The Blish Family of Henry County, Illinois

COLONEL SYLVESTER BLISH.

No history of Henry county would be complete without extended reference to the Blish family, which was founded in this part of the state by Colonel Sylvester Elish in the year 1836. He was a son of Deacon Thomas and Prudence (Hubbard) Blish and was born at Glastonbury, Connecticut, December 31, 1790. The Blish genealogy published in 1904 says:

Sylvester Blish was a very active and energetic man. He had the fiery and impetuous temperament of his mother, combined with the determination of his father. He was public spirited and active in politics, holding many public offices in Connecticut. He was lister in Glastonbury in 1815, 1817 and 1818; was tithingman 1817, 1819 and 1826; was surveyor of highways in 1820, 1821, 1823, 1824, 1825 and 1827; was on board the relief in 1822 and 1823; was collector of taxes in 1825; was grand juryman in 1828 and 1829; was town agent and fence-viewed in 1830; selectman in 1832 and 1833; and a member of the Connecticut general assembly in 1835.

"He was also prominent in military matters and rose through gradual promotions until he was colonel in the Connecticut militia for several years before he left Connecticut in 1836. He was one of the administrators of the estate of his brother Aaron Hubbard Blish, and also administered upon the estate of his father.

"In 1835 a rumor was spread through Connecticut and Massachusetts that the Catholics were colonizing the fertile Mississippi valley with the intention of founding a Catholic hierarchy there, and a movement was inaugurated with the object of sending out Protestant colonies and settlements to counteract the Catholic movement. A stock company was organized in Wethersfield, Connecticut, for this purpose, the Rev. Caleb Tenney, of Wethersfield, and the Rev. Gardner Spring of New York, being among the leaders of the enterprise. Colonel Blish joined the Wethersfield company, which was called The Connecticut Association. A fund raised and in 1836 Colonel Sylvester Blish, Elizur Goodrich and Rev. Ithamar Pillsbury were chosen to proceed west and purchase lands. Mr. Pillsbury was not a member of the association, but had been in the west the preceding year in the interest of another similar association, so that his experience was valuable. Elizur Goodrich was a surveyor. They came to Illinois a trip that was not without considerable hardship at that time. Mr. Goodrich became discouraged by the vastness and seeming endlessness of the prairies, but Colonel Blish, encouraged by the zealand hopefulness of Mr. Pillsbury, pushed the work to a completion.

"They selected and entered over fifteen thousand acres of land in Henry county, Illinois, and returned to Connecticut. Colonel Blish was so impressed with the fertility of the soil in Illinois and the future possibilities of the country that he determined to make his home there. He sold his lands in Connecticut and in the spring of 1837 started with his family for Illinois, making the entire trip in a carriage. His wagons, farming utensils and household effects were shipped by water to New Orleans and from thence came up the Mississippi river to the settlement at Rock Island, about forty miles from the location of the colony lands. These lands were happily chosen. The greater portion lay to the south of a large grove of oak, walnut and hickory timber, about fifteen miles long and six miles wide. A portion of the colony lands were located in the south edge of the timber. To a person reared among the story hills of Connecticut or Massachusetts, these vast rolling prairies with their rich, black soil, were alike a wonder and an inspiration. A town site was laid out a little to the south of the grove and called Wethersfield. By the forms of the association each share of stock gave the owner the right to select a quarter section (one hundred and sixty acres) of prairie land, a twenty-acre timber lot and a village lot, which contained two and one-half acres. A number of other colonists arrived the same year and the season was taken up mainly with the construction of log houses and the raising of small crops to provide for the coming winter. Space forbids any extended account of the privations of these early comers or the growth and final success of the venture. The Catholic scare was purely imaginary, but the results were good for the parties concerned and for the communities planted in the new country. Three other settlements were made in the near vicinity of Wethersfield, one at Andover, by Massachusetts people, one at Geneseo, by New York people and one at Providence, by Rhode Island people.

