History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 152

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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Mr. Aubry has been married twice. His first wife. Steph Fanny Perrott. was born in France

and was brought to the United States. She owned eighty acres of good land in this county. Her death occurred in 1879 and two children were left to mourn their loss: Steph Fanny, named after her mother : and Joseph T. For his second wife Mr. Aubry chose Catharina Culler- ton, who was born in Ottawa. August 29, 1859. Their children are as follows: Harriet M., born on the 31st of July, 1880 ; Charles E., born June 4. 1882; Aaron J. A., born on the 4th of July. 1884: Paul L., born June 29, 1887: Florence C., born November 19, 1894; Marie S .. born Octo- ber 7. 1896: Helen M., born May 13. 1898. Mrs. Aubry is a daughter of John H. Cullerton, a na- tive of Queens county, Ireland, while her mother, Mrs. Adelia (Sunderland) Cullerton, was born in Scotland. Her brother. William H. Sunder- land, conducts the tile, sewer and concrete works in Ottawa. In the Cullerton family were the following named: William H. C .; Mary; Hat- tie, deceased : Liza : Adelia ; Sadie ; and Josephine.

Mr. Aubry gives his political support to the democratic party and he is now serving for the · second term as justice of the peace. In the dis- charge of his duties he has been strictly fair and impartial and his efforts have been of di- rect benefit in maintaining law and order. He and his wife are members of the Catholic church. Mr. Aubry has spent his entire life in this county, where he is widely and favorably known, and during the greater part of his manhood he has followed agricultural pursuits with the result that he is now the owner of an excellent and productive farm property.

GAYLORD J. STATES.

Progressive farming finds a worthy represen- tative in Gaylord J. States, who owns and con- ducts a valuable farming property on section 22, Miller township. He is. moreover, one of the public-spirited citizens of La Salle county, in whom has been reposed many positions of public honor and trust, and he is now serving as presi- dent of the honorary county board. His life record is one of interest to his fellowmen, the circle of his friends being an extensive one in the county in which he has made his home for forty-five years.

His life record began in Fairfield county. Ohio, on the 26th of February. 1855. and he represents one of the old families of Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather. Henry States, a native of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, served as a soldier in the war of 1812 and also in the Black Hawk war. He was of German lineage, his ancestors

RESIDENCE OF J. H. AUBRY.

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having been located in the Keystone state in pio- neer times. His son, Emanuel States, who was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1823, was but a young lad when his parents re- moved to Ohio, and having arrived at years of maturity he was there married to Elenora Ly- singer, who was born in Bedford county, Penn- sylvania, September 9, 1828, a daughter of Joseph Lysinger, who was also of German line- age. This marriage was celebrated in 1844. Mr. States was a tailor by trade and followed that pursuit in Ohio for some years. In 1845 he walked with his wife to Fairfield county, Ohio, and there settled at Lancaster, where he followed the tailor's trade for seventeen years and also carried on a farm. In 1861 he came with his family to La Salle county, Illinois, settling in Manlius township and a year later removed to Grundy county, Illinois, where he spent two years. In 1864 he purchased his first farm in this state on section 33, Miller township, and the old homestead is still occupied by one of his sons. From that time until his death he was closely associated with agricultural interests and prospering in his undertakings he made judicious investments in property, adding to his land from time to time until he was the owner of about one thousand acres, of which four hundred acres was in La Salle county and six hundred acres in Greene county, Iowa. He was a stanch advocate of the cause of public instruction and for forty- six years served his district as a school director. His early political allegiance was given to the whig party and upon its dissolution he joined the ranks of the new republican party. In 1863 he was drafted for service in the Civil war but was exempted because of physical disability. His first wife died on the 9th of April, 1876. She was for many years a devoted member of the Baptist church and was esteemed by all who knew her. For his second wife Emanuel States wedded Mrs. Eliza Coats, of Lewis county, New York, who died August 8, 1897. Mr. States sur- vived until March 9, 1899, when, after a resi- dence of thirty-six years in Illinois, he was called to his final rest.

