Page 384

Transcribed by Denise McLoughlin

Michael Hoover

MICHAEL HOOVER

Michael HOOVER, whose success is largely due to his own labors, so that the may well be classed with the self-made men of bureau county, is now carrying on farm work in Bureau township, and his place of two hundred and thirty-two acres is the visible evidence of his life of thrift and enery. He was born in Pennsylvania on the 29th of September, 1849, and is a son of William and Elizabeth Jane (SHETTLE) HOOVER, who in the year 1862 left the Keystone state and came to the middle west, reaching Princeton on the 4th of June of that year. They settled a half mile north of the city, living on a farm there for two years, and subsequently they removed to a farm a mile further north, where theymade their home for a similar period. They afterward took up their abode in Bureau township.

Micahel HOOVER was a youth of twelve years when the family came to Illinois, and his education, which was begun in the public schools of Pennsylvania, was continued in Bureau county. After putting aside his text-books he worked with his father on the home farm, early assisting inthe task of plowing, planting, and harvesting, so that as the years went by he gained practical knowledge of the best methods of carrying on farm work. As his financial resources increased he made jucicious investments in property and his holdings now comprise two hundred and thirty-two acres of rich and valuable land, His crops are largely corn and oats, but he also raises considerable stock of mixed varieties.

ON the 29th of June, 1875, occurred the marriage of Michael HOOVER and Miss Hattie E. BRIGHAM, who was born June 29, 1851, a daughter of Joseph H. and Jane E. (MERCER) BRGHAM, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Ohio. The year of their arrival in Illinois was in the early '30s and they were among the honored pioneer settlers of Bureau county. Many Indians of Shabbona's tribe were still livng in this part of the state when they arrived. Wild and the priaries were largely uncultivated, while the timber that bordered the streams was uncut. Few improvements had been made to indicate that the seeds of civilization had been planted by the early settlers, and Mr. BRIGHAM cast in his lot with the pioneers, shared in the hardships and trials of frontier life and bore his full share in the work of early development and improvement.

At the time of their marriage Mr. and Mrs. HOOVER located upon a farm and as the years have gone by their union has been blessed with ten children, of whom Anthony Franklin and Charles Michael, the second and third in order of birth respectively, are now deceased. Those who still survive are Joseph William, Elma Jane, Mary Eliza, John Frederick, Martha May, Fannie Magdalena, Vernon Roderick and Eva Gladys. The family are all members of the English Lutheran church of Princeton. They are people of the highest respectability, esteemd in the community where they have resided for a long period. Mr. HOOVER's life record should serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to ohters, for most of his property has been accumulated by his own labors and shows what can be accomplished through diligence and perseverence.