USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 86
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James A. Cunningham, Hoopeston, farmer and stock-dealer, was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 22d of June. 1843. He is the youngest son of James and Mary Ann (Andrews) Cunningham. He was reared a farmer, and obtained his schooling at Evans Union College. State Line City, Indiana. In the winter of 1864-5 he pursued studies in bookkeeping at the Commercial College at La Fayette. In Angust, 1862, he enlisted in the 125th Ill., but was rejected by the examining surgeon. He was married on the 4th of April, 1865. to Miss Mary R. Scott, adopted daughter of Thomas Hoopes, an old and highly esteemed citizen of Vermilion county. Mrs. Cunningham was born on the 9th of April, 1844. In the summer of 1865 he settled in State Line City, and opened a grocery store; he soon after added a stock of drugs, and after a year of business sold out to George Dunn. He then engaged in stock dealing a short time, and early in 1867 moved into Grant township and settled where he now resides. He has
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been president of the Hoopeston District Agricultural Society since 1874. This society has held a number of distinguished fairs, and has acquired a reputation unsurpassed by any of equal age, and by few older ones, in the state. This success is traced to the ability, energy and enterprise of its thorough-going and practical officers. Mr. C. has always been a heavy farmer and stock-dealer. and is one of the most liberal, substantial and honored citizens of Grant township. They have five children : Frank H, born on the 18th of January, 1866: Anna S., born on the 19th of April. 1868; Bertie M., born on the 1st of May, 1870; Harry, born on the 21st of May, 1872; Walter, born on the 21st of September, 1873. died on the 9th of November, 1878. He owns one thousand acres of land. worth $30,000. His political views are repub- lican.
John Villars, the grandfather of James W. Villars, of Rossville. came from England in 1740, with a colony of Dissenters, and settled in Pennsylvania, where he married. He and a brother were soldiers of the revolution. The latter was killed at Bunker Hill. In 1806 the grandfather of the subject of this sketch emigrated from Washington county, Pennsylvania, and coming down the Ohio on a flat-boat, reached Cincinnati in the spring of that year. He settled in Clinton county. where he lived and died. William, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Washington county. Pennsylvania, on the 31st of August, 1802. He married Ruth Whittaker, on the 14th of February, 1822; lived in Clinton county, Ohio, till 1843, when he removed with all his family to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled four miles east of Danville, on the place now owned by William Cast, his son-in-law. James was born on the 3d of July, 1825, in Clinton county, Ohio, and was raised a farmer. He was married on the 25th of December. 1844, to Rebecca Villars. In 1866 he sold his farm and moved to State Line City, and engaged in the mercantile business, - first hardware, and afterward drugs, - and sold out in 1872. In 1870 he made a trip to California, and two years later returned again to the Pacific coast, and traveled in California, Oregon and Washington Territory. From April, 1874, to October, 1875, he was business manager of the Vermilion County Grange Company's store, in Danville. During his residence in Newell township he filled the offices of constable, town clerk and school trustee of town 20, range 11. In 1878 he moved into Grant township, where he owns two hundred and eighty acres of land, worth 87,000. He has two sons, Ambrose and George. His wife is a mem- ber of the M. E. church, and he was formerly. In politics he is a greenbacker.
Benjamin Ford, Rossville. farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Ross
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county, Ohio, on the 16th of December, 1818, and is the son of William and Sarah (Yokem) Ford. When he was eleven his parents removed to La Fayette, Indiana; lived there a number of years, and went thence to Fulton county, Illinois. After a residence of several years there they all moved back to Indiana, and located near Lebanon. Here the subject of this sketch was married to Abigal Fleming, on the 14th of August, 1842. In the spring of 1844 he moved into the present limits of Grant township, renting from place to place for six years, when he had accumulated enough to buy a land warrant, with which he entered the northeast quarter of section 1, town 22, range 11. He began very poor, and his progress at first was slow, but by industry and frugality has accumulated a large property, and is now one of the substantial farmers of Grant township. By successive purchases he has increased his homestead to eight hundred and forty-eight acres; has always com- bined stock-raising with his farming operations. He has ten children : Arthur, Betsy Jane, James. Rebecca, Leander, William H., Jeremiah (dead). Benjamin F., Mary R. Mr. Ford owns one thousand acres of land, worth $29.000. He is a republican in politics.
