ABRAHAM LINCOLN

     The reader will naturally ask "Why do you place the portrait of Abraham Lincoln among the old settlers of Champaign county?"  We answer, because he practiced law here for many years, and many of the old settlers whose biographies appear in this issue were well acquainted with him; then another reason is that while practicing here he one day went to a gallery in Urbana in 1857, before he became famous, to have his picture taken; he was in his shirt sleeves, and the artist loaned him his coat to sit for the picture.  William H. Somers, now of San Diego, California, while a resident of Beatrice, Nebraska, had a large number of photographs taken from that old picture.  He kindly complimented the HERALD with one of these photographs.  Our artist and engraver has made the above picture from this photograph and shows the great emancipator as he looked when he was a western lawyer residing quietly in Springfield, Ill., and practicing law here and in other counties.  It is the only engraving of Mr. Lincoln which shows him as he was before he became famous in the history of the world.  A biography is unnecessary.

MRS. MALINDA BRYAN

     The above poirtrait is that of the first bride in Champaign county, and for that reason we take especial pleasure in presenting it and a brief sketch of her life.  She was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, in 1812, and resided with her parents Isaac and Sarah Busey, until she was nineteen years old, when she came with them to Vermillion county, in 1831.  Champaign was separated from Vermillion in May, 1833, and Miss Malinda Busey was married to John Bryan July 25th, of the same year by Esquire J. B. Thomas, of Homer.  Soon after her marriage they went to Kentucky to visit the scenes of her youth and spend the honeymoon with the friends of her girlhood days, not in a palace car nor in a fine carriage, but on horseback.  Mr. Bryan rode the same horse to Kentucky and back five times before the iron horse came to supplant this primitive method of locomotion.
     She was converted and baptized in May, 1834, under the ministration of Isaac B. Newell, who was the preacher that in later years organized the Baptist church in Urbana.
     Mrs. Bryan remembers vividly a number of Indian Scares, especially during the time of the Blackhawk war, when she declares that they felt certain that old Black hawk himself was coming on more than one occasion. John Bryan died July 6, 1363. 

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Mrs. Bryan has a daughter in Chicago, one in Rantoul, wife of F. M. Avey, also one son there.  Three sons and four daughters lie buried by the side of their father in the Bryan graveyard, near Mahomet.
     Mrs. Bryan resides in Rantoul and regularly attends the old settlers’ meeting every year, where she is an object of great interest because she is the first woman that entered upon the sea of matrimony within the borders of Champaign county.  She is active and intelligent and it is to be hoped she may continue to meet with the pioneers of the county each succeeding year for many years to come.

THOMAS S. HUBBARD

     The New England states have contributed more to the growth, development and permanency of western institutions than all the other states combined. Evidences of Yankee thrift. push and superior intelligence are to be found on every hand throughout the great west. A new era marked the advent of the New Englander in the west; he brought with him culture. education and ideas, the outgrowth of his superior advantages and education obtained in the schools of states that were the first to recognize the importance of the education of the masses and the fostering of institutions of learning.  Soon after their arrival school houses and churches began to spring up and dot the land and the crude, rough ways and pioneer customs gave way before superior intelligence and education.  Their intelligence, thrift and energy made them valuable acquisitions and welcome visitors in every new settlement.
     The Hubbard family are originally of English ancestry, and of an old New England family.  George Hubbard, the father of Thomas S., was a native of Middletown, Conn.  In his early life he followed the calling of sea captain.  When the embargo was laid upon the shipping interests in 1829 by President Jackson. he abandoned the sea and engaged in hotel keeping and farming.  He died in 1833.  He married Electa Bronson. who was born in Farmington, Conn.  She died in August, Thomas S. was the only son and eighth child.  He was born in Middletown, Conn., September 25th, 1825.  He received his education primarily in the excellent schools of his native village, and in 1845 entered Yale college from which institution he graduated in 1849.  In that class was Timothy Dwight, now president of Yale; also Dr. Fisk, professor in the Congregational Theological Seminary, of Chicago, and Dr. Morris, who now occupies the same position in the Lane Theological Seminary, of Ohio.  After Mr. Hubbard’s graduation he engaged in the manufacture of Japanned tinware and hardware in Meridon and Durham, Conn.  He continued thus engaged until 1854, when he closed out his interests and came west, landing in Urbana December 8th, 1854.  Here he went to church in the primitive M. E. meeting house that stood on the spot where Heller & Toy’s livery stable now stands, with puncheon seats, and heard the gentle murmur of the festive hog as he scratched his back upon the sleepers from his lair beneath the floor. regard less of prayer or song or of the usual church proprieties.
     Here he engaged in private banking and continued until in February, 1856; he then accepted the position of cashier in the Grand Prairie Bank, which had a branch at West Urbana.  These were the only banks in Champaign county, prior to 1861.  Mr. Hubbard continued cashier until the latter date; he then engaged in the grocery and hardware trade and continued it until 1866, when he moved to Cromwell, Conn.  (formerly a part of Middletown) and remained until 1869, when he returned to Urbana.  Since the latter date he has been engaged in the hardware trade.
     When Mr. Hubbard first settled in Urbana there was not a brick house in the town except a small one story dwelling house situated at the southwest corner of the court house square.  The store building now occupied by M. Lowenstern & Son was built one story and completed the following year.  The Illinois Central railroad was finished to

