USA > Illinois > Iroquois County > Past and present of Iroquois County, Illinois > Part 46
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MR. AND MRS. ADAM WAMB.I.
LF THE UNIVERS 10 MOIS
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IROQUOIS COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
ha- for the past few years been living a retired hie, occupying the beautiful honte which he built for himself on the farm. This farm he broke from the raw prairie and by hard and unremit- ting effort has transformed it into one of the garden spots of the county. He deserves much credit for what he has accomplished and hi- splendid prosperity is well merited.
IRA M. LINDSEY.
Ira M. Lindsey, living on section 30, Onarga township, is an active and energetic business man operating the old Lindsey homestead of two hun- dred and twenty-seven acres. He was born on the farm which is now his place of residence February 3. 1867. and his father. B. F. Lindsey. was likewise born on this farm, which is one of the old settled places of the county. The paternal grandfather. Ira Lindsey, was a native of Vir- gima and one of the first settlers here. arriving in the district when it was a wilderness. the prairie being covered with the native grasses. while in certain districts there were forest growths and much of the land, too, was very wet and swampy. He entered several hundred acres and opened up the farm which has since been the family homestead. His son, B. F. Lind- sey, was reared under the parental roof and having arrived at years of maturity he wedded Frances Wiswell, a native of Illinois, who was born in Morgan county. As the years passed by B. F. Lindsey became a prominent. active and prosperous farmer and stock-raiser, owning about six hundred and forty acres of valuable land. He carried on general agricultural pur- suits successfully for a number of years and eventually removed to (marga, where his last years were passed, his death occurring there in June, Bet. He was always reliable and active in his business interests and therefore left to his faniily not only a goodly estate but also an un- tarnished name. His wife survives him and now resides in Champaign, Illinois.
Ira M. Lindsey spent the days of his youth in the usual manner of farm lads, early becom- ing familiar with the duties of fieldl and meadon. Ili- preliminary education was supplemented by study in Champaign high school and when his
father removed to Unarga he took charge of the home place and has further improved and de- veloped it, making it a valuable farm property. He carries on the work of tilling the soil and also raises and deals in stock, and both branches of his business are proving profitable.
Mr. Lindsey was married in Unarga, March 24), 18gt, the lady of his choice being Miss Carrie Capen, who was born in Michigan but was reared in this county. They now have three children : Osa. Leon and Anita. Mr. Lindsey exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the democracy at state and national elections but casts an independent local ballot. He is now a member of the school board and he affiliates with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Onarga lodge. Gilman chapter. Watseka coun- cil. Paxton commandery and the Mystic Shrine of Peoria. He is now senior deacon in the blue lodge and he has filled all of the chairs in the Knights of Pythias lodge at Onarga, of which he is a past chancellor. His wife, a most esti- mable lady, hokis membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and both are highly esteemed. occupying an enviable position in social circles where true worth and intelligence serve as pass- ports into good society. Mr. Lindsey is well known in Watseka and Iroquois county and in- vestigation into his life record shows much that is commendable, while his example in the man- agement of his business interests might be profit- ably followed by all who desire to gain honorable prosperity.
JAMES HOAGLAND.
James Hoagland is now living retired in Shel- don but for many years was closely associated with farming and stock-raising interests in Iro- «mois county, and he so directed his labors and managed his business interests that there ac erned therefrom an extensive competence that now enables him to rest in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. He was born April 6. 1851, and is a son of James and Hannah ( Fox ) Hoagland.
The father, a native of Clark township. to shoeton county, Ohio, was born March 31. 1818. and his parents were Isaac and Polly ( Carpenter )
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Hoagland, both of whom were natives of Vir- ginia. The latter was a daughter of John Car- penter, one of the first settlers of the north side of the Ohio river in the Buckeye state. He was probably a soldier of the Revolutionary war and one of his sons was for seven years connected with the colonial army, doing valued service as a spy. Thomas Carpenter, son of John Carpen- ter. is said to have been the first white child born in Ohio. The great-grandfather of our subject, was at one time taken prisoner by the Indians and held for eighteen months before he was able to make his escape. In the meantime, his people. supposing him dead, returned to Virginia. When he managed to escape he took a horse which had been captured with him, and, swim- ming the Ohio river, he made his way to his par- ents' home. While held captive the Indians were camped between Owl creek and Mahicken river, near the junction of the two streams, and Mr. Carpenter was so pleased with that country and its possibilities that subsequent to his marriage he removed with his wife and children to that locality. It was still a frontier district and a number of families built and occupied a fort in order to secure protection from the red men. One day while Mr. Carpenter and his wife were hoeing in the garden he was shot by an Indian. The ball entered his body and he fell. The red men thought to capture Mrs. Carpenter but she ran screaming to the fort and thus made her es- cape. Mr. Carpenter recovered and lived for many years afterward.
