THOMAS JOBE, a son of one of the earliest pioneers of this county, was born in Madison county, this State, July 15, 1840, and was brought by his parents to Jo Daviess County when less than a year old. The latter were Samuel and Elizabeth (Armstrong) Jobe, the father a native of Tennessee, and the mother of Kentucky. The family is said to have been represented in the Revolutionary War by a paternal uncle of our subject.

Samuel Jobe, it is supposed, left his native State in early manhood and settled in Madison County, this State, removing thence to Jo Daviess County in 1841. His family followed him some months later. He settled on the land now constituting the farm of James Thompson near Hanover village, he having been here prior to this in 1831; but a short time afterward his labors and plans were interrupted by the outbreak of the Black Hawk War, and he shouldered his musket and marched to the front as a volunteer. When the troubles were finally settled he returned to Madison County where he married, and in 1841 returned to this county. He was one of the first settlers of that region and sojourned there a period of twenty years, during which time others gathered around him, and the country began to assume the garb of civilization.

From this farm the father of our subject finally removed to Hanover village where he conducted a meat market a number of years. Becoming dissatisfied he resumed farming on land now occupied by Jeremiah Jobe near Hanover station. At this place his death occurred, March 18, 1888. The wife and mother in the meantime had died in December, 1885. They were the parents of eight children, five of whom survive, namely: Thomas; Mary A., Mrs. Hyatt, a widow, and residing in Greene County, Iowa; Maria, the wife of Howard Huntington, and Jeremiah, residents of Hanover Township; and Martha, Mrs. Edward Milligan, of Hanover village.

Samuel Jobe was quite prominent in local affairs, a man of decided ideas, who took a genuine interest in the advancement of his adopted county. He served as Road Commissioner, and gave his encouragement to the enterprises calculated to advance the standard of education and morality. Politically, he voted the straight Republican ticket, and was a member in good standing of the Methodist Church. He accumulated a good property, and in his death the county lost one of its best men.

Thomas Jobe, our subject, spent his boyhood and youth at the farm, and acquired his education in the common-schools. This, however, was supplemented by a course of general reading, which he has pursued to the present day. Upon reaching his majority he entered into partnership with his father in the meat market at Hanover, and later for a short time officiated as mine host of the hotel there. In the spring of 1887 he settled upon the farm where he now lives. This comprises 106 acres of land under good cultivation with a set of frame buildings, a fair assortment of machinery, and live-stock.

The wife of our subject was in her girlhood Miss Eliza Gable, and they have traveled the journey of life together a period of twenty-five years, having been married Feb. 27, 1864. They are the parents of eight children, seven of whom are living, namely: Hester, Henry, Minnie, Samuel, Jennie, Martin, and Sadie. Charles died when nineteen months old. Mr. Jobe, politically, is a decided Republican, and has been a School Director in his district for several years.

Contributed by Carol Parrish - Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois (1889) Pg 517-518