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HISTORY OF MENARD & MASON COUNTIES, ILLINOIS, 1879 Chicago: O.L. Baskin & Co., Historical Publishers, 186 Dearborn Street, Chicago Page 721 ELIHU HALL, son of Flemming and Susanna (Tice) Hall; was born in Patrick Co., Va., June 4, 1822, and came with parents to what is now Menard Co., Ill., in 1829; they located upon the farm where Elihu now lives; his parents still live here, and their combined ages amount to 178 years; Elihu is a scientific botanist, and has devoted the principal part of twenty-five years to the study of botany and to his herbarium, and has a collection of 15, 000 specimens, beyond a doubt the finest private collection in this country. He was married to Miss Elizabeth C. Brown May 10, 1871; they have three children - Una M., Julian H. and Hubert R. PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY, ILLINOIS - 1905 Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Page 419 ELIHU HALL, now deceased, whose memory is cherished by his many friends of Menard county who knew and honored him, was a son of Fleming Hall and a grandson of Thomas R. and Catherine (Thomas) Hall. Fleming Hall was born in Patrick county, Virginia, in 1794, and in 1828, about eleven years after his marriage, he emigrated westward to Missouri, where he was engaged in teaching school for a year. On the expiration of that period they came to Illinois and pre-empted the land upon which the town of Athens has since been built. He remained for two years on the quarter section there and entered the tract from the government. He hewed the logs used in the construction of the first house of Athens, after the town was laid out in 1832. At the time when Mr. Hall and Benjamin and John Wiseman were laying off the school sections into small lots for sale, Abraham Lincoln acted as their surveyor and Mr. Hall would often relate how the tall, athletic form of the future president would be seen passing silently through the deep ponds which the others were glad to avoid. Fleming Hall was united in marriage to Miss Susannah Tice, a native of Pennsylvania, and for many years remained a respected and worthy pioneer settler of Menard county, his name being inseparably interwoven with the early development of this part of the state. He died January 1, 1891, in his ninety-seventh year. Up to his last brief illness he retained his remarkable health and had full possession of his faculties until the day of his death. Elihu Hall, who came with his parents to Menard county in 1829 and assisted in the early agricultural development of this part of the state, was also well known as an active and influential factor here. He married Miss Elizabeth Brown and resided upon the old homestead until his death, which occurred September 24, 1882. He was one of the most successful farmers of the county and in addition was one of the most learned botanists of the state. His collection of well arranged and classified plants, including over ten thousand species, was probably not excelled by any other in the west of that time. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hall were born three children: Una M., the eldest, is the wife of Dr. Howard Boone, of Chandlerville, Illinois. Julian H., born May 22, 1875, is a graduate of Eureka College, of Eureka, Illinois, with the class of 1896. He afterward entered the Columbia Law School fo New York city and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1900, after which he returned to Menard county and took charge of the home farm. He was married October 2, 1902, to Miss Lillis Watson, a daughter of L. F. and Durcilla (Purviance) Watson. Hubert R. Hall, the youngest of the family, born September 24, 1877, is a graduate of Eureka College of the class of 1897 and the Columbia Law school fo New York with the class of 1904, and at the present time is practicing his chosen profession in Springfield. |