Charles Cheney Blish

As printed in 1910

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 History of Henry County, Illinois (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.