Champaign County, Illinois - The whole text, 1918 (part 18 of 23)

Mr. Baird was born at Washington in Tazewell County, Illinois, son of Thomas N. and Mary (White) Baird. Both parents were born in Ohio. L. W. Baird was the third among twelve children, all of whom were educated in the Franklin District School. Two of his brothers fought as soldiers in the Union army, Thomas R. and George W. Baird.

In 1868 L. W. Baird married Lucinda Gland, a native of Ohio and a daughter of William and Nancy Gland. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Baird located near Bloomington, Illinois, where, he engaged in farming for some years. They were getting established with a good home and were rearing their children when death came upon the scene and took away Mrs. Baird on April 1, 1879. Four children were born to their union: Olive N., Charles Lossen, Minnie and Fred. These children were educated chiefly in the high school at Ogden. Olive N. is now Mrs. Wampler and has three children : Flossie, Otho and Minion. Charles Lessen is a practical farmer in northwestern Missouri and by his marriage to Laura Young has three children, Lee, Oscar and Essie. Minnie died in Kansas City, Missouri, the wife of Benjamin Ladieu, leaving two daughters, Laura and Lillian. Fred Baird lives at Woodward, Oklahoma, and by his marriage to Miss Kirk has three children, Addison L., Cecil and Nellie.

On December 15, 1880, Mr. Baird married for his present wife Mrs. Harriet Bowman, widow of Captain Isaac L. Bowman. Captain Bowman and wife were married November 9, 1865. He had served gallantly as captain of Company G of the One Hundred and Sixth Illinois Infantry. Captain Bowman's father was a county and circuit judge of Logan County, Illinois. Captain Bowman passed away in January, 1872, leaving his widow with one son, Ralph Waldo. Ralph Waldo graduated from Northwestern University Law School at Chicago in the same class with Judge Kenesaw Landis, and is now a successful practicing lawyer in New York City. For ten years he was librarian of the Chicago Bar Association. He is also a legal author, having compiled the work known as Bowman's Illinois Cases and Citations, which has found a place on the shelves of most law libraries not only in Illinois but elsewhere.

Mrs. Baird was born at Galena, Illinois, a town famous not only for being the center of the great lead industry but also as , the early home of General Grant. Her maiden name was Wilson and she is a daughter of Hiram and Caroline (Reed) Wilson, her father a native of Pickaway County, Ohio, and her mother of Buffalo, New York. Mrs. Baird was one of a family of eleven children. These children grew up at Galena and the Wilsons were close neighbors to General Grant's family and the Grant and Wilson children played together and attended the same school. Mrs. Baird had a brother, Albert Wilson, who served in the Civil War. She also has two nephews who are successful physicians, Dr. Ray Teaman of Munising, Michigan, and Dr. Clyde Teaman, who is a partner of the noted Doctor Barnes of Decatur, Illinois.

tinuously been residents of Ogden for over thirty-seven years. During all that time Mr. Baird carried on a successful business until February, 1909, when he retired. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Ogden. In politics he supports the principles of the Republican party and has always cast his vote for an organization which he feels has been the source of the best laws and policies of this nation. Both he and his wife have given the strength of their advocacy to the breaking of the yoke long maintained by the liquor traffic in this country. Fraternally Mr. Baird is affiliated with Masonry, being a Knight Templar of the Urbana Commandery, and also with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. Baird is a member of the Eastern Star and the Pythian Sisters.

In public affairs Mr. Baird served as tax collector thirteen years and also filled the offices of assessor and school director. His own work has been a factor in the development of Champaign County, and his early memories go back to a time when this country was little more than bare prairie and swamp. He has lived a life of industry, has reared his children for positions in which integrity of character and loyal citizenship count, and has identified himself with every progressive movement in the community. Mr. and Mrs. Baird now enjoy a very pleasant home at Ogden, close by the interurban line, their dwelling house being set in the midst of a large lawn where a number of trees furnish friendly shade and well set off the architectural features of the building.

JOHN J. REYNOLDS is one of the progressive agriculturists of Champaign County, with a well improved place in Sidney Township on Rural Route No. 57.

Mr. Reynolds is a native of this county, born in Rantoul Township, March 9, 1881, a son of Isaac W. and Mary (Stephenson) Reynolds. The parents were both natives of Pennsylvania and his father spent his boyhood days in Ohio and identified himself with Champaign County in 1862. He broke some of the first prairie sod near Rantoul, and though beginning comparatively poor accumulated three fine farms and spent his last years in comfortable retirement at IJrbana, where he died January 1, 1917. His widow is now making her home with her son John. John J. Reynolds was the only child of his parents, but his mother by a previous marriage to Mr. McCowan had one daughter, Nora, now the wife of John Norton of Shell City, Missouri.

At the age of nineteen John J. Reynolds left the high school, where he completed his education, and began work in a department store at Urbana. After that he was in the grocery business for about four years, and in 1907 he bought out the Kilpatrick Department Store and was at the head of that well known business in Urbana for four and a half years. He gave up his successful career as a merchant to resume the occupation which he had followed as a boy, farming, and has since lived on his farm in section 2 of Sidney Township. He also owns thirty-five acres in section 11, eighty acres in section 32 and eighty acres in section 33, Urbana Township, eighty acres in Wayne County, and has considerable town property in Urbana.

On May 17, 1902, he married Fay Shepherd, who was born at Pesotum, in Champaign County, March 20, 1882. They have three young children, Helen M., Keith Isaac and Mary, and these children are receiving good school advantages and the best of home training.

Mr. Reynolds is a Republican in politics. He has served as secretary of the township high school, has been constable and has filled various minor offices. He is a Mason, a Mystic Shriner and present worthy patron of the chapter of the Eastern Star at Sidney. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity at Sidney. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

GEORGE J. HUKST. An experienced and successful general farmer and a highly respected citizen of Champaign County is George J. Hurst, who farms 240 acres situated in section 5, Ayers Township, this being the old homestead farm on which his parents first settled when coming to the county and taking up farming. George J. Hurst was born in Germany, September 21, 1879, and is a son of John George and Mary (Franks) Hurst.

The parents of Mr. Hurst were born in Germany. The father brought his family to the United States and came to Illinois in 1883, locating at Leverett in Champaign County and residing there until 1891, when he bought 160 acres of land in section 5, Ayers Township, and resided on the same until 1912, when he purchased forty acres in Champaign Township, which is his present home. A man of industry and good judgment, he has been successful in his undertakings and has long been numbered with the men of comfortable fortune in this neighborhood. To John George and Mary Hurst the following children were born: Belle, who is the wife of Walter Rice, of Murdock, Illinois ; George J. ; Carrie, who is the wife of Louis Wienke, of Homer, Illinois; Louise, who is the wife of Jesse Rice, of Murdock, Illinois; Christina, who is the wife of John Grien of Philo, Illinois; Mary, who is the wife of Clem E. Smith, of Champaign; Minnie, who resides at home; Annie, who is the wife of Vernon Rowland, of Champaign; William, who is deceased; and Carl, who lives with his parents in Champaign Township.

George J. Hurst obtained a good district school education and remained with his father until he was twenty-two years old and then rented a farm of 160 acres for two years. Before deciding to settle down permanently in Champaign County, Mr. Hurst determined to see other sections of the country and that led to his going to Oklahoma, where he remained as a farmer for one year and then returned to his native state and county. He settled then on a farm of 220 acres near Sidney, which he operated for two years and then removed to a farm of 240 acres which lay in Douglas County, and remained there one year and then came back to his father's old homestead. Here he continues general farming and raises some good stock.

Mr. Hurst was married December 27, 1905, to Miss Mattie Duggan, who was born in Kansas, and they have had six children, namely: Nellie Marie, William George, Martha M., Mabel B., Walter Ralph and Minnie May, all of whom survive except Martha M. and Mabel B. Mr. Hurst believes in education and proposes to give his children every advantage that is in his power, but he is a practical man and it is very probable that his sons will learn under his instruction how to become judicious farmers such as he is. Mr. Hurst and family belong to the Christian Church. In every way he is a good citizen and lends a hand when any movement' is on foot to promote the general welfare, but he is not a politician and for many years has voted independently.

FRANK B. MEANS. As one of the leading business men of Fisher Frank B. Means is supplying a service which contributes to the standing and importance of that town among the communities of Champaign County and the skill and energy which he employs in the management of the only drug store and pharmacy in the town would be creditable to a city of much larger size.

Mr. Means belongs to the pioneer element of central Illinois, and particularly McLean and Champaign counties. It is a fact that should not be forgotten in the history of Champaign County that his father, the late David D. Means, in 1850 broke up the first acre of land in Newcomb Township. He had one of the old-fashioned plows and a team of oxen drew the heavy implement through the virgin prairie. That pioneer plowing was done near the present Phillips estate.

Frank B. Means was born in McLean County, May 18, 1875, and was the eleventh in a family of twelve children, eleven sons and one daughter, born to David D. and Rebecca (Cline) Means. Nine of these children are still living and all are in Illinois except David L., a resident of Post Falls, Idaho, and John E. of Arkansas.

