Grant Township (part 1 of 2)

Grant Township

Grant township was, until 1862, a portion of Ross, and as now constituted, occupies the northeastern corner of the county, having Indiana for its eastern boundary, Iroquois county for its northern, Butler township for its western, and Ross for its southern. It is rectangular in shape ; is twelve and one-half miles long by seven and one-half wide, containing fifty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty acres, being the largest township in the county. It contains all of townships 23, range 11 and 23, range 12, one and one-half miles off the north side of townships 22, range 11 and 22, range 12, and a narrow strip of the west side of 22, range 10 and 23 range 10. It was almost entirely prairie, having but a few acres of timber near the center of its southern line, known as Bicknell's Point, and formed the great treeless " divide " between the head waters of the Vermilion and of the Iroquois. As late as 1860 but little of its land had been brought into cultivation, although the great highway of travel from the south to Chicago ran directly across its center twenty-five years before that time. When in 1872 the railroad was built through it but few farms were intersected. The great prairie from Bicknell's Point stretching north was the dread of the early settler when he became benighted on his return from Chicago after a ten days' trip to that their only market. The dark, storm v, wintry nights carried terror to many a household when it was feared that the father or husband or son was trying to find his way home over the treeless waste of the great divide.

again at even' fireside in the west forty years ago (which the writer well remembers to have frequently heard told when the wintry winds were whistling their threats at the few obstructions which the early settlers had erected against their unobstructed sweep), will serve to show the terrors which in those days were consequent upon winter travel. In December, 1836, on a mild warm day in which rain and snow mingled until the ground was covered with slush, and everything which travelers wore was wet through, the thermometer ranging: above forty degrees, two travelers, Frame and Hildreth, were making their way back toward the settlements on the Vermilion, and, just after night overtook them, when not far from where Hoopeston now stands, the '"sudden change" so often alluded to by old settlers struck them. The weather, from ranging above freezing, suddenly dropped to twenty degrees below zero, accompanied by a wind which was severe enough to freeze every article of wet clothing in an instant. The ground, full of water, became frozen in a very few minutes, and no man could stand it for even a short time on horseback. The men walked for a while, until they became numb and lost. To be lost on this great prairie at any time, and under any circumstances of weather, is one of the most painful conditions, mentally, one can be placed in ; but lost in a storm, conscious that one is gradually and surely becoming less and less able every moment to care for himself, is as near like enduring the torments of the damned as one can well imagine. On, on they went, vainly hoping to reach some place where they might at least be protected from the fearful blasts. They had given up the hope of getting what King James asked in somewhat similar circumstances - ''rest and a guide, and food and fire"; but they still hoped to find the friendly shelter of Bicknell's Point. But finally that hope also abandoned them, and, with almost the certainty of death, they decided to kill their horses and disembowel them, hoping that the friendly shelter of the stiffening carcass and the warmth of the animal heat might save them from certain death. Unreasonable as their hope seems, they actually carried their plan into partial execution, by killing one of the horses, and pushing him over as he fell so that the back would lie toward the west, and protect them in a measure from the terrible blast. The other horse for some reason was not killed, and the two half-frozen men made themselves as comfortable as possible in the shelter which they had thus prepared. In the morning Frame was dead, and Mr. Hildreth was so badly frozen that he suffered partial amputation. He died in Carroll township some three years since, living to see almost fortv anniversaries of that dreadful night.

given to this. When the name was sent to Spring-Held, the auditor notified the supervisors that there was already a township named Lyons in Cook county, and it would be necessanr to tind another name. A western captain who had been for some years carrying on a limited tanning business, of Galena, smoking his pipe very regularly, and talking very little about politics or anything else, had, a year before this, offered his services to the governor of the state in any position that he should deem him worthy to fill, in aid of organizing regiments for sending forth to put down armed treason in the south. He was sent to the adjutant-general's office with a request to put him to work. In less than twenty-four hours the adjutant-general found out that this quiet, almost speechless man knew more than the whole office. A regiment was then quartered at Camp Butler almost in a state of mutiny, and Governor Yates found that it would be necessary to displace the colonel and give the command to some one who could manage it. He appealed to Capt. Grant, who at once replied that he thought he would have no trouble with as good a regiment as that. He took command, marched the men across the country to Quincy, and went to the front. He had, at the time a new name was to be selected for this township, just electrified the country by his reply to the rebel commandant at Fort Donelson, that no terms but " unconditional surrender" would be accepted. It was the first great victory of the war, and it was believed that a great future awaited the new general. About the first great honor paid him was the naming of this magnificent township after him.

The earliest settlements were made along the Chicago road extending from the present Rossville north. As early as 1835, George and "William Bicknell took up the land at Bicknell's Point, which was the last piece of timber on the route to Chicago until the valley of the Iroquois was reached. Asel Gilbert entered a quarter-section south of Bicknell's Point, about 1838. Oliver Prickett, who had come from Brown county, Ohio, in 1832, after farming awhile near Danville, came to live in the vicinity of Rossville. Albert Comstock had come to where B. C. Green now lives in 1837. A few years later he sold to Green and purchased in the vicinity of the Point, and lived there for several years. B. C. Green purchased the land where Thomas Armstrong lived before he bought where he now lives, which was probably about 1840, but he did nothing to improve it, as at that time he was a " bachelor of moderate means and no family." James R. Stewart, a brother-in-law of the Bicknells, came in and settled on the Chicago road, south of the Point, where the house known as the " Townsend House," which was built in 1847, now stands. Stewart

< Abel Woolverton, one of the best known of the early settlers in this township, settled in 1S49 on section Is. two miles northeast of the Point. His was probably the first settlement out on the prairie, and as others came in his name was given to the neighborhood, and is so called yet. He came from Perrvsville, Indiana, and had been in the Blackhawk war. He received the title of Colonel from his foster-brother, Grov. Whitcomb, of Indiana. He was only able to enter a quartersection at first, but afterward took land in sections 17 and 8. He engaged in farming, enduring the hardships consequent on early settlement on the prairie, raising cattle, fighting rattlesnake.- and wolves with the same bravery he had the Indians. There was no market for anything but at Chicago, and there he had to go, over bleak prairies, through rain and mud, which latter was often one of the worst hardships the early settler had to endure. Points of trading at this time were Danville and Attica. Col. Woolverton was a competent surveyor and did considerable work in that line. Col. Woolverton died in 1865. Of his children, George, a young man of bright prospect-, was killed near Richmond, in the rebellion : Charles still lives on the farm which his father brought into cultivation, and Thomas lives near on part of the same land, down the branch from Col. Woolverton'-. about a mile and a half toward the Fork.

Churchill Boardman settled in lv4.">. and made a farm. His son lives near Rossville yet. (.'apt. McKibben, so well known to the early settlers of this county, lived a portion of the time in the same neighborhood. He had done valiant service fighting the Indians, had served as deputy sheriff and sheriff, and was probably as well known as any man in the county. Charles Leighton settled in the neighborhood about the same time. Fie still resides there at the age of nearly ninety years.

Charles Wier was early, and Mr. Smart, who soon went back east, and settled just north of Bicknell's Point, on the Chicago road. Robert Crane (whom m the early settler- sist in calling Cream) made an earlv settlement. Robert Davison entered what is now known as the Webb farm, but returned to Myersville. John Chenoweth, from Perrvsville. came in and remained one year. He died at Perrvsville. and Charles Wier purchased his land. Mr. Glover lived three or four yean on the land now owned by L. F. Goodman. Robert Anderson took land just west of the Davison place.

years ago, so that he is one of the oldest natives of the northern part of the county. Mr. Holmes was elected a justice of the peace in I Mi',, six years before township organization was effected in the county. He was reelected when Ross was organized, and for a number of years in succession was elected assessor and collector of that township. He was a man of few early advantages of school education, but of strong good sense, and was a very acceptable official in all the positions he tilled. He settled among the very first on the Jordan, and sold to Thomas Gundy, and entered the land known as the Tomlinson farm, and at one time owned forty acres where Alvin now is. He brought up a family of eleven children, who nearly all survived him. He engaged in farming, raising cattle and hogs. He was an honored member of the Christian church, and of the Masonic and Odd-Fellows fraternities. He died in January, 1864, at the time of the terrible cold which prevailed all over the country, and it was several days before arrangements could be perfected for his funeral. II is wife died in 1848, during the time of the high water, which is said to have marked the highest ever known on the Wabash. She was buried in the Kight burying ground, and the neighbors were obliged to make a raft to convey the remains to their final resting place. Of his six children now living three are daughters: Mrs. Mark Wilson, Mrs. Jesse Prather, Mrs. John Turl, and three sons: John, Phillip and William. All the northeast part of the township was open prairie and uncultivated until the railroad was built. William Allen, Esq., was the pioneer in the northern part of the township. He came from Ohio in 1841, and taught school three miles south of Danville, in the Jones neighborhood. He afterward taught in the Duncan neighborhood, in Newell, and married there in 1848. He then lived in Danville awhile and practiced law, and served as assistant to W. D. Palmer, county superintendent. In May, 185<>, he took up a farm on the high land northwest of Hoopeston, where a beautiful spring had attracted attention, and afterward bought more. This was believed to be one of the finest farms, or at least would become one of the finest farms, in the county ; and so old Thomas Hoopes considered it for three years after he bought this land for ten dollars an acre. The old hedge, which runs along near the Hibbard House, was the south line of this farm, and the county line the north one. Allen was county assessor while living out here, and after selling out went back to Danville, thence to Perrysville, and, in 1858, back to East Lynne, where he again pioneered, being the first settler in the northern part of Butler township. One son is engaged in law at Rossville and one daughter at East Lynne: the others are with their parents at Hoopeston. Mr. Allen has seen this part of the county blossom into fruitful farms. When he first struck plow on his farm here, for miles in all directions, nothing met the eye but prairie-grass; even the great herds of cattle, which afterward were seen in these parts, were absent then.

