In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1896) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1814
From History of Bureau County, Illinois (1885), The Biographical record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois .. (1896)
LEWIS HOLMES, Macon. Among the early settlers of Macon Township who have done much toward the improvement of the county is the gentleman whose name heads this paragraph. He was born in Brooklyn, Windham Co., Conn., August 10, 1814. He is the son of Thomas and JeruHha (Whittemore) Holmes, both natives of Connecticut, and it was in their native State that they lived and died. Our subject was the only child, and he was raised on the farm, but at the age of twenty-one years began working in woolen factories. He continued in this business for about fifteen years, and had fitted himself so that he could do any part of the work in the manufacture of woolen goods. However, in 1848, he quit the manufacturing business and came to Bureau County, Ill., and for one year was in the employ of Hon. Owen Lovejoy, but in 1849 he settled on his present farm in Black Walnut Grove in Section 18, and has since been a successful farmer. When first settling on his farm, there were no improvements, but he erected a log-cabin, and began cultivating the soil. His first crop of corn was made with a yoke of oxen and a fourteeninch plow. Mr. Holmes came to this county with very limited means, but by hard work and judicious investments he has made an excellent stock farm of 600 acres in Macon Township. In his native State in 1838 Mr. Holmes was united in marriage to Hannah Lee, who was born in Massachusetts. She died in Bureau County December 8, 1858, and was the mother of seven children, five of whom yet survive: Mrs. Mary M. Eaton of Macon: William H., of Dakota; Galusha L., of Macon; Mrs. Hannah M. Anderson of Buda; Ellen J. (deceased); Mrs. Emma L. Horton, of Macon, and Lewis Benjamin (deceased). September 25, 1860, he was married in Macon to Sarah Cook, a native of England. She is the mother of three sons, viz.: Lewis James, at home; Marshal D. (deceased), and George W., at home. In early life Mr. Holmes was a "Whig and Abolitionist, and now is an active Republican in political matters, and has held some township office the greater portion of the time since the township was organized. He has always taken an interest in the prosperity of the schools, and without intermission has served as a School Director since the first district was organized in the township in 1851 or 1852.
As printed in History of Bureau County, Illinois (1885). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
LEWIS HOLMES, residing on section 18, Macon township, Bureau county, Illinois, is a pioneer that deserves especial mention in a work of this kind. He is a native of Wind ham county, Connecticut, born August 10, 1814, and the only child born unto Thomas and Jerusha (Whittemore) Holmes, both of whom were also natives of the same state. His father was an agriculturist and spent his entire life upon a farm, dying in 1815. His mother died in 1852, when about seventy years of age.
The subject of this sketch was reared upon a farm and received but a common school education. He remained at home until attaining his majority, assisting in the cultivation of the farm, after which he worked in the woolen and cotton manufactories in Rhode Island and Massachusetts until 1838, when he emigrated to Oneida county, New York. His first year of his residence in that state he worked on the Erie canal, and then returned to the woolen manufacturing business in Madison county, where he remained until 1848. He now determined to emigrate west and made the trip from his New York home by way of the Erie canal and the great lakes to Chicago, thence by the Chicago, Peru
& LaSalle canal. He came direct to where the present village of Providence stands and where he had purchased a quarter section of land before leaving the east. He did not like the location, however, and accompanied by the man who had been paying the taxes on his land for some years, started out on a prospecting tour, desiring to locate where there was some timber. The present site of his farm attracted his eye and learning that it could be purchased at the government price of a dollar and a quarter per acre, he at once laid claim to it and subsequently purchased it. This was the southeast quarter of section 18. There was no improvement upon the place, nor any settlers for some distance around. It was a beautiful site, with an elevation of perhaps two hundred feet, on which he afterward erected his residence. The water on the north side of this elevation finds its way into the Rock river and that of the south side into the Illinois river. His first dwelling was a little log cabin, which was about sixteen feet square, its roof covered with slough grass. There was only one window in the cabin and only one door, the latter being hung on wooden hinges. The floor was Mother Earth.
At the time of Mr. Holmes’ settlement in Macon township there were nine families residing in the vicinity, those of Thomas Motherell, James Aiken, John Zink, Samuel Zink, George Zink, Allen Horton, Charles Wood, William Baker, Cyrus Sweet. Hennepin and Henry were the market places in those days. An incident worthy of mention is related by Mr. Holmes in this connection. William Baker and himself were shocking sod com when an Indian was seen coming toward them. On reaching them he said: “Indian go up cabin and lie down, as there is a big storm coming.” Mr. Holmes told him to go and lie down in the shade, and that night, he says, there was one of the worst thunder storms he ever experienced in the country within the recollection of any of its people, lightning striking five trees in succession.
