Vermilion county Illinois, IRA FAUROT ==================================================================== Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Joy Fisher ==================================================================== p. 250-251 IRA FAUROT. This venerable gentleman was long intimately connected with the agricultural interests of Vermilion County, and is still the possessor of one of its many valuable farms, finely located in the midst of a rich farming region on section 34, Pilot Township. When he purchased this farm it was wild, uncultivated land with no buildings on it, and but one dwelling house in sight, the country roundabout still being not far removed from its primitive condition and sparsely settled. It is a fact of which he may well be proud that our subject has witnessed the greater part of its development, and has aided its growth as only a skillful, practical farmer can do. He is now living here in retirement in his comfortable home, having accumulated a competency sufficient to guard his old age against want in any form. The ancestors of our subject were natives of sunny France as is betokened by his name, and from them he inherited those genial and pleasing traits of character that have gained him a warm place in the hearts of those about him. and also the thrifty and industrious habits that have led him to prosperity. His parents, Joseph and Sarah (Sears) Faurot, were of French ancestry, but were natives of this country. They at one time made their home in Ontario County, N. Y., whence they came to Illinois, and located in Champaign County, Ohio. They afterward turned their steps, and going to Steuben County, Ind., made their home there till death claimed them, the father dying in 1836, and the mother in 1839. They were the parents of five children, of whom two are living; Jane is the widow of David Porter, of Kentucky, and she is now living in Missouri with her three children; Benjamin, deceased, married Louisa Avey, of New York, and they had two children, Elmira and Harriet; Alva, deceased, was a farmer; he married Louisa Farmer, of Ohio, and they had three children—William H., Alva and Farmer; Henry, deceased, married Maria Wolf, of Ohio, and she is now living in Missouri with her four children-Sylvester, Theodore, Melvin and Mary. Our subject was born in Ontario County, N. Y., April 23, 1819, and he accompanied his parents to Champaign County, Ohio, when he was young. At the age of fifteen a hardy, self-reliant youth, manly beyond his years, he left the shelter of the parental roof to go forth into the world to fight life's battles on his own account, and for some years was engaged in working by the month. After marriage he commenced to rent land, but always with the end in view of owning land himself as soon as his means would allow. By frugality and hard labor, at the expiration of three years, he had money enough to buy sixty acres of timbered land, and he lived on it the next nine years, busily engaged in its clearance and improvement. In 1850 he sold it, and going to Marion County, in this State, he resided there the ensuing four years. Returning to this county he invested some of his money in 200 acres of wild land, from which he has developed his present fine farm, on which he has erected suitable, well-appointed buildings, and has every convenience for carrying on agriculture to the best advantage. To the wife who has shared his fortunes and been an important factor in bringing about his prosperity, Mr. Faurot was united in marriage July 2, 1840. Her maiden name was Elvira Fowler, and she is a daughter of Willey and Cynthia (Perkins) Fowler, natives respectively of London, England, and Germany. They came to this country and spent their last days here. The following is the record of the live children born to our subject and his wife: Hannah was born June 30, 1841; Cynthia, Feb. 19, 1843; Sarah, Feb. 15, 1846; Victoria, Aug. 21, 1849, died Oct. 10, 1851; Willie, born Sept. 11, 1852; Joseph, Jan. 18,1858. Hannah married John Davidson, of Ohio, now living in this county, and they have five children—Arabella, Ira, Zeruah and two dead; Cynthia married Hugh V. Davidson, of Marion County, Ohio, now living in this county, and they have four children—Ella, Josephine, James and Estella; Sarah has been twice married. Her first husband was Aaron Davis, of Shelby County, Ill., and they had four children —Olive, Seigel, Effie and Leona. Her present husband is Alexander Steward, of Champaign County, Ill., and they have four children—Lizzie, Alvina, Jessie and James O.; Willie married Annie Ay, of Douglas County, Ill., and they are living in this county; they have three children—Ira, Elsie and Florence; Joseph, a retired farmer living in Armstrong, married Flora Thompson, and they have one child, Amy. Mr. Faurot is a thoroughly good and upright man, who is well thought of by the entire community. His life-record shows that he is a man of good capacity and sound discretion, always cordial and kindly in his relations with others and fair in his dealings with them. As consistent members of the Christian Church, he and his wife and children exert a good influence in the township, or wherever they may be. Politically, Mr. Faurot is a decided Republican, and gives his party the benefit of his hearty support.