By his first marriage there were born twelve children, nine of whom, six sons and three daughters, reached mature years. Amanda is the wife of Charles E. Spencer, who is men- tioned elsewhere in this volume. George and . William, twins, are general farmers of Greene county, Iowa. Rebecca C. is the wife of R. L. Harris, of Perry, Iowa. Gaylord J. is the next of the family. John N. is a hardware and implement merchant in Marseilles. Charles D. is engaged in merchandising in Rippey, Iowa. Frank E. owns and operates the old homestead

farm. Cora J. is the wife of James Parr, of Rippey, Iowa. Those deceased are Angeline, Theodore and one who died in infancy.

Gaylord J. States spent the first five years of his life in the state of his nativity and accompa- nied his parents on their removal to Illinois in 1861. In 1865, when the old homestead farm was purchased, he removed with the family to that place and as his age and strength permitted as- sisted in its cultivation and development. He at- tended the public schools through the winter months and in the summer seasons aided in the work of the fields. The occupation to which he was reared he has made his life work and he is an enterprising agriculturist, keeping in touch with modern progressive methods. In 1880 he removed to the farm, which he now owns and oc- cupies, comprising a quarter section of rich and arable land on section 22, Miller township. This he has brought under a high state of cultivation, the fields yielding him rich harvests. In all that he does he is practical and enterprising and a glance at his place serves to indicate his pro- gressive spirit.

On the 12th of August, 1879, Mr. States was united in marriage to Miss Emma F. Long, a daughter of Lewis Long, formerly of Miller township, La Salle county, who was the first white child born in this county, his birth oc- curring on Coal creek, in 1827. His sister, Cath- erine Long, the first wife of Elias Trumbo, was the first female child born in the county. Unto Mr. and Mrs. States have been born two daugh- ters : Maude E., at home ; and Lena, the wife of Walter E. Fewell, a farmer living on section 20. Miller township, where he owns a good tract of land.

Mr. States is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, and has served as master of Marseilles lodge. He is also connected with the Modern Woodmen and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he is a member of the Univer- salist church. In 1904, accompanied by his wife, he made a most pleasant trip to California and the Pacific coast, visiting Los Angeles and other cities. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he has never swerved in his fidelity to its principles since attaining his ma- jority. He has filled various positions of pub- lic trust, being commissioner of highways for five years, filling the office by appointment for two years and by election for three years. He has also been judge of elections for twenty-five years and is present judge of the election board. He served as assessor for four years and is now president of the honorary county board. In all these offices he has been most faithful and prompt and his position in the public regard

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is a prominent one, the consensus of public opinion regarding his ability and the strong characteristics of his manhood being altogether favorable.

JAMES ARTHUR GRAY.

James Arthur Gray, proprietor of the Gray Furniture Exchange, at Nos. 2454-2456 State street Chicago, began his life record in La Salle county, having been born at Deer Park, on the 4th of April, 1849. His parents were William and Mary (Brown) Gray. The father was born in Tiverton, near Newport, Rhode Island, in 1814, and died at Deer Park, La Salle county, Illinois, December 29, 1881, his remains being interred in the Baptist burial ground at that place. His wife was born at Radwinter, England, Jan- uary 20, 1882, and departed this life on tthe 30th of April, 1887. They were married in Deer Park, in 1840, by the Rev. T. Powell. It was in the year 1837 that the father arrived in Illi- nois, where for many years he engaged in busi- ness as a contractor and builder, being a partner of J. G. Lincoln. They built the Vermillionville Congregational church, the Deer Park Baptist church, the Farm Ridge Episcopal church, the Farm Ridge Seminary and many other substan- tial and important structures in La Salle county and for many years the father was classed with the prominent, leading and reliable representa- tives of industrial life in that county. In the family were only two children. The daughter, Fannie A. Gray, born in Deer Park, gave her hand in marriage to James Chase on the 3d of March, 1861, the wedding ceremony being per- formed in the Farm Ridge Episcopal church by the Rev. Heister. Mr. Chase was born in New- port, Rhode Island, in 1834, and died in Salina Kansas, in 1899. After their marriage they lived for a number of years in La Salle county, where Mr. Chase followed the occupation of farming. Subsequently they removed to Kan- sas and he was assistant county treasurer there for a considerable period. He also carried on general agricultural pursuits and he was a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Chase were born two daughters, Neva and Fannie G., but the former died at the age of two years. The latter is living with her mother in Chicago.

