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 77
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JAMES J. FREEMAN, of Homer, represents the second generation of a family that has played a worthy part in the affairs of Champaign County for over sixty years, and he is managing with thrift and a high degree of prosperity a fine farm in the locality where he was born.
Mr. Freeman was born in Champaign County, May 27, 1858. His parents were Thomas and Nancy (Redman) Freeman, the father born in
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Ohio and the mother in Illinois. His father was one of the early agri- culturists in this county and died in Champaign County in 1910, while the mother died here in 1902. Both of them died in the month of April and their birthdays were in the same month. There were six children: Mary M., deceased; Edmund R. of Ogden, Illinois; John T. of Homer; James J .; and William and Margaret, both of whom died in infancy.
James J. Freeman lived with his father until he was twenty-five years of age, and in the meantime had the advantages of the local schools and also a training which well fitted him for the responsibilities he has later assumed. At the age of twenty-five he bought a farm, subsequently hav- ing a brief mercantile experience in Homer, then returned to the farm, and for another short period was engaged in the lumber business at Homer. Mr. Freeman owns 110 acres of the old homestead of 280 acres, and also has a quarter section north of Ogden. His business is stock and grain farming and he has brought about many improvements and much increased productiveness on the land which he helped work as a boy.
Mr. Freeman married Flora E. Yount, a native of Vermilion County. Three children were born to their marriage: Cleavie, who died at the age of four years ; a daughter that died in infancy; and Gordon A., at present in Battery C, Seventeenth Field Artillery. Mr. Freeman is independent in politics. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the family are members of the Presbyterian Church.
BENJAMIN M. CUSTER, of Homer, where he lives retired, is now serving as township supervisor. His main business in life has been farming, and he still owns a fine place in Champaign County, where the family were among the pioneer settlers. Mr. Custer is one of the many men in Cham- paign County who have won financial independence through the avenue of agriculture.
He was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, January 23, 1852, a son of Jacob M. and Elizabeth O. (Ochiltree) Custer. His parents were both natives of Virginia, and they came to Illinois in 1848, locating in Vermilion County. In 1856, soon after the village of Homer was started on the newly completed Wabash railroad, the family moved to that town and Jacob Custer erected the first hotel in Homer. After managing it for three and a half years he turned to farming and in that occupation spent his life until his death on September 13, 1865. His widow survived him until November 1, 1899. They were the parents of nine children, the record of each being briefly stated as follows: Margaret, born October 5, 1834, died November 5, 1843; Martha E., born September 4, 1836, died April 14, 1907; Mary E., born October 10, 1838, is the widow of James Hays, of Chicago; William C., born January 8, 1841, died April 8, 1899; John M., born April 26, 1843, died August 12, 1913; James F., born May 27, 1845, died May 18, 1862; George W., born September 5, 1847, died September 6, 1848; Jacob A., born February 24, 1850, is still living at Homer; and the youngest is Benjamin M.
Benjamin M. Custer spent his early life in and around Homer, secured his education in the public schools and was on the home farm as a factor in its work and management until 1877. In that year he rented ninety acres of the home place, and after his mother's death he bought the entire farm. After forty years of continuous work as an agriculturist Mr. Custer retired and in 1912 bought his comfortable modern home on South Main Street at Homer, where he now spends his time.
Mr. Custer is a Republican in politics and on that ticket was elected to his office as supervisor. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias and the Methodist Episcopal Church.
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He married Miss Carrie Radebaugh, a native of Pennsylvania. Two children were born to their marriage, Harry, the older, dying in infancy. Oral B., the only daughter, is the wife of W. F. Barton, a Champaign .
County farmer.
OSCAR J. HENDERSON. Many years of association with the agricul- tural interests of Champaign County have given Oscar J. Henderson a recognized position among the husbandmen of Homer Township, where he now has a well cultivated property of 110 acres. He has passed his entire career within the limits of the county, and is known as a skilled tiller of the soil and as a citizen who gives his aid and influence to worthy civic measures and movements, while his business record is a clean one and his success in life has been cleanly and fairly won.
