OTHER BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES: 1879 1889 1903 1911 1930 Source: PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD ALBUM of VERMILION COUNTY, ILLINOIS containing Full Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County. together with Portraits and Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of the Presidents of the United States Publ: Chicago Chapman Brothers. 1889 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z   WESLEY ELLIOTT is a modest and unassuming man, devoted to his home and family.   As a farmer and stock-raiser, he has been eminently prosperous.  He owns a farm, which is highly cultivated, of 143 acres on section 26, on the Harrison Purchase, Elwood Township.  He was born in Wayne County, Ind., Nov. 12, 1848.  His father, Nathan, was a native of North Carolina, and came to Vermilion County in December, 1854, settling in Elwood Township, one mile and a half southwest of the Ridge.      Mr. Elliott received his primary education at the public schools, but desiring to better himself in an educational way, he attended Bloomingdale Academy, where, by his studious habits and his determination to win, he acquired a good education.  He has always been a farmer, and has ascertained the fact that the more intelligence a man possesses the better farmer he is; that in the generation before him would have been laughed at.  But this is a progressive age, and in nothing has there been more progression than in agriculture.  Within the last forty years all of the substantial improvements in agricultural machinery have been made, and now it is possible to operate a farm with one-half the labor that was required in the last generation.      On the 11th of February, 1875, Mr. Elliott was married to Rebecca J., daughter of James Mendenhall, who emigrated from Hamilton County, Ind., to Illinois in 1858.  He was a prominent citizen, a man very much respected by everybody, and at the time of his death was considered well-to-do.  Mr. and Mrs. Elliott are the parents of three children - Otis M., Lulu G., and Annie M.  Wesley Elliott's mother, Naomi Mendenhall, was a lady noted for her charitable works and many lovely traits of character.  She was the mother of eight children, seven of whom are living:  Henry C., Annie, Mrs. Rork; Wesley, Alvin, Clayton B., Mary E., Mrs. Stogsdill; and Delphinia, Mrs. Lynch.  The father was married twice, his first wife being Miss Elizabeth Maxwell, and by her he had three children, but one of whom is now living - John.  Mrs. Elliott's mother, Rebecca (Campbell), was the mother of ten children, five of whom are living:  Priscilla, Mrs. Patten; Ira Co., Ryan G., Rhoda C., Mrs. Ankrum and Mrs. Elliott.  They are worthy adherents of the Society of Friends.      Mr. Elliott is engaged in mixed farming and stock-raising, a calling which has been a success with him.  He handles and feeds nothing but the best kind of stock, and is always ready to try any new improvement that will forward the work of agriculture, and has any merit at all in it.  He believes this country must look for its reforms, and, while he never seeks office, ahs held many local positions, which he has invariably filled with ability.  Being of the Quaker persuasion, that fact is guarantee enough of the stability of his character,  and shows that his neighbors can trust him in any position in which he is placed. Source: Portrait & Biographical Album of Vermilion County, Illinois - Publ. 1889 - Page 583 NOTES:

.