Amos Thompson entered four hundred acres of land here in 1853, but never resided on it after the railroad was built. His sons came here and turned the raw prairie into city lots.

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.

Alba Honeywell was born in Cayuga county, New York, and received a good education, and very early got into the anti-slavery and temperance work as a disciple of Garrison, Wendell Phillips and Beria Green. He was an agitator by his very nature, and devoted his time to writing and speaking for political and moral reforms. In fact, it was impossible for any one who had once drank at the spring of man's brotherhood which flowed from the inspiring brain of William Lloyd Garrison to cease preaching abolition upon every occasion. The hero who could say " strike, but hear," did not need to use arguments to induce such minds as Honeywell's to take up the refrain for universal liberty. He had charge of "Box Brown" during his tour, in relating his wonderful escape from American slavery, packed in a dry goods box. This story, as he told it, in his plain, simple language, how he had permitted himself to be nailed up in a box and shipped north as freight, consigned to the abolitionists, carefully marked " this side up with care," was intensely interesting ; and people crowded to his meetings to hear from his own lips the story of his " abolition," as they do nowadays to an "agricultural boss trot." The carelessness of the boat hands in stowing the box away upside down, leaving him for some days without the power to help himself to the little food he had prepared for his journey, was one of the most interesting parts of his story.

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.

The Antioch church, which was built on section 34, about two miles from the southern and two from the eastern line of the township, was the outgrowth of a union effort for securing the necessary house of worship for that part of the town. Elder Stites at an early day had preached there at the house of James Holmes, who was a member of that - the Christian - denomination, and others of that connection followed. Father Connor preached there in 1870, and Elders Hubbard and Stipp, since. Rev. Mr. Warren is now serving the church.

The Methodist class, that worships in the same place, has belonged to the Rossville circuit, and has been served by the same pastors who have labored at Hoopeston. The church is a neat and commodious building, and by the terms of its building is to be free to be occupied by all christian denominations. Noah Brown and Mr. Brillhart were trustees, and were largely instrumental in collecting the means to build, which was subscribed liberallv by all the neighborhood.

The first town meeting held in Grant township after it was cut off from Boss, was held in the Owen school-house, April, 1862. The following are the officers who have been elected since that time:

The record of Grant township on the matter of railroad aid is very similar to that of nearly all other railroad townships. The legislature of the state in response to an almost universal demand for more liberal facilities for railroad building, passed in 1869 the act known as the refunding act, or, in common parlance, the " Tax Grab." There were many localities in the state like the one here in northern Vermilion, that were destitute of railroad facilities. There was not sufficient inducement for any company to build roads to such places in the mere prospect of business to be transacted, and the counties and townships wanting the roads could not well afford to give the bonds necessary to go on with the enterprise, so the plan was adopted of making the other counties help pay for the investment. An act was passed giving to the counties, cities, towns or townships which should vote aid for railroad building under the provisions of this act, all the state taxes which should be raised on the railroad so built, and on its property, and all state tax on all increase of assessment over the assessment of 1868, as a fnnd to help pay the bonds issued in aid of railroads.

An election was called, May 11, 1867, to vote for or against giving $14,000 to the Chicago, Danville & Yincennes railroad, but the election was adjourned without action in consequence of informality. June 3d an election was held, which resulted in 132 for, to 17 against, such aid. A special town meeting held on the 25th of August, 1868, to vote for or against $4,500 additional in aid of the same road, which resulted in a vote of 60 for, to 19 against. At a later date, - but the township records fail to show anything in regard to it, - a vote was had to take $25,000 stock in the Lafayette, Bloomington & Mississippi railroad. The bonds were issued, the stock was taken, but by a recent foreclosure of the mortgage the stock has all been wiped out, and Grant is not an}r longer a railroad stock holder. On the 27th of June, 1876, a special town meeting was held to decide, by a vote of the township, whether they would employ counsel to contest the payment of the bonds, which resulted in a vote of 135 for, to 17 against, such contest; and a vote was also taken in favor of raising $4,000 by tax, to use in contesting the bonds. Hon. Charles H. Wood, of Chicago, was employed, under the resolution of this meeting, to take care of the case in behalf of the township.

Hoopeston A City Of Eight Years

Hoopeston is at the crossing of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and the Lafayette, Bloomington & Muncie railroads; is situated on the high rolling prairie which forms the dividing ridge between the waters of the Wabash and the Illinois rivers, and in the artesian region, fortytwo miles from La Fayette, twent}'-seven from Danville, twenty-six from Paxton, and twenty -four from Watseka. When the railroads were built through here, in 1871, the entire country, for miles around, with the exception of the Hoopes farm, was an unbroken prairie, and with no trading point or railroad nearer than the places above mentioned, it was known that this must soon become a place of considerable importance. The two construction companies which were building these roads, Snell, Taylor & Co. and Young & Co., looked with covetous eyes upon this railroad crossing, both inwardly vowing that they would possess the prize. Both companies were in the height of their prosperity (this was in 1871, before the panic of '73 had knocked the bottom out of every railroad enterprise and construction company in the country), both being managed by shrewd, determined, positive men, who were not in the habit of being thwarted in their plans. Both, at that time, " knew no such word as fail." " When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug of war," and this struggle between the two contestants for this prize was about the only "war record" this young city ever knew. Young & Co., through their agent, Mr. Honeywell, made acceptable terms with the land owners on the east of the Chicago, Danville & Yincennes road, and supposed they had made terms with Mr. Hoopes ; but while they were like the servant of the prophet, " here and there," Col. Snell closed a bargain with Mr. Hoopes for one thousand acres of his land lying west of the junction, and forestalled Young 6z Co.

Mr. Hoopes knew enough to manage a good farm, but he doubted his ability to go into a scramble for selling city lots ; for this reason he would have nothing to do with the business, but was ready to sell out to either party.

When Young & Co. found that they were defeated in their plan of getting control of all the land which would come into the town plat, thev bent their efforts to make the most of what thev had, while the other firm, intent on a like operation, hurried up the platting of their part, and making such improvements as should offer strong inducements to business men. In the rage for speculation three separate towns were laid out and recorded. Davis and Satterthwait laid out eighteen acres, on the 28th of July, where Main street is, and called it Hoopeston. Snell, Taylor & Co. (consisting of Col. Thomas Snell, of Clinton ; Abner Taylor, Esq., of Chicago, and James Aiken, who recently died in Chicago, with Mr. Mix, of Kankakee, as a special partner) laid out in November one hundred and sixty acres where the Hibbard House stands, and called it Leeds. Thompson Brothers laid out that east and north of the railroads, and called it North Hoopeston ; and Davis and Satterthwait an addition to Hoopeston, - making, with some other additions, about five hundred acres in all.

The track of the C. D. & Y. road was laid through town on the 2-ith of July, 1871, and not a house nearer than a mile. The next day a few people collected to see the surveyors drive the first stake of the future metropolis of the prairie. Charles Wyman was the first to commence laying off aud selling lots. Messrs. Lukens Brothers, who are still in business here, were the first to purchase. On the 28th of July. Mr. Wyman's office, the first building, was built by J. C. Davis, who was the pioneer carpenter and did a prosperous business until he was repeatedly burned out. J. Bedell, who is yet here in trade, started the first grocery store. The strife between the different landed proprietors grew warm. The proprietors of Leeds built a large hotel three stories high and had it ready for occupancy that fall, and soon after that built the fine brick block, two stories high, and the live frame one-story stores and the large livery barn, all of which buildings now stand there practically unused. They put in wide sidewalks, set out shade trees, graded up the streets and run the grade out a mile from their center. They made very liberal offers to such as wanted to rent buildings of them, but the lots lying between their improvements and the lands of the other proprietors they would not sell at any price. Their plan looks reckless now, in the light of eight years, but after the contest they had for the possession of the town, there does not seem to have been any other course for them to pursue. Had they permitted the lots joining the tracts of others to be put on the market first, they could hardly have expected to retain the business on their lands. The proprietors of the original town were pushing their lots into notice, and every person who purchased there became an attorney in fact to work up a sale of the remaining lots as fast as possible.

