioneer times, and the family record is one that can be viewed in detail without finding a single unfavorable distinction. William Oscar Dale was born in this county, June 4, 1864, and was the third of eight children, five sons and' three daughters. Of the four still living William 0. is the oldest. His sister Tena was liberally educated, having at one time been a student of the Illinois State Normal School and a teacher in both McLean and Champaign counties before her marriage to Mr. W. H. Webb. Mr. Webb is a practical farmer and they now reside in Rockwell City, Iowa, the parents of four children. Frank Lee, the third child, was educated in the Mahomet High School and has spent a number of years in Oklahoma, where he was formerly editor of the Minco Minstrel and is now a banker at Foyil, connected with the Foyil State Bank. He married Miss Edith Lucas, and they have a daughter. Charles Wilson, the youngest, is now editor of the St. Joseph Record of St. Joseph, Illinois. He married Miss Myrta Morehouse.

The parents of these children were Thomas and Mary E. (Mead) Dale. Thomas Dale spent the larger part of his active career in Champaign County. He was born near Marion, Ohio, March 19, 1834, and still retains his intellect and his faculties at the advanced age of eighty-three. He is now living at Rockwell City, Iowa. He came to Illinois when fourteen years of age. The family made the journey with wagons and teams, and were among the early settlers in Mahomet Township, where they bought land from the Government at $1.25 per acre. The Dale homestead on this eighty-acre tract was built of logs, and Thomas Dale during his youth frequently hunted the wild game which abounded in this section, and has .killed deer within the limits of Champaign County. He secured his education in a log schoolhouse with its slab seats and other crude equipment, and he wrote his copy with a goose quill pen. Farming has been his vocation, and he was of an age to cast his first vote about the time the Republican party was organized. Both he and his wife early became identified with the Methodist Church, and he donated the ground where the present church at Mahomet stands. His wife was born in New Jersey in 1832 and died January 24, 1881. A monument stands at her grave in the Bryan Cemetery.

William 0. Dale as a boy attended the common schools and was also a student for two years in the Mahomet High School while the principal was Professor A. D. Sizer. Since his studies were concluded his work has been as an agriculturist and stockman. He began as a wage worker at $18 a month and put in three or four years in that way and next rented land. A number of years ago he went to Oklahoma and bought 400 acres near Frederick, and he still owns that property. He and his wife have 200 acres in Mahomet Township, this land being an estate that has not yet been divided.

March 5, 1891, Mr. Dale married Miss Grace E. Eayburn. From time to time children have come into their home to the number of eight, three sons and five daughters, and six of them are still living. Much of their hard work and self-denial have been done in order that these children might have superior advantages at home and in school and their family do them credit and honor by their accomplishments. The oldest is Belle, now the wife of Otis Pfiester, an agriculturist living in Scott Township. Mrs. Pfiester attended the Mahomet High School, the Illinois State Normal School, and for six years was a successful member of the teaching profession in Champaign County. Both she and her husband are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Feme, the second daughter, had similar educational advantages with her sister Belle, and both were well trained in music. She is considered one of the most talented teachers in Champaign County, and has performed that work creditably for several years. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Lulu, the third daughter, was graduated from the Mahomet High School, spent one year in the State Normal, and also one year in the Normal at Charleston, Illinois. She is also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The three younger children are Oscar, Mary R. and Robert. Oscar enters the Mahomet High School in 1917, Mary is in the sixth grade of the grammar school, while Robert is in the third grade.

Mrs. Dale was born in Champaign County, June 25, 1870, a daughter of Robert Gilbert and Isabel ( Herri ott) Rayburn. She grew up in this county, was educated in the common schools, and has deemed it a privilege to work beside her husband in establishing a home and in the careful rearing and training of her family. Her father was born in Ohio and his life has been successfully passed as an agriculturist. He is one of the, leading citizens of Champaign County and has one of the beautiful country homes here. He is a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife was born in the Blue Grass State of Kentucky, and was a woman whose character and attainments commanded universal respect. Her death occurred September 5, 1912, and she was laid to rest in the Riverside Cemetery.