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Champaign in the fall of 1854, but did not run trains regularly that winter.  Mr. Hubbard’s banking office and residence from 1854 to were on the same ground now occupied by his hardware store.
     Mr. Hubbard married Miss Jane E., daughter of Willis Woodruff M. D., of Meriden, Conn., November 14th, 1849.  Of this union there are four children whose names are as follows: George W., who married Miss Edna P. Post, of Cromwell, Conn.  He is a member of the firm of Hubbard & Son, hardware merchants, Urbana.  Minnie W., Julia E. and Harry T. are yet at home.
     Mr. Hubbard and his entire family are members of the Presbyterian church.  In his political affiliations he has always acted and voted with the republican party; he was a member of the board of aldermen from 1875 to 1879 and from 1884 to 1886.
     Mr. Hubbard is a genuine representative of the thrift and enterprise of the New Englander described above.  He is ever ready to aid every enterprise that gives promise of building up the town and county.  He and his son, George W., his partner, conduct one of the largest hardware, stove and tin stores in the county and have for years done a profitable business.

DAVID CANTNER

Was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1817.  His parents dying while he was young he made his home with a prominent iron merchant by the name of Shellaberger, of Bedford county.  He learned the trade of cabinet maker.  The exact date of his coming west is unknown.  He worked at his trade in Indianapolis for several years before he arrived in Urbana.  He landed here in 1839.  He went to the Sangamon and opened a store in the village of Mahomet, also kept a hotel there, and later farmed for a year or two.  In the spring of 1842, he married, and soon after came to Urbana.  Here
he engaged in various business, but more particularly carpentering and building.  In 1866, the village of Rantoul began to loom up.  The surrounding country began to settle up and there was a demand for houses.  Mr. Cantner went there and in a few years practically built the town.  He came back to Urbana in 1872 and here engaged in grocery and provision trade on a large scale.  He still continued building.  In 1873, be erected the St. Nicholas hotel block and the next year put up the block of buildings on Market street and also built several dwelling houses.  The hard times coming on caught him in close financial quarters and he yielded to the inevitable, though not without making a herculean struggle.  It may be said of him that be contributed more to the towns of Urbana and Rantoul than any dozen of men.  The building now occupied and known as the Masonic Temple was built by him as early as 1856.  The brick were burned and shipped from Milwaukee. and cost $40 per thousand.  He also built the first freight house in Champaign and was the builder of the court house and jail for Iroquois county.
     He had the most abiding faith in the future greatness, development and prosperity of the west, he-would, in his quiet way, undertake enterprises demanding large sums of money and careful preparations.  without a dollar in his pocket.  He trusted to luck and the growing wants of the future.  His judgment was not often at fault, his enterprises were often interrupted, but they were always completed. He was undismayed in the face of difficulties, that to others looked insurmountable.  There were plenty to predict his failure in the initial move of his enterprises, but they lacked knowledge of the man.  Many men have accomplished more than David Cantner, but few have done as much under similar circumstances and surroundings.  Had his life been cast in many places he would have been known as a great builder and would have risen to wealth and a high place among men.
     Mr. Cantner married Miss Jane Carson, in 1842.  She died about 1870.  There were three sons by this union viz: Thomas J., who married Bertha Van Dam.  He is a merchant of Rantoul; Charles P., leading grocer and provision dealer of Urbana, and James H., who is with the latter.
     Politically Mr. Cantner was a republican.

