Henry
SARGENT, who resides upon section 15, Steuben township, Marshall
county, has been a resident of the county for forty-one years.
He traces his ancestry back to the twelfth century, one of the
family being killed and another wounded at the downfall of
Jerusalem in 1189. The first of the family to locate in this
country was William SARGENT, a native of Northamptonshire,
England, who came in 1638, and located at Malden, Massachusetts.
The ancestry of our subject, beginning with William, is as
follows: William, John, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, Daniel,
Charles and Henry.
Charles SARGENT was a native of
Worcester, Massachusetts. When the second war with Great Britain
broke out, he enlisted in the marine service and served until
after the close of the war, being discharged at New Orleans in
1815. From New Orleans he worked up the Mississippi river about
1816, and settled on a farm near Kaskaskia. He was soon after
united in marriage with Sarah SMITH of St. Clair county, and
continued to work the farm for some years afterward. He then
removed to Belleville, Illinois, where he engaged in mercantile
trade, and for some years was sheriff of the county.
Henry SARGENT, the son of Charles and Sarah (SMITH) SARGENT, was
born on the farm of his parents in St. Clair county, Illinois,
November 11, 1824. When he was seven years of age his parents
removed to Belleville, where his boyhood and youth were passed.
His educational advantages were limited to the common schools of
that early day, and when old enough to be of service he was
placed in his father’s store. He next went to work on a farm
north of Belleville, and subsequently worked in a mill in
company with his cousin.
Having accumulated a little
money, our subject concluded to look around a little to see
where he had best invest, and where he should make his permanent
home. Accordingly, in 1853, he made a trip on foot through
Missouri, Iowa and northern Illinois, taking in the far-famed
city of Nauvoo, Illinois. He finally decided to locate near
Lacon, that country suiting him better than any other visited.
At that time the county was very thinly settled, those then
living here having located near the Illinois river and smaller
streams and in the timber districts. Two years later, in 1855,
he took up his permanent abode here, purchasing a farm of George
DRAKE, one mile west of Sparland. Mr. DRAKE was one of the
pioneers of Marshall county, and was a brother-in-law of Asa and
Samuel Ellis THOMPSON, who came from Athens county, Ohio, in
1834, being the first settlers to leave the river and take up
their abode on the prairie. DRAKE subsequently removed to Texas,
but the THOMPSONs lived and died here, the widow of Asa, Mary P.
THOMPSON, surviving until Thanksgiving day, 1895, being the last
of the family to reside here. Of the number residing here when
Mr. SARGENT made settlement there remains but three – R. M.
FRISBEY, David WATKINS and George MEAD.
Mr. SARGENT paid
sixteen dollars per acre for his farm, it being partially
improved. He could have gotten plenty of unimproved land at that
time, but was afraid of the title. As soon as it came into his
possession he commenced to make improvements, and as years went
by the old house gave place to the new, and other tracts were
added until at the present time his farm contains three hundred
and three acres, with improvements fully abreast with the times.
He has always followed mixed farming, dividing his time between
the cultivation of grain and the raising of stock, principally
hogs and cattle. At one time he had a very large flock of sheep,
the wool industry of the country being at its height. With the
low prices prevailing for wool, it has made this business
unprofitable, and for that reason he has disposed of his flock.
In other stock he has endeavored to keep a good grade, and
usually feeds about one hundred head of hogs. His farm, which is
a very productive one, is under laid with a fine vein of coal.
Mr. SARGENT was married in St. Clair county, Illinois, when
twenty-nine years of age, to Miss Amelia F. WILLIAMS, who was
born in Pickaway county, Ohio, February 4, 1835, and to them was
born a family of eight children – William H., of South
Riverside, California; George F., of the same place; Charles T.,
of Barton county, Missouri; James, manager of the home farm;
Sarah, at home; Electa, who married Augustus GARRETT, of Steuben
township, and Ellen and John, at home.
On account of
advancing age Mr. SARGENT has given the management of the home
farm into the hands of his son James, who has shown himself well
qualified for the trust, having a practical knowledge of every
detail of farm work, and an earnest desire to succeed. He is a
young man of superior ability, one who will doubtless succeed in
every undertaking. A member of Sparland lodge, No. 441, F. & A.
M., he has taken interest in the work, and is well posted in the
history and work of the order.
Our subject claims to be a
dyed-in-the-wool republican, and his claim has been proved by
his works. Since the organization of the party he has voted its
ticket, and while mistakes may have been made by its leaders, he
has never seen any reason why he should change his political
views. Religiously, he is a Methodist “from the ground up,” and
has been a member and active worker in the Bethel Methodist
Episcopal church for a period of thirty years. Mrs. SARGENT was
likewise a member of that church, and died in the full assurance
of faith, July 5, 1895. She was a woman of quiet, domestic
taste, a lover of home and family, and her death was mourned by
not only the family, but a large circle of friends.
In
the almost half century in which Mr. SARGENT has been a citizen
of Marshall county, he has made many warm personal friends and
but few enemies, and no man in Steuben township bears a better
reputation for honesty and nobility of character.
Extracted March 2011 by Norma Hass from The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois, 1896.
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