THOMAS EWING is a thrifty farmer who lives on his farm on section 21, of Harlem Township. His parents were William and Sarah (Mathews) Ewing. The father was born in Ireland, and the mother in Chester County, Pa. The father came to Chester County with his parents when seven years old; he married, and settled in Washington County, Pa., where he and his wife lived until 1836, when they went to Holmes County, Ohio, living there twelve years. In 1848 the parents of our subject emigrated to Stephenson County, Ill., and settled in Harlem Township, where they died after attaining a good old age. The father’s death occurred in his ninety-fourth year. They had seven children – Thomas, John, William, Andrew, Mary J., Margaret and David. Their respective histories are as follows: John died in Colorado; William resides in Washington Territory; Andrew married a Miss Blackburn, of Illinois; Mary J was the wife of John Y. Haughey, and died in Carroll County, Ill.; Margaret was the wife of John Wright, and died in Harlem Township; David resides in Colorado.

Thomas Ewing, our subject, was born in Washington County, Pa., Feb. 15, 1818. He received a common-school education, and has always been engaged in agricultural pursuits. He came to Ohio with his parents in 1836, and to Stephenson County in 1848, and has been a citizen of Lancaster and Harlem Townships since that time. He settled in Harlem Township in 1872, where he owns 142½ acres of improved and arable land. He was married in Holmes County, Ohio, May 1, 1840, to Sarah E. Haughey, the daughter of John and Julia (Hartford) Haughey, who were natives of Maryland, and of English ancestry. They came to Stephenson County about 1851, and settled in Lancaster Township, afterward removing to Carroll County, Ill., where they died within six months of each other. They had twelve children – Christina, Mary, Francis, Eliza, James, Ann, Sophia, Martha, Sarah, John, Robert and Harriet.

Mrs. Ewing was born in Steubenville, Ohio, Nov. 2, 1818. She had been the mother of seven children – Julia A., William T., John Y., Sarah, Ellen, Mary O. and Martha F. Julia A. died at the age of twenty-two; William T. married Martha Goddard, and resides in Kansas; John Y. married Lena Riley, and resided in Howard County, Iowa; Ellen died at the age of twenty-five years; Mary O. is the wife of Charles F. Barber, and resides in Stephenson County, Ill.; Martha F. resides at home. Mr. Ewing has held some of the minor offices in the township. Both he and all the members of his household are members of the Presbyterian Church. In politics, Mr. Ewing is a Republican.

Contributed by Carole Parrish - Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. 1888