James W. HEATON, Sr., is
a prominent citizen of New Burnside, Johnson County, and was born in
Henry County, Ky., in July, 1832, to John
Heaton, who was born in Pennsylvania and was brought up a farmer,
partly in his native State and partly in Kentucky, by his father,
William Heaton. This last-named gentleman was a man of property, who
reared a large
family of children, two sons and six daughters, and died on his farm in
Kentucky at a
ripe old age. His son, John Heaton, the father of our
subject, was a farmer and hotel-keeper in Henry County Ky., and died in
the small village at about
sixty-five years of age. He was the father of
nine children, five sons and four daughters, all of whom are now living
and heads of families, with the exception
of Catherine, wife of G. B.
Hemley, who died in Clay County in middle life, leaving eight children.
The mother of our
subject was Sarah Malin, of Henry County, Ky., a daughter of Rev. Mr.
Malin, a Baptist clergyman. She died at the age of fifty-five
years,
leaving James W., the subject of this sketch, without a mother's care.
He was brought up to farm life, with but limited education, but was a
great
reader and student and became unusually well informed, and is one
of the self-made men of Johnson County. He was married in Henry County,
Ky.,
December 12, 1851, to Miss Larinda J. Lindsay, daughter of
Nathaniel and Mary (Clubb) Lindsay, the former of Kentucky, and the
latter of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Heaton is one of eleven children, five
sons and six daughters, born to her parents, and is the fourth child
and first daughter in order of birth. The father
of these children died
in Henry County, Ky., at the age of nearly seventy years. His widow
still survives at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, and resides
on
the old homestead.
Our subject and his
wife began married life on a farm in Henry County, Ky., and two years
later removed to Graves County, where they settled on one
hundred acres
of land, upon which they lived some ten years, when they sold out and
came to Illinois in the fall of 1864. They moved by teams and
drove
their cattle, horses and sheep before them. At first they bought one
hundred and sixty acres of land, an improved farm, a short distance
northwest
of New Burnside, to which they subsequently added another one
hundred and sixty acres, making a fine farm of three hundred and twenty
acres, upon
which they resided until 1889, when they sold one hundred
acres to W. J. Casper, with the fine improvements. In 1876 they erected
the fine large frame
house, now the residence of
Mr. Casper, having
built a good barn in 1874. The fine large lake, well stocked with carp,
was begun by Mr. Heaton in a
small way.
While for these many
years our subject has carried on a mixed industry, yet he has been a
specialist, too, to a considerable degree, and in the '60s was a
successful tobacco-grower, carrying on that line of business quite
extensively. He was the first farmer in this section to introduce the
famous Saddler stock
of horses from the Blue Grass region, and
purchased the celebrated Saddler stallion, "Davy Crockett," the result
being the production of much fine stock
in this part of Illinois. This
horse has taken many blue ribbons at the county fairs in Illinois, and
one at the State fair.
Mr. Heaton has also
been an extensive breeder of Jersey cattle, Southdown sheep and
Berkshire hogs, all the best and purest-blooded stock. He now
has on
his farm about one hundred pure-blooded Southdown ewes, twenty-two head
of which he brought from Kentucky, and which cost him from $10
to $12
per head. He bought his pleasant home in the village of New Burnside in
1887, and has resided there since that time, and was actively engaged
in farming until 1892. He now rents his farm, and is engaged in
speculating in company with J. M. Buckner, of Paducah, Ky. Mr. Heaton
left his Kentucky
home in order to live in a more free and loyal community in the
North,and though he preferred the county of Williamson on account of
its good farming
lands, yet, the same conditions existing there that he
left in Kentucky, he on the whole preferred to settle in the hilly and
broken region of Johnson County, because here he considered the people
truly loyal to the Government and liberal in their views. In fact,
Johnson County is well known as one of the most
liberal and loyal in
the entire State of Illinois.
Mr.
and Mrs. Heaton have buried three children, L. J., a lovely little
daughter of four years; Frank, a precocious and bright boy of twelve;
and
Langhome, who was frail from his childhood, and died at the age of
twenty-two. They have three sons and three daughters living, namely:
Mary, wife
of James Arnold, a farmer of Williamson County, who has two
sons and one daughter; J. C. B., an agriculturist and
horticulturist of Burnside Township,
whose wife was Alice Matins, and
who has two sons; Elmaretta, wife of Benjamin Kennedy, of California,
who has one son; J. W., who is in business
with his brother, J. C. B.,
whose wife was Ella Whitnell, and who has one son; Nathaniel, a young
man in California; and Effie May, a young woman
of sixteen years,
living at home and attending school. All of this family but two are
members of the Baptist Church, and the male members thereof are
advocates of temperance reform, and vote the Prohibition ticket. Mr.
Heaton has a well-balanced intellect, is firm and resolute when sure he
is in the right,
and his many friends and acquaintances always find him
truthful and upright.
