Patrick Connor. Every one in the Rantoul vicinity of Champaign County knows the home of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Connor. It is located in section 19, five miles northwest of Rantoul and near the schoolhouse to which Mr. Connor sent his own children and with which he has been officially identified. This is a fine […]
Roger E. Zombro is one of the live and enterprising business men of Champaign, and after a number of years of practical experience as an employee graduated into the ranks of independent merchants and now conducts one of the most popular men’s furnishing goods stores of the city, drawing his trade from the best classes
Alexander Funkhouser. Some men go through the world, subject to its various experiences, doing their work well and accumulating property, but after all is said and done they apparently have not placed the proper emphasis upon life as living and have not accentuated the many interests which lie around them. Of those families of Champaign
William O. Smith. For more than half a century a resident of Champaign County, William O. Smith is known to the people of this section as a man who did his brave and efficient duty in the Civil W T ar, as an active and industrious farmer, and as one who in all the relations
George L. Watson. There are pioneer names in Champaign County that so essentially belong to the development and progress of this section of Illinois that no history would be complete without reference to them. One of these names is Watson, and a worthy bearer of it is found in George L. Watson, a leading citizen
William Sullivan has been a life long resident of Champaign County and has figured in business affairs as a printer, newspaper man, and in later years in the real estate and insurance business. He has one of the principal offices for the handling of real estate and insurance at Champaign. Mr. Sullivan was born at
Thomas Buck. Among the intelligent and thrifty farmers of Champaign County one whose name belongs high on the list is Mr. Thomas Buck of section 28, Compromise Township. Mr. Buck has spent most of his active life in Champaign County, but was born in Warren County, this state, a son of Eli and Catherine (Hogan)
Louis Mittendorf. A number of the solid old business houses of Champaign perpetuate in their ownership old pioneer names of Champaign County, the undertaking establishment of Louis Mittendorf being a case in point. For more than sixty years the name of Mittendorf has been known and respected in this section, ever representing honest methods and
Capt. Thomas Jefferson Smith, of Champaign, is one of the few men still living in Illinois who made their first briefs and arguments in a court room prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. In many ways his has been a remarkable life. He began practice before the war, enlisted soon afterward and gave
Louis Glenn Collison, vice president of the First National Bank of Rantoul, is one of the youngest bankers of Champaign County, and has attained a distinctive position in business affairs which would be creditable to many older men. Mr. Collison was born at Rantoul, August 30, 1894, a son of the late Fred Collison and
Fred S. Bailey, member of the well known Bailey family of Champaign, now vice president of the Champaign National Bank, was born at Champaign April 19, 1871, and is a son of Captain Edward Bailey, one of the founders of the bank who is elsewhere mentioned in these pages. Mr. Bailey attended the common and
Mrs. Suzan Kirk, widow of the late Bernard Kirk, is a Champaign County woman around whom center many associations and interests that betoken the spirit and achievements for which American life is most note-worthy. Mrs. Kirk was born in County Louth, Ireland, a daughter of Patrick and Ann (Casey) McGinnis. She was about fifteen years
Joseph L. Hines. The first man appointed to carry the mail into the rural districts of Champaign County was the late Joseph L. Hines. Mr. Hines was for many years a resident of Champaign and his death, which’ occurred in that city November 15, 1910, removed an honored and respected citizen. Mr. Hines was born
Alexander Craigmile. Of the men whose ability, industry and fore-thought have added to the character, wealth and progress of Champaign County none deserves better mention than Alexander Craigmile, a veteran of the Union army, long and successfully identified with agriculture, and now with his good wife living retired in a comfortable home at Rantoul. His
General Samuel T. Busey. A soldier, banker, a patriot and public-spirited citizen, the late General Samuel T. Busey was without question one of the ablest factors in the history of Champaign County and was widely known and his leadership gratefully acknowledged throughout Illinois. Necessarily the name Busey is one that frequently recurs throughout the pages
Bert Rayburn. Champaign County with its high-priced lands is distinctively the field for the highly efficient farm manager. That is the work and position of Mr. Bert Rayburn. By long experience he has proved his capability in handling the soil and resources of Champaign County in a manner productive both to himself and the owners
William D. Burton is a Champaign County pioneer, was a farmer during his more active years, and since moving to Champaign has done much for the betterment and improvement of that city. Mr. Burton was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, January 28, 1830, a son of Elijah and Deliah (Dimmitt) Burton, the former a native of
Thomas J. Colvin. One of the substantial commercial enterprises of Urbana, with forty years of successful and reliable business history back of it, is the meat market conducted by Thomas J. Colvin. When Mr. Colvin entered upon his career in this venture, he had little to back him save the experience he had gained as
Isaac E. Hess. Successful merchandising is a business that is necessary in a community that desires to expand and progress, but all merchandising is not, by any means, successful. When poor stocks are offered to the public and indifferent salesmen reluctantly show the wares, the business is not very likely to interest any one very
Thomas E. Smith. The name Thomas E. Smith is at once associated with the wealthy and successful business men of Champaign. Success did not come to him like manna from the skies, but was earned by the hardest kind of effort. He gained some of his early experience as a pioneer on the Northwestern prairies
