Hugh R. Bain, residing on section 33 of Hanover Township, is a native of Washington County, N. Y., born June 21, 1835, and is a son of John F. and Elizabeth C. Bain, both natives of the same State. The family came originally from Scotland, before the Revolution, and settled in Columbia County, N. Y., along the banks of the Hudson River, where they were counted among the early settlers. The great-grandfather of our subject, Casper Bain, was a Revolutionary soldier; and his uncle, James H. Bain, was a soldier of the War of 1812.

Until the age of nineteen years our subject was reared in Washington County, N. Y., receiving the ordinary common-school education of the day. He was brought up to farming, which has been his life-long vocation. In the year 1854, determined to try his fortunes on the newer soil of the West, he emigrated to Jo Daviess County. Here he was first employed as a farm-hand, working principally in that capacity until after the outbreak of the Rebellion, when, like his ancestors, he became a patriot soldier, enlisting on Oct. 17, 1861, in Company E, 45th Illinois Infantry, which subsequently became a part of the Army of the Tennessee. He participated in many of the great engagements in the Southwest, and was in the bloody battles at Ft. Donelson and Shiloh, was at the siege of Corinth, at Thompson’s Hill, Raymond, Jackson, the siege of Vicksburg, and in numerous minor engagements. At Shiloh he was wounded in the left shoulder, but not severely enough to disable him from duty. Having served bravely for nearly four years he was honorably discharged July 12, 1865, and returned to Jo Daviess County, where, with the exception of two years he spent in New York State, has ever since made his home.

Mr. Bain was united in marriage, Jan. 26, 1870, with Emeline C. Bockius, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., and a daughter of Francis F. and Margaretta S. Bockius. Of this union there have been three children born, two of whom are living: Mary F. and Bessie, at home with their parents, and Cornelia, deceased. Mr. Bain settled upon his present home in the fall of 1875, and owns there a fine farm of sixty acres, all under good cultivation and with neat buildings.

Our subject is a member of John O. Duer Post, No. 399, G. A. R., of Hanover, Ill., and is at present its Chaplain. He is now, and has been for a number of years, School Director, and is recognized as a friend to all educational movements. In politics he is a supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and the whole family are well-known and highly esteemed wherever they are known. Mr. Bain is a self-made man, the property which he has acquired being the result of his own industry and hard work, in which he has been aided by his devoted wife. He is a fine specimen of the natives of the Empire State, jovial, genial, and entertaining in his disposition, having a high character for integrity of purpose, and enjoying the respect of all with whom he comes in contact

Contributed by Carol Parrish - Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois (1889), p. 635