James Arthur Gray is indebted to the public- school system of La Salle county for the early educational privileges he enjoyed and later he at- tended the Mount Carroll Seminary. He was born and reared upon a farm and in early life became a clerk in a clothing store in Streator,

where he was employed from 1871 until 1874. He then began farming and stock-raising on his own account, feeding and raising stock until. 1897, when he sold out and removed to Mag- nolia Springs, Alabama, where he resided for three years. He owned land on the bay with one mile frontage and improved that property, after which he sold out to good advantage and be- came a resident of Chicago in February, 1900. Here he has engaged in various lines of business undertakings but during much of that time has been connected with the furniture trade and is now engaged in the furniture business at Nos. 2454-2456 State street, conducting Gray's Fur- niture Exchange and dealing in furniture, stoves, carpets and other household goods.

Mr. Gray was marred to Miss Isabelle Bane and after her death he wedded Miss Candace Fuller, at Streator, Illinois, on the 10th of . No- vember, 1875. She was born in Streator, De- cember 8, 1850, a daughter of Alexander Fuller, who is representted elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Gray have become the parents of three children : Claud A., born November 19, 1876; Myra B., September 3, 1879; and William L., February 17, 1888. The last named, however, was drowned June 18, 1905. He would have graduated from the grammar school had he lived a few days longer. Mr. Gray is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and gives his political support to the republican party. He is a young man of enterprise, watchful of oppor- tunities and conducting his interests along lines of modern business activity in harmony with modern ideas of progress.

CHAUNCEY WIXOM.

Chauncey Wixom, a man whose personal worth, great piety and upright life made him honored and respected by all who knew him-and his acquaintance was a wide one-became a resident of La Salle county in 1835, while his residence in Illinois dated from 1827. As one of the early settlers who lived upon the frontier, he shared in the hardships and privations of pioneer life, and as the years went by and his age and strength increased he more and more largely became a factor in the agricultural development and prog- ress of this portion of the state, and while he prospered in business, his life was ever permeated with honorable, manly principles that work for justice and integrity in business affairs and for straightforwardness in all life's relations. He passed away in October, 1902, and his death was deeply regretted by all who knew him, while

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the county mourned the loss of one of its val- uable and esteemed pioneer residents. Although · the early ancestral history of the family is lost in the regions of antiquity there is much known concerning those from whom the Wixoms of the present day in La Salle county are descended. The grandfather of Chauncey Wixom probably bore the name of Barnabus Wixom. He was a resident of the state of New York and reared a large family including Seth, Solomon, Barnabus, Joshua, Jesse, Reuben H. and Dorcas. The daughter married a man by the name of Earl and had a number of sons who joined the Mormons and went to Utah. Of the sons of the family Barnabus Wixom, Jr., removed to Texas when that country was under the rule of Spain and was granted several leagues of land after emi- grating and settling there. Solomon Wixom was a cripple (caused by rheumatism) and it was very hard for him to walk. He and his brother Jesse removed from New York to Ohio and thence came to Illinois, settling first in Taze- well county and afterward became residents of La Salle county. Solomon Wixom died in Homer, now Troy Grove, La Salle county, and it will be seen that various representatives of the grandfather's family became residents of this county and aided in planting the seeds of civili- zation here and in laying the foundation for the present development and progress.

Reuben H. Wixom, of the same family, was born in the state of New York, on the Ist of April, 1781. The family home was in a frontier district in which still lived many Indians, who, however, were friendly to the white settlers. Amid such environments Reuben H. Wixom spent his boyhood days. He was often asso- ciated with the Indian boys in their sports and play, running foot races, jumping, wrestling. practicing with the bow and arrow and throwing stones at squirrels and different objects. He became so skillful in all of these things that the Indian boys would sometimes get cross and angry with him and in order to pacify them he would manage to let them beat him at their sports which would restore a pleasant feeling.

