Amboy Township (part 3 of 4)

George W. Freeman, train master Illinois Central railroad, Amboy, son of Chauncey and Harriet (Johnson) Freeman, was born in Clarkson, New York, in 1834, and reared on his father's farm and educated in his native town. In 1852, when but eighteen years of age, he came west and went to work on the Wabash railroad between Decatur and Springfield, and in the autumn of 1853 he went to Knox countj^, Illinois, where he was employed until the following March. At this time he entered the service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company as brakeman, and after six months was advanced to a regular train, and so continued in the employment of the company until April 1861. Immediately on the call of the president for troops he volunteered for three months in Co. E, 17th 111. Inf, and was appointed sergeant. After serving his time he returned home and recruited. Co. C, 11th 111. Cav., Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, principally about Galesburg. He was commissioned captain of this company and went into the service, but was stricken with rheumatism and obliged to resign, which he did in March 1862. He recovered sufficiently to go to work again in the summer following, and engaged with the Illinois Central companj', in whose service he has been until the present date. He was freight conductor nine years, and passenger conductor the remainder of the time, until he was transferred in the spring of 1881 to the train master's office in Amboy. Mr. Freeman was married January 13, 1858, to Miss Caroline Dailey, daughter of Edward Dailcy, of Galesburg. Edward and Frederick are their two sons. Mrs. Freeman is a Congregationalist, and he is a Knight Templar and a republican.

Joseph E. Lewis, attorney-at-law, Amboy, the youngest child of Joseph Lewis, was born in Amboy township, December 21, 1847. His father was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1807, and his mother, whose maiden name was Rachel Cargill, in Cheshire county, New Hampshire, in 1806, and both are now living in Binghamton. In 1815 they emigrated from Pennsylvania to this township with five children, all of whom are now dead, as follows: Gaylord J., who left here March 29, 1852, at the age of nineteen, for California, and was never heard from after he had been there three years; James C, who volunteered in Co. I, 89th 111. Vols., was wounded in the knee at Buzzard Roost, Georgia, May 9, 1864, died at Chattanooga July 23 ; John, who enlisted in Co. G, 39th 111. Yols. (Yates' Phalanx), August 20, 1861, served on the Peninsula under McClellan,and in the Shenandoah under Shields, discharged in January 1863, came home to Amboy and died of disease contracted in the service, November 29, 1864; Andrew J., who enlisted in Co. G, (Yates' Phalanx), August 2, 1861, died at Foley Island, Charleston harbor, of typhoid lever, July 4, 1863 ; and Electa Jane, who died in infancy the first year of their residence here. These parents have given much to their countr3^ Both have been members of the Methodist church since 1824, and Mr. Lewis has always held official connection as steward, trustee, or class leader, and sometimes has filled all three of these positions at once. The subject of this sketch did not walk on pavements of gold, nor lie upon beds of roses. He obtained a good education by putting two years of schooling at Mount Morris Seininary, with much hai'd private study at irregular intervals, making his way as best he could by teaching school. He used to keep up with his classes and go to school but one-third of the time. In 1870 he began the study of law in the office of Norman Ryan, but it was necessarily desultory'-, and several years elapsed before he was admitted. In 1871 he was married to Miss Melissa Hayes; and from 1872 to 1875 he had charge of the Rockton public schools of Winnebago county as principal. He is a republican and takes an active part in politics. His children have been as follows: Stella (dead), Ada, Benjamin B., Paul, and Ethel.

Charles W. Deming, grocer, Amboy, is a native of Steuben county, New York, where he was born May 1, 1817. His parents were Charles S. and Elizabeth (Corbett) Deming, by whom he was reared a farmer until the age of fifteen, when he was pnt to mercantile employment. He was married September 24, 1840, to Miss Sabrina Chamberlain, who was born September 1, 1823. Their family of seven children are all living: Louisa S., now Mrs. Jacob L. Holmes; Charles Gaylord ; Ann E., wife of Isaac E. Holmes; Jason L. ; Helen A., now Mrs. Nathaniel Burnham ; Carrie, and Olin E. Mr. Deming came west in April 1855, and settled at Linden, Whiteside county, where he farmed until he came to Amboy in 1864. Since that time, except one year, he has been in business. He is an influential member of the Methodist church, to which he has belonged since 1838. Mrs. Deming has been a communicant in the same church since 1840. He has filled the offices of steward, trustee, class leader, and Sabbath-school superintendent. His connection with the Sons of Temperance dates from 1844, and he is now the oldest member in the state, and is invested with the dignity of grand worthy associate of the Grand Division of Illinois. Mr. Deming is a republican. His brothers, Asaph C. and George A., died of disease in the army ; the former at Nashville, Tennessee, and the latter at Grand Gulf, Mississippi.

Jared Slauter, railroad yardmaster, Amboy, son of Sylvanus F. and Lurena (French) Slauter, was born in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1824. His grandfather Slauter was a veteran of tlie revolution who fought in several battles. Mr. Slauter was bred to farming, and followed that occupation until he removed to Amboy, arriving here April 15, 1856. He was married March 30, 1847, to Miss Adeline Lord, who died in 1849, leaving one child, Maria Adelaide, who also died, aged nineteen. His second marriage was on November 28, 1849, to Miss Caroline Bradley, whose death occurred May 10. 1861. She was the mother of two children, Lurena and Frank F. On April 6, 1862, he celebrated his third marriage with Catherine (Smith), widow of Addison Smith, and by this union has one child, George W. Mr. Slauter has worked for the Central Company since his settlement here, and during the period of over twentj^-five years has not lost more than two months' time. He was employed on tlie track for a few months at first, next was switchman three years, and in 1859 became yardmaster, and has held this position since. He is a republican in politics, and has been an Odd-Fellow twenty-seven years, and filled the chaii-s of the vice grand and noble grand. He was a Baptist when in New England. Mrs. Slauter belongs to the Congregational church.

ancestors were early settlers in the colonies. His great-grandfather, Isaac Norton, was a merchant by occupation and a native of Yingard, Maine. He moved from there to Industry, and at a later period to Starks, in the same state, where his life closed after over twenty years of painful suffering from cancer in the face. He had one brother, Benjamin. Mr. Merrow's grandfathers, William Norton and Stephen Morrow, were revolutionary soldiers; the former was a captain, and was wounded in action ; the latter a farmer by occupation, and lived at Chapliain, New Hampshire, where his son Asa J., father of our subject, was born ; after several years he removed to Dover, in the same state, and died there. Mr. Merrow began his trade of working in marble when seventeen years old, and served an apprenticeship of three years in Oldtown, Maine. Early in 1869 his parents came west, settled in Amboy two years, and tlien moved to Clear Lake, Minnesota, where his father died June 26, 1880, aged seventy-one years and nine months. In January, 1870, he arrived in Amboy, where he resided a short time, and then located at Ashton in the marble business. In the fall of 1877 he removed to this city, where he deals in headstones and monuments, and executes a fine class of work,

John H. Long, farmer, Amboy, son of Michael and Margaret (Long) Long, was born in Canada in 1829. His maternal grandfather, Joseph Long, was a soldier of the revolution. His grandfather on his father's side moved to Canada after the war, and there Mr. Long's father was born. In 181:8 he immigrated with his parents to Sublette township, where his father entered land, Mr, Long worked during that year for Col. Dement, who was at the time receiver of the land office, and in 1850 he began farming on his own account. About that time he hauled potatoes to Chicago and peddled them out by the peck and half bushel at twenty-five cents per bushel. In 1850 he married Miss Sarah Jane Fessenden, daughter of William and Sally (SpafFord) Fessenden, who were early settlers in Sublette township, having arrived there from New England in 1837, Mrs. Long was born on Mount St. Pisgah or St. Helen, New Hampshire, in 1830. When the Central railroad was building Mr. Long worked with his teams at grading for $1,50 per day at first, and afterward for the reduced sum of $1,37|^, He hauled the most of the material for the railroad buildings at Amboy; the door and window caps and sills from Mendota, and the brick from Brady's brick-yard in Palestine Grove, four miles from the town, where Dutcher & Wyman carried on the manufacture. Mr, Long owns 300 acres of land, 200 of which his father-in-law entered, and on which the old settler's house, built from lumber hauled from Chicago, is still standing. Mr, Long's farm is worth $15,000, He is a republican, and belongs to the American

Legion of Honor, Both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. They have had nine children : Ellen J., now Mrs. Walter Scott ; Sarah M., now Mrs. Geo. W. Scott; Charles F., who married Miss Stella "Wooster ; Amanda E., wife of Frank M. Lamoile ; John H. (dead), Samuel A., Dora E., Nettie M. and Emerson H.

Benjamin Smith, freight conductor, Amboy, youngest son of Urial and Ruth Harriet (Ring) Smith, was born in New Gloucester, Cuinberland county, Maine, December 8, 1834. He was reared a farmer, and in 1847 went to Boston. After eighteen months he returned and lived in his native state until 1856, when he again went to Boston and worked a year for an ice company. Two years' residence in Maine succeeded, and in 1859 he removed west and settled with his family in Amboy. He had been married on June 22, 1855, to Miss Rebecca R. Farr, of Poland, in Mr. Smith's native county. She was the daughter of William and Anna (Ridlon) Farr, and was born October 6, 1833. From December 1859 until 1863 Mr. Smith was a brakeman on the Central, but at the last date he was advanced to conductor. In 1868 he removed to Livingston county, this state, where he had purchased a farm in Sullivan township, and gave his hand for a few years to the plow. But he could not subdue the enchantment of railroading, and so returned to the old employment, leaving his family to live upon the farm. In 1875 they removed to Chatsworth and lived a year, and the next spring came to Amboy, where they have since resided. Mrs. Smith belongs to the United Brethren church, and Mr. Smith is a republican, and a member of the American Legion of Honor. They have two daughters, Mary Ella, born in Maine, June 12, 1859; and Harriet, born July 27, 1861. Both graduated at the Amboy High School in the class of 1879.

