****************************************************************************
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: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890

****************************************************************************

The Biography of Gilbert HATHAWAY 

Pages 238-240, transcribed in full by Danni Hopkins 

[Surnames: BURT, DAVIDSON, HATHAWAY, HINDS, KING, MARSHALL, MOORE, PRESTON, SABIN, STEARNS, WILLARD] 

    
GILBERT HATHAWAY. No name is more honored or more worthy of reverence among those of the noble pioneers of Peoria County, by whose labors it was established on a firm foundation of enduring prosperity, than that of this gentleman, who has played an important part in the agricultural, political and religious development of Jubilee Township, and so of the county. In his work he was much prospered, accumulating a goodly amount of property, and is now living retired in Farmington, Fulton County, where he is quietly and pleasantly passing the declining years of a life well spent in all that goes to make a true man and a good citizen. 
    
Our subject was born July 27, 1818, about sixty miles form the Canada line in the wilds of Somerset (now Franklin) County, Me., the place of his birth Kingsfield Township, which was named in honor of Maine's first Governor, King, who bought a very large tract of land in the northern part of the State, which was divided up into three towns--Concord, Lexington and Kingsfield. The Hathaways came from England, and Deacon Hathaway is a direct descendant of one Col. Ebenezer Hathaway, who was sent to this country by the English Government in charge of one of the English troops in one of the Colonial wars. He settled at Assonet, Mass., and there reared a family. He did good service as an officer in the French and Indian War. His son Gilbert was born at Assonet, and as a middle-aged man removed to Oxford County, Me., and was among the pioneer settlers of Livermore. He was accompanied hither by his wife and thirteen children, of whom our subject's father is the eighth in order of birth. 
    
Luther Hathaway, the father of our subject, married, in Oxford County, Miss Clarissa W. Hinds, a native of Massachusetts, who was taken to Maine by her parents, who were of Scotch descent. The father of our subject followed farming in Maine for several years, but finally removed to Peoria County with his family and was a pioneer settler of Brimfield Township. In after years he and his wife lived retired in Brimfield Village, where she died in 1870, at the age of eighty years. She had always been a consistent Christian, as had her husband. After her death he lived at times with our subject and at times with the twin sister of our subject, Mrs. Preston, of Fulton County, in whose home he died August 14, 1876, rounding out a long life of eighty-six years, seven months and fourteen days. 
    
Deacon Hathaway was reared in the woods of Maine, amid pleasant scenes, and one of his first recollections is of the beautiful golden sunsets over Mt. Abram. He was one of a family of eight children, named as follows: Boadicea, Edwin B., Gilbert and Tryphena (twins), Christopher Columbus, Hannah, Salome E., and George W. He was educated in the common schools of his native State and was brought up to habits of industry on a farm by his worthy parents. In his youth he was greatly interested in reading an account of the Black Hawk War, and from its description obtained a good idea of the State of Illinois and was fired with the ambitious desire to try life on its wild prairies. His mother did not wish him to leave home, thinking him too young, and then, too, his eldest brother, Edwin, had gone from them, sailing away on the ocean, and had settled in South Carolina some years before, and his family had lost all trace of him. Gilbert's parents seeing that he was still very desirous to go westward, decided that his father should visit Illinois to see the country and find out whether the Indians had left the State and whether it was habitable. Consequently he started for the Far West in 1837, and after his arrival in Illinois wrote to his family stating that everything was all right. 
    
