USA > Illinois > Champaign County > A Standard history of Champaign County Illinois : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, civic and social development : a chronicle of the people, with family lineage and memoirs, Volume II > Part 47
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Hiram Trotter, father of the above family, was born near Wheeling, West Virginia, and there grew to manhood and engaged in farming. After the death of his first wife he married Lydia E. Alamang and she it was who accompanied him first to Indiana and later to Illinois and died here in 1880. After reaching Indiana Hiram Trotter rented eighty acres of land and operated it for six years. The rent was high and Mr. Trotter often remarked that the money spent in rent during that time would have purchased a good farm in another section. Finally he decided to move with his family into an adjacent State and locate in Champaign County, of which he had had many favorable reports. Once more the prairie schooner was brought into use and in 1856 the family was comfortably settled in a log cabin standing on a tract of eighty acres in Newcomb Township. He had borrowed the money to purchase this first land, but through his industry it was soon paid for and he continued to add to his holdings until he owned 240 acres, all in the same township. Pioneer conditions prevailed when the Trotters came first to Newcomb Township and John Franklin remembers when he could count as many as fifteen deer in a drove passing the little cabin. Hiram Trotter was a man far beyond the ordinary in many ways. He was much more pro- gressive than many of his neighbors and many improvements both in farming methods and in public matters were brought about through his influence. He was a Jeffersonian Democrat and at one time served as road commissioner, that. being before the founding of the present flourish- ing towns of Fisher, Dewey, Foosland and Mahomet. He was one of the original members of the first church built in this section, which was named the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church, and in his home and in the schoolhouse near by the first church meetings were held. He served in church offices during the rest of his life. The death of this fine old pioneer occurred in 1900 and a beautiful memorial stone in Shiloh Ceme- tery marks the last resting place of Mr. Trotter and wife.
John Franklin Trotter has been a resident of Newcomb Township almost his entire life. He attended the country schools and for a short time was a pupil in the Mahomet High School, and the public schools have always claimed his interest. He has always engaged in farming, renting land in Newcomb Township for the first two years after his marriage and then buying eighty acres. Later he purchased 160 acres near Rising City, Nebraska, but remained on that place but one year, returning then to Illinois. because the western climate had a bad effect on his wife's health. He now has seventy-one acres all in one tract, located at Shiloh Center, in the middle of the township. At one time the house he occupies was a postoffice.
Mr. Trotter married January 20, 1876, Miss Eliza Jane Funston, and
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they have had four children, as follows: Ira, who is a practical and suc- eessful farmer in Newcomb Township, married Emma Ricks and they have five children, Edna, Roy, Elsie, Wayne and Lyle; Maude is the wife of Bartley M. Suttle, who owns a fine farm of 160 acres in this township, and they have five children, Oliver, Archie, Nellie, Mary and Lola; Grace is the wife of Herbert L. Hinton, a railroad brakeman, and they live in Chieago; and Daisy, who resides with her parents. She is highly edu- · cated, having had advantages in the State Normal University and taught school for three years in Champaign County. She is a member of the Domestie Science Club at Mahomet, Illinois. She is one of the active and useful members of Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church and under her management as Sunday school superintendent the school is in a highly prosperous condition, interest being stimulated and maintained and much practical good accomplished. Miss Trotter spent a part of the summer of 1905 at Denver, Colorado. She is a lady of engaging personality and is a welcome visitor everywhere.
Mrs. Trotter was born in Piatt County, Illinois, December 7, 1854. She completed her education in the Mahomet High School and taught school for three terms in Neweomb Township and now teaches a class in Sunday school. Extended mention of her family appears in this work in the sketch of her sister, Mrs. Nancy Downs, who is a highly esteemed resi- dent of Newcomb Township. Both Mr. and Mrs. Trotter are willing workers in the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church, are liberal contributors to its various benevolent movements and by precept and example show the sincerity of their Christian belief.
Mr. Trotter has not bound himself to any political party, like many other intelligent men preferring to stand by the principles he believes to be right and give support to such candidates as best represent them, irre- spective of party affiliation. He has been active and useful in township matters as a man of fine judgment and unblemished integrity and has served in responsible offices, having been tax collector, town clerk and for six years was a justice of the peace. Perhaps there is no more hospitable home in Neweomb Township than the Trotters, and their many friends are always sure of a hearty and sincere welcome.