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It is said that David Cantner bought the first cook stove in Champaign county.  He died at Urbana. in November 1879.

GEORGE W. BURTON.

     The subject of this sketch was born in Sussex county, Delaware, April 13th, 1825.  His parents, William and Anna (Pool) Burton moved to Ohio, when George was in his eighth year.  He came to this county in 1852 and settled in Urbana.  At that time Urbana was a small struggling village of about one hundred houses.  There were no houses where Champaign now stands.  The Illinois Central road had not been built.  He first found employment with William Park and helped him to saw the ties for the Central railroad.  He was for a time engaged in the bakery and grocery business on the corner of Main and Market streets in a building now known as “Spence's corner.”  In company with James Johnson he did the first ditching in the county.  He invented and operated the first open ditching machine in the
county.  He has done much to put our farming land in a good tillable condition.  After he quit the mercantile business he engaged in ditching and farming and still continues in the latter.
     He married Margaret Oliver, in Barnesville, Belmont county, Ohio, July 1st, 1846.  She was born in Washington county, Delaware, Aug. 12, 1828.  They are the parents of the following children: Allen, tile manufacturer at Philo; Mary married John Ripley, now deceased; Eunice, married John Cover, of Camargo, Ill.; Charles, of the firm of Burton Bros, Philo.  Mr. and Mrs. Burton are members of the M. E. church.  In politics he is a republican and invariably votes his ticket straight.  He has held the office of highway commissioner for nine years and has been industrious in giving us good roads.  He is also school director for his district.  Mr. Burton belongs to the industrious, energetic class of men, and he also ranks as one of our very best citizens.
 

WILLIAM H. OWENS.

     Among the live business men of Urbana is W. H. Owens.  He was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, Dec. 22, 1833.  He is the son of Samuel and Eliza (Brooks) Owens.  His father was in the mercantile business and young Owens became a clerk while young and was educated, so to speak, behind the counter.  He came west in April, 1856.  He believed that this country present ed more advantages to a young man who was industrious and desired to get ahead in the world.  Soon after his arrival here he clerked for Eli Halberstadt for two or three years and then for Alexander Spence, with whom he remained for twelve years.  He subsequently purchased a farm of 120 acres on the Sangamon and farmed for several years, then returned to Urbana May 1, 1882, and purchased a stock of groceries and provisions of Mrs. Hollister and has continued in the trade to the present.
     During this time he has also engaged in the breeding and raising of Short Horn cattle.  In his herd may be found some of the finest specimens of that breed in the county.

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He has also given a great deal of attention to the improvement in the breed of horses.  He has one fine imported Norman and also a Morgan-Belgian, equally as fine an individual as the other.  He is also interested in the breeding of superior breeds of hogs and sheep.
     Mr. Owens married Miss Sarah Wolfe, who is still living.  They are the parents of the following named children: Joseph W., Bessie, Lucy, Kate and Daisy.  Joe is express agent and clerk in his father’s store; Bessie is a graduate of the University of Illinois.  Mr. Owens united with the M. E. church about 1849.  He has been a class leader for over thirty years and a member of the official board for about the same time.  He has always been active in church affairs.  Politically, he has ever been a staunch republican, and has so far steered clear of any offices.
     Mr. Owens attends to his grocery business and at the same time looks after his Mahomet farm and fine stock and we sincerely trust that the prosperity his labors have brought him thus far, may be continued and increased, as he certainly deserves that it should be so.

CHARLES ALEXANDER HUNT, M. D.