David D. Me'ans was a native of the Blue Grass State of Kentucky, where he was born May 4, 1827. His life was a long and useful one and was protracted to eighty-eight years. He passed away August 22, 1914. The Means family is noted for its longevity. There are few families in Illinois that can present a like record of age in individual members. While David D. Means died at the age of eighty-eight, his brother James died at eighty-nine, his brother Owen A. at eighty-six, and of his sisters Mrs. Van Scoyck died at eighty-five, Mrs. Snowdon Ball at eighty-two, Mrs. Jennie Stansberry at eighty-six and Mrs. Keturah McMacken at ninety. Thus seven children attained an aggregate of 606 years.

When David D. Means was three years of age his parents removed to McLean County, and the home of his mature years was within one mile of the original settlement. David D. Means himself was a pioneer in this great corn belt region of Illinois. He witnessed the remarkable march of progress and development which transformed Illinois within his personal recollection. When the Means family settled in McLean County It was two years before the Black Hawk War, and Jackson was still President of the United States. In the early days David Means assisted in driving stock to market at Chicago, when that city was clustered closely along the banks of the Chicago River. He also aided in the erection of the first log cabin at Ellsworth, Illinois. He was one of the old pioneers of central Illinois who were frequently called "The Snowbirds." As a farmer he came into the possession of and developed 240 acres near Sayhrook, Illinois. In his later years he often referred to a time when the present wealthy city of Bloomington, with its population of 28,000, was a village and hamlet. He was on intimate terms with the prominent old family of Bloomington, the Funks. While a Democrat, David Means voted for Lincoln, and in the later years of his life he supported the Prohibition candidate, St. John. He and his wife were active Methodists and aided in building the various churches in their locality.

Mrs. David Means was born in Ohio, April 3, 1831, and is still living. At the age of eighty-six her intellect is as clear as a bell, her eye clear and sparkling, and all these years have not whitened her black hair. Mr. Means drove to Springfield to get his bride and took her home in a wagon. She has always been active in church and for many years was a worker in the W. C. T. U. Her home is still at Saybrook, and she and her children have their happy family reunions each year. It is an impressive as well as happy occasion where are gathered together four generations, the mother with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The presence of many descendants has been her chief source of solace and comfort in her declining years.

Frank B. Means grew up on the old homestead farm in McLean County, and besides the country school he attended the Saybrook High School. Later he took the full course in the Parsons Horological School at Peoria, graduating with the class of 1896-97 as an expert watchmaker. To the age of twenty-two Mr. Means had lived on the home farm. In 1897 he took up the work of his profession in the watch and jewelry trades at Saybrook. He also was employed as a clerk in a local drug store, and there he gained his first practical knowledge as a pharmacist and subsequently became a licensed or registered pharmacist. In 1899 he went to Monticello, Illinois, was employed as a salesman for several years, in 1903 removed to Lovington, Illinois, which was his home and place of business for six years, and in 1909 he took charge of the store at Windsor, Illinois. In 1911 he removed to Sheldon, Illinois, where he spent one year in a drug establishment, and in 1912 he located in Fisher.

He began in this town as a salesman and at the present time he and his wife own one of the most complete stocks of pure drugs and other goods found in similar stores in towns of 3,000 population. In fact his store is classed as No. 1 among the 7,000 drug stores of Illinois. His goods are carefully purchased from some of the best wholesale houses in the United States. Since 1912 he and his wife have filled 11,096 prescriptions. Their store is the local distributing agency for the celebrated Eexall remedies, and they also carry a complete stock of toilet articles and have the agency of the Eastman Kodak, the National cigar stand and the veterinary remedies of -Doctor Roberts.

On May 3, 1898, Mr. Means found his capable helpmate in his marriage to Miss Dora C. Short, daughter of Robert and Lucinda (Russell) Short. Mrs. Means was one of seven children, three sons and four daughters, all of whom are living in Illinois except their brother Alva, a farmer at Lake City, Iowa. 'Robert Short was a native of Washington County, Indiana, and always followed agriculture as his chief vocation. His death occurred in February, 1914, at the age of sixty-nine, and he is buried at Bellflower, Illinois. He removed to McLean County, Illinois, in 1886, when Mrs. Means was eight years of age. Politically he was a Democrat. Mrs. Short was born in Washington County, Indiana, and is still living at the age of seventy-three. She is an active member of the Christian Church, to which her husband also gave his affiliation.

Mrs. Means was well educated, having attended the common schools and Leroy High School. She was in the Leroy High School when Frank Blair was its principal. Frank Blair is now superintendent of public instruction of the State of Illinois. Mrs. Means' favorite study was mathematics, and her mathematical mind and her energy have made her an important factor in the success of the business now carried on by herself and husband. Mr. and Mrs. Means are active members of the Christian Church at Fisher. She belongs to the Domestic Science Club. Politically Mr. Means is a Democrat and cast his first vote for Bryan. He has also gone the route of York Rite Masonry, being a member of Cheney's Grove Lodge No. 468, A. F. & A. M., at Saybrook, Sullivan Chapter No. 68, R. A. M., at Sullivan, Maleta Commandery No. 37, K. T., at Tuscola, and Mohammed Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Peoria. He is also a member of the Oriental Shrine Band at Peoria and was with the Shriners at the Imperial Council at Buffalo, New York, in 1916.

FRANK MORTON CONKET has for more than a quarter of a century been identified with the town of Homer in his profession as a dentist. He is one of the most progressive men in his calling in the county, and began his work with a splendid equipment and has always kept up with every advance and improvement in the profession.

father a native of Pelham, Massachusetts, and his mother of Wheeling, West Virginia. The Sadler family were early settlers in Champaign County and Sarah Virginia came with her family when about twelve years of age, and rode into the county on horseback. William A. Conkey was graduated from the Louisville Medical College at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1856. In 1840 his family had located at Cayuga, Indiana, when he was ten years of age, and he lived in that vicinity until about twenty-two or twenty-five, when he removed to the district east of Champaign County on Salt Fork Eiver, where a town was named for him Conkeytown. From there he removed to the old town of Homer, lived there about ten years and when the Wabash Railroad was built, causing a change in the location and the founding of the new town of Homer, he bought farming land a mile and a quarter west of the village and spent the rest of his days in the quiet vocation of agriculture. His death occurred December 2, 1908, and his wife passed away March 4, 1906. They were the parents of ten children : Aubert J., a retired farmer at Homer; the second, third and fourth children died in infancy; Lucy, wife of M. J. Spencer, now living retired at Homer; Bruce T., who died January 5, 1915; Carl A., a hardware merchant at Homer; Emma, wife of E. P. Babb, of Champaign; Frank M., of Homer; and Fred B., of Howe, Indiana.

Frank M. Conkey grew up in his father's home at Homer, graduated from the high school there and spent one year in the University of Illinois. For two years he worked and studied in a dentist's office at Crawfordsville, Indiana, and then spent two years in a dental school, one year at Indianapolis and in March, 1891, graduated from a dental college at Baltimore, Maryland. He at once returned to his old home town and has been steadily practicing here ever since.

Doctor Conkey married Laura V. Shepherd, who was also born in Homer, daughter of Parker E. and Lucinda (Thompson) Shepherd. Her father was born in Ohio and her mother at Homer, and both are now deceased. Her father was a farmer. Mrs. Conkey was the oldest of four children, the other three being : Bertha J., wife of J. M. Cooley ; John A., who lives at New Orleans; and Ralph W., a resident of Yakima, Washington.

Dr. and Mrs. Conkey have one son, William Harold, who was born November 27, 1900. Doctor Conkey is a Republican in politics, a member of the Masonic Order and he and his wife belong to the Presbyterian Church.

COLUMBUS CLINTON McELWEE is one of Champaign County's successful farmers and cattle feeders, and has come up from the bottom round of the ladder to a most successful position. The best type of success is that which depends upon personal energy and initiative in acquiring those things which a worthy ambition craves, and in this respect Mr. McElwee is one of the truly successful men of Champaign County.

He was born at Wallace, Indiana, June 4, 1873, a son of David and Melissa Jane (Harlow) McElwee. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of Indiana. His father enlisted in the Sixty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served throughout the war, being wounded three times. He died in Indiana, October 8, 1882, while his wife passed away August 6, 1881. They had a family of five children: Charles and James, both deceased; Everett of Dear Station in St. Joseph Township, Champaign County; Columbus C. ; and Rachel, wife of Charles Rush of St. Joseph Township.

and mother left him an orphan. He had little chance to gain an education by regular attendance at school, and has made the most profit possible from circumstances and his opportunities of observation and contact with men and affairs. In 1884, the year that Cleveland was first nominated for the presidency and when Mr. McElwee was eleven years of age, he borrowed 35 cents to get from Indiana to S.t. Joseph, Illinois. He earned that money by cording wood. For four years he worked on a farm for board and clothes, and after that was paid steadily increasing wages as a farm hand. With growing experience and proficiency, he rented land and farmed it for two and a half years, and about that time he established a home of his own by his marriage. He took charge of his father-in-law's place and at the present time is engaged in farming 350 acres. He has acquired under his individual ownership 160 acres in Sidney Township and has been thoroughly progressive in all his methods.

Mr. McElwee built the first silo in Sidney Township. He now has four silos on his farm, and these he considers invaluable adjuncts to the cattle feeder.

