USA > Illinois > Stark County > History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 22
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raising and feeding stoek for the market and annually ships one or more car loads of fat hogs and a car load of fat steers each year. He is also a well known breeder and dealer in standard bred Clydesdale horses. His business affairs are eapably managed and enterprise and diserimination have brought him growing suecess.
Mr. and Mrs. Halsted have a daughter, Clara, now a student in the township high school at Toulon. In politics Mr. Halsted main- tains an independent course, nor has he ever been ambitious for office. He belongs to the Odd Fellows lodge at Toulon and his wife is eon- neeted with the Rebekah degree. Much of his life has been spent in Stark county, so that his history is largely familiar to his fellow towns- men, who feel that he has fully won the success which is his and who name him with the progressive farmers and stock raisers of the eounty.
DUNCAN M. MARSHALL.
Actuated by the spirit of progress and advancement in all that he does. Duncan M. Marshall has proven his right to rank with the repre- sentative and leading farmers of Goshen township, where he owns two hundred and twenty aeres of arable land on seetion 2. While he has been a resident of Stark county for only a brief period, having arrived here in 1912, he has won recognition as a substantial and representative eitizen.
His birth oeeurred in Marshall county, West Virginia, April 11, 1879, and he was educated in the publie schools. When a young man he removed westward to Illinois in 1901, settling in Henry county, where he worked by the month as a farm hand for a number of years, thereby gaining his financial start. He afterward purchased a team and turned his attention to the business of teaming in Kewanee, where he spent two years. Still later he removed to Bureau county, where he cultivated a rented farm for two years and then returned to Henry county, where he continued to rent land for six years. In 1912 he made purchase of the farm whereon he now resides and in the inter- vening period he has eoneentrated his efforts and attention upon the further development and improvement of the place. He has fenced the fields, repaired the buildings and erected a large silo at a cost of six hundred dollars. Among the other improvements that he has added are a hog house, a good cement tank, a eattle shed and a hay barn. He is very energetie, his life being characterized by unre- mitting diligence and industry, and within the short space of four
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years he has wrought a marvelous change in the appearance of his place. In addition to tilling the soil in the production of crops he raises and feeds stock, and is also now engaged in breeding shorthorn cattle and other pure-blooded registered stock, thereby adding mate- rially to his income.
On the Ist of March, 1904. in Kewanee, Mr. Marshall was united in marriage to Miss Martha Clark, who was born and reared in Ashe- ville, North Carolina, and in young womanhood joined an unele in Kewanee. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have three living children, Harry, Ward and Helen. They lost their first born, Hazel, who died at the age of two and one-half years. Mr. Marshall is a very energetic young man. his life being characteristic of the spirit of enterprise which has typified the development of the Mississippi valley.
NATHAN CORRINGTON.
Nathan Corrington devotes his time to the operation of his farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 24, Penn township, and is meeting with gratifying success as an agriculturist. His birth occurred in Peoria. Illinois, on the 15th of November, 1883, and he is a son of Frank V. and Lucy ( Giles) Corrington, both of whom were born and reared in the vicinity of Peoria. The father engaged in farming there and both passed away in that locality.
Nathan Corrington was reared under the parental roof and received a good common school education, but when eighteen years of age began farming on his own account. Later he worked for a year and a half at the plumber's trade, after which he again turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. He remained in Peoria county until 1914. when he came to Stark county and purchased his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 24, Penn township. The place was formerly owned by his father. The residence is up-to- date and well designed. He raises grain and stock and derives a good financial return from his labor.
In 1913 Mr. Corrington was united in marriage to Miss Daisy Dean Vogel. who was born in Peoria county. They have a son. Giles Russell.
Mr. Corrington is independent in polities, voting for the man rather than the party, and he attends the Methodist Episcopal church at Bradford, to which his wife belongs. He is well known in Masonic circles as he is identified with the lodge, chapter, commandery and
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shrine, all at Peoria. IIe is a young man but has already attained a measure of prosperity that would be creditable to a man several years his senior. He is not only a prosperous farmer but is also a public- spirited citizen and is willing to aid in securing the advancement of his community.
