|
OTHER BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES:
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
| |
BENJAMIN ZEIGLER.
This gentleman is the oldest settler in the eastern half of
Grant Township, in this county, having lived there more years
than any other person now residing within its borders. He
was born in Cumberland County, Pa., Mr. 5, 1830, and when twenty
years old came to Fountain County, Ind., with his elder brother,
John, making the journey the entire distance in a two
seated wagon drawn by one horse. They came to Carlisle, in
their native county, to Indianapolis, Ind., over the road then
known as the National Pike, and thence their stopping place, now
named Reitersburgh, then known as Chambersburg. The trip
occupied two weeks and four days, but it can now be made between
those two points in sixteen hours! John Zeigler had
spent the previous year in Indiana, and our subject made the
journey West with him simply as an adventure. But he liked
the looks of the country, and determined to stay, especially as
he found he could get twice as much for his labor there as he
could in the East. Accordingly he located in Fountain
County and began working out by the month. He made his
home there until 1856, when having by this time secured a life
partner, he came to Vermilion County and for two years worked
for his father-in-law. Having saved a little money he had
in 1852 bought 320 acres of Government land on section 15 in
Grant Township, and it is on this place his home now stands.
He was too poor, however, to build on it or cultivate it, and he
let it lie idle until 1858, when he managed to get a house built
on it, but was yet unable to get it "broke," and therefore for
the following two years he farmed what is known as the "Ann
Brown" place, of 160 acres, one and one-half miles east of his
house. In this way he accumulated some small means, and
the following year he broke forty acres of his own land with a
team of four yoke of cattle and a twenty-four inch plow.
His industry and energy soon made themselves felt, and
each successive year saw Mr. Zeigler a little better off.
Gradually more and more land was brought under
cultivation, fences and hedges were made and planted, farm
buildings were erected, and after the lapse of years more land
was bought, and to-day our subject owns an excellent farm of 540
acres in one body, well sufficient buildings, and as he looks
around over his broad acres he can reflect with satisfaction
upon the fact that this is all the work of his own hands.
When he first bought this land it was all bare upon prairie, not
a tree or shrub was on the ground. Now it presents to the
eye a typical American western scene. The house stands
back some distance from the road and is approached from the
front through an avenue lined on either side with well brown
maple trees; the buildings are all that are needed, for the
large farm, the growing crops and the contented cattle grazing
in the enclosed fields, all bespeak thrift and competence.
All this is the work of Mr. Zeigler's own hands.
The fine grove of maples which surrounds his house was raised by
himself form seed and covers nine acres, and an apple orchard of
four acres, also of his own planting. the country when he
first came here was wild and unsettled, and his nearest neighbor
for some time was two miles away, and from the rising ground
near his house, as far as the eye could see, there were less
than a dozen houses. Prairie wolves were numerous,
compelling the settler to house his stock at night, wild game
was plentiful, and deer, ducks, geese and prairie chickens were
in such abundance that dogs were kept and trained to keep them
from the farmer's grain fields, and the pioneer's table was well
supplied with delicacies, the fruit of his gun. But one
road was then laid out hereabouts, the settlers making their way
across the prairies by following tracks made by others who had
gone before. Not a fence was up, and to leave the beaten
path was to run the risk of being lost on the prairie.
Trading was done mostly at Attica, Ind., thirty miles away, the
trip to store and back consuming two days. Mr. Zeigler
says it was his custom when returning, if overtaken by darkness
to tie his lines and let his horses take their own way, they
never failing to bring him safely home when human eyesight was
of no avail in finding the road.
Now how different the scene. Public highways are
laid out in all directions. The country about this thickly
settled, and half a mile from Mr. Zeigler's door is the
village of Cheneysville, a station on the Lake Erie and Western
Railroad. Around his home is a thickly settled and
prosperous community, with evidence on every hand of comfort,
schools and churches are easy of access, and all the appliances
of civilization are at the farmer's door. This change has
been brought about by the toils and sacrifices of such men as
our subject, and to such all honor is due.
Mr. Zeigler was united in marriage, in Fountain
County, Ind., Jan. 3, 1854, with Miss Verlina Brown,
daughter of John and Catherine Brown, early settlers in
that part of Indiana. The former was born in Perry County,
Pa., and the latter in Dauphin County in the same state.
After marriage they emigrated to Indiana, where Mr. Brown
improved a large number of farms, certainly, as many as twenty,
selling as soon as he could get advance on his property.
In this way he made considerable money and during the latter
years was quite well-to-do. He died in Hoopeston in the
winter of 1884-85. His wife has passed away some years
previously at Otterbein, Benton County, Ind. Mrs.
Zeigler was born in Fountain County, Ind., Mar. 27, 1834.
By this marriage nine children were born, all except one, who
died in childhood, being now living: Cyrus A., the
eldest, farms a portion of the homestead half a mile cast of his
father's house, and is married to Miss Cyrenia Leverton,
and they have one child and one is deceased; Peter M. is
married to Susan Labaw, has one child, and lives two
miles east of his birthplace on a farm belonging to his aunt,
Catherine A. Brown; John B. is married to Josephine
Stufflebeam, and lives on a rented farm in the northeastern
corner of Grant Township; George B. is married to Mary
Ann Labaw, and has two children and lives on a part of his
father's farm; Benjamin Franklin, Mary Amanda, Rachael Mahala
and William J. are unmarried and are yet under the
parental roof.
Mr. Zeigler has witnessed and participated in
the growth and increasing prosperity of this part of Vermilion
County. When he came within its borders, growth had hardly
been begun in this part of the county. The site of the
flourishing city of Hoopeston was a barren prairie which he
could have bought from the Government at $1.25 per acre, but he
thought it dear at that, when prospecting for a site, as the
land was low and wet, and therefore bought where he is, where
the land lies higher. On such small things does fortune
sometimes hinge. Yet he has no reason to complain.
Starting from an humble station and from small beginnings he has
achieved a competence, and what is still better, has gained the
universal respect, esteem and confidence of the community, a
just tribute to the moral and upright life of the man and to his
entire trustworthiness of character. For many years he has
been compelled by his fellow-townsmen to accept office at their
hands, having been School Director, Town Trustee, Road Overseer,
etc., and he is now Assistant Supervisor, and among the worthy
citizens of Vermilion County none stands higher in the
estimation of those who know him than does Benjamin Zeigler,
the pioneer.
Source: Portrait and
Biographical Album of Vermilion County, Illinois - Published: Chicago:
Chapman Brothers
- 1889~ Page 374 |
NOTES: |