William Warren, Rossville, farmer, was born in Bedfordshire, Eng- land, on the 16th of March, 1829 ; and is the son of Thomas and Mary (King) Warren. In 1848 he emigrated to America and settled near Ross- ville, Vermilion county, Illinois. When he arrived here he had but $5, which he equally divided with a less fortunate comrade. He was $110 in debt, which sum he paid in labor at $9.25 per month, having hired for a year at that rate before leaving England. At the end of two and a half years he bought ten acres of timber and paid for it. He worked hard at herding and feeding cattle, buying pieces of land as he accumn- lated money enough for the purpose. He owns four hundred and twen- ty-five acres, two hundred and sixty-five lying on the Middle Fork, in the township of that name, and the balance adjoining Rossville on the east, in Grant township, the whole worth $11,000. He used to be engaged a great deal in teaming ; hauled produce to Chicago and returned with merchandise to Danville, for which he received twenty-five cents per hundredweight. A large part of the material used in the erection of buildings in Rossville was transported by his teams from Danville, Paxton, Attica and State Line City. He was married on the 4th of De- cember, 1853, to Mary Ann Whitesitt, who was born on the 29th of October, 1837. They have thirteen children : Mary S., born on the 25th of January, 1855; Florence V., born on the 2d of September, 1856; Edith T., born on the 11th of January, 1858; Augustns O., born on the 21st of March, 1859; Olive J., born on the 6th of February, 1861; John T., born on the 1st of February, 1863; an infant born and died
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in October, 1864; Herbert D., born on the 21st of June, 1867 : William W., born on the 15th of March, 1869; Elzie, born on the 20th of May, 1871 ; George Wesley, born on the 5th of June, 1873; Clarence D., born on the 27th of April, 1875; Bertha May, born on the 14th of February, 1877. He is an independent in politics.
Jonathan Prather, Rossville, farmer, was born in Warren county, Indiana, on the 3d of May, 1845. His parents were Nehemiah and Eveline (Miller) Prather. He settled with his father in this county about 1848, on land now owned by Geo. Miller in Ross township. He has lived in Vermilion county all the time since, except the two years of 1868-9 spent in Missouri and Kansas. He enrolled in Co. A, 3d Ind. Cav., on the 16th of September, 1863, and mustered ont at Indianapo- lis on the 7th of August, 1865 ; served in the 3d division 1st cavalry corps,- first under Wilson and next under Custer, as division com- manders ; participated in the bold raid of Gen. Kilpatrick, begun on the 28th of February, 1864, for the release of Union prisoners in Rich- mond; in Sheridan's raid against the enemy's communications with Richmond, which was begun on the 9th of May, 1864; and in the raid of Gen. Wilson on the Weldon, South-side and Danville railroads, be- gun on the 22d of June, 1864; fought at the Wilderness and Spott- sylvania Court House, and under Sheridan in the battles of Winchester and Cedar Creek, and did an immense amount of scouting, skirmishing and fighting incident to the cavalry arm of the service, closing his active military life with the grand review of the army of the Potomac at Washington, D. C., on the 23d of May, 1865. He was married on the 13th of August, 1872, to Tabitha E. Miller, who died on the 15th of April, 1877 ; married again on the 3d of March, 1878, to Mary A. Segear. Mr. Prather owns one hundred and sixty acres of land valned at $5,000. He is a greenbacker in politics.
Thomas Armstrong, Rossville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Madison county, Ohio, on the 18th of April, 1826. His parents were Robert and Elizabeth (Earl) Armstrong. In 1848 he removed to Illi- nois and lived two years in the western part of the state. In 1850 he settled on his present farm one mile west of Rossville, Vermilion county. Married on the 24th of August, 1850, to Nancy Smith, who died on the 23d of November, 1878. He has been for many years ex- tensively engaged in farming and the stock business; and in addition to these is at present operating a factory which he erected on his farm two years ago for the manufacture of drain tile. He has, in that time, turned ont three hundred thousand tile, and laid down on his own farm twenty-two miles of drain, besides ten miles for other people. He has demonstrated the wisdom and economy of under-drainage. He has
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
ample facilities for a large manufacture. The first donations of land to encourage improvements in Rossville, were made to Mr. Armstrong by Alvan Gilbert and Parker Satterthwait, and he is entitled to the credit of founding that superior town. He exerted himself with untiring dil- igence in behalf of the educational interests of the place, and together with one or two others, was chiefly instrumental in causing the erection and final extension and improvement of the commodious and tasteful brick structure now devoted to the instruction of the youth of Ross- ville and the surrounding country. He has been a director of the school continuously for twenty years prior to April, 1879. He was associated with Henry Armstrong in the laying out of Armstrong sta- tion, on the Havana, Rantoul & Eastern railroad (narrow gauge), where he has a body of eight hundred acres of land. He has four living chil- dren : Isabel, wife of Calvin Lamb ; Thomas J., James L., Catherine M. Mr. Armstrong owns 2,280 acres of land, worth $80.000. His political views are republican.
