GEORGE F. SCHOENY, farmer, resides on section 8, in Harlem Township, Stephenson County. His parents were John and Anna M. Schoeny, natives of Baden, Germany, where they were married and kept house until the spring of 1846, when they came to America and settled in Erie County, N. Y., where the father of the family died in 1855. In the fall of the year 1856 the widow gathered her little band of children around her and started for the prairies of Iowa, but after reaching Dubuque they were not content, and after remaining but a few days returned to Freeport where they had noticed the fertile country as they passed through Harlem Township. Here the mother died Feb. 14, 1881, after a long and useful life.

There were nine children in the Schoeny family, seven boys and two girls. George F., the youngest of the children, was born in Baden, Germany, May 17, 1838, and was but eight years of age when his parents set sail for the famous shores of America. He remained at home until the spring of 1876, assisting and taking care of his aged mother, when he came West with the family, and after their final settlement in Stephenson County, settled own to the arduous duties f farm life, in which he has always been engaged with the exception of two years in New York, which he spent as an apprentice in a butter and cheese manufactory. He now owns 120 acres of land, nearly all of which has been improved and cultivated through his industrious methods of farming. He has also saved enough from the fruits of the soil to erect valuable and convenient farm-buildings upon his premises.

Our subject was married in Freeport, Ill., Dec. 7, 1865, to Miss Louisa Yeorg, the daughter of Frederick and Catherine (Myer) Yeorg, who were both natives of Wurtemberg, Germany, where they married and resided until about 1838, when they arrived in Philadelphia. Afterward they moved to Freeport, where the husband died Jan. 22, 1880; Mrs. Yeorg still survives. The family consisted of thirteen children, five boys and eight girls, Mrs. Schoeny being the ninth child. She was born in Philadelphia, July 22, 1847.

Mr. and Mrs. Schoeny are the parents of seven children, only two of whom now survive, viz: Emily C. and Mary R. The deceased children were, Ida M. and Ermina R.; Ida was eight and Ermina six years of age at the time of their death. The remaining children died in infancy. It is the possession of such hard-working and energetic farmers as Mr. Schoeny that has made the county of Stephenson famous as one of the most productive and wealthy communities in Illinois. While Mr. Schoeny has given more attention to hard work than to politics, he is a Democrat, and always calls for that ticket at election. A view of his home with its attractive surroundings is elsewhere presented.

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