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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 James M. HERBERT 

Pages 795-796, transcribed in full by Karen CRANE Goggin 

[Surnames: BAUGHMAN, HERBERT, LONG, ORWIG, STAHL, WATSON, WHEELER] 

    
JAMES M. HERBERT is one of the wealthiest and most prosperous farmers and stockraisers in all Cass Township, where he has a large farm and other valuable property. More than half a century ago he came to this county with his mother and step-father, who became pioneers of the county. His parents were poor people and as a boy he had a hard struggle with poverty and the hardships of pioneer life, and was very early set to work to earn his own bread by the sweat of his brow. He bravely persevered to overcome every obstacle that lay in his pathway and finally achieved success solely by the exercise of brawn and muscle, and it may well be his pride that he is a self-made man. 
    
Mr. Herbert was born in Ashland County, Ohio, January 12, 1826. His father, John Herbert, was a native of New York and a farmer, and died in Ohio in 1831, while yet in life's prime, leaving a widow and three children--Albert, now deceased; our subject; and Jane, Mrs. Abram Baughman. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Becky Long, and she was born in Delaware and married in Ohio. After the death of her first husband she was wedded to John Wheeler and by that marriage she had the following children; Elizabeth, Mrs. Stahl; Samuel; Rachael, Mrs. John Watson. In 1835 Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler came to Illinois with their family and became early settlers of Cass Township, where they died, he in 1847 and she in 1878, at a venerable age. He was a valiant soldier in the War of 1812. 
    
Our subject was only nine years old when he came to this county with his mother and step-father, and he well remembers the wild condition of the surrounding country. There are now more people in Cass Township than there were in the whole county then, except Canton and Lewistown, and there were only five houses between his stepfather's farm and Bernadotte, and but six houses between it and Canton. The Indians had just been removed across the Mississippi, but wild animals were very plentiful. The farm on which Mr. Wheeler located was all raw land, with no improvements, and he had to build a log house to shelter his family. He was a very poor man, and six and one-fourth cents was all the cash he had when he arrived in the county. The family lived on corn bread, hominy and such game as they could procure. For coffee they used burnt wheat and corn. Each inmate of the family had to labor hard to contribute his or her quota towards its support, and by industry and rigid economy managed to obtain a living. Their straightened circumstances continued during the life of the step-father. 
    
Mr. Herbert had but little schooling as there were but two schools in the township, which were conducted on the subscription plan, and when his family could afford to send him he had a good ways to go. At fourteen years of age, a stout, self-reliant, practical lad, he began life for himself by working out on a farm for five dollars a month, continuing thus employed three years. He and his brother then rented land together in Cass Township till 1848, when our subject went to live with Albert Herbert, remaining with him one year. We next find him working independently on a small place he had bought, and he actively continued its improvement. He has been very much prospered and from that small beginning has accumulated much valuable property. He owns three hundred and two acres of land and has deeded sixty-eight acres to his children besides this. All the substantial improvements that make it one of the most desirable farms in the locality are the work of his own hands. In 1873 he built a commodious residence at a cost of $1,500. He carries on mixed farming, raising grain and stock, and is still active in looking after his agricultural interests, but will retire ere long to enjoy his handsome competence. For the last ten years he has cleared a thousand dollars a year from his farm. 
    
He has seen much of pioneer life and aptly describes the primitive schoolhouses in which the children of the pioneers were educated. The schoolhouses were rude log cabins, with not a nail used in their construction, a weight on the roof holding down the boards. A log was taken out to admit a six light window and a series of sticks were put up and greased paper put in between to serve for glass when the glass was broken. Slabs or hewn puncheons were used for seats, and the only desk was a slab the whole length of the building. Some clapboards were put together for a door, which was hung with wooden hinges, and a rude fireplace was constructed of sticks and mud. A speller and the English reader comprised the whole list of text books in use. 
    
In 1847 Mr. Herbert and his brother bought a thresher, which they operated two years and then sold. With his brother Joshua he soon bought another, which they used a year, and from the money thus earned and the sale of the machine our subject got a good start. He used to speculate in land. When the war began he bought a tract of land for $17 an acre and sold it for $40 an acre. He bought another piece for $100, put in $100 worth if improvements and sold it for $600, a great advance on the purchase price. The rest of his present property has been accumulated by downright hard labor. He has here an orchard of ten acres all planted by his own hand, that is one among the finest in the vicinity. 
    
Mr. Herbert was married in 1850 to Miss Sarah, daughter of John and Jane Orwig, who were formerly residents of Ohio, and settled in Cass Township in 1843. Mrs. Herbert was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio in 1832. She has co-operated with her husband in his labors and has helped him in the upbuilding of their comfortable home. They have had eight children, six of whom are living: Theodore, of this township, who married Nancy Van Hauten, and has four children; Nellie, James, Frances, Margaret (these four at home); Eliza, wife of George Henderson of Cass Township, who has two children. 
    
Mr. And Mrs. Herbert are active members of the United Brethren Church, and he is very prominent in its work as Trustee and Class Leader. He is identified with the Sunday-school. He has been a School Director for years, and has also been Pathmaster. He takes a great interest in politics, and affiliates with the Democratic party, though he is strongly in sympathy with the temperance movement.