Mr. McElwee married Ressie Olive Johnston. She is a daughter of James M. and Lucinda (Corry) Johnston, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Somers Township of Champaign County. Her father is still living, and for years has made a specialty of raising fine draft horses. Mrs. McElwee was eight years of age when her mother died. There were four children, Mrs. McElwee and her sister Daisy Ann being twins. The latter is the wife of James Rudisell of St. Joseph Township. The other two children, sisters of Mrs. McElwee, are Laura, wife of Jesse Purst of G-rover Hill, Ohio, and Nellie, wife of Charles H. Greenwood of Chicago. Mrs. McElwee's father married for his second wife Millie Stewart, and by that union there are three children: Owen of Indiana; Fannie, wife of Lloyd Patch of Chicago; and Vern I., who is now in the United States navy.

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. McElwee were born seven children. The first, a son, died in infancy ; Guy C., still at home ; Maude Esther, at home ; Ermel James ; Norma F. ; Claude Martin ; and Laverne Roy.

In 1901 Mr. McElwee organized the local telephone exchange in Sidney Township, getting a few neighbors to co-operate with him and installing a switchboard. Later he took over the interests of the other parties and incorporated the Sidney Home Telephone Company. Mr. McElwee is president of the Sidney Grain Company, is a Republican, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight of Pythias and active in the Christian Church. He has served as school director, as supervisor, as deputy sheriff, and was on the building committee when the Knights of Pythias Hall and the town hall were erected in Sidney Township.

SCOTT WILSON ELAINE is one of the fortunate younger men of Champaign County who elected to remain on the land where they grew up as children and have prospered exceedingly by the increasing fruitage and value of farm productive efforts.

Mr. Elaine was born September- 15, 1874, on his father's farm in section 27 of Champaign Township. That is his present home and by due diligence and 'careful management he has surrounded himself with many of the best comforts and conveniences of modern rural life in this rich and prosperous section of eastern Illinois.

His parents were Edward W. and Sarah (Wilson) Elaine, both natives of Pennsylvania. His parents came out to Champaign County in 1865, and at that date located in section 27 of Champaign Township. Here the father died September 15, 1914, and the mother passed away in 1899.

They were the parents of five children : Shield, of Champaign ; Walter, a physician now practicing at Tuscola; Scott W.; Edith, wife of Harvey English, of Champaign; Edna, wife of Myrl Deck, of Peoria.

With brief exceptions Scott Wilson Elaine has lived his entire lifetime so far on the place with which his first conscious recollections are associated. The country schools in that vicinity gave him his education and by his early training he was well fitted when he arrived at his majority to compete for success with the other farmers of the community. He now owns 100 acres of the old homestead and has it well improved. His home is located on rural route No. 1 out of Champaign. Mr. Elaine is a Eepublican, is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is now serving as a director of the school board.

On February 24, 1904, he married Miss Sadie Dunn, a native of Michigan. They are the parents of three children : Irma, Edward Wilson and Mary Edith.

CHARLES W. WITT. Prominently known in Champaign County, and especially at Sidney, Mr. Witt is a native of that section and has made his years count for usefulness and service in different lines. He is now serving as postmaster of Sidney.

He was born in that village February 25, 1871, a son of William and Mary (Wilson) Witt. His father was a native of Germany, but his mother was born in Champaign County. William Witt followed farming for a number of years, afterwards was a railroad man, and he died at Sidney, February 25, 1912, on Charles Witt's forty-first birthday. The mother died in 1882. They have three children: Luther C. of Sidney Township; Charles W. ; and George M., who resides in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Charles W. Witt attended the public schools at Sidney, and had his first experience in business as a restaurant man. For about a year and a half he conducted a restaurant at Tilton, Illinois, and then went to farming, which he followed twelve years.

In an official capacity Mr. Witt served as supervisor of his township, and on December 25, 1915, was appointed postmaster of Sidney. That office has recently been created a third class office, and Mr. Witt was reappointed his own successor by President Wilson on January 29, 1917. He has given a capable administration and has made stanch friends in this community irrespective of party affiliations.

On June 28, 1899, Mr. Witt married Hulda A. Mandeville. She was also born at Sidney and is a daughter of Samuel D. and Mary A. (Coffeen) Mandeville. Her father was born in Seneca County, New York, and her mother in Champaign County. Samuel Mandeville was at one time proprietor of the old Kelly Tavern, in partnership with Orton Woodward. The Kelly Tavern is historic because Abraham Lincoln, when a young Illinois lawyer, often stopped there. Mr. Mandeville is still living on his home farm, but his wife is deceased. In their family were seven children : Ira F. ; Ollie, deceased ; Hulda, Mrs. Witt ; Ethel G., deceased ; Anna B., wife of William H. Lehman of Decatur, Illinois; Paris R., an engineer of the Missouri Pacific Railway, living at Atchison, Kansas ; Carrie, deceased. The last two are twins. Mr. and Mrs. Witt have one child, Ralph D., who was born Jvily 5, 1902, and is now in the public schools at Sidney. Politically Mr. Witt is a Democrat, is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and his church is the Christian, while Mrs. Witt is a Presbyterian.

CARL ODEBRECHT. Some of the finest farms in Illinois are to be found in Philo Township of Champaign County. This also means that some of the ablest exponents of the art of agriculture are in the same locality. One of the men who have been especially successful in transmitting the resources of the soil into material benefit is Carl Odebrecht, whose operations as a farmer are carried on in section 28 of that township.

His entire life has been spent in Champaign County. He was born in Eaymond Township, August 20, 1877, and is a son of Charles and Sophie (Raver) Odebrecht. His parents were both born in Germany. His father arrived in America December 1, 1873, and for several years lived near Winchester, Ohio. In 1877 he came to Champaign County. He was at that time poor in purse though with experience and a steadfast ambition. Locating in Raymond Township, he lived there as a renter one year and for six years rented land in Philo Township. The slow accumulations of his industry then bore fruit in the purchase of eighty acres in section 28 of Philo Township. His prosperity has been steadily on the increase. He bought 120 acres more in the same locality, acquired forty acres in Ohio and finally forty acres in section 28 of Philo Township. The home farm has been brought under cultivation and has been put in a measure in a magnificent state of improvement. The good wife and mother died here October 20, 1910. She was the mother of three children: Erne, wife of Herbert Krumm, of Philo Township ; Carl P. ; and Albert J., also of Philo Township.

Carl F. Odebrecht attended the district schools and secured his education partly from books and partly from practical experience. He worked with his father until 1904, and then after his marriage began life independently by renting half of the homestead. Two years later be took charge of the entire home place of 200 acres and is now working it to profit and advantage. He is owner of 103 acres of the rich farm land of Putnam County, Ohio, and also has forty acres in section 28 of Philo Township.

Mr. Odebrecht was married February 24, 1904, to Miss Edith N. Porterfield, a daughter of Lemuel C. and Mary (Toy) Porterfield. Five children have been born to their marriage, and these constitute a happy household of young people, though the two oldest are now deceased. A record of the children is: Walter E., born September 11, 1907, and died September 18, 1909; Lyman C. born December 11, 1910, and died March 7, 1911; Helen K., born March 2, 1912; Melba Frances, born December 16, 1913; and Mary Agnes, born January 23, 1917.

Mr. Odebrecht is a Republican and he and his family are members of the Lutheran Church. His fellow citizens have called on him to act as road commissioner and also as drainage commissioner, and he has supported the public schools both privately and through his work as a school director.

JESSE R. GLASCOCK. Champaign County as a whole attests the truth of the observation that "Our civilization rests at bottom on the wholesomeness, the attractiveness and the completeness, as well as the prosperity of life in the country." It is surely the men of the open country who compose the stay and strength of the nation in time of war and its guiding and controlling spirit in time of peace.

This county has a number of men who measure up to the standards set in these words, and one of them is Mr. J. R. Glascock of St. Joseph Township. Mr. Glascock was born in that township, a son of Mahlon and Mary (Strong) Glascock, his father a native of Virginia and his mother of Illinois. His father was a pioneer farmer in Champaign County and went through many trials and privations to establish a home here in the early days. Mahlon Glascock was three times married, and his wife, Mary Strong, had four children, two sons and two daughters, Jesse being the youngest son.

With his brothers and sisters he received his education in the local schools, and on April 12, 1899, married Miss Myrta Curry. Mrs. Glascock was born in Edgar County, Illinois, a daughter of Joseph W. and Alice (Hickman) Curry. Her father was born in Indiana and her mother in Virginia, but they were married in Illinois, and Mrs. Glascock was one of their family of six children, three sons and three daughters.

After his marriage Mr. Glascock settled on part of his father's estate, having been given 115 acres. Later he bought fifty-three acres more, of unimproved land, and all of this has since responded to his faithful and intelligent endeavors as an agriculturist. Good buildings have been erected and Mr. and Mrs. Glascock have one of the most complete and attractive country homes of the township.