OTIS HODGES.
Otis Hodges, who holds the title to the Maple Ridge Farm com- prising three hundred and twenty acres of land on section 1, Penn township, was born in Valley township, Stark county, on the 21st of November, 1860, of the marriage of David and Nancy ( Hutchinson) Hodges. The father, who was born in England, came to the United States when only thirteen years of age and located in Saratoga, New York. He remained there for nineteen years but at the end of that time, in 1851, removed to Stark county, Illinois. He purchased land here, which he operated for two years, and then returned to New York state. At length, however, he came again to Stark county and his remaining days were passed upon the home farm here. He was a fine business man, and as the years passed and his resources increased he invested in additional land, becoming in time the owner of eight or nine hundred aeres. Ilis wife survives and still lives in Valley township.
Otis Hodges entered the publie schools at the usual age and ac- quired a good education. After putting aside his textbooks he assisted his father on the farm until he was twenty-eight years of age, when he purchased land in Peoria county. He farmed there for a long period but in 1909 removed to his present farm, which comprises three hundred and twenty aeres and is situated on section 1, Penn town- ship. Ten acres of the land is in timber in Peoria county but all of the rest is under cultivation and aside from his home farm he operates an additional fifty-six aeres. The place is known as the Maple Ridge Farm and is well improved and thoroughly modern in its equip- ment. Ile raises the crops best adapted to soil and climate and also feeds some stock. especially hogs. As the years have passed he has prospered financially and is now in excellent circumstances.
On the 11th of September, 1889, occurred the marriage of Mr. Hodges and Miss Elizabeth Graham, who was born in Scotland. They have become the parents of the following children: Sherman, who is living in Bradford, Illinois; Agnes, who is the wife of Mart
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Deyo, of Osceola township; Raymond, who married Elsie Drawyer and who is assisting his father: and Robert, Alma, Jesse, John and Edwin all at home.
Mr. Hodges easts his ballot in support of the candidates and measures of the republican party and for two terms served as road commissioner in Akron township, Peoria county. Fraternally he is identified with the Maccabees. He attends the Methodist Protestant church, to which some of the family belong, and his influence is always given on the side of righteousness and justice.
JOHN T. FOX.
Although John T. Fox has given over to others the active work of the fields he still resides upon his three hundred and fifty acre farm on section 35, Essex township, and supervises its operation. He was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, on the 7th of January, 1847. a son of Abraham Fox, who was a native of Pennsylvania, and removed to Ohio in young manhood. The father learned the weaver's trade in his youth and became a skilled artisan. He was married in the Buck- eye state to Miss Jane Sampson, who was also born in Pennsylvania but was brought to Ohio by her parents as a child. She and her hus- band both passed away in the Buckeye state.
John T. Fox was reared in his native state and secured a good education in the public schools. In 1864. when seventeen years of age, he enlisted at Circleville, Ohio, in Company A, Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he remained for a year. He was with Sherman on the march to the sea and remained at the front until the close of the war but saw no hard fighting. He participated in the grand review at Washington D. C., and was mustered out of service in July, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky, after being with the army for ten months.
After his return from the front Mr. Fox purchased a tract of land in Ohio and engaged in farming there until 1876, when he re- moved to Shelby county, Illinois. Two years later he came to Stark county, arriving here in December. He purchased eighty acres in Essex township and has since resided upon that place. The residence was standing at the time that the farm came into his possession but he has erected all of the other buildings, which are commodious and well adapted to their purpose. He has met with gratifying success in his farming operations and has invested in additional land from
MR. AND MRS. JOHN T. FOX
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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time to time, his holdings now comprising three hundred and fifty aeres. He is not actively engaged in the operation of his farm but supervises the work of others.