Mr. Dale is a Republican, having cast his first presidential vote for James G. Blaine. Both he and his wife have served as directors of the local public schools and have exerted their influence, whether officially or as private citizens, to secure the best teachers and the best equipment for the education of the younger generation. Mr'. Dale has filled all the chairs except the East in the local Masonic Lodge No. 220, A. F. & A. M. The Fern Dale Farm, which he and his wife occupy, is a tract of the rich black soil characteristic of Champaign County, and its productiveness and value have been enhanced by the capable manner in which Mr. Dale has managed the land and its resources.

MRS. ANNA MARIE JONES. In the making of the worthy history of Champaign County, woman as well as man has played a most worthy part. But too often the part of woman has been overlooked or slighted and yet in those things of which Champaign County is most proud, its homes, the wives and mothers share on an equal scale with the husbands and fathers. It is therefore most appropriate that this sketch should begin with the name of a noble Champaign County woman who has done her part both as a home maker and as a mother as well as in church and social affairs.

Mrs. Jones is a native of Champaign County, having been born here January, 23, 1866. She is a daughter of August and Anna Johanna (Burkhardt) Sperling. Her father, who is still living at the age, of seventy-eight, was born June 14, 1839, in Stabelberg, Prussia. He has made seven trips across the ocean. The first of these long journeys was made when he was about eighteen years old. At the age of twenty-one he came again to America and located in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. From there he went to Winona, Minnesota, and engaged in the grain business. About 1865 he came to Champaign County and turned his attention to agriculture on these rich and fertile acres. Subsequently for ten years he was again in the grain business and he finally retired and moved out to California about 1905 and has since lived retired at South Pasadena. He is still owner of 520 acres of the valuable Champaign County land. Politically he has been a Republican and is a Knight Templar Mason with membership at Gibson City, Illinois, and is also an Odd Fellow. He and his wife were reared as members of the Lutheran Church. His good wife, who was born at Rottenacher, Wurtemberg, Germany, not far from the city of Berlin, on October 30, 1842, passed away February 4, 1913, at Pasadena, California. She was a noble woman and did her part well by her children and family.

Altogether there were ten children, five sons and five daughters. Six are still living. Emma was educated in the common schools of Champaign County and is now living with her father at South Pasadena, California. J. A. F. Sperling is a well known citizen of Dewey, Champaign County, where he is serving as postmaster. He was a soldier in the Spanish-American War. In politics he is a Republican and is a member of Sangamon Lodge No. 801 of Masons and the Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Dewey. Next in age comes Mrs. Jones. Alwin H. is married and is successfully pursuing his business as a farmer in East Bend Township. Godfrey is a civil engineer by profession, having graduated from the University of Illinois with the class of 1895. He is now practicing his profession at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He is married, is a Republican, and a member of the Christian Science Church. Johanna A. is the wife of William Burkhardt, who resides in Los Angeles, California, and is owner of a large ranch in that state.

Mrs. Jones was educated in the common schools of Champaign County and on March 7, 1888, at the age of twenty-two, was married in this county to John Morris Jones. To their marriage were born five children, four sons and one daughter all of whom are still living.

The oldest is J. Karl Jones, who attended the common schools, the Academy of the State University and spent three and a half years in the State University taking the civil engineering course. He followed his profession in the mountains of Idaho in 1910, and then returning to Champaign County entered his father's store at Dewey as a salesman and is now senior member of the firm of Jones Brothers at Dewey. This is a business which in scope and importance deserves first rank among the mercantile firms of Champaign County. About $50,000 is invested in capital and stock and equipment, and the annual turnover of business amounts to about $300,000. The firm has a large and complete stock of general merchandise, and also buys and sells grain, coal, tile, automobile supplies and agricultural implements. During 1916 their sales ranged all the way from a package of pins to a threshing outfit. Mr. Karl Jones is a Republican and cast his first presidential vote for Theodore Roosevelt. He is a central committeeman of East Bend Township and is also a member of the road committee and is an enthusiast in the advocacy of good country roads for Champaign County. He is in line to pass all the offices in

Sangamon Lodge No. 801, A. F. and A. M., at Fisher, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His home is at Dewey with his mother.

