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 48
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Mr. Fred L. Lowman, as the oldest in a large family, and his parents being people of moderate circumstances, he had to take the responsibilities of life at an early age and in his ambition to secure an education and make the best of his native talents had to go out and seeure the means and
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opportunities as best he could. He attended the common schools and in 1902 completed the course of the Parkville High School. After taking a review normal training course at Urbana, he took charge of the grade school work in the Parkville schools in the fall of 1902. While that was the beginning of his career as an educator, Mr. Lowman has never stopped in adding to his individual accomplishments. Much of his higher educa- tion was secured through correspondence courses with a correspondence school at Peoria, Illinois. He also took up the study of law and science at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana. He carried a very heavy amount of work in that institution and in 1907 received a well merited diploma as a graduate of the law department with the degree LL. B, having also received 98 of the 120 units necessary for the B. S. degree. He lacked only two weeks of work necessary to receive his degree Bachelor of Oratory. Through all this course of study he worked to pay his way. He taught school in his home district and boarded at home, where he did not have to pay board, and in this manner was able to save the means whereby he might attend college.
After graduating at Valparaiso Mr. Lowman went to Hammond, Indiana, in July, 1907, and entered the practice of law under the name White & Lowman. This partnership was continued until February, 1908, when Mr. Lowman sold his interests and then for a brief time practiced with a Mr. Riley. Giving up law practice, he returned to Champaign County and in the fall of 1908 became principal of the Penfield public schools. He remained there four years and made an enviable record as a teacher. In 1913 he resumed the superintendency of the Fisher schools, and has been in active charge there for the past four years. His work in these schools has contributed materially to his prestige as a successful educator.
The Fisher school building is thoroughly modern in every detail of construction and equipment. It is most healthily situated, standing on an eminence commanding a beautiful view of the town and surrounding country. Mr. Lowman has six teachers under his supervision. The com- mencement exercises for the class of 1917 occurred May 18, 1917.
Mr. Lowman married Miss Katharine Curzon of Champaign, Illinois, directly related with the family of English nobility of which Lord Curzon is a conspicuous member. Mr. and Mrs. Lowman were married March 18, 1906. They have one daughter, June, aged four years.
Mrs. Lowman was born at Darrien, Connecticut, October 30, 1885. She was educated in the Champaign High School, from which she grad- uated with the class of 1904. She also took musical studies in Valparaiso University and for two years was a popular teacher in Parkville, Champaign County. She is one of the active workers of the Domestic Science Club at Fisher. She is also an honored member of the Eastern Star Chapter. Mr. Lowman is a member of the Episcopal Church, while Mrs. Lowman is a member of the Scientist Church. He is a Republican politically and in the course of his voting he supported Mr. Taft for president. Fraternally he is affiliated with J. R. Gorrin Lodge No. 537, A. F. & A. M., of Sadorus, Illinois.
Mr. Lowman has also taken instruction in the Carnegie School of Cor- respondence at Pittsburgh and at the American University of Chicago. There are few men in Champaign County who have a better balanced and altogether more liberal education. For this he enjoys special respect and admiration because at the outset he was a boy without means and has struggled along, led by a strong ambition, until he has fitted himself for a place of thorough usefulness in the world.
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OTHO PATTERSON, a native of Champaign County and representing a pioneer family, has for years been numbered among the progressive farmers, and citizens, while as a horseman his reputation has extended pretty well over the state and throughout the country. He has bred and owned at his fine farm some of the fastest and finest horses cver produced in Illinois. Mr. Patterson is an expert in the raising and training of horses and for some years that has been his chief business occupation.
