James M. Current. One of the oldest business men in Champaign County is James M. Current, of Homer. He and his family have conducted a grain business for a great many years in this and in Vermilion County. His life has ‘been one of constant activity and from small beginnings he has acquired a competence and an honorable reputation.
Mr. Current was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, January 21, 1842, a son of William and Mary (Bastion) Current. His parents were both born in Virginia, his father in 1803 and his mother in 1807. His father located in Vermilion County among the pioneers in 1826 and six years later was a soldier in the Black Hawk War. He was a farmer and his death occurred August 6, 1851. There were fourteen children in the family, and four sons are still living: George, now in the Soldiers Home at Danville, Illinois; James M.; Isaac, of Danville; and Samuel, who lives in Nebraska. Another son, Samuel, was a soldier and was one of the guards at Lincoln’s funeral in Washington.
James M. Current grew up in Vermilion County and remained there as an active farmer until 1871. For three and a half years he was in the meat and grocery business at Danville, but in 1875 moved to a farm six miles southeast of Homer in Vermilion County. In 1892 he engaged in the grain business at Fairmont, and in 1901 moved his business headquarters to Homer, where he is still active, though now past seventy-five years of age.
On October 18, 1859, when not yet eighteen years of age, Mr. Current married Miss Mary E. Lynch. Six children were born to them: William H., now associated with his father in business; Abraham L., of Danville; Mary Jane and Sarah Melissa, both deceased; Martin A., of Danville; and Fay R. Fay R. served three years as mayor of Homer. He is an active member of the Masonic Order. Fay Current married Florence Giddings, a native of Kentucky, and four children were born to their marriage: George J., deceased; Victor V.; Vernon R., deceased; and Alta Belle. The son William H. married for his first wife Lovina Gibson and they were the parents of six children: Etta and Frank, both deceased; Fred; Bertha, wife of Ralph Kelsheimer; Clark; and Seymour. William H. married for his second wife Gretchen Whitshof.
James M. Current is a Republican in politics, a member of the Masonic Order and has long been active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a local preacher and at the special request of the official board he delivered a sermon at Homer on his seventy-fifth birthday.