WILLIAM MORRISON. Along the Interurban as it passes through Ogden Township are found some beautiful farms, all of them representing the toil, self-sacrifice and industry of either their owners or of those worthy people who first claimed the land from the wilderness. One of these homes that stands for a most estimable personal career is that of William Morrison in section 8 of Ogden Township.
Mr. Morrison was born in New York City in 1851. When he was ten years of age he was left an orphan by the death of his parents, and some- what later a man named George H. Allen became interested in him and brought him out to Illinois, and he soon found a home in the family of Eleazar Freeman, with whom he was a bound boy and with whom he remained twelve years. He had very limited opportunities to obtain an education, never more than three months a year. He had to work early and late, herding and feeding eattle, plowing in the fields, and only now and then came a few weeks when he could attend school.
Thus as a boy he became inured to and disciplined in hard work, and he found it no special hardship when he went to carning his own way as a farm hand and worked in the fields from four o'clock in the morning until nine o'clock at night. His industry and good character commended him to the attention of Miss Callie Swearingen, and on January 24, 1878, they were married. She was a native of St. Joseph Township, a daughter of
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Thomas and Elizabeth Swearingen. Their married life was brief, since Mrs. Morrison passed away July 11, 1880. They had lived on the Swearin- gen farm in the meantime. Subsequently Mr. Morrison married Lizetta Hixenbauglı. She was born in Virginia, daughter of Morgan and Sarah A. Hixenbaugh.
In the meantime Mr. Morrison had worked steadily with the end in view that some day he would become proprietor of a farm of his own. This eventful day arrived in 1885, when he contracted for the purchase of ninety- eight and a half acres in section 8 of Ogden Township. The land had few improvements and was of limited value as compared with its value today. Even at that Mr. Morrison had to go in debt to buy it, and some years passed before he had it free from incumbrance. In the meantime he drained the land, cut out trees, built a commodious home, and thus his personal efforts and management are responsible for this attractive bit of landscape that may be viewed from the windows of the interurban cars as they go by.
Mr. Morrison has two children, Charles J. and Cora E. They were educated in the Ogden High School. Charles is now connected with the city street railway system at Champaign.
In politics Mr. Morrison has always stanchly supported the principles and candidates of the Republican party. His achievements and position in the county mean a great deal. Beginning life a poor orphan boy, he has found success by strict application to industry and honorable principles. He has reared his children to honor the same principles which have been his own guide in life. He now enjoys a pleasant home, with his capable daughter, Cora, acting as his housekeeper. Mr. Morrison is a hospitable, kind neighbor, and out of his experience has always had a deep sympathy for the friendless and oppressed. He richly deserves praise for his industry and energy and his good citizenship.
CHESTER A. WILLIAMS. In calling attention to the men of worth in Newcomb Township, Champaign County, Chester A. Williams should hold a foremost place. He is one of the substantial men of his section, a first- class farmer and an intelligent, stable and useful citizen. He was born in Champaign County, Illinois, November 17, 1880, and is a son of Lucius and Mary C. (Shafer) Williams. He has one older brother, James A. Williams, who resides just east of his brother Chester A. Hc married Maggie Shafer, and they have four children.
Lucius Williams was born in 1835 in Licking County, Ohio, and died on his farm in Newcomb Township, Champaign County, April 6, 1916. He came from Ohio to Champaign County about 1868 and spent the rest of his life here, following farming as his occupation and acquiring eighty acres of land in Newcomb Township as a result of his industry. In politics he was a Republican, but took no active part in political campaigns and never aspired to public office. He was well known and highly respected. His burial was in Shiloh Cemetery and a stone marks his last resting place. He is survived by his widow, who was born in Ohio seventy-five years ago. She resides with her children and has a wide circle of personal friends.
Chester A. Williams was educated in the public schools and from early manhood has been successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits. With his brother James A. he owns 100 acres of fine land very favorably situated in Newcomb Township, which, under intelligent management, has become some of the most productive land in this section.
