James B. Timms, our subject, was the eldest of the children, and was born in Jo Daviess County, Ill., on the 6th of June, 1831. He was reared on a farm, and remained at home until he was twenty-four years of age, when he settled in Kent Township, where he yet resides. His first purchase of land was 120 acres, which he has increased until he now owns 300 acres, the greater portion of which is highly cultivated. All the buildings and appurtenances of the farm are first-class. Situated one-half mile east of the Black Hawk monument on the line of the Minnesota, Northwestern Railroad, one and one half miles east of Kent Station, he has a magnificent view of the railroad for many miles each way.
Mr. Timms was married in Freeport, IL., on the 27th of March, 1854, to Christina Gable, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Gable. She was born in Union County, Pa.., March 20, 1836. Her parents reside in Loran township. Mr. and Mrs. Timms have nine children. Adelaide, Lucy J., Harvey N., Olive, George W., Susan, Elizabeth. Albert N. and Maud L. Adelaide is the widow of W. W. Deisher, and resides in Kent township. Lucy is the wife of John Kimman, and resides in Kansas; Olive is the wife of Abraham Keiller, and resides at Kent Station, Stephenson County. Mr. Timm is a member of Freeport Chapter No. 23, R. A. M. He is an enthusiastic Republican.
Mr. Timms has the honor of being the originator of the Black Hawk monument, which has been built in Kent Township to commemorate the services, deeds and death of the sixteen men who lost their lives in tins township in the Black Hawk War. This war, waged by Black Hawk, the chief of the Sac nation, against the Indians friendly to the United States and the white settlers, is one of the great epochs in the early history of Illinois, and the defeat of Black Hawk and his followers by the forces of the United States Army, under command of Maj. John Dement, at that place, June 25, 1832, opened to settlement all Northern Illinois and Wisconsin. The men who lost their lives in corn-batting Black Hawk are properly considered heroes, and a monument to their memory is exceedingly appropriate.
From 1868 to 1876 Mr. Timms was engaged in the nursery business in Freeport, and was an extensive dealer in nursery stock. Since then his principal business has been farming and stock-raising, handling stock quite extensively. He keeps about seventy-five to 100 head of cattle, 100 to 150 hogs, and ten to fifteen horses all the time.
Portraits and Biographical Stephenson County 1888
It seems hardly possible that any man now living could have been a resident of Illinois when the Indians inhabited this great state, using its broad prairies and timbered tracts as a hunting ground, and yet James Britton Timms was born here before the Black Hawk war took place. His birth occurred June 16, 1831, near Anpie River Station in Jo Daviess county. The following year the sound of battle was heard in Illinois as the white man disputed the rights of the savages to dominion over this fair land.
His father, James Timms, a native of South Carolina, was reared by an uncle with whom he went to Tennessee, spending his youthful days in the western part of that state. For a number of years he was a pilot on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and in 1829 established his home in Illinois, settling in Galenia, where he engaged in mining for a number of years. He was married in Galena in 1829 to Miss Lucy Mann, a native of Cayuga county, New York, and a daughter of Seth Mann, of the Empire state, who represented one of the old New England families. On seeking a home in the middle west Seth. Mann located in Jo Daviess county. After following mining for a few years James Timms turned his attention. to farming in Jo Daviess county and for many years was closely associated with the agricultural interests of this part of the state but spent his last years in retirement in Lena, where he died in 1863, having for ten years survived his wife, who passed away in 1853. In their family were four sons and two daughters, all of whom reached adult age: James B., of this review; Harvey M., who is living in Portland, Oregon; B. F., a resident of Freeport; Mary A., deceased; Mrs. Louisa Small, of Portland; and William 0., deceased.
James B. Timms was reared amid the wild scenes and environments of frontier life. He can remember the time when there was much wild game, it being a very easy matter to secure prairie chicken and quail for the table. For miles around stretched the unbroken prairie or the uncut timber, and where here and there a lonely cabin was to be seen it. was usually built of logs. It indicated, however, that the seeds of civilization were being planted. The educational opportunities of Mr. Timms were necessarily limited, owing to the unsettled condition of the district, but his training at farm labor was not meager and from an early age he worked in the fields. His father, James Timms, Sr., removed to Stephenson county and purchased the land which constituted the old Black Hawk battle ground and reared his family in this county. James B. Timms assisted in improving and cultivating the old home place which is one of the historic places of the state.
At length he determined to establish a home of his own and perfected his arrangements by his marriage on. the 16th of March, 1854, in Freeport, to Miss Christina Gable, who was born in Pennsylvania and was reared in Illinois, having been brought to this state in her girlhood days by her father, Jacob Gable, who was one of the early pioneers from Pennsylvania. Following his marriage Mr. Timms purchased land and opened up a new farm. Hardly a furrow had been turned or an improvement made upon the tract which came into his possession. It comprised eighty acres and was a part of the old Timms place. From time to time he has extended the boundaries of his farm until it now includes two hundred acres. Elsewhere he purchased wild land, which he converted into productive and profitable farms, and for many years he carried on general farming and still gives his supervision to his agricultural interests. He early realized that earnest, unremitting labor is the basis of all success and he worked on diligently year by year to provide for his family and to attain a comfortable competence for old age.
On May 13, 1909, Mrs. Timms passed away and the county lost one of its worthy pioneer women—a lady whose many good traits of heart and mind endeared her to all who knew her. In the family were nine children, of whom 2sons and five daughters are yet living: Harvey M., now a business man of La Fayette, Indiana; Albert N., whose home is in Pearl City, Illinois; George M., who died in 1906 when but thirty-five years of age; Mrs. Adelaide Deisher, now Postmistress of Kent, whose husband, William Worth Deisher, was killed by Indians in Kansas in 1874, while her only son, W. W. Deisher met death by drowning when but sixteen years of age; Lucy, the wife of John Kinman, who resides near Beloit, Kansas; Olive, the wife of Abraham Keeler of Kent; Mrs. John Kieckner, whose husband is mentioned elsewhere in thi volume; and Dollie, the wife of William Harris, a prominent merchant Shenandoah, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Timms also lost a daughter, Maud L., who died in 1905 when twenty-five years of age.
While Mr. Timms formerly gave his political allegiance to the republic party he now votes for the prohibition candidates on the national ticket, while at local elections he casts an independent ballot. He has served as supervisor but has never wanted office, being ever a busy man whose time has been taken up with his farming interests. He has, however, served as a delegate to county and state conventions. Fraternally he is a Mason. He joined the lodge at Freeport, becoming a Master Mason, later was made a charter member of Pearl City Lodge, F. & A. M., and for thirty years has been a member of Freeport Chapter, R. A. M. He is one of the oldest Masons in the county and one of the most exemplary representatives of the craft.
He was the principal promoter of the movement which resulted in the building of the Black Hawk war monument near his farm in i886, commemorating the struggle that took place between the white and the red races. Upon the surface of the monument are engraved words showing the time and place of the battle, and the name of the soldiers who were killed. This was the most decisive engagement of the Black Hawk war. Mr. Timms now makes his home with his daughter, Mrs. Deisher, in the village of Kent but still gives personal supervision to his farming and business interests. He has lived a very useful and active life and has long been numbered among the prominent citizens and honored pioneers of this part of the state. He retains a vivid recollection of many of the most interesting events of the early days, events which have had much to do with shaping the history of the county and is thus enabled to speak with authority upon matters that are of deep interest to every lover of historical research.
Transcribed by Christine Walters
History of Stephenson County 1910 S.J. Clark Publishing Co.