George F. Morgan, railroad conductor, Amboy, was born in Carbondale, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, September 24, 1843, and was the youngest child of William J. and Barbara (Lewis) Morgan. His parents came from Wales when young. In 1858 Mr. Morgan left his home and reached Dubuque, and two years later went to braking on the Central. In the fall of 1864 he enlisted for one year as a recruit in Co. A, 11th 111. Inf., and joined it at Memphis. When it was mustered out he was transferred to Co. H, 46th 111. Inf., and was with this at Baton Rouge, Shreveport and New Orleans, and was mustered out at the latter place in October 1865. During most of the time he was on detached service at division headquarters, as clerk. After this he followed railroading on the Central, and selling groceries in Amboy, and in 1869 became a conductor. In 1868 he was married to Miss Joanna Badger, daughter of Simon Badger, by whom he has three children : Mabel R., born March 10, 1869; Simon C, September 11, 1872, and

Maud E., January 9, 1873. Both parents are members of the Methodist church. Mr. Morgan is a republican, and belongs to Illinois Central Lodge No. 178, A.F. and A.M. ; Nachusa Chapter No. 52, Dixon ; and Dixon Commandery No. 21.

Albert E. Merwine, freight and ticket agent on the Rock Falls branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, Amboy, is the son of Harris D. and Thurza (Morris) Merwine, and a native of Paw Paw in this county, where he was born in 1853. His parents emigrated from Pennsylvania about 1845. Mr. Merwine worked at farming and tending store for some years, and in 1872 accepted the position of station agent at Hinsdale, on the main line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad. In 1873 he was transferred to Amboy. His marriage with Miss Irene M. Cole, of this city, was in September 1875. Carrie is their only child. Mr. Merwine is a republican, an Odd-Fellow, and a workman. His grandfather, Isaac Morris, was a drummer boy of 1812, and draws a pension.

Russell W. Rosier, deceased, youngest son of Sylvester and Electa C. (Reppley) Rosier, was born in Bennington, Vermont, December 17, 1829. His parents settled in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, about 1845, and two or three years afterward he went to work as a brakeman, and followed railroading the rest of his life. He was brakeman two years, fireman two more, and then was given an engine, and remained at that post until his death. On April 2, 1857, he was united in marriage with Miss Louisa Hinchcliff, daughter of Titus and Amelia (Davis) Hinchcliff, of De Soto, Jackson county, Illinois. She was born January 17, 1840. In October Mr. Rosier settled in Amboy. In 1859 he went to Tennessee and was engineer on the Nashville & Chattanooga railroad ; in a few months he was followed by Mrs. Rosier, and they established their home at Cowan Station, at the foot of the Cumberland mountains, on the west side. They remained there until the cloud of civil war obliged them to take refuge in the north, and then returned to this city. Mr. Rosier reentered the service of the Central company, and never more tried a change. His death came February 7, 1881. His ajffiliations were with the Masons and the Engineers' Brotherhood, and he was chief of division No. 72 of the last organization at the date of his death. Himself and his wife were members of the Methodist church, and he had filled the offices of steward and trustee. In politics he was a republican. Their only child was an adopted daughter, Emma May. Mr. Rosier was an industrious, reliable man, of few words but decisive action. He had strong domestic habits and attachments, and was known and respected for his christian kindness and benevolent disposition. His remains were interred in Prairie Repose cemetery.

Michael Egan, builder, Araboy, was born in Kilrush, county of Clare, Ireland, September 26, 1821. He received a fair education. His father, John Egan, was a mason, and from him he learned the same trade, beginning when fifteen years old, and serving an apprenticeship of seven 3'ears. He was employed largely on government works. In the spring of 1846 he arrived in New York city and went to work for Matthias and Freeman Bloodgood, contractors, on a bonded warehouse. At the end of twenty months he removed to Springfield, Massachusetts, and worked at his trade seven years for Capt. Charles McClellan. In the last place he became a naturalized citizen. In the winter of 1852-3 he was employed by J. B. Wyman to come west to work on the Illinois Central. He arrived in February, and commenced on bridges and culverts south of La Salle, and in June following came to Amboy and began the erection of the railroad buildings, whose construction he superintended until the last was finished. From that time till the present he has been in the employ of this company, except during the four years between 1876 and 1880. He is now their inspector and purchasing and disbursing agent for cord-wood and crossties. Mr. Egan has been alderman several terms and mayor twice, director of the public schools and secretary of the board of education, and a foremost actor in the public business of the community. His family are Catholics, and the first services of this church, in Ambo}', were in his house. His first marriage was in 1844, with Miss Ellen Morrissy, daughter of John and Bridget Morrissj'. Her death was on January 27, 1869, when about forty-five years of age. She was the mother of eleven children, as follows: Bridget (dead), Susan (dead), John, Ellen (dead), Peter, Michael Francis, Alfred, Joseph, Mary, Benjamin and Teressa (dead). He was married a second time in 1872, to Mrs. Helen (Stewart), widow of James Barrie. Her children were Lizzie, Robert, and Jemima. By the last marriage there are two living children, Ellen and William A. S.

Betant B. Howard, general foreman of the Illinois Central railroad shops at Amboy, was born in Chicago September 13, 1836, and was the third child of Leonard and Caroline Esther (Smith) Howard. His father was a contractor, and came to Chicago from Buffalo, Kew York, in 1836, and built the first brick building ever erected in that city. In 1853 Mr. Howard went to learn the machinist's trade, and soon after completing it came to Amboy, arriving August 3, 1856. He M'as at once employed in the Central shops, and in 1858 he took charge of the Roundhouse as foreman ; in 1866 he was promoted to general foreman of all the shops, and has since filled that position. He was married January 3, 1860, to Miss Mary Kaley, who was born in 1838, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to which place her parents ha,d emigrated from Switzerland about 1836. Four children have been born to them, viz : George, Josephine, Fannie and Maud. Mr. Howard has been alderman one term ; he is a member of Illinois Central Lodge No. 178, A.F. and A.M., Friendship Council No. 567, A.L.H., Eeform division No. 555, Sons of Temperance, and is a prohibitionist in politics.

Edavakd S. Reynolds, carpenter and joiner, Amboy, son of Hatfield and Lydia (Salsbery) Reynolds, is a native of Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and was born there August 18, 1827. He was reared on a farm, but learned his trade before he became of age. In September, 1853, he was married to Miss Mary E. Dean, and the next December removed to Illinois and located for the time being at Binghamton. Mr. Reynolds erected one of the two first houses in Amboy, and in August, 1854, occupied it with his family, and claims to have been the first to move into the place after it was laid out, though this point is disputed by Dr. Bainter, who makes the same claim for himself. He was one of the first board of aldermen after Amboy became a city, and was a charter member of Illinois Central Lodge No. 178, A.F. and A.M. His first wife died in 1867, and in 1871 he took Miss Mary A. Fairman in marriage. He has two sons by his first wife, Edgar W. and Charles L., and by the second, William G. Mrs. Reynolds is a communicant in the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mr. Reynolds, who was formerly a whig, is now a republican.

Henry Chapin, farmer, Amboy, was born in Now York in 1824. He was the fifth child of Aretus and Anna (Rico) Chapin, who emigrated from Yermont to New York. He was reared a blacksmith, went to his trade at fifteen, and worked at it forty years. In the spring of 1845 he came by the lakes to Illinois, and settled in Oswego, Kendall county. Here he was married on the 1st of May 1850, to Miss Adelia L. Butler, sister to C. M. Butler and Mrs. C. W. Bell, of Amboy. She came from Michigan to Illinois in 1844. In 1852 he settled in Lockport, Will county, and in the fall of 1855 in Amboy. He erected the first blacksmith shop on the east side of the railroad, and the second in the town, and in the course of time combined with custom work the manufacture of wagons and carriages. After forty years of intensely earnest, driving work at the forge, he called forth the farewell echoes of his anvil in September 1879. He owns three farms aggregating 400 acres, and valued at $13,000. These tell the story of his toil. Both Mr. and Mrs. Chapin are meml^ers of the Methodist church, and the former was one of the building committee who had the erection of the new edifice in charge. In politics he is a republican. Their children are Frank H., Addie G. and Ella May.

of Steuben county, New York, where he was born May 4, 1844. His parents, Francis H. and Minerva (Stewart) Nortiiway, removed west in the autumn of 1844, and settled on the S.E. I Sec. 3, T. 20, R. 10, two miles north of Amboy, He enlisted in October, 1864, in Co. C, 7th 111. Cav., Col. Graham. He served his time in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, scouting and doing guard and garrison duty, and was mustered out in October, 1865, at Huntsville, Alabama. He was married in 1873, to Miss Olive S. Tracy. Two children have been born to them : Daisy M. (dead), and Guy. Mr. Northway owns the old homestead on which he was reared, which is valued at $8,000. This was swept by the great tornado of 1860. The buildings were blown to atoms. The family, seven in number, escaped with their lives, but were more or less injured. This storm killed one-seventh of all who were in its track. Mr. Northway is a democrat.

There are two Trude families in this countiy, one of French and the other of Englisli extraction. The former is the one to which we refer in the present sketch. John Trude, the founder of the name in America, was impressed into the French navy at the age of eleven and was held until he had performed eleven years' service. On his return home he could learn nothing of his family, and as the Marquis Lafayette was preparing to depart for America, he joined him as an adventurer, enlisting in the cause of the colonies. After his arrival upon our shores he fought at Brandywine and other places, and at the close of the war settled at Horseneck, Rhode Island, where he married an American woman named Baker. Here they had a son, William B., born June 21, 1790. He married Betsy Eldridge, who was born the same year in Washington county, New York, and whose father bore arms at Crown Point, Bennington, Stony Point, and Saratoga. This couple are buried at St. Charles, Kane county. Mr. Trude was aged seventyseven at his death, and his companion sixty-three. William E. Trude, their son, is a locomotive engineer, and resides at Amboy. He was born December 29, 1831, in Lisbon, St. Lawrence county. New York, and reared on his father's farm. In 1852 he came west, and in March, 1855, settled in this place in the employ of the Central company. On July 6, 1858, he was married to Miss Candace Rolf, of his native town, who was born December 25, 1835. Her mother died June 9, 1839, at about thirty-five 3^ears of age, and her father in 1879, aged eighty-six. Two sons have blessed their union : Fred W., born July 19, 1859, who graduated at the Amboy High School in the class of 1877, and married March 24, 1881, to Miss Josephine McCorniack ; and Frank, born April 3, 1868. Mrs. Trude is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. Trude is a Mason, a workman, and a member of the Engineers' Brotherhood.