"Colonel Blish took an active interest in the affairs of the new country and aided and encouraged its development and settlement. He became a large land owner and prospered beyond his most sanguine expectations. In 1853 a railroad was projected which would give connections with Chicago, and into this enterprise he launched with all his accustomed vigor, and in 1855 the railroad was a reality. From this time the real development of the country began. A railroad station was located a little over a half a mile north of the town site of Wethersfield, which was named Kewanee, that meaning in Indian dialect 'prairie hen.' Colonel Blish owned a quarter section of land adjoining the new railroad station, which is now a part of the city of Kewanee, and completely covered with factories and residences. That was east of the original village of Kewanee, while the city has now extended a mile to the west and taken in his old homestead and orchard, which was just at the south edge of the grove. Even the old village of Wethersfield is now putting on city airs, with water works, street lights and trolley cars.

"Colonel Blish was for many years the postmaster in Wethersfield and held the same office in Kewanee until his death, being the first postmaster in both places. For many years after his arrival in Wethersfield, Colonel Blish kept the only hotel in Wethersfield. The old oval sign stood upon a post, with the words: *S. Blish. Inn painted thereon. His house was the stopping place for the stage lines which traversed the country before the advent of railroads.

"The greatest obstacle with which the pioneers had to contend, was the lack of transportation facilities and their great distance from available markets. A limited quantity of wheat was marketed by teams at Peoria, Lacon and other river points, and occasionally at Chicago. The surest source of income was by fattening hogs, butchering and dressing them and hauling the whole carcasses to the river towns and selling them to the packing houses, or by raising cattle and selling them on the hoof to buyers, who took them away in droves to eastern points.

"Soon after the settlers arrived in Wethersfield, they organized a Congregational society. Meetings were held at the houses of the members and Colonel Blish's being the largest was usually used. Colonel Blish was the first chorister, and the music was strictly vocal. Later a bass viol was added. In the fall of 1838 a log schoolhouse was built and this was used for church services for some ten years.

"Colonel Blish was also an extensive stock raiser and took especial pride in his horses. He brought the first Morgan horses to Wethersfield and the effect of his labors is still apparent in the neighborhood. He was an expert horseman and no animal was too wild for him to handle."

Colonel Blish was married January 1, 1812, at South Manchester, Connecticut, to Rhoda Cheney, who was there born December 5, 1794, and was a daughter of Timothy and Rhoda (Skinner) Cheney. They became parents of five children: William Henry, born May 25, 1812; Thomas, September 18, 1815; Charles Cheney, May 26, 1820; Prudence Hubbard, March 26, 1822; and George Cheney, January 12, 1831. Colonel Blish died October 8, 1855, in the old homestead on the place on which he located on his arrival in Illinois, a new house which he was building, having been almost ready for occupancy. His remains were interred in the old Kewanee cemetery, which he donated to the village when it was first laid out.

His wife was a great reader and always kept well informed on current topics. Financially independent after her husband's death, she took great pleasure in helping others. Patient, loving and cheerful, the close of her life was like a beautiful sunset. She died January 9, 1878, in her eighty-fourth year, and her grave was made by that of her husband.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

WILLIAM H. BLISH.

William H. Blish, whose long and loyal official services, whose business activity and integrity and whose high Christian character endeared him to all who knew him through the years of his residence in Henry county, was born at East Glastonbury, Connecticut, May 25, 181 2, and was a son of Colonel

Sylvester Blish, the founder of the family in Henry county. In early life he learned the carpenter's trade and at the age of twenty-five years he came to Illinois with the colony that was founded at Wethersfield, in 1837. He worked at his trade there to some extent and for several years lived on a farm west of the village, but afterward took up his above in the town and turned his attention to merchandising, conducting a store at the corner of Tenney and Church streets. About 1847 he was associated with his father in the building of a hotel just east of the store, and they conducted it for ten years, it being the only hotel in this section until after the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad was built through Kewanee. It was the stopping place for the stage lines and the engineers of the railroad made it their headquarters for some time. Mr. Blish was also associated with other business interests, becoming connected, about 1855, with Zerah Chapin in building a gristmill, in which they conducted a large and profitable business until the failure of the wheat crops of 1860 and 1861. Later in company with Nathanial Mayhew Mr. Blish removed the mill to Neponset, Illinois, and as the venture there proved a losing one they sold out at a great sacrifice. Mr. Blish never allowed things to discourage him or to warp his kindly, genial nature, and his fellow townsmen, appreciative of his worth and ability, called him again and again to public office, his official services covering forty years. He filled the position of county treasurer and acted as justice of the peace until he refused longer to hold the office. He was supervisor for several years, was chosen town collector year after year and for a quarter of a century acted as school treasurer and was town clerk for nearly as long a period. His office in the corner of his old hotel, which he occupied as long as he lived, was the headquarters for all town business and the people seemed to think they could not do business elsewhere. Here he was always to be found — genial, affable, sensible and level-headed; ready to make a deed or mortgage, draw a will or have a friendly conversation on any subject. He was himself a man of peace and very few suits begun in his court ever came to trial for he usually induced the litigants to settle their disputes in an amicable way without recourse to the law.

