REV. THOMAS PACEY.   This name will be readily recognized by many of our readers as that of a prominent resident of Jubilee Township, who, occupying a pleasant farm, carries on general agricultural work and likewise finds time to prepare himself for the work which he pursues on the Lord’s Day - that of preaching the Gospel as a local Elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of English birth and ancestry, he possesses the stern integrity and indomitable spirit which had been exemplified so often by Englishmen whose names have become famous the world over, and by means of well-directed studies the powers of his mind have been developed and his memory has become a storehouse of knowledge.
     The father of our subject was Brown Pacey, a native of Lincolnshire, England, who followed farming there until his death. His mother was Mary, a daughter of William Topper, a well-to-do farmer and the owner of the land which he tilled. The mother, a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, lived until 1888. The parental family consisted of eight children who grew to manhood and womanhood. Of these, William, Mrs. Mary Sharp, Elizabeth, and Eliza are living in their native land. John came to America and lost his life in the Civil War; Joseph is living in Peoria and Richard in La Harpe. Our subject is the second in order of birth in the family and was the first to come to America.
     John Pacey was living in Brimfield when the Civil War broke out and desiring to aid in the preservation of the union, enlisted in 1861. He was wounded before Richmond, taken prisoner, and after the amputation of his limb, sent to Libby Prison where he died nearly three years after his enlistment. Richard was a member of the same regiment, was wounded in the Shenandoah Valley and before his recovery was sent to a hospital at Chicago, where he acted as nurse until the expiration of his term of service. It had been the intention of our subject to join the same regiment, but the day after writing to his brothers of his intention he was taken with intermittent fever, which confined him to his room almost two months.
     The village of Scopwick, Lincolnshire, England, was the birthplace of Rev. Thomas Pacey, whose early years were spent upon a farm where the school system did not furnish great advantages for acquiring an education. He was early set to work on the farm which he assisted in cultivating from his twelfth year until he was fifteen, when he went out to work by the year. He continued as a farm laborer until twenty-two years old, when, persuaded that he could better his condition in America, he bade adieu to home and friends and set out for the New World.
     Leaving Liverpool on a sailing vessel in the spring of 1851, Mr. Pacey reached New Orleans after an ocean voyage of seven weeks, whence he came up the river and canal to Chicago. From that place he went to Kenosha, Wis., then to Big Foot Prairie, Walworth County, where he engaged on a farm near Beloit. For three years he worked hard on the farm, then began to supply the deficiencies in his early schooling by entering the seminary at Wheaton, Ill. After attending that institution about two and a half years, he bean teaching district schools in Du Page and Cook Counties, making his home in Madison Township, Du Page County. He owned a farm of twenty-five acres there which he sold in 1863 and going to Iowa located at Waterloo, near which town he bought eighty acres of raw land. After having taught school one winter he turned his attention entirely to the improvement and cultivation of his property, which he sold in December, 1866, for the purpose of removing to Peoria County, Ill., in which his brothers were living.
     Mr. Pacey taught one winter after coming to this county, then gave his attention to farming, renting land in Jubilee Township until 1880. At that time he purchased forty acres on section 20, upon which so little improvement had been made that it may be said its present condition is entirely due to his efforts. He has been obliged to remove stumps, enclose and subdivide the land by adequate fencing, and supply it with the various buildings necessary to carry on his work and make a pleasant home for his family. A fine spring furnishes water for his herds, which include good grades of cattle and horses. Grain and hay are the principal crops, and a proper amount of attention is paid to the orchard and garden, which furnish of their abundance to supply the family needs.
     The noble character and ripe intelligence of the Rev. Mr. Pacey are recognized by his associates who have reposed in him various public responsibilities. He has been a School Director and is now Township School Treasurer, an office which he had held since 1878. He has served as Justice of the Peace continuously since 1873. He is and has long been a member of the Township Central Committee, and he has frequently been a delegate to county conventions of the Republican party, whose principles he staunchly upholds both on election day and when political topics are the subject of discussion.
     In the Methodist Episcopal Church at Brimfield, Mr. Pacey has been Class-Leader, Steward and Trustee, and has likewise held the office of local Elder for years. He began exhorting when about twenty-four years old and entered the local ministry in Iowa in the fall of 1864. At the same time he was ordained as a traveling minister, being on the circuit about two years. In Black Hawk County he had a charge prior to his removal to Illinois, and he now preaches nearly every other week, although he has not joined the Conference here.
     The marriage of Mr. Pacey and Miss Elizabeth Hayes was celebrated in Chicago in 1862. The bride, a native of Wiltshire, England, belongs to a family whose history is given in the sketch of Charles Hayes in this volume. She entered into rest January 13, 1888, leaving five children. Immortal through her virtues, her memory is held in loving reverence by her husband and children, who are comforted in their affliction by the hope set before them of meeting to part no more, when their work on earth is done. Her place at the head of the household is supplied as well as it may be, by her daughter Nellie, the third of the family. Harry and Thomas, Jr., are also at home. Addison, the eldest son, after having spent some time in school-teaching, is now engaged in a printing office at Brimfield. Lincoln, the second son, now in the mill at Brimfield, also labored for sometime in the field of pedagogy.
~ Source: This Biography is from Portrait and Biographical Album of Peoria County, Illinois - Published 1890 - Page 292