Samuel Henson Little. Among those substantial people of Champaign County with whom industry has been the keynote of their lives and successes a family of special interest is that of Samuel H. Little. Mr. and Mrs. Little are now retired from the active responsibilities of farming and reside in a comfortable brown cement block home on Sangamon Avenue in Rantoul.
Mr. Little was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, a son of John and Charlotte (Coon) Little. His parents were natives of Ohio, and after coming to Illinois they spent their lives as farmers. Samuel H. Little was educated in the district schools of Champaign County.
At the age of twenty-six he married Miss Jessie Babb. Mrs. Little was born in Staffordshire, England, a daughter of Charles and Eleanor Babb, of a well known family represented in Champaign County. Mrs. Little was educated in the district schools of this county and attended high school at Rantoul. After their marriage they moved to Vermilion County and for three years were farmers on rented land. They then returned to Champaign County and continued renting for five years, and by the exercise of their native thrift and good judgment had by the end of that time sufficient capital to buy a farm of 120 acres. For this land they paid $71 an acre. Then followed other years of industry and with increasing prosperity until they had accumulated an estate of 243 acres five miles southwest of Rantoul.
This large farm was acquired at the same time that children and other responsibilities were absorbing much of their energy. Six children were born into their home, three of whom died in infancy. Those still living are Nellie, Arthur and Roscoe. These children were educated in the Gray district school. Nellie married Earl Fletcher, a farmer nine miles south of Rantoul. They have three young daughters, Alice, Edna and Louise. Arthur Little is a practical young farmer and manages his Grandfather Charles Babb’s place two and a half miles east of Rantoul. Arthur Little married Edith Putnam of Condit Township, and their two sons are named Charles and Ray. Roscoe lives on and is manager of his father’s homestead. By his marriage to Mabel Johnson of Rantoul he has two children, Ruth and Paul Henson.
Mr. and Mrs. Little took great pains with the education and early training of their children and instilled into their minds the principles of integrity and industry and fitted them for good citizenship.
Mr. and Mrs. Little are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Rantoul, and their children are of the same faith. They have always done all they could to promote and support church affairs, especially at Beulah Chapel. Earl Fletcher, their son-in-law, was chosen superintendent of the Sunday school there, and altogether they have aroused a spirit of Sunday school work which now gives a membership of 110 and is one of the best Sunday schools in the county.
Mr. Little has served as school director, and has worked for the benefit of good education in his community. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World. In 1914 Mr. and Mrs. Little decided to remove from their farm to Rantoul, and they are now taking life somewhat at leisure in their comfortable residence on Sangamon Avenue. Mrs. Little is a pleasant, cultured woman, has distinguished herself as an excellent home maker, and is especially fond of flowers. She inherits this love from her English grandmother, whom she remembers as a dignified white haired English matron owning a fine estate in England and with gardens of fine cultivated flowers.