On the 25th of January, 1836, at Glastonbury, Connecticut, William H. Blish was married to Miss Eliza Hollister, who was born November 27, 181 1, in Manchester, Connecticut, and was the adopted daughter of Deacon Nehimiah Hollister. They became the parents of eight children: Charles Sylvester, who was born December 5, 1836, at Glastonbury, Connecticut; Helen Louise, who was born November 5, 1838, at Wethersfield, Illinois; John Giddings, born on the 23d of June, 1840; Adelaide Eliza, born December 22, 1842, and died October 14, 1854; Frank Cheney, who was born April 15, 1845, and died on the 17th of April, 1845; Prudence Knox, born March 10, 1847, and died October 11, 1860; Rhoda Cheney, who was born on the loth of June, 1850; and Addie Eliza, born June 14, 1855. The mother of these children passed away November 19, 1858, and on the 17th of April, 1860, William H. Blish wedded Hannah Gage, who was born September 27, 1833, at Fairfield, New York, and a daughter of Elijah Gage of that place. The four children of that marriage were: Margaret Gage, who was born April 1, 1861, and for a number of years has been a successful school teacher; William H., born January 14, 1863; Hannah Elizabeth, who was born November 15, 1872, and after teaching for some years in the schools of Kewanee and Chicago was married July 3, 1902, to Herbert Diller, of the latter city; and Belle Gage, who was born February 10, 1877, after teaching in the public schools of Kewanee was married June 17, 1903, to Thomas M. O'Connor. Mrs. Hannah Gage Blish died July 19, 1881, at Wethersfield, Illinois. The death of Mr. Blish occurred in his old home July 15, 1895, when he was in his eighty-fourth year. He was a life long member of the Congregational church and for a number of years its chorister. In the community where he lived he was held in the highest esteem for he was a kind and generous man, ever ready to lend a helping hand or to give words of cheer and sympathy. He left behind him a spotless record and his memory is revered and cherished by all who knew him.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHARLES CHENEY BLISH.

The activities of Charles Cheney Blish were of a varied character but in every field of endeavor in which he labored he was the same honorable and honored gentleman whose business probity was proverbial while his enterprise and intelligently directed labor won him substantial success. No history of Henry county would be complete without the record of his life which had its beginning at East Glastonbury, Connecticut, May 26, 1820, his parents being Colonel Sylvester and Rhoda (Cheney) Blish. He began his education in the schools of his native village and afterward completed a course in Middletown, Connecticut, paying especial attention to surveying. He was a youth of seventeen years when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois as one of the colony that founded Wethersfield, Illinois, and was active in the pioneer development of this part of the state. On the 23d of December, 1840, at Goshen, Stark county, Illinois, when twenty years of age, he wedded Elizabeth Potter Bonar, a daughter of Matthew and Catharine (Cosner) Bonar, who lived at Walnut Creek, south of Lafayette. The marriage was opposed by the parents on both sides on account of the youth of the contracting parties, but they went to a justice, were married and the families acquiesced in the inevitable. It was the beginning of what proved to be a long and happy married life. The Bonar family had settled at Walnut Creek in Knox county, Illinois, in 1838, and Mrs. Blish taught school there for two years. After their marriage, the young couple established their home in Wethersfield and always resided in that vicinity save for two years spent in Knoxville. In the winter of 1841-2, Mr. Blish engaged in teaching in Wethersfield with marked success and the following spring was appointed deputy surveyor. In 1843 he was elected county surveyor, which position he filled for eight years, during which time the settlement of the country demanded his constant services in locating lands. Because of the knowledge which he thus gained he was frequently called upon to settled disputed boundary lines in later years. On his retirement from office he turned his attention to farming and was connected with agricultural pursuits throughout his remaining days. He made cattle a special feature of his place and about 1865 started a herd of shorthorns which in a few years had become one of the finest herds in the country. He won many prizes in Illinois and Iowa state fairs and at the fat stock shows in Chicago and was a member of the National Shorthorn Breeders' Association, His labors were an important element in improving the grade of cattle raised in the state, and his work in this connection merits the thanks and praise of the agricultural community. He also figured prominently in business circles in connection with the organization of the First National Bank, of which he remained president for eighteen years, retiring only a short time before his death. His wise counsel and discriminating judgment were important elements in the successful conduct of that institution, and he installed there a business system as honorable as that which characterized his work in other relations of life. He was called to several local offices, acting as town clerk for several years after the adoption of the township organization and as school director for a quarter of a century. He was one of the organizers of the Henry County Fair Association, for several years acted as its secretary and afterward as its president.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Blish were born six children: James Knox, who is represented elsewhere In this volume; William Henry, who was born August 15, 1844, and died in Knoxville, Illinois, January 15, 1846; Sylvester, who was born October 13, 1846, and died September 21, 1847, Knoxville; Matthew Bonar, born at Wethersfield, December 5, 1848; Carrie Elizabeth, who was born October 8, 1854, and died in March, 1856; and Kittie Louise, who was born August 14, 1857, and died January 24, 1859.