Mr. Fox was married in 1868 to Miss Elizabeth Weber, who was also born in Ohio. Her father, Michael Weber, devoted his life to farming and passed away in the Buckeye state. Mr. and Mrs. Fox are the parents of ten children, namely: Lillie, the wife of C. B. Strayer, of Toulon; Clara, who married E. L. Gelvin, a farmer of West Jersey township: Emma, the wife of E. A. Graves, a resident of Minnesota: Alice, who married John E. Siders, of Perry, Iowa; Elmer H., who is farming near Perry in Boone county, lowa; Effie, who married W. C. Kamerer, of West Jersey township: Harriet, the wife of E. C. Gingrich, of Essex township; Arthur, who is married and is operating his father's farm; Bertha, a twin of Arthur and the' wife of Will Addis, of Huron. South Dakota; and Myrtle, who married Samuel Large, a farmer of Essex township.
Mr. Fox is a republican in his political allegiance and has served for four years as township assessor, making an exeellent record in that eapaeity. Through his association with the Grand Army of the Republie he keeps in touch with other veterans of the Civil war and in times of peace he has proved as loyal to the common good as he did when as a boy he entered the Federal army. He has gained a wide acquaintance during the thirty-eight years of his residenee in this county, and those who have been most elosely associated with him are his stanehest friends.
COURTNEY D. FOWLER.
Courtney D. Fowler, operating a farm of four hundred and seventy aeres on section 4, Toulon township, is one of the wide-awake, alert and enterprising agriculturists and stock raisers of this part of the state. He was born December 11, 1874, on the old homestead farm which he still oeeupies. His father, John Fowler, was a native of Pennsylvania, born in Elmira, October 31. 1833. The paternal grandfather, Brady Fowler, removed with his family from Pennsyl- vania to Illinois, making a permanent location in Stark county in 1836, so that he was numbered among its oldest pioneer settlers. Ile arrived there only four years after the Black Hawk war had ended Indian supremacy in Illinois. He preempted or purchased three hundred acres of land which was entirely wild and unimproved and at
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once he began to break the sod and till the soil. He split rails and fenced the farm and in the course of time transformed his land into very productive fields.
John Fowler was reared upon the old homestead and in this county married Sarah E. Norris, who was born in Tazewell county, Illinois. He took up the task of further improving the old home place, erected a large and pleasant farm residence, also built a good barn and planted a fine grove of pine, cedars, spruees and forest trees. This constitutes a great protection against storms from the west and northwest, for the trees are now large and their broad branches shut out the winds. For a long period he was numbered among the active and prosperous farm- ers of Stark county and his holdings comprised two or more tracts of very productive land. He was also one of the public-spirited citizens of the county and served as supervisor and in other official positions of honor and trust. He held membership in the Elmira Presbyterian church and for some years was a member of its choir. Ile guided his life according to the teachings of the church and throughout the com- munity was known as a consistent Christian gentleman whose death. which occurred April 5. 1914, was deeply regretted by all. His wife survives him and now resides in Toulon.
Courtney D. Fowler was one of a family of two sons and two daughters and was reared on the old family homestead, acquiring his primary education in the publie sehools near by and in the Toulon high school. He remained with his father on the old home place until he at- tained his majority and afterward began farming on his own account. On the 3d of October, 1910, in Toulon, was celebrated his marriage to Miss Jennie M. Pierson, who was born in West Jersey township, this county, a daughter of W. H. Pierson. For three years Mr. Fowler was off the farm, during which time he was engaged in the hardware business in Toulon, but at the end of that time disposed of his interest in the store and in 1911 returned to the farm, upon which he has made many modern improvements, keeping everything in touch with the most seientifie methods of carrying on agricultural pursuits. He has a large, powerful traction engine, with which he operates a gang of eight fourteen-inch plows, thereby saving mueb horse power and time. He has other modern farm machinery and implements and in faet there is no feature of progressive farming at the present time that is laeking upon his place.
To Mr. and Mrs. Fowler have been born two children. Ruth and Jean. The mother is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Toulon, while Mr. Fowler belongs to the Elmira Presbyterian church. Both are held in the highest esteem, their many excellent traits of heart
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and mind gaining for them the confidence and goodwill of all with whom they have been brought in contact. Mr. Fowler's labors largely set the standard for others and his well directed business ability is bringing him success, while his course proves what can be accomplished by determination and honorable effort.
TIRUS T. KELLY.
