THOMAS H LAIRD, b 28 Oct 1833

LAIRD, STEVENS, FOWLER, THOMPSON, SOUTHWELL, WESTCOTT, HERRICK, MARBLE

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 6/16/2004 at 22:29:04

Thomas H. Laird, a retired farmer and stock-raiser of South Fork Township, has been interested in agriculture in Jackson County for nearly a quarter of a century, and still owns a valuable, well-improved farm on section 30, from the skillfull management of which he has gleaned a competence, so that he can enjoy his remaining years free from care and toil, in one of the cheeriest and most comfortable homes in all the township.

Mr. Laird was born Oct. 28, 1833, in Du Page County, Ill. His father, William Laird, was born in Erie County, Pa., and his mother, Philinda Stevens, in Vermont. Her father, John Stevens, a native of New England, moved from the Green Mountain State to Illinois in 1832, and was one of the earliest settlers of Naperville, where there was a fort, in which the pioneers and their families sought refuge during the Indian troubles. He took up a tract of Government land, entered it as soon as it came into the market, after the Indian titles had been extinguished, and improved a farm, which remained his home until death called him to a better. He was a contractor and builder for a number of years in that vicinity, having learned the carpenter's trade in his earlier manhood.

The father of our subject was bred in his native county, and commenced life for himself as a clerk. In 1832 he came to Illinois with a stock of goods, intending to start in the mercantile business, but the cholera had broken out, and the authorities at Chicago would not let him land, so he returned eastward as far as St. Joseph, Mich. A few weeks later he came on to his destination in Naperville unmolested, and opening a store in that settlement, became a pioneer merchant of the place. The Indians still lingered there, and he drove a thriving trade with them. In 1833 he went over to the Fox River, three-fourths of a mile above Aurora, at which place there were then but two settlers, the mother of our subject being the first white woman who settled in that section. The Indians objected strongly to Mr. Laird's locating there, so he deemed it prudent to betake himself and family to a place two miles below Aurora, and there his career was cut short by death ere he had reached the meridian of life. In 1844 the mother of our subject married a second time, becoming the wife of Hiram Fowler, and residing with him in DuPage County, Ill. She now occupies a part of the land that her father entered from the Government in the early settlement of that part of Illinois. She has attained to the advanced age of seventy-six years, and can look back over a long life well spent. She has witnessed almost the entire growth of the State, where so much of her life has been passed, and, doubtless, can give many interesting reminiscences of pioneer life. There were two children born to William Laird and his wife - Thomas H. and William, the latter a resident of Naperville.

Mr. Laird, of whom we write, grew to a manly, self-reliant manhood in the county of his nativity, receiving his education in its pioneer schools, which for a number of years were conducted in private houses. He lived with his mother until 1852, when he started with others for California, on the 15th of April. They crossed the Missouri River on the 14th of May, and it was at that time his privilege to view the country now included in Kansas and Nebraska in all its primitive wildness, with the deer, antelope, and buffalo roaming over the plains, and not a white settler within all the territory, excepting at one or two Indian trading posts or Government stations. The party completed their tedious journey across the desolate plains and lonely mountains in the month of the following August, when they arrived at Placerville.

Our subject engaged in mining in the Golden State until December, 1853, when, tiring of the rough, wild camp life, he gathered together his gains and once more set his face toward home, coming by the way of the Nicaraugua route. The remainder of that winter he devoted to improving his education, taking a fine course in the Commercial College at Chicago, and in the spring of 1854 he went to the Territory of Minnesota to engage in the lumber business, rafting lumber down the Mississippi. St. Paul was then but a village, and Minneapolis was not founded. Two years later our subject returned to Illinois, and settled on his step-father's farm, where he carried on agriculture three years, then for an equal length of time lived on his father-in-law's farm. At the expiration of that time he returned to his step-father's homestead, remaining thereon until 1865. In that year he came to Jackson County, and bought the farm where he now resides, which comprises 200 acres of exceeding fertile land on section 30, South Fork Township. He has erected a good and conveniently arranged set of frame buildings, has made many other valuable improvements, and has one of the best farms in the neighborhood.

Mr. Laird has been twice married. He was first wedded in 1857, to Miss Addie Thompson, a native of DuPage County, Ill., and a daughter of John and Lois Thompson, natives of New England. Mrs. Laird passed to the rest that knows no waking in 1860, leaving one son, Frank, who now resides in Kanses, and who married Emma Southwell, by whom he has two children - Addie Belle and Ora May. Mr. Laird was a second time married, in 1862, Miss Sylvia Westcott becoming his wife, and to them have been born four children: Willie W., who died at the age of four months; Ralph W., who was born Dec. 12, 1865, died Jan. 26, 1881; Addie P., and John S. Mrs. Laird was born in Hubbardston, Rutland Co., Vt. Her father, John Westcott, was born in Vermont, his father having been a farmer in Rhode Island, and an early settler of Vermont. Mrs. Laird's father was reared in the Green Mountain State, learning the trade of a blacksmith in his youth. He removed from Vermont to Wisconsin in 1850, and became a pioneer of Stoughton, in Dane County, his removal to that region being made by rail from Whitehall to Schenectady, thence by canal to Buffalo, and from there by the lakes to Milwaukee, where he secured a team to take himself and his family to Stoughton. He bought a tract of timber land or oak openings, built a log house, and at once commenced to clear a farm. There were no railways there for several years, and the lake ports were the nearest markets for some years. Mr. Westcott improved a farm, lived on it a few years, then sold it, and bought another place near by, where he resided until his death. The maiden name of his wife was Susan Herrick. She was a native of Vermont, and died in that State in 1842. There were four children born of that marriage: Wallace W., Mary H., Sylvia (Mrs. Laird), and Susan. The father married a second time in 1843, taking Ruth Marble for a wife. Mrs. Laird's education was conducted in Evansville, Ill., and at the age of eighteen she commenced teaching and was very successfully engaged in that profession until her marriage. She is an intelligent, lady-like woman, and a sincere Christian, being a member of the Reformed Church.

Mr. Laird is a man of fine mental endowments, a great reader, and gifted with an excellent memory. He has a mind well-stored with useful information, and can converse interestingly on all topics of general interest. His reputation is unblemished, and he and his estimable wife are of high social standing in this community.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)