     Doctor Hunt was a native of Trenton, New Jersey, where he was born April 15th, 1819, and where he continued to reside until he was thrown upon the World by the death of his father, at the tender age of 13 years.  He then, in company with some of the older members of his father’s family, emigrated to Ohio, where, through the aid of friends and a determination and perseverance that knew no such thing as fail, he succeeded in obtaining a fine English and classical education.  When he became of age he entered the office of Dr. Gillett, of Springfield, Ohio.  His medical studies were completed at the Ohio College of Medicine, Cincinnati, where he graduated with high honors, March 6th, 1845.  He did not cease study upon his graduation, for all his life he was a close student and extensive reader.
     In 1847he was married to Isabella Hopkins and removed to the Wabash valley, where he resided and practiced his profession both in Indiana and Illinois until he and his family removed to Urbana in 1855.  Here he entered into the drug business, which, as a member of the firms of Hunt, Sim & Lindley, and Hunt & Sim. he continued until the breaking out of the war of the rebellion. Although warmly attached to his profession, and ardently loving the scientific pursuits akin thereto, he in fact contracted a dislike for the details of medical practice. Abandoning the profession for a time, he did-not abandon his studies and investigations connected with medicine and surgery, but was constantly engaged, when he had leisure to do so, in reading or writing upon topics pertaining thereto.  He often published in the medical journals and local papers his theses showing great learning and original research. He also left among his papers many manuscripts written upon scientific and political topics. He was a corresponding secretary of the Chicago Academy of Natural Sciences.
     The first guns fired upon Fort Sumter, in 1861, stirred within him a patriotic fervor which determined his future.  As soon as his business could be closed and an opportunity for his services offered he entered the military service of the government as surgeon of the 126th regiment of Illinois volunteers.  Here, by his faithfulness to the sick under his charge, and his knowledge of the healing art, he warmly attached to himself the officers and soldiers of the regiment.  Always conscientious in the discharge of duty he neither knew nor wanted to know any other way than to faithfully stand at his past of duty here, let it lead where it might.  The eventful siege of Vicksburg drew his regiment and with it the surgeon to the post of danger.  His hospital was located at Haines’ Bluff, on the Yazoo, that point so renowned for its miasma and bad water, where he spent several months in constant personal care of the sick and Wounded, during the summer of 1863.  This continued until worn out by disease, hardships and incessant professional labors, he started

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for his home and family, where he might recuperate his depleted system, or if need he, die among friends; but the hope of again meeting the little ones at home and his faithful, loyal wife, was never realized.  Those in charge of the hospital boat which brought
him north were compelled to leave him at the general hospital at Mound City on the 29th of July, in charge of Doctor Wardner, where he expired Sunday, August 2nd, 1363, only a few hours after the arrival of his wife, who. upon hearing of his illness, had hurried to his side.  His neighbors at home were shocked by an unexpected dispatch from Mrs. Hunt announcing his death and the hour of her arrival with the remains.  Sadly they met her at the northern bound train and bore the body of their esteemed friend to the home he so much loved and so much desired and expected to again visit.
His letters to his wife and friends, while in the service, breathed the most. ardent attachment to home. family and friends, and often counted on the time when, duty fully done, he would turn his face homeward and again reunite family ties and engage in the privileges and duties of citizenship.  But, alas, this was not to be and he peacefully yielded up his life as did so many others, that his country might be saved.  Sorrowfully were his remains laid to rest by admiring and afflicted friends amid the surroundings so much loved by him in life.
     His wife, Mrs. Isabella Hunt, after a widowhood of twenty-three years, still survives him.  His sons, J. E. Hunt, a popular druggist of this city, Isaac Lindly and Cory A. have since then grown to manhood and to lives of usefulness, but his only daughter, Sarah V., followed her father to the grave, in 1865.
     Dr. Hunt was eminent in every sense.  In the social circle, by his wit, his wisdom and his guileless attachment to his friends and associates, he warmed all hearts towards him.  In the language of a prominent member of the medical staff. who was thrown much in his society.  “He had no enemies and he deserved none."  He was a leader in society so for as taking the front in every movement for its elevation.  In him the infant schools of the country had a faithful and very useful friend.  He was an early friend of the slave and entered warmly into the movement for the formation of a party unfriendly to the extension of slavery.  Up on political topics he wrote and published much, always in the most logical and convincing style.  As a neighbor and a friend he was warm-hearted, obliging and sincere.  We can do no better than to close with a quotation from an obituary notice published in a local paper of that day:  “He was deeply learned in his profession, an elaborate and profound thinker and writer.  In all those qualities which go to make up the good and honored citizen, his life and character were rich, and in those qualities of heart and mind which endeared him strongly to his neighbors and friends, he abounded superlatively."