Mr. Henderson was born on the home farm in Homer Township, Sep- tember 1, 1872, and is a son of William and Nancy J. (Hoff) Henderson. His parents, who were natives of Montgomery County, Indiana, came to Champaign County in 1867, in which year they located on a farm in section 19, Homer Township. William Henderson was an industrious and enterprising man, who, starting life with energy and ambition as his only capital, worked out a splendid success for himself and won well deserved notice in the locality in which his home was made. His death occurred February 7, 1896, while Mrs. Henderson, a woman of many estimable qualities, survived him until March 12, 1901. In addition to his farming operations William Henderson was for several years one of the pioneer school teachers of Champaign County, being a man of supe- rior education. He did not enter public life, but was an influence in pro- moting and fostering beneficial movements and had his fellow-citizens' esteem. He and his wife were the parents of six children: Minnie, Edgar and Alice, who are all deceased; and Oscar J., Emma and Alma, who reside at home.
The district schools of Homer Township furnished Oscar J. Hender- son with his elementary education, following which he attended the Homer High School for two years. When he started upon his career he adopted teaching as his vocation, but after spending two years in the schoolroom decided that farming was his particular forte and accordingly returned to the home place, which he has since been conducting with splendid success. He carries on general farming and stock raising, and the prosperity which has rewarded his efforts would seem to indicate that he is both a skilled agriculturist and a good judge of live stock. The property consists of 110 acres, and is under a high state of cultivation, with modern improvements . and a good set of buildings to enhance its value. The modern home is located on Homer. Rural Route No. 60. Mr. Henderson is unmarried and lives with his two sisters. He is a Republican in politics, although not actively identified with political affairs save as a voter, while his fraternal association is with the Tribe of Ben Hur and his religious membership is in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has many friends in the com- munity who have watched his upward progress with much interest.
JACOB REDMON. In these days when the American nation is, once more girded for battle, the people pay increasing honor and respect to the com- paratively few survivors of that great struggle of fifty years ago when the object was the destruction of the institution of slavery as it is now the abolition of autocratic governments from the face of the earth.
One of the veterans of that war against slavery living in Champaign County is Mr. Jacob Redmon of Ogden. He has lived to attain and pass the age of three quarters of a century and practically all his life has been
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spent in Champaign County. He was born near Sidncy, Illinois, in 1841, a son of Isaiah and Mary (Thomas) Redmon. His father was a native of Pennsylvania. He was only a small child when his mother died, and he grew up practically among strangers near Homer. Jacob Redmon had one sister, Elizabeth, who became the wife of Gersham Wright.
Jacob Redmon was twenty years of age when war broke out between the North and the South. One day he was attending Sunday school at the old Cottington schoolhouse. At this session of Sunday school there was also present Lieutenant Ed Hall. The licutenant had in his pocket a company roll and young Redmon before the session was over asked Hall to put down his name for enlistment. He was mustered into service at St. Louis, Missouri, the same ycar and thus responded to the first call for three years men to put down the rebellion. As a member of Company C of the Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry he was sent with his comrades to Jefferson City, Missouri, and soon took part in that great campaign through southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, which was one of the hardest blows struck at the Confederacy. He fought in the battle of Pea Ridge and other engagements of that campaign until Pricc and the Con- federate forces were driven out of the country. The regiment then crossed the Mississippi and took part in the siege and battle of Corinth, and later in the tremendous fighting of Stone River at Murfreesboro. Then followed almost continuous fighting through Tennessee, Kentucky and northern Georgia, and for three years Mr. Redmon endured the hardships and dangers of army life without a murmur. He was in part of the great Atlanta campaign, fighting at Peach Tree Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, but before the campaign was over he was relieved from duty on expiration of his enlist- ment and returning home' was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois.
With a record made as a veteran soldier, a distinction that will be cherished by his descendants in all generations, he returned to the old place near Homer where he had spent his boyhood days. There in 1867 he married Miss Minerva Anderson, who was born near Danville, Illinois. They took up their home on the farm of his aunt, Elizabeth Redmon, near Homer, but after two years the death angel visited the home and Mrs. Redmon entered into rest in 1869. The only child of the union, Robert Redmon, died at the age of eighteen months.