The first school in the township was held just north of the present schoolhouse in the grove.
Lewis Holmes
Mrs. Lewis Holmes
It was an improvised log house, furnished with slab seats and other pioneer school furniture. Mr. Holmes engaged a teacher from Osceola, Stark county, Miss Elizabeth Hamilton. Since that day other and better school houses have been erected, and those in Macon township will compare favorably with any in Bureau county.
Mr. Holmes has been twice married, his first union being with Miss Hannah Lee, a native of Massachusetts. They were married in 1837, in Thompsontown, Windham county, Connecticut, and by this union seven children were born, five of whom are now living: Mary E. is the wife of I. W. Eaton, a farmer of Macon township, by whom she has three sons, Lewis H., William G., and George S.; William H., who resides in Brown county, South Dakota, is married and has two sons, Lewis S. and William G. He is by occupation a farmer, and politically is a republican; Galusha L. superintend the old home farm, and politically is a stanch republican; Hannah is the wife of I. S. Anderson, a resident of Buda, who represents an agricultural house in Chicago; Lewis H. is their only child; Emma L. is now the wife of Henry White. She was first married to Silas Horton, by whom she had one daughter, Elsie; Lewis Benjamin, the youngest of the family, died at the age of eleven months. The mother of these children died in January,
1859, and her remains were interred in the Walnut Grove cemetery.
The second marriage of Mr. Holmes was with Miss Sarah Coate, a native of Essex county, England. They were married September 25,
1860, and by this union three children were born, two now living: Lewis James, who is a prosperous farmer residing in Macon township, married Miss Etta Sanfleben, and they have five children, Lewis H., Eva B., Sadie C., Lizzie, and Grace M. In politics he is a republican; Marshall D., the second son, was twenty years of age when he died, his death being caused by having been run over by the cars. He was an honest, upright young man, the pride of his parents; George W., the third son, is a resident of Buda, and married to Miss Lizzie Mangen. Mrs.
Holmes was born August 25, 1827, and is a daughter of James and Mary (Eaton) Coate. She was educated in the common schools of her native land and was twenty-seven years of age when she took passage for the new world in the good ship Northumberland, which was six weeks and three days in making the trip. The vessel was several times becalmed and encountered several severe storms. Landing at Castle Garden she came direct to Sheffield, Bureau county, with her brother. She was formerly a member of the church of England.
Politically, Mr. Holmes is a stanch republican, but in early life was a Henry Clay whig. A strong anti-slavery man, he naturally drifted into the republican party on its organization, and has since advocated its principles. His first presidential vote was cast for Henry Clay, and his last for William McKinley. In local affairs, however, he always votes for the man rather than the party. For forty years he has served as township assessor, a record which is probably not paralleled in the entire state. He has also served as supervisor of his township several terms and has served his fellow-citizens in other local offices. He was present at the first election after the organization of the township.
The public schools of Macon township have found in Mr. Holmes a strong and firm friend. He was elected as trustee and school director when the district was organized and served continuously in the two offices until the state law prohibited a man from holding two offices. He was then asked which of the two he would take and responded: “I will take the directorship and act as clerk of the board,” which he has done up to the present time. He has been a servant of the people for forty-six years, and now at the age of eighty-two is as bright intellectually and as quick physically as many men thirty years younger. In all this time he has had charge of school affairs, settling with all the teachers employed and the assessing and valuation of the real estate and personal property of the citizens of Macon township.
Religiously, Mr. Holmes is not a member of
IXO any church, but has endeavored to live an up right life, doing as he would be done by. He has often been called upon to aid in church erec tions and has never withheld his mite. The two first sermons preached in the township were in his log cabin. Xo man in Bureau county is held in greater esteem than the subject of this sketch. On leaving home he was the possessor of about five dollars and the clothes which he wore upon his back. He has always been a hard working man and little by little added to his possessions, until now, in his declining years, he is possessed of a large tract of land in one of the finest counties in the great state of Illinois, with a good comfortable residence and all modern improvements. Since coming to this county in 1848 he has resided continuously in Macon township, has never returned to his eastern home and was never away from his home at any one period more than five days, and then when he was shipping stock to Chicago. On coming to this county neither one of the great lines of railroads had been projected and the greater part of the entire county was in its primitive state. All the great changes have been witnessed by him, and in its transformation he has borne no inconsiderable part.
As printed in The Biographical record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois .. (1896). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Named in this biography: Allen Horton (b. 1819) Charles Wood (b. 1822) George Zink (b. 1822) Owen Lovejoy
Their biographies name Lewis Holmes: Lewis James Holmes (b. 1860)
The printed record stops around 1885. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.