The Hoagland family also became residents of Ohio in pioneer times, Isaac Hoagland, the grandfather of our subject, settling in that state at a place just across the river from Wheeling. West Virginia. Ile married Polly Carpenter. and they began their domestic life upon a farm, undergoing all of the privations and trials of frontier life. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and after his death, which occurred in the fall of 1848, when he was seventy-three years of age, his widow obtained a land warrant in recognition of his military service. She sent the paper to her son, James Hoagland, who was then living in Iroquois county, Illinois, but it was not properly signed and he returned it but never heard of it again. Mrs. Polly Hoagland died in Coshocton county, Ohio, in 1853, in the
seventy-fourth year of her age. By her mar- riage she became the mother of ten children.
Of this family James Hoagland was the sev- enth in order of birth and upon his father's farm he spent the days of his boyhood and youth. as- sisting in the arduous task of clearing and de- veloping new land. His educational opportuni- ties were very meager, owing to the poor condi- tions of the schools in that pioneer community. When eighteen years of age he was married in Clark township, Coshocton county, Ohio, on Christmas day of 1836, to Miss Hannah Fox. who was born in Muskingum county, that state. October 4, 1819, and was a daughter of Eli and Lavina ( Andrews) Fox, who were natives of Connecticut, and removed to Ohio at an early dav.
At the time of his marriage. Mr. Hoagland had but little capital with which to start out in life but he rented land and thus engaged in farming in Ohio until 1845. He then came to Illinois, accompanied by his wife and four chil- dren, bringing with them a few household goods, which they loaded into a wagon and thus drove across the country to Iroquois county, reaching their destination on the 28th of September. 1845. James Hoagland's actual capital at that time con- sisted of but twenty dollars. During the first three years of his residence in that county he rented land of Squire Courtright, and in 1848 he entered forty acres from the government, reso- lutely undertaking the task of developing a new farm, for he was not unfamiliar with such a work, having been engaged in a similar enter- prise in Ohio. His life was a busy one, and his unremitting diligence and persistency of purpose gained him prosperity. . As his financial re- sources increased he added to his land until at one time he owned eleven hundred and ninety- one acres in Concord township and owed no man a dollar.
His wife died February 9, 1892, at the age of seventy-two years. She was a faithful member of the United Brethren church and for fifty- five years had been a loving wife and true help- mate to her husband. They had traveled life's journey together through that long period and on Christmas day of 1886 was celebrated their golden wedding. Their union was blessed with ten children. Eli, who was born in Coshocton
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county, Ohio, November 8. 1837. 15 How living retired in Sheldon and has seven children. Mary, born in Coshocton county, May 31. 18.30. became the wife of Lyman Mather and died June 2, 1871, leaving four children. Isaac, born m Coshocton county, October 14. 1842, was a soldier of the Civil war from 18001 until 1802. serving under Fremont, but was taken ill on the first march after Price and died near thter- ville, Missouri, January 3. 1802, his remains he- mg brought back to Iroquois county by his father and interred in the Sheldon cemetery. Lavina. who was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, May 10, 1844. is the wife of James Ashbury Clarke. of Concord township, and they have five children. Sarah, born in Concord township, Iroquois coun- 11. Illinois, June 18. 1846, is the wife of Oscar Appleget, and has three children. Ira, born November 15. 1848, resides in Concord town- ship and has five children. James is seventh of the family. Hannah, born August 20, 1853, died October 6, 1855. Nancy, born December 3. 1855, became the wife of George Shrimplin and died April 25. 1880, leaving three children. Charles, born July 9, 1858, is married and has One child.