In 1871 Mr. Redmon married Lovica E. Fowler. She was a native of Ohio, daughter of George and Miranda (Butts) Fowler. Her father died before she was born and when she was six years of age her mother passed away, so that she grew up in the home of her grandmother in Indiana. After the war the family moved to Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Redmon began their wedded life near Homer, where for six years he operated a sawmill. He then came to Ogden, where he has had his home for a long period of years. He was first engaged in the trade of plasterer and brick layer, but for twenty years followed harnessmaking as a trade and conducted a shop which was the center of a large and flourishing business.
Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Redmon, Ulysses Vernon, Bertha Florence, Oscar, Cora Elizabeth, Frank M., Harry E. and Nellie. The son Oscar died at the age of twenty years. These children were given the advantages of the public schools of Ogden. Ulysses, the oldest, lives at Rockford, Illinois, and by his marriage to Mary Richards has two children, Hazcl and Merlc. The daughter Bertha is the wife of William Hasty, a clerk at St. Joseph Village, and their children are Fern and Harold. Cora E. married Dell Strong, a poultryman at Fithian, Illinois. They have a household of five children, Gladys, Goldie, Arthur, Wayne and Rema. Frank M. Redmon is a printer by trade and lives at Bloom-
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ington, Illinois. He married Bertha Peters and has a daughter Laneva.' Harry Redmon is a harness maker by trade living at Urbana, and by his marriage to Pearl Barnhart has three children, Carl, Clyde and May. The youngest child, Nellie, is the wife of Fred Priblo, a farmer near St. Joseph. They have one son, Darwin.
Mr. and Mrs. Redmon have for many years been sustaining members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Ogden. In politics Mr. Redmon has never deviated from the principles which he supported in casting his first vote. This vote was given to Abraham Lincoln in 1864, about the time he returned from his army service. Mr. Redmon fought as a soldier for the triumph of the principles advocated by the Republican party at the begin- ning, and has kept his allegiance true through all the half century that has followed. His career in civic affairs and in business life has been as straightforward and honest as his early service in following the flag was steadfast and courageous, and the years have brought him abundant success and community esteem. He has served as member of the town board of Ogden, and in his later years he and his good Christian wife have enjoyed the pleasures of a good home in the village and the associations of a fine family and many friends.
SAMUEL LIVINGSTON is of the pioneer element of Champaign County. He came to this region sixty years ago. It was nearly sixty years ago that he and his young wife began the battle with existence on some of the broad and 'virgin prairies of this section, and what they endured, what they achieved, the family that grew up around them, and the riches of esteem that were paid to them by their neighbors is worthy of something more than passing record.
Now living retired, Mr. Livingston since the death of his wife has found a home of every comfort for his declining years with his daughter, Mrs. Rosa Lee, Donovan, on Congress Avenue, in Rantoul. Samuel Liv- ingston was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, one of the ten children of John and Margaret (May) Livingston, who were also natives of the Old Dominion. When he was two years of age his parents moved to Mont- gomery County, Ohio, near Dayton. He grew up there and acquired his education in the local schools. At the age of twelve years he left home and worked for his board and clothes, and when he was fourteen he hired out for $3.50 per month and performed a man's work. He hauled as much cordwood to the town as his employer. During that time he would go home on Saturdays and carry the mail bag six miles, walking the distance. He always worked out by the month. At the age of twenty Mr. Livingston went still farther west, locating near Terre Haute, Indiana. He was there two years and in 1855 arrived in Champaign County, Illinois. Then fol- lowed a period of capable industry and hard work as a hand on the Genung farm. He worked for Mr. Genung one year and then bought twenty-one head of oxen and operated three breaking teams, breaking prairie for $3 per acre. He estimated that he broke 1,000 or more acres of prairie in the neighborhood. He went through severe hardships during tliat time. He carried an ox yoke on his/shoulder on horseback ten miles to Rantoul, in many places wading through sloughs and basins of water two feet deep at times. With his oxen he worked all day long and during the hot part of the season he would get up at 3 o'clock in the morning and let his oxen ,graze until light enough to see to plow. . He had a bell on one so they could not stray away. On one job of breaking where he boarded the people were very poor and they had to eat off of dry goods . boxes and sleep on the floor. There were seven of them all lying in a row on the floor. When the owner of the land, which was ten miles
Samuel Livingston and Wife
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
away, went with him to look at the work they only had one horse. One would ride a mile or two, then hitch the horse to some rosin stalks until the other caught up, then he would walk. When they reached their desti- nation it was about noon, and they both had to eat off of one plate on a box. Some of them had to eat with their jackknives. Mr. Livingston worked steadily four years, saved his wages, and all the time had an eye to the future.
