Anson E. Thummel, who resides on section 31, Palmyra Township, is one of the extensive and successful farmers and stockraisers of the county. Since 1872 he has resided at his present place of residence, where he owns two hundred and fifty-eight acres of valuable land, the greater part of which is under a high state of cultivation. The farm has all the modern accessories, including good buildings and the latest improved machinery, its fields are well tilled and the stock which he raises is of high grades. He makes a specialty of breeding high grade horses and swine and thorough-bred Durham cattle.

A life record of Mr. Thummel is as follows: He was born in Lexington. S. C, on the 22nd September, 1842, and is a son of Rev. C. B. and Catherine (Latin) Thummel. His father was a native of Germany, who when a young man came to this country. Previously, however, he had obtained a collegiate education in his native land and after coming to America was graduated from one of the institutions of learning of this country. Entering the ministry, he became a preacher of the Lutheran Church and to that work devoted his life. He spent some years in the South, but afterward came North and died in Palmyra Township, April 8, 1880, at an advanced age. In the Empire State be had married Miss Latin, who was born in New York, where she made her homo until her marriage. She is now eighty-one years of age, but her years rest lightly upon her, she still retaining her mental and physical faculties to a remarkable degree. She lives in Prairieville.

Mr. Thummel, whose name heads this record, was yet a lad when he came to Illinois, and in the schools of Lee County he acquired his education. Here he has made his home since 1845, with the exception of a few years spent in Iowa, and the four years in which he valiantly defended the Union at the front. When the Rebellion broke out, he enlisted in the fall of 18(11, as a member of Company D, Thirty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Col. Kirk and Capt. T. L. Pratt, both of whom are now deceased. The regiment was soon sent to the South and assigned to the Second Brigade of the Second Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, under command of Gens. Buell and Rosecrans, and later under command of Gen. Sherman, with whom he marched to the sea. With his company Mr. Thummel participated in the battles of Shiloh and Stone River, the battle of Atlanta and all the other engagements of that campaign. He also fought at Bentonville, N. C, one of the last engagements of the war, where nine of his company were killed and nine seriously) wounded. On the celebrated inarch to the sea, he passed through Lexington, S. C, his native city, and was permitted to visit the place of his birth and to call upon his old friends. Returning to Washington, he participated in the Grand Review, where "wave after wave of bayonet-crested blue " swept by the President's stand, and later came to Chicago, where he was mustered out in July, 1865, after having served almost four years. During all that time he was never wounded or captured, but was always found at his post of duty, faithful in the discharge of every task imposed upon him. In Palmyra Township, Mr. Thummel was united in marriage with Miss Helen Powers, who was born in this county in 1845. Her education was acquired in the public schools of the neighborhood and at Mt. Vernon, Iowa. She died at here home in this township, September 13, 1889, at the age of forty-four years, leaving five children, all of whom are yet at home, namely: Laura M., Bertha A. Blanche E., Lloyd A. and Mabel K. Mr. Thummel and his family are members of the Lutheran Church and in politics he is a stanch Republican, who has often served as delegate to the conventions of his party. He has held the office of Supervisor, yet has never sought political preferment, although he is deeply interested in the success of his party. By nature he is genial and can readily appreciate the humorous. His success in life is all due to his own efforts and his prosperity' is richly merited.

Transcribed by Christine Walters - Portraits and Biographical Lee Co. 1892