McDonough ILGenWeb

CRAIN, Samuel L., equally well known and honored as a teacher and a tiller of the soil, comes of an old Virginia family, his grandfather, Joseph, being a native of the Old Dominion. His parents were Kentuckians, the father, Samuel L. Crain, being a native of Fleming and his mother (known before her marriage as Margaret Perkins), of Bath County, that State. Samuel was the youngest of the three children, the two others being girls. His birthplace was the farm homestead in Schuyler County, Ill., and the date of his birth February 15, 1844. He passed his early years in healthful agricultural labors, attended the district schools and later removed with the family to Bowen, Hancock County. He was above the average in scholarly acquirements, finally graduated from the Normal School at Carthage and commenced teaching while young, living most of the time with his father and sister. Mr. Crain was thus situated and employed at the time of his father's death in January, 1878. Then purchasing the farm he moved upon the family homestead, continuing his successful career as a pedagogue when agricultural operations did not require his attention. Altogether he taught for a period of twenty-four years, living upon the old farm from the time of his father's death until November 10, 1902. In order to give his children the benefit of a good education at the State Normal School, he then moved to Macomb, purchasing the residence at No. 432 South Johnson Street, where he is enjoying the fruits of his long and earnest labors, not only in the prosperity which has come to him, but in the universal honor in which he is held.

On May 15, 1879, Mr. Crain was united in marriage to Amanda E. Harding, a native of Hancock County, Ill., who received her education in Woodville, Adams County. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Crain, namely: Pearl, who died at the age of fifteen months; Charles, who is a teacher in the county; and Maggie Irene, who graduated in 1906 from the State Normal. Outside of the home circle Mr. Crain's interests largely center in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is also identified with the A. F. & A. M., and, politically, Is a stanch Democrat, although he has never sought political preferment.

Mrs. Crain was a daughter of Green Harding, who was a native of Kentucky, born on the Green River, her mother's name being Sarah Stokes, a native of Maryland. Her grandfather, Noah Stokes, was a pioneer settler of Hancock County, Ill. He possessed considerable literary and musical ability, and died at the age of eighty-four years. Mrs. Crain's father was a farmer of Hancock County, and died in Kansas in March, 1885. He was a Democrat; was Justice of the Peace and quite a lawyer. In his religious connection he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Crain's paternal grandfather was also a pioneer settler of Hancock County.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907.