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 A native of Bradford County, Pa., Mr. Becker was born April 28, 1833, and lived there until his removal to the West with his parents in the year 1843, when a lad ten years of age. He completed his education in Lombard University, at Galesburg, Ill., and later engaged in farming until 1862. Subsequently he took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar upon the recommendation of Judge Heaton in 1867. He remained a resident of Salem Township until 1865, then removed to Mt. Carroll, of which he has since been a resident.
After the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Becker, in the year 1862, enlisted in Company I, 92d Illinois Infantry, and at once was given a captain’s commission. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, and he participated in most of the important battles which followed. He was all through the Atlanta campaign, and with Gen. Sherman in his march to the sea. He endured the hardships and privations incident to army life, but fortunately escaped wounds and capture, and at the close of the war received his honorable discharge, June 21, 1865, at Concord, N. C. He then returned to his old haunts in this county, entered upon the study of law, and here he has since resided, interested in various enterprises, and thoroughly identifying himself with the welfare and progress of his adopted county, where he was made hosts of friends, and accumulated a comfortable property. The farm which the father improved from the uncultivated land is now in possession of D. Mackay.
The parents of our subject were David and Fanny H. (Benhan) Becker, natives of New York and Connecticut. They spent their last years in Carroll County. Their family consisted of seven children, all living. Me. Becker was married in Bradford County, Pa., Dec. 28, 1867, to Miss Sarah C., daughter of Lewis L. and Sarah (Hancock) Bosworth, natives of Connecticut. Of this union there is but one child living, a daughter, Ola, at home with her parents. They have three children deceased.
Transcribed & Contributed by Carol Parrish from Portraits and Biographical Album for Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, IL (1889), p. 895
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Ebbert T.E. Becker, County Clerk of Carroll County, and one of the early pioneers of this part of the State, emigrated to this region with his parents early in the forties, they settling in what is now Rock Creek Township. His father took up a tract of wild land, put up a small frame house, and for a time entertained the travelers passing through this part of the country. After five or six years he put up a mud house, twenty-four feet square, and which when completed was considered one of the best structures of its kind in this part of the country. The wall was at least two feet thick, the window and door-frame of solid black walnut, and the shingles of the same. There was no other house within six miles in any direction. In due time the improvement of the land was carried on, other buildings erected, an orchard set out, and after the lapse of years the once wild tract of land assumed the proportions of a well-regulated homestead. Mr. Becker assisted in the organization of the first school, and there was for some time no other within six miles. Our subject’s father was recognized as a man of more than ordinary ability, and was made one of the first office-holders of the township, serving as Supervisor, School Director, and filling other positions of trust and responsibility. He has always been a liberal and public-spirited citizen, and one of the most useful members of his community.