Herbert A. Millard, painter, Amboy, is the son of Ira and Lorinda (Cargill) Millard, wlio moved to this place from La Salle county, Illinois, in January 1856. His father was born September 5, 1817, and his mother in Windham, Greene county, ISTew York, September 3, 1829. Tiie maternal grandfatiier of the latter was Amos Parker, a revolutionary soldier, who served seven years, and had the distinguished honor of saving the life of Gen. Lafayette at Yorktown. The latter, in giving orders for an assault, had directed that not a gun should be fired, but this soldier discovered a British sharpshooter drawing aim on Lafayette, and he hastened to bring him down in spite of orders. When tlie general visited this country in 1821 he sent to Mr. Parker, who was living in Augusta, Oneida county, New York, to meet him at Utica, in the same county, and he did so. Dnrino; the revolution Mr. Parker lived at Wallingford, Connecticut, but in 1793 moved to New York, and here Mrs. Millard's mother, Elizabeth Parker, was born on August 9 of that 3'ear. She was three times married : first to Abram Cargill, next to Riverius Wilcox, and last to Calvin Chipman, a veteran of the war of 1812. In 1838 she removed with her second husband to La Salle county. She died in Amboy April 14, 1881, in her eightyeighth 3'ear. Mr. and Mrs. Millard were married in 1849. After their settlement here the former was some time engaged in trade in a feed and flour store. They had the following children : Ida E., born September 10, 1850, married April 13, 1870, to Wm. C. Miner, of Muskegon, Michigan ; Noble J. B., born September 17, 1852 ; Herbert A., born January 23, 1859, married Miss Jennie Spencer July 25, 1880 ; Clarence A., born August 20, 1863 ; Ira Adelbert, born March 18, 1868, and an infant born and died March 17, 1856. Besides these children of their own they reared Stephen Z. Hartley, a nephew of Mr. Millard, from the age of four till he was eighteen 3^ears old. He learned the shoemaker's trade, and the printer's trade in the Amboy " Journal" ofiico, and was a promising young man. In November, 1862, he enlisted in the 17th U. S. Inf., and in the following March was sent to Fort Preble, Portland, Maine, where he died on the 17th of the next April from small-pox.

Alexander H. Wooster, farmer, Amboy, born in Owego, Tioga county, N-ew York, April 6, 1829, was the son of Calvin and Hannah (Matson) Wooster. His ancestors were early settlers in Connecticut. Mr. Wooster was graduated at the high school at Cleveland, Ohio, about 1846, and bred to mercantile life. On December 9, 1851, he was united in marriage with Miss Ruth Harding, of Freedom, La Salle county, Illinois, and by her has had four children : Charles H., Stella A., wife of Charles F. Long; Anna, now Mrs. D. C. Badger, and Wm. L. In the spring of 1855 Mr. Wooster came to Amboy, and on his arjm^ li, 7}ujtAju^ rival set up in a general merchandise business with A. E. Wilcox, and continued it subsequently with his brother David G. Wooster and others. After a few years he moved to a farm adjacent to the city limits on the northwest, where he now resides ; this comprises 204 acres. Mr. Wooster is a member of Illinois Central Lodge, No 178, A.F. and A.M., and has occupied the master's chair in that lodge nine terms. He was first installed in December 1869, and served five years in succession, and after an interim of two years came to that position again four years more. Both himself and wife are members of the Baptist church of Amboy.

Asa B. Seakles, farmer, Amboy, born at Cincinnatus (now Pitcher), Chenango county, New York, January 27, 1810, was the next to the last in a family of six children by Elihu and Ruth Ann (Hawley) Searles, The children were named Harrj^, Abram, Lemuel, Asa, David and Pamelia. The mother had three children, Polly, Phebe, and Fanny, by a former marriage. Three of Mr. Searles' uncles, Gideon, Abram, and Isaac Hawley, were soldiers of the i^evolution ; and Lemuel Hawley was a sea captain in the service of Stephen Girard, and died of yellow fever at Philadelphia. His father was in the military service in the last war with Great Britain, and died at Sackett's Harbor ; and William Morgan, of anti-Masonic celebritv, brouo^ht vouns; Searles the first tidings of his father's death. At the age of twelve he was bound to Edmund Meigs, of Tinkertown (now Hobart), to learn the cabinet trade, but being the youngest apprentice in the shop was made to do all the drudgery, and was so ill-treated that after staying a year and a half he ran away, and at length found a home with his brother Harry, at Marathon, and lived with him until he was sixteen, getting in the meantime but half a term's schoolino^. Going now to South Bainbridge, he lived there four or five j^ears, and attended school where his brother Lemuel taught. Joe Smith, the coming prophet, was a fellowpupil, with whom, uncle Asa says, he had many a wrestle ; but young Smith was a large, strong fellow and could handle any of the boys. He was lazy, but kind-hearted, had a large brain and a good deal of ability. The whole family of Smiths, including the mother, were bony, stout-built persons, and in a little while they had all settled in that neighborhood. At nineteen Mr. Searles began teaching school and piloting on the Susquehanna river. This last business he followed six years; he contracted heavy jobs of rafting and floating logs and lumber ; employed as many as 200 men ; and cleared $3,000 in spite of some large losses. On September 19, 1832, he was married to Patience Stockwell, of Bainbridge. He left that place August 19, 1837, with a two-horse team, accompanied by thirteen persons, and arrived at Palestine Grove October 11, and entered the land and settled where he lives. Altogether Mr. Searles entered sixteen "eighties," and bought, besides, 200 acres in May township. At this time the land office was at Galena, and Col. Dement the receiver. The land about Palestine Grove did not come into market until the fall of 1841, but in the vicinity of Dixon it was placed on sale a few years earlier, on petition of Father Dixon. Mr. Searles took no little personal interest in the settling up of the country, and entertained land-hunters in lai-ge numbers, and drove about the wild prairies with them days upon days in the unwearying labor of showing claims. In 1848 he laid out the village of Binghamton. He erected a hotel bearing the name of the place; and a store in which he traded nearly two j'ears. We have not the space to recount the numerous activities with which his name has been associated, but in short he has been a live man, from whose gettings many have profited more than he, a result which may be charged with equal justice to his generosity and his convivial habits. He was appointed postmaster about 1840, by Amos Kendall, and kept the office at his house ; again he was commissioned under Polk, and the office was kept in his store at Binghamton. He resigned, and Warren Badger succeeded only a short time before the removal to Amboy. Mrs. Searles died December 19, 1846; and in 1852 Mr. Searles married Miss Amanda Headlee, by whom he has five sons: Lemuel B., Frederick D., John Henry, Frank Leslie, and Levi Headlee. Lemuel went with Gen. Custer to Dakota in the 7th United States cavalry, and served sixteen months. Mr. Searles has been coroner; and he assessed Amboy the first time that service was ever performed.

Mrs. Caroline A. Bartlett, widow of William C. Bartlett, Amboy, was the daughter of Hosea and Clementine Yinton, of North Woodstock, Connecticut, where her English and Scotch ancestors settled in the earliest days of the colony, when the people of the neighborhood had to work in gangs of twenty or thirty to be prepared to resist the Indians, and at night went four miles together to the fort on Muddy Brook. In 1847 Mrs. Bartlett was united in marriage with Danford Bartlett, who was killed at Hartford, Connecticut, October 6, 1852. He was assisting to load a boiler on a car, when it accidentally rolled over him, crushing him to death. On October 18, 1854, she celebrated her second marriage, with William C. Bartlett, who was a native of Edinburgh, New York, where he was born November 23, 1824. His father died when he was a lad, and at the age of thirteen his mother started with her family for Racine, Wisconsin, but died on the way. Orphaned at this early age, he now lived with his brother James and with his sister, working on a farm until he was eighteen, when he apprenticed himself to the carpenter's trade, and followed this the rest of his life. He came to Amboy in the fall of 1853. Immediately on his marriage, the first in the village of Amboy, he settled in Eacine, Wisconsin, where he at once became under-sheriff of the county, and was in this position three years. Keturning to this city in May, 1858, he was employed in the car shops from that time until his death, which occurred suddenly December 10, 1874. Mr. Bartlett was received into the fellowship of the Adventist church in 1859, became a leading member of the society, and was respected by all the community. He was a nephew of OIney, the geographer. Mrs. Bartlett was the mother of one child by her first marriage. This died in infancy. By the second two sons were born to her: William E., died in infancy, and Frank Eugene.

Rev. Daniel S. Clark, Amboy, was born of Puritan stock in Ellington, Connecticut, January 25, 1822. While yet young his parents, David and Sarah (Bartlett) Clark, moved to West Woodstock, where he learned the carpenter's trade, and in 1846 was married to Miss Nancy M. Yinton, of North Woodstock. With his young wife he went to Southbridge and lived four years, and then moved to Racine, Wisconsin, for three years. While working at his trade in Chicago he was employed by the Illinois Central Railroad Company to put up buildings on their line of road, and in the autumn of 1853 he reached Amboy, where he superintended the wood-work on the railroad buildings at this place. He afterward built a planing-mill and dealt in lumber here ; but in 1859 he took leave of this business and of his trade and began as a regular exhorter in the Second Advent Christian church, and in 1860 was ordained at Binghamton to pi-each. Prior to this time Mr. Clark had been a Baptist and a Methodist, and had displayed great zeal and activity in labors to suppress the sale and use of intoxicating stimulants. He preached for the Adventist society at Amboy several years ; he was located at Sparland, Illinois, fifteen months ; at Sparta, Wisconsin, two years; at Putnam and Dennisonville, Connecticut, a year and a half; at Scituate, Rhode Island, one year; at Boston and Plymouth, Massachusetts, one year; and in July, 1880, he returned to his old home in this city, and is now ministering to a church at Brodhead, Wisconsin. Mrs. Clark's great-grandfather Leach was a veteran of the war of the revolution. She was formerly a communicant in the Baptist church, but has since united with the church to which her husband belongs.