Having arrived at years of maturity Reuben H. Wixom was married, November 25, 1803, to Miss Clarissa Walker, who was born in the state of Vermont near the boundary line of New York, November 25, 1787. She was about twelve years of age, when, one day word was received at the school in which she was a pupil, that George Washington was dead. The school was dismissed and the scholars went home in sorrow. Her father had been an officer in the English army and as such came to America to subdue the "rebels" at the time of the Revolution but after

he had become fully acquainted with the cause and conditions that led to the war he deserted the English army and was willing and anxious to join the colonial forces but was not permitted to do so. He finally settled in Vermont and never ventured to return to England. At that time nails were manufactured by hand and Mr. Walker engaged in that business to some extent but not being able to supply the demand for his product he sent to England for a number of kegs of nails, which in due course of time arrived. On opening one of the kegs he found it filled with silver coins and it was believed that his people in England adopted this method of sending him money for the sea at that time was infested with pirates and it was unsafe to transmit anything of value. After residing for some years in Ver- mont Mr. Walker secured a place in New York about one hundred miles from the old home in the Green Mountain state. One of his sons went there to build a house and make other improve- ments, and after completing the work started for home on foot. Before reaching his destination he became ill and somewhat nfentally deranged, and when he would call at a house the people were afraid and would not give him food and shelter but sent him on. Finally he lay down by the roadside and was there a day or so before being found by some one in passing and taken to a house. He recovered sufficiently to tell who he was but soon afterward died and his funeral sermon was preached from the text, "I was a stranger and ye took me not in."

In the Walker family were several sons and two daughters, Nancy and Clarissa. After the removal of the family, the elder daughter. Nancy, became the wife of Humphrey Smith, and on the 25th of November, 1803. Clarissa Walker gave her hand in marriage to Reuben H. Wixom.

Mr. and Mrs. Wixom began their domestic life in Tompkins county, New York, near Cayuga Lake, where were born to them three sons: Nathan, on the 22d of November. 1804; Jesse A., January 17, 1807 : and Solomon, March 26, 1809. The following year, 1810, Reuben H. Wixom removed with his family to Ohio, settling in Franklin county about ten or twelve miles east of Columbus. This was then a frontier district. in which the work of improvement had scarcely been begun. With limited means he established his home of the frontier and while many hard- ships and privations were to be borne the table was always well supplied with wild game, in- cluding venison and turkey, for the father was an expert with the rifle and also a skillful trap- per. He likewise killed many wolves, which were numerous on the frontier at that time. In this pioneer home other children were added

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to the family: Justin D., born July 25, 1811; Reuben' H. born December 25, 1813; Abraham, February 19, 1816; Urban D., April 5, 1818; Henry W., September 30, 1820; Chauncey S., August 27, 1822; and Clarissa Parthenia, Jan- uary 19, 1826.

After the removal of Reuben Wixom and his family from New York his wife's father died and her mother married a Mr. Houghton, with whom she removed to Ohio. Mr. Houghton built a log cabin near the Wixom place and there he spent his remaining days. On the 7th of May, 1827, Parthenia Wixom passed away, and on the 3d of September of the same year, Reuben H. Wixom, Jr. At that time Chauncey Wixom was but five years of age but he dis- tinctly remembered being at the place where the dead were buried and also at his grandmother Houghton's cabin, together with many other in- cidents, which occurred during the residence of the family in Ohio.

Reuben H. Wixom was a very strong, active and heavy set man, full chested, with a head of fine silky hair. His face was rather round and fair and was generally smooth shaven. He was about five feet eight or nine inches high and weighed from one hundred and eighty to two hundred pounds. In his later years he became bald. Having always lived in a new country he was very skillful in hunting and trapping and found ample opportunity to indulge his prowess in this direction. He frequently killed as many as four deer by nine or ten o'clock in the morn- ing but was never able to get another deer the same day. On one occasion when he found a bear track in the snow, he got a man to go to with him and they followed the track for two days through the woods, finally coming to where the bear had gone up an ash tree or stump, and which was forty or fifty feet high, the top of the tree having been broken off. Mr. Wixom had with him a dog, an ax and a rifle, so they cut down the stump, which, when it fell left the bear in good shape. Mr. Wixom sprang for his rifle and the dog for bear but the bear got the dog in its paws, and the rifle, an old flint lock, the only kind used in those days, refused to go off, some snow having dripped on it and wet the powder in the pan. With the hope of saving the dog, which he valued highly, Mr. Wixom called to the man to strike the bear with the ax but instead of doing so the man retreated. Mr. Wixom then dropped the rifle and seized the ax, advancing toward the bear. Bruin saw his new danger and was turning to meet it when the ax struck him on the head. That settled him but the dog was injured in his back and was of no account after

that. The hide and meat of this bear brought Mr. Wixom something over twenty dollars.

