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 66
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
Mr. Leigh is one of the oldest native sons of St. Joseph Township, having been born on a farm a mile and a quarter north of the village of that name September 3, 1845. His parents were Henry and Jemimah (Fisher) Leigh, natives of Virginia who early settled in Ohio, where they married, and in the spring of 1836 journeyed westward on horseback to Illinois, living two years where the town of Catlin now stands in Ver- milion County, and then coming to Champaign County and locating in St. Joseph Township. Francis Leigh was fourth in a family of seven children, three sons and four daughters.
There were few of the modern facilities for giving an education to a family when Francis Leigh was a boy, and he and his brothers and sisters would walk two and a half miles every day back and forth to the school- house, where a three months' terms was about the extent of the book advan- tages for each year. Henry Leigh was never in rugged health, and his sons from an early age had to assist in the labors of the farm.
At the age of twenty-two Francis Leigh laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage to Martha Ross. She was a native of Edgar County, Illinois, and daughter of John and Catherine Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Leigh confronted life bravely and with every anticipation of success and had the youth and enthusiasm that insured a bright future. In looking after a home they bought eighty acres of Illinois Central Railroad land a mile north of the village of St. Joseph. For this land they paid only $10 an acre. The prairie had never been broken by the plow, and there were no building improvements. They began housekeeping in a very simple home, plowed and cultivated the fields, and as the fruit of their industry they were able to make from time to time many improvements that added to their comfort and convenience. They put up comfortable buildings, planted fruit and shade trees, and in course of time added to their estate until the farm con- sisted of 200 acres. When Mr. Leigh sold this farm four years ago it brought $225 an acre. It is noteworthy that when his father, Henry Leigh, entered his 120 acres from the Government the price was only $1.25 per acre.
To Mr. and Mrs. Leigh were born nine children, three of whom died in infancy. The other six are Catherine, Ivy, Lola, John Milton, Marion E. and William Everett. Mr. and Mrs. Leigh recognized their duty to these young people and saw to it that they had opportunities to attend regularly as possible school in District No. 171. The children grew up and they are now married and settled in life. Catherine is the wife of Lafayette Murphy, a Michigan farmer, and her children are named Frank, Lora, Ora, Fred and Ruth. The daughter Ivy is the wife of Elmer Stoup, a farmer north of Fythian in Vermilion County. Lola L. married Elmer Bantz,
FRANCIS M. LEIGH
MRS. FRANCIS M. LEIGH
1
965
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
living in Homer Township, and their three children are Frank. Clyde and Faye. John M., a farmer in St. Joseph Township, married Lula Jacobs and has three children, Rolla, Edward and Arvilla. Marion E. has had a very successful career as a farmer and is now living retired in St. Joseph. He married Belle Lease and their family consists of Cora and Etta. The son William Everett farms the old homestead of his father and by his marriage to Virginia Carr has three children, Ray, Louis and Ivy.
The companion of his early struggles as a farmer and the sharer of his joys and sorrows was taken from Mr. Leigh a number of years ago. Later he married Mrs. Clara Chase, widow of Albert Chase. Her two children by that marriage were Carl and Pearl Chase, both of whom received their education in the Catlin School. Carl is now train dispatcher at Peru, Indiana, and by his marriage to Alice Ginther has a daughter, Martha Temperance. Pearl is the wife of Charles Boughton and their family consists of two children, Rolland and Wilma.
The active years of his life Mr. Leigh spent as a farmer, grain raiser and handler of horses and other live stock. About ten years ago he gave up the responsibilities of the farm and removed to the village of St. Joseph, where he bought a good home on Main Street. This house he has extensively remodeled, adding to it and improving it and beautifying the grounds.
