Champaign County IL

Biography of Samuel Henson Little

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 … Read more

Biography of Captain Edward Bailey

Captain Edward Bailey is president of the Champaign National Bank, an institution which has become noted as one of the most conservative in the United States and as a leader among the great banking institutions of Illinois. He was one of its founders. He was born at Bloomfield, Edgar County, Illinois, September 8, 1843, a son of David and Hannah (Finley) Bailey, concerning whom mention is made on other pages. His early education was obtained in subscription schools at Bloomfield. In the last part of 1854 or early in 1855 his parents moved to Monticello, Illinois, thence to Urbana, Illinois, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of L. Forney Wingard

L. Forney Wingard is a successful lawyer at Champaign, has been in active practice over fifteen years, and besides his accumulation of professional interests he has identified himself in a public spirited way with the work of the community. His family has lived in Champaign County for a great many years. Mr. Wingard was born at Champaign June 3, 1875, a son of Benjamin F. and Mary C. (Forney) Wingard. His father was born in Indiana, son of David Wingard, who came to Champaign County in 1859. Both the father and grandfather were in the jewelry business at Champaign. Mr. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Truman O. Cord

Truman O. Cord has made a success of farm management and has in active operation one of the fine places in Sidney Township, located on Rural Route No. 58. While Mr. Cord has spent most of his life in Champaign County, he was born in Indiana, October 26, 1872, a son of Simon and Milcah (Cawthorn) Cord. Both parents were natives of Indiana, and both are now deceased, the mother having passed away in 1884 and the father on July 13, 1890. They came to Champaign County about 1876 and the father was also a farmer. There were seven children: … Read more

Biography of David G. Fisher

David G. Fisher, now living retired at Champaign, began farming in this county nearly half a century ago. He realizes as few men still living do the difficulties and the handicaps to which farming was subject in those early years, and he has also realized along with extensive experience financial independence and the success which is the object of all ambitious men. Mr. Fisher was born in Fulton County, Illinois, December 3, 1839. His parents, Frederick and Sarah (Fouts) Fisher, were both born in Clark County, Indiana. When they went to Illinois in 1833 they passed through Champaign County, but … Read more

Biography of Elmer A. Rush

Elmer A. Rush has been individually carrying the burdens of agriculture in Champaign County for many years. Business has prospered under his hand and he has enjoyed many of the good things of life, including a good home and the riches of esteem paid him by his fellow citizens. Mr. Rush was born in Philo Township of this county September 30, 1877, a son of William and Florence A. (Keeble) Rush. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of Vermont. William Rush came to Illinois when a young man and after a brief residence in Marshall County … Read more

Biography of Capt. Thomas Jefferson Smith

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 the best in him to the perpetuation of the Union, came out of the war with the rank of captain, and at once began practice at Champaign, where he has now lived for over half a century. Captain and Mrs. Smith never had any children. … Read more

Biography of Frank Morton Conkey

Frank Morton Conkey has for more than a quarter of a century been identified with the town of Homer in his profession as a dentist. He is one of the most progressive men in his calling in the county, and began his work with splendid equipment and has always kept up with every advance and improvement in the profession. Doctor Conkey was born at Homer, Illinois, May 3, 1868. He is a son of William Alexander and Sarah Virginia (Sadler) Conkey, his father a native of Pelham, Massachusetts, and his mother of Wheeling, West Virginia. The Sadler family were early … Read more

Biography of David B. Wright

David B. Wright was born in Millerstown, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1867, a son of John B. and Elmira (Cox) Wright, both of whom are natives of Pennsylvania. His father, who died in Missouri, enlisted in the Forty-second Pennsylvania Infantry and served until the battle of Gettysburg. He and his wife had five children: William I., deceased; James A. of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; David B.; Minerva, widow of John L. McKinsie of Champaign; and John B., deceased. When David B. Wright was seven years of age he was sent to a soldiers’ orphans’ home in Pennsylvania, where he remained until he was … Read more

Biography of Jacob Swick

Jacob Swick. A resident of Champaign County during a period of sixty-five years and still interested in the pursuit of agriculture here, Jacob Swick is one of the best known among the citizens of Broadlands and the vicinity. During his long career it has been his fortune to have gained many of the rewards of industry and integrity, and in addition to material remuneration to have attained a position of substantial prominence in his community and a place in the respect and confidence of those among whom his long life has been spent. Mr. Swick was born in Germany, June … Read more

Biography of Jesse R. Glascock

Prairie View Farm and the Glascock Family

Jesse R. Glascock. Champaign County as a whole attests the truth of the observation that “Our civilization rests at bottom on the wholesomeness, the attractiveness and the completeness, as well as the prosperity of life in the country.” It is surely the men of the open country who compose the stay and strength of the nation in time of war and its guiding and controlling spirit in time of peace. This county has a number of men who measure up to the standards set in these words, and one of them is Mr. J. R. Glascock of St. Joseph Township. … Read more

