John Carl Wegeng has the good fortune to call Champaign County his home from birth to the present time, and his life’s activities have been chiefly expressed through the business of farming, in which he has made a notable success. Mr. Wegeng’s home is in Raymond Township, near the village of Bongard.
Mr. Wegeng was born in Raymond Township, July 25, 1868, a son of John jind Margaret Wegeng. His parents were both natives of Germany and they came to America a few weeks before their son John C. was born. They located in Raymond Township, where the father became a prosperous farmer and at the time of his death, on December 22, 1898, owned a half section, or 320 acres of land. He also served as school director and was a man of importance in the community in many ways. His widow is still living at Villa Grove, Illinois. They had the following children: Bertha, wife of Pat Mooney of Crittenden Township of this county; Phoebe, wife of John Beatty of Raymond Township; John C.; Francis of Villa Grove; Simon, who lives on the old homestead; Philip of Champaign; Emma, wife of Henry Mooney of Champaign; Annie, deceased; Martha, wife of Roy Sheppard of Pesotum; and Katherine, a resident of Villa Grove. The father by a previous marriage to a Miss Richter had two sons, Otto, deceased, and August, a resident of southern Missouri.
John C. Wegeng grew up on his father’s farm in Champaign County and was educated in the district schools. At the age of twenty-one he began working as a farm hand, continuing for two years, and his father then bought a tract of 160 acres in section 18 of Raymond Township. Mr. Wegeng did his part in developing this land for about three years and then rented a portion of the homestead for five years. At the age of twenty-nine Mr. Wegeng married and at his father’s death he bought eighty acres of the old homestead, later another eighty acres, and the last addition to his landed property came when Eli Chapman willed him eighty acres. All of this has been highly developed and improved and under Mr. Wegeng’s capable direction it is one of the most productive farms in the southern part of Champaign County.
June 4, 1896, he married Margaret Fitzgerald. They are the parents of a fine family of eight children: John T., Pearl M., Russell Leo, James Francis, Rex Joseph, Mary Dorothy, Frances June, and Ruth Marcella. These children have received excellent advantages both at home and in the local schools. Mr. Wegeng has proved himself a friend of education and has served as school director. He is a Democrat in politics and a member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Crittenden Township. His home farm is on Rural Route No. 64 out of Longview.