USA > Illinois > Champaign County > Philo > Philo area centennial, 1875-1975 > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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"My father was crippled in one limb because of a sickness. He was a tailor, a trade he had learned in Germany. He had people come from as far as Jefferson, Ohio, to buy their clothes. He made my wedding suit." (The house in which John Trost, Sr. had his tailor shop is still stand- ing and is inhabited in Canal Winchester, Ohio.)
"I started to work on the farms when I was eleven years old. Come the first of March, I always started to move by 'washing'. 1 generally worked two or three years at one place. I would 'pick out' a colt and break him to ride. I loved horses. By the time 1 was homesick, I would have a colt trained and I would ride him home for my mother to see.
"Mr. Weller, a Pennsylvania Dutch farmer in Jefferson, Ohio, taught me how to plow and, as he said, do it right.
"I was often sent to a 'still', where 1 watched the men make whiskey. The still was run by a (Theodore) Edd Mittoff. I remember the smell of the ground corn mash. I would return from the still with two jugs of whiskey for Mr. Ziegler, for which he paid 35 cents a gallon.
"Then there was apple butter, made every fall. Cider was cooked down in a large brass kettle, then apple cuttings were added and this often took up into the middle of the night.
"Many a day I would bind wheat barefooted and then go to a dance at night. Do a hard day's work then walk 5 or 6 miles to a party. Get there when the party was half over, but that was my fun.
"1 cut rails (like Abe Lincoln). One winter I cut 4000. 1 was paid by the cord at 40 cents a cord. This work was also done for old man Ziegler. 1 brought to Illinois a pair of Morocco leather boots made in Canal Winchester. They cost me two cords of wood.
"I 'broke' a horse that I sold to Mr. Ziegler for $200.00 - a big price, yes, but he was quite a horse. He was a dappled 'dun' color. 1 called him 'Jim'. I was asked to drive him around the race track at Lancaster. I drove him to a sulky on the fair grounds. Even he knew he was a pretty horse and I was very proud of him.
"I was about 25 years old when the draft (Civil War) was to take me, but my name coming near the end of the alphabet, the war was over before I was called up. Uncle Charles Anders, Mother's half-brother, was home from the war, hid in the bed during the day. All I know about him and the war was that he had his hat shot off. Maybe that scared him and he came home to hide."
Mr. Trost was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Doss of Canal Winchester, Ohio, in the year 1869, Rev. George Mochel, pastor of the Lu- theran Church officiating.
Three years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Trost with their two daughters, Mary and Alice, moved from Ohio and came to Champaign Co., Illinois, settling on a farm a short distance south of the village of Philo. Mr. Trost said, "We left Ohio, you know, because we wanted some day to have a home of our own. The land was too ex- pensive in Ohio, for the men who owned their farms had been there for some time and had be- come prosperous.
"In those days we traveled over the 'pike' from Lancaster to the home and, after so many miles, had to pay a toll. We often went in the stage coach over this road, the coaches being painted in various light colors and drawn by four horses."
Mr. Trost brought two horses from Ohio. (A Mr. Conn drove them through to Philo.) He bought a mare from Alspah. She was cream- colored and worth $150.00. He brought a single set of harness. They were good leather, with nickel-plated hardware. He traded them to the harness shop man in Philo (a Mr. Mahlone) for a double set.
Elijah Plotner helped Mr. Trost on the farm until he was married. They built a crib 12 rails long and 12 feet wide. The roof was made of slough grass.
Mr. Ordel, an Ohio neighbor who had come to Illinois before Mr. Trost, met Mr. Trost and his family at Tolono to take them to their new home.
Mr. Ordel and Mr. Trost needed a cow and they bought themselves one each in Edgar County. This was their first purchase together. Mr. Trost's cow turned out to be a long-horned wild one. He said, "She would come at me with her horns and I thought I could stop her with a pitchfork, but I couldn't. Uncle George Halber- stadt and his four girls came over and we all tried to put her in the stable, but she was too much for all of us. You can bet I sold her - very soon - to a George Burton. She was nice and fat and sold well.
"When I first came from Ohio, I was sleeping on some money from my sale in Ohio (I had lived in the Ziegler farm(. I used part of the money when Mr. Ordel and I went to Terre Haute and bought some cows and calves. We made this trip on horseback.
"Mother and I came to Illinois in March, 1872. There was not much to be seen of Urbana then. I remember two buildings of the University at that time. There were no good roads then, but many bad mud holes.
"On the eighty where we settled, we found only a shelter for our horses made with four poles in the ground and a thatched roof covered with straw. Our 'old house' was already there, built by Mr. Wright and in that Mother and I started housekeeping. Mollie and Alice was all of our family then.
