Elias Myers

Submitted by Stephenie Todd

Source: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Kendall and Will Counties Illinois, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1901; pp. 586-587.

Elias MYERS, a pioneer farmer of Wheatland Township, was born in Lancaster County, Pa., May 25, 1828, a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (AMON) MYERS. His father, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania, engaged in teaming and also cultivated a small farm of eight acres. In the spring of 1844, accompanied by his family and fourteen other families, he came via the canal and great lakes to Chicago, thence direct to Wheatland Township, where he bought ninety acres of partly improved land. Two years later, he died, at the age of seventy-five years. He was active in local politics and a stanch Republican. In religion he was connected with the Methodist Church. He was of direct German descent. The lady whom he married was a native of Germany and when eleven years of age accompanied her parents to Lancaster County, Pa., where her father died at ninety-nine years of age and her mother at the same age. Mrs. Myers died in Wheatland Township when eighty-four years old. In her family there were eight children, Elias being the third of these.

When the family settled in this county our subject was a boy of sixteen. He remained with his mother on the farm until the spring of 1852, when he went to California by water. On his arrival in the far west he engaged in mining and also followed other occupations at different times. However, none of his enterprises proved very successful, and he finally decided that he stood a better chance back at his old home. Returning, he settled on an eighty-acre farm in Wheatland Township, a place that represented his earnings while in California. A few years later he sold the place and bought his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres. At one time he owned six hundred acres in Iowa, but this he sold at $30 and acre. He owns property in Aurora, where for eight years he made his home. When he was young he teamed from Chicago to Aurora for fourteen years, and he also engaged in threshing during the season. Some years ago he lost his left hand through an accident with a corn husker, and since then he has done very little manual labor. In 1883 he turned his farm over to his third son, since which time he has lived retired from active cares.

The marriage of Mr. Myers, in 1856, united him with a daughter of Hiram JOHNSON, of Wheatland Township. She died in 1883. Five children were born of their marriage. The two eldest, Burton and Wallace, are engaged in the livery, feed, hay and grain business at Naperville, where their father built a large barn for them. The youngest son, William, manages the home farm. Edith is the wife of John Graves, of Aurora, who was captain of a company in the Spanish-American war; and Pearl, who resides with her father on the home farm. While he takes a warm interest in public affairs and in questions affecting the welfare of our nation, Mr. Myers has never been a politician and has never desired office. The only positions he has ever held were of an educational nature. In political views he favors the Republican party.