John M., the second son, was educated in the common schools, took two years of high school work at Champaign and finished his course in the South Pasadena High School in California, where he was graduated with the class of 1910. After that he was a student for two years in the University of Illinois. He is now associated with his brothers in the general mercantile business at Dewey and furnishes some of the enterprise and vigor by which that firm has steadily mounted to success. Fraternally he is affiliated with Sangamon Lodge of Masons at Fisher and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Dewey and has served as a delegate to the Grand Lodge. He is also a member of the local school board and belongs to the Methodist Church. He has traveled extensively over the western states and Canada and knows conditions not only at home but over a wide stretch of country. Both he and his brother Karl are members of the University fraternity Chi Phi at Champaign.

Emma Verna, the only daughter of Mrs. Jones, is the wife of Harry J. Hamm of Dewey. Mr. Hamm is associated with the banker C. E. Jackson in the automobile business. Mrs. Hamm was for three years a student in the Champaign High School and for one year was a student of instrumental music in the Von Stein Academy ,at Los Angeles. Her musical course was taken during the year 1910-1911. She is an active member of the Christian Church at Rantoul, while Mr. Hamm is a Methodist. He is a graduate of the Champaign High School and by his good work won a scholarship in the University. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife are active in the Eebekahs at Dewey, Mrs. Hamm having served as a delegate to the Grand Lodge. Theirs is one of the comfortable homes of the village and is a hospitable social center.

Alwin A., the fourth child of the family, was graduated from the Eantoul High School in 1913 and afterwards entered the University of Illinois. He continued his studies there two years and early in 1917 resigned from the University to accept one of the numerous calls made upon the patriotic youth of this country and joined the agricultural service for the United States Government. He is one of a number of competent young men from the University who have been assigned to duty in Western Canada, his present location being at Eegina. He left his home at Dewey, April 27, 1917. He is a young man, the joy and pride of his home and family, and when the appeal was made for young men to join in the cause of universal defense against autocracy he was first and foremost and did not hesitate a moment to assume the responsibilities placed upon him by the president and the government. He has membership in the Christian Church at Rantoul, is a member of Sangamon Lodge No. 801, A. F. and A. M., at Fisher, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his brother John have been through the Encampment degrees of Odd Fellowship and are also members of the Rebekahs.

Sperling D., the youngest of Mrs. Jones' children, is now in the sixth grade of the public schools and is showing an unusual capacity for his studies. He has also taken instrumental music.

Mrs. Jones' only daughter has always been an active factor in her church, her social community, and in everything that pertains to her home, ' and is a thoroughly cultured young woman.

Mrs. Jones has given the best years of her life to her children and her home. Her children have well repaid this affection and care, and throughout she has endeavored to teach them the truth of a clean and upright life and an honorable and straight-forward course in all things.

The late John Morris Jones was born in Carmarron, Wales, January 7, 1861, but when five years of age came with his parents to America. The journey was made on a sailing vessel from Liverpool, England, to New York City. It was a long and tedious voyage as compared with the speed of the ocean greyhounds of modern times. While the vessel was in New York harbor the boy narrowly escaped death. While reaching for an apple he lost his balance and almost providentially escaped falling into the ocean and perhaps losing his life. The Jones family came direct to Champaign County and located just north of Dewey, where his father bought a farm of 300 acres in East Bend Township. That was the home of Mr. Jones during his youth and until his marriage. With his wife he started a career as an agriculturist on a small place of forty acres. Later he bought forty acres more, and having steadily climbed to prosperity as a farmer he entered the grain and implement business about 1901. In 1912 he erected the present store building at Dewey and entered upon the still larger business activity which is now carried on by his sons under the name Jones Brothers. He had been in the store only two years when he was taken away by death. The late Mr. Jones made a signal success in business affairs and had the good will of all who knew him. His family and their welfare were uppermost in his mind always. An active Odd Fellow, he was a charter member of the lodge of the order at Dewey and a delegate to the Grand Lodge. He also belonged to the Court of Honor and the Modern Woodmen of America. When an infant he was christened in St. Horeb Church in England, and at the age of sixteen joined the Independent School Society in 1877, and in 1890 became a member of the Christian Church at Fisher. For a number of years he served as superintendent of the Sunday School at Dewey.

