Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Fiddyment, Frederick 1839 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 9, 2007, 12:03 am

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

FREDERICK FIDDYMENT is associated with the agricultural interests of Will 
County as an active and capable farmer, and his farm in Plainfield Township is 
one of the most desirable in this vicinity, as it is highly cultivated and is 
replete in all its appointments. Mr. Fiddyment was born in Norfolk County, 
England, July 3, 1839, a son of William Fiddyment, of that place. Daniel 
Fiddyment, grandfather of our subject, is also supposed to have been born 
there, and he was there reared to the life of a farmer, dying also in his 
native England. His widow and three sons, William, John and Walter, came to 
America, and she died at the home of her son John, in Lockport, Ills. The 
father of our subject was bred on a farm, living in England until 1849, when, 
having resolved to make a new start in life, he embarked for America in the 
month of July, taking passage at London, in the sailing vessel "Lucinia." 
After a long and stormy voyage, he landed at New York, in the month of August, 
and one week later set out for Illinois, coming by the Hudson River and Erie 
Canal to Buffalo, thence by the lakes to Chicago, and from there by canal to 
Lockport, this county. For a few years after coming here, he worked in his 
brother's distillery, and then turned his attention to farming, buying a tract 
of wild timber land three miles north of Lockport. He erected suitable 
buildings, greatly improved the land, and there built up a comfortable home, 
in which he died in the month of April, 1878. The maiden name of his wife was 
Hannah Nivet, and she was a native of the same shire as himself. She still 
resides on the old homestead, having reared four children, as follows: Daniel, 
who remains with her; Frederick, our subject: Hannah, who married William 
Fisher and lives in Lockport: and Walter, who resides in Lemont. The son of 
whom we write, was a lad of ten years when he accompanied his parents to this 
country, and he still remembers well the incidents of the long and perilous 
voyage. He was quite young when he commenced work with his father, and was 
with him in the distillery about fifteen years. Then he began his career as a 
farmer and, in 1868, first became the owner of land, buying a tract of wild 
prairie on section 32, Plainfield Township. He did not, however, locate on the 
place at that time, but rented land for two or three years, and then settled 
on his own land. In 1875, after greatly improving the place, he disposed of it 
at a good price, and bought the farm on which he now lives. This farm, one of 
the finest in the neighborhood, lies on both sides of the DuPage River, and 
comprises one hundred and seventy-two acres of as fertile farming land as is 
to be found in Will County. It was here that the lumber was cut and sawed for 
the first frame house ever erected in Chicago. Not only has Mr. Fiddyment 
erected substantial and commodious buildings, but he has placed the land under 
admirable tillage, and has all the conveniences for canning on his operations 
to the best advantage. A view of his pleasant home appears elsewhere in this 
volume. By his marriage, in 1860, to Catherine Raush, a native of Germany, Mr. 
Fiddyment secured a noble wife, who has cheerfully aided him in his work of 
upbuilding their home. They have ten children living, namely: John, Elizabeth, 
Emma, Fred, Willie, Mary, Franklin, Julia, Grace and Florence. It is the 
united testimony of his fellow townsmen that Mr. Fiddyment is in all respects 
a man of conscientious principles and exemplary habits, and one who is free 
hearted, kind and considerate, always willing to lend a hand to those less 
fortunate than himself. In his religious views he sympathizes with the tenets 
of the Methodist Church, and is a faithful attendant at divine services in the 
house of worship dedicated to that denomination in Plainfield.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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