ILIFF, Jeremiah R.
Jeremiah R. ILIFF, who is residing on
section 18, Belle Plain township, is numbered among the pioneers
of Marshall county. He came to
the county in 1857, and made a permanent location in 1861, since
which time his identification with its interests has been
continuous. His career is that of a man who has been loyal and
true to all the duties that devolve upon him, and in his
business undertakings he has won a success resulting from
honorable dealing and indefatigable industry.
Mr. ILIFF was born in Perry county,
Ohio, November 3, 1833. His grandfather,
John ILIFF, was a soldier in the war of 1812. His father, Thomas
ILIFF, now deceased, was a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and when twelve years of age removed to Ohio, where he followed
farming as a life work. Jeremiah R. ILIFF was reared on his
father’s farm, and his district school education was
supplemented by study in the Wesleyan university of Delaware,
Ohio. He then
left the school room to learn the more difficult lessons taught
by experience in the practical affairs of life. When a young man
of twenty-four he left home to seek his fortune in the west, and
after one year spent in Marshall
county, Illinois, removed to Kansas. In 1859, however, he returned to this
county, and made his home with his brother-in-law, William WATT,
who had taken up his residence here in 1857. Mr. ILIFF did not
make a permanent location until 1861. In the spring of 1862 he
removed to his present home and has since engaged in general
faming and stock raising, having here a well developed farm of
three hundred and thirty acres, whose richly cultivated fields
attest his supervision, while the excellent improvements upon
the place indicate his thrift and enterprise.
On the 23d of December, 1861, Mr. ILIFF
married Margaret SPANGLER, daughter of William SPANGLER,
deceased, a pioneer of
Marshall
county. Her death occurred in 1866, and on the 6th of September,
1870, he wedded Elizabeth KELLY, daughter of Joseph KELLY. She
was called to the home beyond December 25, 1879. They had six
children, four of whom are living: Edna M., William K., Arthur C
and Thomas E. The first named is now the wife of Professor E.
Frank PERRY, principal of the schools of La Rose, Illinois.
On the 12th of October, 1881, Mr. ILIFF was joined in wedlock to
Mrs. Mary E. KLEIBER, daughter of Miles PIERCE. There are five
children by this union: Mabel E., Minnie B., Maggie H., Elbert
R. and Charles A.
Mr. ILIFF and his family are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he is a republican,
supporting the party by his ballot, but has steadily refused
public office, preferring to give his attention to his business
interests, in which he has met with signal and well deserved
success.
Extracted May 2011 by Norma Hass from
The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois, 1896.
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