Many of the experiences of Mr. Leigh reflect the history of changes and developments in Champaign County. During the winter of 1862 he hauled corn to Champaign and sold it at 9 cents a bushel. The same year the taxes on his farm were $2.50 and he had difficulty in raising even that small amount. Even before then his father had hauled wheat to Chicago and was barely able to exchange a large load for a limited supply of gro- ceries. That was a time when toil and hardship were scantily rewarded. In spite of the present era of high prices and the complaints made on that score it is evidence that a bushel of grain today will command more of the necessities and luxuries of life than at any time in history. Mr. Leigh was only nine years of age when he had his first experience as a practical farmer. He was set to work plowing corn for his father with one of the old-fashioned single-shovel plows. That was hard work. but he had no idea how hard it really was since he was unable to contrast the implements he used with the modern riding plow. Mr. Leigh can look back to a time when in the spring of the year half of the land in Champaign County was covered with water. Evidently all the changes and developments are the result of strenuous labors on the part of the farmers and the early settlers and those who have followed them, and it is impossible to pay all the honor that they deserve to such people. When Mr. Leigh was a small boy he drove in a wagon to Champaign with his mother to witness the first train pass through the county on the Illinois Central Railway. His father was a very successful hunter. At that time deer and other wild game abounded, and Mr. Leigh recalls a time when eleven deer carcasses were hanging up as the store of winter meat. His father also understood the art of tanning, and always converted the deer hides into a fine quality of buckskin. He was also expert in making whips and other useful articles out of buckskin. Mr. Leigh as a boy several times wandered over that portion of the land where the city of Champaign now stands, and he knew St. Joseph Township as a variegated vista of wild prairie and sloughs.
Mr. Leigh served as a director of his local schools for twenty years and also served as mayor of the village of St. Joseph two terms, being solicited to take the office again, but declining. He was an active member of the Christian Church at St. Joseph, is a Democrat in politics and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
966
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
JOHN W. REARDON. The people of a large section of central Illinois as well as northwestern Champaign County know the name Reardon because of its prominent associations with the live stock industry as well as with agriculture and commercial affairs. The Reardon family established its home in Champaign County nearly half a century ago, and with a farm as the foundation of their efforts steadily progressed until they became large and extensive land owners. A younger representative of this family is Mr. John W. Reardon, whose field of enterprise has been gradually extended until he has almost a state-wide, if not an interstate, reputation as a breeder and importer of fine draft horses.
Mr. Reardon was born in Champaign County, October 3, 1869, the only child of James and Ellen (Burns) Reardon. His father was a native of the Emerald Isle, born there in 1832. He lived long and usefully and well, and died on Washington's birthday, February 22, 1916. The close of his life found him honored, esteemed and to a degree a man of wealth. Far otherwise was it with him when he came to America at the age of fourteen. He was a penniless boy and arrived to find himself alone and among strangers. He had come across the ocean on one of the old-fashioned sailing vessels. He left the city of Cork, his native county being Cork, and landed in Baltimore. Here he soon found employment with the construc- tion forces of the Pennsylvania Railway System. He aided in building one of the lines of that road to Pittsburgh.
James Reardon came to Illinois in 1857. He was then a young man without capital and started at the very bottom round of the ladder and climbed up from rung to rung, at first for several years as a renter in Carroll County, then four years as a wage earner in Bloomington, and with such modest capital as he had been able to accumulate during these years he came to Champaign County and bought forty acres west of Fisher. In that community he had his home and was actively engaged in superintending his landed interests until 1914, when he retired to the village of Fisher, where he died two years later. His success as a farmer and business man was represented by the accumulation of 840 acres of the rich and fertile soil of Champaign County. Politically he was a Democrat and was an active member of St. Malachi Catholic Church at Rantoul. He aided in the construction of the church edifice there. His good wife was a native of County Cork, Ireland, and her Burns ancestry originally had its seat in Scotland. She was an active and devoted member of the same church as her husband.
John W. Reardon had only the rudiments of a common school educa- tion. From boyhood he recognized life as a great opportunity for experi- ence and the expression of the best talents within him, and his activities have occupied no restricted limits. For years he was active as a farmer, manager of his father's large estate, but some years ago he engaged in the importation of the noted draft horse's of the Belgian and Percheron breeds, bringing them from France and Belgium before the war. That business he has followed for fourteen years, and is accounted an authority on these two strains. He has sold horses all over central Illinois, and has been the means of raising the standard and type of the animals that perform the heavy labor of this farming region. At present he has about ten head of fine horses, both mares and stallions, containing some of the best blood of the Belgian and Percheron breeds. The highest price he ever obtained for a horse was $2,200. He has bought and sold large numbers of these animals.
