Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County,
Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with
portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States,
and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890;
page 645–646; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Leonard H. Churchill has met with more than ordinary success in
prosecuting his calling as a farmer, and since casting in his lot with
the pioneers of this count more than half a century ago has accumulated
a valuable property and is classed among the wealthy agriculturists of
this section of Illinois. He owns more than five hundred acres of
land in this county, his farming interests being centered in Joshua
Township, where he and his good wife are enjoying the fruits of their
united labors in the comforts of a substantial home.
A native of New York, Mr. Churchill was born April 28, 1820,
near Boonesville, Oneida County. His parents were Charles V. and
Elizabeth Churchill. The father was born in the State of
Connecticut October 11. 1794, and the mother was also born there in
1801. Both could trace their ancestry on both the paternal and
maternal sides back to old English families.
Our subject started out in life by working on a farm at $14 a
month, and was thus employed some fourteen months. He was enabled
to save the greater part of his money, as he was prudent and frugal,
and he became more independent by renting land. After farming in
that way some seven years he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land
on section 2, Joshua Township. The first payment made on his land
was the $100 that was the proceeds of his work as a day laborer at $14
per month. He had come to this State from Ohio, where he had
lived in Ashtabula County, one year after leaving his native
State. He located in Hickory Township in March, 1836, and it was
there that he was engaged as a renter up to the time of his
marriage. He bought his farm in Joshua Township in 1846, but did
not then locate on it. He was a man of considerable enterprise in
his younger days, and he purchased and operated a threshing machine for
twenty-five years, and the profits derived from that business enabled
him to complete the payment for his land in a short time. To the
farm on which he now resides Mr. Churchill has added other real estate,
and is now the proprietor of five hundred acres of choice farming land
in this County. He is considered one of the rich and substantial
citizens of the township, and although on the shady side of life still
possesses great native force, and is ably managing his agricultural
interests.
Mr. Churchill and Miss Harriet McBroom were united in matrimony
December 4, 1849. She was born in this county, in Canton
Township, April 19, 1831. She has faithfully shared in the labors
of her husband, has aided in the upbuilding of their home, and like
him, preserves a healthy body and cheerful disposition though now past
the meridian of life. They are the parents of fourteen children,
ten of whom are living and four deceased, of whom the following is the
record: Mary E., born May 19, 1853; Charles H., August 19, 1855;
Alexander H., October 20, 1857; John B., May 8, 1860; Robert J., August
18, 1862; Leonore F., March 25, 1869; Daniel W., January 12, 1870;
Jerry L., September 24, 1872; Dollie Belle, April 14, 1875; Grace
Blanche, February 2, 1879.
Mr. and Mrs. Churchill are deservedly held in high estimation by
the entire community, as they are among our best people. Their
warm hearts, kind manners and many thoughtful, generous deeds have
gained them the friendship and affection of their neighbors, who feel
that they can look to them for help in times of trouble and
suffering. They have been devoted members of the Christian Church
for many years, and their everyday conduct is guided by its
precepts. In politics, Mr. Churchill is a Democrat of the Andrew
Jackson type, and sturdily advocates the principles of his party.
