GALLUP, William Alban

William Alban GALLUP, a farmer, residing on section 17, Steuben township, Marshall county, with post office at Sparland, although not numbered among the pioneers of the county, has spent more than thirty of the best years of his life within its borders, and is recognized as one of its best and most deserving citizens, a man of culture and refinement, well read in the standard and current literature of the day. He was born in West Greenwich, Kent county, Rhode Island, July 5, 1829, and is the son of Alban W. and Lydia (TILLINGHAST) GALLUP. The latter died when William was but a youth, and therefore he missed much of a mother’s loving, tender care at a period in life when such loving ministrations are greatly needed. His boyhood and youth were spent in his native village, and his education was finished at its high school.

The genealogy of the GALLUP family can be traced back to 1620, and among its representatives have been many professional men, some of whom have been widely known in state and nation. The father of our subject was by profession a physician, and it was his desire that William should also adopt that profession, and to that end directed his education in youth, and also gave him a place in his office, encouraging him in every way in his power, and trying to stimulate his interest in medical study. The night work essential in the life of a physician was distasteful to him, however, and the father abandoned his long cherished hope, and the son determined upon the life of a farmer as best suited to his tastes and inclinations.

When but twenty-one years of age, Mr. GALLUP was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. TANNER, also a native of Rhode Island, and has never for a moment had cause to regret the step taken, for his wife has to him been truly a helpmeet in the almost half a century in which they have together traveled life’s pathway. One year after their marriage, with the assistance of his father, he secured a small farm near West Greenwich, but later removed to Windham county, Connecticut, where he lived until 1856, when he determined to come to Illinois, where the opportunity for securing land and success in his chosen life work would be much greater. He first located in Lee county, and there remained until 1865, being fairly successful in his operations. In that year he came to Marshall county, and purchased three hundred and twenty acres, of which he now owns one hundred and sixty acres, comprising a pat of his present farm, to which, by subsequent purchase he added forty acres, making his fine farm of two hundred acres, which is under a high state of cultivation, and on which all improvements are of a substantial character. For his first tract he paid twenty-two dollars per acre. Taking the improvements into consideration this land is now valued at one hundred dollars per acre.

Since coming to Marshall county, Mr. GALLUP has been quite successful, and is numbered among the well-to-do farmers of this section. He has always endeavored to have upon his place a good grade of stock and believes in diversified farming, having no hobby as to any particular branch of his calling. In addition to his farming interests he has given some attention to the coal industry of Marshall county, and was one of the original stockholders of the Sparland Coal company.

In early manhood, Mr. GALLUP was a whig in politics, but on the dissolution of that party, identified himself with the democrats, and has since been an earnest and consistent advocate of the principles of that party. For official position, however, he has never had any inclination, but has served his township in some minor offices. He usually represents his party in the township and county conventions, and his influence is always felt on such occasions. Religiously he was reared under the influence of the Calvinistic Baptists, but the peculiar faith of that people has never seemed to him consistent with the attributes of a divine being, and therefore he has leaned somewhat to Universalism, but has never identified himself with the Universalist church. In educational matters he has ever taken considerable interest, believing in good schools, and that every child should have the opportunity given it for an education.

To Mr. and Mrs. GALLUP five children were born: Lydia married Archie RIDDELL, of La Prairie township, and on the death of her husband, returned to her parents’ home, where she now resides; Sarah and Eunice both died in young womanhood, their deaths leaving a sad vacancy in the family household; Alvan married Miss Nellie ROBB, and lives on a farm adjoining the old homestead; Benjamin yet resides with his parents, and assists in the cultivation of the home farm.

While declining to be a practitioner, Mr. GALLUP has kept up an interest in medical reading, which has always been to him an interesting subject, and the knowledge thus obtained has been of material interest to himself and family. As a neighbor and citizen, he has ever been held in the highest esteem.

Extracted March 2011 by Norma Hass from The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois, 1896.

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