From: “Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois Illustrated 1908, edited by Newton
Bateman, LL. D. and Paul Selby, A. M., Volume II, Schuyler County”, edited
by Howard F. Dyson, pages 829-830, a Reprinted by Stevens Publishing Company,
Astoria, Illinois 61501, 1970, is sold by the Schulyer County Historical
Society, Rushville, Illinois.
Geer, Benjamin F. - Through the course of a life covering a span of
more than one-half century, Mr. Geer has made his home in Schuyler County,
and has risen to the rank of one of the most prosperous and progressive farmers
of Browning Township, where he was born in November of 1852, and where the
responsibilities of patriotic citizenship have been efficiently discharged.
In the course of his life it has been his privilege to witness many changes
in his locality. When he was a boy he attended school, first in the
Sackville district, and later in the Hawkeye district, in Browning Township.
The schools of those days were far inferior to those of present time.
Text-books were few, methods of instruction were crude, teachers were often
illy prepared for their duties, and the equipment of the school was meagre
{meager}. Along other than educational lines he also has witnessed
remarkable changes. Methods of agriculture have been revolutionized
since his boyhood. Hand labor has been largely superseded by machinery,
and now a farmer has need of a fair knowledge of mechanics in order to conduct
his work without exasperating delays. The telephone and the rural free
delivery have brought the world to the farmer’s door. All of these
improvements he has seen, besides many others scarcely less important.
On the farm on Section 28, Browning Township, where he now resides,
Benjamin F. Geer was born, a son of Dyer A. and Anna Eliza (Arnold) Geer,
natives of Hamilton County, Ohio. The father was born in 1811 and,
at the age of twenty-one, came to Illinois, settling in Schuyler County in
1832 while the country was yet a wilderness of heavy timber from which the
Indians had but recently disappeared. After a time he was joined by
his brothers, Sidney and Orvis Geer, and he took up 200 acres of congress
land on Section 28, Browning Township. On his claim he put up a cabin
and hither brought his bride, who had been orphaned in childhood and had
accompanied an older brother and sister from Ohio to Illinois. She
was spared to a good old age, passing away October 6, 1901, sustained to
the last by the firm Christian faith which had been the anchor of her earlier
years. The father died in February of 1875. He, too, has been
a sincere believer in the doctrines of Christianity and had endeavored in
his life to exemplify the teachings of the Savior. During young manhood
he had been converted in the Methodist Episcopal Church, but later he identified
himself with the Christian Church, in which for years he officiated as Sunday
School Superintendent, and to whose missionary enterprises he was a generous
contributor. During the existence of the Whig party he supported its
tenets. On the organization of the Republican party he endorsed its
principles and ever afterward supported its men and measures.
In the family of Dyer A. Geer there were none children, two of whom
died in infancy. Those who attained mature years were as follows: James,
who is engaged in farm posits in Fulton County, Ill.; Sidney A., who settled
at Atlanta, Phelps County, Neb.; and died there about 1901; Melinda, wife
of F. M. Skiles, a farmer in Browning Township; Milton, who enlisted in the
One Hundred and Nineteenth Infantry during the Civil War and died in the
service at Memphis, Tenn.; Hiram, who died on the old homestead in 1882;
Benjamin F., of Browning Township; and Louisa, who married James Brines and
resides at Ukiah, Cal. After completing the studies of the district
schools Benjamin F. Geer attended college at Abingdon, Ill.; and on his return
home taught two terms of school in Union district. With his brother
he bought the interest of the other heirs in the old homestead and shortly
afterward established domestic ties, being united in marriage, September
20, 1875, with Miss Delilah A. Rebman, who was born March 30, 1857, a daughter
of John Rebman. (See sketch of Adam Rebman for the family record).
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Geer comprises the following children:
Alena, who was born September 18, 1876, and married Ray Walton, a farmer
of Browning Township, by whom she has one child, Dail; Frederick, who was
born January 7, 1879, who married Jessie Spillers, and has four children,
Burton, Bernice, Clifford and Floyd, their home being on a farm in Browning
Township; Homer S., who was born January 13, 1881, and married Lusetta Walton,
by whom he has two children, Pearl and Ansel; Hiram, who was born August
11, 1883, and married Ada Kloker, by whom he has two children, Dorothy and
Neil; Leroy, who was born November 10, 1885, and married Mabel Haffner; Milton,
who was born April 20, 1887; Harland, born December 15, 1890; Annie F., born
January 3, 1895; and Eugene, born October 15, 1898. During 1883 the
family erected a large residence on their farm, and thither they removed
from the old cabin home that had been the scenes of many happy gatherings
and much quiet enjoyment. The farm originally comprised 157 1-3 acres,
but a part of this Mr. Geer has sold to his children, and now owns eighty-six
acres, on which he has ornamental and shade trees, also an orchard of one
hundred peach and three hundred apple trees. In former years he was
a Republican, but now gives his influence to the Prohibition party.
With his wife he holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
in the up-building of which he has been actively interested. His conversion
took place many years ago when he embraced the United Brethren faith, but
he soon united with the denomination to which he now belongs. In the
twilight of his busy life, sustained by the recollection of an honorable
career, cheered by the hope which religion gives, and esteemd {esteemed}
by the people in whose midst he has always lived, he is enjoying the fruits
of the busy years of the past and is reaping the reward of a well-spent life.
