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.

Thomas J. SPRAGUE, farmer; P. O. Lockport; was born in Hamburg, Erie Co., N. Y., Nov. 23, 1810; 
he remained at home until his majority, experiencing the life of a farmer's son; farming summers 
and attending school a short time during the winter; in 1837, he came West to prospect the 
country, and in March, 1838, he settled in Du Page Twp.; the first year, he tilled a farm owned 
by Joseph BESSEY, and the following year labored on the I. & M. Canal on the section just below 
the Joliet Mound; in 1840, he purchased 160 acres on Sec. 22, Du Page Twp.; this he still owns, 
and here he resided about eighteen years; in the fall of 1858, he removed to his present 
residence, on Secs. 34 and 27.  He was married Jan. 8, 1844, to Mrs. Lydia GODFREY, daughter 
of Shubel SWIFT; her father was one of the pioneers of Du Page Twp.; have had nine children - 
Charles, Elizabeth, Harriet, Thomas, Frank and Celia living; Lydia, Douglas and Thaddeus, 
deceased. Owns 590 acres, valued at $30,000; has held the office of Township Collector and 
that of Assessor three or four terms. Mr. SPRAGUE was without means when he came West, and by 
industry and good management has accumulated what he has; he is also extensively engaged in 
dairying in connection with his farming.