Biography for Earl Daily, Putnam County, Illinois Earl Daily was born on April 2,1892 in city of Peoria, Illinois, the youngest of 4 children.  Earl’s family lived on Washington Street in Peoria when he was a child. In the early 1900’s, his family moved to the small village of Florid which is a few miles south-east of Hennepin, Illinois. His father worked as a laborer helping fix the roads for the county or work the fields for local farmers. Earl attended the village school and helped his father during his spare time. When Earl was 19, he left home and moved to Peoria to try to find work. He met his future wife, Sara “Tillie” Hickman there in Peoria. Earl and Tillie were married on July 28, 1912 in Peoria, Illinois. Together Earl and Sara had 10 children - Benjamin, Fred, Roy, Gerald, Edith, Marge, Eileen, James, Genevie, and Shirley. Earl and Tillie lived near Peoria, Illinois for most of their life. In the early years of his married life, the family lived at a Salvation Army Camp near Peoria. Tillie always wanted to live in Peoria so in 1935, Earl moved to the city.  Tillie, unfortunately passed away three short years later in 1938. Earl enjoyed a close relationship with his children and they even formed a band together. Earl played the violin, his sons Fred and Roy played guitars. His son Benjamin played the banjo and his son Jerry played the ukulele. His daughters would sing. Their band played at churches, taverns and in Florid, Illinois for dances. They even played a few times for WLPO, a radio station in LaSalle, Illinois. His brother Albert and nephew Haroll would sometimes join them. On June 1, 1933, the front paper of the Putnam Record had an article about one of Earl's concerts. It stated, " On Sunday afternoon, June 4, the Earl Daily family of Peoria will give a sacred concert at the Florid church, beginning at 2:00. Earl Daily was a Florid boy and is well known in the community. His coming to his old home with a family that is able to entertain in the roll of a concert is interesting and the old church aught to be full to the doors. Not only his friends but anyone who enjoys music is most cordially invited to take in the concert and meet the boy of the other days and greet his family as well. The roads are good to Florid now and it is only a few minutes run." Later in life, Earl went to live with his son Benjamin. It was during this time that Earl lost most of his prize possessions. He had his family history packed away in a big trunk and during one of the big floods, it was lost to the Illinois river. Seven years before his death, Earl went to work at Caterpillar Tractor Company. During that time he moved back to North Adams Street in Peoria, Illinois.  Earl became ill shortly before his death and was admitted to St. Francis hospital, Peoria, Illinois on June 8, 1951. He died at 8:20 PM Thursday, July 5, 1951 at St. Francis hospital in Peoria, Illinois. Earl was laid to rest beside his wife in the little cemetery in Florid, Putnam County, Illinois. --------------------------------------------------------------------- UGENWEB 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: Nancy Piper