The death of Mr. Blish occurred very suddenly December 15, 1890. He and his wife were planning to celebrate their golden wedding on the 23d of that month and on the day of his death he was about town and had mailed the invitations. In the night he became suddenly ill and expired almost immediately His funeral services were conducted by the Masonic lodge of Kewanee, of which he was a charter member, the funeral sermon being preached by the pastor of the Congregational church, of which he had long been a faithful and loyal representative. One of the local papers said of him:

"Mr. Blish has always been one of the foremost men of Kewanee in any and all public enterprises for the advancement of the town. In matters of importance and in a social way, Mr. Blish stood very high, and his influence was as strong as any citizen in this community. As a business man he was successful, and as a citizen he was the friend of all, and we know of no one who will be missed more from the every-day life of our town than Charles C. Blish."

In the Blish genealogy, which has been published in book form appears the following: "After her husband's death Mrs. BHsh never left the old home, but kept a horse which she drove to town and to church, unaided, even to the last Sabbath before her death. She died May 13, 1900, after a brief illness. The following extract from a local paper testifies the esteem in which she was held:

Tn the quiet afternoon of an ideal May day, the friends of Mrs. Elizabeth P. Blish gathered at the old homestead, south of the city, Tuesday, and paid a last sad tribuf-e to her noble life. In the large company, which filled the rooms of the allowed old home and gathered on the lawn, were many whose hair, was streaked with gray and whose forms were bent with years. They were the remnant of the sturdy pioneers who conquered the prairies of Illinois in former days. They came to drop a tear of love and bow at the bier of one who has seen the seasons come and go for many, many years. Mrs., Blish was one of the last of the early settlers who assisted in the work of upbuilding whatever of worth has been established here. She was quiet and refined in her bearing, but quick of memory and ready of speech, and those who knew here well heard many a tale of the old pioneer times, intermingled with her delicate sense of humor. Her death is the passing of a landmark, revered, respected and loved most by those who knew her best."

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JAMES KNOX BLISH.