James Hoagland, Sr., although reared in the faith of the democratic party, became a stalwart advocate of whig principles and cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Harrison. On the organization of the republican party he joined its ranks and remained one of its stalwart advocates until his demise. He lived an upright. honorable life, devoted his time and energies to his business interests and his dealings were ever characterized by uprightness and honor, so that he not only gained a comfortable competence but also won the respect and confidence of all with whom he was brought in contact, and his death. on the 3d of April, 1001, was the occasion of sincere and widespread regret.
James Hoagland, whose name introduces this record, has spent his entire life in Iroquois coun- ty and acquired a district-school education. When not busy with his text-books his attention was given to farm labor, and he early beenne an assistant in the fields. He bought his first land a tract of one hundred and sixty acres in 1875, and he still owns that property but his holdings have become much more extensive as
the years have passed by and he now has five hundred and twenty acres in this county. Ile gave his energies to the work of tilling the soil and the raising of stock until 1887, when he re- moved from the old homestead to a place near Sheldon, and in 10x3 retired permanently from farm life and took up his abode in the city of Sheldon, where he purchased a beautiful rest- dence, standing in the midst of a fine lawn. Here he is living retired, surrounded by all of the comforts and many of the luxuries which go to make life worth living.
Mr. Hoagland was married to Miss Martha 1. Crowd, of Iroquois county, Illinois, a daughter of John B. and Mary ( Moore) Growl. The father was born in Nenia, Ohio, February 9. 1822, and was a son of Joseph and Aletha (Bishop) Growl, who were natives of Maryland and Virginia respectively. They went to Ohio in early life and were married there. Mr. Crowl died in February, 1852, his wife surviving him for twenty years, or until October, 1872. John B. Growl, the father of Mrs. Hoagland, lived in Ohio until 1839, when with his parents he removed westward to Indiana, settling five miles cast of Bunkum, Ilinois, which was their post- office. At the age of twenty-one years he crossed the line into this state and engaged in farming near Bankum on the land which he purchased from his father. He was married December 20. 1845. to Miss Mary Moore, who was born in Ohio and came to Illinois at an early day. He owned three hundred and sixty-three acres of land in this county, which he won by his own labor and very capable management. His wife died August 28, 18(x), and he passed away in 1000. Their family numbered eight children.
Mr. and Mrs. Hoagland have but one child, John C., who was born February 20, 1876, and married Harriet MeCloud. They live in Shel- dom, where he is conducting business as an op- tician and jeweler.
Mr. Hoagland belongs to Sheldon lodge, No. 6000. A. F. & A. M., and also to the Modern Woodmen camp. His wife holds membership in the Presbyterian church, to which he is a liberal contributor. lle has manifested many good qualities that have gained him favorable regard. In his business he was alert and enterprising and has so utilized his opportunities that the years
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have brought him goodly success. His name is honored by reason of the straightforward methods he has followed, while his personal char- acteristics, geniality, cordiality and good will have made him popular with those who know him.
WILLIAM A. MONTGOMERY.
William A. Montgomery, living on section 28. Belmont township, his life of well directed activ- ity leading to success in agricultural lines, owns and cultivates a farm of one hundred and eighty- five acres. Ile is of Iroquois county's native sons, his birth having occurred in Concord township. April 27. 1849. His father. Samuel W. Montgomery, was a native of Virginia, but was reared in Indiana and was married there to Sarah Harriman, a native of Ohio. He fol- lowed farming in Indiana and reared his family there until the spring of 1849. when he removed to Illinois. Here he owned one hundred and sixty acres in Concord township at the beginning of his residence in Iroquois county and eventu- ally added to his holdings until they embraced four hundred acres. In the spring of 1860 he removed to Belmont township, where he died September 20. 1893. in his seventy-eighth year. Ilis wife died January 14. 1894. in her seventy- fifth year.
