Will County ILGenWeb Biographies..... 
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File contributed for use by:
Dori Leekly & Margie Glenn

Author: History of Will County IL, 1878

Merritt O. CAGWIN, grain dealer, Elwood; the subject of this sketch was born in 
Brockport, Morroe Co, N. Y., May 14, 1828; in 1836, be came West with his parents, 
who settled in Cook Co. (now Will Co.), two and a half miles east of the present city 
of Joliet, where his father built a saw-mill near the site of the present grist-mill, 
located on Hickory Creek, known as the Red Mill. The first board sawed at this mill was 
the occasion of a grand ball. In Joliet, on Sept. 6, 1849, he was married to Miss Mary 
Jane WHEELER; she was born in Monroe Co, N. Y., March 22, 1829, and died July l9, 1850; 
his present wife was Miss Amabrosia K. HIGINBOTHAM, a cousin of his first wife, and the 
second wedding was performed in the same house as the first, Jan. 8, 1852; she was born 
in Joliet, Cook Co. (now Will Co.) Oct. 1, 1834. He remained at home with his parents 
until 1844, when he was employed in a dry goods store in Joliet, owned and managed by 
Messrs. J. T. MCDOUGAL and F. L. CAGWIN, where he remained until October, 1848, when he 
went to Chicago, and was engaged as an auctioneer until his return to Joliet in May, 1849, 
when he again entered the employ of Messrs. McD. & C.; but this time he was engaged in 
selling goods form a wagon on the road; his route was an extensive one, reaching into the 
Wabash country in Indiana, and his average sales were $2,000 per month; in April, 1850, he 
again severed his connection with the Messrs. McD. & C., and purchased a stock of dry, goods 
from Geo. H. WOODRUFF, Esq., which he was then closing out, and disposed of them on the road, 
mostly in exchange for stock-sheep and horses; the following year he abandoned his wagon, and 
bought and drove sheep from Southern and Central Illinois and Indiana to Chicago this he 
continued until May, 1853, when he was taken with the gold fever, and embarked for California, 
where he remained but one year, engaged in transporting goods by mule pack over the mountains 
to furnish traders' posts and mining camps; on his return to Joliet, he entered the grain 
business, and, in the following year, built the Masonic Block, which was destroyed in 1864 by 
fire; in 1858; he exchanged his Joliet property for a tract of 1,000 acres of land in Wilton 
Township at the head of the Twelve-Mile Grove, situated about twelve miles southeast of Joliet, 
and there removed and engaged in farming and stock-raising. He was Supervisor from Wilton for 
five successive years, and introduced before the Board the resolution creating a fund for the 
protection of soldiers wives and children. He disposed of his land in Wilton and returned to 
Joliet in November, 1864, and there again entered the grain trade in co-partnership with his 
father, where he remained until October, 1866, when he removed to Wilmington, IL, and engaged 
in same business, and he was the first regular buyer on the railroad at that station. While 
there he was a member of City Common Council, and was one of the original "Building Committee," 
who accepted the plans and specifications for the present magnificent public school building. 
He also was a charter member with Messrs. WHITTEN Bros., and to whom he sold his interest of 
the firm who built the White Cloud Flouring-Mills, in August, 1869, he came to Elwood, IL, 
where he has since resided, and engaged in the grain, lumber and coal business; three months 
later, in November, his elevator filled with grain, was burned to the ground; he continued his 
lumber and coal business, although somewhat enlarged, and in co-partnership with D. B. CURRAN, 
Esq. until January, 1872, when he built a warehouse at Braidwood, and commenced business as the 
first grain buyer of the city; he purchased and cribbed that winter 45,000 bushels of ear-corn 
he continued the business until December, handling over 200,000 bushels of grain, when he sold 
to Wm. H. ODELL, Esq.; in May, 1874, he purchased of Ed. B. AIKEN the West Side Elevator in Joliet, 
which he still operates in co-partnership with his father.


Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS; Chicago: Wm LeBaron Jr & Co, 186 Dearborn Street, 1878.