John Dollar, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O. Oakland; born in Perthshire, Scotland, July 1, 1807, where he engaged in farming until 33 years of age, when he emigrated to America, landing in New York in June, 1840, coming to Chicago via canal and lakes, where he hired a team to transport him to Coles Co., paying for the same the sum of $40; arriving here in July, he located eighty acres of land on Section 2, in what is now known as East Oakland Tp., upon which he commenced to make improvements, employing his spare time for several years in ditching for other parties; he located upon his present place in 1849, which contains 263 acres, and upon which he has a complete set of buildings which he has erected since that date; he also owns 200 acres of land in other parts of the county, all of which he has secured by his own hard labor; in the fall of 1842, he made two trips to Chicago, taking up wheat which he sold at 64 cents per bushel, receiving his pay in leather, salt and groceries; the time consumed on each trip being eighteen days. Mr. Dollar, though in his 72d year, is in possession of all his faculties and daily attends to the feeding and care of his stock, of which he has 40 head of cattle, 7 horses, 100 hogs and 30 sheep. He married in Scotland in the spring of 1833, to Margaret Carmichael; she was born in Perthshire, Scotland, and died April 23, 1837, leaving one child, which died Aug. 28, of the same year; his marriage with Mrs. Sarah Curtis was celebrated April 8, 1847; she was the daughter of James D. Hunt, one of the early pioneers of Coles Co., and was born in Clark Co., Ohio, Aug. 19, 1822; they have four children now living by this union, viz., Margaret J., Nancy Isabel, Sarah A. and Ralph D. Mr. Dollar has always taken a deep interest in the cause of religion and education, having been a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church for upward of thirty years; he was a strong Unionist during the late war, and in January, 1865, his house was visited by a band of desperadoes in the night, and with the revolvers of five blackened villains presented to himself and family, they demanded his money, of which they obtained upward of $600 and made away with their spoils; four of the five were afterward captured and lodged in the Jail at Charleston, but broke jail and all escaped the penalty of their crimes. Mr. Dollar lost his father by death in September, 1840; his mother died in 1846.