Biography of Thomas D. B. Stucker

Thomas D. B. Stucker is one of the honored citizens of Fisher, Illinois. His home has been in Champaign County for the past thirty-six years. His life deserves honor and respect ‘for two reasons: First, because of the good and honest work he has done as a private citizen, and second, as an old soldier who helped to save the nation during the dark days from 1861 to 1865. Mr. Stucker, whose ancestry originally was German, was born in Bartholomew County, Indiana, July 13, 1844. He was the fifth in a family of fourteen children, eight sons and six daughters, … Read more

Biography of Charles Frank Van Vleck

Charles Frank Van Vleck. It is not so very many years ago since the first American automobile attracted interest and curious comment as it rather cautiously sped up and down the highways of town and country, and few people had sufficient confidence in the new machine to predict that the time would come when it would practically supplant all other ordinary means of transportation. Its development has been so rapid and substantial that business men in all lines, all over the country, soon found themselves becoming first interested and later concerned with the automobile industry in some way. One of … Read more

Biography of James Oscar Sayers

James Oscar Sayers of Fisher, one of the advisory board of editors of the Champaign County History, has had an active experience in this section of the county covering a period of forty-two years. He came here as a young man possessed of no financial resources, and by hard work and constant attention to his duties has built up a mercantile business whose volume is second to none in the village. Mr. Sayers is wide awake to all things that concern this locality and is generally recognized as one of the most capable men of Champaign County. He was born … Read more

Biography of Elizabeth Clark Jenkinson

Elizabeth Clark Jenkinson, daughter of the late venerable John Clark of Gifford, whose career has been fully sketched in preceding pages, resides on one of the fine farming estates around Gifford and some special mention should be made of her family. She is the wife of Mr. Alfred Jenkinson, who was born at Lacon, Illinois, a son of Benjamin and Mary A. (Willy) Jenkinson. Benjamin Jenkinson was born in Yorkshire, England, and his wife in Leicestershire, England. They immigrated to America at an early day and were married at Lacon, Illinois, in 1857. Of their ten children Alfred was the … Read more

Biography of L. H. Blue

L. H. Blue. Hardly a more attractive rural home can be found in the entire scope of Champaign County than that of Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Blue, situated on Rural Route No. 21 out of Rantoul and section 8, some seven miles from that city. This home has been the product of Mr. and Mrs. Blue’s united endeavors and industry since they married, and it is with a pardonable degree of pride that they enjoy its comforts and satisfactions. Mr. Blue was born near Rantoul and is a son of John H. and Lena (Satthoff) Blue, energetic and worthy … Read more

Biography of William G. Fulton

William G. Fulton. The opinion has been expressed that opportunities today for the farmer are just as great as they were in pioneer times when land could be obtained for little or nothing. The career of William G. Fulton furnishes testimony in point. Mr. Fulton began his career in Champaign County with hardly enough capital to buy a single acre of the high priced land of this section of Illinois. He is now one of the wealthy and most prominent farmers in the southern part of the county and his accomplishments show what a man of determination and iron will … Read more

Biography of Egbert J. Myers

Egbert J. Myers. For forty-one years Robert J. Myers has lived in Champaign County. Those have been years of productive labor, of public spirited enterprise, and few men have left a stronger impress upon their home locality than he. He was not a wealthy man when he came to this county and his prosperity has been the fruit of long continued work, good management and an unselfish interest in the life and affairs of his community. He is a native of the old Blue Grass State and was born in Lewis County, Kentucky, March 23, 1853. He is the oldest … Read more

Biography of Charles M. Webber

Charles M. Webber. Since 1914 the post office at Urbana has been in charge of Charles M. Webber, and in the time that has elapsed since that date the people of the county seat of Champaign County have had no reason to complain of the mail service. Mr. Webber was for many years a business man and in the activities of commercial life found much to broaden him and to give him sound, practical ideas and love of system which have assisted him greatly in keeping the machinery of the post office in smooth running order. Also, he had previously … Read more

Biography of Daniel Morrissey

Daniel Morrissey. In the case of this well known citizen of Champaign success speaks for itself. Perhaps a few men remember the time when Daniel Morrissey was helping run a small weekly paper. That was more than half century ago. He early succumbed to an irresistible impulse to buy land. He bought with unlimited faith in the future of this locality, and his friends say that he also bought with almost unlimited skill and accuracy of judgment. Doubtless he made some mistakes, but they have not interfered with the big results. For the benefit of future generations, if not for … Read more