Mr. Williams married on March 22, 1915, Miss Sadie Wright, who was born in Newcomb Township, August 28, 1886, and is a daughter of Charles and Nancy (Hannah) Wright. Mrs. Williams is one of a family
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of fourteen children and the youngest of the thrce who live in Champaign County, the other two being: Hiram, who is a farmer in Newcomb Town- ship, married Effie Lester and they have six ehildren; and Arthur, who is also a farmer in this township, married Minnie McCay and they have six children. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have one son, Arthur Williams.
Charles Wright, father of Mrs. Williams, was born in Licking County, Ohio, September 30, 1840, and died in Champaign County in 1892. During the Civil War he served as a member of the Ohio State Militia. He was married in Ohio to Nancy Hannah, who was born in that State and died in Newcomb Township July 20, 1911, and both rest in Shiloh Cemetery. They were faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and were highly respected by all who knew them. They eame to Champaign County when Mrs. Williams was a child of six years and she grew up on her father's farm, under the watehful care of a wisc and loving mother.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Williams began housekeeping on the old Williams homestead and here have remained in the enjoyment of the plenty and comfort that good management and frugality are apt to bring to the modern farmer's household. Mr. Williams is an intelligent, practical agriculturist, keeping thoroughly abreast of the times in all that pertains to farm industries and has reason to be proud of a property that every year is increasing in value because of his excellent methods. Mr. and Mrs. Williams attend the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church, of which they are liberal supporters, and took part in the dedication of the new church edifice in May, 1917. In politics he is a Republican and follows party policy closely in national eampaigns, but he is somewhat independent in township elections and very often casts his vote for candidates who, in his opinion, will serve the people most efficiently and economieally. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have a wide eirele of friends, to whom their hospitable home is ever open.
JAMES QUINCY THOMAS of Mahomet is now in his eighty-ninth year. It is a remarkable span of life which his years eover. He was born when Andrew Jackson was President of the United States. Not a permanent settlement had been fixed in Champaign County at the time of his birth. There were no railroads in America, no telegraph lines, very few eanals, and none of the labor-saving devices which have transformed industry and social life. As a young man he swung the flail and the scythe in eutting and threshing grain, and not only aetively experienced all the hardships of that primitive time, but has lived on until he has witnessed flying machines and other wonders of the electrical twentieth eentury.
Mr. Thomas has lived in Champaign County for more than half a century. He is certainly one of the oldest eitizens of the county and is perhaps the only survivor of the Mexican War living in this county. He was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, November 26, 1828, the only son and only surviving child of William R. and Mary (Thomas) Thomas. He had four sisters. His father was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, and as a boy he saw General George Washington. He grew up in his native state and moved to Kentucky, where he married. He died in Ken- tucky in 1863. As a young man he voted the Whig ticket and afterwards beeame a Republican. His wife was a native of Kentucky and died there in 1841.
James Quincy Thomas received his education through four terms of attendance at subscription schools. He paid $2.50 for each term. He wrote with the old goose quill pen, studied the Webster's bluebaek spelling book, sat on the slab scats supported from the floor by wooden pins, and played all the tricks to which school boys of that time were accustomed.
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He deemed it something strange when he was not flogged by the school master each day.
He was possessed of a vigorous constitution. He was thirteen years of age when his mother died and his father then told him that if he desired to earn money he could have all he earned. Aeeepting this invitation, he hired out to his Uncle William at $5 a month. He put in three months of hard labor, but never received a dollar for his time and effort. In the same year he changed his employment to a neighbor, with whom he worked for nineteen months at $7 a month and at the end of the time had $50 in cash.
