In the book's own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. A few names of people born after 1905 are withheld for privacy. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1876
From History of Henry County, Illinois (1910)
PERRY E. WESTERLUND.
Perry E. Westerlund, the proprietor of the Cloverdale Farm, which embraces one hundred and sixty acres on section 25, Western township, was born on the same section January 24, 1876, and is a son of Peter and Christine (Hultman) Westerlund. The parents are now living in the village of Orion, resting after many years devoted to agricultural pursuits.
The youngest of a family of five children, Perry E. Westerlund was reared on the home place and attended the district school, where he secured his first introduction into the world of books and knowledge. For one year he attended Augustana College, where he pursued a business course, and then returned home to work for his father. He shortly afterward rented land of the latter and engaged in farming for himself, with what success may be judged from the extent of his fields and the general prosperous appearance of his land and the condition of his buildings. In 1899, the year in which he married, he erected his handsome residence, commodious, well constructed and equipped, which set the standard to which he tried to conform when he put up the other buildings on his place. A successful miller of the soil, yet it is as a stockman that he has made his reputation, for his cattle and hogs are well known in the markets to which he sends them.
At Woodhull, Illinois, March 22, 1899, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Westerlund and Miss Selma Edmund, who was born and reared in Oxford township, where her birth occurred September 4, 1875. Her parents were Andrew J. and Johanna (Carlson) Edmund, the former of whom is a resident of Woodhull, but the mother has passed away, her death having occurred February 14,
1907. Mrs. Westerlund was the third in a family of six and has become the mother of three children, two sons and a daughter: Forest Edmund Emanuel, born October 19, 190 1; Lyle Ruth Eleanor, born October 14, 1903; and [name withheld], born April 2, 1907. Mr. Westerlund is a member of the Swedish Lutheran church at Orion and gives his support to the candidates of the republican party. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America, being a member of Camp No. 261, and takes part in all the meetings of the society and is deeply interested in the welfare of his brothers. Thrifty, industrious and energetic, he is now numbered as one of the leading farmers of Western township. Cloverdale Farm might in many ways serve as a model for others of like kind, while the stock which has made for it its name is some of the best in this locality.
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.
The printed record stops around 1910. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.