He also participated in the life of his community in an official way. He served as tax collector for a number of years and was a director of the schools and wherever possible supported and advocated better schools. At the time of his death he was serving as township treasurer. He was an active Republican and his death left vacant the position of central committeeman. Mr. Jones passed away May 12, 1914, and his remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Fisher.

Mrs. Jones is still living at her old home in Dewey, surrounded by children and friends, and almost her lifetime has been spent in that one locality. Her choice of church is the Christian denomination, but she also attends the Methodist Church at Dewey.

SALEM L. KETTERMAN, one of the oldest residents of the village of St. Joseph, has been there continuously for forty-four years. He has all the time been closely associated with its welfare and has lived to see many changes recorded in the history of Champaign County. The only other man still living in St. Joseph who was there when he first settled is Mr. T. Jefferson Wooden.

Mr. Ketterman is a native of the old State of Virginia, having been born in Hardy County, March 19, 1847, a son of John and Belinda (Full) Ketterman. His parents were also natives of Virginia and of German descent. The first American Ketterman was Christopher, who settled in Virginia in 1760. A son of this immigrant, Daniel Ketterman, a greatuncle of Salem L., was a Revolutionary s,oldier and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, the closing scene of the war for independence. John and Belinda Ketterman had only two children, Salem and Hannah J., Salem being the older. The mother died when Salem was a child and the father married again, and altogether had seven children, two sons and five daughters.

Salem L. Ketterman received his first advantages in the district schools of Virginia. He was ten years of age when, in 1857, his father came to Champaign County and he completed his education while living on the paternal farm in St. Joseph Township. He grew up here, made the best of his early advantages, and for twelve years was one of the successful teachers of the county.

In 1875, at the age of twenty-eight, Mr. Ketterman married Miss Mellie E. Utt. She is also of Virginia ancestry, having been born in what is now the State of West Virginia, near Morgantown, a daughter of James Utt. She was educated in the Glenburn Seminary at Morgantown.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Ketterman located at the village of St. Joseph, where he engaged in the drug business for several years. Later he took up the business of house decorating and painting.

Mr. and Mrs. Ketterman had one daughter, Blanche. She completed her education in the high school at St. Joseph and fitted herself for school work and for a number of years taught in this county. She spent six years in the Ogden High School, taught the Bowers district school two terms, the Hunt school two terms, and then married Arthur E. White. Mr. White was then proprietor of a grain business at Ogden, but is now in the lumber business at St. Joseph. Mr. and Mrs. White have two children, Pauline and Wendell. Pauline is now a student in the St. Joseph High School.

Politically Mr. Ketterman is a man of broad views, supporting the principles rather than the party, though he has always been a Republican. His early work as a teacher has always led him to support and encourage public education. He also served from 1873 to 1880 as postmaster of tho village of St. Joseph.

JOHN EDWARD McJiLTON. Formerly an agriculturist in one of the greatest cornbelts in the world, still the owner of a large amount of valuable land in Champaign County, and now the proprietor of a leading and successful lumber business, John Edward McJilton is one of the residents of Fisher who is familiar with the county in which he has spent practically all his life. From a modest beginning he has succeeded in building up a prosperous trade in lumber, and his standing in business circles is that which is attained by men who have honorably worked out their own success.

