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JAMES W. ENTWHISTLE

James W. Entwhistle is the owner of a valuable farm of two hundred and forty acres on section 34, Ustick Township, and the place returns to him a good annual income because of the care and labor he bestows upon it. He has made his home in Whiteside County since 1871 and his residence in Illinois dates from 1836. He was born in Philadelphia, August 30, 1831, and was therefore a little less than five years of age when with his parents he came to this state, the family home being established in Galena, Jo Daviess County. His father, James Entwhistle, a weaver and farmer, spent his early li9fe in Philadelphia. In the year 1835 he made his way from Philadelphia to Illinois, and settling on the frontier, he aided in reclaiming it for the purposes of civilization. He belonged to the Protestant Episcopal Church and was a man of high character. His political allegiance was given to the Republican Party. In Philadelphia he married Miss Margaret Wilson and their children were: Ellen, who died in Philadelphia in early childhood; John; Thomas; James W.; Mary Ann, who died in Whiteside County; and Robert, who is a retired farmer of Tamaroa, Illinois.

In Galena, Jo Daviess County, amid the wild scenes and environments of pioneer life, James W. Entwhistle was reared. There were still many evidences of Indian occupancy in the state. U. S. Grant, who was afterward to attain national prominence as a military hero and to be honored with the highest official position in the gift of the nation, was in those early times a worker in the lead mines at Galena and no one dreamed of the destiny that awaited him. The greater part of the land now embraced within the borders of the state was still owned by the government and the city of Chicago had not been incorporated at the time of Mr. Entwhistle’s arrival in Illinois. He was identified with the early development of Jo Daviess County, where he continued to live for thirty-five years or until 1871, when he came to Whiteside County and bought a farm of Hiram Stratton, an early settler. He also bought from John Kent a tract of land, upon which his son, J. J. Entwhistle, now resides.

Mr. Entwhistle had been married in Elizabeth, Jo Daviess County, to Miss Ellen Lawton on the 4^th of January, 1855. She was born June13, 1835, near Hudson, New York. Her parents were natives of England and came to the United States in 1828. The father died in father died in New York and the mother afterward became a resident of Jo Daviess New York and the mother afterward became a resident of Jo Daviess County, Illinois. In the Lawton family were several children, namely: Joseph, a retired farmer now living in Hanover, Illinois; Mrs. Caroline Moser, a resident of Dubuque, Iowa; and Oliver C. Lawton, a farmer residing in Union Grove Township; John James, who operates a part of his father’s farm in Ustick Township and who for several years has been supervisor there: Caroline, the wife of W. L. Abbott, of Chicago, a brother  of A. N. Abbott, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume; Elmer Ellsworth, who died at the age of two  years; Hannah, at home; George W., who is operating a farm of his own and also a part of  his father’s land in Ustick Township; and Nellie, who died in infancy.

Mr. Entwhistle is today the owner of a valuable farm property of two hundred and forty acres situated on section 34, Ustick Township. It is the visible evidence of his life of thrift and industry, as his possessions have been acquired entirely through his own labor. He has lived to witness remarkable changes in the state and in the methods of farm life as well. His memory goes back to a day when the homes were largely log cabins or unpretentious frame dwellings. Today the great majority of farm houses are commodious and substantial residences built in modern and attractive style of architecture. The farm machinery, too, is totally unlike that in use many years ago and in his work Mr.. Entwhistle has always kept in touch with modern, progressive ideas. He says he remembers one year in which there was no summer here, the season being so old throughout the entire year that very poor crops were harvested. He can remember, too, when great stretches of the country were covered with the native prairie grasses, starred with a million flowers in June and in December covered with one unbroken sheet of snow. Deer and other wild game could be had and wolves and other wild animals were heard in the forests and on the prairies. He has not only lived to witness a remarkable change but has borne his part in the work which has brought this bout and is regarded as one of the valued and representative citizen s of his community The cause of education has always found in him a warm friend and he has served as school trustee, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Episcopal church.