Tirus T. Kelly, an enterprising and progressive farmer and stock raiser is operating the Manxman Farm, consisting of two hundred and forty acres on section 8, Goshen township. He has been a life- long resident of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Henry county. April 2. 1889. His father, Thomas Kelly, was born under the Brit- ish flag, on the Isle of Man, and there passed his boyhood and youth. coming to the new world with his mother in 1874, following the death of the husband and father. Mrs. Kelly located in Henry county. Illinois, where she joined her older son. Thomas Kelly afterward purchased land and improved a farm in Weller township, that county. HIe there engaged in general agricultural pursuits for a number of years, when he sold that property and purchased the farm in Goshen township, Stark county, upon which son his Thomas now resides. He called it the Manxman Farm after an old estate on the Isle of Man. He bent his energies to the further development and improvement of that property, rebuilt and remodeled the house, also erected barns and outbuildings, and was regarded as one of the most energetic and enter- prising farmers. stock raisers and feeders of the locality. Ile continued upon that farm until 1910, when he removed to Galva, where he now lives retired. While a resident of Henry county he was united in marriage to Mrs. Jane Kewish, who also was born and reared on the Isle of Man. When she crossed the Atlantic she, too. became a resident of Henry county, Illinois, and there she gave her hand in marriage to Robert Kewish, who was also a native of the Isle of Man and after coming to the new world followed farming in Henry county until his death. His widow afterward became the wife of Thomas Kelly and they are now highly esteemed citizens of Galva, where they hold membership in the Presbyterian church. Mr. Kelly is also a member of the Odd Fellows lodge there, in which he has filled all of the offices and is a past grand.
Tirus T. Kelly was reared under the parental roof in Henry and Stark counties and was educated in the schools of Galva and of La
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Fayette. He continued to assist his father with the farm work until the latter removed to Galva, at which time Tirus T. Kelly took charge of the home place and is now busily engaged in the further cultivation of the Manxman Farm of two hundred and forty aeres. IIe raises good erops and in connection therewith is engaged in raising and feed- ing stock. He is also engaged in breeding Duroe-Jersey hogs and Shropshire sheep, and his live stock interests constitute an important and profitable branch of his business.
To the home farm Mr. Kelly brought his bride following his mar- riage in La Fayette, Illinois, on the 6th of April, 1910, when Miss Pearl White became his wife. She is a daughter of Abel H. White, of La Fayette, was born and reared there and was graduated from the high school. By her marriage she has become the mother of a daughter and son, Bernice and Russell T.
Mr. and Mrs. Kelly are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of La Fayette, and Mr. Kelly affiliates with the Masonic lodge there. exemplifying in his life the beneficient sprit upon which the craft has been established. He is also identified with the republican party but never has been an office seeker. That he is interested in the cause of education is indicated by his four years' service on the school board and his active efforts to promote publie school interests in his locality. In a word, his influence is always on the side of advancement and improvement. He stands for all those things which feature most largely in promoting the eivie welfare, and at the same time he finds ample opportunity to earefully and successfuly manage his business affairs, which are now bringing to him substantial and well merited success.
J. W. MAHLER.
J. W. Mahler, a practical and efficient farmer of Penn township was born a half a mile south of his present farm on the 2d of Decem- ber. 1860. His parents, John Edward and Elizabeth ( Hamilton) Mahler, were born in Hanover, Germany, and in Pennsylvania, respectively, the latter being of English and German extraction. When eighteen years of age the father came to the United States and settled in Stark county, Illinois. He became the owner of land in Penn township and concentrated his energies upon its cultivation for many years but at length removed to Wyoming. He was a self-made man and through his energy and good judgment became the owner of
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five hundred and sixty acres of valuable land. He reached the advanced age of ninety-one years and is survived by his wife who is still living in Wyoming.
J. W. Mahler entered the public schools at the usual age and completed the course offered there but during his boyhood and youth also assisted his father with the farm work. He remained upon the home place until he was twenty years old, when he took up his resi- dence on section 23, Pen township. His home farm comprises a quarter section, and he also owns one hundred and sixty acres in Cheyenne county, Nebraska. He has made all the improvements upon his place, which compare favorably with those found on neigh- boring farms, and'in the management of his affairs he is progressive and businesslike. He engages in general farming and has gained a gratifying measure of prosperity.