Mr. McJilton was born in Woodford County, Illinois, April 9, 1862, and is the youngest of five children, three sons and two daughters, born to John Thomas and Elizabeth Jane (Shafer) McJilton. His father was a native of Ohio, born in January, 1822, and died about April, 1904, at Elm Creek, Nebraska. He was about twelve years of age when he came to Woodford County in pioneer style, in wagons, with his parents, and here secured his education in the early public schools, his boyhood training being along agricultural lines. He traced his ancestry to Scotland, the land of the thrifty and industrious, and had inherited the characteristics of his forefathers, so that he was not long a worker for others, but secured land of his own. He was married in Woodford County, where his children were born, and in 1868 came to Champaign County, purchasing eighty acres of land in East Bend Township. This original purchase was subsequently augmented from time to time until Mr. McJilton was the owner of 200 acres of well improved land in the county, when he sold out and went to Butler County, Kansas, there becoming the owner of a farm by purchase. Mr. McJilton made his home in Kansas for about five years, following which he went to Buffalo County, Nebraska, and there rounded out his long and honorable career in the prosecution of agricultural operations. Mr. McJilton was not only one of the leading farmers of his section, but was prominent in township affairs, held a number of local offices, and for many years was a school director. He and his wife were consistent and faithful members of the Christian Church, to the movements and work of which they contributed liberally. In political affairs Mr. McJilton was a Democrat. Mrs. McJilton was born in 1828 in Woodford County, Illinois, where she was educated in the public schools, and died in June, 1906, in the same locality as her husband, Elm Creek, Nebraska, where a beautiful stone marks the resting-place of this devoted and highly respected couple. They were the parents of the following children : Mary, who is the wife of W. H. Swazey, a well known resident and merchant of Ashland, Kansas; Simon W., who is a resident of Overton, Nebraska, married and a retired farmer; Joseph W., who is engaged in agricultural work at Saint Louis, Michigan; Emma, the wife of Isaac Davis, who is connected with the United States mail service and is a resident of Towanda, Kansas ; and John Edward, of this review.

John Edward McJilton is largely a self-educated man. He attended the district school of his neighborhood during his youth, but his time was largely occupied in assisting his father in the work of the home farm, on which he remained until reaching the age of twenty-two years, and the greater part of his education has come through experience, observation and mingling with men of affairs. When he was one year past his majority he became a renter of land in Kansas, whence he had been taken by his parents, and for three years gathered crops on property in that state thus secured. At the end of that period he came to Champaign County, where he had been given a forty-acre farm by his father-in-law. He fanned his father-in-law's land for seven years, and in the meantime purchased an additional thirty-five acres, for which he went into debt, but subsequently cleared off his indebtedness. Being at that time the owner of seventy-five acres, with good prospects for success in his undertakings, Mr. McJilton decided to establish a home of his own, and February 11, 1886, was united in marriage with Miss Augusta Heyer. They became the parents of five children, of whom the following still survive: Alva W., educated in the common schools and one winter at a business college at Marion, Indiana, now a successful agriculturist and stockman of East Bend Township, Champaign County, independent in politics, voting rather for the man than the party, a member of the Christian Church, as was his first wife, Ethel Bryan, by whom he had one daughter, and married for his second wife Nellie Williams, who attends the same church; Elsie, educated in the common schools, married Ernest Mink, an agriculturist of Champaign County, Illinois, has one son, Lyle, and is a member of the Christian Church ; Leslie, who is in the third year of high school at Fisher; and Hazel, who is in the sixth grade of the common school at Fisher.

Mrs. McJilton is a native of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, and was born March 5, 1860, being a daughter of William and Sophia Heyer. Her father was a native of Saxony, Germany, and after receiving a good education in his native land, came to the United States when still a young man. He was an agriculturist by vocation, and a man of unusual brilliance of mind and intellect, one of his favorite subjects being history, upon which he was exceptionally well informed. On first coming to America he located in Wisconsin, where he gained success both as an agriculturist and a manufacturer of cheese, and in the latter connection was the owner of a factory, in which Mrs. McJilton assisted her father when a child. After leaving Wisconsin Mr. Heyer became one of the earliest settlers near Fisher, and here the remaining years of his life were passed in the pursuits of the soil, he becoming the owner of 395 acres of good Champaign County land. He died in 1896, at the age of sixty-five years, in the faith of the German Lutheran Church. Mrs. McJilton was educated in the public schools of Champaign and has made her home here since girlhood. She is a member of the Domestic Science Society at Fisher, and is generally popular among the ladies here, but finds her chief interests in her home.

