Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Matter, Elton E 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 3, 2007, 4:57 pm

Author: Genealogical/Biographical Publishing Co

ELTON E. MATTER is one of the prosperous and popular farmers of Wheatland 
Township, and owns one hundred and four acres of highly cultivated land, 
bearing excellent improvements. While he oversees his farm with a careful eye, 
his attention is not limited to farming. He was one of the original 
stockholders of the Dupage Valley creamery, in which he served as a director 
for three years. Since the organization of the Hoddam Threshing Company he has 
held office as its secretary and treasurer. 

In connection with general farming he carries on dairying, and, though as yet 
this work is conducted on a small scale, he has found it a profitable adjunct 
of farming. In local politics he is an active Republican. In 1894 he was 
elected collector of the township and in 1899 was chosen to act as 
commissioner, since which time he has been treasurer of the board.

In the township where he now lives Mr. Matter was born January 13, 1862. His 
father, Jacob, a native of Pennsylvania, learned the shoemaker's trade in 
youth, and later, in connection with that occupation, he engaged in lumbering 
and rafting logs. In 1844 he came west to Illinois. For a time he cultivated a 
rented farm near Naperville. Later he took up eighty acres of government land 
on section 4, Wheatland Township, Will County, which he improved and on which 
he made his home until 1869. He then sold the place to his oldest son and went 
to Aurora, Ill., where he conducted a grocery business. Soon, however, he 
returned to farming, purchasing the farm now owned by our subject. In the fall 
of 1886 he moved from this place to Naperville, and there his last years were 
spent. During his early residence in this township he served as collector. He 
was a Republican, but not active in politics. The Evangelical Church numbered 
him among its earnest members and he took a warm interest in its work. At one 
time he owned one hundred and sixty acres, but disposed of a part of this, so 
that at his death his possessions had been reduced to one hundred acres. His 
wife, who was Nancy Milliren, of Pennsylvania, is living in Naperville and is 
now eighty-two years of age. Of their eleven children one died in infancy; 
Abraham is a farmer in Dupage County, this  state; Abbie is the wife of D. B. 
Givler, of Naperville; Mary is the wife of Rev. J. H. Yage, treasurer of 
Northwestern College, an Evangelical institution in Naperville; Isaac lives in 
Aurora; Ella married Prof. L. M. Umbach, of Northwestern College; Henry J. is 
engaged in railroading and makes Aurora his home; Sarah is the wife of G. S. 
Bartholomew, of Rockford, Ill.; Emma married John P. Patterson; Newton E. is 
editor of the Wheaton Illinoisan, at Wheaton, Ill.

The subject of this sketch was six years of age when his parents moved to 
Aurora. His education was obtained principally in the schools of that city. He 
was fourteen when the family returned to this township. Since then he has made 
his home on his present farm. March 18, 1886, he married Miss Emma Stark, a 
native of Wheatland Township, and daughter of Jacob Stark, now living retired 
in Naperville. Mr. and Mrs. Matter have one son, Robert Earl, who was born 
July 20, 1891. Fraternally our subject is connected with the Modern Woodmen of 
America. While he is not connected with any denomination, his sympathies are 
with the Evangelical Church, to which his wife belongs and in which faith he 
was reared.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present

Biographical Publishing Company; Chicago 1900

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/matter1649nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/

File size: 4.2 Kb