William A. Montgomery was one of a family of ten children and was reared upon the home farm. In the winter months he attended school and in the summer seasons aided in the labors of the fields, remaining with his father until his marriage and carrying on the business in part- nership with him. On the ist of February, 1882. he secured a companion and helpmate for life's journey by his marriage to Miss Melissa J. Bur- gett, a native of this county and a daughter of Elias Burgett, who was born in Ohio. Follow- ing their marriage the young couple took up their abode upon the farm on section 28. Bel- mont township. Mr. Montgomery having pre- viously purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land, to which he has since added until his farm now embraces one hundred and eighty-five acres. The comfortable two-story dwelling.
which is one of the leading features of the place. was erected by him and he has also put up a good barn, forty by sixty feet. together with corn cribs and outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock. The place is well tiled and fenced and his labors have made this a good farming property, on which he raises large crops and also high grade stock of various kinds. including Durham cattle and Poland China hogs. In October. 1906, he purchased one thousand and ninety acres of land in Dickey county. North Dakota, which is partially improved.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery have been born nine children: Maud () .. Samuel E .. Guy .A .. Bertha E., William Harrison. Sarah M .. Mabel W., Clarence E. and Charles Ray. The parents attend the Christian church and are highly esteemed people, who have a large circle of warm friends in the county. In his political views Mr. Montgomery is a republican, but at local elections where no issue is involved he casts a vote independent of party ties. For three years he served as school director, but he has never sought or cared for office. preferring to concen- trate his time and energies upon his business interests, which are well conducted and enable him to add annually to his income, so that he is now comfortably situated in life. Having always lived in Iroquois county, he has a wide acquaintance and the fact that his friends are many is an indication that he possesses genial qualities and many sterling characteristics.
HENRY DILLON.
Henry Dillon, a highly respected citizen and an honored veteran of the Civil war, now living retired in Sheldon, is a native son of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Vermilion county, Sep- tember 13. 1841. His father, Solomon Dillon, was born in East Tennessee, in 1816, and in 1830 accompanied his parents on their removal from the south to this state. The year 1800 witnessed the arrival of Solomon Dillon in Iroquois coun- ty. at which time he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres. situated on sections 17 and 18. Ash Grove township. He had been reared as a Friend, or Quaker, and was one of
MR. AND MRS. W. A. MONTGOMERY
L T. E 150 OF ILLTPOIS
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the organizers of the church of that denomina- tion at Ash Grove, and in later years some of the congregation went to Watseka, where they or- ganized a church. In the family of Solomon Dillon were six children, of whom four are now living, namely : Amos, who was educated at lucianapolis, Indiana, and at one time engaged in teaching but later practiced medicine and is now deceased ; Henry, whose name introduces this record : William, who pursued his studies at Cincinnati and is now engaged in the practice of medicine at Urbana, Illinois : Mrs. Mary Morris, a resident of Goodland. Indiana ; Elizabeth, also a resident of Goodland ; and Garrett, formerly a resident of this county, died in 1899, in Kansas.
Henry Dillon began his education in the com- mon schools of Vermilion county, and later pur- sned a course for six months in an academy in Parke county, Indiana, in which institution the Hon. Joseph G. Cannon was also educated. Mr. Dillon was reared in much the usual manner of farm lads, assisting in the work of the fields when not engaged with his studies, and thus gained practical knowledge which fitted him for the more arduous and responsible duties of life when he started out upon an independent busi- ness career. In 1860, when a youth of nineteen years, he accompanied his father on the removal from Vermilion county to Iroquois county, where for twelve years he was engaged in the profes- sion of teaching, and here he has since continued to make his home.
Loyal to his country, on the 11th of May. 1864. he enlisted for service in the Civil war. becoming a member of Company B. One Hun- dred and Thirty-fourth Ilinois Volunteer In- fantry, which was mustered in for one hundred days' service on the 3d of June of that year. He was mostly engaged in guard duty, being at Columbus and Mayfield, Kentucky, from which place he went to Chicago and from there to St. Louis in pursuit of Price, being mustered out November 4. 1804. He was ill for two weeks during his army service.