William N. Fasoldt, deceased, was a native of Germany, where he was born April 5, 1825, He was a jeweler, and emigrated to America about 1850. He lived in Albany, New York, three years, and then at South Bend, Indiana, where he married Miss Pauline Bower. In 1864 he came to Amboy, and set up in the jewelry business. He was once burnt out, besides having a fire in his new brick hall erected in

1871. In this last year Mr. Fasoldt retired from the jewelry business, and died June 6, 18S0, at the age of fifty-five years, two months and one day. His remains lie in Prairie Kepose cemeter^^ He had three children by his first marriage : Mary, now Mrs. Christ. Yogel, living at Storm Lake, Iowa ; Edward, whose whereabouts have been unknown for nine years, and Anna M. Mr. Fasoldt's wife died in March, 1865, and he married Miss Rena Teal January 17, 1868. She was born November 12, 1841:, and was the daughter of Charles and Margaret (Scholbar) Teal. Her parents came to America from Germany in 1847, arriving at Lee Center in May, having come all the way to Chicago by water, and the remainder of the journey by country teams which had been to market. The family settled a mile north of Lee Center. The father died September 22, 1860, aged fifty-four, and the mother June 11, 1880, at the age of sixty-seven years. They are buried in the Lee Center cemetery. Mrs. Fasoldt is a member of the First Congregational church of Amboy.

Maktin Maus emigrated from Germany in 1850, when twentyfour years old. He lived in Chicago till 1854, when he came to Amboy, where he married Miss Christina Teal, who has borne him four children : Charles, Rena, Sophia, and Henry. He has been in the harness business twenty-seven years altogether, and in the trade for himself eighteen years.

"William H, Hale, passenger conductor, Amboy, was born in Harmony township, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1838. In 1845 his parents, Alva and Clara (Root) Hale, removed to Lee county, and settled at Temperance Hill, in China township. About'1855 they changed their home to Sublette township, where Mrs. Hale died, in Januar^^ 1879, aged seventy-six years, and Mr. Hale in May 1881, at the age of eighty-five. The subject of this sketch went to railroading on the Central in 1857, and in May, 1861, enlisted in Co. C, 13th 111. rego He was severely wounded in the right knee by a fragment of shell at Chickasaw Bayou, December 29, 1862. After the fall of Yicksburg he was detailed for service in the quartermaster's department, where he passed the remainder of his term, except two months at the close, and was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, June 18, 1864. On his return he resumed the position of baggageman, which he vacated at the outbreak of the war, and in two years was promoted to conductor. He was married June 5, 1867, to Miss Letitia W. Wicks, of Davenport, Iowa. She was born February 22, 1849. Their son, Henry V., is ten years of age, and their adopted daughter, Louie, nine. Mr. and Mrs. Hale are members of the Episcopal church. He is an Odd-Fellow, a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, belongs to the American Legion of Honor, and Bethany Commandery,

'No. 28, Mendota, of which he has been eminent commander two years. This commandery presented Mr. Hale an elegant sword in 1880. Mr. Hale's father was remarkable for his good health. He was never so sick as to need an attendant, and his last illness was only of a few hours' duration. He died of heart disease, greatly respected by a numerous acquaintance.

John M. Blocher, retired, Amboy, was born January 8, 1804, in the kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany. He learned the carpenter's trade, and in 1824 went to France and followed that business seven years, at 18 cents per day in summer and 10 cents per day in winter. Returning to Germany in 1831, he emigrated to America and lived in Connecticut nine years, working as a farm laborer most of the time. On April 9, 1838, he was married to Miss Hannah S. Schafer, who was born October 20, 1813. In 1841 he moved to Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and settled in the woods, where he cleared a farm and lived until 1849. He then came to Illinois and made a home a mile and a half north of Amboy, on the farm now owned by Henry 0. Shaw's heirs. In 1868 he sold this property and moved to Amboy. Mr. Blocher united with the Congregational church in Connecticut in 1837, and Mrs. Bolcher in 1839. Three of their children are now members of the same church. Mr. Blocher and his wife assisted to organize the Congregational church of Amboy, and they and Mr. and Mrs. John C. Church are the only siTrviving original members of this society. Mr. Blocher has given his active support to the temperance cause in every practicable way. He belonged to the first division of the Sons of Temperance ever in existence here; this was organized at Binghamton, but moved to Amboy as soon as Farwell Hall was ready for occupancy. He has been a republican since the party was formed, and during the war was connected with the Union League. Mr. and Mrs. Blocher are the parents of nine children, as follows: John G. (dead), Mary E., wife of Newton Campbell, living in Dakota; William L. (dead), Hannah S., now Mrs. Thomas Coster, living in Dakota; John G., "William L. (dead), Henry S., Rebecca B., wife of Curtis Bridgman ; and Agnes B., born December 16, 1851, wife of Joseph Blackman, to whom she was married December 22, 1873. Mr. Blackman is a native of England, where he was born June 21, 1845 ; his parents, John and Mary Blackman, who reside three miles above Dixon, emigrated to this country in 1850, and about 1856 settled in Lee county. He has been on the railroad sixteen years; seven years as fireman, and the remainder as engineer, and all the time in the employ of the Central company. Mr. and Mrs. Blackman have one son, Henry J., born October 6, 1874. She has belonged

Oscar Spanglek, confectioner, Amboy, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1842. In 1857 he moved with his parents, Benjamin and Lydia (Bell) Spangler, to Lee county, and made a home in Marion township, where his father died November 12, 1880. Mr. Spangler volunteered in June, 1862, in Co. K, 69th 111. reg., for six months, and served his time. In the fall of 1863 he began on the Central railroad and followed it as fireman two years, and then was given a locomotive to run. He continued as engineer until June 29, 1876, when he met with a disaster which nearly cost him his life. Two cars, one empty, the other loaded, were let out of the switch, in some manner, at Baileyville, and ran down the track in the direction of Freeport, crossed the Yellow Creek bridge, and ascended the grade on the other side as far as their momentum would propel them, and had reversed their motion and were coming back toward the creek, and were within fifty yards of the bridge, when Mr. Spangler's train of thirty-two cars struck them. The time was midnight, and the weather warm, rainy, and a little foggy. The engine and twenty-six cars were totally wrecked. A tramp sleeping in one of the wild cars was killed. Mr. Spangler's iireman was seriously injured, and he himself still worse ; so that he was two years recovering, and was on crutches that length of time; in fact he has not recovered, and never will, entire soundness. In December, 1876, he opened a cigar and confectionery store and restaurant in Amboy, and is at present engaged in tliat business. He is an Odd-Fellow and a republican. He was first married July 2, 1866, to Miss S. A. Shew, who bore two children, Harriet and Joseph, and died January 29, 1878. His second marriage was November 27, 1879, with Miss E. M. Foskey. She is a Congregationalist.

James H. Pkeston, county superintendent of schools, Amboy, was born at Kochester, New York, June 3, 1820, and was the son of James and Mary (Gorham) Preston. He was reared a farmer, trained to hard work, and educated in the common schools, in which he received thorough practical English mental training. In the East his principal occupation was farming, but he taught fourteen winters in succession in district schools. On May 16, 1845, he was married to Miss Nancy Ann Maydole, who was born in 1824. Their five children were named as follows : Albert W. (dead), Frances (dead), Addie, Charles F., and Bertie. On June 22, 1854, Mr. Preston arrived with his family from New York, and located in Marion township, on railroad land at $2.50 per acre. Leaving his tamily on the farm, the following season he went to Binghamton and took control of the LTnion store, as agent, and con- ducted the business until its affairs were wound up in the spring of 1857. He fanned from that time till 1865. In that year he was elected county superintendent of schools, and served two terms of four years each; in 1873 he ran as an independent candidate against a republican and a " granger " nominee, but was distanced in the race by the former. But in 1877 he recovered the position, and at the present time is discharging its duties. Since 1865 his residence has been in Ambo}^, and he is serving his second year as alderman. In Marion township he was justice of the peace and assessor. He is a republican, and has taken a lively interest in political and other matters of public concern, and since 1858 has attended every political convention of importance held in the county. Near the close of the war his son Albert (now deceased) enlisted in the 140th 111. Yols. for 100 days, and did military service for five months in Missouri and Tennessee. Mr. Preston's ancestors came to Massachusetts in colonial times (from Ireland, it is supposed). His grandfather Preston was a soldier of the revolution, and his father was called into service in the last war with Great Britain, and was marching on Plattsburg when that battle was fought. His maternal ancestors were sea-faring people, engaged in the whale fishery, and lived at ISTantucket.

Col. George Ryon, physician and surgeon, Amboy, was born in Pennsylvania, June 5, 1827. His great-grandfather, John Ryon, was an Irishman, and emigrated to New England ; his grandfather, who bore the same name, was a revolutionary soldier, who fought through the whole war. Col. Ryon passed his early life on his father's farm, and when he began on his own account entered the medical profession. He studied first with Dr. Isaac Ives, and next with Wheeler & Holden, of Kendall county ; and after two courses of lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, graduated in 1851. He located in practice at Paw Paw, in this county, in 1850 ; in 1856 he commenced the study of law and was admitted to the bar two years after ; but he did not quit his medical practice, as he found it impossible to shake off his old patrons. In 1860 he was elected by the republican party to the general assembly as representative from Lee and Whitesides counties, and was a member when the war broke out. He served one term at that time ; and in August, 1862, he raised Co. K, 75th 111. Vols., and on the organization of the regiment was elected colonel. Within eight days after leaving Dixon his command participated in the battle of Perryville. Owing to failing health he was obliged to resign, which he did about the beginning of 1863. In 1866 he was again elected to the legislature from this county. In 1869 he removed to Amboy, and started a private bank ; in 1873 he discontinued this business and settled in Streator, where he incorporated the Streator Coal Company with a capital of $200,000. On his removal to Chicago in 1876 he resumed the practice of medicine, and has since continued it. He returned to Amboy in 1879 to reside. In 1852 he took Miss Ruth Ann Ives in marriage, and by her has an only daughter, Carrie S., who graduated at the Chicago University, at the age of nineteen, in a four-years course, and did not lose a day from her classes in the whole time.

