Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Greenwood, Aaron 
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Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907

Aaron Greenwood, one of the prominent and honored pioneer residents of Will 
county, may truly be called a self-made as well as a self-educated man, for 
all that he today possesses has been acquired through his own diligence and 
persistency of purpose, while his knowledge has been acquired entirely through 
reading, investigation and experience, for he had no school advantages 
whatever. He is today, however, the owner of large landed interests in Will 
county, while he is living retired in a beautiful home, surrounded by several 
acres of land just outside the corporation limits of Manhattan. Mr. Greenwood 
was born in Herefordshire, England, February 25, 1835, a son of John and 
Martha (Pritchard) Greenwood, who were likewise natives of that country, where 
the mother died when the son was a little lad of five years. The father died 
in Will county in 1854, when he had reached the age of sixty-four years. He 
had previously been married and had a family of six children by his first 
union, of whom one son, John, came to this country at an early day and for 
many years followed farming near Joliet, but he is now deceased. Mr. Greenwood 
also had six children by his second marriage, and after losing his wife he 
came to America, bringing with him two sons, Aaron and his younger brother. 
They crossed the Atlantic in 1847, being forty-seven days in making the 
voyage. Aaron Greenwood was then a lad of twelve years, and he did the cooking 
for the family during their trip across the ocean. The sea was very rough at 
times and on account of the rolling of the ship the son experienced many 
difficulties in performing his duties as a cook. Upon his arrival in Will 
county, the father made his home with his son John until his demise. As above 
stated, Aaron Greenwood was a little lad of but five years at the time of his 
mothers death, after which he lived with an uncle in England until he was 
brought to the United States by his father in 1847. He had no school 
advantages during his youth, for he had to provide for his own support from a 
very early age, and in fact, although he was a youth of twelve years at the 
time of his arrival in the new world, he had not yet learned the alphabet. 
Reaching New York city, he made his way to Buffalo by the Erie canal, and to 
Chicago by way of the Great Lakes. He walked from the latter city to Joliet, 
for this was prior to the building of the railroads or the completion of the 
Michigan and Illinois canal. After arriving in Will county Mr. Greenwood was 
bound out to a man by the name of Brown, with whom he was to remain until 
eighteen years of age, but in the spring following the seventeenth anniversary 
of his birth, he started out to make his own way in the world. He began to 
learn the carpenters trade but abandoned that pursuit before he completed the 
trade. He was then employed on a farm by the month, the work all being done by 
hand. He planted corn when the sod had to be cut with an ax, and broke wild 
prairie, driving five yoke of oxen to the breaking plow when a mere boy. On 
the 21st of March, 1861, Mr. Greenwood established a home of his own by his 
marriage on that date to Miss Sarah Harriet Noakes, who was likewise a native 
of England, born in Kent county, August 9, 1840. She was brought to America 
when only two years old by her parents, Thomas and Mary (Woollett) Noakes. On 
arriving in New York they there spent one year, after which they lived for a 
few months in Chicago, from which city they came to Will county, and located 
on a farm in Homer township. The father died when the daughter was but nine 
years of age, while the mother survived and passed away about thirty years 
ago, when she had reached the age of seventy-two years. Mrs. Greenwood is one 
of a family of twelve children but she and a sister Mrs. Mary Brown, who 
resides at Morris, Illinois, are the only surviving members. Following his 
marriage Mr. Greenwood located on a rented farm, which he operated for three 
years, during which time he prospered in his undertakings, so that he was 
enabled to purchase a tract of ninety-two acres, situated on section 12, 
Manhattan township. The farm was partially improved when it came into his 
possession, but after taking up his abode thereon Mr. Greenwood added many 
modern and substantial improvements and placed his fields under a high state 
of cultivation. As the years passed and his financial resources increased he 
added to his original holdings from time to time until his tract now embraces 
two hundred and sixty-six acres, in addition to which he owns a farm of one 
hundred and sixty acres on section 11, of the same township. He made his home 
for twenty years on the farm which he first purchased, during which time he 
was engaged in general agricultural pursuits and stock-raising, and owing to 
the gratifying success which attended his efforts he was at length permitted 
to retire from the more arduous duties of life and purchasing a tract of 
thirty-nine acres adjoining the village of Manhattan, built a home thereon, in 
which he has lived for twenty-two years. He has, however, disposed of some of 
this property, having sold some of it in town lots. His landed possessions are 
extensive and bring to him a good annual rental, which supplies himself and 
family with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. Of the two 
daughters born unto Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood, the eldest, Martha, died when 
seventeen months old, while the younger daughter, Alice, is now the wife of 
Edwin Cole, who resides on a farm east of Manhattan. They also reared an 
adopted son, Robert Greenwood, who is now a prosperous farmer of Bates county, 
Missouri. For the past forty-one years Mr. Greenwood has been identified with 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and for many years served as one of its 
stewards, while at the present writing he is acting as treasurer of the 
church. He has also for many years past served as a trustee and is filling 
that office at the present time. For many years he gave his political support 
to the republican party, but for the past eight years has voted the 
prohibition ticket, on which he was once a candidate for sheriff. For nine 
years he acted as school director, and for three years was a school trustee, 
the cause of education ever finding in him a warm and interested friend. Mr. 
Greenwood has always lived frugally and economically yet is public-spirited in 
a marked degree, giving his co-operation and financial aid to many movements 
and measures for the public good. His life illustrates very clearly what may 
be accomplished if one has a strong will and a determination to succeed, for 
he started out when a young lad to face the responsibilities of life, having 
neither capital nor education, but through the years that have come and gone 
he has profited by every opportunity that has presented itself and has worked 
his way gradually upward until he is today numbered among the large landowners 
of Will county. Coming to this state during its pioneer epoch he can relate in 
interesting manner the conditions which here existed at that early period, for 
he has been a witness of the wonderful changes that have taken place as the 
work of improvement and progress has been carried on along all lines. He and 
his wife are an honorable aaid honored couple, and have a large number of 
friends both in Manhattan and in Will county. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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