Mr. McJilton embarked in the lumber business in Fisher in 1908 and has steadily built up an excellent trade. He now carries a complete and up-to-date line of lumber and all kinds of building material, and his treatment of his patronage, as well as of the public in general, is such as to accord him a place in their confidence and esteem. While the greater part of his attention is now given to his lumber business, he has by no means given up his interest in agricultural matters, for he is the owner of 180 acres of land in Champaign County, eighty 'acres in Gratiot County, Michigan, and twenty acres in Florida. He also owns his own home at Fisher, a comfortable and hospitable residence, where his numerous friends always find a warm welcome. With Mrs. McJilton, he belongs to the Christian Church, in which he is a deacon, and in addition to religion, he is a friend of education and has served in the capacity of school director. In every way he is entitled to be numbered among the

WILLIAM H. THOMPSON of Ogden first knew Champaign County in the years just before the outbreak of the Civil War, when most of this section of Illinois was a country of swamp and prairie and when its magnificent development had hardly begun. Mr. Thompson's individual career has been a factor in the improvement and development of Champaign County farm land, and out of that work he has acquired a commendable degree of prosperity that now enables him to live in comfort and plenty.

Mr. Thompson was born at Waynesburg in Greene County, Pennsylvania, a son of Andrew J. and Catherine (Shape) Thompson. He was one of a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, who received their education in the district schools. In 1859, when William H. Thompson was fourteen years of age, the family came to Illinois and settled east of Homer in Champaign County. They were pioneers here and William H. Thompson grew up acquainted with the hardships and privations endured by the early settlers.

At the age of twenty-one he married Valencia Eice. She was born in the Blue Grass State of Kentucky. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Thompson located at Burr Oak, Illinois, on rented land. There they began to carve the future according to their own desires and ability, and for a number of years they lived on a virgin prairie looking out over a scene of high prairie grass alternating with wet sloughs. Mr. Thompson by his first marriage became the father of three children. The daughter Ora Lee died at the age of ten months. The other two children are Frank E. and Stella. Both of them were educated in the district schools. Frank is a farmer in Livingston County, Illinois, and married Clara ' Shinn. Stella is the wife of Charles Dubois and they live in Chicago.

About twenty-five years ago Mr. Thompson moved to Ogden Township and bought forty acres of land at $42.50 an acre. It had few improvements and at the time was considered a part of the wooded district of Champaign County, but by thorough drainage it is now high and dry and every foot of the ground is susceptible of cultivation. Mr. Thompson has placed many farm improvements, including the planting of fruit and shade trees and the building of a commodious and attractive home and barns. He also owns forty acres in Vermilion County.

In October, 1878, Mr. Thompson married for his present wife Lizzie (Hayes) Huckin. She was born in Ohio, daughter of William and Mary (Burnett) Hayes. Her parents were born and reared in Ireland and came to America with two children, one of whom died immediately after they landed. While they lived in Ohio two other children were born, and when Lizzie was three years of age they migrated to Illinois, more than sixty years ago. At that time there was no Ogden and the entire country was a vista of prairie and swamp. Mrs. Thompson attended the public schools at Ogden and at the age of eighteen married Albert Huckin. The one. child of that union, William Huckin, was born October 7, 1873. In October, 1874, while digging a well on his farm, a bucket fell into an excavation and injured Albert Huckin so seriously that he died fifty-six days later.

To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were born six children, four sons and two daughters. Their names are Milton Winfield, Esther May, Ida Bell, Grover Cleveland, George and Herman. Both daughters died in early girlhood. The other children were well educated at Ogden and also in the University of Illinois.

Mrs. Thompson's son by her first marriage, William Huckin, graduated from Rush Medical College at Chicago and is now a practicing physician at Wasco, Oregon. He married Augusta Anderson of South Dakota, and they have one child, Augusta Lizzie.

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson's oldest son, Milton, is a graduate of the University of Illinois, and is now connected with the Chamber of Commerce at Madison, Wisconsin. He married Beatrice Rogers. The second sou, Grover Cleveland, is a successful farmer at Barney, thirty miles south of Fargo, North Dakota. He married Inez Alverson of Oakwood, and has a son and two daughters, Ray, Mildred and Helen Esther. George Thompson, a farmer in Ogden Township, married Lula Goss. The youngest son, Herman, who was born December 10, 1896, is still at home, a student in the Ogden High School and planning to complete his training in Urbana.