Hard labor is the most productive when united with thoughtful calculation. A good example of what a perfect union of thought, industry and energy can do when concentrated upon a single object is to be seen in the life of Lewis Clapp. He came from ISTorthampton, Massachusetts, as a member of the Northampton colony, and located at Princeton, Bureau county. They arrived on June 1, 1836, having been just a month on their journey. Some time in the summer Mr. Clapp was powerfully converted to religion, and though he never chose to become a member of any church, he was during the remainder of his life an exact, consistent christian, who never omitted to invoke the heavenly blessing at his table, or to bring his daily offering of prayer to the family altar. From his settlement here till 1846 he was a hard laborer at the plow and in the stock business, but at the same time was employing his i-eflections in a way to make his industry bring the most gain. From the last date during a period of twenty years he gradually withdrew his hand from rigid toil, until he became exclusively a money-lender, and this business engaged his whole attention for the last ten years of his life. About 1852 he began operating in land, which was a lucrative business, and good fortune, made possible by good judgment, followed all his transactions. His land speculations lasted some five years. People to whom he lent money usually prospered ; not because they paid interest, but because he always calculated their ability to pay back the funds borrowed without impairment of the security, and noted the circumstances favorable or unfavorable to their doing so; and if such consideration left him any question concerning the applicant he would fail to get money. This speaks not only a good deal for his judgment but very much also for his integrity. For twentyfive years he was a leading farmer and citizen of Lee county, and took a prominent part in all measures for the common welfare. As a matter of personal interest he was a member of the Grove Association, but in that he was recognized as a man of wise counsel. It was as a member of the Vigilance Committee, however, during the troubled times that the country was harrassed by the bandits, that he conspicuously displa3"ed his earnestness and enthusiasm in pursuit of evil-doers, and the maintenance of public order and securit3^ It is interesting to know that he espoused the doctrines of the abolitionists with so much fervor that he threw open his house to those apostles of emancipation, Owen

Lovejoy and Deacon Hannan, for them to preach in, when denominational places of worship were closed in their faces. He went so much further as to put his principles into effect by operating on the underground railroad and delivering fugitive slaves in Canada, a place toward which they toiled with eager longing while their hearts burned with the ardent fires of liberty. His first marriage was in 1836, but his wife dying in 1839 he married again in 1840. His only son, Ozro W., was born in 1836. Mr. Clapp bought his first claim, IST.W. ^ Sec. 8, in Lee Center township. In 1837 he sold his corn crop for $1,000, In 1839 he built the first frame house in the eastern part of the county, and hauled his lumber from Chicago with ox-teams. Perfect system and aggressive enterprise characterized all he did, and he startled easygoing people by building at an early day a frame barn in the new settlement. He gave largely toward the construction of the Lee Center Academy, and had a lively appreciation of the benefits of popular education, and at last gave very striking proof of his faith.

William E. Ives, attorney, Amboy, was born in Chautauqua county, ISTew York, May 24, 1821. His father was a farmer and surveyor, and in 1834 emigrated with his family to Kendall county, Illinois. He was the first recorder of deeds in that county, and subsequently was probate judge two successive terms. In 1854 he removed to Amboy, and died here March 18, 1864, aged seventy-five years. The subject of this sketch received an academic education, and in 1854 was admitted to the bar in Kendall county ; he came to Amboy the same year, and is now the only lawyer in the county who has practiced here since that date. Mr. Ives was mayor of Amboy from 1861 to 1865, and prosecuting attorney of Lee county between 1872 and 1876. Politically he is a republican, and he has belonged to the Baptist church since 1841. Mrs. Ives is a member of long standing in the same church. On December 8, 1841, he was married to Miss Susan Kyan. They have three living children : Charles E., Esther M. and James R. Charles is junior member of the law firm of W, E. Ives & Son. He served three months in 1862 in Co. K, 69th 111. Vols., and reenlisted in October 1864, in Co. G, 146th reg., and was mustered out the next July. James is a graduate from the Rochester University, of New York, and is a practicing attorney in Denver, Colorado.

Charles K. Dixon, train dispatcher Illinois Central railroad, Amboy, youngest child of John and Matilda (Savage) Dixon, was born in 1846, in Grandy, Shefiord county, Province of Quebec, Canada. He received a good English education in his native town. On May 24, 1861, he was mustered into the United States service, Co. H, 15th 111. Inf., Capt. (afterward Gen.) John Pope. This regiment was brigaded with the 21st 111., Col. U. S. Grant, the 6th and the 7th Missouri, one battalion of Col. Marshall's 1st 111. Cav., and Capt. Mann's Missouri battery, the whole under command of Col. Grant. This was the first brigade of the first corps formed in the west. The corps was numbered 1st and transferred to Fremont's department, and went through his whole campaign. Mr. Dixon was at Springfield, Missouri, when Gen. Fremont was superseded by Gen. Hunter. He was moved from that state to Fort Donelson in time to participate in the brilliant and successful operations against that stronghold. He was next engaged at Shiloh, and was wounded in the hip early in the first day's action. This disability placed him on the non-efi^ective force ninety days. He fought, subsequently, at Metamora, sometimes called '"' Hell on the Hatchie "; this engagement was followed by his service in the siege of Yicksburg, and then the second battle of Ciiampion Hills, in which the loth reg. was on the skirmish line. This service of Mr. Dixon's was interlarded with the usual complement of small fights. He was mustered out at Spi'ingfield, Illinois, in August 1861. He at once secured employment on the Illinois Central railroad, and has continued without interruption to the present time. The last eleven years he has acted as train dispatcher; prior to that he was operator. He is a member of Illinois Central Lodge, E"o. 178, A.F. and A.M.; Nathan Whitney Chapter, Franklin Grove ; Dixon Commandery, No. 21 ; and in politics a republican.

John Hook, farmer, Amboy, was born in Orino, seven miles above Bangor, Maine, October 16, 1811. He was the son of Aaron and Rhoda (Gibson) Hook, the former of whom was a native of New Hampshire, and the latter of Vermont. John and Humphrey Hook came from England early in the last century. The former was the great-grandfather of our subject, and settled in Massachusetts ; the other, it is conjectured, went to the middle states. His maternal ancestors emigrated from Scotland. His father and his uncle, John Hook, were drummers in the last war with Great Britain. His grandfather, John Hook, worked at ship-carpentry, and went upon the seas as captain of a schooner. His father was a carpenter and joiner, and he worked with him at this trade as long as he lived in liis native state. On July 29, 1836, he was married to Miss Matilda Berry, who was born in Livingston, York county, Maine, June 29,1820. In 1839 they emigrated to Illinois, driving all the way with horse teams, except between Bufi'alo and Detroit, where they w^ere transported by the steamer Milwaukee, which came near swamping by having her side stove in against the wharf at Ashtabula. The journey was begun August 26, and ended when they arrived at La Moille, Bureau county, October 28. In February, 1810, they settled at Rocky Ford, where their home has been to the present date, though they twice moved away temporarily.

When the removal from Maine was made, Mr. Hook's parents and his brother William came also; his brother Aaron had performed the journey two years before and located in Bureau county. Where Mr. Hook built his house, on the ridge, was an old Indian camping-ground, on the trail which crossed at the Ford. The Indians came frequently and in large numbers, but when they found the paleface had taken their camp they occupied the knoll south of Mr. George Freeman's. After the stage route was established by Rocky Ford the station was at Mr. Hook's several years. The subject of this sketch began the practice of the botanic system of medicine before he left Maine, and continued it ten years after coming west. He lived in Peru from 1845 to 1847, laboring in this profession with success. The family was away from Rocky Ford from 1851 to 1853, living in Rock county, Wisconsin. They have been identified with the church of Latter Day Saints, of which Mrs. Hook is a member. Mr. Hook is an old-time democrat. They have had seven children, as follows: Hester Ann, wife of Walter Brown, of Spirit Lake, Iowa ; Abigal Frances, now Mrs. S. J. Stone ; Sarah Elizabeth (dead), Charles Moroni, John Franklin, Hannah Josephine, and Emma Eldina.

Chauncey M. Robbins, farmer, Amboy, was born in Steuben county. New York, November 18, 1828. He was the fifth son in a family of eight children by Hosea and Laura P. (Merchant) Robbins. His great-grandfather Sackett, an Englishman, settled in Madison count}^. New York, anterior to the revolution. From George III he received a grant of land on the Mohawk river, one mile wide by twenty long. This was absorbed by Stephen Van Rensselaer in his immense possessions, and has been in litigation for the last sixty years. Truman Merchant, Mr. Robbins' maternal grandfather, served the cause of the colonies as a soldier in the war for independence. Mr. Robbins' father was a carpenter, and he worked with him at that trade until he became of age. In 1846 the senior Robbins visited Lee county and purchased the S.E. J Sec. 17, and 40 acres of timber, in Amboy township ; and in 1849 he brought his family here to make their future home. Both parents died in this township; the father April 20, 1852, and the mother December 26, 1859. Our subject returned east in 1850, remained three years, and then came back to Illinois; the winter of 1854-5 he spent again in New York ; but the next spring found him in this state to remain. He has been engaged most of the time since in farming. In 1862 he bought his present farm of 80 acres, which is worth about $4,000. He was married February 22, 1871, to Miss Angeline Perkins, by whom he has four children : William, Katie, Nelson (dead), and Stanley.

of Israel Luce. He was born in Florida, Montgomery county, New York, September 18, 1805, and was reared a farmer, which occupation he has followed all his life. His great-grandparents emigrated from Holland, and his grandparents from New Jersey to New York. Israel Luce was a soldier in the war of 1812 ; he was wounded, lost his health, and died in consequence of his service in the army, and his sons were bound out. The subject of this notice was married January 9, 1828, to Miss Sarah Covenhoven, who was born November 12, 1805. She was the mother of four children : James C, John H., Emma L. and Josephine. The latter married John Y. Henry, and is now dead. In 1845 Deacon Luce settled at Crete, in Will county, Illinois, and in 1855 moved to Amboy township, and bought a farm opposite where he now lives. He was bereft of his wife February 16, 1857, and on January 23, 1859, he celebrated his marriage with Mrs. Celia Maria Forbes, daughter of Jacob Gilde. Her first union was productive of two sons, John C. and Arthur S. Their father was David C. Forbes. The elder of these enlisted in 1861 in Co. D, 34th 111. reg. ; he served through the entire war, fought in several hard-contested engagements, and was finally killed at the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, as the last echoes of the war were sounding. Arthur volunteered in either the 51st or the 53d 111. Inf, when but sixteen years old, and after a brief service died, as was supposed, while on his way to the hospital at St. Louis. Deacon Luce and his first wife united with the Baptist church in 1832, and he has held the office of deacon forty-five years. He assisted with liberality to erect the First Baptist church of Amboy, and he has been for many years a man of recognized infiuence, not only in the worshiping society to which he belongs, but also in the community at large. He was assessor in "Will county, and since he came here was for a long time overseer of the poor. In politics he is a republican.

