But few of the farmers of Lee County have met with more substantial success in their calling than Mr. Gehant, whose push, determination and practical ability have placed him among the foremost agriculturists of this section of the State. He has extensive landed interests in Brooklyn Township, and his large farm, with its broad, well-tilled fields and fine improvements, is classed among the most valuable in the locality.

Our subject was born in Haute Saone, France. April 23, 1826. his father, whose name was Claude Gehant, was a native of the same place and was a son of John Claude Gehant, who was a life-long resident of France. The father of our subject was reared on a farm, and farming was his life work. He had five children, and three of his sons came to America, namely: Lauran, Claude and Modeste.

The latter, of whom we write, attended school until he was fifteen years old, and acquired a good education. He then worked on the farm with his father until he was sixteen, and at that age began life on his own account, working as a farm laborer in his native country, France; until 1855, when he came to the United States, where life seemed to him to hold greater promise than the land of his birth. He set sail from Havre on the 15th of March on the sailing vessel "Trumbull," and thirty-seven days after he embarkation arrived in New York harbor. He came directly to Illinois, traveling by rail to Chicago, whence he made his way to Franklin Grove, in this county, and thence proceeded to Bradford Township, where be found employment on a farm by the month, and was thus engaged one year. At the end of that time he bought a tract of land on section 15, Bradford Township, paying $1O an acre for it, and he farmed there with his brother Claude for eight years. Then, selling him his share of the place, he came to Brooklyn Township and bought the farm that he now occupies. He devoted his energies to its improvement, and has been handsomely rewarded for his outlay of time, labor and money, as he has not only developed his first purchase into a choice farm, but has bought other land at different times until he now has upwards of twelve hundred acres of valuable land, and he is accounted one of the most successful farmers in the county.

Mr. Geliant was married in 1862 to Miss Olimphy Choan who is also a native of the fair land of France. She has truly been to her husband a helpmate; assisting him in the accumulation of his property by her ready co-operation in his work, by her skill, thrift and frugality in the management of household affairs, and by her watchful care of the interests of her large family. To her and our subject have been born fourteen children, to whom they have given the following names: Xavier, Josephine, August, Laona, Margaret, Joseph, Mary, Susan, Modeste, Phamia, Frank, Adolph, Zedol and Louis. The family are all members of the Roman Catholic Church and are highly regarded by the people among whom our subject came to make his home more than a quarter of a century ago, and whom he has helped to make this one of the richest farming regions in this part of the country.

1892 Portrait and Biographical Record - Lee County Pg 652

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