In 1859 he went back to Indiana, where he had left his sweetheart, Miss Letitia Shores. She was born in Indiana, a daughter of Meredith and Frankie L. Shores.
The father of Mrs. Livingston, Meredith Shores, had traveled all the way on horseback from North Carolina to New Goshen, near Terre Haute, Indiana. He was a young man at the time and was viewing out a place for a future home. One night he stopped at a farmhouse. All the family were out in the fields except a daughter, Frankie Tizer, a seventeen-year- old maiden, who was preparing dinner and going about her work with a great show of industry and energy. The principal and, to the young trav- eler, the most attractive part of the food was a loaf of corn bread which she was baking in an old-fashioned skillet at the open fireplace. As the tired and hungry traveler looked at the loaf he thought that he could eat it all, and at the same time with hunger there entered into his heart a desire to win and have the beautiful young cook for his bride. He was invited to dine after the fashion of pioneer hospitality that then prevailed, and while the bountiful but simple meal soon appeased his hunger, his love for the young girl strengthened and increased. The acquaintance thus begun ripened into love and ended with wedding bells. Meredith Shores lived to the age of forty-eight, but his wife, Frankie, attained the venerable age of ninety-seven. The energy which she displayed on that day when her future husband arrived at her home was characteristic of her entire life and she proved a very excellent manager and developed a splendid character of true womanhood.
When Samuel Livingston returned with his bride from Indiana he rented the Genung farm and conducted it for five years. He had the qualifications which make the successful man in every sphere and in time he and his wife were able to buy eighty acres, and later forty acres more, making them the owners of 120 acres, seven miles northwest of Rantoul. They paid $13 an acre for this land, but many years later they sold it for $225 an acre. In 1882 they left the farm and removed to Rantoul.
To Mr. and Mrs. Livingston were born six children: Ida M., War- ren B., Rosa Lee, Minnie B., Cora E., Charles R. These children had the advantages of a good home and also attended the Maple Grove district school and the high school at Rantoul. Warren B. also attended school at Paxton, Illinois, and the Terre Haute Business College. Ida M. Livingston married Josiah Chaney, a farmer, and their home is in Burns, Kansas. Their five children are named Cora R., Ivaloo, Marian, Wilbur and Freddie. Rosa Lee married William B. Donovan, a painter and decorator at Rantoul. They have a daughter, Rena May, who was educated partly in Chicago and partly in the high school at Rantoul, and is now the wife of Edgar J. Burns, a resident of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Burns have two children, Leroy B. and Edgar Dale, these being great-grandchildren of Mr. Samuel Livingston. Minnie B. Livingston married Professor Harold Lawrence, a resident of Yakima, Washington. Charles R. Livingston, who lives at Chrisman, Illinois, and is editor of the Chrisman Courier, married Nellie Murphy, and they have a daughter, Deniza Fayelle Livingston.
The usual assortment of joys and sorrows came to the Livingston family, and death took away the children until the only ones now living
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are Charles and Rosa Lee. The good mother passed away in 1913. Through her long life she had endeared herself to a large community by her Christian neighborliness and kindness, and she entered into rest with the benedictions of her family and friends. When her health began to fail her daughter, Mrs. Donovan, removed to Rantoul from Chicago and care- fully nursed her through her last illness. Later Mr. and Mrs. Donovan built for themselves a commodious bungalow on Congress Avenue in Ran- toul and here, with every comfort and the companionship of his devoted daughter, Mr. Livingston is spending his last days.