He was born in St. Joseph Township, December 16, 1851, son of J. K. and Catherine (Swearingen) Patterson. His father was born in Ohio and his mother in Kentucky, the latter coming to Illinois with her parents. J. K. Patterson and wife were married in this county. Of the events and experiences that make up the bulk of Champaign County's history during the past seventy-five years the Patterson family has had its full share. J. K. Patterson showed himself a man of spirit and enterprise even when young. In 1839 he rode horseback all the way from Columbus, Ohio, to Champaign County for the purpose of looking over the country. Though the land was a vast virgin prairie, abounding with sloughs, he recognized its fertility and the prospect of future development, and accordingly filed on 160 acres. At that time the land office was at Danville, and he went there to secure the papers and pay the regulation price of $1.25 per acre. On returning home to Ohio he told his uncle, Thomas Kilgore, of what he had done and also spoke of an adjoining forty acres which he greatly desired, but lack of money prevented his taking it up. His uncle, who admired the pluck of the young man, said, "If that is all that is lacking I will furnish the money," which he promptly did. Again J. K. Patterson made the long trip to Illinois and filed on the coveted forty acres at Dan- ville. He took possession of this land and a year or so later he married the daughter of a neighbor, Catherine Swearingen. During the first year spent by the Patterson family in Champaign County they took their grist to mill at Covington, Indiana. The roads were little more than trails and often impassable on account of the mud. While a team could not drag a wagon over the highways of that time, it was possible by uncoupling the running gear and loading the grain in a box on the two front wheels to accomplish the journey to Covington, though not without a great deal of difficulty at that.
In the family of J. K. and Catherine Patterson were eight children, four sons and four daughters. By a singular coincidence six of these chil- dren were born in the month of December. They were educated in some of those old-time log schoolhouses which have been made familiar by many pictures of old-time conditions. This schoolhouse which the Patterson children attended had rough plank seats, supported by legs from the floor and a broad desk or board was fastened to the wall by pins and furnished space for writing. Otho Patterson has an interesting recollection of an incident of his boyhood, when he carried a dozen eggs to market. These eggs were sold at the little grocery store of Uncle Joe Kelley, proprietor of the famous old Kelley Tavern, the most historic landmark of early Cham- paign County.
J. K. Patterson proved equal to the burdens and responsibilities of mak- ing good as a pioneer. He was an industrious worker and farmer and enjoyed a large degree of prosperity. In the carly days he hauled wheat to market at Chicago, and bought and sold stock on a large scale. After collecting a large number of hogs they were driven overland to market at Cincinnati. He and his wife were devoted members of the Church of Christ and they did a great deal of good in the community where they settled and where they left names associated with complete honesty and integrity of character.
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Otho Patterson grew up in the midst of such pioneer conditions. When a young man he sought a wife and companion, and going to Economy in Wayne County, Indiana, married Miss Sarah E. Wood. Mrs. Patterson was born in Henry County, Indiana, daughter of Joseph and Mary A. (Davis) Wood. When their daughter Sarah was five months old her parents moved back to Ohio. Her father was a native of Virginia and was an early settler in Ohio. When Mrs. Patterson was thirteen years of age her parents returned to Indiana. She had in the meantime attended school at Wilmington, the county seat of Clinton County. She grew to young womanhood in old Wayne County, Indiana, and her home was close by the famous national road, recently called the "Gateway of the West." This is one of the most famous highways in America's history, and as a girl Mrs. Patterson daily witnessed long trains of cmigrant wagons, fre- quently thirty covered wagons in a line, wending their way to the great West.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Patterson located on land belonging to his father. Four years later, in October, 1875, Mr. Patterson's father died. The next year the estate was divided and Otho inherited fifty-one and a half acres. Moving to that land he began its development and improvement, and that has been the scene of his splendid success as a farmer and stockman. He has increased his holdings, and has made improvements of the most substantial character, including a large home, surrounded with groves of fruit and shade trees, and the entire place stands as a monument to his industry. For years Mr. Patterson has been one of the liberal users of cement as a durable and practical construction material, and his home is surrounded with cement walks, the stock watering troughs are constructed of the same material and the character of this material is in line with the substantial nature of Mr. Patterson's industry and accom- plishment in other lines.