Addison M. Davis, Rossville, farmer and magistrate, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, near Zanesville, on the 9th of January, 1833. He is the son of Amaziah and Emily (Berry) Davis. He came to Ver- milion county, Illinois, with his parents in the fall of 1851, and settled on a farm near Rossville. He received a fair education at the graded school in Adelphi, Ohio. At the age of twenty he commenced teaching school, and pursued this vocation nine years. He was married in 1856 to Sarah J. Helmick. He was assistant internal revenue assessor for the northern part of Vermilion county, Illinois, from the passage of the law creating the office until the fall of 1865. He has held numerous township offices, and been constantly in local public business the past twenty years : has been town clerk and assessor both of Grant and Ross, and has held the office of justice of the peace continuously for thirteen years. In the meantime he has directed operations upon his farm. He has been a member of the Masonic order twelve years. He is independent in politics. He has six living children : Virgil C., Emily B., Robert B., H. Winter, Rebecca and Lucy L. Mr. Davis owns eighty acres of land worth $4,000.
Charles Wolverton, Hoopeston, farmer and carpenter, was born near Perrysville, Vermilion county, Indiana, on the 17th of August, 1837, and is a son of Abel and Anna (English) Wolverton, who had five sons and two daughters. His father served fourteen days in the war of 1812; he volunteered, and was marching with a detachment of six hundred men for Detroit when the news of Hull's surrender was received. He commanded a corps of one hundred and fifty men at the reception of Gen. La Fayette. at Cincinnati, in June, 1824. He
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was for a long time colonel of militia in Indiana, under commission granted by Gov. Whitcomb. In 1850 he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Vermilion county, Illinois, being the N. E. ¿ section 18, town 23, range 11. He soon after bought one hundred and sixty acres more, and finally augmented the area to four hun- dred. His family came and occupied the land in 1851. The subject of this sketch learned the carpenter's trade before and during the war. He enlisted at Bloomington on the 18th of June, 1862, for three months, in Co. H, 70th Ill. Vols., Col. O. H. Reeves. This regiment did gar- rison duty most of the time at Camp Butler, Springfield, and at Alton ; also furnished numerous details for guarding prisoners while in transit. He was mustered out at Alton on the 23d of October, 1862. His brother George was enrolled in Co. D, 20th Ind. Vols. at the beginning of the war. He served under Gen. Kearny throughout Mcclellan's memorable peninsula campaign, bearing an honorable part on the bloody fields of Fair Oaks and the Seven Days battles. He was mor- tally wounded on the 6th of May, 1864, at the Wilderness, and died on the 19th at Finley Hospital, Washington City. Altogether he was in twenty actions. Mr. Wolverton was married on the 8th of May, 1864, to Mary Ralph, who was born on the 30th of July, 1849. They have had eight children : George L., born on the 1st of January, 1866; Charles T., born on the 5th of May, 1867; Thomas L., born on the 1st of December, 1868, died on the 23d of August, 1869; Louis R., born on the 5th of February, 1871; John P., born on the 16th of February, 1874; Anna S., born on the 21st of February, 1877; Mary, born on the 13th of June, 1878, died on the 2d of July, 1878; Joseph, born on the 11th of July, 1879. Mr. Wolverton owns sixty acres worth $2,500. His political views are republican.
Thomas Williams, Hoopeston, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, on the 29th of November, 1828, and is the son of Nathan and Sarah (Hoopes) Williams. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania. In 1847 he went to Sandusky Plains, Marion county, Ohio, were he lived six or seven years, working by the month for his uncle, Thomas Hoopes, tending sheep. In the fall of 1853 he came to this county ; wintered four hundred sheep; the next spring added four hundred more; rented a farm of his uncle Hoopes, giving him a share of all his profit. This he continued two years; then preempted one hundred and sixty acres two miles west of Buckley, in Iroquois county ; ran an ox-breaking team three years; in 1859, having been broken up by paying security debts, returned to Vermilion county to live. He was married on the 9th of June, 1859, to Lavina McFarland, who was born on the 22d of April, 1841. From 1860 to 1868 he rented
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land of his uncle. In the former year, by borrowing money and hir- ing teams of the same patron, and buying and grazing cattle, he cleared $600; the next year $1,000. From that time on his success and re- covery were steady and rapid. On the 25th of November, 1870, he was run over by a loaded runaway team, breaking his leg, and crushing the bone in a very serious manner. Since that casualty he has been incapacitated for manual labor. He has held the offices of highway commissioner and trustee of schools in Grant township. He has five children : Sarah, born on the 23d of June, 1860, died on the 7th of December, 1874; Charles, born on the 1st of September, 1861; twins, born on the 23d of May, 1868, one died on the day of birth, and the other on the 16th of June following; Walter W., born on the 17th of January, 1878. Mr. Williams owns four hundred acres of land worth $16,000. His political views are republican.
