JOHN ATKINSON
JOHN ATKINSON, one of the leading farmers of Moultrie county, is a native of England, and was born in Bland in the north part of Yorkshire near the boundaries of Westmoreland, on the fifth of December, 1799. He was the son of Thomas Atkinson and hi
s wife, Mary, whose maiden name was Herd. His mother died when he was a child six years of age. His father was a man of strong and rugged constitution, was industrious and energetic, never sick, and lived to the advanced age of eighty-eight years. The sub
ject of this sketch was the next to the oldest child. He has an older sister still living in England. He was raised in the same neighborhood in which he was born. His home was two miles distant from the ancestral home of the Washington, family, and among
Mr. Atkinson's friends in his youth was Thomas Washington, a distant cousin of George Washington, who gave Mr. Atkinson when seventeen, a watch which he carried many years. For several years during childhood he was sickly and unable to attend school. He w
as proficient in arithmetic and thoroughly qualified himself for the transaction of ordinary business. After his mother's death his father married a woman whose conduct toward the children by her husband's first marriage was marked by great kindness, and
Mr. Atkinson had his home at his father's house till after he was grown and married. His marriage took place in his twenty-third year to Alice Taylor, the oldest child of Thomas Taylor. She was born at Firbank in Westmoreland.
Mr. Atkinson began life for himself by renting the Croselbeck farm in Bland. This embraced sixty acres, and was considered a large farm in that part of England. The farms were small, sometimes containing only ten or fifteen acres. After giving up the Cros
elbeck place, he rented the New House farm on which he lived till he came to America. The rent was high, and finding it impossible to accumulate any means in England, he determined to make his home in a new country where he could find a better opportunity
to provide for his family. He came to America in the year 1843 with his wife and family, then consisting of eight children.
Landing in New York he at once set out for Ohio. At that time no railroads to the West were in existence. A steamboat carried them to Albany, and from that place they proceeded by way of the Erie Canal to Buffalo; from Buffalo to Cleveland by steamer and
thence by canal to Massillon, Stark county, Ohio. Near Massillon lived Thomas Noble, whom Mr. Atkinson had met in England. Mr. Noble was largely engaged in the sheep business, and Mr. Atkinson had been accustomed to sheep from boyhood. While in Ohio he wa
s in the employment of Mr. Noble. The latter had purchased six hundred acres of land near Todd's Point, Illinois (the present farm of Mr. Atkinson), and wishing to try the experiment of raising sheep on the Illinois prairies, he dispatched Mr. Atkinson wi
th a flock of nine hundred sheep to this State. Mr. Atkinson brought with him his family. The sheep were driven all the way from Ohio. The journey occupied seven weeks and four days. Their outfit consisted of two wagons, and they camped out along the road
. He reached Todd's Point in August, 1845, and with two exceptions Mr. Atkinson was the first Englishman to make his home in that part of Shelby and Moultrie counties. Soon afterward Englishmen began to arrive in considerable numbers, and all came to Mr.
Atkinson's house as headquarters, so that their house for several years was always crowded. Among those to follow them from England, was Robert Wilson, their nearest neighbor in the old country, whose sons, Richard and William Wilson, are now among the re
presentative farmers of Lowe township in Moultrie county, while another son, Thomas Wilson, resides in Chicago. While in Ohio Mr. Atkinson had visited Indiana and Michigan with the view of making a home for his family, but found no place he liked so well
as Illinois.
When he came to this state he had but little means. The entire amount in his posession was a solitary English guinea which he had carried with him from the time he left England. He worked one year for Mr. Noble, receiving one hundred and fifty dollars wag
es, and then began raising sheep with Mr. Noble on shares. The corn for feeding was purchased at nine cents a bushel. The wolves were bad and troublesome, and were so bold that they would attack the sheep even in the day time. They killed one hundred of h
is flock in a single night. Mr. Atkinson continued in the sheep business for many years till the fencing upon the prairies and other reasons rendered it unprofitable on a large scale. His flock at one time consisted of between four and five thousand head,
and he was one of the men most largely interested in the sheep business in Shelby and Moultrie counties. His sheep proved profitable and he acquired enough means to purchase of Mr. Noble four hundred acres of land. This was his first purchase of land, to
which he made subsequent additions. He also tried the business of raising fine blooded stock, but after a short trial gave up the experiment. He has given considerable land to his children, has managed his business with shrewdness and success, and is now
numbered among the wealthiest men in the Todd's Point settlement. The death of his wife took place on the 14th of February, 1875. He has had nine children, whose names are as follows: -- Mary, now the, wife of Thomas Hadwin of Todd's Point township, Shel
by county; Jane Atkinson; Thomas Atkinson, who is carrying on the mercantile business at Todd's Point; John Atkinson, whose death resulted from an accident on the 20th of June, 1875; Eleanor, now the wife of John Turner of Todd's Point township, Shelby co
unty; James Atkinson, who resides in Pickaway township, Shelby county; William Atkinson, a farmer of Pickaway Township, Shelby county; Alice, who married Thomas McGlashan, of Pickaway township, Shelby county; and Elizabeth, who died in England at the age
of seven weeks.
In his political opinions Mr. Atkinson was a Whig in England. In this country he became associated with the Republican party on its formation, and has been a Republican ever since, and has voted the Republican ticket at every Presidential election since t
he organization of the party, except the last, when he was prevented from going to the polls on account of sickness. He has never taken any active part in politics nor has ever been an office-holder. His time has been devoted to his business and the manag
ement of his farm. He is recognized as a man of large experience and sound judgement on stock and agriculture, and at the state fairs at Springfield and other agricultural exhibitions he has frequently been selected as
