Z. Robertson, farmer and mechanic, Mattoon; was born in Bourbon Co., Ky., Oct. 22, 1830; he obtained his education in the common schools of Paris, Ky.; his early life was passed upon the farm; at the age of 22 years, he left Kentucky and moved to Greenfield, Ind.; here he followed the trade of plastering for about six years; in the winter of 1858, he came to Illinois, and settled in Mattoon, where for a number of years he continued his trade, and that of farming; in 1865, he purchased and improved a farm of eighty acres, near the city; this he sold in 1869, and again moved to the city and for some time, followed his trade; since coming to the State, he has improved three farms. He was married in 1855, to Rebecca J. Morrison, a native of Pennsylvania; has three children living – Oscar C., Mattie J. and Belle F. His little daughter Fannie, whose death occurred in 1863, was the first interment made in the now thickly populated cemetery near the city. As an evidence of his success in farming, he this year raised seventy-five bushels to the acre, while his neighbors harvested only from thirty to forty bushels per acre.
