Hoopeston Carnegie Public Library

Thomas Hoopes, for whom Hoopeston was named, is a good sample of the better class of those fortunate people who have greatness thrust on them without ever praying for it or entertaining any strong faith in its coming. He grew up to stalwart manhood in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and emigrated to Harrison county, Ohio. Lived in Marion awhile, and in 1S53 bought the farm of Win. Allen. He came on here in 1855 and commenced work as best he could. He bought some land of D. C. Andrews and C. J. Hungerford, and undertook to get it into shape to get a living from it. He brought eight hundred sheep with him, and by taking in a herd of cattle to tend each year, he managed to keep inside of his expenses. There was no place for stopping on the Chicago road from Bicknell's Point to the " red pump," near Milford, when he made his home on the big prairie. The first year he had to go over to the Jordan to buy corn, and pay seventyfive cents a bushel for it ; since that time he has managed, by careful economizing, such as he is master of, to raise enough for his own use. He did not go into wheat verv extensivelv, as manv others did about that time, but raised corn and oats. Within three years he got about three hundred acres into good cultivation, having over one thousand acres in prairie grass to keep a herd on. Wool was his principal crop, which was more reliable than now. The vast range was suitable for the health of his sheep, the absence of neighborly dogs was favorable, and, by keeping up in a close pen at night, they were safe from the attack of wolves. Wolves, though apparently bold when they have a free field for escape, are cowards when hemmed in by a high fence. They would not climb into an inclosure where the sheep were in a crowd; they seemed to fear being penned in. He did not raise many hogs, but kept his flock of sheep and herd of cattle increasing. He never drove cattle to the markets, being satisfied that he knew enough to raise cattle, but was not sharp enough to try any risks of a speculative nature. In 1859 he sold a thousand sheep, and during the war he sold off the remainder, thinking that if the war kept on there would not be young men enough left in the country to take care of what he had, and if it did not continue, his sheep would fall in price. His nearest neighbors, for some years, were Col. Woolverton and Churchill Board- man. He had no more idea of seeing a city grow up on his farm here than of seeing a volcano ; and when the road was built, and Snell, Taylor <fe Co. wanted to buy him out, he had no desire to go into any speculation in city lots, and sold them a thousand acres for just what he believed it was worth. Now, at the age of 73, he has a quiet home in the little city which the railroads forced on him, and looks upon the last years of his life as almost a dream.

Passage source: History of Vermilion County, Together with Historic Notes on the Northwest, Gleaned from Early Authors, Old Maps and Manuscripts, Private and Official Correspondence, and Other Authentic, Though, for the Most Part, Out-of-the-way Sources, published 1879.

Hon. Lvford Marston was born in Massachusetts and emigrated to Kentucky, where he became a law partner of Hon. Garrett Davis, the last of the old whig senators of that dark and somewhat bloody ground. About 1859 he came to this county and settled on his farm northwest of the present city of Hoopeston. He has been a successful farmer and stock-raiser. In 1878 he was elected to the state legislature by a very nattering vote, and gave a very close and attentive care to the duties of his position.

Passage source: History of Vermilion County, Together with Historic Notes on the Northwest, Gleaned from Early Authors, Old Maps and Manuscripts, Private and Official Correspondence, and Other Authentic, Though, for the Most Part, Out-of-the-way Sources, published 1879.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Grant Township - 30,917 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.