The pioneers of Jo Daviess County form a most interesting group, who are scarcely conscious of their own importance. In proportion as the world becomes enlightened and appreciates the march of progress, so much more is it able to hold in respect the brave labors of those who came to the West and opened the path for the advance of civilization. It required men of more than ordinary courage to encounter what they endured, and to build up from the wilderness, with crude implements and few conveniences, the homesteads which, under their industrious hands, gradually developed into estates of surprising value. Those who are possessed of the most intelligence among men, can the greater appreciate the labors of the early settlers of the Northwest. Among them may most properly be mentioned be with whose name we introduce this biographical sketch.

Possessing some of the best Scotch blood of his native land, our subject was born in Renfrewshire, near the city of Glasgow, September 2, 1820, to Benjamin and Catherine (Stevenson) Eadie, who were natives of the same county as their son. He was the youngest boy of the family, and continued under the old roof-tree in his native shire until attaining his majority. What education he acquired in school, was completed before he had reached the age of twelve years. He then began the struggle for himself as a herder of cattle, after which he worked upon a farm. In 1837 he entered the limestone quarries, where he was occupied until setting out for the United States.

Mr. Eadie entered upon this long journey in the spring of 1842, taking passage at Glasgow on a sailing-vessel, which landed him in New York City, after a voyage of seven weeks. Thence he proceeded via the Hudson River and Erie canal to Buffalo, and thence by the Great Lakes to Chicago, Ill. We next find him in Fulton County, this State, where he sojourned about four months. In February, 1843 he emigrated to this county with the view of working in the lead mines, and was thus occupied on his own account until 1846.

In the meantime Mr. Eadie had made the acquaintance of a most estimable young lady, Miss Mary Statham, a native of Derbyshire, England, and who became his wife on the 8th of August, 1845. Mrs. Eadie emigrated to America with her parents, Thomas and Hannah (Haslan) Statham, when a child of two years, they located first in Albany, N.Y. From there, in the fall of 1842, they came to Northern Illinois, where the father engaged in farming until his decease in October 1851; the mother died on Nov. 16, 1866.

There came in due time to the hearthstone of Mr. and Mrs. Eadie, nine children, the record of whom is as follows; Benjamin is a resident of Carroll County, Ill; Elizabeth is the wife of Samuel White of Elizabeth Township; Thomas lives in Greeley County KS; Hannah the wife of Adam Brown of Woodbine Township, this county; John, is a merchant of Hanover Illinois; Margaret the wife of William Fraser of Republic County, KS; Robert sojourns in Greeley County KS; Catherine S. and William are at home.

Mr. Eadie in 1846, purchased eighty acres of Government land on Section 34, Elizabeth Township, upon which he operated successfully until the spring of 1869, when he removed to his present quarters, which have since been his abiding place. Here he has 272 acres which have been brought to a thorough state of cultivation, and improved with good buildings, conceded to be among the best in the township. Mr. Eadie settled in this county with a capital of $30, and has built up his present fine estate solely by his own industry and good management, assisted by a sensible and devoted wife. The latter has fully illustrated how much influence a woman may exert in the accumulation of a competence, and in preserving the reputation of a family. Mrs. Eadie has looked well to the ways of her household, trained her children carefully, and prevented the waste which may so easily occur in the management (or mismanagement) of domestic affairs.

The wife of our subject was born Sept. 22, 1825 and since coming to Illinois with her parents has been a resident of Elizabeth Township. She, as well as her husband, is numbered among the oldest living pioneers of this section, where, by a well-ordered life, they have gathered around them hosts of friends; people who hold them in deep respect as having born no unimportant part in the prosperity of one of the richest sections in the West. Mrs. Eadie is a devout member of the Presbyterian Church, and is identified with the Ladies' Home and Foreign Missionary Society, in whose work she takes an active interest. Mr. Eadie is a solid Republican politically, but aside from always being found in defense of his principles, takes no active part in public affairs.

From Portraits and Biographical Pg 528