McDonough ILGenWeb

CAMP, Farnam B., a well-known farmer of Chalmers Township, McDonough County, Illinois, was born in Section 3, of that township, November 13, 1836, a son of Israel and Anna (Barnes) Camp, natives, respectively, of New Hampshire and Connecticut. Israel Camp came to McDonough County in 1835 with his wife and two sons, who were quite young, and settled on the northwest quarter of Section 3, Chalmers Township, having bought the property from a Mr. Anderson. The family came from Brookfield, Orange County, Vermont, by wagon and team, sixty-four days being occupied in making the trip. They commenced their long overland journey in April, 1835, and located where Farnam B. Camp now lives, starting life in a rude log cabin and with little improved land. The father was a man of many practical accomplishments, being a farmer, a carpenter, a millwright, a cooper and a fair doctor (for the times). He erected his hut in the thick timber, and made his way the first year building bridges and cultivating his small tract of cleared land with a wooden mold-board and single shovel plow, and other primitive implements. Afterward he formed a partnership with George Rice, built a saw-mill on Spring creek and did a thriving business. In 1840 he made a kiln of brick, and, in 1841, built a frame house which was as good a residence as any in the county at that time. He was altogether a capable, industrious and useful citizen.

The subject of this sketch attended the subscription school in the neighborhood when a youth, and continued to live with his parents until he was of age. He was the youngest of three boys and, when old enough, started out to work with his brother at carpentering and farming. This lasted one season, when he returned home and in connection with his other brother, purchased a mill-site and operated a saw-mill for eight years. At the end of this period he again engaged in carpenter work and farming, and bought a little land now and then, until he now owns fifty acres, on which he is carrying on farming. On May 1, 1890, Mr. Camp was married to Elizabeth A. Taylor, who was born in Chalmers Township, where in girlhood she attended public school. In politics, the subject of this sketch is a stanch adherent of the Republican party. He has lately completed a term of four years as Justice of the Peace, and served as School Director twenty-one years, and one year as Assessor. Mr. Camp is a man who enjoyed the confidence and respect of his neighbors to a large degree, and is an exemplary citizen.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907. Submitted by Joanne Scobee Morgan <morgans4@swbell.net>