James Knox Blish, for thirty-six years a member of the Kewanee bar, whose record is in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet is never without honor save in his own country, for he is a native son of the county in which he resides, having here passed his active life and so directed his ability and efforts as to gain recognition as one of its representative and valued members of the bar. His birth occurred near Kewanee, May 2, 1843, his parents being Charles C. and Elizabeth P. (Bonar) Blish. There has been compiled an extended genealogical record of the family which says that all of the name of Blish are descended from Abraham Blish, who was in Duxbury, a part of the Plymouth colony, in 1637, and is mentioned in Winsor's History of Duxbury. He removed to Barnstable as early as 1640 and his homestead there was owned by him and his descendants for nearly two hundred years. On July, 1658, he purchased of Dolar Davis for seventy-five pounds, a farm in the easterly part of the town near the present site of the town of Barnstable, a portion of which land was in the old common-field. He was "propounded for freeman," June 5, 1661, and seemed to be a man of considerable local influence in that he served in various offices. His son Joseph Blish was born April 1, 1648, at Barnstable, was there married September 15, 1674, to Hannah, a daughter of Tristram and Agnes Hull. She was born in 1657. He was admitted as a freeman in 1689 and died June 14, 1730. His son, Tristram Blish, son of Joseph and Hannah (Hull) Blish, was born in April, 1694, at West Barnstable, Massachusetts, and was married October 17, 1717, to Anne Fuller, who was born at Barnstable in November, 1693, a daughter of Matthew and Prudence (Young) Fuller. Tristram Blish was a weaver by trade. He was executor of the will of his father in Barnstable and members of his family removed to Colchester, Connecticut, about 1726, his name occurring several times in the land records of that place. David Blish, son of Tristram and Hannah (Fuller) Blish, was born at Colchester, Connecticut, October 26, 1732, and was married about 1752, to Zeruiah, daughter of Deacon Nathaniel and Mary (Gillett) Skinner. She was born June 25, 1730, at Colchester, Connecticut. David and Zeruiah Blish were communicants in the church at Marlboro in 1754 and all of their children were baptized there. It seems that the name has been variously spelled Blish and Blush through succeeding generations, perhaps not so much by members of the family but by others who had occasion to write the name. On the records of Captain David Miller's Company that marched in September, 1776, to East Chester to join General Washington's army, appears the name of David Blish "David Blish, sergeant." He was also sergeant in Captain Rudd's company in Colonel Chapman's regiment in the Revolutionary war, which took part in the movement of the army to dis-

X'i&ixhL lodge the British at Newport in 1778, and was also present at the battle of Rhode Island. The only town office he is recorded as holding is that of highway surveyor in 1794. According to the inscription on his tombstone in the Marlboro cemetery, he died October 26, 1817, and his wife's tombstone records her death as January 2, 1813. Deacon Thomas Bhsh, son of David and Zeruiah (Skinner) Blish, was born September 13, 1762, at Glastonbury, Connecticut, and was married September 21, 1785, to Prudence, daughter of Elizur and Abigail (Hollister) Hubbard. She was born in Glastonbury, April 23, 1767. Thomas Blish was a farmer, owning several hundred acres of land in East Glastonbury. He filled a number of town offices and was prominent in the work of the church. He died April 15, 1831, and his widow afterward lived for a time with her son Sylvester, who in 1837, removed to Wethersfield, Illinois. Later she went to Rockton, Illinois, to live with her daughter, Dorothy Talcott, and there remained until her death, which occurred in 1848.

Colonel Sylvester Blish, the grandfather of James K. Blish and a son of Deacon Thomas and Prudence (Hubbard) Blish, was born December 31, 1790, at Glastonbury, Connecticut, and on the ist of January, 1812, at South Manchester, Connecticut, wedded Rhoda Cheney, who was born December 5, 1794, at South Manchester, a daughter of Timothy and Rhoda (Skinner) Cheney. Colonel Sylvester and Rhoda (Cheney) Blish were the parents of Charles C. Blish and William H. Blish and the grandparents of James K. Blish, whose name introduces this review. As Colonel Sylvester Blish and his descendants have been prominently identified with the history of Henry county they are mentioned more at length on another page of this volume.

James K. Blish, whose name introduces this record, acquired his early education in the Union school of Wethersfield and Kewanee and afterward became a student in the preparatory school at Ann Arbor, and in 1862 he entered the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1866. His college days being ended, he returned to his home in this county and was identified with farming interests in Wethersfield township for three years. His alma water conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree in 1876. After devoting three years to farming he went to Council BluflFs, Iowa, where he entered the firm of Kiter, Bonar & Blish, manufacturers of blank books, his identification with that house continuing for two years, after which he disposed of his interest there and went to Chicago, where he entered the employ of J. W. Middleton, engaged in the same line of business, until the disastrous fire of 1871. He then returned to Kewanee and with the determination of entering upon a professional career became a law student in the office of Howe & North, the senior partner being Judge John H. Howe, who a year later was appointed by President Grant as chief justice of the territory of Wyoming. Mr. Blish then continued his law studies under the direction of Hon. Levi North, and while pursuing his law course was elected justice of the peace, being the youngest man who has ever filled that position in Kewanee.

