Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Dix, Matthew May 4, 1831 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com February 20, 2006, 7:44 am

Author: History of Grundy County 1914

Dix, Matthew, one of the representative residents of Verona, is a man who has 
won and retained the confidence and respect of his associates throughout 
Grundy County.  He was born at Chilton, Berkshire, England, May 4, 1831, a son 
of Charles Stephen and Martha (Pounds) Dix, both of whom died in England.  
Matthew Dix, with his brother, William, crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel 
to the United States, six weeks being consumed in the voyage.  They landed in 
New York City, from whence they came on to Chicago, and from there made their 
way to Morris.  The youths were anxious to work and the first employment 
secured by Mr. Dix was that of watching cattle which were being driven to La 
Salle County.  Following this he worked for a year on a Kendall County farm, 
for $12.50.  With his brother he then bought a horse and a corn sheller, and 
went about the country shelling corn for the farmers, thus continuing for 
about seventeen years.  Times were so hard that money was scarce and although 
they received inadequate compensation for their labor, they saved what money 
they did get, and in 1861 bought eighty acres of land apiece in Vienna 
Township.  Mr. Dix developed his property, later buying out his brother, and 
has since added eighty acres more, which his son operates.  Until 1906, Mr. 
Dix was actively engaged in farming, but then bought a home at Verona, where 
he has since lived in retirement.

On September 17, 1863, Mr. Dix married Emeline Gertrude Cody, born in Oneida 
County, N. Y., July 8, 1843, a daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Harriet 
(Lenard) Cody, both of New York State.  In June, 1844, the Cody family came 
west to Lisbon, Kendall County, Ill.  Mr. Cody was a boot and shoemaker, and 
after saving enough, bought a farm west of Lisbon, where he lived some years, 
then moved to Lisbon, where he resumed work at his trade.  Mr. and Mrs. Dix 
became the parents of the following children:  George, who died in infancy; 
Fred Leonard, who is on the home farm; Lewis, who died at the age of ten 
years; Clara Amelia, who married William Finch of Vienna Township; Mina 
Gertrude, who died in infancy; Sadie Emeline, who married Robert J. Glenn of 
Mazon Township; Ettie Josephine, who married A. S. Small of Highland Township; 
Warren M., of Stanford, Mont., who married Alta May Hough; May Eloise, who is 
of Stanford, Mont.; and Hattie Mabel, who married L. A. Whittimore of Verona, 
Ill.  Mr. Dix is a member of the Methodist Church and has served as steward 
and held other church offices.  A Republican, he has held a number of the 
township offices, and is a man whose integrity has never been questioned and 
whose standing in his neighborhood has been honorably gained.

Source:  History of Grundy County, Illinois, Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. 
Publishers; 1914, p804

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