No history of West Brooklyn would be complete without mention of the Gehant family, for representatives of the name have been most active and prominent in the development, agricultural and commercial, of this part of the county. Through all his business career F.D. Gehant has borne an untarnished name, and it has been through close application and unfaltering perseverance that he has won the success that now enables him to live retired. His birth occurred near Ashton, January 30, 1870, his parents being Claude and Mary (Antoine) Gehant. The father's residence in Lee county dated from 1835, only three years after the Black Hawk war, when settlers in this part of the county were very few. Everything was yet in a primitive condition, and the work of progress and improvement seemed scarcely begun. In fact wild game of all kinds was to be had and there were still many traces of the Indian to be found in this part of the state. In June the prairies were starred with a million wild flowers and in December were covered with a dazzling unbroken sheet of snow. The father became the owner of forty acres of wild land and began the development of a farm.

The machinery and implements were comparatively crude at that day and much of the work had to be done by hand, but as the years passed on the labors of Mr. Gehant wrought a marvelous change in the appearance of his place, and as his financial resources increased he kept adding to his property until he was the owner of three hundred and twenty acres, although he later sold forty acres of this. He brought his fields to a high state of cultivation and added many modern improvements to his farm. His life's labors were ended in death in 1901, when he had reached the age of seventy-two years. He had long survived his wife, who died in 1883, at the age of thirty-three years. They were worthy people highly esteemed by all who knew them, and they left behind many friends. They had four children, of whom one died in infancy, while Euphemia, who became the wife of A.T. Jeauguenat, die January 25, 1900, at the age of thirty-three years. Arthur, the only surviving member of the family beside F.D. Gehant, is a farmer residing on the old homestead.

At the usual age F.D. Gehant entered the district schools and therein mastered the common branches of learning before putting aside his text-books at the age of seventeen years. The succeeding five years were devoted to work upon the home farm, and when twenty-two years of age he purchased a tract of land of one hundred and sixty acres near Thornton, Iowa. He spent three years upon that farm, after which he sold the property and returned to his native county. At West Brooklyn he purchased a general store, which he conducted for several years, meeting with good success in the undertaking. He next entered the banking business of the Henry F. Gehant Banking Company, being associated therewith for more than a decade, at the end of which time he purchased a hardware store at Viola, Mercer county. This he conducted successfully for eighteen months and then sold at a good profit, although he is still the owner of the building. Returning to his native county he bought seven acres of land near West Brooklyn, which he is now laying out as an addition to the town. He is a very progressive man readily recognizing and utilizing opportunities, and whatever he undertakes he carries forward to successful completion. In addition to his other business activities he was one of the promoters of the West Brooklyn Farmers Elevator Company, of which he was treasurer for four years and is still one of the stockholders.

It was at West Brooklyn on the 7th of June, 1893, that Mr. Gehant was united in marriage to Miss Mary Henry, a daughter of Leopold and Delphine Henry, the former one of the pioneer agriculturists of the county, now residing in West Brooklyn. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Gehant have been born six children: Leafy, who is a student in the Notre Dame University of Indiana; Claude, a high school pupil; Veronica, Cyril and Fintan, all of whom are attending school; and Melvin, two years of age.

Mr. Gehant is an earnest republican in his political views, and his position upon any vital question is never an equivocal one. He has held the office of mayor of West Brooklyn for eleven years and was secretary of the board of education for an equal period. In both positions he made a splendid record of fidelity, loyalty and capability, and his worth is uniformly acknowledged throughout the community in which almost his entire life has been passed.

Transcribed by Karen Holt - 1914 History of Lee County Illinois Vol 2 by Frank E. Stevens.