BROADDUS, Irving
Irving BROADDUS, one of the prominent and
representative citizens of Lacon, Illinois, is a native of
Marshall county, his birth occurring July 24, 1840, and is a son
of Lunsford and Nancy (GAYLE) BROADDUS, natives of
Fredericksburg, Virginia, and honored pioneers of Illinois. He
traces his ancestry back to Edward BROADDUS, who came from
Wales to the new world in 1715, and settled
on Gwynn Island in the James river, Virginia. He was twice married, his second
union being with Mary SHIPLEY, by whom he had nine children, one
being Reuben BROADDUS, the grandfather of our subject. His great
uncle, Rev. Andrew BROADDUS, held a debate with Rev. Alexander
CAMPBELL, of the Christian church, on the subject of baptism,
and was pronounced the most formidable opponent the latter ever
encountered. To the BROADDUS family belonged the mother of Hon.
R. W. THOMPSON, of Indiana, a member of President Hayes’
cabinet. Rev. John A. BROADDUS,
D. D., L. L. D., the youngest son of the
founder of the family in the United States, was born in Culpeper
county, Virginia, January 24, 1827, and died in 1895. He was one
of the most noted divines of his day in the Baptist church in Kentucky, and rendered to both church and
state valuable and noteworthy service.
Reuben BROADDUS, the grandfather of our
subject, Married Elizabeth G. GARLAND, and to them were born
seven children, all now deceased, namely: Christopher, who died
childless; Lunsford, father of our subject; Leland, who also
died childless; Andrew S., Nancy, Lucy, who became the wife of
Nathaniel MOTLEY, and Eleanor, who married Reuben RICHARDSON.
Andrew S. BROADDUS of this family, was a prominent attorney, and
for several terms served in the
Virginia
legislature. After his removal to
Texas
in 1854, he became the most noted criminal lawyer of the state,
was also a member of the legislature there for several years,
and later filled the office of judge.
In Virginia, about 1819, was celebrated the
marriage of the parents of our subject. After the Nat Turner
slave insurrection, they became disgusted with the institution,
and determined to sell out and remove to the north. By keelboat
they went to Cincinnati,
Ohio, and thence by wagon route to Connersville,
Indiana, where the father purchased two
hundred acres of land, on which they continued to live for three
years. There two of their children, Reuben and Susan, were born.
In August, 1835, they arrived in Lacon, Illinois, thus becoming pioneers of Marshall county. The father had the honor of
naming Hopewell
township, served as supervisor of the county, and also county
assessor. In religious belief he was a Universalist, was one of
the best Bible students in the state, being able to quote most
of it, especially the New Testament. He was a fine historian,
also well read on the current events of the day, and being a
good speaker, delivered the first temperance lecture in Marshall county. Besides his farming and stock
raising interests, he also became a noted auctioneer in those
early days. He purchased land in 1835, in
Hopewell
township, which is still in the possession of our subject, and
became one of the most successful farmers and stock raisers in
the county, his hogs being the best sold to the packing house
owned by Jabez FISHER of Boston, and with the money thus
obtained he paid his taxes. After an upright honorable life, he
passed away December 6, 1864, at the age of seventy years and
six months, and his faithful wife, who was born in 1796, died in
1872.
Our subject is the youngest in their family
of eleven children, six of whom are still living: Christopher,
married Minerva HALL, who is still living; Eleanor, became the
wife of Eli STRAWN, but both are now deceased; Elizabeth,
married Enoch SAWYER, and both have passed away; Helen, was
married at the age of seventeen to William STRAWN, who died in
1894, leaving ten children, the oldest fifty-two years of age
and the youngest twenty-nine. Mrs. STRAWN still resides upon a
farm in Marshall county; Leland,
first wedded Harriet CRANE and after her death Susan CASE. He
lives in Hennepin, Illinois;
Lucy, is the deceased wife of F. H. BOND, of Wenona, who was a
noted teacher, who came to Marshall county from Massachusetts,
and to whom our subject went to school in 1846; Caroline,
married H. E. WIRE, but both are now deceased; Reuben, wedded
Mary J. FORBES, and lives in Varna, Illinois; Susan, is the
widow of P. J. BOGARDUS, and a resident of Oklahoma; Andrew S.
married Sarah FORBES, and after her death, Jennie HEWIT. He
makes his home in Lacon, and is the father of Christopher
BROADDUS, the present deputy sheriff of Marshall county.
After attending the common schools of his
native county for some time, Irving BROADDUS pursued his studies
in Bloomington, and on laying
aside his text books turned his attention to farming, which he
successfully followed for forty years. He still owns his
valuable farm of three hundred and twenty acres on section 31.,
Hopewell
township, which was his home for fifty-four years, or until
coming to Lacon in 1894. Besides general farming he was also an
extensive stock raiser, having upon his place a fine grade of
cattle, sheep and hogs, as well as horses, of which he is very
fond and an excellent judge.
Since 1870, Mr. BROADDUS has been one of
the most successful and noted auctioneers of the state, and for
fifteen consecutive years his income from this source amounted
to one thousand dollars annually. During one of his most
successful seasons, from September 1, 1879, until the 1st of the
following April he made thirteen hundred dollars. On the 21st of
April, 1893, he sold thirty-six thousand dollars worth of lots
in Toluca, Illinois,
and his largest sale of stock and farm products was at Magnolia,
for Mr. PATTERSON, amounting to seven thousand eight hundred
dollars. One day in February, 1896, he also sold for his brother
in Varna six thousand nine hundred dollars worth
of property.
Mr. BROADDUS was married November 18, 1863,
to Miss Ruth FORBES, who was born in
Hopewell
township, Marshall county, and is
a daughter of Peter and Sarah (BUCKINGHAM) FORBES, the former a
native of North Carolina and
the latter of
Pennsylvania. By occupation her father
was a farmer and stockraiser, being one of the best cattle men
in this section of the state. He died in 1860, on the day of
President Lincoln’s first election, at the age of forty-two
years, and his wife departed this life in 1870, at the age of
fifty-one. Their religious faith was that of the Universalist
church. In their family were seven children: Mary, who wedded
John KENNEDY, and died leaving seven children, three of whom are
teachers; William, of Harper county,
Kansas, who married Laura MAYES, and has
two children; Mrs. BROADDUS, Isaac M., of Hopewell township,
Marshall county, who married Fanny THORP, and has one child;
Caleb, who married Nellie GREEN, and is now deceased, and has
three children; and Sarah E., wife of Samuel CROFT, of Harper
county, Kansas, by whom she has seven children.
Five children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. BROADDUS, namely: Savilla, wife of John DAVIDSON, a farmer
of Hopewell township, by whom
she has four children, John, Ruth I., Le Roy and Isaac; Cora,
wife of Leroy COOK, of Chicago, who has been connected with the
Simons saw manufactory since thirteen years of age; Lillie May,
at home; Walter, who is a member of the class of 1897, at
Brown’s Business college of Peoria, and Nancy R., who will
graduate at the Lacon high school in 1897.
Politically, Mr. BROADDUS is a free silver
democrat, and socially is connected with the Modern Woodmen of
America. He is public-spirited in an eminent degree and has
always done much in behalf of his county’s interest and in the
general welfare of his community. He is popular and is the
center of a large circle of friends and acquaintances who honor
and esteem him for his many virtues and his genuine worth.
Extracted May 2011 by Norma Hass from
The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois, 1896.
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