"The soil in those days was poor and I had to work the lower eighty three or four years before I could plant anything.
"The old house was just boarded up on out- side. I weatherboarded it - plastered it - and made it more like a home. We had left a new house in Ohio built by Mr. George Ziegler for his son.
"I brought two sacks of yellow seed corn from Ohio - 'Kinney' corn it was called - and we raised it for years in this vicinity. Mr. Copely called me 'The Buckeye' farmer - the farmer who had straight corn rows. I planted as I plowed - always in straight rows."
Mr. Trost bought the home place of eighty acres for $28.00 an acre. The Woods place north in the next section - 80 acres at $100.00 an acre. Ed Trost (a son) moved to the Woods place in 1895. The Hickman eighty was bought at $85.00 an acre.
Jack Gardner had lived on the Woods place. He was furnished a cow and was paid $18.00 per month.
The new house was built in 1881 by a Jim Lovingfoss (Elva Trost's, Mrs. Ed Trost) cousin. The price paid for three rooms up and three down was $1800.00.
The Trost children born after the folks moved to Illinois were Edward, Lillie, John, Ida, Ger- trude, Agnes, Frances, Opal.
In 1908, Mr. Trost retired from the farm and went to Urbana, where he made his home at 511 West High Street.
Upon coming to Illinois he became actively in- terested in organizing the present Zion Evangeli- cal Lutheran Church in Philo, of which he was a charter member. It was said of him - "A beloved father and husband - an industrious workman - a loyal citizen - a Christian char- acter."
"I was so discouraged when we first landed - when our goods came and before we unpacked it, I said to Mother, 'Oh, let's go back' - and I should have done so if it had not been for dear Mother. She said, 'Oh, no, let's stay and try it for a year.' Mother was always happy! How much we owe her! Many times I heard her singing clear to the end of the 80."
Mr. Trost said, "The $1200.00 I carried in a money belt from Ohio was a worry to me. There was no bank to put it into, until Dr. Parker started one. The bank building later became the lumber yard office of Mr. Tabler, the gentleman who was the secretary of the Philo Corporation establishment." (The bank was later to build a new building that is now the Philo Exchange Bank. Mr. E.B. Hazen was the new banker, and, later, L.E. Hazen was to be the owner.) "Mr. Or- del helped me by giving Mr. Hunter $100.00 to give up a farm, so I could buy my first piece of land."
Williams Family
Elias Williams, born in 1831 in Fayette County, Indiana, died in Philo in 1914. He was married to Nancy Bash, who was born in 1835 and died in 1862. They had one son Aldophus, born in 1857, who died in 1885.
In 1864, Elias was married to Hannah Peter- son of Brookville, Indiana, and moved to a farm southeast of Philo in 1865. They moved to Main Street in Philo in 1894. Their three children were Clark E., born in 1865 who died in 1920. He was married to Blanche Marten in 1889. She was born in 1865 and died in 1935. They had two children, Lloyd, born in 1890 and who died in 1974 and Nettie, born in 1893, who died in 1903; Ellie May, born 1869 and who died in 1944 and was married to Harry Wilson in 1918; and Clar-
Clarence Williams Family
ence L. who was born in 1875 and died in 1941. He married Catharine Churchill in 1884. Mrs. Clarence Williams was born in 1875 and died in 1959.
They were the parents of four children, Nellie, Roy C., Dorothea and Karl. The oldest of their children is Nellie M., born in 1896, who married Charles Lafenhagen in 1920. Mr. Lafenhagen was born in 1897. Charles and Nellie are the parents of three children, Leo Francis, Grace E. and Glen H. Leo and Mildred Loudy were mar- ried in 1943. He was born in 1922 and she was born in 1925. They have two children, Diane Lynn, born in 1945 who married Harlan R. Trotter, Dewey, Illinois. He was born in 1935 and they were married in 1956. They are the parents of two children, Paul born in 1968 and Barbara, born in 1971. Leo and Mildred's son is Francis L., who was born in 1949.
Grace Lafenhagen born in 1927 married Quentin McCarrey in 1951. He was born in 1920. They have two sons, Guy born in 1960 and Char- les Andrew born in 1963.
Glen, who was born in 1928 is married to Mary Jean Bonnell in 1949. She was born in 1930. They have one daughter, Beth Ann, born in 1956.
The second child of Clarence and Catharine Williams is Roy C., born in 1899, who married Ethel Lahne in 1921. She was born in 1898 and died in 1946. His second wife is Ruth Warnes, born in 1899. They were married in 1948.
