Notwithstanding the fact that our subject has missed the milestone that marks a long and honorable life of eighty and one years, he is still keenly interested in farming and stock-raising, and retains the management of his farm on section 14, Palmyra Township, his son assisting him in operating it. When the railway was built through here, the company purchased a part of his land, but he still has eighty acres that is in a fine condition, and on this pleasant homestead he and his wife are serenely enjoying the comforts that they have gathered about them by their united label's. Mr. Hagerman was born in Warren County, N. J., October 15,1810, a son of Joseph Hagerman, who was also a native of that county. His parents were of Now England birth, though of Dutch descent. The first of the Hagcrmans to come to this country were three brothers, who came from the Netherlands before the Revolution, and made settlement on Staten Island, N. Y. Later one branch of the family, from whom our subject is descended, located in New Jersey, and there the grandparents of our subject lived and died, in Knowlton Township, Warren County, which was the scene of the birth of the grandson of whom we write, and the old Hagerman homestead is still In the possession of some of the family, the grandfather being Francis Hagerman. The Hagermans are a long-lived race, and in former days the elders were true-blue Presbyterians.

Joseph Hagerman was reared to the life of a farmer in his native State in the home of his birth, and in due season he took unto himself a wife, marrying Susan LaBarre, who was a native of Northampton County, Pa., and came of some of the old Dutch stock that early peopled that State. Her parents were Abraham and Mary (Long) LaBarre, who were natives of Pennsylvania, and died there at an extreme old ago. They were of a long-lived family, and one of the LaBarre, a cousin of the mother of our subject, attained the remarkable age of one hundred and sixteen years. After marriage, Joseph Hagerman and his bride began life on a farm in his native county, and besides attending to the cultivation of his land, Mr. Hagerman did an active business at his trade as a blacksmith. They subsequently removed to Northampton County, Pa., and purchased and improved a new farm in Strand Township. There the fathers useful career was terminated by typhoid fever when he was in the prune and vigor of life. He was a fine man in every respect, and was greatly esteemed by his community. He was active in religious matters, and was a sound Presbyterian. His widow survived him a great many years, dying at last in the same Pennsylvania county where his demise occurred, being ninety-fix years old at the time of her death. She was of a pious frame of mind, and a stanch Presbyterian in her religious belief.

Our subject is the third of six sons and four daughters, all of whom lived to advanced ages, and seven are yet living, he being the only one residing in Illinois. His early life was spent in his native county in New Jersey, and in Northampton County, Pa., whither his parents removed when he was young. In 1861 he made an important move, leaving his old home and coming to this State to try farming on the rich prairies. The result of that step has been very satisfactory, and today he is numbered among the prosperous farmers of Palmyra Township, where they have settled on the farm on which he has since carried on his occupation in November, 1861. This is finely cultivated, well-drained and fenced, and his improvements are ample and substantial. While living in Northampton County, Pa., Mr. Hagerman was married to Miss Malinda Eyer, in whom he has found an inestimable treasure. Among the blessings vouchsafed to them in tilth* long wedded life of many years duration may be counted the eight children born unto them, all of whom are living but Hebron C, who died in infancy. The others are: Frank, who is a clerk in a store at Woosung, and make his home with his parents; Alice, wife of C. D. Coe, a banker of Barron, Wis.; Josephine, wife of Charles E. Morgan, a farmer in this township; William K., at home,assisting in the management of the farm; J. Corsican, a telegraph operator of Woosung; John W., it resident of Salt Lake City, Utah, where be is engaged in business as a painter and paper hanger; and Grace, an accomplished young-woman who is the stay and comfort of her parents in their home.

Mrs, Hagerman was born in Upper Mount Bethel, Northampton County, Pa., January 13, 1827, a daughter of William and Catherine (Borger) Eyer, who wore also natives of Pennsylvania, and both were of German parentage. Their parents had settled in Northampton County in Colonial days, when it was a wilderness with but few inhabitant*. William Eyer was a son of John Eyer, who was a Pennsylvania farmer and a German teacher, and lived to be eighty-five years of age. He married Margaret Good, who also lived to be very old. All their lives they wore members of the Lutheran Church, and were well-known old settlers of their township. They were the parents of eight sons, who all grew to maturity, and raised large families.

After their marriage, William Eyer and his bride made their home near where they had been born and reared, and there labored as tillers of the soil until death stayed their hands when they were old people, he dying at the age of eighty- three, and he just before her eighty-sixth birthday. They were prominent members of the Lutheran Church, and was a Democrat in politics. Mrs Hagerman Is the seventh daughter in a family of two sons and seven daughters born to her parents all of whom married and reared large families, ant four of them are yet living.

Our subject and his wife retain in a remarkable degree the strength of body and vigor of mind characteristic of their younger days. Always kindly disposed and charitable toward others, having a warm place in their heart for all who suffer or are needy, the frosts of age have not chilled their sympathies. Nurtured in Christian principles, they have not departed from their early training, but have long been devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Hagerman seems to have inherited his father's political views, and was sound a Democrat as he was, and at the age of twenty-two he cast his first Presidential vote for Gen. Jackson, when he made the second race In 1832.

Portraits and Biographical Lee County IL 1892