In the files of the St. Joseph village paper of eighteen years ago is found the following account of their marriage: "Mr. Jesse Glascock and Miss Myrta Curry surprised friends from the city by going to the parsonage after prayer meeting, where their wedding was solemnized by Rev. Eninger. Mr. and Mrs. Glascock are two highly respected young people of this community and have a large circle of acquaintances and scores of friends who wish them unbounded happiness. They start out in life under favorable circumstances, as the groom is possessed of a good farm three miles southeast of here and has just completed a beautiful modern residence, already furnished, to receive his lovely bride. Miss Curry, the bride, is a daughter of Joseph Curry and wife. She was a popular teacher in Champaign County for a number of years and possesses the accomplishments that elicit the love and admiration of a host of friends, who unite in wishing her an exceedingly happy voyage."

Mrs. Glascock was educated in the district schools and fitted herself for teaching, which she followed most successfully, her field of labor embracing the Bowers School, Districts No. 7 and No. 9, Hunt School, Pleasant Ridge and Science Point School. She was teaching at the latter place when she married. If the number of her students could all be gathered together and could relate the most impressive lessons they learned from her it would make a large assemblage and would be an occasion worth hearing and recording. One of Mrs. Glascock's former students was Elmer Eckblau, who gained fame for himself in the noted Alaskan expedition. He always said that he owed his early success to Miss Curry's careful training.

Mr. Glascock has proved himself one of Champaign County's most progressive farmers. He has interested himself extensively in grain and stock, for ten years kept a number of Holstein cattle and managed a fine dairy, handling only registered stock and shipping cream to market. He now specializes chiefly in the Duroc Jersey hogs and has also raised many Berkshires.

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Glascock was born one son, Harold B. Glascock. He has attended the district schools, the St. Joseph High School, took a course in Brown's Business College at Urbana and graduated therefrom, and is a student for the year 1917-18 in the Urbana High School, preparatory to entering the University of Illinois. He is a good student and a popular young man.

Mr. and Mrs. Glascock are attentive members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at St. Joseph and have contributed liberally of their means to its various causes. In politics Mr. Glascock was born a Republican and has always found that party the most reliable expression of his views on political and economic questions.

Even to the casual observer the Glascock farm indicates the industry and intelligent care that has been expended upon its broad and rich acres.

The home is set in an attractive grove of fruit and shade trees, and one might travel far and never find a better managed farm in this part of Illinois. Eecently Mr. Glascock threshed from a field of oats eighty-six bushels to the acre. His home is lighted with acetylene light, he has Uncle Sam's mail service every day in the week, telephone, and he and his wife enjoy life with a fine Hupmobile car. Mr. Glascock generously awards his wife much praise for their success, since she has always been by his side as a Christian counselor and good home maker, and her former experience as a teacher has spread an atmosphere of culture over all their undertakings. Mr. Glascock finds many ties that bind him to his present home, since it was the place where he grew up as a boy, and the associations of the Glascock family have centered there for two generations.

Mr. and Mrs. Glascock have been factors in the improvement of the standards of country life, and in 1913 Mrs. Glascock organized the Country Improvement Club of her neighborhood. The object of this is to promote culture, intellectual and social commingling and an interchange of ideas which will go far to enrich the lives of all participants. Beginning in the month of September, the association holds meetings every two weeks until spring. Once a month there is a special social feature, and at other times during the year papers are read and vital matters and current events are discussed. There are seventeen members in the organization, and it has already done much to promote mutual interest and good will in the rural district.

CHARLIE N. COTTON has lived in Champaign County over fifty years, and is rated as one of the enterprising and progressive agriculturists of Sidney Township. His well improved farmstead is on Eural Eoute No. 61 out of Homer.

Mr. Cotton was born in Madison County, Indiana, April 6, 1860, and was brought to this county by his parents in 1866. He is a son of Robert and Margaret (Williams) Cotton, his father a native of Indiana and his mother of Ohio. When his father came to Champaign County he located on a farm near Catlin, and became widely known and respected as( a business man and citizen. His death occurred March 13, 1907. The 'mother, who was born in 1838, is now living at Homer in her eightieth year. They were the parents of four children: Charlie N. ; Emma R., wife of L. C. Palmer of Homer; Josephus W., who died in childhood; and William E. of Homer.

Charlie N. Cotton had a farm as his early environment, and he learned the lessons taught in the local district schools. He was a factor in the family and at home iintil twenty-eight, and then rented ninety-seven acres in section 12 of Sidney Township. From there he moved to Lost Grove, Illinois, bought a place of 1291/2 acres, and five years later sold this and acquired eighty acres south of Broadlands. He farmed there for nine years and on selling that bought the old homestead of ninety-seven acres, which he has since increased by the purchase of eighty acres. All of this land is now thoroughly cultivated and used as a general farming proposition.

Mr. Cotton married December 27, 1888, Miss Alice Coddington. She was born in Sidney Township. They had three children: Robert F., an attorney at Newman, Illinois ; Carl, who died at birth ; and Frank Earl, still at home. Mr. Cotton is a Republican and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.

CHABLES D. BABB. Established in 1900, the private banking house of Raynor & Babb, at Homer, Illinois, has enjoyed a prosperous existence of seventeen years, and through the financial ability, personal integrity and good management of its owners has grown to be a recognized institution among the concerns of Champaign County which are engaged in the handling of the money of corporations and individuals. One of the members of this firm, Charles D. Babb, is a man of broad experience in business and financial matters, an excellent judge of realty and loan values, and a citizen who has at times taken more than a passing interest in public affairs. He belongs to the well known Champaign County family of the name, a review of which will be found in the sketch of E. P. Babbr elsewhere in this work.

Charles D. Babb was born in the northern part of Champaign County, January 2, 1867, and received his early education in the Homer schools. When fourteen years old he began to do his share of work on the home farm, and although he later entered the Illinois College at Jacksonville, circumstances made it necessary that he leave during his second year and he at that time returned to his home. When he was eighteen years of age he assumed the responsibility of caring for his mother's business in addition to his own, and his first business experience, aside from farming, was gained in the field of mortgage loans, which he carried on near Homer. Later he entered the Champaign National Bank and for five years was engaged in clerical capacities, thus gaining much information and knowledge regarding financial systems and methods of procedure. During his connection with that institution he was thrown into contact with Eugene N. Raynor, and with mutual respect for each other's abilities they formed a partnership and embarked in the real estate and loan business, in which they continued with marked success for three years. Mr. Raynor was a man of much experience and business training, and had formerly been manager of the great Broadland farm, an estate of 22,500 acres. In 1900 Messrs. Babb and Raynor formed the banking house of Raynor & Babb, which has since continued to grow and prosper, being one of the institutions of this part of the county which has the full confidence of the public. Mr. Babb is a Republican in politics and has been prominent in the ranks of his party, having served as delegate to a number of state and county conventions and being prominent in other ways. He was formerly a member of the town council and of the school board, and under appointment of the governor was for four years a member of the board of trustees of the State School for the Blind, and president of that board for an additional four years. He is a Mason, and his religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Babb was married north of Homer, April 20, 1892, to Miss Alta M. Woody, who was born in Champaign County and attended the public schools of Homer, as well as the Women's College at Jacksonville. She is a daughter of Ancil C. and Rachel M. (Poage) Woody, natives, respectively, of Kentucky and Virginia, and both now deceased. For a number of years Mr. Woody was engaged in mercantile pursuits both at Homer and at Decatur, and was well and favorably known in commercial circles. Mr. and Mrs. Babb are the parents of one daughter, Margaret Elizabeth.

ALVA GILMOBE. With all due credit to the great metropolitan dailies that keep people informed of the life of the world, the local paper now as always has its great field of influence and value and is an indispensable factor in the life of a community. One of the leading papers of Champaign County is the Fisher Reporter, which has been regularly published since 1890 and is now a weekly visitor to all the leading homes in the northern part of the county. Since 1902 its editor and proprietor has been Mr. Alva Gilmore, a practical journalist and business man, who has made his paper a medium of communicating his public spirit and enterprise to the public in general.

Mr. Gilmore is a native of Champaign County, where he was born January 15, 1871. He is the second in a family of seven children, consisting of three sons and four daughters. Their parents were David B. and Maria (Edwards) Gilmore. Only two of the children are living. Mr. Gilmore's younger sister, Minnie, is living at Fisher with her mother. She was educated in the common schools and is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

David Gilmore was born in 1835 in that section of old Virginia now the State of West Virginia. He grew up in his native state, and on coming West lived for a short time near Columbus, Ohio, and in 1869 located in McLean County, Illinois. He had a common school education, and in early days taught schools when education was furnished on the subscription plan. For the greater part of his years he was identified with agriculture. From McLean County he moved to Newcomb Township of Champaign County and bought 100 acres, which in time he increased to 180 acres and developed it as one of the model farms of the county. He also owned town property. His success in life was due to strenuous effort, since he began without capital, and in early years he paid interest at the rate of 12 per cent on borrowed money. In 1894 he retired from his farm to a home at Fisher, where he died in 1912. He was a great admirer of "the Little Giant," Stephen A. Douglas, and cast his first presidential vote for that Illinois statesman. Afterwards he went into the Republican party. He stood firm in his principles, was positive in his convictions and was always able to discern the difference between right and wrong. Popular as a citizen, he -served as township clerk for several years, as assessor, road commissioner, township school treasurer and school director, and his community properly esteemed him as one of its most useful citizens. He and his wife were active Methodists and he assisted in the erection of the beautiful church of that denomination at Fisher. He also served as an official of the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church in Newcomb Township and was teacher and superintendent of its Sunday school for a number of years. His forefathers back in Virginia had been strong Methodists, and he was interested in religion and the work of his church from early boyhood. His body now rests in the Willow Brook Cemetery at Fisher, and a monument stands sacred to his memory. His wife was born in McLean County, Illinois, near Leroy, about 1847, and is still living in Fisher. She had a common school education and, like her husband, has always been a member of the Methodist Church. She was a splendid mother, and her home, her children and her church have given her the best interests of her life. In ancestry her lineage goes back to Wales. She and her daughter Minnie now occupy the old home at Fisher.

