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

Author: History of Will County, Illinois; Chicago: Wm LeBaron Jr & Co, 186 Dearborn Street, 1878.

Johnathan HAGAR, retired merchant, Plainfield. Congregational; Republican. Owns 400 acres in 
Will Co., valued at $60 per acre; also 280 acres in Kendall, valued at $60 per acre; was born 
in Quebec, Canada, Feb. 19, 1807; when 2 years old, his parents removed to Montreal, where they 
remained eight years; then to Middlebury, Vt., where they remained eight years; then to Waybridge, 
Vt., where he remained two years, working on a farm which his mother owned; his father was a 
sea-captain, and owner of a vessel; he died of yellow fever, in South America, Jan. 29, 1821, 
during a voyage to that country; his mother's family, at that time, consisted of four brothers, 
besides himself and one sister. In 1830, Mr. HAGAR started West; he stopped in Cleveland two 
years, during which time he was employed in a crockery store; he then went to Michigan, remained 
there two years, and taught school; then to this place, in company with Samuel SARGEANT, with a 
stock of goods for a country store; they opened the first store in Plainfield; it was kept in a 
wagon-shop, owned by a man named Bill; about a year after their arrival, they built a store of 
their own and removed their stock into it; Mr. H. continued to do business in this town until the 
commencement of the late war, with the exception of four years that he was engaged in milling, in 
company, with Messrs. GOODHUE & BURRELL; the storehouse that he put up still stands, and is now 
occupied as a parsonage for the Congregational Church. Mr. H. was married twice, first to Catherine 
GOODHUE, Sept. 14, 1843; she was born in New Hampshire, and died March 19, 1858, leaving two 
children - Edwin C. (now of Joliet), and Ellen E. (now Mrs. Charles E. FRASER). Mr. H. held the 
office of Justice of the Peace for eighteen years.