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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890

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The Biography of Samuel FACKLER 

Pages 315-316, transcribed in full by Danni Hopkins 

[Surnames: ANDERSON, DEARY, FACKLER, JONES, McMULLEN, NELSON, PRICE, SCRIPPS] 

    
SAMUEL FACKLER comes of sterling pioneer stock, his parents, Franklin and Caroline (Deary) Fackler, having been early settlers of this county and his father a pioneer blacksmith of Astoria, the birthplace and present residence of our subject. The latter is now numbered among the enterprising, progressive, substantial business men of his native county, and is no unimportant factor in advancing its material interests. He has a large, well-appointed hardware store in Astoria, and commands an extensive trade not only in the village but among the citizens of the outlying country. 
    
Mr. Fackler was born in this town, December 3, 1842. He is a son of the late well-known Franklin Fackler, who was born in Augusta County, Va., December 3, 1807. His father, Samuel Fackler, was, it is thought, born in Pennsylvania. He was a tanner by trade, and carried on that business in Stanton, Augusta County, Va., where he spent his last years. 
    
The father of our subject went to live with an uncle in Loudoun County when he was a boy and he learned the trade of a blacksmith. He subsequently returned to Augusta County, and there took unto himself a wife and followed his trade there until 1835. In the fall of that year, with his wife and one child, he started with a pair of horses and a wagon for the wilds of the prairie State, taking cooking utensils along and cooking and camping by the way at noon and night. The little party finally arrived at its destination in Fulton County after thirty days' traveling. Mr. Fackler first located near the present site of Table Grove. The country around was very thinly inhabited, and where Vermont now stands, a thriving and flourishing village, there was but one house. Mr. Fackler built a log cabin, in which his family found shelter the ensuing winter, and in the spring of 1836 removed from there to the village of Washington, which was the first name given to Astoria. There were at that time only two log houses and one store where now a busy and prosperous town is located. The father of our subject erected a blacksmith shop in the village, which was the first one there until the new village was laid out half a mile distant and named Astoria. He then removed his business to the new village and was the first blacksmith in that place. He bought property and built a substantial dwelling and shop, and continued to carry on his trade, with the exception of two years when he was engaged in farming near Summum, until his death, which occurred December 15, 1887. 
    
The mother of our subject was born in Shenandoah County, Va. Her father, John Deary, was a native of Pennsylvania. He was left an orphan at an early age, and after he had attained manhood he went to Augusta County, Va., and there married. He was a shoemaker and followed his trade in Virginia until 1835. In that year he became a pioneer of Fulton County, buying a tract of Government land near Table Grove. It consisted of wild prairie and there was a double log house on the place when he purchased it, in which he lived with his family five years. His wife, dying, he then removed from there to Astoria and bought a home in which he lived retired until his death. The maiden name of his wife was Jane McMullen. She was born in Pennsylvania. The mother of our subject lived with her parents until her marriage, and was early taught to spin and weave. In the first years of her married life she cooked by the fireplace and clad her children in homespun garments of her own manufacture. This venerable lady now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Nelson. She has witnessed almost the entire development of this part of Illinois from a wilderness to a well settled and wealthy county. The early part of her life was passed amid pioneer scenes and she did not see a railroad until she was nearly fifty years of age. Mrs. Fackler reared the following six children to useful lives: James F., who resides in Astoria; J. Thomas, of Astoria; J. A.; Mrs. Nelson, of Astoria; Samuel, our subject; Lizzie, Mrs. Anderson, who lives in Henry County, Iowa; and Fannie, Mrs. Jones, who resides in Astoria. Mr. and Mrs. Fackler were greatly respected by the people among whom they lived for so many years. They were true Christians, and both joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in their younger days, thought the mother had been reared to the Lutheran faith. 
    
Samuel Fackler, of whom we write, gleaned his early education in the pioneer schools of Astoria, and when large enough commenced to help his father in the shop. At the age of nineteen he entered upon his mercantile career, engaging as a clerk in the general store of W. H. Scripps. He continued in that capacity twenty years and in 1883 resigned in order to engage in the hardware business. He has since devoted his entire attention to it, and has built up one of the most extensive and profitable trades in this line in this part of the county. He has a handsome, commodious, and conveniently arranged store, and carries a full stock of hardware, stoves, tins, etc. 
    
The marriage of Mr. Fackler with Miss Belle Price, a native of Fayette County, Pa., and a daughter of Benjamin Price, was solemnized in 1868. Five children were born of that union--George, Lillie, Nellie, Grace, and Bessie. In the month of April, 1884, the pleasant home of our subject was invaded by death and the loving wife and devoted mother was taken from the place in the household that she had so nobly filled. She was a true, womanly woman, possessing a fine disposition and other pleasant qualities that endeared her to many beyond the home circle. She joined the Methodist Episcopal Church before her marriage, and was always a consistent member thereof. 
    
Mr. Fackler is a sagacious, practical man of business, possessing the necessary foresight, financial ability and tenacity of purpose, requisite to success in any walk, and his affairs are managed with scrupulous honesty and with a conscientious regard for the rights of others. His honorable course in business, his frank and courteous bearing, his warm-hearted nature that makes his friendship so desirable, have won him the confidence of the entire community and have given him a high place in the regard of all with whom he associates, either in a business or social way. In him the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he joined before marriage, finds one of its most earnest and valued members, who is prominent in its affairs and who carries his religion into his every day life. In politics he is a Republican. He has taken an important part in the local Government, has served one year as a member of the Town Council, and is a member of the School Board. He is identified with Astoria Camp of M. W. A., and Astoria Lodge, A. O. U. W.