In 1873 Mr. Blish passed the required examination before the judges of the supreme court at Springfield, among whom was the venerable Sidney Breese, and being thus admitted to the bar opened a law office in Kewanee, where he has since successfully followed his profession. He is today one of the oldest representatives of the bar of this city in years of continuous practice here. He has won for himself very favorable criticism for the careful and systematic methods which he has followed. He has remarkable power of concentration and appHcation, and his retentive mind has often excited the surprise of his professional colleagues. As an orator he stands high, especially in the discussion of legal matters before the court, where his comprehensive knowledge of the law is manifest and his application of legal principles demonstrates the wide range of his professional acquirements. The utmost care and precision characterizes his preparation of a case and has made him one of the most successful attorneys of Henry county. Mr. Blish has also become known in business circles and since 1894 has been the honored president of the First National Bank, which was organized in 1870, at which time his father was elected president and so continued for about twenty years. Various other corporate interests have benefited by his wise counsel and sagacious judgment in business affairs. He took a leading part in the organization of the Kewanee Building & Loan Association and was chosen its first secretary. He also assisted in organizing the Kewanee Electric Light Company and has been prominently identified with a number of other business enterprises that have promoted the welfare of the city.

While the life work of Mr. Blish has been preeminently that of a successful practitioner of law, he has ever been mindful of his duties and obligations of citizenship and has labored earnestly and effectively for the benefit of the city along many lines. He was one of the organizers of the Kewanee public library and served for twelve years on its board of directors. For thirteen years he was president of the Kewanee Fair Association, which he had aided in organizing, and for four years he was a member of the board of county supervisors, during which time he served on the building committee for the erection of the Henry county courthouse. His service as a member of the school board covers eighteen years, during which period he acted for a part of the time as its secretary and at all times was a stalwart champion of the cause of public education, promoting its interests through the employment of competent teachers and the adoption of improved methods of instruction. Called to the city council, he served as alderman for several years and exercised his prerogatives in support of every measure which he deemed of municipal benefit. In politics he is a democrat but not an advocate of free silver. He has been a delegate to nearly all the state conventions of his party and in 1888 was one of the presidential electors. His highest political honors were conferred upon him in 1902, when he was elected minority representative to the general assembly of IlHnois for the thirty-seventh district composed of Bureau, Henry and Stark counties.

Mr. Blish has been married twice. On the 25th of December. 1867, in Chicago, Illinois, he was married to Miss Mary E. McManus, who was born January 31, 1846, in Sherburne, New York, and died September 18. 1883. There were three children of that marriage: Carrie Elizabeth, who was born Februarv 7, 1869, at Wethersfield, Illinois, died June 8, 1870, at Council Bluffs, Iowa. James Louis was born July 18, 1871, in Chicago. Bertha Belle was born September 19, 1877, in Kewanee, Illinois. Mr. Blish's first wife died September 18. 1883, and he was again married October 5, 1886, in Cambridge, Illinois, to Mis? Amy Mason Rhodes, who was born in Providence. Rhode Lsland, September 15,

1855, and is a daughter of Albert and Ann Elizabeth (Read) Rhodes, who came to this state during her infancy and settled on a farm at Bunker Hill, Bureau county. There Mrs. Blish attended the local schools until the failing health of her father compelled him to quit farming and the family removed to Buda, Illinois. She finished her education in Providence, Rhode Island, and at once began teaching, which she followed for more than ten years, during most of which time she was first assistant in the high schools of Buda, Sheffield and Cambridge. Since her marriage she has been an active participant in social, charitable and literary circles of Kewanee, is a member of the Ladies Reading Club and was the organizer and for several years the regent of the Kewanee Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. For fifteen years she was an officer and one of the managers of the Dorcas Society, an organization supported by voluntary contributions for the benefit of the worthy poor. By her marriage she has become the mother of three children: Elizabeth, born March 22, 1888; Matthew Rhodes, born April 28, 1889; and Asa Rhodes, born June 8, 1893.