JUDGE J. O. CUNNINGHAM.

     This old settler, lawyer, journalist and jurist, of Urbana, was born in Lancaster, Erie county, N. Y., Dec. 12, 1830.   He was the eldest child of Hiram W. and Eunice (Brown) Cunningham.  Miss Brown was of the Brown family, of Vermont: her grandfather carried on the first carding and falling mill in the then colony of Vermont, before the revolutionary war.  Hiram W. was descended from the Cunninghams of Connecticut, who settled there in the latter
half of the seventeenth century.  Hiram W. removed with his parents in 1811 to what was known as the “Holland Purchase,” Erie Co., N. Y.  In 1833 he removed from there to Huron county, Ohio, where he died in 1866.  J. O. Cunningham began his education in the district schools of Ohio, and continued it in the Baldwin Institute at Berea, Ohio:  later he attended the famous Oberlin college.  In 1852, he pushed further west and taught school at Eugene, Vermilion county, Indiana.  There he began the study of law a profession in which he was destined to be successful.  He came to Urbana. June 18th, 1853, returned to Ohio and was married at Bainbridge, Ohio, October 13th, 1853, to

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Mary McConoughey, who still lives and presides, with true womanly grace and ability, over as pleasant a home as may be found in this county.  It is located just outside the city limits, northeast of town, where the judge and his much valued partner are surrounded by all the luxuries to be enjoyed in this community.  He is a vigorous and versatile writer and soon after he came here he purchased the Urbana Union of Col. W. N. Coler, and for a time published it with a man named Benjamin A. Roney: later, in partnership with G. N. Richards, and afterwards with G. W. Flynn, each of his partners being practical printers. In the campaign of 1856, the Union was radically for Fremont and the republican ticket.  Mr. Cunningham retired from the Union in 1858.  He then attended the Union law college at Cleveland, Ohio, graduating in 1859, and on the first of May of that year formed a partnership with J. W. Sim, which lasted about five years.  He did some editorial work for Rev. Wm. Munhall, when he was publishing the “Patriot.”  but was also, at the same time engaged in the practice of the law.  When Flynn and Richards bought the Union and Gazette, in 1864.  Mr. Cunningham assumed editorial control until in 1866, when he retired from active journalism, and has since assiduously applied himself to the profession of law, in which he has been eminently successful.
     In 1861 he was elected judge of the county court and held the office for four years, in this position he saw the necessity for some well considered work on probate law and a few years since he aided in editing and publishing the well known work entitled “Practice in the County Court” by Jones and Cunningham.  From 1867 to 1873 he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the State University, in the location of which, in this city, he had taken an active part.  From 1869 to 1876, he was in partnership with Hon. William B. Webber, since which time he has practiced alone.
     Judge Cunningham and wife have for many years been members of the M. E. church.
     The judge was formerly a radical republican, and during the slavery agitation and war times was active as such.  In later years he had been an independent in politics.  Twice he has led the opposition in this county as candidate for state senator, polling more than the full strength of the two opposition parties. running ahead of his ticket.  These honors have come to him unsought, however, as he does not seek or desire public office but is content to conduct his extensive legal business which affords him a handsome income, and is much more congenial to his tastes than engaging in political struggles.
     Judge Cunningham is a man whopossesses a will of his own and has strong convictions in all the great moral as well as political questions of his time.  Independent in thought and action he does not subscribe to all of the doctrines of any political party.  He neither seeks to lead nor can he be coaxed or driven in any prescribed path.  His code of morals, laid down to govern himself, are of the strictest kind, yet he is charitable towards others.  A good hater so long as cause exists therefor, and a warm friend of those who come up to his standard of friendship.  He is courteous to his professional brethren but unsparing in his denunciation when once aroused.  His friendships are lasting and his enmity when once incurred is apt to be long lived.  A constant reader, his literary attainments are of a high order and he holds a high position at the bar as well as in the confidence of the people.

