The pioneer element of Jo Daviess County forms a very important part of its population, and the subject of this notice is a man who came to Guilford Township during its early settlement, and has been largely instrumental in its growth and development. His career has been signalized by almost unremitting industry, yet he is well preserved and more active than many a younger man. He owns 140 acres of good laud on section 1, with fair improvements.

Our subject is of German descent, being the son of Simon and Julia Tate bio, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Franco-Switzerland. The mother conversed in the French language, and the father, although of German birth, also acquired this tongue while serving in the Napoleonic wars. They emigrated to Canada at an early day and became one of the colony formed by the Earl of Selkirk in the Red River Valley of the North, where the parents were married, the mother having emigrated to that point with a Franco-Swiss colony. Simon, Jr., was their only child. The father died while he was young, and he has no recollection of him. The mother subsequently married James Frick, and to her there were born a son and daughter—Joseph in the Red River Valley, and Julia after they came to Galena, this county. The latter married Thomas Casper, who is represented elsewhere in this volume; Joseph is a resident of Guilford Township.

The colonists of the Red River Valley of the North were obliged to leave that region on account of a flood caused by the melting of deep snow, and after various vicissitudes, the mother of our subject, with her second husband, finally emigrated to Galena via Ft. Snelling, in 1826. During the Black Hawk War they took refuge at Ft. Gratiot Grove, La Fayette Co., Wis., and Paul Garber, the second step-father of our subject assisted in the protection of the whites from their savage foe. Mr. Frick had died in 1829. Mr. Garber had also served under Napoleon, and thus the mother married three soldiers of the Emperor; she outlived them all.

Simon Tatchio, our subject, was thrown upon his own resources at an early period in his life. His mother taught him to read and write in French, and he gained a good understanding of the German tongue. His schooling was, of course, in English. He came to Guilford Township in 1835, in company with his mother and Mr. Garber, they locating in what was then Mill Creek but is now Guilford Township. The country was wild and new, with very few settlers, while deer and prairie chickens, pigeons, and quail abounded, besides other wild animals. Young Simon learned at an early age to make himself useful, and when reaching manhood, set about the establishment of a home of his own. In May, 1847. he took unto himself a wife and helpmate. Miss Christine, sister of Thomas Casper. The young people settled on the farm which our subject now owns and occupies in 1853. In due time there gathered around the hearthstone of our subject and wife five children, the eldest of whom, a son, Simon, lives on a farm in Guilford Township; Peter is engaged in farming in the mountains of Montana; Frederick remains at home with his parents; Emma is the wife of Joseph Apple, and the mother of four children, viz.: Cora, George, Stella,and Grover;Christine married Ernest Schoenhard (a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume). Mr. Tatchio, politically, affiliates with the Democratic party.

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