**************************************************************************** File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project Copyright 2008, all rights reserved. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format without the written consent of the author at http://fulton.ilgenweb.net. **************************************************************************** Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908 **************************************************************************** The Biography of Benjamin Franklin BROCK, Sr. Pages 805-806, transcribed in full by Alice Stipak. [Surnames: ACKERSON, BROCK, CADWALLADER, FINK, HAYNES, MARTIN, SCITCHFIELD, SHIELD] [Starting on page 805] BROCK, Benjamin F., who is one of the most extensive and prosperous farmers in Fulton County, is not of that type who has had fortune and property thrust upon him by inheritance, and, perhaps, increased it by careful management. His large competency, his valuable properties in Farmer and Bernadotte Townships and his high and substantial standing as a citizen, have been acquired by individual force of character, by industry, perseverance and intelligent effort, founded upon the strictest honor. Starting as a simple renter of land about forty years ago, he is now the owner and active operator of 680 acres of as fine land on the whole as can be found in Fulton County. Not withstanding this noteworthy success, Mr. Brock has the modesty and the fairness, prompted by gratitude and affection, to attribute much of his good fortune to the inspiring love and unselfish assistance of his deceased wife. The subject of this sketch is a native of the Buckeye State, born in Belmont County September 4, 1846, a son of George Washington and Eliza (Haynes) Brock. The father was of English and the mother of German descent. The father of Benjamin F. Brock, with his family, migrated from Belmont County, Ohio, to Fulton County in 1853, remaining there until the fall of 1858. His wife died in 1854 and four years later he removed with his family to Franklin County, Kan., marrying again in Illinois about 1859. The step-mother remained in Kansas, and was married a second time. Benjamin F. Brock has had three brothers and three sisters, four of whom, including himself, are yet living: Jessie is a resident of Bushnell, Ill.; Alonzo A. is a farmer of Bernadotte Township; Mary Jane, the widow of Thomas Cadwallader, is living in Chandler, Okla. After the death of his father Benjamin F. remained in Kansas until 1863, when he returned to Ipava, Fulton County, and went to work by the month. On November 30, 1865, he was married to Susan C. Cadwallader, a daughter of Isaac A. and Sarah (Ackerson) Cadwallader. His wife was a native of Vermont Township, and after their marriage the husband rented a farm in that township for the special cultivation of grain. This land he cultivated successfully until 1877, when he purchased the Scitchfield farm of 150 acres in Farmer Township. At that time the property was in rather poor condition, but in 1878 he located upon it and commenced the careful cultivation of the land and the introduction of general improvements. This was the beginning of his independence and prosperity as a farmer and a citizen, for to that original 150 acres he has added other tracts of land and applied his industry, common sense and scientific knowledge of agriculture to the tilling of the soil and the erection of suitable buildings for the care of crops, stock and utensils until at the present time his 680 acres in Farmer and Bernadotte Townships represent well developed, valuable properties. This large tract has all been cleared with the exception of about thirty acres of timber land. Until the death of his wife, April 17, 1900, Mr. Brock made the original farm, which he thoroughly improved, the family homestead. Mrs. Benjamin F. Brock was at the time of her death a member of the Presbyterian Church and in every relation in life a Christian lady. For eighteen years prior to her death she was a great sufferer, but bore her affliction with a patience and fortitude which came of a faith in the hereafter. She was a most lovable character, a good and faithful wife and mother, kind, even to the point of being indulgent, but never unjust or weak. She was an inspiration and a guidance alike to her children and her husband. To Mr. and Mrs. Brock were born three children, namely: Benjamin Franklin, Jr., born December 29, 1866, married Annie Martin December 27, 1888, and is the father of four children, Benjamin, Clinton, Mary and Threll; Meredith C., who was born April 23, 1870 and who married Essie Shield, of Canton, has no children, and Parmelia May, born June 9, 1875, married Walter P. Fink, a resident of Canton, Ill., December 26, 1895, and is the mother of three children, Madeline, Lyle B. and Dorothy May. The elder son, Benjamin F., Jr. is a farmer of Bernadotte Township, and Meredith C. is on the home farm, where in conjunction with his father he is extensively engaged in feeding stock both summer and winter. A resume of the life of Benjamin F. Brock indicates that, with the exception of a few years spent in Kansas during his boyhood and youth, he has been a resident of Fulton County since 1853, and that since 1865, the year of his marriage, his home has been in Farmer and Vermont Townships. For forty-one years he has taken an active part in the development of that portion of the county, and there is no event in [p.806] his life during that long period which has not increased the esteem and honor which attach to useful and honorable actions. In politics he has been a consistent Republican. He is a Mason in high standing, being at present Master of the Ipava Lodge. Mr. Brock is also popular as well as successful, and has been called upon to fill various township offices of trust and responsibility.