Mr. Mahler was united in marriage in 1880 to Miss Hannah Maria Fouts, and to them were born two children: Charles, who died in infaney, and Rose M., the wife of James Sliver, a farmer of Stark county.
Mr. Mahler votes the republican tieket and for twenty-seven con- secutive years has held the office of school dircetor, his services in that eonneetion having been highly satisfactory to his constituents. Ile belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America at Campgrove and has many friends within and without that organization.
JOHN E. O'NEILL.
John E. O'Neill, who has gained a gratifying measure of success as a farmer and stock raiser in Penn township, was born in County Cavan, Ireland, on the 28th of August, 1871, a son of Terrenee and Catherine (Leddy) O'Neill, also natives of that county. They resided in their native country until 1882, when they eame to the United States, sailing from Queenstown on the 1st of April. After reaching America they made their way westward to Wyoming, Stark. county, Illinois, where they arrived on the 22d of April. They located upon a farm and the father devoted his time to its operation until his death, which oceurred on the 22d of June. 1912. The mother survives and is still living at Wyoming.
John E. O'Neill began his education in Ireland but continued his studies in the public schools of Toulon after the removal of the family to this country. On starting out to make his own way in the world
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he worked as a farm hand for ten dollars per month and was so employed for a decade. He then rented land for three years but at the end of that time was able to buy sixty acres on section 29, Penn township, for which he paid seventy-five dollars an aere. Subse- quently he bought another sixty aeres from his father at one hundred and fifty dollars per acre, and in 1915 he purchased eighty acres at two hundred dollars per acre. He has planted a fine grove upon the farm, has erected good buildings and made other improvements upon the place, and in his work follows up-to-date methods. Ile feeds a large amount of stoek annually and also engages in raising grain to some extent.
On the 19th of February, 1908, Mr. O'Neill was married to Miss Margaret Farber, by whom he has five children: Helen M., John Edward. Frances J., Margaret Celestine and Catherine Celestia.
Mr. O'Neill supports the democratie party at the polls and mani- fests the interest of the publie-spirited citizen in the affairs of government although not an office seeker. He has, however, served for two years as school director. He is a communieant of the Roman Catholic church of Wyoming and contributes to the support of that organization. He has been very snecessful as a farmer and has also gained and held the warm friendship of many.
FRED A. FULLER.
Active among the energetie and farsighted farmers of Goshen township is Fred A. Fuller, who lives on seetion 3 and who gives his undivided attention to the improvement of his farm, his labors being attended with excellent results. He was born in Henry county, this state, on the 27th of June, 1873, and his father, George W. Fuller, was also a native of that county, his birth having occurred in Wethers- field township, February 12, 1846. ITis paternal grandfather, Ansel Fuller, was reared amid pioneer conditions and environment upon the home farm in Stark county and afterward removed to Henry county, where he purchased land and opened up a farm, upon which his son, George W. Fuller, was born and reared and upon which he has since made his home. George Fuller was married in Henry county to Miss Maggie E. Likes, who was born in Pennsylvania but was reared in Henry county, Illinois, where her father, Samuel Likes, settled at a very early day.
Fred A. Fuller was reared on the old homestead farm in Henry
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county, having the usual experiences that fall to the lot of the farm bred boy. Play and work divided his time, together with the task of acquiring a public school education, and when his textbooks were put aside he concentrated his efforts on the work of assisting his father in carrying on the home farm. After he had attained his majority he rented land, which he cultivated for several years, and he also purchased a steam thresher and cornsheller, which he operated in Henry county for seven years, making that work an important branch of his business. He made his first purchase of land in 1907, when he became the owner of eighty acres in Goshen township. This was bhie grass pasture and the sod had never been broken. He now has fifty acres under the plow, while the balance is meadow and pasture land. He has erected a substantial and comfortable residence upon the place, has also put up good barns and sheds, and today has a well improved and valuable farm. In connection with the development of his place he raises and feeds stock, making a specialty of Duroc-Jersey hogs.
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