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 238-240; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Gilbert Hathaway. No name is more honored or more worthy
of reverence among those of the noble pioneers of Peoria County, by
whose labors it was established on a firm foundation of enduring
prosperity, than that of this gentleman, who has played an important
part in the agricultural, political and religious development of
Jubilee Township, and so of the county,. In his work he was much
prospered, accumulating a goodly amount of property, and is now living
retired in Farmington, Fulton County, where he is quietly and
pleasantly passing the declining years of a life well spent in all that
goes to make a true man and a good citizen.
Our subject was born July 27, 1818, about sixty miles from the
Canada line in the wilds of Somerset (now Franklin) County, Me., the
place of his birth Kingsfield Township, which was named in honor of
Maine’s first Governor, King, who bought a very large tract of land in
the northern part of the State, which was divided up into three towns -
Concord, Lexington and Kingsfield. The Hathaways came from
England, and Deacon Hathaway is a direct descendant of one Col.
Ebenezer Hathaway, who was sent to this country by the English
Government in charge of one of the English troops in one of the
Colonial wars. He settled at Assinet, Mass. And there reared a
family. He did good service as n officer in the French and Indian
War. His son Gilbert was born at Assonet, and as a middle-aged
man removed to Oxford County, Me., and was among the pioneer settlers
of Livermore. He was accompanied hither by his wife and thirteen
children, of whom our subject’s father is the eighth in order of birth.
Luther Hathaway, the father of our subject, married, in Oxford
County, Miss Clarissa W. Hinds, a native of Massachusetts, who was
taken to Maine by her parents, who were of Scotch descent. The
father of our subject followed farming in Maine for several years, but
finally removed to Peoria County with his family and was a pioneer
settler of Brimfield Township. In after years he and his wife
lived retired in Brimfield Village, where she died in 1870, at the age
of eighty years. She had always been a consistent Christian, as
had her husband. After her death he lived at times with our
subject and at times with the twin sister of our subject, Mrs. Preston,
of Fulton County, in whose home he died August 14, 1876, rounding out a
long life of eight-six years, seven months and fourteen days.
Deacon Hathaway was reared in the woods of Maine, amid pleasant
scenes, and one of his first recollections is of the beautiful golden
sunsets over Mt. Abram. He was one of a family of eight children,
named as follows: Boadicea, Edwin B., Gilbert and Tryphena
(twins) Christopher Columbus, Hannah, Salome E., and George W. He
was educated in the common schools of his native State and was brought
up to habits of industry on a farm by his worthy parents. In his
youth he was greatly interested in reading an account of the Black Hawk
War, and from its description obtained a good idea of the State of
Illinois and was fired with the ambitious desire to try life on its
wild prairies. His mother did not wish him to leave home,
thinking him too young, and then, too, his eldest brother, Edwin, had
gone from them, sailing away on the ocean, and had settled in South
Carolina some years before, and his family had lost all trace of
him. Gilbert’s parents seeing that he was still very desirous to
go westward, decided that his father should visit Illinois to see the
country and find out whether the Indians had left the State and whether
it was habitable. Consequently he started for the Far West in
1837, and after his arrival in Illinois wrote to his family stating
that everything was all right.
Mr. Hathaway says, with reference to his father’s coming here,
“We were poor as poverty, and father had to go to Massachusetts to
borrow money to come out with.” Our subject started fro his
destination May 10, 1838, with but $11 in his pocket. He traveled
with two families, who were going to Jackson County, Mich., and he
drove one team to help pay his way. When he arrived in Jackson
County, Mich., his money was all gone and he was in debt besides.
With Characteristic honesty he stayed there until he had earned money
to repay his indebtedness, working on a farm for three months, it
taking two months to obtain the required sum. He then started on
his way and went as far as his money would carry him, which was not a
great distance, as in his ignorance he had accepted in payment for his
work paper money which was called in local parlance, “shinplasters,”
which was not lawful currency only in the immediate neighborhood of
where it was manufactured. So when he had traveled some distance
he found his money was useless, and when he arrived at St. Joseph he
was obliged to go to work again. For ten days he was employed in
a stable as hostler. A boat was just then being repaired at St.
