Richard Thomas, farming; P. O. Mattoon; the subject of this sketch was born in Carnarvonshire, North Wales, Great Britain, Dec. 18, 1832. He married Miss Sarah L. Worden Dec. 12, 1853; she was born in Fairfield Co., Conn., March 13, 1836; they had seven children, five living, viz., Robert A., Laura A., Annie May, Mary Alice and Lizzie. He lived in Wales about fifteen years, when he came to the United States with some relatives and settled in Oneida Co., N. Y., where he engaged in farming, remaining about three years, when he moved to Fairfield Co., Conn., where he worked on a farm and followed teaming one year; he then worked in the rolling-mill one year, and then engaged in boating-first running packet from Greenwich to New York, then in freighting, following the business about four years; he then, in 1856, moved to Franklin Co., Ind., where he engaged in farming, and followed same until 1870, when he came to Illinois and settled in Cumberland Co., where he lived about nine months, and, in the fall of 1870, he came to his present place and has lived here since. He has held no office, except connected with the road or school. He owns eighty acres in this township, which he has earned by his own labor and management.