Jason Chamberlain, deceased, was the youngest son of Joshua and Nancy Chamberlain, and was born in the town of Petersham, Worcester county, Massachusetts, September 6, 1811. When he was eleven years old his father moved his family to Steuben county. New York, and being wealthy, bought a tract of several hundred acres of land. Mr. Chamberlain celebrated his first marriage with Miss Mary Ann Goodrich, about 1836. She became the mother of six children: George W., Cyrus (died in infancy), Sylvester, Mary O., Lucy G. and Harry R. (died in infancy). Her death occurred in May 1846, and Mr. Chamberlain married Sally, relict of Freeman Whited, September 13, 1847. She was born at Penn Yan, Yates county, New York, December 23, 1818. Her parents were David J. and Dorothea (Morse) Bennett, and in her father's family were but three children, two brothers and herself. By her first husband Mrs. Chamberlain had three children : David J., Lester B. and William M. David enlisted in the 13th 111. Yols. at the outbreak of the war and was in the service until October 6, 1861, when he died in hospital at St. Louis. In 1856, when seventeen years old, Lester died of fever in JSTew York. Cornelia A. and Elvira F. were the children of the second marriao^e. The first is the wife of Henry Putnam, of Taylor county, Iowa, and the second is Mrs. C. C. Morgan, of Sterling. In 1856 Mr. Chamberlain moved to Illinois and settled in Whitesides county, where he bought a farm of 160 acres, to which, in time, he made additions. In 1867, owing to the death of his brother-in-law. Deacon Cyrus Bryant, who had left an aged and lonely widow, and to his own failing health, Mr. Chamberlain came to Amboy to reside. After his settlement here, under the ministry of the Rev. M. T. Lamb, he was brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and was baptized into the fellowship of the Amboy Baptist church. After his conversion Mr. Chamberlain lived a prayerful life, and by his deep, earnest solicitude for the interest of the church and the extension of Christ's kingdom, he gave precious evidence of the witnessing of the spirit and of God's grace in his heart. So, in the practice of the lowly virtues of hospitality, a genial and sunny temper, tender sympathy and warm affection, held to the true course by depth of principle and firmness of conviction, he grew in strength and power, and proportion to the excellent stature of christian nobility. When the hour of dissolution came he remarked to his pastor that "it was all settled ; to go or to stay would be all right ; God's will be done ; " and in great peace he fell asleep in Jesus. Death came to him on December 21, 1880, at the age of sixty-nine, when he had "Grown ripe in years and old in piety." Deacon Bryant, another soldier of the cross, whose godly life and veteran service had stamped upon his brow the seal of divine peace and usefulness, was one of the organizers of the Amboy Baptist church, and a deacon of more than forty years' standing. He was a very liberal supporter of the gospel at all times. At Monteray, Schuyler county, Kew York, he nearly built a Baptist church, and on his death he gave by will $100 to the Baptist Publication Society of Chicago ; |100 to the Home Mission Society ; $100 to the Foreign Missions ; and $100 to the Bible Union Society. Mr. Bryant and Mr. Chamberlain were life members of the Bible Union. Mrs. Bryant still lives, in her eighty-third year, in a most pitiable and helpless physical condition by reason of fracture of the hip joint.

Curtis F. Beidgman, farmer, Amboy, was born in Bainbridge, Alleghany county, !N"ew York, in 1836. He had the following brothers and sisters : Lewis, Sally, Emily, Edgar, Otis, and Emily. The latter died in 1868 ; Otis in 1864. The parents were Reuben and

Cynthia (Dort) Bridgman. In 1840 this family settled in Amboy township, and during the first three years of their residence lived on a claim which is now part of the farm belonging to the Shaw heirs. They tiien took up their home where Mr. Bridgman is living. He has eighty acres, worth $3,500. The father died in 1866, and tlie mother in 1871. Mr. Bridgman was married ISTovember T, 1866, to Miss Rebecca Blocher, daughter of John M. Blocher. She was born May 28, 1819. Their two sons John and Adna, were born respectively on November 29, 1869, and January 11, 1871. Both parents belong to the Episcopal church of Amboy. Mr. Bridgman is a republican.

Seth W. Holmes, farmer, Amboy, eldest son of James W. and Elizabeth (Curtis) Holmes, was born in Charleston, Montgomery county, New York, July 17, 1805. He was reared a farmer, and was married to Miss Mary Hill January 21, 1830. In 1846 he removed to this township and entered and settled on his present homestead, the E. ^ of S.W. J Sec. 9. Mr. Holmes is a republican, and a member of the Free Will church at Inlet Grove. Mrs. Holmes was a communicant in the same denomination while in the east, and brought her letter west, but by reason of bodily afflictions and infirmities has not united with any society here. They have reared, seven children, as follows : Mary Jane, wife of Cyrus Bridgman ; Dimmis H., Isaac A., James "W., Warren H. (dead), Alimira, deceased wife of Lee Cronkrite, and Jacob C. James volunteered September 26, 1861, in Co. I, 46th 111. reg.,* and fought at Fort Donelson and Sliiloh ; was in the siege of Corinth, battle of Hatchie, and siege of Vicksburg, where he was wounded in the foot and taken prisoner May 25, 1863, and paroled June 1. He was discharged on account of his wound December 29, 1863, at Jefterson barracks, St. Louis. His marriage with Miss Elizabeth Banker was on July 8, 1874. In politics he is a republican.

George D. Baird, farmer, Amboy, youngest son of James and Louisa (Chamberlain) Baird, was born June 24, 1844. In 1858 Mr. Baird came west with his parents and settled one mile north of Amboy ; in 1874 he sold the little farm which he owned there and moved to his present home, three miles north of the city, where he has 120 acres valued at $6,000. This farm was in the track of the great tornado of 1860. The one occupied by Mr. Baird at that time M-as taken in an arm of the hurricane, and was on the outskirt even of that, but no damage of any consequence was done, and the only evidence of force was the moving of his granary three feet. Mr. Baird was married February 4, 1872, to Miss Jennie Smith, who was born in England March 1, 1853, and emigrated to this country in 1856. Their little boy, Henry, was born February 12, 1881. Mr. and

Mrs. Baird are members of the Baptist church, and he is a republican. His parents died in this township at the following dates: his father, April 27, 1865; and his mother, March 24, 1877.

Nathaniel Bubnham, farmer, Amboj, was born in Greenfield, New Hampshire, April 16, 1836. His parents were Nathaniel and Mary (Wilder) Burnham. He was on his father's farm till he was fourteen ; the next three years he worked in a cotton factory, except an annual term of three months that he attended school. In February 1854 his father moved with his family to Lee county, and settled in Amboy township, where he died September 19, 1871. His mother died May 14 of the previous year. Mr. Burnham has made farming his principal business, though at different times he has turned his attention to other affairs. He owns 310 acres of choice land three miles north of Amboy, worth $15,500. He bought 120 acres of this from C. C. Cochran in 1852, and the remainder since. He was married June 6, 1872, to Miss Helen A. Deming, daughter of C. W. Deming. Mrs. Burnham was born in Watkins, New York, in 1849. Their two children were born as follows: Clara E., September 18, 1873, and Alice, March 6, 1875. Mr. and Mrs. Burnham are members of the Methodist church, and he is a republican.

Othniel M. Clark, farmer and dairyman, Lee Center, eldest son and third child of Sherman and Samantha (Bates) Clark, was born in West Hampton, Massachusetts, February 4, 1831. His father was a farmer, but he served from 1848 to 1850 at the drug business, and having completed his time abandoned it, as it was not suited to his health. In 1852 he made a voyage to California, and in 1856 returned and bought a farm in East Hampton. On April 28, 1858, he was married to Miss Mary Wright, daughter of Martin Wright, of West Hampton, and who was born August 17, 1833. They have three children: Wilbur G., Carrie A. and Sarah S. In the autumn of 1860 Mr. Clark came to Lee county, and taught school the following winter ; the next spring his family arrived, and he bought a farm not far from Lee Center, in China township. In 1872 he traded this for the one he now occupies, on the Chicago road, in this townshiyj, one mile west of Lee Center. His homestead is one of the oldest places in the neighborhood, contains 145 acres, was first improved by Deacon Barnes, and is valued at $9,000. Mr. Clark is road commissioner, and treasurer of the board, and school director in the Lee Center district, and clerk also of that board. This is a union district lying in four townships. Its affairs are not administered under the general law, but according to the terms of a charter procured from the state years ago. In addition to these public offices he is the executive agent for the Lee Center Butter and Cheese Manufacturing Company, does the buying and selling, and has charge of all the business. Perhaps the most responsible position of all which he holds is that of president of the Lee Center Sundayschool Association, which is composed of parts of Amboy, China, Bradford, and the whole of Lee Center, and includes the Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal and Congregational denominations. Mrs. Clark has belonged to the Congregational church since she was sixteen years old, and Mr. Clark about eight years. The latter is a Conkling republican.