Alva Gilmore attended the common schools, but gained most of his education by self-application. He also attended the business college at Champaign when J. B. McKee was president. This school is now one of the chain of excellent business colleges conducted by the Brown Business College Company.

By the time he was eighteen years of age Mr. Gilmore had acquired a practical experience as a farmer on the home place. At that age he began teaching and taught two terms at East Bend and Newcomb Township. For eighteen months he was in the employ of the Pacific Express Company at Champaign, and then joined his father in the general merchandise business at Fisher. They began merchandising there in 1895, and had built up a handsome trade. In 1902 their store was consumed, along with many other business structures, in the great fire of that year, and their total loss through this disaster was $7,000.

since been its sole proprietor and editor. It is a quarto paper, independent in politics, publishes all the news of interest through the northern part of Champaign County, and is an instrument for the effective welfare of that district.

Mr. Gilmore himself is a Republican. His first presidential vote was cast for McKinley. He has served as a trustee of the village board and is now a police magistrate for Fisher. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Church.

On November 30, 1906, Mr. Gilmore married Miss Anna M. Beckham. Mrs. Gilmore is a daughter of Nathan H. and Rebecca (Bishop) Beckham. Her parents reside at Leroy in McLean County. Her father was born near Bowling Green, Kentucky, was educated in the common schools there, and when a young man, about 1861, came to McLean County, Illinois. His work has been that of an agriculturist and he now enjoys the profits of a fine farm of 400 acres in McLean County and also owns town property. He has always stood high in farming circles in that rich agricultural district. Politically he is a Democrat, has for many years been a Mason, and he and his wife are active members of the Christian Church. He contributed to the building of the church home in which he and his wife now worship. He has held the office of school trustee and director. The Beckham lineage is traced back to English Quakers. Mrs. Gilmore's mother was born in McLean County, and her father was one of the pioneers of that section.

Mrs. Gilmore received her early education in the common schools. She is an active member of Chapter No. 244 of the Eastern Star at Fisher. They have a home of comfort and hospitality at Fisher and are moving ' spirits in the social life of the community.

WILLIAM B. LYMAN is now carrying on a successful farming enterprise on the estate where he was born and where he has spent practically all the days of his life. This is in section 20 of Champaign Township.

He was born at that farm June 26, 1884, a son of John P. and Julia (Ryan) Lyman. His parents were both born in Vermilion County, Illinois, but for many years have lived in Champaign County. Of their five children William B. was the second and is the only one now living. The others in order of age were named Mary, John and Julia, twins, and Thomas D.

William B. Lyman grew up in a rural environment, had the advantages of good home training in addition to the country schools and a course of one term in Brown's Business College. In 1908, at the age of twentyfour, he rented his father's farm of 120 acres, and has handled its operations with a high degree of success ever since. Besides general farming he raises considerable stock and is also one of Champaign County's farmers who devotes considerable attention to poultry.

On February 10, 1908, Mr. Lyman married Mary Jordan, a native of Champaign County and a daughter of Patrick and Ellen Jordan. Her father is now deceased and her mother lives in Champaign. Mr. and Mrs. Lyman are members of the Holy Cross Catholic Church at Champaign. He is affiliated with the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Knights of Columbus, and in politics is a Democrat.

ROBERT S. RITCHIE. As in the war the burden of arms falls largely upon the youth of the nation, so to an increasing degree in America the heaviest responsibilities of business have likewise fallen upon those who are youns: and vigorous, with enthusiasm undimmed and with energies undiminished. Among this class of young and aggressive business men of Champaign County mention should be made of Eobert S. Ritchie, who for a number of years has been successfully identified with agricultural operations and with the grain business at Foosland in northwestern Champaign County. With the exception of his college career, practically all his life has been spent in Champaign County.

Mr. Ritchie was born in Champaign County, February 18, 1886, a son of William and Emeline (Ball) Ritchie. He was one of four children, one of whom is now deceased. John J. is a resident of Bloomington, Illinois; the next in age is Robert S. ; and Corley S. is an agriculturist living at Foosland.

William Ritchie was born near Dumfrieshire, Scotland, in 1847, and grew to young manhood in his native country and was quite well educated. In 1869 he came with his parents to America and they all located in Champaign County. William Ritchie followed agricultural pursuits until 1899, when he moved into Foosland and entered general merchandising. In 1907 he retired with a financial competence. He and his brother Walter had acquired 400 acres of the rich soil of Champaign County, and that land is still owned by their descendants. William Ritchie was distinguished by his strong belief in and advocacy of the Prohibition cause. -He was a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Foosland and he and his wife were formerly Presbyterians, the faith in which they had been reared and to which the Ritchie family had been devoted for generations in Scotland. Finally, however, they united with the Methodist Protestant Church and aided in the erection of the church edifice in their home town. William Ritchie died in January, 1916, and his wife in February, 1908, and both are now at rest in Mount Hope Cemetery. Mrs. William Ritchie was born in Illinois in June, 1861. She was a loving and affectionate mother and a sincere Christian.

Robert S. Ritchie was educated in the schools of Foosland and took his higher education in Adrian College at Adrian, Michigan. As a boy he showed unusual talent in a musical direction, and that talent was trained along with a thorough literary course in Adrian. He did some successful orchestral work in Michigan for eighteen months, but gave up that as a career and returned home to assume the management of his father's farm. Mr. Ritchie was engaged in farming from 1907 to 1912, and in the latter year entered the grain business with Noble Brothers. Later he went into the business for himself and has developed a large and extensive trade. He is a man of cordial and genial demeanor and his integrity and ability have won the complete confidence of his customers. Besides the grain business at Foosland Mr. Ritchie conducts a large grain and stock farm two miles from the village.

On December 24, 1910, he married Miss Lucile Boulware. They have a little son, Robert Merrill, who is now five years of age. Mrs. Ritchie was born in McLean County, Illinois, July 8, 1891, and was' educated largely in the common schools at Foosland. She is an active member of the Methodist Protestant Church. Her parents were Walker and Alice (Merwin) Boulware. Her father was born in Kentucky and his lineage goes back to France. Mr. Boulware conducted a general store in Stanford and Bloomington, Illinois, and in 1898, removing to Foosland, took up the grain trade. He was a man of good education, having had the advantages of not only the common schools but the normal course in the State Normal at Normal, Illinois. Before entering business he had taught in McLean County. Both he and his wife were active members of the Christian Church. Mr. Boulware died in January, 1915, and Mrs. Boulware i& still living and makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Ritchie at Foosland.

His first presidential vote was cast for William H. Taft. He served six years as township clerk of Brown Township and is now a director of the public schools of Foosland. His college fraternity at Adrian was the Alpha Tau Omega, and he belongs to Lodge No. 842 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Foosland. Besides passing all the chairs of the local lodge, he was a delegate to the grand lodge in 1914. He is affiliated with Camp No. 3807, Modern Woodmen of America, and has taken his first degrees in the Knights of Pythias.

FRED HOT is one of the younger factors in the agricultural enterprise of Champaign County. He took hold of farming as a practical proposition in early life, and the ten years or more he has applied to that business have been in a high degree profitable. He now looks after the management of one of the best places in Urbana Township, located in section 24.

Mr. Hoy was born on the old farm in that township June 10, 1885, a son of Rufus B. and Martha (Arrington) Hoy. His father was born in Ohio and his mother in Indiana. They came to Champaign County in 1880 and his father was actively identified with farming until 1903, when he removed to the city of Urbana, where he still resides. They were the parents of five children: Jesse; Bertha, wife of A. Duvall, of Rantoul; May, wife of Earl Swartz, of Matthews, Missouri; Fred; and Lucy, still at home with her parents.

Mr. Fred Hoy attended the district schools as the source of his early education. He learned farming under the direction of his father and at the age of twenty took active charge of the home place. He now has 180 acres in section 24 of Urbana Township and conducts it with high power efficiency and in a way to get the best results consistent with wise and conservative methods of agricultural management.

Mr. Hoy married, January 1, 1910, Opal Lockwood. She is a daughter of David and Sarah E. (Woodard) Lockwood, both natives of Indiana. The Lockwood family came to Champaign County in 1889, locating at Sidney. Her father, however, died in Indiana and her mother is now living in Urbana. Mrs. Hoy was the youngest of three children. Her sister Media is the wife of Truman 0. Cord, of Sidney Township. Her sister Bertha is the wife of Roy Rankins, of Monticello, Illinois.