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Ogden and he has been honored with the office of trustee for many years and is always among the most liberal supporters of the church and of any movement for the benefit of the community. His public spirit as a citizen has caused his fellow citizens to call upbn him as school director and ditch commissioner. Mr. Thompson is affiliated with the Court of Honor and the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is a Democrat. Mr. Thompson is now seventy-two years of age, but is quite as active as the average man of forty, and drives his car about the country with the careful skill of a veteran chauffeur. His automobile is one evidence of his having kept step with the progress of the times, and as he drives about he can overlook country whose development has taken place almost under his eyes and almost altogether within his own generation.

ROBERT ALLEN STURGEON. For more than a quarter of a century Robert Allen Sturgeon has been a resident of Champaign County, and during this time it has been his fortune to have built up a prosperous business, to have established an extremely creditable record as a public official and to have made a lasting place for himself in the confidence of. the community through honorable conduct of the activities of life. In the difficult field of realty operation Mr. Sturgeon has achieved standing

Eobert A. Sturgeon was born in Tazewell County, Illinois, October 29, 1861, being the third in a family of five sons born to Samuel and Margaret J. (Wilson) Sturgeon, all of these children surviving. His brothers are: William S., who is engaged in business at Chicago, Illinois, is married ; Samuel W., who is married and engaged in agricultural operations in the vicinity of El Paso, Woodford County, Illinois; James F., who is married and a resident of El Paso, where he is cashier of the Woodford County National Bank, a graduate of Knox College, and admitted to practice in the courts of Illinois; and Charles B., a resident of Peoria, Illinois, where he is identified with the United States Mail service.

Samuel Sturgeon was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and there received his education in the public schools and upon reaching his majority adopted the vocation of agriculturist. He continued to reside in the Keystone state until 1858, in which year he removed to Tazewell County, and there continued as a tiller of the soil until 1868, when he went to Woodford County. There he purchased a farm, developed and cultivated it, and continued actively engaged in farming and stockraising until 1895, when, he retired and passed on the heavier labors of the homestead to younger shoulders. From that time until his death, in 1908, he lived quietly in his comfortable home near El Paso, where he was widely known and highly respected. His first presidential vote was cast in support of a candidate of the Whig party, but he saw the birth of the Eepublican organization and thereafter was always a loyal and active supporter of the Grand Old Party. He was always ready to. tender his abilities to his community in positions of public trust, and his fellow citizens, having confidence in his ability and judgment, frequently took advantage of this willingness and elected him to act in offices of preferment. Fraternally he was affiliated with the Masonic order, and both he and Mrs. Sturgeon were members of the Presbyterian Church, which they joined at Peoria and of which .they continued devout supporters all their lives. Mrs. Sturgeon was born near the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, and there received good educational advantages, attending the common schools and the Dauphin Academy. Her parents having died when she was still a girl, she was left in charge as a "little mother" to care for three of her brothers and sister, and nobly she performed this loving task, guiding them to honorable manhood and womanhood. She met and married Mr. Sturgeon in Pennsylvania, and in death they remain united, for they both lie .at peace in the cemetery at El Paso, where a handsome and appropriate stone marks their final resting-place.

Robert Allen Sturgeon was about seven years of age when his parents removed to Woodward County, and there he secured his education in the district schools and the El Paso High School, subsequently attending the Illinois State Normal School for one year. His first work on his own account consisted of working farms on shares, and his cash capital was small indeed. After several years of this kind of work he embarked in the grain business at Elliott, Illinois, a venture in which he remained for two years, and in which he was reasonably successful, but in 1890 he disposed of his interests at that point and removed to Dewey, where he also lived for two years. The year 1892 marked his advent in Fisher, where he first engaged in the grain business and became well and favorably known in commercial circles of the city. However, in the meanwhile he had become interested in realty matters and was convinced of the future prosperity of Champaign County. He began dealing in a small way in real estate, and his business in this line soon grew to such proportions that he was compelled to give it all his attention, and he accordingly disposed of his grain enterprise. In 1900 Mr. Sturgeon was elected justice of the peace of Fisher, and during the seventeen years that he has held this office he has acted as counsel and adviser to his fellow citizens in a manner that has left no doubt as to his ability, tact and judgment, as well as his general usefulness to the community.