Many of the most thrifty agriculturists of this county are men who came from their native land across the sea poor, and without any other advantages in the world than a strong arm and a steady purpose to work until they had accumulated sufficient to secure for themselves a comfortable home. Prominent among this number is Mr. Weber, whose life history we will briefly review. He came to this county as early as 1855, about the time the fertile prairies were being opened up for settlement, and was among the first to turn the sod in Ridott Township, where he now has a comfortable home located on section 2, and a well-improved farm of sixty acres, besides owning forty acres on section 27 of the same township. Aside from this he has a small tract of fifteen acres of timber land, from which he secures necessary fuel and such timber as is needed on the farm. Mr. Weber has proved himself to be a first-class farmer, and by diligence and economy has been enabled to erect good and substantial farm buildings on his place, as well as to stock it with an excellent grade of farm animals.

Mr. Weber is a native of Germany where, in the Province of the Rhine, he was born Oct. 15, 1834. His father, Jacob, was a German farmer, who lived and died in the same Province. He married a German lady, Miss Louisa Stock, who also passed her entire life in said Province, her death occurring in 1874, at the venerable age of seventy-eight years. She had been a widow for seventeen years, her husband dying at the age of fifty-two.

Daniel was the second of a family of four boys, and was reared at home, where he lived until he came to the United States in 1855. He immediately came westward and located in Ridott Township, which has since been his home. He, however, did not purchase his present farm until 1878. After coming into this community he worked diligently and faithfully at whatever he could find to do that was honorable, and on the 28th of February, 1861, took unto himself a wife in the person of Miss Martha A. Brown. This lady was born in Ridott Township Oct. 9, 1840. Her father, who was one of the earliest settlers in this section of the county, passed away here, and was laid to rest beneath the sod of his new home. Mrs. Weber was reared and educated here, which has in fact been the scene of her entire life. She is now the mother of two children: Alfred, who married Miss Nettie Follett, of Boone County, and Owen H., a promising young man who is assisting his father in the management of the homestead.

Mr. and Mrs. Weber and family are highly respected members of the community and religiously are connected with the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Politically the elder Weber is a Democrat, while his sons are Republicans. A handsome lithographic view of Mr. Weber's residence is shown on another page.

Contributed by Carol Parrish from Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. (1888), p. 547