Following the close of hostilities Mr. Dillon returned home, where he resumed farming opera- tions, having previously made purchase of a tract of forty acres in Ash Grove township in 1863. On selling that place he bought forty acre more to which, in 1800, he added an addi-
tional forty-acre tract. Disposing of this prop- erty, in 1872 be purchased another farm of eighty acres in the same township, on which he took up his abode and continued the further develop- ment and cultivation of the place for about ten years. He then bought another farm of one hun- dred and sixty acres where he lived until 1802. when he removed to Sheldon township, where he followed farming for ten years, or until 1902. when, feeling that his former labors justified his retirement from the more arduous labors of farm life he took up his almode in the village of Sheldon
As a companion and helpmate for life's jour- ney, Mr. Dillon chose Miss Rachel Wagner, a native of Milford, this county, and a sister of the late John Wagner, of Watseka. This union has been blessed with six children, of whom the third. Ilelen, died in February, 1901. The others are: Gertrude, William, Ruth, Anna and Lee.
Mr. Dillon's study of the political questions and issues has led him to give stalwart support to the republican party, and he has served as justice of the peace and as notary public in Ash Grove. He is connected with the Grand Army of the Republic, at Sheldon, and when a young man of twenty-five years he became identified with the Masonic fraternity, of which he has since been a loyal and devoted member, while both he and his wife hold membership with the Methodist Episcopal church at Sheldon. Through almost a half century Mr. Dillon has been interested in the development and progress of Iroquois county, where in former years he labored earnestly and persistently to acquire a competence, so that he is now well situated in life, enjoying a well earned rest in a comfortable home in Sheldon.
WILLIAM A. WEBSTER.
Witham A. Webster is a native son of Iro- quais county, Is birth having occurred January 30, 1802, In Concord-the township in which he has always made his home, owning and operat- ing at the present time about two hundred and twenty acres of well improved land on sections 27 and 28. He is a son of John Webster. He was reared to the occupation which he has al-
PAST AND PRESENT OF
ways made his life work and acquired his educa- tion in the schools near his father's home. He remained with his father until he attained his majority, when he started out in life on his own account, renting from his father a tract of one hundred and thirty acres, situated on section 28. Concord township. Through his industry and economy he accumulated a sum which. in Decem- ber. 1894, enabled him to purchase a farm of seventy acres, to which he has since added from time to time until he is today the owner of two hundred and twenty acres, situated on sections 27 and 28. Since taking up his abode here he has made many substantial improvements, laying tile and building fences, and he likewise erected a modern country residence. in the rear of which stand good outbuildings. He is practical and progressive in his work and keeps abreast with the times in carrying on his business affairs. In addition to raising the cereals best adapted to soil and climate, he is also engaged in raising Poland China hogs, and this branch of his busi- ness is proving a profitable source of revenue. He is also engaged to some extent in the poultry business, raising buff cochin chickens of high grade, and he expects to make this an important branch of his business.
On the 12th of March. 1884, occurred the marriage of Mr. Webster and Miss Tirzie Ab- bott, who was born in 1860. in Adams county. Ohio, where she was reared to the age of seven years, when she was brought by her parents. James 'and Mary (Johnson ) Abbott. to Iroquois county, the family home being established in Middleport township, where the daughter's mar- riage was celebrated. Both her father and mother were natives of the Buckeye state, and the father followed farming there and subsequent to his removal to Iroquois county. Unto our subject and his wife have been born three sons and three daughters: Ernest, a young man of twenty years, who is assisting his father in the operation of the home farm: Winnie E., who is a young lady of eighteen years and is with her parents : Ray, Lena, Edna and Ralph, aged re- spectively thirteen, nine, three and two years.
Mr. Webster is a republican, stanch in support of the party, and he has served for three years as road commissioner, while for the past fifteen years he has been school director, being deeply
interested in the cause of education. Ile is al- ways interested in the development and progress of his locality along the line of agricultural ad- vancement and supports every movement that tends toward that end. He is well known in the county as an energetic and progressive farm- er and his circle of friends is an extensive one.
WILLIAM HARVEY RUSH.
William Harvey Rush has for thirty years been engaged in breeding and dealing in fine cattle and hogs, in which connection he has become known as one of the leading stockmen of Iro- quois county. Flis home is on section 6, Milford township, and a farm of two hundred and sixty- six acres pays tribute to the care and labor which he bestows upon it. Born upon this farm .Au- gust 12, 1851, he is a son of Samuel Rush, Jr., a native of Pennsylvania, and a grandson of Samuel Rush, Sr., who was born in Virginia, whence he removed to the Keystone state, where
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