John Williams, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, on the 29th of September, 1832, and is the son of Nathan and Sarah (Hoopes) Williams. In the spring of 1854 he came to this county ; broke prairie and farmed, and the third year entered three hundred and twenty acres in section 12, in the present limits of Prairie Green township, Iroquois county. He lived there seventeen years. He was married on the 13th of October, 1858, to Elnora Shankland, who was born in 1841, and died on the 23d of February, 1864 ; married again on the 12th of August, 1867, to Jennie M. Harwood, who was born on the 7th of April, 1844. He was assessor of Prairie Green for or five years in succession. On the 1st of January, 1864, memorable as a cold day, he froze his right foot while feeding stock, and all the toes had to be amputated. In April, 1873, he moved to his present home, one and a half miles south of Hoopeston. He has six children : Sarah E., born on the 3d of March, 1860, died on the 16th of May, 1866 ; Anna C., born on the 28th of September, 1862, died on the 22d of September, 1865 ; Mary E., born on the 14th of February, 1864, died on the 2d of September, 1864; infant, born and died on the 11th of November, 1870; Nellie M., born on the 12th of November, 1871; Charles H., born on the 5th of October, 1873, died on the 5th of August, 1875 ; Josephine B., born on the 30th of August, 1875. Mr. Williams owns two hundred and thirty-five acres worth $8,500. His political views are republican. He is a member of the Christian church. His parents belonged to the Society of Friends, and his father was a preacher among them.
Joseph M. Satterthwait, deceased, was born in Berks county, Penn- sylvania, on the 9th of May, 1808, and is the son of Joshua W. and Ann Satterthwait. He came to Illinois in the fall of 1854, and set-
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tled on a farm near Rossville, Vermilion county. He was the third postmaster in that place. In the spring of 1862 he removed to Pen- dleton, Indiana, near Indianapolis, and lived there ten years, when he returned to Illinois and settled at Hoopeston, and resided there until his death on the 21st of September, 1877. He was always a strict member of the Society of Friends. He left four living children : Mar- tha A., wife of Gideon C. Davis, residing at Fairbury, Nebraska ; Esther S., wife of J. O. Hardy, living in Pendleton, Indiana; Edith S., wife of Isaac T. Lukens, of Hoopeston ; and Anna, wife of Emory F. Birch, of Rossville.
George Steely, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Fountain county, Indiana, on the 6th of September, 1830. He is the son of George and Elizabeth (Emerson) Steely. He lived on a farm in Fountain county until twenty-four years of age, and was educated at Asbury University, attending from September, 1852, to June, 1854, taking the scientific course, and nearly completing it. In the fall of the latter year he came to this county, bought out Thomas Mckibben, and settled where he now lives, one and a half miles south of Hoopeston. He was married on the 22d of October, 1854, to Hannah Hizer. They had ten chil- dren, five of whom are living and five dead. Following are those living: Harlan M., born November 25, 1856; William W., born October 11, 1858; Clara I., born September 4, 1860; Zaidee, born June 3, 1864; Mark, born December 6, 1869. Mr. Steely owns six hundred and seventy acres of land, worth $20,000. His father was a soldier under Gen. Harrison throughout the war of 1812.
Thomas W. Harris, Rossville, farmer, was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, on the 1st of November, 1827, and is the son of John and Sarah M. (Davis) Harris. In 1828 his parents removed to Jefferson county, Indiana. While living there he went to Clark county, and learned the tanners' trade, which he followed five or six years. In 1852 he went to Louisiana, and worked a year and a half as a laborer. In the fall of 1854 he returned there, and remained nine months. In 1856 he settled in Vermilion county, and has since lived in the vicinity of Rossville, and farmed. He was married on the 12th of December, 1861, to Miss Jane F. Owen, daughter of Thomas and Mary Owen. She was born in Warren county, Indiana, on the 21st of July, 1842. They have had three children : Mary Luella, born October 27, 1862, died December 1, 1871 ; Charles Henry, born March 31, 1869 ; Francis M., born July 19, 1874. Mr. Harris is a republican, and his wife has been a member of the M. E. church eight years.