For years he has given much of his attention to the raising and training of thoroughbred running horses. These horses have a national reputation. One of them, Doctor Murray, made a record of half a mile in forty-nine seconds, five-eighths of a mile in a minute and two seconds, and at the St. Louis races beat Bob Wade, holder of the first world's record for a quarter inile. In that race Bob Wade ran second in a race of three-eighths of a mile, the time of the winner being thirty-six seconds. In the blue grass regions of Kentucky it would not be possible to find a more enthusiastic horseman than Mr. Patterson. Some of the splendid animals that have been kept in his stables should be mentioned. They are: Sally Kelly, by Jim Kelly, dam Ruby D'Or, by Robert D'Or; Pearl Lewis, from Jim Kelly and Dolly Bell; Wild Cherry, by Wilford and Cerise; Ruby D'Or, out of Robert D'Or and Nannie B; May Cherry, sired by Robert D'Or, dam Wild Cherry Blossom by Wild Cherry; Oonoomoo, by Robert D'Or and Dolly Bell, Oonoomoo having been a great favorite in New Orleans and in one season winning twenty-two straight races. At the pres- ent writing the Patterson stables contain the following horses: Onie, sired by Jim Kelly, dam Dolly Bell; Kitty Muldoon, by Hans Vanderbum and May Cherry II; Nellie Rawlings, by Jim Kelly and Tenny Miller : Billy Siders, by Hokobokee and Dolly Bell; Doctor Murray, from Hokobokee and May Cherry II; Tobias, by Hans Vanderbum and Ruby D'Or; Hans Vanderbum, by Jim Kelly and Dolly Bell; Hokobokee, by Jim Kelly and Ruby D'Or; Little Johnnie, by Jim Kelly and Sadie D'Or.
Breeding and raising and training of fine grades of stock has been Mr. Patterson's occupation and diversion for forty years. He is everywhere known among horsemen and his enterprisc has added another laurel to Champaign County's crown of greatness as an agricultural and stock-raising
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center, Some years ago Mr. Patterson sold six head of horses in Chicago for use as polo horses.
While his business has required his constant care and management Mr. Patterson has not neglected the public welfare. For thirteen years he was road commissioner of St. Joseph Township, and some of the best roads in the county are to be credited to his work in that direction. During all those thirteen years he missed only two meetings of the board of commis- sioners. He has also served as school director, has been first and last an enthusiastic advocate of a good drainage system both on individual farms and by districts. Politically Republican, he was reared in the atmosphere of that party, and since casting his first vote has never missed a presi- dential election. The Patterson home is noted for its hospitality, and not a little for the success which he has achieved Mr. Patterson credits to his good wife, who joined him on the road of life when their capital was exceed- ingly limited and has been by his side steadily through all the years that have followed. It was Mrs. Patterson who selected many of the distinctive and appropriate names for his race horses.
FRANK DELANEY. For forty years Champaign County has been the home of Frank Delaney, and his name, especially in Newcomb Township, is spoken with every degree of respect attaching to a man whosc achieve- ments have been commendable and whose influence has been in every degree salutary and beneficial in the community. Mr. Delaney is now serving as township supervisor.
He was born in McLean County, Illinois, September 13, 1868, one of the ten children of James and Bridget (Trainor) Delaney. Of the six sons and four daughters eight are still living. James Delaney was a native of the Emerald Isle, grew up in Ireland, and when he came to America he was truly a stranger in a strange land and almost penniless. He had to cross the ocean on a sailing vessel and it was eleven weeks before the vessel landed its passengers in New York. After a brief residence in New York State he came West to Bloomington, Illinois. He was not in financial circumstances that would permit him an independent career at the start, and as a wage earner he worked on farms until he could accu- mulate enough to become an independent farmer. Agriculture was his life- long vocation. After strict economy for a number of years he was able to buy eighty acres of land, which original tract is in the fine farm now owned and occupied by his son Frank. That the subsequent years brought him ample prosperity and reward for his good judgment and industry is indicated by the fact that during his lifetime he acquired an estate of 860 acres, 540 acres in Champaign County and 320 acres in Hancock County, Iowa. The death of this hard working farmer occurred in Champaign County in 1892. He was a Democrat, and an active member of St. Malachi Catholic Church at Rantoul. His wife was also a native of Ireland and a devout Catholic. She died in 1912.
