PORTERFIELD, James E.
James E. PORTERFIELD, manager and
stockholder of the Toluca Lumber & Hardware Company, and one
of the wide-awake and energetic business men of
Toluca, is a native son of
Illinois, his birth occurring near
Dover, in Bureau county, October 9,
1849, and with the commercial and agricultural interests of
this section of the state he has been prominently
identified. His father, James PORTERFIELD, Sr., was a native
of Belmont county, Ohio, and a son of John PORTERFIELD, who
was born in the north of Ireland, and on coming to the new
world first located in Pennsylvania, but finally settled in
Belmont county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming throughout
the remainder of his life. In his family were sixteen
children, all of whom reached years of maturity. The father
of our subject was reared and educated in the county of his
nativity, and in 1836 emigrated to Bureau county, Illinois,
where he married Eliza BRIGHAM, a native of New Hampshire,
and they became the parents of three children: Joseph B., of
Normal, Illinois, who is married and has two children; John,
of Fullerton, Nebraska, who is married and has six children,
and James E., of this review. After the death of his first
wife the father was again married, but had no children by
the second union.
James PORTERFIELD, Sr., was one of the
honored pioneers of Bureau county, where he entered government
land, and although he was in limited circumstances on his
arrival, by industry, enterprise and good management, became
well-to-do. Being a strong anti-slavery man, he assisted many a
helpless negro on his way to Canada and freedom, and aided
Lovejoy and Holbrook in their good work. He was a consistent and
active member of the Congregational church. His oldest son was
in the one hundred days service during the civil war.
Upon the home farm in Bureau county our
subject grew to manhood, and besides the country schools also
attended an academy. At the age of nineteen he began teaching,
which profession he successfully followed for four years. On the
25th of December, 1872, Mr. PORTERFIELD was united in marriage
with Miss Icedora MILLER, daughter of Henry J. and Jennie
(WILLIAMS) MILLER. Two daughters blessed their union: Edna, who
was born near Spring Valley, acquired her education in Princeton
and at Oberlin college,
Ohio. She is now the wife of C. A.
BROWN, of Princeton, by whom
she has one son, James E. Ada Lois, the younger daughter, is at
home.
For a few years after his marriage, Mr.
PORTERFIELD followed farming in Illinois,
and then removed to Wilson
county, Kansas, where he dealt in
live stock for over a year. On account of his wife’s health he
returned to Bureau county, where he remained until 1881, when he
went to Emporia, Kansas,
where for a year he engaged in stock dealing. Subsequently he
purchased land in
Greenwood
county, that state, where he still owns eight hundred
seventy-five acres of productive and well stocked land. Two
years later he again came to Illinois, this time locating in La Salle, where he engaged
in the manufacture of brick and tile for a short time, and then
removed to a farm near Spring Valley.
Later he became connected with the Spring Valley Coal Company,
and in 1885 again turned his attention to agricultural pursuits,
which he followed for three years. On the expiration of that
time he embarked in the grocery and shoe business at Spring Valley, being at that place during the memorable
miner’s strike. For a few years he was in the employ of a lumber
firm in that city, and in 1893 came to Toluca, to accept his
present position, which he has since filled to the satisfaction
of all parties concerned. He is also a director and stockholder
in the First National bank of Toluca, and secretary of het Devlin Coal
Company. He is a man of good executive ability, sound judgment,
and is one of the most capable business men of
Marshall
county.
Mr. PORTERFIELD is a firm adherent in the
principles of the republican party, which he has always
supported since casting his first vote for General Grant in
1872, but has never cared for the honors or emoluments of public
office, preferring to give his exclusive time and attention to
his business interests. He is a faithful member of the
Congregational church, and while a resident of
Spring Valley served as trustee of the church at
that place.
Extracted May 2011 by Norma Hass from
The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois,
1896.
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