NINIAN A. RILEY

     This enterprising merchant and old settler was born in Edgar county, Ill., Jan. 29, 1844, and is the eldest son of Elder G. W. and Bethire (McClain) Riley. He received a good English education in the common schools of the county while residing with his father and in the winter of 1860 and ’61 attended the Chicago University for the purpose of adding still more to his scholastic knowledge.  While at this University Fort Sumpter was tired upon. lie immediately

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MORE TO COME on NINIAN A. RILEY

ELISHA STEVENSON, SEN.

     Among the old settlers of Champaign county is the subject of this sketch.  He is a native of Ohio, born in Columbiana county, May 23, 1817.  In early life he learned the hatter‘s trade in Pittsburg, Pa. In following his trade he drifted about to different places, but was for the greater part of the
time a resident of Ohio.  In 1854 he came west to this county and settled in Urbana, and here engaged in farming.  His health failing he was compelled to abandon hard labor and for a number of years has lived a quiet, retired life.   While a resident of Hillsboro, Ohio, he married Miss Nancy Ann Keelor. The date of the ceremony was June 24, 1849. They are the parents of eleven children, six sons and five daughters.  Their names are as follows: Lewis E., a prominent druggist and postmaster of St. Joseph; he married Miss Ada O. Coffman.  Cinderella, widow of C. A. Lawhead.  Elisha, jr., a conductor on the I., B.

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& W.; he married Miss Nora E. Trumbul, of Pekin, Ill.  Sara J., who is at home; Susan, wife of E. J. Stephens, who is a conductor on the Missouri Pacific R. R., and resides at St. Louis; Josephine is the wife of

LEWIS A. McLEAN

Was born in Grafton. Illinois. May 5, 1843.  He removed to Urbana with his mother.  Mrs. Mary B. Vanderveer. and step-father, Cornelius M. Vandervcer, from Vermillion county, Illinois, Apr. 15. 1853.  His father was Dr. John McLean, a physician. and died in 1844, at Carlyle, Ill.  His mother, now Mrs. Mary B. Webber, resides in this city and is well known by the old settlers of the county.
     He attended the public school until eighteen years of age. two years of which. in 1857 and 1858, was at the fourth district high school in the city of New Orleans, La.  In December, 1862, he entered the office of the circuit clerk and recorder of this county as deputy of W. H. Somers, then serving his second term, and remained in that position for seven years; he was then for a time deputy United States assessor.  From 1872 to 1879 he was engaged in mercantile pursuits.  In the fall of 1879 he accepted the position of book keeper and assistant editor of the Champaign Gazette. which he tilled until Oct. 9, 1882, when he took a position as associate editor of the CHAMPAIGN COUNTY HERALD. with M. W. Mathews, its proprietor. which position he still holds.  The success of the paper has been phenomenal in the newspaper history of the county and it is only just to say. that as its business manager and local editor. he is entitled to the credit for its unusual growth and rapidly increasing circulation.
     He was married May 12. 1864. to Miss Jennie E. Russell, daughter of Dr. E. L. Russell, now of Des Moines. Iowa.  She is still living and is an active worker in the Baptist church.  Their children are: Nellie, who is in her junior year at the University of Illinois; Albert H. and Clair E. who are both at home and attending school.  Mr. McLean united with the Baptist church in December 1863. and has been connected with the Sabbath school as superintendent or assistant superintendent for over twenty years.  He has served two years as secretary of the county Sunday school association and takes an active part in the work.
     He is also secretary of the Old Settlers' Association of this county and is vigilant and active in rescuing from oblivion every fact and incident with reference to the old settlers of the county.
     In politics he is a republican and has acted and voted with that party ever since old enough to vote, casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864.