In the years of early boyhood Frank Delaney learned the lesson taught by experience that there is no excellence without labor and that the best rewards of life are paid to due diligence and an earnest pursuit of definite ends. By the same principle he obtained most of his early education. When he left home it was to become a wage earner and farm hand, and the first year he worked at $20 a month. He then started as a renter, and while he has long owned a share in the agricultural lands of Cham- paign County he continued as a tenant farmer until about five years ago. With three of his brothers he had bought 150 acres of land, and he and his brother Henry subsequently bought the other shares. With this as a nucleus Frank Delaney has increased his possessions until his estate now
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comprises 396 acres situated in Newcomb and Brown townships. In these modern days such a farm spells independence and success. His home place is thoroughly improved and it has a comfortable residence. Besides his farm Mr. Delaney is a stockholder in the Lotus Coal and Grain Elevator Company at Lotus, Illinois.
The chief impetus to his efforts during all these years has been his good wife and their growing family. On April 5, 1893, he married Miss Anna L. McGuire. They have four living children, two sons and two daughters. Leonard F. was educated in the common schools and is now a practical young agriculturist. He is a Democrat and a member of the Catholic Church at Bellflower, Illinois. Wayne H., the younger son, has completed the common school course and is now in the second year of the Fisher High School. Catherine F. is a student in St. Joseph's Academy at Bloomington, Illinois, and along with literary studics has taken musical instruction. Hazel, the youngest, is in the Walker School. The children have all been carefully reared and the older ones have been confirmed in the Catholic Church.
Mrs. Delaney was born in DeWitt County, Illinois. She had a common school education. Her parents, Michael and Catherine McGuire, are still · living and have their home in Fisher. They are members of the Catholic parish at Rantoul. Mrs. Delancy has her membership in the Catholic Church at Bellflower and both she and her husband did much to aid the parish in the erection of the church. Mrs. Delaney is strictly a home woman and finds her greatest delight in the duties of home making and her children.
Politically Mr. Delaney has always been a Democrat. His fellow citi- zens have sought his co-operation through public office and he served as road commissioner three years, and for eighteen years was a director of his home school district. In 1917 he was unanimously elected to the office of supervisor of Newcomb Township. This is the highest and most impor- tant township office. Mr. Delaney has always shown himself a ready advo- cate and supporter of the good roads movement. He is a member of the Catholic Church at Bellflower. Like many other prosperous Champaign County farmers, he has an automobile both for business and pleasure and his Buick touring car places his country home in close touch with church, school and the village and city centers.
A. J. KIRKPATRICK. By many activities and associations the name Kirkpatrick is identified with the best traditions of Champaign County. Of this family A. J. Kirkpatrick is widely known as one of the most capable agriculturists and his success consists not only in the thorough manage- ment of the resources of the soil but also in his contributions to the improvement and beautifying of the rural landscape. Mr. Kirkpatrick is proprietor of the Blue Mound Farm in Stanton Township.
He was born at Champaign, February 17, 1854, a son of John C. and Mary C. (Busey) Kirkpatrick. His parents represented two of the noted pioneer families in this county. A. J. Kirkpatrick was the second among eight children, and during his boyhood days he attended the public schools of Champaign with his brothers and sisters. He can remember a time when Champaign consisted of a hamlet of only seven houses.
In the Mayview Methodist Episcopal Church, on September 5, 1875, with Rev. B. Bartholow officiating, Mr. Kirkpatrick married Miss Alice Barricklow. She was born at Urbana, daughter of John T. and Phoebe Jane (Hudson) Barricklow. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kirk- patrick continued to live in St. Joseph Township and started farming on the property of his father. Later he bought 120 acres in Stanton Township
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adjoining the 120 acres which his father had given him. This new land had no improvements, and in the course of years he developed its virgin prairies into productive fields, put up commodious houses, planted fruit and shade trees, and the fruits of his industry there are in themselves an impor- tant contribution to the welfare and attractiveness of Champaign County.
To Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick were born four children, two sons and two daughters: Myrtle, Maude and Claude, the last two being twins. The children were educated in the Hunt and Blue Mound district schools, while Earl and Maude attended the Urbana High School. They are now . comfortably settled in life. Myrtle married William Woolever, a farmer at Auburn, Indiana, and her four children are Clare, Leal, Merle and Hazel. The son Earl is active manager of a fine farm of 280 acres owned by his father near Mayview. He married Miss Maymie Polter and has three children : Lysle, Raymond and Wilma. The daughter Maude Kirk- patrick is the wife of Wiley Johnson, a farmer in Stanton Township, and has two children, Nolan and Glen. Claude Kirkpatrick has accepted an opportunity offered him by his father in the management of the home estate, and with his family occupies a house specially built for them by his father. Claude married Miss Hazel Shaw, a native of Urbana, who was educated in the high school of that city.