Mr. Blish is numbered among the pioneer residents of Henry county, where he has spent his entire life and has served for several terms as president of the Old Settlers Association. The county might well be proud of her native sons if their records were all as clean and honorable and their work as valuable in the upbuilding and promotion of public interests as that of James Knox Blish — a man respected and honored wherever known and most of all where best known.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

MATTHEW BONAR BLISH.

The student of history cannot carry his investigations far into the annals of Henry county without learning of the long and active connection with the Blish family therewith, and Matthew Bonar Blish is numbered among those who are today prominent in the life of the community. He has for a number of years been a leading business man of Kewanee and like the others of the name merits and receives the high respect and good will of those with whom he has been associated. He is a son of Charles Cheney Blish and a brother of James K. Blish, both mentioned elsewhere in this volume. His birth occurred at Wethersfield, Illinois, December 5, 1848, and he attended the local schools of that place and Kewanee, while subsequently he spent one year in the University of Michigan. Following his marriage he began farming, which continued to be his business until a year or two after the death of his father in 1890. He had previously in connection with his father under the firm name of C. C. Blish & Son, developed one of the finest herds of shorthorn cattle in the west and they became widely known as prominent stock breeders and dealers. After the death of the senior member of the firm M. B. Blish, never of strong physique, felt that the constant care necessary to maintain the herd was telling upon him and disposed of it at a public sale, the high prices realized being an unmistakable index of the quality of the animals.

It was on the 23d of December, 1868, in Wethersfield, Illinois, that Matthew B. Blish was united in marriage to Miss Martha Florence Morrill, a daughter of Daniel Webster and Elizabeth Almira (Wedge) Morrill. Mrs. Blish was born November 18, 1849, at Ripley, Virginia, and this marriage has been blessed with three children: Kate Elizabeth, who was born in Wethersfield, October 13, 1869; Charles Bonar, born February 25, 1871; and Dwight Morrill, May 23, 1881. For a number of years Mr. Blish, to avoid the rigors of the northern climate, spent the winter months in Mobile and Citronelle, Alabama. He is officially connected with the Kewanee Fair Association and is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. The family has always stood for a high type of American manhood, for loyalty and progressiveness in citizenship, for trustworthiness and enterprise in business life, and the history of those who bear the name constitutes a most important and interesting chapter in the records of Henry county.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHARLES B. BLISH.

Of no one could it be said more truly than of Charles B. Blish, deceased, that "to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die." Although a citizen of Kewanee for a number of years, his birthplace was in Wethersfield and the date of his birth February 25, 1871. His father, Matthew B. Blish, was also a native of Wethersfield. who engaged in agriculture and dealt in thoroughbred cattle until his removal to Kewanee. The mother, before her marriage, Martha F. Morrill, came originally from Missouri. This worthy couple now reside in Citronelle, Alabama, the husband being sixty-one years of age and the wife sixty.

The education of Charles B. Blish was obtained in the public schools of Wethersfield and the high school of Kewanee. He subsequently returned to his father's farm, where he lent valuable assistance in the cattle business for the space of four years. In 1891 he resumed to Kewanee and engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, which he abandoned in a very short while. A very responsible position in the Western Tube Company was offered him and in this capacity he gave efficient service for a number of years. He and his father then formed a partnership in the bakery business and in this Mr. Blish continued for three years or until his death, March 16, 1905.

The subject of the sketch, who enjoyed an ideal home life, was married May 18, 1892, in Chicago, to Miss Sarah A. Jones, a daughter of Thomas Jones, of the Western Tube Company of Kewanee. Since the death of his wife, Alice Crow (Morrill) Jones, which took place in Kewanee, January 27, 1909, at the age of fifty-eight years, Mr. Jones has made his home with his widowed daughter. Mr. Blish left one child, a daughter, Florence E., now sixteen years of age, who attends the high school.

Mr. Bliss was a loyal republican and, exceptionally well versed as he was in public matters, took an active part in local politics. He belonged to the Masonic body, holding membership in the Knights Templars, in which he held office at the time of his demise. He was further identified with the Elks, the Mystic Workers and the Maccabees. He was also a consistent member of the Baptist church of Kewanee. Well known, Mr. Blish was everywhere held in sincere affection, being one of those rare characters of whom it could be truly said that he had not a known enemy in the world. In anything pertaining to the good of the community Mr. Blish could always be counted upon to give his support.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.