It was a timber country in which the family lived and the task of cutting down trees and clearing the farm was a very arduous one. There were many stumps in the fields and the soil was a clay composition and rather unproductive. Being hard to cultivate, it was necessary to do much of the work with the hoe but the father kept his boys busy and they made progress as the years went by. Reuben Wixom himself was very ingenious and skillful in making almost anything that was needed, including wheels for spinning wool and flax, bedsteads, chairs, half bushel measures, drums, looms for weaving, and sometimes shoes and moccasins. His wife, too, was equal to the demands of the times in which she lived, having been while quite young trained to spin both wool and flax, being able to spin and weave the clothes that were most needed in the family.

After a residence of some years in Ohio Reuben Wixom determined to come to Illinois, having heard favorable reports concerning the prairies and the richness of the soil from others who had been in the state. Therefore disposing of his property in Ohio, he started with his family by wagon in November, 1827, his object- ive point being Springfield. The journey was continued with many difficulties, owing to the great amount of rain that had fallen, making the roads almost impassable. Chauncey Wixom related that he well remembered in crossing a muddy slough that he tumbled out of the rear end of the wagon and had a dive in the mud, which caused quite a hubbub, but the mother was on hand and soon made all right again. The family arrived safely at Springfield, December 5, 1827. It was a small village, the capital being at Vandalia and it was not until ten years later that Springfield was chosen the capital. Reuben Wixom purchased ten acres of land at the edge of the village, on which stood a small house and there raised such garden products as were needed by the family. He had personally re- ceived instructions from Samuel Tompson, the director of a school of medical practice, and in Illinois he engaged in the practice of the pro- fession, being known at that time as a steam doc- tor. He devoted his energies to the profession for some time but it made such demands upon his strength that he determined to withdraw from the profession and settled down upon a farm in Tazewell county in 1830. In the mean- time a welcome and joyful event occurred in the family-the birth of a little daughter, Nancy, at Springfield, on the 29th of July, 1829. On removing to Tazewell county Mr. Wixom se-

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cured a farm five miles east of Keaton, on the Illinois river and ten miles from Peoria, which at that time was called Fort Clark. While the family lived upon that farm another daughter, Cynthia Lovinia, was born December 28, 1831, thus making twelve children in all. From Taze- well county the parents removed with their family to La Salle county in 1835, settling in Troy Grove. Both the father and mother were mem- bers of the Baptist church and were earnest Christian people, living lives in harmony with their professions. Frequently preaching services and prayer meetings were held in their home, and they did all in their power not only "to rear their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" but also to promote the moral de- velopment of the communities in which they lived.

Chauncey Wixom was born upon the old home farm in Franklin county, Ohio, August 27, 1822, and was therefore a lad of only five sum- mers at the time of the removal to Illinois. A student familiar with the history of the state knows well the conditions which existed in the central and northern portions of the state where all of the evidences of pioneer life were to be found. It was amid such environments that Chauncey Wixom spent his boyhood days, ac- quiring his education in the little schools common at that period, where the curriculum embraced scarcely more than the "three R's." He was about seven years of age when he first saw Indians. He was playing with a company of boys at a brook about a half mile from home and had a tin cup to put fish in. He was busily employed there, when, hearing a noise, he looked around and saw that the ground and hill were covered with Indians, mostly on horseback. The other boys had seen them first and had made their escape. "If there was ever a scared boy," said Mr. Wixom, "I think I was one at that time. I heard afterward that there were five hundred Indians, anyhow the cup was left and I have not seen it since." In 1830 the family removed to Tazewell county and upon the farm land which the father there secured there was found plenty of work for the boys, breaking prairie, making rails and fences. The land was rich and very productive, so that large crops of corn, wheat and oats were raised. In 1835 the family removed from Tazewell to La Salle county, the father purchasing large tracts of land where the village of Troy Grove now stands. As his age and strength increased Chauncey Wixom aided more and more largely in the work of the farm, and throughout his entire life carried on general agricultural pursuits in Troy Grove township. His practical experience in youth enabled him

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 152

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855 Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286