During the first season the lots along Market street, of North Hoopeston,, were the popular ones, and nearly every business was located on that street, which became the thoroughfare of trade and commerce. "Way out north of the railroad, for four blocks, buildings went up in cpick succession, nearly all the stores, the postoffice, the printing office, and in fact nearly everything called business was in North Hoopeston. B. F. Stites wasN pretty nearly in the center of trade.

In October the postoffice was established and J. M. R. Spinning was appointed postmaster, a position he continued to hold until 1878, when Judge Dale Wallace was appointed, but the first mail did not arrive here, for some unexplained cause, until the 9th of December, when it was brought. over from Rossville in an open buggy, which had to be provided for the occasion free of expense to the postoffice department. It was not until the 1st of January, 1872, that mail came by the trains.

In October of that year religious services commenced to be held in the store of Mr. McCracken ; this was for some months headquarters for religious instruction and heavenly intelligence. The people were not so particular what a man's denominational credentials were ; if he could preach, and was not above occupying " McCracken's pulpit," they heard him gladly. Seavy & Wallace commenced the publication of the first and only newspaper ever published in Hoopeston, issuing the first number on the 11th of January, 1872, of " The North Ver- milion Chronicle." The first number gave a very full account of the " Early days of Hoopeston " - the town was less than six months old, and was full of interest to every resident. The first number which came from the press was put up at auction and sold for $32.50 ; the few succeeding copies were also sold in the same way, commanding sums which made the young proprietors feel an assurance of certain success. It was a seven-column folio and contained about six columns of advertisements. The following persons and firms made known their desire to do business with the citizens of Hoopeston and the surrounding prairie, in the first number: Whipple & Brown, S. K. White, G. C. Davis, Deamude & Lefever (of Rossville), Ed. Stemp, J. W. Elliott, G. H. White, MofFett & Kirkpatrick, J. Bedell, E. D. North, F. G. Hoffman, Miller & Brother, A. B. Perkins, R. Morey, Given & Knox, R. McCracken, Roof & Rae, Mrs. Robb, Dr.. Anderson, Dr. McCaughey, J. C. Askern, Esq., J. H. Phillips, Snell, Taylor & Co., C. L. Wyrnan and B. Sanders. The paper continued to be published under that name for a year and a half, and then the name was changed to the " Hoopeston Chronicle." After about four years Seavey & Wallace sold it, but a year later Mr. Wallace purchased it and continues to publish it. The " Chronicle " has always been a first-class local paper, and has received a liberal patronage from the enterprising, stirringcitizens of this lively young city. It is republican in politics.

On the 1st of January, 1872, five months after the surveyor's stakes had been driven in the wild prairie, seventy buildings had been erected and the population was two hundred and forty-five, and by the 1st of January, 1873, - less than one year and a half, - one hundred and eighty buildings were up, the population had increased to eight hundred, and seventeen miles of streets had been graded, three hotels built, a bank started, the principal streets provided with sidewalks, an elevator built, and over forty business houses in full operation. The history of Illinois may be searched in vain for a parallel to the sudden growth and development of the wild prairie. Only in the wild speculations of mining camps can the like be found. Chicago was many years in making a similar growth. Neither has this growth proved fitful and uncertain. The men who first pinned their faith to Hoopeston remain to realize, in a great measure, the full fruition of that hope. The failure of the speculative enterprise of Snell, Taylor & Co., after investing about $25,000 in buildings and improvements, is the only exception to the general success.

Churches, Societies, Schools, Etc

was at first in McCracken's store. It took some time to get matters started in this town, so that the preachers conld have regular places for preaching the Word. The circuit at that time included Schwartz, East Lynne and Antioch, Kev. A. H. Alkire heing pastor. In 1873 Rev. W. Lang was pastor, J. W. Phillips, presiding elder. Dick School-house and Bridgman School-house were added as regular appointments. In 1874 J. Muirhead was pastor, his pastorate continuing three years. During his time the church was commenced. It is a fine structure, very pleasantly located, with a beautiful spire one hundred and thirteen feet high. It is in the Gothic style of architecture, 34 x 56, to which has been added an extension for a class-room, 16 x 40. The building is yet incomplete, and has cost $3,300. In 1877 Rev. H. M. Hoff was appointed to this circuit, and still remains in the work. The present membership of the church is eighty-six; J. Lakin, Thomas Smith and M. G. Miller, class leaders. The Sunday-school under the superintendency of E. B. Row is in a nourishing condition, numbering about seventy-five, and is maintained all the year.

The United Presbyterian church was organized in May, 1872, by Rev. J. D. Whitham, who lived at that time at Sugar Creek, near Rankin, and when the wave of migration carried many members of the church from Paxton to Hoopeston, he collected them together and organized a church of twenty-two members, with T. C. McCaughey, G. M. Kirkpatrick and R. M. Knox as ruling elders, who still continue to officiate. Thirteen of the original members still continue here. Rev. R. C. Wyatt served the church for two years as stated supply. At first the meetings were held in the only "synagogue" in town, Mc- Cracken's store. Rev. R. C. Hamilton, from Ohio, preached to the congregation for three months. Rev. E. D. Campbell, Rev. J. H. Gibson and Rev. G. W. Torrance successively labored, and Rev. T. A. Houston is present supply. While Mr. Gibson was in charge the church was built - a neat, substantial edifice 36 x 55, with session room attached - at a cost of $1,500. The church numbers forty-eight. The Sunday-school is the continuation of the original Union school, of which Dr. McCaughey was superintendent, and who still continues the same relation. The school numbers about one hundred, has twelve teachers, and is interesting and successful.

The Baptist church was organized by Rev. G. T. Willis, from Champaign, in 1873, with twelve members. He continued to preach for two years. The church belongs to the Gilman Association, and has simply kept up its connections, and has no church or pastor.

tee of the Blooming-ton Presbyter}^ with eighteen members. E. R. Strauss, W. Maxwell and L. W. Anderson, elders. Mr. Steele preached one year one-third of the time. Rev. M. Lynn supplied the church for one year. In the fall of 1877, Rev. A. L. Knox, formerly of Hey worth, was employed to preach, preaching each morning and evening, and at Victor school-honse and Ross school-honse, afternoons. The present elders are D. B. Crane, H. Lukens, Josiah Jones, John Miller and John Palmer. The Sabbath-school numbers about sixty, with H. Lukens, superintendent. The church numbers thirty-six, and has no house of worship, but meets in Clark's hall.

The church of Christ (Christian) was organized June, 1873, by Elder Rawley Martin with twelve members. J. M. R. Spinning and J. S. Shirley, elders; J. Hawkins and Thomas Roof, deacons. Elders Roe and A. R. Owen were successive pastors of the young church, and Rev. C. Austin the present preacher. The church edifice was built in 1874, is 36x50, a neat substantial building with steeple, and cost about $1,800. The present membership is sixty-five, and present officers are John Williams, J. Hawkins and George Chamberlain, elders; Win. Bloomfield and Joseph Green, deacons. "

There were representatives of the Friends here at Hoopeston from the laying out of the new town. Joseph M. Satterthwait was one of the original proprietors of the town. In 1872 he built a commodious dwelling, corner of Third and Penn streets, into which, during the fall, himself and wife, Isaac T. Lukens and wife, and Miss Edith Mullen, moved. Here, in their new home, the first meetings were held, which were continued, according to the rules and discipline of the Friends, twice a week - first day and fifth day - for a year. In 1873 R. M. Lukens, wife and daughter, joined the pioneers of that faith here. Mr. Lukens had a building erected on the corner of Third and Main, and arranged it for a meeting-house. His proposition to the Friends to occupy this met with very general acquiescence. It was here, in the fall of 1873, that the first public meetings of the "Richland Meeting of Friends" were held, where they continue to meet. Several of their number have passed away, and others have come in, keeping a steady growth, not only in numbers but in that channel of love and friendship becoming their christian profession.

In no respect does the public spirit of the people of Hoopeston show a better development than in the matter of schools. No sooner had the village got under way than a live board of directors was elected - G. C. Davis, Mr. Armstrong, and Win. Moore - who proceeded at once to put the school in running order. The first need was a suitable house. It became a question whether the district should build a good, substantial, well-proportioned, large school-house, - one within whose walls all could be accommodated, and whose spacious proportions, beautiful surroundings and pleasant appointments would inspire the pupil, and awaken taste, love of school and culture, - or whether cheap, scattered buildings should be erected, in which a strict grade could not be instituted. The former was wisely chosen, and it was through this decision that the Hoopeston public schools have become known far and wide as among the best in the country. This action necessitated a heavy debt, but it is now well-nigh wiped out. In what- ever the directors have done to make the schools more effective, the people have cordially seconded them, and the result has been that the officers have felt sustained. The present directors are: W. K. Clark, Win. Glaze and Joseph Green, under whose excellent administration the school has attained the highest standard of success. In 1877 the present principal was employed. His work has given such general satisfaction that a large number of pupils have come in from the country around about to perfect their studies as teachers, or business men, or farmers, and farmers' wives. During the past year nearly four hundred dollars has been received from foreign pupils for tuition. The Hoopeston Normal School is held each summer, under the direction of

Prof. T. B. Bird, where teachers and those about to teach are prepared for their work. The success of their school is not more a matter of pride to the directors and teachers than of gratulation to the citizens.

