Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Suffern, Samuel 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com March 25, 2006, 5:38 pm

Author: Bio/Gen Record LaSalle/Grundy 1900

Samuel Suffern

In its period Illinois was fortunate in having among its incoming citizens 
many men of means and business ability and experience, who put themselves at 
the head of various movements and enterprises, and were largely instrumental 
in hastening the work of settlement, improvement and development.  Grundy 
county had some such citizens in the 40s and 50s, and none of them was more 
prominent or more useful in his sphere than the well remembered gentleman 
whose name is above.

Samuel Suffern was a native of Ireland and came to this country when he was 
very young and settled in New York, near Syracuse, and for some years was 
engaged successfully in mercantile business and contracting.  In 1849 he went 
to California, where he engaged in mining and farming for a period of five 
years, and in the spring of 1855 he came to Illinois and settled in Felix 
Township, where he remained until his death, which occurred at his home on 
section 35, October 19, 1893.  He devoted himself largely to farming and stock-
raising, and by his industry and careful attention to business soon acquired a 
large property.  He laid out the present town of Suffern in Felix township, 
and erected many of its residences and business buildings.

Mr. Suffern was married at Morris, Illinois, to Ellen Smead, a daughter of 
George Smead, of that place, and they had five children, four of whom are 
living, who were named in the order of their birth Mary, Mattie, Isabelle, 
William G. and Annie E.  Mary was born in Grundy county, and is the wife of 
John Trotter, a prominent merchant of Felix township, to whom she has borne 
five children.  Mattie was born in Grundy county, and died in Felix township 
about 1882.  She was the wife of John Trotter, the husband now of her sister 
Mary, and left no children.  Isabelle and Annie E. live in Chicago, where they 
have established a home with their mother at its head.

William G. Suffern, only son of Samuel and Ellen (Smead) Suffern, was born in 
Felix township, Grundy county, Illinois, December 8, 1864, and has lived much 
of his life on the family homestead.  He attended the public schools of Felix 
township and took a commercial course in a Chicago business college.  For some 
years he was a hardware merchant at La Grange and Coal City, Illinois.  At 
Coal City he held the office of village clerk.  He was married December 25, 
1890, to Mary C. Penn, daughter of John and Elizabeth Penn, of Coal City, 
Illinois, and they have four children:  Ellen, born at Coal City, Illinois, 
September 18, 1892; Ethel, born at Coal City, Illinois, June 2, 1894; 
Winnifred, born in Felix township, Grundy county, March 22, 1896; and Samuel, 
born in Felix township, January 16, 1898.  Mr. Suffern is one of the most 
enterprising young men of his township and county.  Politically he is a 
Democrat, and he takes an intelligent and patriotic interest in all questions 
of public importance.

Samuel Suffern was a man of much force of character and of a progressive 
spirit, which not only made him a very successful pioneer but developed him to 
meet all emergencies and to be thoroughly master of the situation as time 
brought changed conditions, more important interests and new and unlooked-for 
responsibilities.  He came to help settle the country, and he did his part in 
the work of primitive improvement and then built a town, not a large one 
certainly, but important for the time and place, which bears his name and will 
stand as a lasting and ever-growing monument to his enterprise and public 
spirit.  He helped to make history, and history will preserve to coming 
generations the record of his achievements.

Additional Comments:
Source:  Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy County, 
Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, p466-467

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