The mother of these children saw them grow up and carefully super- vised their carly training, and her death on June 16, 1908, was a heavy bereavement to the family and the community. On September 11, 1913, Mr. Kirkpatrick married Mrs. Idabel (Fisher) Yerger. She was the widow of S. O. Yerger. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was born in Indiana, two miles from the famous Tippecanoe battleground. Her paternal grandparents, Danicl and Mary (Chapman) Fisher, were the first people married in Washington Township of Tippecanoe County.
The Kirkpatrick homestead of 297 acres is a splendid picture of comfort and rural adornment. A fine grove of trees near the home furnishes a cool and leafy retrcat and a traveler may ride far and wide over Champaign County without witnessing a more complete picture of rural adequacy and agricultural efficiency. Besides being a practical and natural farmer, Mr. Kirkpatrick is an expert mechanic. His fine country home was built by himself as contractor and architect, and he also installed the acetylene light system, and the gasoline engine which furnishes power for pumping water through the house and about the grounds.
The Kirkpatrick family are active members of the Mayview Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Kirkpatrick has for many years held a membership. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was reared a Congregationalist. Mr. Kirk- patrick has served the church in official capacities and has been superin- tendent of the Sunday school. Politically he is a loyal supporter of the temperance cause, and wherever possible directs his influence and help in that direction. In 1916 he supported President Wilson for another term. Mr. Kirkpatrick is a man of public spirit and also interested in community welfare. For a number of years he served as director of the local schools and as township assessor.
Mrs. Kirkpatrick by her first husband had two children, Leland and · Gertrude Yerger. Leland is a locomotive engineer with the Grand Trunk Railway and lives at Battle Creek, Michigan. He married Lydia Bull and has children named Elwood, Leland, Idabel and Leola. Gertrude Yerger married E. E. Weldy, a jeweler at Danville, Illinois. They have one child, Yerger Edward.
Mr. Kirkpatrick's parents were very active members of the Mayview Methodist Episcopal Church, and each of them donated a memorial window to that beautiful chapel. When a young man Mr. Kirkpatrick had hauled material for some of the university buildings at Urbana.
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Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick celebrated their wedding by a 1,000-mile tour through Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, making that trip through the most beautiful months of the year, September and October. September is con- sidered a lucky month in the Kirkpatrick family. Mr. Kirkpatrick was married in that month both times. and his twin children, Maude and Claude, selected that time for their weddings.
Mr. A. J. Kirkpatrick some years ago left the farm and took up study in the College of Hygiene at Champaign under Dr. Frank Ross. He grad- uated June 10, 1901, received a diploma, and went to Nashville, Tennessee, and engaged in the practice of medicine. He had begun the study of medi- cine for his own benefit and pleasure before taking it up as a profession. After a brief practice he found the lure of the farm irresistible and agri- culture more congenial to his practical tastes. He is, as already stated, a natural farmer. His beautiful and well-kept fields and fine country home attest that fact, and while he is really a landlord, he is first of all a good business manager and a thorough farmer. He has been a useful man in his community and interested in the promotion of every movement for the general welfare.
Recently Mrs. Kirkpatrick sustained a double bereavement in the death of her parents at Salem, Oregon. She had at different times lived with them for several months at a time. While in the Northwest she took special pleasure in the beautiful scenery. She visited the city of Portland at the time of the great rose carnival, an exhibition of rare beauty to the eastern tourist. She witnessed the water pageant on the Willamette River with its miles of boats gaily festooned with roses, with King Rex crowned with, regal authority on his throne of roses, accompanied by his court retinue, amid the salutes of hundreds of guns. Towering above the scene was Mount Hood, with its snow-capped crown in the clouds, and altogether it was a gorgeous spectacle such as deserves to be long remembered.
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