Mr. and Mrs. Hoy have two young children. Marjorie Helen was born November 19, 1912. The only son, Donald Frederick, born March 28, 1913, lived only a few months and was taken away by death September 12, 1913. Politically Mr. Hoy is a Republican. Mrs. Hoy is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their home is on Rural Boute No. 5 out of Urbana.

CHAELES CHESTER PLACE. For more than half a century the Place family has been identified with one locality in Champaign County, section 36 of Sidney Township. This is the farm home of Charles Chester Place, who was born there and has followed up the pioneer enterprise of his father with signally successful efforts of his own.

Mr. Place was born February 9, 1880, and is a son of Jefferson R. and Henrietta (Cash) Place. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother of Pennsylvania. Jefferson R. Place came to Champaign County in 1865, and at that time bought 120 acres in section 36 of Sidney Township. He did much to develop and improve the land, and at the time of his death in 1905 left it as property many times more valuable than when he bought it. His widow is still living at Sidney. They were the parents of three children : Edgar of Homer Township ; Edna, wife of George Trees of Ohio; and Charles C.

Charles C. Place has lived on the home farm all his life. After attending the district schools he learned farming under the capable direction of his father and at his father's death became active manager of the homestead. He is now farming 240 acres and owns considerable of the land in his own right. He has successfully combined the raising of the staple crops with live stock. Mr. Place is a Eepublican in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

He married Mies DeEtta Mumm, a native of Sidney. They are the parents of five children, all at home, named Oliver, Melvin, Carl, Opal, and Pearl.

JOSEPH M. MTJLLIKIN has made a name for himself in the farming enterprise of Champaign County and has been a land owner and progressive agriculturist for the past thirty years. His efforts in business and his attitude in civic matters have been in every way commendable, and there are few country places around Champaign which will better repay inspection than that of Mr. Mullikin, located on Route No. 1 out of the city of Champaign.

Mr. Mullikin was born in Johnson County, Indiana, February 7, 1863, but has lived in Champaign County since early infancy. He is a son of George C. and Nancy (Jones) Mullikin, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Kentucky. Joseph Mullikin is a brother of Mr. Charles J. Mullikin, now postmaster in the city of Champaign. His father was a prominent man and a splendid character and a more extended reference to his career will be found on other pages.

Joseph M. Mullikin remained at home until he was twenty-four years of age. In the meantime he attended the local schools and fitted himself by practice and exertion for the work that he has followed as a business career. At the age of twenty-four he located on 160 acres near Bondville in this county, and that was the stage of his activities as a farmer for eighteen years. In the meantime he bought eighty acres elsewhere, and kept increasing his farm enterprise until he was cultivating 370 acres as a general farmer. In 1902 he bought 160 acres, and in 1911 sold the eighty acres above mentioned. In the same year he purchased another 160 acres and at the present time his fine farm comprises 400 acres situated in sections 20 and 29. In 1915 Mr. Mullikin suffered the misfortune of having his entire home destroyed by fire, but has since replaced it with a modern two-story, eight room house that realizes some of the best ideals and standards of Champaign County rural homes.

On February 12, 1887, he married Miss Belle Lowman, who was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Allison and Sarah J. (Lytle) Lowman, both natives of Pennsylvania and both now deceased. The Lowman family came to Champaign County in 1867, locating south of Bondville. In 1868 occurred a destructive cyclone in this section of Illinois, and the first home of the Lowmans was blown down. After nightfall the daughter Belle was discovered in' the garden near the home fast asleep, having been blown there during the storm and having slept peacefully through it all. Mrs. Mullikin was one of nine children, the record of the family being briefly as follows : Inez, wife of Chalmer Stitt, of Champaign; Alice, deceased; Mrs. Mullikin; Elizabeth, wife of Charles Mullikin, postmaster of Champaign ; John L., who lives near Staley and is road commissioner of that district; Mary, wife of Charles Shotts, of Milmine, Illinois; Samuel L., in the grocery and grain business at Staley; William, deceased ; and Cora, wife of Frank Brown, of Champaign.

is one mile west of Bondville. Their three children are named Dorothy Marie, Verlie and Marian Esther. George Allison is a farmer associated with the enterprise of his father. By his marriage to Blanche Fowler5 a native of Urbana, he has one child, Marcella May.

Mr. Mullikin is a Democrat in politics. He is now serving his district as school director. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their postoffice is at Champaign and they are well known in that city.

FRANCIS M. LEIGH of St. Joseph village is one of Champaign County's veteran farmers. He is also one of those living who have seen most of the development of this section of the country. His own part has been not entirely that of a witness, and taking the aggregate results of the work and influence of the Leigh family it can truthfully be said that their lives are inseparably identified with all the real history of the county.

Mr. Leigh is one of the oldest native sons of St. Joseph Township, having been born on a farm a mile and a quarter north of the village of that name September 3, 1845. His parents were Henry and Jemimah (Fisher) Leigh, natives of Virginia who early settled in Ohio, where they married, and in the spring of 1836 journeyed westward on horseback to Illinois, living two years where the town of Catlin now stands in Vermilion County, and then coming to Champaign County and locating in St. Joseph Township. Francis Leigh was fourth in a family of seven children, three sons and four daughters.

There were few of the modern facilities for giving an education to a family when Francis Leigh was a boy, and he and his brothers and sisters would walk two and a half miles every day back and forth to the schoolhouse, where a three months' terms was about the extent of the book advantages for each year. Henry Leigh was never in rugged health, and his sons from an early age had to assist in the labors of the farm.

At the age of twenty-two Francis Leigh laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage to Martha Eoss. She was a native of Edgar County, Illinois, and daughter of John and Catherine Eoss. Mr. and Mrs. Leigh confronted life bravely and with every anticipation of success and had the youth and enthusiasm that insured a bright future. In looking after a home they bought eighty acres of Illinois Central Eailroad land a mile north of the village of St. Joseph. For this land they paid only $10 an acre. The prairie had never been broken by the plow, and there were no building improvements. They began housekeeping in a very simple home, plowed and cultivated the fields, and as the fruit of their industry they were able to make from time to time many improvements that added to their comfort and convenience. They put up comfortable buildings, planted fruit and shade trees, and in course of time added to their estate until the farm consisted of 200 acres. When Mr. Leigh sold this farm four years ago it brought $225 an acre. It is noteworthy that when his father, Henry Leigh, entered his 120 acres from the Government the price was only $1.25 per acre.

To Mr. and Mrs. Leigh were born nine children, three of whom died in infancy. The other six are Catherine, Ivy, Lola, John Milton, Marion E. and William Everett. Mr. and Mrs. Leigh recognized their duty to these young people and saw to it that they had opportunities to attend regularly as possible school in District No. 171. The children grew up and they are now married and settled in life. Catherine is the wife of Lafayette Murphy, a Michigan farmer, and her children are named Frank, Lora, Ora, Fred and Ruth. The daughter Ivy is the wife of Elmer Stoup, a farmer north of Fythian in Vermilion County. Lola L. married Elmer Bantz, living in Homer Township, and their three children are Frank. Clyde and Faye. John M., a farmer in St. Joseph Township, married Lula Jacobs and has three children, Rolla, Edward and Arvilla. Marion E. has had a very successful career as a farmer and is now living retired in St. Joseph. He married Belle Lease and their family consists of Cora and Etta. The son William Everett farms the old homestead of his father and by his marriage to Virginia Carr has three children, Eay, Louis and Ivy.

The companion of his early struggles as a farmer and the sharer of his joys and sorrows was taken from Mr. Leigh a number of years ago. Later he married Mrs. Clara Chase, widow of Albert Chase. Her two children by that marriage were Carl and Pearl Chase, both of whom received their education in the Catlin School. Carl is now train dispatcher at Peru, Indiana, and by his marriage to Alice Ginther has a daughter, Martha Temperance. Pearl is the wife of Charles Boughton and their family consists of two children, Holland and Wilma.

The active years of his life Mr. Leigh spent as a farmer, grain raiser and handler of horses and other live stock. About ten years ago he gave up the responsibilities of the farm and removed to the village of St. Joseph, where he bought a good home on Main Street. This house he has extensively remodeled, adding to it and improving it and beautifying the grounds.

Many of the experiences of Mr. Leigh reflect the history of changes and developments in Champaign County. During the winter of 1862 he hauled corn to Champaign and sold it at 9 cents a bushel. The same year the taxes on his farm were $2.50 and he had difficulty in raising even that small amount. Even before then his father had hauled wheat to Chicago and was barely able to exchange a large load for a limited supply of groceries. That was a time when toil and hardship were scantily rewarded. In spite of the present era of high prices and the complaints made on that score it is evidence that a bushel of grain today will command more of the necessities and luxuries of life than at any time in history. Mr. Leigh was only nine years of age when he had his first experience as a practical farmer. He was set to work plowing corn for his father with one of the old-fashioned single-shovel plows. That was hard work, but he had no idea how hard it really was since he was unable to contrast the implements he used with the modern riding plow. Mr. Leigh can look back to a time when in the spring of the year half of the land in Champaign County was covered with water. Evidently all the changes and developments are the result of strenuous labors on the part of the farmers and the early settlers and those who have followed them, and it is impossible to pay all the honor that they deserve to such people. When Mr. Leigh was a small boy he drove in a wagon to Champaign with his mother to witness the first train pass through the county on the Illinois Central Railway. His father was a very successful hunter. At that time deer and other wild game abounded, and Mr. Leigh recalls a time when eleven deer carcasses were hanging up as the store of winter meat. His father also understood the art of tanning, and always converted the deer hides into a fine quality of buckskin. He was also expert in making whips and other useful articles out of buckskin. Mr. Leigh as a boy several times wandered over that portion of the land where the city of Champaign now stands, and he knew St. Joseph Township as a variegated vista of wild prairie and sloughs.

