EZRA R. FOSMIRE

FOSMIRE

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/22/2020 at 15:19:02

EZRA R. FOSMIRE, of section 11, Union township, Adams county, was born in Monroe county, New York, January 8, 1835, the son of John Fosmire, deceased, native of Rensselaer county, New York. The latter emigrated to Knox county, Illinois, in 1844, settling on a farm near Galesburg, when it was yet a new country. Ezra R., our [subject] was reared to farm life and received his education in the common schools of Illinois, and also in the Knoxville public schools. He subsequently learned the wagon-maker's trade, which he followed several years, having previously worked at tailoring. He was engaged at carpentering for the United States for a time during the war, and was at Chattanooga when Hood's army threatened the place and cut off our communication with Nashville. Mr. Fosmire was engaged in a wagon and carriage shop several years in Oneida, Illinois, and in the spring of 1879 came to this county, settling on his present farm of 160 acres, where he is engaged in general farming and stock- raising. He raises graded short-horn cattle, English Shire horses and Poland-China hogs. He has served as Justice of the Peace six years, and was secretary of the Board of School Directors a few years. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and Farmers' Alliance.

Mr. Fosmire was married July 5, 1857, to Ellen Randall, a daughter of Ralph Randall, of Knoxville, Illinois. They had five children: Adelaide, Seth H., Fannie, Frederick R. and James. The mother died in 1874, and August 30, 1876, Mr. Fosmire married Mrs. Mary McDonald; she had one child, Jennie, by a former marriage, who married A. Mayne, and resides in Salt Lake City, Utah.