The live stock industry has always made a strong appeal to his tastes and inclinations, and he has been successful in that field since early man- hood. He has raised and sold cattle, horses, sheep and hogs for a number
967
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
of years. Mr. Reardon is the owner altogether of 610 acres, most of it in Illinois and some in the State of Texas.
His business field has also been extended to dealing in agricultural implements and automobiles. He represents some of the best known manu- facturers, including the Case, Mitchell, Chevrolet, National and Olds makes, and has sold a great number of the high class cars over central Illinois, a district with a population that can well afford automobiles. Mr. Reardon since 1910 has also conducted a grain business at Osman, where he has a large elevator with a capacity of 40,000 bushels.
Politically Mr. Reardon is a Democrat. His business affairs have taken his time and energies to the exclusion of politics, and he has never been an office seeker. He belongs to no fraternity, but is a very consistent and regular attendant and worshiper in St. Malachi Catholic Church at Ran- toul. Thus his career has been spent in the county where he was born and where he grew up, and he is a man of the highest business standing and of unimpeachable citizenship.
JACOB W. SMITH, whose extensive farming interests are in Crittenden Township, has known Champaign County as a home for nearly thirty years. His work and management have brought him success to a high degree, and he has long enjoyed a position among the most influential residents of southern Champaign County.
Mr. Smith was born in Racine County, Wisconsin, November 30, 1858. His parents, Frederick and Catherine (Bienemann) Smith, were both natives of Germany, his father of Mecklenburg. The father came to America when about eighteen years of age and spent his active life as a farmer in Wisconsin, where he died in 1895. The mother passed away in 1869, when Jacob was eleven years old. There were eight children in the family, of whom two brothers and one sister of Jacob are living in Wiscon- sin, and four brothers are deceased.
Jacob W. Smith had a training in the district schools of Wisconsin and learned farming by practical experience. He began life for himself without capital at the age of seventeen, and has made steady progress against all vicissitudes and difficulties. In 1888, coming to Champaign County, he was able to acquire 160 acres in section 29 of Crittenden Township and has since increased his land holdings there to 440 acres, and at the same time has added marvelously to the value and the improve- ments. He is one of the leading general farmers and stock feeders in that section. Besides his interest as a farmer Mr. Smith is president of the Pesotum Bank. His farm home is supplied with mail from Pesotum over Rural Route No. 55.
Mr. Smith married for his first wife, Miss Mary Best, a native of Peoria County, Illinois. She died September 25, 1892, leaving five children : Frank, a resident of Colorado; Ella, who died at the age of fifteen ; Joseph, also deceased; Leo, of Crittenden Township; and Bertha, who died in infancy. On January 25, 1894, Mr. Smith married for his present wife Anna Henry, a native of Morris, Indiana. To this marriage have been born nine children, all of whom are living and are still members of the unbroken family circle. Their names in order of birth are Herbert, Alvin, Walter, Raymond, Mary, Edith, Ruth, James and Alice.
While building up his private fortune Mr. Smith has not neglected the call of the community upon his services and has filled such offices, significant of community esteem and offering great opportunities for service without compensation, as township collector, road commissioner, assessor and school trustee. In politics he is a Democrat, and he and his family worship in the Catholic Church.
!
968
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
OSCAR WALTER SCHINDLER. . Since attaining his majority Oscar Walter Schindler has found himself busied with constantly increasing duties and responsibilities as a farmer and stockman in Sidney Township, and is now handling a large part of the farming estate acquired by his father in that section of Champaign County.
Mr. Schindler was born at Sidney, December 13, 1886, a son of Robert H. and Alvina P. (Block) Schindler. The parents were both natives of Germany. His father was brought to this country at the age of two years, spent his youth in New York State, and in 1860 joined the early settlers of Champaign County. For a time he lived in the village of Sidney and subsequently bought a farm in section 28 of that township. His efforts as a farmer were more than ordinarily successful and at the time of his death on January 13, 1912, he owned an estate of 600 acres, magnificently improved and recognized as one of the best individual farms in the entire county. The widowed mother is still living on the old homestead. There were five children: John E. of Sidney Township; Fred, who died in infancy; William H. of Sidney Township; Oscar W .; and Freda K., wife of Orville Zook of Danville, Illinois.