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JOHN THORNBURN

JOHN L. McCAIN.

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always been consulted about county as well
as township matters, and his influence has
always been great in political matters.
He is one of the leaders of the party in the
county. His memory is good and it is inter
esting to hear him relate the habits, customs,
hardships and incidents of the early days.
He owns over 600 acres of tine farming and
stock land and has it in a high state of cul
tivation. His memory is vivid as to the tow
hreeches the men and boys wore, made by
themselves from flair of their own raising.
and describes how they used to put a little
stripe in it for the Wbmen to wear; also how
they wore their winter clothing of yarn,
made at home and woven by the good wives
and mothers. Mr. Stayton is strong and ac
tive and is highly respected and beloved by
all his neighbors. He is known well by the
people of the country as one of our most reli
able and substantial citizens.

RANDOLPH C. WRIGHT.

     The paternal grand parents of Mr. Wright were born and died in Frederick county, Va.  They were farmers and of Scotch descent.  His maternal grand parents named Stevens lived and died in Pennsylvania, and were of German descent.  His father, John B. Wright, was born in Virginia in 1785 and married Elizabeth Stevens in 1805.  They removed by a family boat down the Ohio to a point near Leesburg, Va., where James S., as he puts it, without his knowledge or consent, was born, Aug. 4. 1816.  In spring of 1817 they removed to where Winchester, Indiana, now stands.  His mother died there in 1835, and his father died here in 1869.  His father served from 1818 to 1824 in the Indiana legislature at Corydon, the old capital.  Here the boy James did pretty much as other farmer boys, and in addition blowed the bellows and wielded the sledge on the off side of the anvil, for his father was also a blacksmith.  He went to school three months each winter where the old Scotch teacher would vary the afternoon exercises by taking a nap, a drink of liquor and whipping two or three boys.  In 1830 the family came to this county and bought land just north of Homer, September 24, at $1.25 per acre.  The ague then shook a man out of his boots in an hour, if he had any (such luxuries were then unknown) and malarial fevers were quite prevalent.  Many packed up and left this fertile county and wended their way back, disgusted, to Posey county, Indiana, or old Tennessee.  Hay, corn and oats had no cash market value for many years.  They sold corn as low as four cents per bushel.  During these low prices Jackson vetoed the re-charter of the United States bank and advised the state banks to discount liberally, which they were not slow in doing.  The “Red dog,” “Blue pup” and a variety of currency followed.  Banks were organized in obscure localities and issued money, whose whereabouts were never learned.  Thus in 1835-6 produce was booming in the worthless currency.  Pork raised on the mast from the woods was worth five or six dollars per hundred and all were happy.  The crash came in 1837 and the hardest of all times followed.  In 1837 when he lacked three months of being of age, James S. “struck” for the remainder of his minority, and after much persuasion, his father permitted him to go and work on his own account, on the Illinois and Michigan canal from the village of Chicago to the Illinois river at the enormous salary of one dollar a day.  He hired a farm hand at ten dollars per month to work in his place for his father for the three months of his minority.  He remained there until he had made enough to pay the hand and buy 40 acres of land for $50.00.  He then clerked for M. D. Coffeen until 1840 at $12.00 per month and then married Katherine Lander, whose parents John and Sophia W. Lander, moved from Bourbon county, Kentucky, October 1st. 1830, settling near Mr. Wright’s farm.  John Lander died in 1837 and Sophia W. in 1849.  Katherine, the wife of James S., was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, March 26th, 1823.  William Elliott, Esq., of Homer, married a sister of Katherine the same day.  The two couples were united by Rev. William Phillips (who married Charles Busey’s daughter).  Mr. Wright thought then he had a

