GROSSCUP, W. C.
W. C. GROSSCUP. Many of the best class of
citizens of Marshall county have
come from over the sea, particularly from the empire of Germany. They have transported to
this country the industry, thrift and economy of their native
land, and have been important factors in the development and
upbuilding of this section of Illinois. Of this class
of honest, hard-working alien born citizens, there are none who
occupy a more prominent place than Mr. GROSSCUP and his family.
He was born in Prussia, Germany,
June 16, 1842, there received his education, and later came with
his parents to
America
in 1857. Ten days after the arrival of the father in Chicago he there died. The mother still makes
her home in that city at the advanced age of eighty-nine years,
and four of the children are also living – Frederick, W. C.,
Charles L., and Mrs. Caroline GORK, of Chicago.
In November, 1857, our subject started out
in life for himself, coming alone to Marshall county, where he worked for three
years on the farm of S. G. ALLEN, now deceased, and for two
winters he attended the public schools of Wenona, thus gaining a
good knowledge of the English language. After working by the
month for two years on a farm on Sandy creek, he returned
and rented the farm of S. G. ALLEN for the following year. He
next leased the farm of Chris BROADDUS for several years. In
1867, however, he purchased eighty acres of his present farm,
then wild prairie land, and the first year put in a crop of
wheat. He boarded near his farm in 1869, and engaged in its
cultivation and improvement, but for the next two years rented
it and was again with Mr. BROADDUS for a year.
In 1872 Mr. GROSSCUP was joined in marriage
with Miss Isabel PHILSON, who was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, September 10, 1841,
and is the daughter of Thomas and Charlotte (McCARTY) PHILSON.
Her parents were born, reared and married in
Somerset
county, Pennsylvania, whence
they removed to Tuscarawas county, Ohio,
and after a ten years’ residence there came to Putnam county, Illinois, in 1846, locating on Ox Bow prairie
in Magnolia township. There the father died in 1878, and the
mother departed this life on the 12th of January, 1896. In their
family were six children, five still living – Mrs. Mary CHAMP,
Mrs. GROSSCUP, John, and Alex H. and Mrs. Lydia J. NEWBY, twins.
Our subject and his estimable wife have five children – Jennie
Pearl, Lawrence W. and Clarence P., twins; Dora Charlotte, and
Charles F.
For two years after his marriage, Mr.
GROSSCUP lived upon the farm of his father-in-law, but at the
end of that time built his present residence, into which the
family moved in 1873, and there remained for five years. After
the death of Mrs. GROSSCUPS’s father they removed to Ox Bow
prairie, where the following eight years were passed, and since
that time have resided upon their present farm. The place
comprises one hundred and sixty acres of excellent land, on
which our subject has made the various improvements, erecting
good buildings, fencing the land and tiling it. He raises
principally corn and oats. Although he began life with no
capital or aid from any source, he has by persistent effort
gained a handsome property.
Politically, Mr. GROSSCUP is identified
with the republican party. Taking an active interest in
educational matters, he has done effective work as a school
director for fifteen years, and has supplied his children with
good educational privileges. Earnest members of the Methodist
church, both himself and wife are regular attendants on the
services of both church and Sunday school.
Extracted April 2011 by Norma Hass from
The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois,
1896.
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