DeKalb County IL Archives Biographies.....Viner, Varnum V May 23, 1824 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com April 20, 2006, 5:22 pm

Author: Portrait/Bio Album - DeKalb Co 1885

Varnum V. Viner, farmer in Cortland Township, having 55 acres on sections 15 
and 16, was born in the town of Parishville, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., May 23, 
1824. His father, Charles Viner, was born May 6, 1797, in Bristol, England, 
and was killed by a cyclone in Mazon, Grundy Co., Ill., April 18, 1861. Mr. 
V.'s mother, Sarah, nee Banister, was born in Rutland, Vt., May 4, 1797, and 
died in January, 1868, in Grundy County. Mr. Charles Viner was a farmer, and 
came to America in 1812 as a British soldier. He afterward left the army, when 
Corporal of the Guard, and with six others crossed the St. Lawrence into the 
States. He married in 1815, and had four sons and four daughters.

The subject of this sketch is the third child in the order of birth in the 
above family. His parents moved, with him, when he was four or five years of 
age, to Madrid, then to Pierpont, then to Canton, and when he was 20 years old 
they emigrated West, locating in the town of Seneca, McHenry Co., Ill. After 
living there eight years with his father, he was married, Jan. 1, 1847, to 
Miss Mary T., daughter of David S. and Catherine (Marshall) Wickes. Dr. Wickes 
was born in Troy, N. Y., Nov. 29, 1800, and died Oct. 15, 1844, in Meed's 
Creek, Steuben Co., N. Y.; and Mrs. W. was born May 21, 1800, in Hyde Park, 
Dutchess Co., N. Y., and died Sept. 15, 1876, in Elliottville, Fillmore Co., 
Minn. Mrs. V. was born in Dundee, Yates Co., N. Y., July 30, 1829. She 
suffered a paralytic stroke in 1876, losing the use of her left hand. Dr. W. 
was a successful physician of the old school, and died from the effects of 
overwork.

Mr. Viner lived nine years at Seneca, McHenry County, and then moved to the 
township of Mazon, Grundy Co., Ill., purchasing a farm of 80 acres, then a 
wild place, where he first attempted to make a home; but he soon afterward 
sold it to his brother and returned to McHenry County and bought 122 acres of 
improved land. After living there three or four years he sold out and moved 
again to Grundy County and purchased an improved farm of 80 acres, but a year 
afterward he sold this and removed to Portage Co., Wis., where he bought new 
land, built upon it and improved it some, and in four months went back to 
Grundy County again, purchased 80 acres, built a house upon it and dwelt there 
a little more than a year. He sold again and moved to this (Cortland) 
township, bought a farm of 86 acres and lived upon it for 20 years. He then 
rented this farm and moved to Morris, Grundy County, lived there a year, 
returned here and sold his farm on sections 26 and 27, and finally purchased 
his present place, in 1882.

In his political views Mr. Viner is a Democrat, and in an official capacity he 
has been for several years a School Director.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Viner are: Sarah G, born May 10, 1849, in Mazon, 
Grundy Co., Ill., and married March 5, 1868, Emery Willmarth, and lives in 
Cortland village; Charles D., born in Seneca Township, McHenry Co., Ill., Feb. 
4, 1853, and March 2, 1876, married Ada Brown, and now living in this 
(Cortland) township; Thomas D., born also in Seneca Township, Sept. 1, 1855, 
married March 28, 1883, Alice Smith, and is now living in Nebraska; Alva V., 
born in Mazon, Ill., Dec. 21, 1857, married Maggie Ellis Jan. 31, 1883, and is 
now a merchant in Waverly, Iowa; William E., born in Cortland Township, this 
county, Aug. 16, 1860, is now a clerk in Morris, Grundy County; Frank L., born 
in this township, Feb. 26, 1867, lives in Nebraska; Joseph C., born May 25, 
1869, also in this township, died Aug. 6 following; and Ellis F., born Dec. 
23, 1871, in Cortland Township, is living at home.

Wm. L. Viner, oldest brother of Varnum V., while on a visit, by permission of 
his father, to an uncle in Pennsylvania, Jonathan Banister by name, taught 
school there during the winter of 1841-2, worked on a farm the next spring 
near his uncle's, then went down the Ohio River on a raft of lumber, and 
thence up the Mississippi River to Galena, from which point his family 
received a letter from him, and since that time he has never been heard from. 
His father went to Galena and spent three weeks in search of him.

Additional Comments:
Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois. Chicago: 
Chapman Brothers, 1885; pages 236-237.

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