Source: History of Whiteside County, Illinois
By: William W. Davis, M. A.
Vol. II
Chicago, The Pioneer Publishing Co.  1908

Transcribed by: Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society
www.tampicohistoricalsociety.citymax.com

Pages 1368-1370

W. P. Utley, residing on West Third street in Sterling, is one of Whiteside county's native sons, his birth having occurred at Como on the 25th of December, 1857. His parents were Dr. Henry and Caroline S. (Butler) Utley, natives of Oneida county, New York. The paternal grandfather, Henry Utley, was born in Rhode Island but for many years lived at Westerville, Oneida county, New York. In early life he was a tanner and saddler and later engaged in the harness-making business.

He married Sarah Morse (a neice of S. B. F. Morse, of telegraph fame), who lived to be ninety-three years of age, and he was also a nonagenarian at his death. The Utley family is of English lineage. The maternal grandfather of our subject was a native of the Empire state and he and his wife, Mrs. Eunice Butler, were among the early pioneer settlers of Whiteside County. Both lived to an advance age, Mrs. Butler's death occurring when she had reqaced the age of ninety-two. Their family n umbered three daughters and five sons.

Dr. Henry Utley, who devoted his life to the practice of medicine and surgery, served his country as a surgeon in the Seventy-fifth Illinois Volunteers in the Civil war. He was born at Westernville, New York, June 22, 1822, and was reared to manhood in Oneida county, New York, where his wife spent her girlhood days also. Following their marriage they lived at Turin, New York, and in 1856 came to the middle west, settling in Como, Illinois. There Dr. Utley practiced his profession until 1868, when he became a member of the medical fraternity of Sterling, where he continued throughout his remaining days, passing away in April, 1905, at the age of seventy-four. His wife died at the home of her son, H. B. Utley, in Chicago. Both were members of the Baptist church and Mrs. Utley took a very active and helpful part in the church work. In their family were four sons, of whom Edward died in early childhood. Joseph F., also deceased, was born in New York in 1850  and came west with his parents in 1856. He married Caroline B. Richards and their children were Mrs. Florence Schmoeger and Edward, both deceased; Pauline; Mildred; and Theodore. Henry B. Utley, the next of the family, was also born in New York in 1854 and was therefore but two years of age when the family located in Como, Illinois. He now resides in Chicago, being manager of the purchasing department for the International Harvester Company. He was married at Sterling to Martha Harden and to them were born five children: Edith, who died in infancy; Mrs. Bessie Oliver; John; Paul and Margaret. William P. Utley, of this review, completes the family.

William P. Utley was reared to manhood in Sterling and attended the public schools, being graduated from the second ward high school under Professor Albert Bayliss, afterward state superintendent of instruction in Illinois. He next entered the Northwestern University at Evanston and when his education was completed Mr. Utley spent one year as local editor with the Sterling Gazette, after which he engaged with the McCormick Harvestinig Machine Company as general agent, with headquarters at Mason City, Iowa, where he remained for over two years. On returning to Sterling he spent five years in this city and then went to Chicago, where he engaged in the Wholesale coal business for about seventeen years, making his home during that period in Oak Park. In 1903 he returned to Sterling, where he now resides.

The lady who now bears his name was in her maidenhood Miss Lida T. Howland and they were married on the 20th of October, 1880. Her parents were James an Eliza (Canfield) Howland. Her father was born at Lisle, New York, May 6, 1800, was the son of Consider Howland and was a representative in the sixth generation of the descendants of Henry Howland, who came to America on the Mayfolower. James Howland lived at Lisle, Broome county, New York, until 1850, when he came west and purchased a farm in Coloma township. He also purchased land in Minnesota and spent the summer months in the western states, while the winter seasons were passed in New York until 1868. In that year he settled permanently in Sterling. He was an extensive landowner and a man of large affairs. Following his removal to the middle west he lived upon his home farm until his death, a which occurred in 1879 when he was seventy years of age. He was killed by a runaway team that crashed into his buggy from the rear, throwing him out and causing injuries from which he died. His wife was born October 9, 1815, in the state of New York, and there were married December 29, 1833. She died December 4, 1861, at the age of forty-six years. Mr. and Mrs Utley became the parents of four children, of whom James Howland died at the age of two and half years. Frederick Daniel is a graduate of Harvard University of the class of 1908 and is now in the employ of the International Harvest Company of Chicago, in their accounting department. Helen Caroline is attending Ferry Hall at Lake Forest, Illinois; and Ruth Howland is a pupil in the high school of Sterling.

Mr. and Mrs. Utley are members of the Congregational church to which all of their children also belong. Politically he is a republican and for four years served as a trustee of the town of Cicero in Cook county while residing at Oak Park. He owns a beautiful home at No. 805 West Third street, known as the old Edson home, built by Simeon Farwell, a brother of John V. Farwell of Chicago. In business affairs his judgment is sound and reliable and his purchases of land have been so capably made that he is today the owner of some of the finest farming property in this section of Illinois.