Mr. Leigh served as a director of his local schools for twenty years and also served as mayor of the village of St. Joseph two terms, being solicited to take the office again, but declining. He was an active member of the Christian Church at St. Joseph, is a Democrat in politics and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.

JOHN W. REARDON. The people of a large section of central Illinois as well as northwestern Champaign County know the name Reardon because of its prominent associations with the live stock industry as well as with agriculture and commercial affairs. The Reardon family established its home in Champaign County nearly half a century ago, and with a farm as the foundation of their efforts steadily progressed until they became large and extensive land owners. A younger representative of this family is Mr. John W. Reardon, whose field of enterprise has been gradually extended until he has almost a state-wide, if not an interstate, reputation as a breeder and importer of fine draft horses.

Mr. Reardon was born in Champaign County, October 3, 1869, the only child of James and Ellen (Burns) Reardon. His father was a native of the Emerald Isle, born there in 1832. He lived long and usefully and well, and died on Washington's birthday, February 22, 1916. The close of his life found him honored, esteemed and to a degree a man of wealth. Far otherwise was it with him when he came to America at the age of fourteen. He was a penniless boy and arrived to find himself alone and among strangers. He had come across the ocean on one of the old-fashioned sailing vessels. He left the city of Cork, his native county being Cork, and landed in Baltimore. Here he soon found employment with the construction forces of the Pennsylvania Railway System. He aided in building one of the lines of that road to Pittsburgh.

James Reardon came to Illinois in 1857. He was then a young man without capital and started at the very bottom round of the ladder and climbed up from rung to rung, at first for several years as a renter in Carroll County, then four years as a wage earner in Bloomington, and with such modest capital as he had been able to accumulate during these years he came to Champaign County and bought forty acres west of Fisher. In that community he had his home and was actively engaged in superintending his landed interests until 1914, when he retired to the village of Fisher, where he died two years later. His success as a farmer and business man was represented by the accumulation of 840 acres of the rich and fertile soil of Champaign County. Politically he was a Democrat and was an active member of St. Malachi Catholic Church at Rantoul. He aided in the construction of the church edifice there. His good wife was a native of County Cork, Ireland, and her Burns ancestry originally had its seat in Scotland. She was an active and devoted member of the same church as her husband.

John W. Reardon had only the rudiments of a common school education. From boyhood he recognized life as a great opportunity for experience and the expression of the best talents within him, and his activities have occupied no restricted limits. For years he was active as a farmer, manager of his father's large estate, but some years ago he engaged in .the importation of the noted draft horse's of the Belgian and Percheron breeds, bringing them from France and Belgium before the war. That business he has followed for fourteen years, and is accounted an authority on these two strains. He has sold horses all over central Illinois, and has been the means of raising the standard and type of the animals that perform the heavy labor of this farming region. At present he has about ten head of fine horses, both mares and stallions, containing some of the best blood of the Belgian and Percheron breeds. The highest price he ever obtained for a horse was $2,200. He has bought and sold large numbers of these animals.

The live stock industry has always made a strong appeal to his tastes and inclinations, and he has been successful in that field since early manhood. He has raised and sold cattle, horses, sheep and hogs for a number

His business field has also been extended to dealing in agricultural implements and automobiles. He represents some of the best known manufacturers, .including the Case, Mitchell, Chevrolet, National and Olds makes, and has sold a great number of the high class cars over central Illinois, a district with a population that can well afford automobiles. Mr. Reardon since 1910 has also conducted a grain business at Osman, where he has a large elevator with a capacity of 40,000 bushels.

Politically Mr. Reardon is a Democrat. His business affairs have taken his time and energies to the exclusion of politics, and he has never been an office seeker. He belongs to no fraternity, but is a very consistent and regular attendant and worshiper in St. Malachi Catholic Church at Rantoul. Thus his career has been spent in the county where he was born and where he grew up, and he is a man of the highest business standing and of unimpeachable citizenship.

JACOB W. SMITH, whose extensive farming interests are in Crittenden Township, has known Champaign County as a home for nearly thirty years. His work and management have brought him success to a high degree, and he has long enjoyed a position among the most influential residents of southern Champaign County.

Mr. Smith was born in Racine County, Wisconsin, November 30, 1858. His parents, Frederick and Catherine (Bienemann) Smith, were both natives of Germany, his father of Mecklenburg. The father came to America when about eighteen years of age and spent his active life as a farmer in Wisconsin, where he died in 1895. The mother passed away in 1869, when Jacob was eleven years old. There were eight children in the family, of whom two brothers and one sister of Jacob are living in Wisconsin, and four brothers are deceased.

Jacob W. Smith had a training in the district schools of Wisconsin and learned farming by practical experience. He began life for himself without capital at the age of seventeen, and has made steady progress against all vicissitudes and difficulties. In 1888, coming to Champaign County, he was able to acquire 160 acres in section 29 of Crittenden Township and has since increased his land holdings there to 440 acres, and at the same time has added marvelously to the value and the improvements. He is one of the leading general farmers and stock feeders in that section. Besides his interest as a farmer Mr. Smith is president of the Pesotum Bank. His farm home is. supplied with mail from Pesotum over Rural Route No. 55.

Mr. Smith married for his first wife, Miss Mary Best, a native of Peoria County, Illinois. She died September 25, 1892, leaving five children : Frank, a resident of Colorado ; Ella, who died at the age of fifteen; Joseph, also deceased; Leo, of Crittenden Township; and Bertha, who died in infancy. On January 25, 1894, Mr. Smith married for his present wife Anna Henry, a native of Morris, Indiana. To this marriage have been born nine children, all of whom are living and are still members of the unbroken family circle. Their names in order of birth are Herbert, Alvin, Walter, Raymond, Mary, Edith, Ruth, James and Alice.

While building up his private fortune Mr. Smith has not neglected the call of the community upon his services and has filled such offices, significant of community esteem and offering great opportunities for service without compensation, as township collector, road commissioner, assessor and school trustee. In politics he is a Democrat, and he and his family worship in the Catholic Church.

OSCAR WALTER SCHINDLER. . Since attaining his majority Oscar Walter Schindler has found himself busied with constantly increasing duties and responsibilities as a farmer and stockman in Sidney Township, and is now handling a large part of the farming estate acquired by his father in that section of Champaign County.

Mr. Schindler was born at Sidney, December 13, 1886, a son of Robert H. and Alvina P. (Block) Schindler. The parents were both natives of Germany. His father was brought to this country at the age of two years, spent his youth in New York State, and in 1860 joined the early settlers of Champaign County. For a time he lived in the village of Sidney and subsequently bought a farm in section 28 of that township. His efforts as a farmer were more than ordinarily successful and at the time of his death on January 13, 1912, he owned an estate of 600 acres, magnificently improved and recognized as one of the best individual farms in the entire county. The widowed mother is still living on the old homestead. There were five children : John E. of Sidney Township ; Fred, who died in infancy; William H. of Sidney Township; Oscar W. ; and Freda K., wife of Orville Zook of Danville, Illinois.

Oscar Walter Schindler grew up in a home of simple comforts, was educated in the district schools, and acquired a practical knowledge of farming even before he reached his majority. At the age of twenty-one he rented 120 acres, and farmed it until 1912. Then for two years he had 130 acres and is now handling 205 acres of the old homestead. He is rapidly developing the registered Shorthorn cattle as a primary interest in his farming.

Mr. Schindler is a Republican and a member of the German Reformed Church. His father was a man of well known public spirit and served at one time as supervisor and also as school trustee.

CLARENCE L. WILLIAMS is an enterprising farmer of Philo Township and is now living in section 25, on the land where he was born August 7, 1875.

The family is an old and prominent one of Champaign County. His parents were Elias and Hannah (Peterson) Williams. Both were born in Franklin County, Indiana. Elias Williams came to Illinois in early manhood and located in Champaign County during the early '60s. His first possessions here were eighty acres and he subsequently added another eighty acres and had the farm well improved and under profitable operation long before his death, which occurred June 19, 1914. His widow died May 22, 1917, at Philo. Their three children are: Clark E., of Bluffton, Indiana; Ella M., at home; and Clarence L.

Clarence L. Williams grew up on the homestead, attended the district schools, and at the age of nineteen began his independent career by renting a home place of eighty acres. He has since bought the entire farm of 160 acres and has it under splendid control. Mr. Williams is a Republican in politics. His interest in local schools is indicated by the fact that for the past fifteen years he has served as director of his home district. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church.