Both the Livingston and Donovan families are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Rantoul. Samuel Livingston has long been a regular voter of the Democratic ticket. Mr. Donovan usually sup- ports the principles of politics rather than the party. In his younger years Samuel Livingston served eighteen years as constable of Rantoul.
Few families have been more closely identified with developing Cham- paign County over a longer period of years than the Livingstons. When Mr. and Mrs. Livingston first settled here the land was raw prairie. They bore the hardships with patience and perseverance and their labors were eventually crowned with success. When Mr. Livingston broke his prairie land, following the oxen back and forth over the fields, the wolves would frequently appear and at a safe distance follow him and the animals up and down. Both in the earlier years and later the Livingston home was noted for its hospitality. No needy person was ever turned away from the door uncared for.
MATHEW L. YEAZEL. One of the old and honored families of Cham- paign County is that which bears the name of Yeazel and which has been represented here for more than three-quarters of a century. Its members have been mainly engaged in agricultural pursuits and have been noted for their honorable and upright dealings and their good citizenship. A worthy representative of the name is found in the person of Mathew L. Yeazel, who for nearly sixty years has been a resident of Homer Town- ship, where he is now carrying on operations on the Old Homestead farm.
Mr. Yeazel was born on the farm to the supervising of the operations on which he now devotes his attention. This is located in section 7, Homer Township. He was born June 12, 1858, a son of James and Mary Maria (Spencer) Yeazel, natives of Ohio. James Yeazel came to Champaign County in March, 1840, and from small beginnings grew to be one of the most substantial farmers in this part of the county, having accumulated a property of 640 acres and various other holdings, including realty and business interests. Also he was prominent in the affairs of his community and was frequently elected to office in the township, where he held, among others, the position of township supervisor. Mrs. Yeazel died when her son Mathew L. was eight years of age. The children were as follows: John and William, deceased in infancy; Alice, who is the wife of Hugh O'Neil, of Homer; Abraham and Abigail, who are deceased ; Mathew L .; and Inez, the wife of C. G. Squires, of Indianapolis, Indiana.
The public schools of Homer Township furnished Mathew L. Yeazel with his education, and his boyhood and youth were spent on the home farm, where he assisted his father. Married at the age of twenty-one years, at that time he began operations on his own account on a rented farm of eighty acres, on which he lived for five years, and at the end of that time rented another property, one of 160 acres, and spent a like period thereon. In the meantime his father had died, and his father-in-law had purchased 260 acres of the present farm. Two years later he passed away, leaving his son-in-law and daughter 225 acres, and when Mr. Yeazel settled
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thereon he named it the Old Homestead farm, in honor of his and his wife's parents. He is now engaged in general farming operations, but more as an oversecr than as an active worker, and is recognized as one of the skilled and substantial agriculturists of his community and a business man of ability and honor.
Mr. Yeazel was married October 9, 1879, to Julia E. Smith, a native of Champaign County and a daughter of Mortimer and Jennic (Tresler) Smith. Mr. Smith was one of the prominent men of Homer Township, having started the second tile manufacturing plant in the State of Illinois, and he died a very wealthy citizen, passing away May 21, 1906. He and . his wife were the parents of eight children: Julia E., the wife of Mr. Yeazel ; Clara, deceased; William, a resident of Homer; Mary, the widow of Byron S. Poisal, of the Auditorium Hotel, Chicago; Jennie, the wife of Wyley C. Wamsley, of Long Beach, California; Nellie, who is deceased ; Charles, of Danville, Illinois ; and Harry J., of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Yeazel have had four children: Estella J., who is the wife of Charles Havard, of Homer ; Jennic, who met death as an infant by burning; Nellic M., the wife of C. V. Davis, of Sheridan, Wyoming; and Lelia, the wife of Owen Johnson, of Marshfield, Indiana. Mr. Yeazel is a Republican, and his influence is felt in fraternal circles, he being a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. His religious connection and that of Mrs. Yeazel is with the Presbyterian Church.
Ross A. FLATT represents the younger and progressive business element ยท of Champaign County, and in many ways has shown his splendid capabil- ities in business affairs. He is a son of A. J. Flatt, the well known grain and general merchant at Leverett, concerning whom further mention is made on other pages.
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