Oscar Walter Schindler grew up in a home of simple comforts, was educated in the district schools, and acquired a practical knowledge of farming even before he reached his majority. At the age of twenty-one he rented 120 acres, and farmed it until 1912. Then for two years he had 130 acres and is now handling 205 acres of the old homestead. He is rapidly developing the registered Shorthorn cattle as a primary interest in his farming.
Mr. Schindler is a Republican and a member of the German Reformed Church. His father was a man of well known public spirit and served at one time as supervisor and also as school trustee.
CLARENCE L. WILLIAMS is an enterprising farmer of Philo Township and is now living in section 25, on the land where he was born August 7, 1875.
The family is an old and prominent one of Champaign County. His parents were Elias and Hannah (Peterson) Williams. Both were born in Franklin County, Indiana. Elias Williams came to Illinois in early man- hood and located in Champaign County during the early '60s. His first possessions here were eighty acres and he subsequently added another eighty acres and had the farm well improved and under profitable opera- tion long before his death, which occurred June 19, 1914. His widow died May 22, 1917, at Philo. Their three children are: Clark E., of Bluffton, Indiana; Ella M., at home; and Clarence L.
Clarence L. Williams grew up on the homestead, attended the district schools, and at the age of nineteen began his independent career by renting a home place of eighty acres. He has since bought the entire farm of 160 acres and has it under splendid control. Mr. Williams is a Republi- can in politics. His interest in local schools is indicated by the fact that for the past fifteen years he has served as director of his home district. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church.
He married Catherine Churchill, who was born in New York State. Their four children, all at home, are Nellie, Roy, Dorothea and Karl.
LUTHER C. WADE. While the agricultural community of Champaign County is known as one of the most progressive and prosperous of the world, the same quality of enterprise distinguishes the commercial element. A business organization that has made a successful record due to the hard work and enterprise of its members is the hardware house of Chapman &
-
969
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
Wade at Fisher. Both members are young merchants. know thoroughly the art of sticking close to their business, and at the same time can take a long look ahead when that is required. They have made their house one of the leading establishments in the northwest part of the county, and the volume of their yearly business aggregates $30,000.
The junior member of this firm is Luther C. Wade, who has been a resident of Champaign County for twenty-two years. In that time in his relations as a merchant and as a citizen he has earned the respect of all who know him. Mr. Wade was born in Adams County, Ohio, November 1, 1886. He is the fifth in a family of six children, four sons and two daughters, born to Edmund and Susannah (Potts) Wade. Five of the children are still living. E. L. Wade, the oldest, was educated in the com- mon schools, had two terms of instruction in Westfield College of Illinois, and is now married and a successful agriculturist in Brown Township, with home at Fisher. Charles H., the next in age, had a common school train- ing, was an agriculturist and owns a well equipped farm of 160 acres in Colorado. He married Miss Lucy Ring, and they have six children. In politics he is a Socialist. Rosetta is the wife of Bert Chapman. The next of the family is Luther C. Wade. Orla J. resides in Champaign County.
Edmund Wade was born in Ohio, and throughout his active lifetime has followed agriculture as his main pursuit. The name Wade is of English or Welsh lineage. Mrs. Edmund Wade is now deceased.
Luther C. Wade was educated in the common schools, took a business course in Brown's Business College at Champaign, and was also a student of instrumental music at the University of Illinois. He began his career at the very bottom round of the ladder and has climbed steadily to the heights of success.
After his education was finished Mr. Wade spent eight years as a renter of land in Brown Township of Champaign County, and finally left the farm to join Mr. Chapman in a partnership in the hardware business at Fisher. In 1916 Mr. Wade entered the Worsham Embalming School at Chicago, took the full course, and the members of his firm are now the only undertakers and embalmers at Fisher. They are thoroughly competent for this useful calling.