Mr. Hathaway says, with reference to his father's coming here, "We were poor as poverty, and father had to go to Massachusetts to borrow money to come out with." Our subject started for his destination May 10, 1838, with but $11 in his pocket. He traveled with two families, who were going to Jackson County, Mich., and he drove one team to help pay his way. When he arrived in Jackson County, Mich., his money was all gone and he was in debt besides. With characteristic honesty he stayed there until he had earned money to repay his indebtedness, working on a farm for three months, it taking two months to obtain the required sum. He then started on his way and went as far as his money would carry him, which was not a great distance, as in his ignorance he had accepted in payment for his work paper money which was called in local parlance; "shinplasters," which was not lawful currency only in the immediate neighborhood of where it was manufactured. So when he had traveled some distance he found his money was useless, and when he arrived at St. Joseph he was obliged to go to work again. For ten days he was employed in a stable as hostler. A boat was just then being repaired at St. Joseph, which plied between that place and Chicago, and Mr. Hathaway engaged as fireman on board to save the expense of his passage, and received besides sixty-two and one-half cents per day for his work. Arriving at Chicago he found a dirty village built among the sloughs and swamps, with no indication of its present size and importance as the second city in population in this country. He paid for having his trunk or chest taken to Peoria from there, and he started on foot for this county. He subsequently took passage on a river boat to Peoria, and when landed there has just eighteen and three-fourth cents in his pocket. From there he walked out to a friend who lived in Trivoli Township, Peoria County. 
    
Mr. Hathaway and his father worked hard, earning money enough to send home for the mother and the rest of the children the next year. Our subject began work at $10 a month to buy a farm for his father and mother. He performed much pioneer labor, and by unceasing industry finally established a home of his own and became well-to-do. For many years he owned a valuable and highly improved farm of one hundred and forty acres in Jubilee Township. He was an able and practical business man and dealt a good deal in real estate, and in that way became quite wealthy. In the month of September, 1883, he gave up active business as a farmer and removed to his present comfortable, commodious home in Farmington, of which he is still a highly respected citizen. 
    
In 1850 Deacon Hathaway was married to Mrs. Maria Willard, daughter of Levi and Barbara (Stearns) Sabin, natives of Vermont. At the time of her marriage with our subject she was the widow of Alpheus Willard, to whom she had been married in Vermont in 1825. They were pioneer settlers of Brimfield, Peoria County, coming here in 1838. By that marriage she became the mother of the following children: Isaac, who died in infancy; William A., Frances M., Cynthia A., Henry C., Lot S., and Abbie R. William died in 1865, leaving a wife and two children--Frank A. and Mary B.; Frances is the wife of George P. Burt, a retired carpenter of Galva, and they have four children--Frank H., Theresa W., Flora M., Sophia S.; Cynthia died at the age of fifteen years; Henry, a prominent citizen and merchant of Pittsburg, Kan., married Miss Ellen Moore, and they have two children--Lavon and Alice; Lot, a real-estate dealer at Seattle, Wash., married Ellen Davidson, and they have two children--May G. and Lee A. Lot S. Willard was a Major on McPherson's staff during the Civil War. Abbie is the wife of Albert Marshall, a well-to-do farmer of Jubilee Township, and they have eight children--Birdie A., Cora, Ernest W., William A. Harry E., Janie M., Nellie M. and Stella R. 
    
Deacon Hathaway's life career has been directed by energy, perseverance, stability of character and good business habits, combined with honorable and conscientious dealings, and his course furnishes an excellent example to the young men who are just starting out in the world to seek fortune's favors. He enjoys a high personal standing throughout the county, where the most busy years of his life were passed, and is held in consideration wherever known. While a resident of Jubilee Township he was very prominent in its public affairs and was for a long time one of its most valued officials. He represented the township as a member of the County Board of Supervisors two years. He was Assessor five years, Collector four years, and School Treasurer for twenty-seven consecutive years. No man has done more to forward the religious interests of his community than the Deacon. He helped build every church in Brimfield, except the Catholic, and officiated as Deacon in the Baptist Church of that place several years. He has also acted in that capacity in the church of that denomination in Farmington. He has a creditable record as a Republican, he being a firm ally of that party. Before its organization he was a Whig, and he has voted for the following for President: Gen. W. H. Harrison in 1840, well remembering the log-cabin craze; Fremont, in 1856; Lincoln, in 1860 and 1864; Grant, in 1868 and 1872; Hayes in 1876; Garfield, in 1880; Blaine, in 1884; Harrison, in 1888. Though Mr. Hathaway is strongly in favor of temperance he is not a third party man.