Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Hutchings, Joseph 1827 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com March 25, 2006, 4:54 pm

Author: Bio/Gen Record LaSalle/Grundy 1900

Joseph Hutchings

In no part of our country has the self-made man been more in evidence or more 
influential upon the development of all the interests around him than in 
Illinois. Grundy county has, in all stages of its history, been benefited by 
numbering among her citizens many such men, and none of this class among the 
farmers of the county has made a more creditable record than the gentleman 
whose name constitutes the title of this article. 

Joseph Hutchings, Wauponsee, Grundy county, a substantial farmer and 
representative citizen, was born at Ropsley, Lincolnshire, England, October 
26, 1827, a son of William and Mary (Rawlings) Hutchings. William Hutchings 
was born in Rutland, England, a son of John Hutchings, a farmer. William 
Hutchings was always a farmer. He married, in Ropsley, Mary Rawlings, a 
daughter of John and Mary Rawlings, and continued his residence at Ropsley. 
His children were William, Sarah, Mary Ann, Joseph, John, Edward, Frederick, 
Arthur and Elizabeth. William Hutchings and wife were both members of the 
Church of England. He died in England, October 12, 1859, aged about sixty-five 
years. He was a hard-working, industrious man. His children, except Frederick, 
Edward and Joseph, all remained in England. Joseph received but a limited 
education.  Farming, however, he thoroughly learned, and he came to. America 
when between twenty-three and twenty-four years of age. Embarking at 
Liverpool, February 27, 1851, in the good ship Fides, a sailing vessel, he was 
seven weeks on the voyage to New York, where he arrived April 12 following, 
after a very stormy passage, in which the ship lost its rudder and drifted out 
of its course. He worked on a farm in the town of Rinebeck, on the Hudson 
river, that summer, and in the fall of 1851 went to western New York and 
worked on a farm sixteen miles west of Buffalo until November, 1855, when he 
came to Illinois, making the journey by rail.

He was married in Buffalo, New York, November 4, 1855, to Bridget Clark, born 
December 25, 1823, in the parish of Drumard, Sligo county, Ireland, a daughter 
of James and Winifred (O’Dowd) Clark. The family of Clarks to which James 
Clark belonged have lived in that part of Ireland for centuries. His wife was 
from the neighboring parish of Screen.  

James Clark and wife, who were the parents of two daughters, Mary and Bridget, 
were members of the Catholic church, and were respected for their uprightness 
and good character. Both died in Ireland. Bridget Clark, then seventeen, left 
her native land in the summer of 1850, sailing from Sligo, Ireland, to 
Liverpool, England, and from Liverpool for Quebec, and was five weeks on the 
voyage. She went from Quebec to Montreal and thence to Buffalo, New York. Her 
sister Mary had come to America about three years before, and was living in 
New Jersey. They had an uncle, Dennis O’Dowd, living in Buffalo, with whom 
Bridget lived five years, until her marriage, at twenty-two years of age.

After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hutchings came to Grundy county and settled in 
Norman township, where he rented land of Marion Lloyd, a pioneer of this 
county and a substantial farmer of Vienna township. Mr. Hutchings worked the 
farm on shares, saved his money, and in 1861 bought eighty acres of his 
present farm, which was partly improved, but had no buildings. He prospered by 
enterprise and industry and added to his land until he now owns four hundred 
and forty acres of fine farm land with excellent improvements. Mr. Hutchings 
and his wife both worked hard and with great diligence to gain their property. 
They built a two-story frame residence in 1886 and have built other 
substantial farm buildings, and they now have one of the best properties and 
most pleasant homesteads in Vienna township. Their children are Francis 
Marion, born November 4, 1856; Mary Elizabeth, born September 29, 1859; 
Margaret Winifred, born February 9, 1863, died December 6, 1881; John Joseph, 
born April 27, 1866; and James W., born February 2, 1871.

Mrs. Hutchings and their children are members of the Catholic church and Mr. 
Hutchings is an attendant upon its services. In politics Mr. Hutchings is a 
stanch Democrat. He has made his way to fortune by economy and strict 
attention to business, and through his busy career has been aided immeasurably 
by his faithful, prudent and energetic wife, who shared with him the hardships 
of a pioneer life with patience and cheerfulness. When they came to the county 
the country was new. There were few settlements, the land was unimproved, a 
good deal of it was submerged during the whole or a portion of the year, and 
malaria and consequent sickness could not be avoided. Facilities for trade and 
exchange were few and the settlers had to accommodate one another in many ways 
not dreamed of by residents in these days of development and general 
prosperity. The many friends of Mr. and Mrs. Hutchings rejoice that they have 
been spared to each other and to the community and to the peaceful and 
leisurely enjoyment of the fruits of their well-doing.

Additional Comments:
Source:  Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy Counties 
Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, pages 528-530

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/grundy/bios/hutching613nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/

File size: 5.8 Kb