McDonough ILGenWeb

DAILEY, I. W.--One who gave of his strength and endangered his health in defense of his country, and who, for more than thirty years afterward, was sturdily engaged in upbuilding the agricultural industries of his community and in the rearing of a useful family, deserves a prominent place in the annuals of any history. Therefore it is that the record of I. W. Dailey, a retired farmer and stock-raiser of McDonough County and, for a dozen years an honored resident of Macomb, appears in these pages. His parents, Thomas and Sarah (McIntosh) Dailey, were Virginians, and he too is a native of the Old Dominion, born October 6, 1829. There were eight children in the family, he being the seventh. In 1835 the parents migrated from their native State, with all their children and household goods, and located two miles from the city of Springfield, Ill., where they remained one year, when (in 1836) they removed to McDonough County, settling upon a farm in Eldorado Township. There Mr. Dailey was reared, his education being limited to irregular attendance upon the district schools and very regular work upon the farm during the agricultural seasons. When his father died on New Year's Day of 1854, most of the responsibility of managing the family homestead was thrown upon him. He performed his duties cheerfully and well, until he felt that he should leave them in other hands and respond to his country's call to the front. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C, Eighty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was with his command in its march through Kentucky. Contracting a severe illness, he was invalided and discharged from the service in the following spring, returning home with his health badly shattered. His widowed mother had died in November, 1862. Mr. Dailey having inherited ninety acres of the home farm, found the out-door life of a farmer admirably adapted to restore his health, and he was soon again taking up his agricultural labors with his oldtime vigor. Later he added an adjoining 105 acres to the original tract, making a fine homestead of 195 acres, upon which he carried on the combined business of farming and stock-raising. This he continued to such advantage that in 1895 he erected a fine residence in Macomb, on South McArthur Street, to which he retured. Mr. Dailey has been identified, to some extent, with the public affairs of his locality, having acceptably served on the School Board and as Road Commissioner of his township. He is politically associated with the Republican party and is an esteemed member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

On November 19, 1867, Mr. Dailey married Miss Emma Craig, a native of McDonough County, and they are the parents of three children: Warren M.; Irene Alice, now Mrs. Frank Moore, of McDonough County; and Lucy H., the wife of P. F. Baldner, of the same 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.