Star Lodge, No. 709, Free and Accepted Masons, was chartered in 1872. The charter members are: George Steely, William Moore, William Brillhart, Cyrus Hartwell, J. S. Crane, Thomas Williams, Jonathan Bedell, E. D. North and J. M. R. Spinning. J. Bedell was first master. The present officers are: Dale Wallace, W.M. ; P. F. Levin, S.W. ; R. Miskimmins, J.W. ; J. S. Powell, Sec; J. A. Cunningham, Treas.; L. R. North, S.D. ; T. C. Baxter, J.D. ; P. W. Silver, T. Lodge numbers about seventy. They have a fine lodge room in the bank building.

As soon as Hoopeston took shape, and the active, live men who had come to stay set about putting in motion every measure which would improve their condition, with this view the Hoopeston District Agricultural Society was formed, on the 12th of July, 1873. Cyrus Hartwell was elected president; J. Ellis, vice-president; Thomas Williams, treasurer ; G. W. Seavy, secretary. The stock was fixed at $5,000, but afterward increased to $10,000. The society got thirty acres of land half a mile west of the railroad, enclosed it, erected stalls, floral hall and mechanics' hall, laid out a good track, and in six weeks from the date of organization, held one of the largest and most successful fairs ever held in this portion of the state. The receipts of the first fair were $2,100. Since then, an amphitheatre has been built, music stand, officers' stand, dining hall, a building for exhibition of fine carriages, and other necessary buildings. Shade trees have been set out, and everything put in first-class order. The society has given more attention to offering liberal inducements to fine stock than to fast horses, and has been a decided success from the first. There is a splendid supply of water on the fair grounds. The premiums have been paid in full in cash each year, without deduction. The society is in the hands of men who generally make a success of what they undertake, and the success thus far shows that it is being run on business principles.

The Hoopeston Library and Lecture Association was organized December 30, 1872, and Hon. Lyford Marston elected president; R. Casemut, vice-president ; G. W. Seavy, secretary ; W. Gloze, treasurer ; S. E. Miller, librarian. The membership fee was fixed at one dollar per year, and had fifty members. The interest in it has not been maintained as it should have been.

The Sunbonnet Club is an exclusive society of youngerly ladies, which has among its objects the support of a library association. Membership to the library association is subject to an annual fee of one dollar. Membership to the club is not dependent upon a property qualification, but on the expressed will of all the members. All that outsiders know of the qualifications of membership is that a sunbonnet is indispensable, and that the Lauras are very apt to be admitted. Whether the members are all striving for a laural crown is mere conjecture. The officers are : president, Addie Reame ; vice-president, Jennie Dyer; corresponding secretary, Laura Fleming; treasurer, Laura Calkins ; secretary, Laura Smythe.

Incorporation

On the 12th of January, 1874, a petition was presented to the county court of Vermilion county by W. R. Clark and fifty-six others, praying for incorporation as a village under the act of 1872, with the following corporate limits: the east half of section 11, the west threefourths of section 12 (23-11), and the south half of the southwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 1, and the south half of the southeast quarter of section 2 (23-12). The court entertained the prayer of the petitioners, and appointed an election to be held at the store of William Brillhart, January 31, to vote for or against such organization, and appointed W. R. Clark, T. J. Corr and J. S. Dellose judges of such election. At such election 174 votes were cast, 98 being for and 76 being against such incorporation. The court ordered an election to be held Saturday, February 28, for six trustees for the government of said village, and appointed the same judges to conduct the election. At that election 172 votes were cast, and the following trustees were elected : T. J. Corr, J. Bedell, N. Dauner, W. R. Clark, S. P. Thompson, L. North.

office. J. W. Hawkins was appointed street commissioner, G. W. Seavy, police constable, and J. S. McFerren, treasurer. At the regular annual election, April 21, W. R. Clark, S. P. Thompson, N. L. Thompson, Thomas Watkins, W. A. Brillhart and L. Armstrong were elected trustees; A. H. Young, police magistrate, and J. S. Powell, clerk. The salary of the clerk was fixed at §100. Just how this flourishing village got into the order of cities seems to be a mysterv. Certain it is that there is no record of any action taken, by vote or otherwise, to get into city organization. Indeed it is said that at the time of this metamorphosis there was no law on the statute books permitting the change from village to city, and that the entire proceeding was illegal. The only reasonable explanation is that Hoopeston, like the parliament of Great Britain, could do anything, and it just naturally moved out from its outgrown position of village, and took orders in the city line, with a kind of "who's afraid; bring on your almanac" air. The question of its right to do so is yet unsolved. The present officers (1879) are: A. Honeywell, mayor; W. M. Young, clerk; Mr. Bedell, treasurer; H. H. Dyer, attorney; J. Miller. A. M. Fleming and Joseph Crouch, aldermen.

At first Hoopeston was three-headed, as has been heretofore explained. The effort of those who had her best interests at heart was to combine these three and condense the business as much as possible on Main street, so that now her finest structures are found on that street. The buildings which were put up by Snell, Taylor & Co. have gone into disuse. The Hibbard House, at the time of its building, was the finest hotel in the county, and the stores are almost all unoccupied. The line of Market street has been pretty nearly abandoned by the mercantile gentlemen, although some good stores remain there. The fine bank building built by Mr. McFerren in 1S76 is 24x60, brick, two stories and basement. It is a very neat building, nicely trimmed, and is occupied by Mr. McFerren as a bank, and with his partner, as a real estate office, and by H. H. Dyer as a law office, on the main floor. The entire basement is occupied by the " Chronicle " office editorial and press rooms. Above, the Masonic fraternity have an elegant lodge-room. The building cost $5,000, and is the finest building in town. W. R. Clark and Dr. T. J. Roof built, in 1877, the two-story brick double store across the street, west from the bank. It is 50 x 100, occupied by the proprietors below, and by the Odd-Fellows over Dr. Roof's, and as a public hall over Mr. Clark's. The building cost $7,500. Thomas Hoopes, the same year, built the double brick store north of the bank. It is 45 x 80, and occupied for stores below and offices above. It cost $7,000. The little city contains a number of other substantial business houses and residences that would appear respectable in any town in the west.

Weaver City

A city which came into being and disappeared without a history, was laid out by George Weaver where the L. B. & M. railroad crosses the Indiana line. The town plat as recorded and afterward vacated, consisted of four blocks on the north half of section 6 (23-10).

Biographical

Watts Finley, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, on the 4th of November, 1833. He is the son of David and Nancy (Miller) Finley. His parents removed the same year to this county and settled near Catlin. In the spring of 1846 his older brother, David, enlisted in Capt. Lewis Payne's company of an Indiana regiment ; fought at Buena Vista, Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo ; died at Puebla of scarlet fever in March, 1847. In the spring of 1855, he, in company with his brother Miller and his sister Nancy (now Mrs. Samuel Frazier, of Danville), settled on a farm of two hundred acres, in sections 24 and 25, town 23, range 12, where he now lives. He has made stock-raising his principal business, and has been successful in accumulating a handsome property. He is one of the substantial and sterling citizens of Grant township, and is held in universal esteem. He was married on the 17th of April, 1859, to Miss Margaret Davis, daughter of Amaziah Davis, deceased. She was born on the 16th of April, 1834. They have three children : David, born on the 29th of August, and died on the 30th of September, 1860 ; Mary, born on the 25th of February, 1863 ; Charles, born on the 6th of September, 1867. Mr. Finley owns seven hundred and forty acres of land, worth $26,000. He is a republican. Mrs. F. is a member of the M. E. church.

James W. Smith, Rossville, merchant, was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 18th of December, 1833, and is a son of William and Catherine (Yeazel) Smith. He was brought up to till the soil. When eighteen years old he moved to Edgar county, Illinois, and in 1869, to Labette county, Kansas, returning to Edgar county in 1872. He re- turned to his native county on the 1st of January, 1879, establishing his home in Rossville, where he is at present employed in the store owned by his brother, John R. Smith. He has followed merchandising sixteen or seventeen years, most of the time in Grandview, and the rest of the time at Paris, Edgar county. He has traveled through twentyeisrht states of the Union and some of the territories. From 1862 to 1865 he was deputy provost marshal for Edgar county, under Dr. Wm. Fithian. He was educated principally at the high school at Grandview; he was local correspondent of the "Cincinnati Gazette" during the years 1874-5. He married on the 10th of February, 1852, Miss Frances L. Smith. They have two children living : William W., and Nellie, wife of John Tate. Mr. Smith is a republican in politics.