LUTHER C. WADE. While the agricultural community of Champaign County is known as one of the most progressive and prosperous of the world, the same quality of enterprise distinguishes the commercial element. A business organization that has made a successful record due to the hard work and enterprise of its members is the hardware house of Chapman &

Wade at Fisher. Both members are young merchants, know thoroughly the art of sticking close to their business, and at the same time can take a long look ahead when that is required. They have made their house one of the leading establishments in the northwest part of the county, and the volume of their yearly business aggregates $30,000.

The junior member of this firm is Luther C. Wade, who has been a resident of Champaign County for twenty-two years. In that time in his relations as a merchant and as a citizen he has earned the respect of all who know him. Mr. Wade was born in Ad"ams County, Ohio, November 1, 1886. He is the fifth in a family of six children, four sons and two daughters, born to Edmund and Susannah (Potts) Wade. Five of the children are still living. E. L. Wade, the oldest, was educated in the common schools, had two terms of instruction in Westfield College of Illinois, and is now married and a successful agriculturist in Brown Township, with home at Fisher. Charles H., the next in age, had a common school training, was an agriculturist and owns a well equipped farm of 160 acres in Colorado. He married Miss Lucy Ring, and they have six children. In politics he is a Socialist. Rosetta is the wife of Bert Chapman. The next of the family is Luther C. Wade. Orla J. resides in Champaign County.

Edmund Wade 'was born in Ohio, and throughout his active lifetime has followed agriculture as his main pursuit. The name Wade is of English or Welsh lineage. Mrs. Edmund Wade is now deceased.

Luther C. Wade was educated in the common schools, took a business course in Brown's Business College at Champaign, and was also a student of instrumental music at the University of Illinois. He began his career at the very bottom round of the ladder and has climbed steadily to the heights of success.

After his education was finished Mr. Wade spent eight years as a renter of land in Brown Township of Champaign County, and finally left the farm to join Mr. Chapman in a partnership in the hardware business at Fisher. In 1916 Mr. Wade entered the Worsham Embalming School at Chicago, took the full course, and the members of his firm are now the only undertakers and embalmers at Fisher. They are thoroughly competent for this useful calling.

On September 30, 1908, Mr. Wade married Miss Leila Gossard. They have two young sons, Willard Edmund and Robert Earl. Willard E. is now in the first grade of the public schools. Mrs. Wade is a native of Champaign County, where she was born November 18, 1888, a daughter of Urvin and Belle (Hoffman) Gossard. Mrs. Wade was her parents' only child. Her father was a native of Fayette County, Ohio, but was reared and educated in Illinois, learned the trade of blacksmith, and for a number of years has been engaged in merchandising at Fisher, where he still resides. He is a member of the United Brethren Church of that city and a Prohibitionist in politics. Mrs. Wade's mother is now deceased. Mrs. Wade was educated in the common schools and has also taken courses in instrumental music. She is an active member of the United Brethren Church and president of the Ladies' Aid Society. In matters of politics Mr. Wade is independent. He votes for the man he considers best fitted for the office, and is like thousands of other independent thinking young men of America today. Fraternally he is affiliated with the camp at Fisher of the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. and Mrs. Wade are young people who command the complete respect of their neighbors and friends, take an earnest attitude toward the problems of life, and have done much to solve the problems connected with comfortable living. They have their own automobile and have surrounded themselves with many of the comforts and conveniences.

HAELAN W. Six. To those who have never had an opportunity to visit a modern Illinois farm and watch its industries being carefully and methodically carried on, it would be an interesting and enlightening experience to take a vacation trip through the rich farming districts of Champaign County. They would find no better pjoof of intelligent, scientific cultivation of the_ soil and its marvelous effects in any section better demonstrated than in Ayers Township, where is located the finely improved farm of Harlan W. Six, who is one of the township's representative citizens and trustworthy public officials.

Harlan W. Six was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, October 21, 1861, and is a son of Presley H. and Mary E. (Palmer) Six. The father was born in Kentucky and the mother in Pennsylvania. They were married and resided in Kentucky until 1870, when they came to Illinois. The father was a farmer and before purchasing a permanent home decided to look over different sections. From 1870 until 1872 the family lived near Lincoln in Logan County, and then came to Champaign County, and here in 1877 Presley H. Six purchased eighty acres of land situated in section 33, Ayers Township. Subsequently 160 acres were added to the original purchase, and all of the land has been put under a fine state of cultivation. The modern two-story brick residence was built in 1910, and it is equipped with conveniences that make it an ideal rural home. Presley H. Six died on this farm on February 7, 1900, having been the father of two children, Harlan W. and Emma B., the latter of whom is deceased. She was the wife of Joseph Alexander. The mother resides with her son on the homestead.

After completing his public school education Harlan W. Six very naturally gave his father assistance on the farm, and as his tastes lie in this direction has made agricultural industries his main interest although he is additionally concerned with other enterprises and is vice president of the State Bank at Allerton, Illinois.

Mr. Six was married in August, 1897, to Miss Nellie Telling, who was born in Morgan County, and they have three children : Olga Helen, Harvey Presley and Palmer Telling.

In politics Mr. Six has always been a Democrat and long has been an influential factor in township politics. Aside from politics, however, he has been one of the earnest, hardworking men of this section through whose efforts better conditions along many paths have been brought about. During his two terms as supervisor the township greatly profited and as township school treasurer, an office he has filled for the past fifteen years, the school funds have been wisely handled. He is a leading spirit in a number of local organizations and his fraternal memberships include the Modern Woodmen of America and the Masons, being a Knight Templar in the latter. He is a man of genial personality and even temperament, and his friends may be found everywhere.

CLYDE L. BUSEY, whose active part as a citizen of Champaign County is farming and managing one of the fine farms in Sidney Township, is one of the sturdy representatives of a name that has been identified with this section of Illinois since pioneer times.

His father, Simeon Fountain Busey, was born in Sidney Township, February 12, 1854, a son of Fountain J. and Maria (Sheppard) Busey. Fountain J. was born in Kentucky and his wife in Ohio. Fountain Busey came to Champaign County in the early '40s and acquired and developed a handsome estate of farming land. His death occurred July 24, 1894, and his wife passed away October 2, 1889. They were the parents of thirteen children, five of whom are still living.

Simeon F. Busey has always had his home in Sidney Township and his practical life has been spent in agriculture and its related activities. He is a Democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On January 16, 1879, he married Fannie B. Wilson, who was born in Ohio. They had only two children, Clyde L. and Ruth. The daughter was born April 6, 1387, and died June 9, 1908, at the age of twenty-one.

Clyde L. Busey was born on his father's farm in Sidney Township, March 4, 1880, and besides the rural schools he attended the high school at Sidney. His early experiences were as a farmer with his father and for two years he was in the wholesale grocery business at Danville, Illinois. Since then he has been at home and is now working 160 acres as a general farming and stock raising proposition.

On January 5, 1909, he married Leah Fisher. Mrs. Busey was born at Sidney, daughter of Luther and Eunice (Gard) Fisher, her father a native of Champaign County and her mother of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Busey had one child, a daughter, who died in infancy.

Mr. Busey is a Republican, a member of the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias, and with his wife attends the Methodist Episcopal Church.

EDWARD C. BAKER. Born on a farm in Champaign County, Edward C. Baker has never deviated to any extent from the vocations to which he was reared, and increasingly fruitful results have flowed from his efforts. He now has the handling and management of one of the finest stock and grain farms of Champaign Township, located on Rural Route No. 5 out of the City of Champaign.

Mr. Baker was born in Rantoul Township February 26, 1872, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Gehmrote) Baker. His parents were both born in Germany. Henry Baker came to America in 1837, and in the same year located at Champaign. For a short while he was a railroad workman, afterward did teaming in Champaign, and then removed to Rantoul Township, where he bought a farm. He was successfully identified with the management of that place until his death in February, 1896. His wife died there in 1880. Their children were nine in number: William, of Arcola, Illinois; Anna, wife of Adolph Langhoff, of Urbana; Lucy, wife of Charles Miers, of Thomasboro, Illinois ; Henry, of Rantoul ; Minnie, who lives at Thomasboro, widow of Jacob Miers; Edward C. ; George, of Hensley Township; Albert, of Somers Township; and Louis, deceased.

The environment of the average farm boy encompassed Edward C. Baker while he was growing to manhood, and his early education came from the local schools. At the age of eighteen he began farm work at monthly wages. After two years he rented a place of forty acres, and then leased and had under his direct management for three years 120 acres of the home farm. When the homestead was sold and divided he acquired forty acres of it, but soon took up farming on the renting plan, which on the whole he has found eminently satisfactory, especially when the high prices of land are considered. He rented eighty acres, which he fanned two years, and in 1900 he rented the 290 acres of the Burnham estate in section 2 of Champaign Township. This is a model estate, and Mr. Baker has proved himself a competent man to handle it. He is a general farmer, but also has a large dairy of Jersey cows.

On April 22, 1896, Mr. Baker married Miss Charlotte Demien, a native of Champaign County. They have two children : Joseph Louie, born October 9, 1899, and Olive Esther, who was born August 25, 1903, and died September 1, 1904. Mr. Baker is a Republican, a member of the Lutheran Church, and has been a member of the local school board.