Obituary of Green Arterburn, Edgar County, Illinois Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Copyright 2000 Cindy McCachern Thursday, 24 December 1903, The Kansas (IL) Journal   The man who has a love of nature in his heart is blest.  Seeing the ideal life with the nice discrimination that comes only from long association with birds and trees and fields, this man aspires to this ideal and teaches it in a more or less degree, his attainment being limited, or course, by his ability.  The development of the soul, however, has been accomplished though the ideal is never reached. This development, the primary object, comes directly from the striving, not from the attaining.  when we see a man, therefore, in harmony with his environment, a lover of his surroundings, though he may never have reached his ideal satisfactorily to himself, the best thing being always just out of our reach, we call his life a success, knowing that he has not merely existed, but lived.   Such a man was Green Arterburn.  Born seventy years ago, when at best this country offered few opportunities.  He strove against his difficulties with fortitude and conquered them.  He was one of the six children of John Arterburn, a pioneer of Edgar county, though a native of Kentucky.  His father owned a large farm near the Pleasant Hill church, where the five sons worked until they reached manhood.   On Christmas day, 1855, Mr. Arterburn was married to Miss Isabel Kester, and soon built a little two-roomed house upon what is now called the "Jim Smith farm," where he lived for several years, cultivating forty acres of the surrounding land.  After a while Mr. and Mrs. Arterburn moved to "Wolf Hill," a farm of 160 acres just inside of the eastern Coles county line.  Upon this farm, he spent his whole energy, until by his work, together with the natural adaption of the land to cultivation, he made it one of the most productive farms in the eastern part of the state.   In 1878 Mrs. Arterburn died, leaving three children, Angeline (now Mrs. D. H. Ross) and Lyman T., of this city, both of whom were born on the "Smith farm," and J. Ambrose who now is living at "Wolf Hill," his birthplace.   Three years later, in March 1881, Mr. Arterburn was married to Miss Kate Epperson.  They remained at "Wolf Hill" for several years during which time Miss Jessie was born.  Soon, however, Mr. and Mrs. Arterburn moved to this town, where they have lived for the past fifteen years.   During recent years, Mr. Arterburn has suffered several strokes of paralysis, all of which were severe, telling markedly upon his constitution.  There was no surprise, therefore, when he was not able to recover from a violent stroke that seized him upon Monday of last week.  Everything possible was done to relieve him.  But without avail.  His constitution was too badly racked to recover.   The funeral services were held on Thursday afternoon from the Christian church to Fairview, where interment was made.  The Rev. H. M. Brooks conducted the services. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb Archivist with proof of this consent. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Cindy McCachern