Frederick Tilton, Rossville, farmer, was born in the Province of Quebec, Canada, on the 5th of March, 1821. He is the son of Abiel F. and Cynthia (Thompson) Tilton, and was descended from English blood. Three brothers named Tilton came from England about two hundred years ago : one of them settled in New Hampshire, one in Virginia, and the other, it is thought, in Pennsylvania. About 1812 his parents went to Canada to make themselves a home ; his father was a native of New Hampshire and his mother of Massachusetts. In the spring of 1835 he emigrated with his parents to Medina county, Ohio, and the next spring they continued their removal to Illinois, and located in Danville. In the fall of 1838 his mother died and the family was broken up and scattered ; his two sisters returned to Canada to live with their aunt. In the winter of 1839-40 he and his brother David carried the mails between Danville and the " Buckhorn " tavern, five miles north of Bunkum, in Iroquois county. There was unusually good sledding at that time, and they drove a sleigh sixty miles a day for six weeks - his brother driving from Danville to Milford, and he from Milford to the " Buckhorn " and return. About 1842 his father moved up on the Middle Fork, ten miles northwest of Danville, in the present limits of Blount township. In the spring of 1853 he settled where he now lives in Grant township, section 29, town 23, range 12, He has a fine farm of six hundred acres, valued at $18,000. He has been principally engaged in stock-raising. He has been supervisor of Grant township two terms, and is one of its most highly-respected and substantial citizens. He is liberal in his political opinions, but inclines to independence of all parties. He was married on the 15th of April, 1846, to Affa K. Horton, daughter of David Horton, of Habersham county, Georgia. They have eight children : Mary, George, Sarah, Jane, Charles, Alice, James, Jesse.

Illinois, on the 1st of March, 1836, and is the son of William W. and Catherine (Yeazel) Smith. He was reared amidst the surroundings of agricultural life ; moved into Ross township in 1851 ; attended school at the academy at Galesburg, Illinois, during the school year of 1856-7. Since that time he has been employed in merchandising, farming, hotelkeeping and mail-carrying. At present he keeps a general store and is doing a good business in Rossville; is affable, accommodating and gentlemanly. He has been constable in Grant and Ross townships ; collector in the latter two terms, and deputy sheriff under Lyons Parker. He was married on the 3d of March, 1859, to Josephine R. Stewart. They have five living children: Ellen Minerva, Alfred F., Herbert, Jesse, Harry. He is a republican. Mrs. Smith is a member of the Presbyterian church.

Albert Comstock, Rossville, farmer, was born in Lennox, Massachusetts, on the 7th of September, 1807. His parents were Stephen and Clarissa (Sheldon) Comstock. When he was ten years old his father moved to New York and settled between Canandaigua and Geneva. After a residence of six years in that place he went to Chatauqua county, Pennsylvania. In May, 1837, the subject of this sketch came to Illinois, and after stopping a while at Danville, settled on the North Fork near Mann's Chapel, and first improved the farm which he afterward sold to Clark Green, who now owns it. Six years later he began the improvement of the farm on which the Red-top school-house stands, selling the same in 1854 to Alvan Gilbert, by whom it was sold to Thomas R. Winning, its present owner. He next improved where he now lives, on the southwest quarter of section 4, town 22, range 12, moving on the place in the above-mentioned year. He was married on the 17th of April, 182S, to Roxanna Fish, who was born on the 18th of March, 1809, and died on the 11th of December, 1836 ; married second time on the 7th of August, 1837, to Rhoda Ann Green, who was born on the 10th of May, 1819. They have eleven children living and dead : Samuel, born on the 18th of May, 1829, died the 30th of the same month ; Charles, born on the 9th of May, 1832 ; Mary Jane, born on the 31st of July, 1834; Ephraim, born on the 28th of November, 1836, died on the 17th of May, 1837; Benjamin C, born on the 8th of August, 1842, died on the 13th of September, 1846; Ira, born on the 28th of February, 1844, died on the 27th of July, 1862; Guy, born on the 28th of February, 1844, died on the 27th of November, 1864; Clarissa, born on the 12th of December, 1847; Perlina, born on the 8th of January, 1850; Albert, born on the 30th of May, 1853; Lewis, born on the 2d of March, 1856. All the living children are settled within one and one-fourth miles of the old homestead. Mr. and Mrs.

Comstock have been faithful laborers in the vineyard of their Lord and Master for fifty years ; they and five of their children are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Comstock owns two hundred acres of land worth $8,000. He is a republican.

Benjamin F. Stites, Hoopeston, cabinet-maker and furniture dealer, was born in Cincinnati, on the 20th of July. 1S33, and is a son of Benjamin and Susan (^StewarO Stites. In the spring of 18-°>7 his parents emigrated to Vermilion connty, Illinois, and settled in Blount township, at the Rickart Corners. The next year they moved and located two miles south of Myersville; lived there till 1S5T. and then went to Paxton, Ford county, where his father died, on the 6th of December. 1860. His mother still resides there. The subject of this sketch went to Paxton to live in the winter of 1853-4; farmed the first year; in 1855 set up a store on the prairie and sold goods eighteen months. In the tall of 1856 he sold out, and emiarated to Benton connty, Arkansas ; worked there at carpentering, milling and tanning. He invested in six hundred acres of land. Immediately after the presidential election of 1860 he narrowly escaped by stratagem, with his family, from the toils of the fire-eaters, and came north, abandoning and losing all his property. In 1861 he went into the furniture business in Paxton, and in the fall of 1871 moved to Hoopeston. He worked two years at carpentering, and then opened a furniture store, which he still keeps, in connection with his manufacturing and undertaking. He is serving his second term as town clerk of Grant township. He was married on the 15th of June, 1850, to Martha A. Dunn. He has nine living children : Frances E., Charles A.. Benjamin A., Carrie Louisa, William H, Samuel. Susan, Katie and Martha A. In politics he is a greenbacker.

-lames A. Cunningham, Hoopeston, farmer and stock-dealer, was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 22d of June. 1843. He is the vonngest son of -lames and Marv Ann (Andrews') Cunningham. He was reared a farmer, and obtained his schooling at Evans Union College, State Line City, Indiana. In the winter of IS 61 - 5 he pursued studies in bookkeeping at the Commercial College at La Fayette. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the 125th 111., but was rejected by the examining surgeon. He was married on the 4th of April, 1865. to Miss Mary R. Scott, adopted daughter of Thomas Hoopes, an old and highly esteemed citizen of Vermilion county. Mrs. Cunningham was born on the 9th of April, 1844. In the summer of 1865 he settled in State Line City, and opened a grocery store ; he soon after added a stock of drugs, and after a year of business sold out to George Dunn. He then engaged in stock dealing a short time, and early in 1867 moved into Grant township and settled where he now resides. He has been president of the Hoopeston District Agricultural Society since 1874. This society has held a number of distinguished fairs, and has acquired a reputation unsurpassed by any of equal age, and by fewolder ones, in the state. This success is traced to the ability, energy and enterprise of its thorough-going and practical officers. Mr. ( '. has always been a heavy farmer and stock-dealer, and is one of the most liberal, substantial and honored citizens of Grant township. They have five children: Frank H, born on the 18th of January. 180(1: Anna S.. born on the 19th of April. 1808; Bertie M., born on the 1st of May, 1870; Harry, born on the 21st of May, 1872; Walter, bom on the 21st of September, 1873. died on the 9th of November, 187^. He owns one thousand acres of land, worth $30,000. His political views are republican.

John Villars, the grandfather of James W. Villars, of Rossvilie, came from England in 1740, with a colony of Dissenters, and settled in Pennsylvania, where he married. He and a brother were soldiers of the revolution. The latter was killed at Bunker Hill. In 1806 the grandfather of the subject of this sketch emigrated from Washington county, Pennsylvania, and coming down the Ohio on a flat-boat, reached Cincinnati in the spring of that year. He settled in Clinton county , where he lived and died. William, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the 31st of August, 1802. He married Ruth Whittaker, on the 14th of February, 1822; lived in Clinton county, Ohio, till 1843, when he removed with all his family to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled four miles east of Danville, on the place now owned by William Cast, his son-in-law. James was born on the 3d of July, 1825. in Clinton county, Ohio, and was raised a farmer. He was married on the 25th of December. 1844, to Rebecca Villars. In 1866 he sold his farm and moved to State Line City, and engaged in the mercantile business, - first hardware, and afterward drugs, - and sold out in 1872. In 1870 he made a trip to California, and two years later returned again to the Pacific coast, and traveled in California, Oregon and Washington Territory. From April, 1874, to October, 1875, he was business manager of the Vermilion County Grange Company's store, in Danville. During his residence in Newell township he filled the offices of constable, town clerk and school trustee of town 20, range 11. In 1878 he moved into Grant township, where he owns two hundred and eighty acres of land, worth 87.000. He has two sons, Ambrose and George. His wife is a member of the M. E. church, and he was formerly. In politics he is a green backer.

county, < )hio, on the 16th of December, 1818, and is the son of William and Sarah (Yokem) Ford. When he was eleven his parents removed to La Fayette, Indiana; lived there a number of years, and went thence to Fulton county, Illinois. After a residence of several years there they all moved back to Indiana, and located near Lebanon. Here the subject of this sketch was married to Abigal Fleming, on the 14th of August, 1842. In the spring of 1844 he moved into the present limits of Grant township, renting from place to place for six years, when he had accumulated enough to buy a land warrant, with which he entered the northeast quarter of section 1, town 22, range 11. He began very poor, and his progress at first was slow, but by industry and frugality has accumulated a large property, and is now one of the substantial farmers of Grant township. By successive purchases he has increased his homestead to eight hundred and forty-eight acres ; has always combined stock-raising with his farming operations. He has ten children: Arthur, Betsy Jane, James, Rebecca, Leander, William H., Jeremiah (dead), Benjamin F., Mary R. Mr. Ford owns one thousand acres of land, worth $29,000. He is a republican in politics.

