Frances Varing, Esq., one of the best-known citizens of Guilford Township, has been closely identified with its growth and development, and is recognized as one of the most useful members of his community. He was a member of the first Board of the Township, and has served upon it many times since. He owns and operates 180 acres of land situated on sections 2, 14, 15. and 11. He was born March 10, 1823. near Pembina, in the Red River Valley of the North, near the British line on the Dakota side. He is the son of John B. and Lydia (Magre) Varing, the father a native of Lorraine, France, and the mother born in Villa la Rett, Canton of Bern, Switzerland.

The father of our subject for the space of eleven years served in the army of the great Napoleon, was at the battle of Austerlitz, and other of the principal engagements in Germany, Prussia, Poland and Spain. As soon as leaving the French service he emigrated to America in company with some of his countrymen, landing in the Dominion of Canada. While fighting in Spain he was captured and carried a prisoner of Avar to England. During his army experience he learned to speak the German tongue as well as his own, also Spanish and English passably. Upon his arrival in Canada he engaged with the British American Fur Company, and later was married in the Red River Valley of the North, to the lady who had gone there a widow (Mrs. Fournier) with four children. This colony of French and Swiss were under the jurisdiction of the Earl of Selkirk, and comprised what was afterward known as the Selkirk Settlement. The great Hood of 1826 overflowed the land and drove the inhabitants away. The winter was very severe, and at least three feet of snow lay over the whole prairie, which, melting all at once in the spring, gorged the rivers and Hooded the valleys.

Thus the homes of the colonists were swept away, and the}" were exposed to the hardships of a rigorous clime, far from civilization, and at the mercy of savages. Nearly all of them emigrated south-eastward, making for this purpose rude two wheeled carts, which were drawn by Indian ponies across the country to Ft. Snelling. That point was in the midst of a primeval wilderness, but they reached a steamboat and journeyed down the Mississippi to St. Louis. This city was then a small town of about 1,000 inhabitants, principally Creoles. The parents of our subject remained there until 1828, and the father again engaged with the American Fur Company to go up the Missouri. He left his family at St. Louis and spent one year about the headwaters of that river, then returned, and with his wife and family started for Galena, this county, which was then attracting the attention of people from all parts of the United States. A French settlement had been made at Gratiot's Grove, in the vicinity of Shullsburg, Wis., and to that point the Varings emigrated, where the father engaged is lead mining, with varied success.

Later the parents of our subject removed to farm in La Fayette County, lying upon the Stalline, where the father operated until his death, at the age of sixty years. The mother subsequent made her home with her son Francis, our subject and died in 1864, at the age of eighty years. Th parental family consisted of two children only Francis and his sister, Harriet. The latter is now the wife of John B. Bourban, of Wisconsin.

The first recollections of Squire Taring are of the then small town of St. Louis, Mo. He was a boy of five years when he first set foot in Galena and was reared to man's estate in Shullsburg, Wis His mother taught him French at home, and he attended the pioneer subscription schools of Shullsburg and Gratiot's Grove, the temple of learning being a rude log-house with one window, and the chimney built outside. He learned to write with a quill-pen, manufactured by the teacher, and thus, under the imperfect school system of forty years ago or more, obtained the rudiments of an education. As soon as large enough he assisted his father in the mine and on the farm. In 1843 he took up a claim on Mill Creek, before the land had come into market, and in 1847 repaired to Dixon, where the land office was open, and purchased his claim at the rate of 11.25 per acre. His mother superintended his domestic affairs until his marriage. The above-mentioned important event in the life of our subject was celebrated Nov. 7, 1852, the bride being Miss Sarah DeRocher. This lady was born near the city of Quebec, Canada. Dec. 11, 1833, and removed with her parents to Benton, Wis., in 1848, when a young lady of nineteen years. Mr. and Mrs. Varing took up their abode upon the farm which they now occupy, and where they have since lived.

During the Black Hawk War the father of our subject assisted in protecting the settlers of Gratiot's Grove from the Indians. Francis Varing was soon recognized as a worthy representative of his honored sire, was elected the first Assessor of Guilford Township, and was re-elected twice thereafter. In 1855 he was elected both Assessor and Collector, but declined to serve, although he later discharge the duties of these offices. He was also Township Clerk in 1853 and 1854, and served five terms as Justice of the Peace; he was Clerk of the School Board of his district a period of seventeen years. He cast his first Presidential vote for James K. Polk, and is a stanch supporter of Democratic principles.

Mr. Varing met with a severe loss on the 25th of May, 1886, in the destruction of his house and most of his goods by fire. It was insured for only about half its value. Not long afterward he put up another dwelling two stories in height, very neat and commodious. To him and his excellent partner there have been born twelve children. Their first child died in infancy. Their eldest daughter, Mary S., is the wife of Michael Syles. a farmer of Clay County, Dak.; they have three children— Mamie, Alice, and Clara. Louise married Edward Kedrick, and has four children—Frank Edward, Charles E., Clarence Henry, and Sarah Rosa; they also reside in Clay County, Dak. Joseph C. and his younger brother, Frank F., operate a farm in Scales Mound Township, while their sister, Alice, younger, keeps house for them; an infant next younger than Joseph died unnamed; Henry and Frank are operating a threshing machine; Sarah A., Clara R., and Louis E. are at home with their parents. William, the ninth child, died when a lad of nine years.

Transcribed by Christine Walters - Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois (1889)