The third child, Dorothea Marie, born in 1905, was married in 1924 to Paul D. Hance II. He was born in 1902 and died in 1957. They were
the parents of three children, Dorothy Elizabeth, Paul Dewitt III and Sandra Jean. Dorothy born in 1925, married Lester Zega in 1950. He was born in 1924. They are the parents of five children, Mickolas L. born 1952; Leslie E. born 1953; Bruce born 1955; James born 1956; and Susan born 1962. Paul III, born in 1929, married Judy Harrison and they have three children, Christopher born 1958; Jessica born 1962; and Amelia born 1964. Dorothea's third child is Sandra Jean Hance, born in 1965.
The fourth child of Clarence and Catharine Williams was Karl C., born in 1916 and who died in 1940.
This is a Farmer
This is not the first time this column has ap- peared in print - and it's pretty sure not to be the last. The original author is unknown but whoever he (or she) is, he knows a thing or two about farmers.
Farmers are found in fields plowing up, seed- ing down, returning from, planting to, fertilizing with, spraying for and harvesting if. Wives help them, little boys follow them, the Agriculture De- partment confuses them, city relatives visit them, salesmen detain them, meals wait for them, weather can delay them, but it takes Heaven to stop them.
When your car stalls along the way, a farmer is a considerate, courteous, inexpensive road service. When a farmer's wife suggests he buy a new suit, he can quote from memory every ex- pense involved in operating the farm last year. plus the added expense he is certain will crop up this year. Or else he assumes the role of the indi- gent shopper, impressing upon everyone within earshot the pounds of pork he must produce in order to pay for a suit at today's prices.
A farmer is a paradox - he is an "overalled" executive with his home his office; a scientist using fertilizer attachments; a purchasing agent in an old straw hat; a personnel director with grease under his fingernails; a dietician with a passion for alfalfa, animals and antibiotics; a production expert faced with a surplus; and a manager battling a price-cost squeeze. He manages more capital than most of the business- men in town.
He likes sunshine, good food, state fairs, dinner at NOON, auctions, his neighbors, Satur- day nights in town, his shirt collar unbuttoned, and above all a good soaking rain in August.
SPECTACLE DIVISION Bob Giesler, Chairman
Historical Data Ann Mitsdarfer, Chairman Matilda Plotner Floy Taylor Thelma Melohn Howard Eaton Mary Frances Eaton
Properties Ed Mitsdarfer, Chairman Gene Ruebben Gene Cain Mary Thinnes John Reis Steve O'Connor Clarence Painter Martin Gorman
Stage Tom Grady, Chairman John Burr John Bolger David McCormick Denny Cain Ron Christian
Grounds Joe Medlock
Cast Pat Johnson
Mike Manuel Cheryl Cain Boots Giesler Jean Manuel
Paula Burr Mike Manuel
Construction Ken Johnson
Costumes Norma Rash, Chairman Tommie Calhoun Alice Dalton Pat Gentry Cheryl Rash Shirley Silver Virgil Rash
Student
Audrey Bishop, Chairman
PUBLICITY DIVISION COMMITTEE
Pastor Paul Pfeffer, Chairman John Grady Dena Evans Schumacher Melinda Fox Al Swanson Bob Cain Elizabeth Franks Mrs. Lelah Wimmer Julie Beetle Eileen Painter
SPECIAL EVENTS DIVISION John Godsell, Chairman Don Newman, Co-Chairman Parade Committee Tom Cain. Chairman Dale Kirby Hospitality House Committee Paul Godsell, Chairman Janise Godsell
Youth Committee Jon Khachaturian, Chairman Rusty Freeland Greg Silver Antiques and Windows Glenn Sappenfield, Chairman Pat Kelly Jim Payne
Transportation Ken Freeland, Chairman Dave Nogel Gene Smith Pioneer Events Committee Alda Rice, Chairman
Music Paul Pfeffer
Merchants Committee Rich Keller, Chairman Gary Woods Traffic and Safety Don Hewing, Chairman Lowell Curry Ray Muhs Fred Hite
SPONSORS
PDQ PRINTING SERVICE Urbana
THE LAMP AND SHADE SHOP Urbana, Illinois
JOHNSON DRAPERIES Urbana, Illinois MARBLE'S CATERING SERVICE Savoy, Illinois
HITCHINS ROOFING INC. Urbana, Illinois
CORNER STORE, DON HEWING Philo, Illinois 684-2143
CENTRAL PROPANE SERVICE INC. Philo, Illinois
PHILO EISNER AGENCY Philo, Illinois
GODSELL TRUCKING Philo, Illinois
EXECUTIVE COFFEE SERVICE
DAIRY QUEEN Champaign-Urbana
URBANA OFFICE MACHINE & SUPPLY INC. Urbana, Illinois
HECKMAN BINDERY INC.
JAN 96 Bound - To - Please N MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 977.366P547 C001 PHILO AREA CENTENNIAL, 1875-1975 S.L.
3 0112 025396018
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