William Warren, Rossville, farmer, was born in Bedfordshire, England, on the 16th of March, 1829 ; and is the son of Thomas and Mary (King) Warren. In 1848 he emigrated to America and settled near Rossville, Vermilion county, Illinois. When he arrived here he had but $5, which he equally divided with a less fortunate comrade. He was $110 in debt, which sum he paid in labor at $9.25 per month, having hired for a year at that rate before leaving England. At the end of two and a half years he bought ten acres of timber and paid for it. He worked hard at herding and feeding cattle, buying pieces of land as he accumulated money enough for the purpose. He owns four hundred and twenty-five acres, two hundred and sixty-five lying on the Middle Fork, in the township of that name, and the balance adjoining Rossville on the east, in Grant township, the whole worth $11,000. He used to be engaged a great deal in teaming ; hauled produce to Chicago and returned with merchandise to Danville, for which he received twenty-five cents per hundredweight. A large part of the material used in the erection of buildings in Rossville was transported by his teams from Danville, Paxton, Attica and State Line City. He was married on the 4th of December, 1853, to Mary Ann Whitesitt, who was- born on the 29th of October, 1S37. They have thirteen children : Mary S., born on the 25th of January, 1S55; Florence V., born on the 2d of September, 1856; Edith T., born on the 11th of January, 1858 ; Augustus O., born on the 21st of March, 1859; Olive J., born on the 6th of February, 1861; John T., born on the 1st of February, 1863; an infant born and died in October, 1864; Herbert D., born on the 21st of June, 1867 ; William W., born on the 15th of March, 1869; Elzie, born on the 20th of May, 1871 ; George Wesley, born on the 5th of June, 1873 ; Clarence D., born on the 27th of April, 1875; Bertha May, born on the 14th of February, 1877. He is an independent in politics.

Jonathan Prather, Rossville, farmer, was born in Warren county, Indiana, on the 3d of May, 1845. His parents were Nehemiah and Eveline (Miller) Prather. He settled with his father in this county about 1848, on land now owned by Geo. Miller in Ross township. He has lived in Vermilion county all the time since, except the two years of 1S68-9 spent in Missouri and Kansas. He enrolled in Co. A, 3d Ind. Caw, on the 16th of September, 1863, and mustered out at Indianapolis on the 7th of August, 1865 ; served in the 3d division 1st cavalry corps, - first under Wilson and next under Custer, as division commanders ; participated in the bold raid of Gen. Kilpatrick, begun on the 28th of February, 1864, for the release of Union prisoners in Richmond; in Sheridan's raid against the enemy's communications with Richmond, which was begun on the 9th of May, 1864; and in the raid of Gen. Wilson on the Weldon, South-side and Danville railroads, begun on the 22d of June, 1864; fought at the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court House, and under Sheridan in the battles of Winchester and Cedar Creek, and did an immense amount of scouting, skirmishing and fighting incident to the cavalry arm of the service, closing his active military life with the grand review of the army of the Potomac at Washington, D. C, on the 23d of May, 1865. He was married on the 13th of August, 1872, to Tabitha E. Miller, who died on the 15th of April, 1877; married again on the 3d of March, 1878, to Mary A. Segear. Mr. Prather owns one hundred and sixty acres of land valued at $5,000. He is a greenbacker in politics.

Thomas Armstrong, Rossville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Madison county, Ohio, on the 18th of April, 1826. His parents were Robert and Elizabeth (Earl ) Armstrong. In 1848 he removed to Illinois and lived two years in the western part of the state. In 1850 he settled on his present farm one mile west of Rossville, Vermilion county. Married on the 24th of August, 1850, to Nancy Smith, who died on the 23d of November, 1878. He has been for many years extensively engaged in farming and the stock business; and in addition to these is at present operating a factory which he erected on his farm two years ago for the manufacture of drain tile. He has, in that time, turned out three hundred thousand tile, and laid down on his own farm twenty-two miles of drain, besides ten miles for other people. He has demonstrated the wisdom and economy of under-drainage. He has ample facilities for a large manufacture. The first donations of land to encourage improvements in Rossville, were made to Mr. Armstrong by Alvan Gilbert and Parker Satterthwait, and he is entitled to the credit of founding that superior town. He exerted himself with untiring diligence in behalf of the educational interests of the place, and together with one or two others, was chiefly instrumental in causing the erection and final extension and improvement of the commodious and tasteful brick structure now devoted to the instruction of the youth of Rossville and the surrounding country. He has been a director of the school continuously for twenty years prior to April, 1879. He was associated with Henrv Armstrong in the laving out of Armstrong station, on the Havana, Rantoul & Eastern railroad (narrow gauge), where lie has a body of eight hundred acres of land. He has four living children : Isabel, wife of Calvin Lamb ; Thomas J., James L., Catherine M. Mr. Armstrong owns 2,280 acres of land, worth $80,000. His political views are republican.

Addison M. Davis, Rossville, farmer and magistrate, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, near Zanesville, on the 9th of January, 1833. He is the son of Amaziah and Emily (Berry) Davis. He came to Vermilion county, Illinois, with his parents in the fall of 1851, and settled on a farm near Rossville. He received a fair education at the graded school in Adelphi, Ohio. At the age of twenty he commenced teaching school, and pursued this vocation nine years. He was married in 1856 to Sarah J. Helmick. He was assistant internal revenue assessor for the northern part of Vermilion county, Illinois, from the passage of the law creating the office until the fall of 1865. He has held numerous township offices, and been constantly in local public business the past twenty years ; has been town clerk and assessor both of Grant and Ross, and has held the office of justice of the peace continuously for thirteen years. In the meantime he has directed operations upon his farm. He has been a member of the Masonic order twelve years. He is independent in politics. He has six living children : Virgil C, Emily B., Robert B., H. Winter, Rebecca and Lucy L. Mr. Davis owns eighty acres of land worth $4,000.

Charles Wolverton, Hoopeston, farmer and carpenter, was born near Perrysville, Vermilion county, Indiana, on the 17th of August, 1837, and is a son of Abel and Anna (English) Wolverton, who had live sons and two daughters. His father served fourteen days in the war of 1812 ; he volunteered, and was marching with a detachment of six hundred men for Detroit when the news of Hull's surrender was received. He commanded a corps of one hundred and fifty men at the reception of Gen. La Fayette, at Cincinnati, in June, 1824. He was for a long time colonel of militia in Indiana, under commission granted by Gov. Whitcomb. In 1850 he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Vermilion county, Illinois, being the N. E. \ section 18, town 23, range 11. He soon after bought one hundred and sixty acres more, and finally augmented the area to four hundred. His family came and occupied the land in 1851. The subject of this sketch learned the carpenter's trade before and during the war. He enlisted at Bloomington on the 18th of June, 1862, for three months, in Co. H, 70th 111. Vols., Col. O. H. Reeves. This regiment did garrison duty most of the time at Camp Butler, Springfield, and at Alton ; also furnished numerous details for guarding prisoners while in transit. He was mustered out at Alton on the 23d of October, 1862. His brother George was enrolled in Co. D, 20th Ind. Vols, at the beginning of the war. He served under Gen. Kearny throughout McClellan's memorable peninsula campaign, bearing an honorable part on the bloody fields of Fair Oaks and the Seven Days battles. He was mortally wounded on the 6th of May, 1864, at the Wilderness, and died on the 19th at Finley Hospital, Washington City. Altogether he was in twenty actions. Mr. Wolverton was married on the 8th of May, 1864, to Mary Ralph, who was born on the 30th of July, 1849. They have had eight children : George L., born on the 1st of January, 1866 ; Charles T., born on the 5th of May, 1867; Thomas L., born on the 1st of December, 1868, died on the 23d of August, 1869; Louis R., born on the 5th of February, 1871 ; John P., born on the 16th of February, 1874 ; Anna S., born on the 21st of February, 1877 ; Mary, born on the 13th of June, 1878, died on the 2d of July, 1878; Joseph, born on the 11th of July, 1879. Mr. Wolverton owns sixty acres worth $2,500. His political views are republican.

