McDonough ILGenWeb

PIERCE, David F. — Twenty years of residence on the same farm in McDonough County has witnessed a steady rise in the fortunes of David F. Price, who, in partnership with his wife, owns 310 acres of land on Sections 7, 8 and 17, Macomb Township. Mr. Pierce belongs to that class of men who have come up from the bottom round of the ladder, and who owe more to observation and practical experience than they do to the theories to be found between the covers of books. He is a native son of the prairies, and was born in Walnut Grove Township, McDonough County, in June, 1854. On the paternal side he is of Southern stock, his father, Jesse B., and his grandfather, David Pierce, being natives of Tennessee. His mother (in girlhood Mary Ann Clark) was born in Illinois, a daughter of Thomas Clark.

Jesse B. Pierce came to McDonough County in 1847, and pre-empted 320 acres of land in Walnut Grove Township, making his home thereon until the close of his life in 1899, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. His wife died in 1887, when sixty-two years old, and both are buried in Pierce Cemetery, on the old pioneer farm. They were people of fine moral courage, and had the patience to calmly await such rewards as fate, working through their wisely conceived plans, had in store for them. Honored for their large hearts and good judgment, they were among the best known and best liked early settlers of the township.

At the age of twenty-one years David F. Pierce started upon the road to independence, journeying west to Nebraska, where he hoped for better opportunities than were to be found in his native State. Two years, however, disabused his mind of any claims of inferiority, and he was glad to return to Macomb Township and settle upon his present farm. The most advanced methods of agriculture are employed on this farm. Its equipment is excellent and well selected, and its buildings and fences are kept in the best of repair. The first impression is that of a superior and thoroughly commercial management. Mr. Pierce makes a specialty of raising and dealing in cattle, horses and hogs, and in produce confines himself to corn and small grains.

In politics, Mr. Pierce is a Republican, and in religion, is a Methodist. His marriage to Mary E. Amos, of Hart County, Ky., occurred in October, 1874, and seven children have been born into his family: Mattie, wife of E. G. Ford; Minnie B., now Mrs. T. H. Logan; Jesse Franklin, Dorothea, John, Roy Albert and Ruth.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907, volume 2, page 977, extracted 17 Mar 2020 by Norma Hass.