Joseph, which plied between that place and Chicago, and Mr. Hathaway
engaged as fireman on board to save the expense of his passage, and
received besides sixty-two and on-half cents per day for his
work. Arriving at Chicago he found a dirty village built among
the sloughs and swamps, with no indication of its present size and
importance as the second city in population in this country. He
paid for having his trunk or chest taken to Peoria from there, and he
started on foot for this county. He subsequently took passage on
a river boat to Peoria, and when he landed there had just eighteen and
three-fourth cents in his pocket. From there he walked out to a
friend who lived in Trivoli Township, Peoria County.
Mr. Hathaway and his father worked hard, earning money enough to
send home for the mother and the rest of the children the next
year. Our subject began work at $10 a month to buy a farm for his
father and mother. He performed much pioneer labor, and by
unceasing industry finally established a home of his own and became
well-to-do. For many years he owned a valuable and highly
improved farm of one hundred and forty acres in Jubilee Township.
He was an able and practical business man and dealt a good deal in real
estate, and in that way became quite wealthy. In the month of
September, 1883, he gave up active business as a farmer and removed to
his present comfortable, commodious home in Farmington, of which he is
still a highly respected citizen.
In 1850 Deacon Hathaway was married to Mrs. Maria Willard,
daughter of Levi and Barbara (Stearns) Sabin, natives of Vermont.
At the time of her marriage with our subject she was the widow of
Alpheus Willard, to whom she had been married in Vermont in 1825.
They were pioneer settlers of Brimfield, Peoria County, coming here in
1838. By that marriage she became the mother of the following
children: Isaac, who died in infancy; William A., Frances M.,
Cynthia A., Henry C., Lot S., and Abbie R. William died in 1865,
leaving a wife and two children - Frank A. and Mary B.; Frances is the
wife of George P. Burt, a retired carpenter of Galva, and they have
four children - Frank H., Theresa W., Flora M., Sophia S.; Cynthia died
at the age of fifteen years; Henry, a prominent citizen and merchant of
Pittsburg, Kan., married Miss Ellen Moore, and they have two children -
Lavon and Alice; Lot, a real-estate dealer at Seattle, Wash., married
Ellen Davidson, and they have two children - May G. and Lee A,
Lot S. Willard was a Major on McPherson’s staff during the Civil
War. Abbie is the wife of Albert Marshall, a well-to-do farmer of
Jubilee Township, and they have eight children - Birdie A., Cora,
Ernest W., William A., Harry E., Janie M., Nellie M. and Stella R.
Deacon Hathaway’s life career has been directed by energy,
perseverance, stability of character and good business habits, combined
with honorable and conscientious dealings, and his course furnishes an
excellent example to the young men who are just starting out in the
world to seek fortune’s favors. He enjoys a high personal
standing throughout the county, where the most busy years of his life
were passed, and is held in consideration wherever known. While a
resident of Jubilee Township he was very prominent in its public
affairs and was for a long time one of its most valued officials.
He represented the township as a member of the County Board of
Supervisors two years. He was Assessor five years, Collector four
years, and School Treasurer for twenty-seven consecutive years.
No man has done more to forward the religious interests of his
community than the Deacon. He helped build every church in
Brumfield, except the Catholic, and officiated as Deacon in the Baptist
Church of that place several years. He has also acted in that
capacity in the church of that denomination in Farmington. He has
a creditable record as a Republican, he being a firm ally of that
party. Before its organization he was a Whig, and he has voted
for the following Presidents: Gen. W. H. Harrison in 1840, well
remembering the log-cabin craze; Fremont, in 1856; Lincoln, in 1860 and
1864; Grant, in 1868 and 1872; Hayes, in 1876; Garfield, in 1880;
Blaine, in 1884; Harrison, in 1888. Though Mr. Hathaway is
strongly in favor of temperance he is not a third party man.