Thomas Williams, Hoopeston, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, on the 29th of November, 1828, and is the son of Nathan and Sarah (Hoopes) Williams. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania. In 1847 he went to Sandusky Plains, Marion county, Ohio, were he lived six or seven years, working by the month for his uncle, Thomas Hoopes, tending sheep. In the fall of 1853 he came to this county; wintered four hundred sheep; the next spring added four hundred more ; rented a farm of his uncle Hoopes, giving him a share of all his profit. This he continued two years; then preempted one hundred and sixty acres two miles west of Buckley, in Iroquois county; ran an ox-breaking team three years; in 1859, having been broken up by paying security debts, returned to Vermilion county to live. He was married on the 9th of June, 1859, to Lavina McFarland, who was born on the 22d of April, 1841. From 1860 to 1868 he rented land of his uncle. In the former year, by borrowing money and hiring teams of the same patron, and buying and grazing cattle, he cleared $600; the next year $1,000. From that time on his success and recovery were steady and rapid. On the 25th of November, 1870, he was run over by a loaded runaway team, breaking his leg, and crushing the bone in a very serious manner. Since that casualty he has been incapacitated for manual labor. He has held the offices of highway commissioner and trustee of schools in Grant township. He has five children : Sarah, born on the 23d of June, 1860, died on the 7th of December, 1874; Charles, born on the 1st of September, 1861 ; twins, born on the 23d of May, 1868, one died on the day of birth, and the other on the 16th of June following; Walter W., born on the 17th of January, 1878. Mr. Williams owns four hundred acres of land worth $16,000. His political views are republican.

John Williams, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, on the 29th of September, 1832, and is the son of Nathan and Sarah (Hoopes) Williams. In the spring of 1854 he came to this county ; broke prairie and farmed, and the third year entered three hundred and twenty acres in section 12, in the present limits of Prairie Green township, Iroquois county. He lived there seventeen years. He was married on the 13th of October, 1858, to Elnora Shankland, who was born in 1841, and died on the 23d of February, 1864 ; married again on the 12th of August, 1867, to Jennie M. Harwood, who was born on the 7th of April, 1844. He was assessor of Prairie Green four or five years in succession. On the 1st of January, 1864, memorable as a cold day, he froze his right foot while feeding stock, and all the toes had to be amputated. In April, 1873, he moved to his present home, one and a half miles south of Hoopeston. He has six children : Sarah E., born on the 3d of March, 1860, died on the 16th of May, 1866 ; Anna C, born on the 28th of September, 1862, died on the 22d of September, 1865; Mary E., born on the 14th of February, 1864, died on the 2d of September, 1864; infant, born and died on the 11th of November, 1870; Nellie M., born on the 12th of November, 1871; Charles H., born on the 5th of October, 1873, died on the 5th of August, 1875 ; Josephine B., born on the 30th of August, 1875. Mr. Williams owns two hundred and thirty-five acres worth $8,500. His political views are republican. He is a member of the Christian church. His parents belonged to the Society of Friends, and his father wras a preacher among them.

Joseph M. Satterthwait, deceased, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the 9th of May, 1808, and is the son of Joshua W. and Ann Satterthwait. He came to Illinois in the fall of 1854, and set- tied on a farm near Rossville, Vermilion county. He was the third postmaster in that place. In the spring of 1862 he removed to Pendleton, Indiana, near Indianapolis, and lived there ten years, when he returned to Illinois and settled at Hoopeston, and resided there until his death on the 21st of September, 1877. He wras always a strict member of the Society of Friends. He left four living children : Martha A., wife of Gideon C. Davis, residing at Fairbury, Nebraska ; Esther S., wife of J. O. Hardy, living in Pendleton, Indiana; Edith S., wife of Isaac T. Lukens, of Hoopeston ; and Anna, wife of Emory F. Birch, of Rossville.

George Steely, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Fountain county, Indiana, on the 6th of September, 1830. He is the son of George and Elizabeth (Emerson) Steely. He lived on a farm in Fountain county until twenty-four years of age, and was educated at Asbury University, attending from September, 1852, to June, 1854, taking the scientific course, and nearly completing it. In the fall of the latter year he came to this county, bought out Thomas McKibben, and settled where he now lives, one and a half miles south of Hoopeston. He was married on the 22d of October, 1854, to Hannah Hizer. They had ten children, five of whom are living and five dead. Following are those living: Harlan M., born November 25, 1856 ; William W., born October 11, 1858; Clara L, born September 4, 1860; Zaidee, born June 3, 1864; Mark, born December 6, 1869. Mr. Steely owns six hundred and seventy acres of land, wrorth $20,000. His father was a soldier under Gen. Harrison throughout the war of 1812.

Thomas W. Harris, Rossville, farmer, was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, on the 1st of November, 1827, and is the son of John and Sarah M. (Davis) Harris. In 1828 his parents removed to Jefferson county, Indiana. While living there he went to Clark county, and learned the tanners' trade, which he followed five or six years. In 1 852 he went to Louisiana, and worked a year and a half as a laborer. In the fall of 1854 he returned there, and remained nine months. In 1856 he settled in Vermilion county, and has since lived in the vicinity of Rossville, and farmed. He wras married on the 12th of December, 1861, to Miss Jane F. Owen, daughter of Thomas and Mary Owen. She was born in Warren county, Indiana, on the 21st of July, 1842. They have had three children : Mary Luella, born October 27, 1862, died December 1, 1871 ; Charles Henry, born March 31, 1869 ; Francis M., born July 19, 1874. Mr. Harris is a republican, and his wife has been a member of the M. E. church eight years.

Nancy (Dedimore) Keplinger. In 1858 he removed to Illinois, and settled at Sugar Grove, Champaign county, where he lived till 1870. In that year he came to Vermilion county, and bought the S. % N.W. -£ and the N.W. \ N.W. \ section 29, town 23, range 12, six miles S.W. of Hoopeston, which farm is now valued at $3,600. He was married on the 10th of May, 1857, to Eliza Shaffer, daughter of Daniel Shaffer, of Fountain county, Indiana. She was born on the 4th of January, 1835. They have had six children : James, born June 13, 1858 ; Nancy, born February 5, I860; died August 2, 1862; George R., born Sept.

1, 1861; Olive, born July 26, 1863; Eliza Ann, born April 12, 1865; Andrew, born March 20, 1867. Mr. Keplinger is an old-style democrat. Mrs. Keplinger is a member of the Christian church.

Oliver H. Crane, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Fountain county, Indiana, on the 4th of March, 1841, and is the son of Joel and Elizabeth (Jenkins) Crane. His grandfathers, Jonathan Crane and Absalom Jenkins, both served as soldiers in Virginia in the war of 1812. He was reared a farmer. In 1858 he moved to this county, and located where he now lives, in Grant township, on the S. ^ S.W. \ section 20, town 23, range 12. He was married on the 7th of February, 1861, to Charlotte Bowling, daughter of Willis P. Bowling, Esq., of Fountain county, Indiana. She was born on the 3d of July, 1843. They have had nine children : Luella, born November 13, 1861 ; died June 24, 1863; Clara Belle, born July 10, 1863; died October 24, 1864; Elmer E., born May 28, 1865; John N., born September 3, 1867; Lilian, born January 6, 1869; Alfaretta, born February 11, 1871 ; Winifred, born December 4, 1873 ; Morris S., born November

Abraham H. Gernand, Rossville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of January, 1829, and is a son of Abraham and Catharine (Hain) Gernand. His early life was spent on a farm. In 1852 he engaged in the dry -goods trade in Reading, in partnership with his cousin, George W. Hain, under the firm name of Hain & Gernand. In 1857 the firm sold out, and Mr. Gernand emigrated with his family to Illinois, and settled in Danville. He was a year and a half in the lumber trade there. In the spring of 1859 he bought three hundred and twenty acres where he now resides, two miles north of Rossville, and has added by later purchases, till his farm comprises five hundred and sixty acres of the finest farming land, valued at $22,000. His business is largely in stock. He has enjoyed a high degree of prosperity, all his operations having been marked by signal success. He is out of debt ; is a substantial and esteemed citizen, and christian gentleman. He was married on the 14th of April, 1857, to Miss Emma Evans, daughter of John V. R. Evans, a well-to-do farmer of Berks county, Pennsylvania. They have five sons and three daughters living and one daughter dead. He is a republican in politics. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gernand were in communion with the Reformed Church in Pennsylvania, but finding none of that denomination here, united, in 1859, with the Presbyterian church in Rossville.

Charles M. Ross, Rossville, druggist, was born in Cambridge City, Wayne county, Indiana, on the 1st of January, 1847, and is the son of John M. and Ellen (Hannah) Ross. He removed with his parents to Ross township, Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1859. He attended school two years at Thornton, Boone county, and two years at Stockwell, Tippecanoe county, Indiana. He engaged in the grocery trade at the latter place two years ; next was in the employ of the Singer Sewing Machine Company at Indianapolis a short time. After this he was in the coal trade with his uncle, J. H. Ross, about three years. He taught school two winters; then came to Rossville and started in the drug business, which he now continues. Mr. Ross is a republican and a Methodist.

Robert D. Purviance, Rossville, farmer, was born in Giles county, Tennessee, on the 21st of April, 1817, and is the son of Eleazer and Elizabeth Purviance. At the age of twelve he removed with his parents to Warren county, Indiana, where he lived thirty years. In 1859 he settled about three miles north of Rossville, Vermilion county, Illinois, in Grant township. He has served two or three terms as highway commissioner. By perseverance he has acquired an honorable competence, and in a truly catholic spirit dispenses his bounty with an open hand and generous heart. Mr. Purviance is a republican. He owns one hundred and seventy acres of land, valued at $6,500.