Mr. Thomas was not quite eighteen years of age when, on July 6, 1846, he enlisted in the United States army for service in the war with Mexico. He first went to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, went down the river to New Orleans, and there crossed the Gulf with his eomrades to Vera Cruz, Mexieo. He was in the army of General Winfield Seott and many times was assigned to stand guard at the tent of that great leader. He served throughout the campaign, one of the most brilliant in the annals of the American army, from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. He participated in the battles of Cerro Gordo, where the Mexican commander Santa Ana lost his wooden leg, at the battles of Contreros and Cherubuseo, both fought on the same day, and on September 13, 1847, was in the storming of the gates of Mexico after capturing the heights of Chepultepee. A number of his eomrades were killed on that day and their bodies lay along the aque- duct. On the following day the American forees entered the City of Mexico, going in at one gate while Santa Ana led his troops out another. It fell to the lot of the regiment in which Mr. Thomas was a member to first hoist the stars and stripes over the halls of Montezuma. Mr. Thomas reit- erates what has been affirmed by many other Mexican soldiers that no battle was fought at Pueblo, as many school histories have stated. The eapture of the City of Mexico practically ended the Mexican War. During the storm- ing of Mexico Mr. Thomas received two bullets through his elothes and was hit in the shoulder by a spent ball. Otherwise he eseaped casualties, though he had many elose calls.
On June 15, 1848, he was released from the army and returned to Ken- tueky, where he took a job at $9 a month as tollgate keeper, boarding himself. For seven months he clerked in a store and not long afterward he took upon himself the responsibilities of a home of his own.
December 23, 1851, he married Miss Mary A. West. Six ehildren, two sons and four daughters, were born to their marriage and three are still living. The son John C. was edueated in the common schools and is now a hardware merehant at Urbana, Illinois. He is a Demoerat, and he and his wife belong to the Baptist Church. He married Miss Betty Wil- liamson, and they have a son, Clyde M. Russell W., the second son, had a common sehool education and is now a retired farmer living at Mans- field, Illinois, owning a place of 180 aeres in Champaign County. He married Miss Mary J. Spratt, and their son is James O. Susan M., the youngest of the three living children, is a member of the Baptist Church and is living in Mahomet Township, widow of George C. Parrett, and is the mother of one son, Fred R.
The mother of these ehildren was born in Virginia, but was reared in Kentucky. She was a member of the Baptist Church, and she passed away in August, 1899.
On October 1, 1902, Mr. Thomas married Mrs. Mary A. Dale. She was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, June 7, 1830, a daughter of John S. Robinson. There were nine ehildren in the Robinson family, three sons and six daughters, and her three brothers, Noah L., William H. and
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HPRobinson
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John G., were all Civil War soldiers, the oldest brother veteranizing after three years of service. Her father was born in Kentucky, grew up there and subsequently removed to Illinois, having a small farm in Champaign County. He died at Mahomet in 1861 and was laid to rest in the Bryant Cemetery. He was a Whig in politics. His wife was a native of Kentucky and was a great-granddaughter of the celebrated Daniel Boone. She was a member of the Baptist Church and her death occurred in 1862.
Mrs. Thomas was educated in the subscription schools of Sangamon County. Both she and her husband can relate many experiences of pioneer times. When she was a girl postage stamps were not in existence, and it frequently cost 25 cents to send a letter any distance. There were no matches, and the flint and steel was still used to light fires. Mrs. Thomas grew up in Sangamon County and her recollections here go back more than sixty years. She married for her first husband Isaac E. Wright. There were three children, one son and two daughters, but only the son is now living, Mr. F. O. Wright, who is a real estate man at Mahomet. Mr. Wright had one son, Paul, who has recently entered the United States navy. Mr. Wright was a Democrat and was formerly engaged in farming, with a farm in Mahomet Township. His death occurred in 1880. For her second husband Mrs. Thomas married Thomas Dale.
Mrs. Thomas is an active member of the Baptist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are one of the happy old couples of Mahomet and are honored by all who know them. They have a cosy and comfortable home and have all that their declining years need to be comfortable and happy.
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Mr. Thomas bought his first land in Mahomet Township, 120 acres, at $10 an acre. It did not have a sign of improvement, and his own labors developed a good farm. At one time he owned over 400 acres in the town- ship and his hard work brought him abundant success. In earlier times he frequently spent the entire winter herding cattle over the corn fields. Politically he has been a Democrat and is a member of the Masonic order at Mahomet. He is a Christian gentleman, and has always done his part in charitable movements. For many years he has been the recipient of a pension of $1 a day and when the Liberty Bonds were on sale he exchanged his pension voucher for a Liberty Bond, which he considers a good invest- ment for the benefit of coming generations.