Frank H. Chapin, farmer, Amboy, son of Henry Chapin, was born in Lockport, Will county, Illinois, July 23, 1854, and grew up in Amboy from the time he was two years old. He obtained a fair education, and spent two years in Illinois College, at Jacksonville, where he took Bryant & Stratton's business course. He learned his trade and worked in his father's carriage-shop five or six years. In 1876 he laid aside his trade and began farming. Mr. Chapin was married Tuesday, August 5, 1879, to Miss Stella Van Riper, who was born August 13, 1857. Dr. H. F. Walker and his wife, Athelia, were her foster-parents. Mr. Chapin is a republican. He owns 120 acres of land three miles northeast of Amboy, valued at |4,500. In 1860 this was occupied by a Mr. Bixby, and was swept by the terrific hurricane of that year. The house was destroyed, but no persons were killed.

Henry C. Shaw, deceased, was born in Victor, New York, July 7, 1820. His parents were John and Polly (Fox) Shaw. In 1841 Mr. Shaw left his native state and came to Illinois, and established his home at La Harpe, Hancock county, where he started a trade in groceries. In 1844 he married Miss Jane Waldron, daughter of Joseph and Martha (Perry) Waldron, born in Albany, New York, October 31, 1822, and came to this state with her parents in 1841. In 1845 he moved to Princeton, Bureau county, and being in poor health boarded himself and wife there one year. In 1846 he came to Binghamton and embarked in the manufacture of plows in company with his brother, Zebediah Shaw, and William and John C. Church. The firm changed once or twice, but Mr. Shaw continued a partner as long as it carried on the business. In 1852 he bought a farm in Amboy township, and from this date was occupied with the cares of farming until his death, which occurred October 7, 1874. He was the father of ten children, as follows: Olive A., born September 14, 1845, widow of Charles Evitts; William M., September 24, 1847; WiUfred, July 14, 1849, married Miss Martha Hammitt, and lives in Peoria ; De Forist, December 17, 1851, married Miss Marietta Wasson ; Arthur H., February 12, 1854; Chauncey P., June 21, 1856; Everesto L., May 9, 1858; Charles D., September 9, 1861; Don Carlos, January 25, 1864; and Madeline M., February 3, 1868. These heirs own 160 acres of choice farming land just north of the city limits of Amboy. which has a running stream of living water through the body, giving it one of the greatest essentials of a stock farm.

Benjamin Treadwell, baggage-master, Illinois Central railroad, Amboy, second son of Allen and Deborah Treadwell, was born in Pennsylvania, July 31, 1823. His mother died when he was about eifjlit years of age, and as soon as he was old enouo-h to work he began to earn his own living, and thereafter made his way independently in the world. His education comprised such acquirements as could be obtained in the district schools during winter terras. He followed stage-driving fifteen years, and owned a line from Belvidere, Warren county, New Jersey, to Easton, Pennsylvania. In 1851 he sold out, and on November 18 was married to Miss Caroline Aton, Immediately upon this event he emigrated to Polk county, Wisconsin, where he remained only one winter, but long enough, however, to lose his property. In the spring of 1855 he removed to Amboy and engaged the first year in farming; the second year he was butchering; and in 185S he went on the Central railroad as baggageman, and has held that pos tion to this date. He owns and resides upon the Andrew Painter farm, consisting of 78 acres two and a half miles southeast of Amboy. Mr. and Mrs. Treadwell are communicants in the Methodist church, and he is a democrat. They have one son, Harmon, given them by his father, and born July 31, 1866.

Washington I. Fish, plow manufacturer, Amboy, is the son of Henry and Mary (Colony) Fish, and was born in New York in 1833. His father was a prominent man in his own section of the state, a doctor by profession, and represented his district in the general assembly, and held various othei '" jices of honor and profit. Our subject received a good English education. In 1851 he began learning dentistry, and was located in its practice at Mecklenburg, Schuyler county, thirteen years. In 1864 he moved to Illinois and settled at Binghamton, where his brother, Erasmus D. Fish, was manufacturing plows. He went to work at once with the latter in the shop. In November, 1865, his brother died and left the property to him by will, and he has since kept the factory in operation. He employs hands, makes scouring plows, and does general repairing. Mr. Fish was married in 1858 to Miss Cornelia A. Ink, of Enfield, New York, who was born in 1834. Three children have blessed their union : IVJ.innie I., William G. and Ira M. Mr. Fish is a democrat in politics.

months' study in that institution. He has traveled with profit within the United States, having been in nearly every state and territory, and made two visits to the Pacific coast. Mr. Badger celebrated his marriage with Miss Ann L. Wooster, daughter of A. II. Wooster, March 7, 1S78. Mrs. Badger belongs to the Baptist church, and he is a Mason and a democrat. Their homestead, a valuable tract well improved, a mile northeast of Amboy, is the N.E. ^ Sec. 14, T. 20, R. 10, and is estimated to be worth $18,000. Mr. Badger keeps about $6,000 worth of stock.

David Pettickew, farmer, Amboy, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, February 22, 1820. He was the eldest son by James and Eljzabeth (Haines) Petticrew. Both his grandfathers did veteran service in the war of the revolution, being enrolled during the entire period and engaged in a number of battles. In 1826 Mr. Petticrew's father settled near where Niles, Michigan, now stands, and in 1837 removed with his family to Livingston county, Missouri. At a subsequent period his father made another removal to the vicinity of Fort Scott, Kansas, where he died about the beginning of the war. In 1817 the subject of this sketch returned to Michigan and resided until 1854, when in November he came to Amboy, and bought the farm where he now lives south of the city. 'Next spring his family came. He was married, in 184.5, to Mi's. Margaret Miller (Roof). By her first marriage she had a daughter, Matilda, now Mrs. Henry Somes, of Iowa. By the last union there are seven children : Jasper, Sylvester, married Miss Maggie May ; Frank, married Miss Ida Clark ; Olive, Alice, wife of James Purseley; Emma, and Ella. Jasper volunteered for three months at the beginning of the war, and served at Camp Douglas; he afterward reenlisted in Co. I, 89th 111, reg., and served to the end of the war. He was wounded in the right leg in the battle in front of Atlanta, July 22, 1864. Sylvester enlisted in Co. G, 7th U. S. Cav,, Col, Custer, April 8, 1874, and was in the service nearly a year in Dakota. Frank performed military service in the regular army about the same length of time in 1875 and 1876. Mrs, Petticrew is a member of the Baptist church, and Mr, Petticrew is a prominent republican.

William H, Dkessee, farmer, Amboy, oldest son of William and Amy (Heath) Dresser, was born in Genesee county, New York, November 7, 1830. The father was a native of Massachusetts, and the mother of Connecticut, and both were taken to new homes in Genesee county when young children. Mr, Dresser has always been a tiller of the soil. In 1852 he went to Minnesota and stayed two years. In 1854 he settled in St. Croix county, Wisconsin, and lived there until 1866; at that date he removed to Amboy, and bought his present home of eightytwo acres from Joseph Doan, an early settler of Amboy township. He was married in 1861 to Miss Nancy Lewis, daughter of Hiel Lewis ; she died in November 1865, and he was married a second time, to Miss Sallie Eaton, in 1872. They have an adopted son, George, eight years old. Mr. and Mrs, Dresser belong to the Methodist cliurch. He has always been a voter of tlie republican ticket.

Carl Hegert, miller, Amboy, eldest son of Carl Hegert, was born in Germany, January 10, 1835. ECe emigrated to America in 1857, was forty-two daj^s in passage from Hamburg to New York, and arrived at Amboy January 1, 1858. He reached this country poor, his only capital being the miller's trade, and some knowledge of the use of tools, acquired mainly from his father. He could not at first get e*nployment at his trade, so he took the first job of carpentering lie could find, and did not lay down his tools for a year and a half Then he was engaged at farming three years, and in the meantime, March 4, 1861, was married to Miss Hannah Grothe, daughter of John H. Grothe, of Ashton, who settled there from Pennsylvania in 1851. As soon as Mr. Hegert had been able to earn money enough he sent for his brothers, Louis and Theodore; and after they had been in this country five years the three jointly sent funds to bring over the rest of the family - the father, one brother, four sisters and their husbands. These are still all living. Mr. Hegert worked on the Dutcher mill while it was building, and afterward was employed as miller eight months. On June 17, 1862, he entered the employ of the Badger Brothers, as miller, at Binghamton, and continued with them until the second destruction of the mill by fire July 21, 1881. He is a republican, an Odd-Fellow, and a workman, and both he and his wife belong to the Evangelical Lutheran church. They have six children : Harriet Jane, born June 22, 1863 ; Sarah Ann, February 4, 1865 ; Carl, February 28, 1867; Freddie, May 31, 1869, died February 10, 1870 ; Ida, September 4, 1871 ; Rudolph, January 15, 1874, and Willie, November 26, 1878.

Source changes here: from History of Lee County, Illinois, by Stevens, Frank Everett, published 1914; 5,583 words in this source stream.