John M. Ruth, Rossville, farmer, was born in Reading, Berks count}', Pennsylvania, on the 23d of February, 1856, and is a son of George and Catharine (Maury) Ruth. In 1861 his parents removed to Illinois and settled on their present homestead, one mile north of Rossville. He was reared a farmer. He has a fine estate of two hundred acres, valued at $10,000. He used to be extensively engaged in raising hogs, but since the prevalence of cholera, within the past two or three years, has curtailed the business. He has gratified his desire to travel by an extended tour of the eastern and southern states.

William J. Henderson, Rossville, merchant, was born in the city and county of Sligo, Ireland, on the 3d of April, 1831. His parents were James and Jane (Henderson) Henderson. He came to America to make his home in 1848, but had previously made several trips across the Atlantic. On his arrival he set to learning the cahinet trade, in Lafayette, Indiana, to be used auxiliary to the furniture business, in which he designed embarking. This was in the years 1848-9, during which the cholera raged with great virulence in that and other northern cities. The succeeding three years were spent in work at the carpenter trade. In 1852 he opened a furniture store in Waynetown, Montgomery count}', Indiana, where he continued in business till 1862, changing, however, to dry-goods in 1856. He removed to Rossville, Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1862, and has since carried on the dry-goods and grocery trade, adding largely to his business by buying and cultivating an extensive tract of land, and dealing in grain and stock. He has had as many as two thousand hogs in his pens at a time, feeding ; owns a large and complete elevator, and is doing a good business in running the Rossville Mills, one of the finest flouring establishments in this section of the country. Mr. Henderson is a live, thoroughgoing business man, well endowed with the three essentials of success: courteous familiarity, foresight, and push. He was married on the 2d of November, 1856, to Eliza Dwiggins, who died on the 16th of November, 1857. He was married again in October, 1861, to Amelia Little, relict of John York. She died on the 10th of September, 1869. His third marriage, on the 17th of March, 1870, was to Kate Scott. The}r have four living children: Mary, Jane, Fannie and Nellie. Mr. Henderson owns twelve hundred acres of land, worth ^48,000. He is a republican in politics.

William M. Thomas, Rossville, tile maker, was born in Delaware county, Indiana, on the 3d of August, 1836, and is the son of James and Joanna (Bobo) Thomas. He settled with his parents in the spring of 1847, in Montgomery county, Indiana. In 1862 he came to Illinois and settled on a piece of wild prairie, - one hundred and twenty acres, - five miles west of Rossville, which he still owns, and has brought under a good state of cultivation. The past two years he has been living in Rossville, where he owns and is operating an extensive factory for the manufacture of drain tile. He was assessor of Butler township in the year 1864 ; married on the 10th of December, 1861, to Mary S. Bennett, who was born on the 13th of November, 1844. They are the parents of two living children: Mellie A., born on the 6th of December, 1862; Ordella, born on the 21st of December, 1876. He is a republican in politics. He owns one hundred and twenty acres, worth $4,000.

Lyford Marston, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Plymouth, New Hampshire, on the 2d of May, 1817, and is the son of Oliver L. and Lavinia Magusta (Ryan) Marston. The Marstons were descended from English stock. They were a numerous and prominent family, the greater number of whom led sea-faring lives. The subject of this sketch attended the Latin-Grammar school at Cambridge, Massachusetts, one year; then the Newbury Seminary of Vermont two or three years, studying the natural sciences and literature. In 1835 he emigrated to Bourbon county, Kentucky. There he taught school a year and a half, devoting his spare time to reading law under Thomas Elliott, of Paris. Pie was admitted to the bar in November, 1838, at Carlisle, county seat of Nicholas county, where he located for practice. He was married on the 22d of November, 1838, to Miss Mary Ann Amos, daughter of a highly respectable and influential farmer of Bourbon county. He was prosecuting attorney for Nicholas county a number of years. He was successful in his profession, but having no ambition for legal or political distinction, he accepted, in the fall of 1843, a position on the editorial staff of the "Lexington Enquirer," a Henry Clay organ. He maintained his connection with this until the spring of 1845, when the proprietor failed and the paper went down. He at once succeeded to the management of his father-in-law's farm, the latter having deceased. Here he led a quiet and uneventful life for several years. The beginning of the Kansas troubles inspired his pen to active use, and he advocated the anti-slavery cause in the columns of the " New York Tribune." In 1856, while visiting his native home in New Hampshire, he made numerous campaign speeches for Fremont. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chicago convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln, and an elector on the republican ticket for Kentucky. At the opening of the war he opposed, in the "Tribune," Mr. Greeley's crochet that the "erring sisters should be permitted to depart in peace." In the fall of 1863 he moved to Grant township in this county, and bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. The next year he increased it to three hundred and twenty acres, which property he still owns. In the fall of 1878 he was elected by the republicans to the general assembly. He served on the committees on Municipal Affairs, Public Printing and Public Charities. Mr. M. has always exercised his literary tastes by occasional contributions to the press on religious and political topics. His estimable wife died on the 29th of January, 1879. He has five living children : Anna, wife of Cyrus Hartwell ; Mary L., wife of Almond F. Perkins; Oliver Nicholas, Laura Clay, wife of Jonas Decker; Ella, wife of E. B. Row.

William Glaze, Hoopeston, flax-seed dealer, was born in Brown county, Ohio, on the 15th of November, 1837, and is the son of James and Mary (Phillips) Glaze. In 1845 his parents moved to Montgomery county, Indiana, and in 1847 to Tippecanoe county. He was raised on a farm, but having become crippled in his left leg at the age of ten, he was never able to do much farm work. At seventeen he began clerking, which he followed nine years. He was married on the 17th of February, 1863, to Isabel Young, daughter of Jesse Young, a respectable tanner of Dayton, Indiana. In November, 1864, he located near Blue Grass, Vermilion county, Illinois, and after farming there two or three years became engaged in his present business - loaning and handling flax-seed. He has been employed in this the past eleven years, and enjoys a constantly increasing trade. In Butler township he held the offices of assessor and collector from 1866 to 1871 inclusive. In Grant he was assessor in 1875, 1876 and 1877. He is at present police magistrate. He served as village trustee before the incorporation as a city. He has been a director of the Hoopeston high school four years. The efficiency of this institution, and the high reputation it is rapidly acquiring, is due to the sound judgment and fearless action of its officers. He is serving his second term as secretary of the Hoopeston District Agricultural Society. This is one of the most successful and flourishing societies in the state. He is a zealous temperance laborer, and the fortunate driving out of the rum demon from Hoopeston is very largely due to his tireless exertions in that behalf. In 1873 he was licensed a regular preacher in the United Brethren church, and in his sacred calling has since been engaged principally as a local minister. He has four living children: Laura May, James Alvin, Jesse Franklin and "William Orne. His political views are republican.

James W. Crouch, Hoopeston, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in "Warren county, Indiana, on the 10th of October, 1842. His parents were Joseph and Nancy (Watkins) Crouch. Pie lived in his native county until 1864, excepting two years (1857-8) that he was in Prairie Green township, Iroquois county, Illinois. In 1864 he .came to his present homestead, in Grant township, this count}\ He herded cattle the first }rear for a Mr. Hunter, who subsequently became his father-inlaw. For five or six years after this the same gentleman gave him the use of eighty acres of land in the same place, at the end of which time he was able to buy one hundred and sixty acres for himself, for which he paid $12.50 per acre. He has made successive purchases, till he now owns four hundred and forty acres of choice farming- land, valued at $13,500. He buys young stock, and feeds and raises for the market, which business he has closely pursued for several j^ears past. The rearing of Norman horses is a branch of stock industry to which he has devoted much attention recently. His fine farm, which is admirably adapted to the uses for which he has designed it, is advantageously situated, midway between Hoopeston and Ambia, on the L. B. & M. railroad. Mr. Crouch was originally a republican, but becoming con- vinced that the class legislation of that party was making the poor poorer and the rich richer, in 1872 he joined the liberal wing of that organization. By the course of events, he has gravitated to the national or greenback party, of whose views he is a fearless and irrepressible advocate. He was married on the 3d of July, 1863, to Miss Harriet Hunter, daughter of a respectable farmer and stock-dealer of Warren county, Indiana. She was born on the 9th of September, 1845. They have four living children : Sarah Annas, born on the 14th of April, 1805 : Jessie M., born on the 18th of September, 1868 : James William, born on the 1st of January, 1874, and Horace F., born on the 23d of November, 1873.

Edmund Heaton, Hoopeston, farmer and school-teacher, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, on the 7th of September, 1853. He is a son of Hugh and Levia (McCoy) Heaton. His mother died on the 21st of April, 1861, in Holmes county, Ohio. In the spring of 1863 he came to St. Joseph county, Indiana, and the next spring to Vermilion county, Illinois, settling in Grant township. Here he has since lived. In 1877 he went to Marion county, Iowa, and from thence, in 1878, traveled in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, spending the season in those places, sight-seeing, for pleasure and profit, returning in the fall to Vermilion county, Illinois. He has been employed during several winters past in teaching school. He is a republican in politics. His great-uncle, Albert McCoy, a prominent lawyer of Missouri, was killed for his Unionism by guerrillas in 1862.