HUGH JACKSON ROBINSON. Going about the streets with firm step, attending to his affairs with unclouded mind, Hugh Jackson Robinson has attained the dignity and distinction of eight-three years of useful and honorable life. He is one of the oldest residents of Champaign County and has known this section of Illinois for over sixty years.
He was born ncar Belfast, Ireland, March 28, 1833, a son of Robert and Maria Margaret (Jackson) Robinson. His mother, it is said, was a first cousin of President Andrew Jackson. The Robinsons are of Scotch stock. The mother died in Ireland and the father subsequently came to the United States and first located in Dutchess County, New York. He lived there until 1848, and in that year moved west to Wisconsin, which had just become a state. He took up a claim in Fond du Lac County and cleared up a farm. This was his home until his death on June 15, 1852. They had six children, Mary, Jane, Eleanor, John, Hugh J. and William, Hugh being the only one now living. The sister Mary died when nearly nincty years of age.
Hugh J. Robinson acquired his early education in New York State, and at the age of nineteen, in the fall of 1852, came to Urbana, Illinois, with · the Gere Brothers, tie and timber contractors. He spent four years with this firm getting out tie and bridge timbers.
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In 1857 Mr. Robinson aequired his first interests in Champaign County as a farmer, buying a quarter section in Seetion 33, Sadorus Township. This is now known as the Pionecr Grove Farm. In 1860 he brought his family to Champaign County and in 1866 acquired the other half of the north half of Section 33, and has made that the scene of an extensive bus- iness as a stock raiser, cattle feeder and horse breeder.
Mr. Robinson married October 8, 1858, Jane Thrasher. She passed away in 1874, the mother of three children: Robert T., living in Minne- sota ; William C., on the old homestead; and Martha Jane, who married William Miller and has two daughters, Edith and Jessie Miller. In 1875 Mr. Robinson married Susan Jane Hutchinson. She was his faithful and trusted companion for over forty years and passed away only recently, in January, 1917. One son was born to their marriage, John Winfield, but he died at the early age of four years.
Mr. Robinson has been a prominent factor in Champaign County's publie affairs and for thirty years, from 1866 to 1896, was a member of the county board. He was elected a member of the Legislature and served in the Forty-first and Forty-second General Assemblies, and carefully looked after the interests of his constituents and also impressed his ability upon the legislation affecting statewide interests. He also served as town- ship school treasurer and director, as township collector and trustee, and has long been recognized as one of the leading Demoerats of Champaign County.
Mr. Robinson was one of the five original direetors of the First National Bank at Ivesdale when that bank took out a national charter, and he has continued a direetor to the present time. Quite recently he was elected vice president of the bank. Mr. Robinson has been a Mason for over half a eentury, and has attained the Knight Templar Commandery degrees. His church sentiments are expressed by the Universalist denom- ination. Mr. Robinson continues to reside at the old homestead, and his fine country residenee is on Rural Route No. 51 out of Sadorus.
FRED L. LOWMAN. One of the most eapable educators of Champaign County is the present superintendent of the Fisher public schools, Fred L. Lowman. He is a man of varied and versatile gifts and accomplishments, and well fitted for his place in the educational system of this leading Illinois County. He has come in close touch with the facts and problems of life, is a man of broad sympathies and enthusiasm and is in every way qualified to direct and administer a school and have charge of the training of the men and women of the next generation.
Mr. Lowman was born in Champaign County, February 8, 1885. He is the oldest of the seven children, five sons and two daughters, of John Lewis and Minerva (O'Bryan) Lowman. Five children are still living. His father was born in Douglas County, Illinois, October 20, 1858, was edu- cated in the common sehools, and is still living. His people came out of Ohio and settled near Cook's Mill in Douglas County in early days. John L. Lowman is a Republican and cast his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield, the president who began life on the towpath of a canal in Ohio. Mrs. John L. Lowman was born in Champaign County, February 8, 1855. She is still living, as is her aged mother, now eighty-five. A coincidenee is the fact that Mr. Lowman, his mother and grandmother were all born on February 8th.
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