Amboy Township

This claimed ±'or a Freuclmian named Filamalee, that he was the first settler tif Amboy township and that he lived in Palestine Grove about a mile south of Rocky Ford. It has been said that in a burr oak stump, he placed mortar and therein he pounded grain into meal and flour for bread. He left the country as soon as settlers began reaching the country, and John Dexter in 1835 became the fii'st settler. He came here from Canada and made his claim on the northwest quarter of section 13. The cabin which he built immediately, was twelve feet square. In the spring of 1836, Mr. and Mrs. James 1 )oan came into what now is the township of Amboy. With them came John Doan the father and Jemima sister of James. In the s^jring of 1837, Andrew Bainter, brother-in-law to James Doan came in and took a claim on the Sublette road. In October, 1837, Asa B. Seails came up the Peoria road with a team of horses, bringing with him Benjamin Wasson, froni Peoria. Both were New York people. Searls located on south half of section 14 and AVasson on sections 14 and 15. Later Searls laid out Binghampton, a mile east of the present city of Amboy. Nathan Meek settled near Rocky Ford about 1837. Rocky Ford was so named from the ford over (Jreen river to the southwest of Amboy where Frederick R. Dutcher afterwards estaljlished a store, a mill and a distillery and where for a time a village of resi^ectable propoi'tions flourished. Meek was not reputed to be a desirable citizen during the days of the banditti. Three miles do^oTi stream he l^uilt his corn cracker mill and ground corn. He tried to make flour, but failed. A sawmill had been built in this township nmcli earlier than in otl^er sections of the county. When Mr. Searls first came here Timothy Perkins and Horace Bowen oi)erated one at Rtu-ky Ford, l>ut later in the year, it was transferred to a man named

Lee. After a brief career, Lee sold to Mason. The latter died and Joliu Vou Arnam (or Van Norman) .secured it. In 1848, Frederick R. Dutcher purchased it.

In 1837, James Blair, and his sons, William, Winthrop and Edwin came here, and settled on section 29. The same year, John S. Saw.yer and his four sons erected a cabin south of the Illinois Central shops. In 1811, Sawyer sold part of his claim to Joseph Parwell and the remainder to Joseph Appleton. Alexander Janes came in about 1837, but in a year or so sold his claim to Chester S. Badger, and moved to Bureau county. In 1838, Mr. Badger and his sou, Simon, settled in this township, and in 1839 Warren, another son, came out with tlic mother and her two daughters, Sarah and Rowena (or Roena). But Warren returned and remained in the East until 1842 only, when he came back to Illinois and settled j)ei'mauentl}' here. Henry Badger came in 1849. In the summer of 1838, John C. Church, Curtis Bridgeman, the latter 's sons, Curtis and Urial, and William Hunt arrived. In 1841, Jacob Doan came out from Ohio and ])ouglit the claim made bj^ Mr. Church, one mile south of Amboy. Martin Wright also came in 1838, from Massachusetts. John Fosdick, the Lee Center or Inlet blacksmith moved his smithy over to Doau's place and that become the first in the township. Later Fosdick returned to Lee Center, and Doan and Frederick Bainter became ju-oprietoi's and continued the business. Doan invented a scouring plow and many were made by the firm.

In 1839, Cyrus Davis and his son. C.yrus A. Davis, cauic licre from jMassaeluisetts and claimed a home on the southeast quarter of section 15, later Wyman's addition to Amboy. .John and William Hook, l)rothers, located at Rocky Ford in 1840. Aai'on Hook came two years before. Tlic Joseph Farwell clniiii ou tlie northeast (juarter of section 22 subsequently was ])latted into the original town of Amboy. Jesse Hale canie in 1841, and Sauuiel and L^'uian Bixby cauic lierc in 1844. Among others Avho came to the neighliorhood about this time, wci'e, Joseph A])pleton (41 or 42); Josiali Davis; Francis H. Nortliwa\- (1S44); Orris Adams and family; David Searls, Alvan H. Thom])Son; Hiel I^ewis (1842) ; Miles and Josi'ph Lewis ( 1845) ; Seth W. Holmes (1846) ; Elijah and Warren Hill; Henrv C. Shaw, and John M. Blocker (1849).

The first public land sales were held at the Dixon Land Office in the autumn of 1844. Prior to this time of course, every i^erson was a squatter. But as noticed already, every connnunity had its code under which Hues were regulated, settlers were jn'otcctcd in the peaceable enjojanent of their claims and iu the right to buy the same fi'om the GoA-erument when offered for sale, unham])ered by speculators. The Amboy association about 1837, centered around Inlet, of which Aml:)oy was a part at that time. J^ater, the settlers ai'ound Palestine (irove, organized and hvld meetings at the homes of Sherman Hatch and William Dolan. Jn 1847, all need for this latter association liaving vanished it was discontiniied. While individual ass(»ciations existed ever\^diere, tliey all were confederated togethei' foi- any emergencies which ma>- haxc arisen.

On the 16th of March, 1839, George E. Haskell, was chosen president of the claim association for Inlet and Martin Wiigiit, clerk. The committee elected consisted of Ransom Barnes, 1). H. Birdsall, Ozro C. Wright, Daniel M. Dewey and Benjamin Whiteaker. March 20, 1841, Haskell and Wright were reelected, and D. H. Birdsall, David Tripp, Daniel M. Dewey, Charles Starks and Sherman Shaw were made the committee.

In the spring of 1850, April 2d, the tirst annual town meeting was held in Amboy, Joseph Farwell acted as moderator and Joseph B. Appleton as clei'k. Miles Lewis suggested that tlu^ new township be named Amboy and the name was adopted. David Searls was made superAdsor; J. B. Appleton, town clei'k; Martin Wright, assessor and A. H. Thomjison, collector.

The old road from Peru to ('Iraud Detour, mentioned already was the first to rmi through Amboy township. Tlie second ran from Inlet to Prophetstown, taking in Binghamton, and Rocky Ford. Main street today is that ^-ery road and the old cottonwoods along the edges to mark its course, were planted by Jose]»h Farwell.

In 1855. the Illinois Central i-ailroad was Hnished thi'ough Amboy to Freeport, and on February 1, it was thrown open for traffic. The fii'st train to reach Amboy was in November, 1854.

During the session 1868-9 of the Illinois Legislature, Alonzo Kinyon of Amboy was a member of the low^er House. During this session, he procin'ed a charter for the Chicago & Rock River Railroad Comj^any to lun from Rock Falls to Calumet. In 1869, Kinyon was elected president and on July 26, 1869, Amboy Adtcd by 517 for, to 92 against, to issue townshi]) bonds in aid of the road to the extent of $100,000. January 4, 1872. the road between Rock Falls and Amboy was finished and Jmie 19 it was finished toPaAv PaAv. lender Kinyon. slioi)s and all iiiaiiner of good things for Aniboy were i^roniised, but when the Chicago, Burliugtou & Quiucy Railway Company obtained possession of the road, and connected it with the Chicago & Iowa road at Shabbona, Amboy was doomed. The bonds were fought bitterly for years. All sorts of subterfuges were resorted to in the efforts made to escape service of process; but to no purpose. Their i^ayment had to come sometime. A settlement was made at last, and not very long ago the last dollar was paid off. Many times the burden became intolerable but with a sublime courage the citizens stuck to it until every cent was paid.

Amboy always has l:)een fortunate with her school system. The same intelligence which pervaded Iidet, while Amboy was a part of that precinct, has pervaded Aml)oy ; teachers and ministers and physicians, all men of rare intelligence, came early to Amlioy and they saw to it that the Amboy schools were built on suljtantial foundations and jjresided over by good teachers.

Lucy Ann Church was the first teacher to teach in this township. The school house, built of logs, was located on the Sublette road just south of the railroad crossing. Leonard Pratt, John Carey, Ira Hale, David Hale and Charlotte D(^an followed Miss Church. The second school in the t<:)wnshii) was the famous Wasson School, a frame building erected over towards Lee Center, in 1845. In this school Misses Rowena (or Roena") Badger and Roxy Wasson taught for a long while. John Scott, an able teacher, H. E. Badger and Lyman C. AYheat also tanght there.

Private schools never were attempted to any great extent. At Rocky Ford, a few irregular terms Avere ventured, but in the face of failure, they were not continued.

The next minister to appear so far as known, was a German Baptist named Father Hetchler. Rew Courtis Lathrop came along third. He was a Methodist. Father White, a Methodist was next to appeal-.

In 1843, the Re\-. Donaldson, assisted in organizing a Congregational society, said to be the first in the county. This was done at the house of Moses Crombie, and tlu^ name a(la])te(l was "The Congregational Church of Palestine Grove." Services were held for many years in the Wasson schoolhouse. Rev. John Morrel was the first regidar pastor. He in turn was followed by Rev. In- gei'soll, father uf Robert Ci. lugersoll. Revs. Juseph Gardner and a Mr. Piersou followed lugersoll. Later this chiireh moved to Lee Center. Many stories are related of Rev. Ingersoll especially by Rev. Haney, the Methodist circuit rider. From all, we can learn the gentleman ^^-as rather opinionated and c(jnsiderably belligerent.

The Mormon church attempted to secure a footlmld in this township and what is more, it was actually secured. The first preacher, William Anderson, held his services in John Hook's house. Both Joseph and Hyrum Smith came up here often from Nauvoo. Joseph, the prophet, married a Miss Emma Hale, sistei' to Alva Hale of Sublette, and David Hale and ^L's. Benjamin Wass(ui of Amboy. Asa Searls was a boyhood acquaintance of Smith, and had been a schoolmate. Smith visited his friends and relatives here often. He made it a point always to preach when here, using the log schoolhouse on the Sidjlette road. When in the famous litigidion of June, 1843, the Governor of Missouri, sent a requisition over into Illinois for Smith's arrest, the latter was visiting those relatives and friends in Palestine Grove. An Illinois constable and the Missouri agent came u]") here and arrested him. Smith fought desjx'ratcly. but after receiving many lnuises. he was overpowered.

The crowd believed the proceedings wei'e entirely illegal and many followed Smith and his captors to Dixon. It was agreed, however, that Smith was to return to Nauvoo. But ui)on the discovery of the Missouri agent's design to take the ]»risoner over to Missoui'i direct, a party of Mormons collected and rescued the prophet. Immediately he was brought trium])hantly into Nauvoo. A writ of habeas corpus was issued and Smith was I'eleased by Judge Stephen A. Douglas.

Aaron Hook who had gone to Nauvoo and who had been ordained an elder, returned now, to Rocky Foi'd. William Snuth, auothei' brother of the prophet came over to Lee county from Nauvoo a])out this time and a very considerable Mormon following was obtained in Lee county.

In 1860, April 6th, the anniversary of the founding of the church, the annual conference was held in Amboy. Joseph Smith, Jr., was installed prophet and high priest in the old ^[ochanics Hall, where the meeting was held.