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good wife, but now, after46 years of wedded life, he says he knows it.  Both had about $600 of this world’s goods when they started on their joint journey of life.  To support her he first organized a subscription school, but after two weeks of experience in “keep ing school" on receiving the tempting offer of $25.00 per month to clerk again for M. D. Coffeen, he got William Elliott to take the school off his hands.  He spent the winter with Mr. Coffeen.  He went to farming the next spring.  In the winter and spring of 1842-3 he packed pork at Perrysville, Ind., built flat boats and shipped to New Orleans.  In 1844 he went as supercargo with pork for Gen. Olds, of Circleville, Ohio.  In 1845 he went to selling goods in Homer on his own account, and so continued till 1855.  In 1846 he was the Whig candidate against Col. M. W. Busey, the democratic candidate for the legislature, and Mr. Wright was elected by 50 majority.  He met in this legislature such men as Ex-Gov. Reynolds, U. F. Linder.  Gov. Matteson and Stephen T. Logan, then leader of the house.  Lincoln and David Davis were there, but not members.  Stephen A. Douglas was elected senator, but Mr. Wright voted for Ben Bend. the Whig candidate.  From 1838 to 1850 he held the office of county surveyor.  He signed the first $1,000 to the subscription to build the old college building which aided this county so much in getting the University here.  He afterwards gave $500 more to get it completed.  He looks upon his effort in that direction as the crowning one in the interest of Champaign, Urbana and the county.  He served at Danville as one of the enrolling commissioners for two years during the war.  In 1566 he. helped organize the First Nation al Bank of Champaign and was cashier for three years.  He sold out his stock in bank and tried farming for about ten years, mostly stock farming.  All this time he took an interest in politics.  In 1880 he was nominated and elected to the state senate for four years.  Mr. Wright often speaks of the fact that it seemed to him that there was not the brains and talent there that he found thirty years ago.
     He has never belonged to any church, nor to any order or organization except every temperance society that came his way.  He is a firm believer in God and in the doctrine that all men will be rewarded according to their acts while here on earth.  He has little faith in death bed repentance.  For fifty-six years Mr. Wright has lived in this county and served faithful in many trusts, public and private.  He has never betrayed them and has won an enviable place in the hearts of our people.

ELI J. HELLER.

     In the language of Prof. Draper: "Tell me of the country, the nature and fertility of its soil, the lay of its land, &c., and I will tell you the kind of men it raises."  Nothing is truer.  Good, rich, generous soil produces broad, liberal-minded men - no narrow contracted creeds or isms shrink and shrivel up the soul of the man who is born, lives and thrives on the broad fertile plains of the wet.  Ohio has sent to Illinois a class of men who have been an honor to the state.
     Eli J. Heller was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, Dec. 24, 1836.  He is the offspring of Thomas and Mary (Taylor) Heller.  His father brought his family to Urbana in the fall of 1851.  Here young Heller grew to manhood.  He remained at home until the breaking out of the late war.  In July, 1861, he enlisted in Co. I, 2nd Illinois cavalry.  He served three years when he veteranized with his regiment and remained in the service until the close of the war.  He was mustered out and honorably discharged in 1866, having served four and a half years.  He returned home to Urbana and engaged in draying, and in connection run a hack and baggage line.  He subsequently added coal to the business.  Under his industrious management the business grew to such proportions that he found himself unable to attend to it, and was compelled to call in assistance.  He then formed a partnership with Josiah Toy, and together they have built up a. trade that is second to none in this part of the state.  They are well equipped for the business, with carriages, baggage wagons, vans and drays, and at a moment's

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notice will fit you out with an elegant turnout, haul your baggage, move your furniture, supply you with soft or hard coal in quantities from a bushel up to a car load.  Mr. Heller has grown up with the town and is numbered among its most respected citizens.  He was a member of the board of aldermen for eight years during which time many of the substantial improvements of the town were made.  He is prominent in Masonic circle and holds membership in various orders in that body.
     Mr. Heller was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Ella Black, Nov. 20, 1866.  She died in April, 1881, leaving three children, named Opal B., Birdie and Aaron T. Heller.  Politically Mr. Heller comes from old line whig stock.  He cast first first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860.  He attested his adhesion to that party (republican) and loyalty to his country by his enlistment in the army, where he remained, as before stated, until the war was over.  Political comment is unnecessary.

DAVID SILVER

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W. J. FORD.

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EDWARD BLACKSHAW

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JOHN T. PHILLIPS.

ALEXANDER SPENCE.