Lee County Biographies
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HARRY L. FORDHAM
In financial and political circles of Lee County
the name of Harry L. Fordham is well known. For an
extended period he was actively connected with banking
interests and at the same time he found opportunity to
discharge the duties of citizenship and to study those
questions which are a vital force in promoting the
welfare and progress of city, state and nation. He was
born in Green Ridge, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1869,
and is a son of Albert P. and Eliza (Litts) Fordham,
who in the year 1874 left the Keystone state and
removed to Compton, Illinois.
Spending his boyhood days there under the
parental roof, Harry L. Fordham attended the public
schools and in early manhood was called to public
office, being clerk of the village, in which capacity
he served for three years. His fidelity and capability
in that connection led to his selection for other
offices. He was assessor for five years, was township
clerk for three years and for five years was president
of the village board. Even before age conferred upon
him the right of franchise he was an interested
student of political problems and for six years he was
chairman of the democratic central committee, while
for three years he was its secretary. His position has
never been an equivocal one. He has ever fearlessly
and frankly announced his opinions upon the questions
affecting the commonwealth and in 1912, upon the
organization of the progressive party, being in
sympathy with its purposes and its principles, he
joined its ranks and was made a member of the
executive committee of Illinois and chosen treasurer
of that committee. In all his public life he has made
personal aggrandizement subservient to the general
good. While undoubtedly he is not without that
honorable ambition which is so powerful and useful as
an incentive to activity in public affairs, he regards
the pursuits of private life as being in themselves
abundantly worthy of his best efforts and the energy,
perseverance and keen sagacity which have
characterized his conduct of his business affairs have
given him prominence in financial circles. His initial
step, however, was made in connection with the
profession of teaching, which he followed for seven or
eight years, and later he devoted two years to
merchandising in West Brooklyn. In 1898 he organized
the Farmers & Traders Bank, of which he was the first
cashier, remaining in that connection until he came to
Dixon in 1911. The bank has since been converted into
the First National Bank of Compton. At the time of his
removal to Dixon he also resigned his position as
supervisor of Brooklyn township, which office he
filled for five years, being chairman of the board at
the time he presented his resignation. Seeking a
broader field of activity, he took up his abode in
Dixon and has since been connected with the Union
State Bank as its cashier. He has been a close and
discriminating student of the involved and complex
problems of banking and few men are better informed
concerning questions of finance.
Mr. Fordham was married on the 29th of March,
1893, to Miss Addie B. Cole, a native of Compton and
daughter of Frank and Margaret Cole. Mr. and Mrs.
Fordham now have two children: Frank A., who is
associated with his father in the bank; and Harry L.,
at home. The religious faith of the family is that of
the Methodist Episcopal church, of which they are
loyal adherents. They are generous in its support and
take an active part in its work. In fact Mr. Fordham
has ever manifested due recognition of all duties and
obligations of life. The subjective and objective
forces of life are in him well balanced. To make his
native talents subserve the demands which the
conditions of society impose at the present time is
his purpose and by reason of the mature judgment which
characterizes his efforts he stands today as a
splendid representative of the prominent financiers to
whom business is but one phase of life and does not
exclude active participation in and support of the
other vital interests which go to make up human
existence.
Contributed by Martha Fuller
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