On September 30, 1908, Mr. Wade married Miss Leila Gossard. They have two young sons, Willard Edmund and Robert Earl. Willard E. is now in the first grade of the public schools. Mrs. Wade is a native of Champaign County, where she was born November 18, 1888, a daughter of Urvin and Belle (Hoffman) Gossard. Mrs. Wade was her parents' only child. Her father was a native of Fayette County, Ohio, but was reared and educated in Illinois, learned the trade of blacksmith, and for a number of years has been engaged in merchandising at Fisher, where he still resides. He is a member of the United Brethren Church of that city and a Pro- hibitionist in politics. Mrs. Wade's mother is now deceased. Mrs. Wade was educated in the common schools and has also taken courses in instru- mental music. She is an active member of the United Brethren Church and president of the Ladies' Aid Society. In matters of politics Mr. Wade is independent. He votes for the man he considers best fitted for the office, and is like thousands of other independent thinking young men of America today. Fraternally he is affiliated with the camp at Fisher of the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. and Mrs. Wade are young people who command the complete respect of their neighbors and friends, take an earnest attitude toward the problems of life, and have done much to solve the problems connected with comfortable living. They have their own automobile and have surrounded themselves with many of the comforts and conveniences.
970
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
HARLAN W. SIX. To those who have never had an opportunity to visit a modern Illinois farm and watch its industries being carefully and methodically carried on, it would be an interesting and enlightening experience to take a vacation trip through the rich farming districts of Champaign County. They would find no better proof of intelligent, scientific cultivation of the soil and its marvelous effects in any section better demonstrated than in Ayers Township, where is located the finely improved farm of Harlan W. Six, who is one of the township's representa- tive citizens and trustworthy public officials.
Harlan W. Six was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, October 21, 1861, and is a son of Presley H. and Mary E. (Palmer) Six. The father was born in Kentucky and the mother in Pennsylvania. They were mar- ried and resided in Kentucky until 1870, when they came to Illinois. The father was a farmer and before purchasing a permanent home decided to look over different sections. From 1870 until 1872 the family lived near Lincoln in Logan County, and then came to Champaign County, and here in 1877 Presley H. Six purchased eighty acres of land situated in section 33, Ayers Township. Subsequently 160 acres were added to the original purchase, and all of the land has been put under a fine state of cultivation. The modern two-story brick residence was built in 1910, and it is equipped with conveniences that make it an ideal rural home. Presley H. Six died on this farm on February 7, 1900, having been the father of two children, Harlan W. and Emma B., the latter of whom is deceased. She was the wife of Joseph Alexander. The mother resides with her son on the homestead.
After completing his public school education Harlan W. Six very naturally gave his father assistance on the farm, and as his tastes lie in this direction has made agricultural industries his main interest although he is additionally concerned with other enterprises and is vice president of the State Bank at Allerton, Illinois.
Mr. Six was married in August, 1897, to Miss Nellie Telling, who was born in Morgan County, and they have three children : Olga Helen, Harvey Presley and Palmer Telling.
In politics Mr. Six has always been a Democrat and long has been an influential factor in township politics. Aside from politics, however, he has been one of the earnest, hardworking men of this section through whose efforts better conditions along many paths have been brought about. During his two terms as supervisor the township greatly profited and as township school treasurer, an office he has filled for the past fifteen years, the school funds have been wisely handled. He is a leading spirit in a number of local organizations and his fraternal memberships include the Modern Woodmen of America and the Masons, being a Knight Templar in the latter. He is a man of genial personality and even temperament, and his friends may be found everywhere.
CLYDE L. BUSEY, whose active part as a citizen of Champaign County is farming and managing one of the fine farms in Sidney Township, is one of the sturdy representatives of a name that has been identified with this section of Illinois since pioneer times.
His father, Simeon Fountain Busey, was born in Sidney Township, Feb- ruary 12, 1854, a son of Fountain J. and Maria (Sheppard) Busey. Foun- tain J. was born in Kentucky and his wife in Ohio. Fountain Busey came to Champaign County in the early '40s and acquired and developed a hand- some estate of farming land. His death occurred July 24, 1894, and his wife passed away October 2, 1889. They were the parents of thirteen children, five of whom are still living.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.