Thomas Keplinger, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Fountain county, Indiana, on the 7th of April, 1829. He is the son of Jacob and
1
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
Nancy (Dedimore) Keplinger. In 1858 he removed to Illinois, and settled at Sugar Grove, Champaign county, where he lived till 1870. In that year he came to Vermilion county, and bought the S. ¿ N.W. ¿ and the N.W. { N.W. { seetion 29, town 23, range 12, six miles S.W. of Hoopeston, which farm is now valued at $3,600. He was married on the 10th of May, 1857, to Eliza Shaffer, daughter of Daniel Shaffer, of Fountain county, Indiana. She was born on the 4th of January, 1835. They have had six children : James, born June 13, 1858 ; Nancy, born February 5, 1860; died August 2, 1862; George R., born Sept. 1, 1861; Olive, born July 26, 1863; Eliza Ann, born April 12, 1865 ; Andrew, born March 20, 1867. Mr. Keplinger is an old-style demo- crat. Mrs. Keplinger is a member of the Christian church.
Oliver H. Crane, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Fountain county, Indiana, on the 4th of March, 1841, and is the son of Joel and Eliza- beth (Jenkins) Crane. His grandfathers, Jonathan Crane and Absa- lom Jenkins, both served as soldiers in Virginia in the war of 1812. He was reared a farmer. In 1858 he moved to this county, and lo- cated where he now lives, in Grant township, on the S. ¿ S.W. } see- tion 20, town 23, range 12. He was married on the 7th of February, 1861, to Charlotte Bowling, daughter of Willis P. Bowling, Esq., of Fountain county, Indiana. She was born on the 3d of July, 1843. They have had nine children : Luella, born November 13, 1861; died June 24, 1863; Clara Belle, born July 10, 1863; died October 24, 1864; Elmer E., born May 28, 1865; John N., born September 3, 1867; Lilian, born January 6, 1869 ; Alfaretta, born February 11, 1871; Winifred, born December 4, 1873; Morris S., born November 2, 1876; Mary Adra, born June 24, 1879. He owns eighty acres of land, worth $2,400. In polities he is a greenbacker.
Abraham H. Gernand, Rossville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of January, 1829, and is a son of Abraham and Catharine (Hain) Gernand. His early life was spent on a farm. In 1852 he engaged in the dry-goods trade in Read- ing, in partnership with his cousin, George W. Hain, under the firm name of Hain & Gernand. In 1857 the firm sold out, and Mr. Gernand emigrated with his family to Illinois, and settled in Danville. He was a year and a half in the lumber trade there. In the spring of 1859 he bought three hundred and twenty acres where he now resides, two miles north of Rossville, and has added by later purchases, till his farm comprises five hundred and sixty acres of the finest farming land, valued at $22,000. His business is largely in stock. He has enjoyed a high degree of prosperity, all his operations having been marked by signal success. He is out of debt ; is a substantial and esteemed citizen,
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and christian gentleman. He was married on the 14th of April, 1857, to Miss Emma Evans, daughter of John V. R. Evans, a well-to-do farmer of Berks county, Pennsylvania. They have five sons and three daughters living and one daughter dead. He is a republican in politics. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gernand were in communion with the Reformed Church in Pennsylvania, but finding none of that denomination here, united, in 1859, with the Presbyterian church in Rossville.
Charles M. Ross, Rossville, druggist, was born in Cambridge City, Wayne county, Indiana, on the 1st of Jannary, 1847, and is the son of John M. and Ellen (Hannah) Ross. He removed with his parents to Ross township, Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1859. He attended school two years at Thornton, Boone county, and two years at Stockwell, Tippecanoe county, Indiana. He engaged in the grocery trade at the latter place two years; next was in the employ of the Singer Sewing Machine Company at Indianapolis a short time. After this he was in the coal trade with his uncle, J. H. Ross, about three years. He taught school two winters; then came to Rossville and started in the drug business, which he now continnes. Mr. Ross is a republican and a Methodist.
Robert D. Purviance, Rossville, farmer, was born in Giles county, Tennessee, on the 21st of April, 1817, and is the son of Eleazer and Elizabeth Purviance. At the age of twelve he removed with his par- ents to Warren county, Indiana, where he lived thirty years. In 1859 he settled about three miles north of Rossville, Vermilion county, Illinois, in Grant township. He has served two or three terms as high- way commissioner. By perseverance he has acquired an honorable competence, and in a truly catholic spirit dispenses his bounty with an open hand and generous heart. Mr. Purviance is a republican. He owns one hundred and seventy acres of land, valued at $6,500.
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