Will County IL Archives Biographies.....MYERS, ELIAS 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Paula Winke-Martisek wranglerjack@comcast.net September 13, 2007, 4:57 pm

Author: GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD

ELIAS MYERS, a pioneer farmer of Wheatland Township, was born in Lancaster 
County, Pa., May 25, 1828, a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Amon) Myers.  His 
father, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania, engaged in teaming and also 
cultivated a small farm of eight acres.  In the spring of 1844, accompanied by 
his family and fourteen other families, he came via the canal and great lakes 
to Chicago, thence direct to Wheatland Township, where he bought ninety acres 
of partly improved land.  Two years later he died, at the age of seventy-five 
years. He was active in local politics and a stanch Republican.  In religion he 
was connected with the Methodist Church.  He was of direct German descent.  The 
lady whom he married was a native of Germany and when eleven years of age 
accompanied her parents to Lancaster County, Pa., where her father died at 
ninety-nine years of age and her mother at the same age.   Mrs. Myers died in 
Wheatland Township when eighty-four years old.  In her family there were eight 
children, Elias being the third of these.  When the family settled in this 
county our subject was a boy of sixteen.  He remained with his mother on the 
home farm until the spring of 1852, when he went to California by water.  On 
his arrival in the far west he engaged in mining and also followed other 
occupations at different times. However, none of his enterprises proved very 
successful, and he finally decided that he stood a better chance back at his 
old home.  Returning, he settled on an eighty-acre farm in Wheatland Township, 
a place that represented his earnings while in California.  A few years later 
he sold the place and bought his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres. 
At one time he owned six hundred acres in Iowa, but this he sold at $30 an 
acre.  He owns property in Aurora, where for eight years he made his home.  
When he was young he teamed from Chicago to Aurora for fourteen years, and he 
also engaged in threshing during the season.  Some years ago he lost his left 
hand through an accident with a corn husker, and since then he has done very 
little manual labor.  In 1883 he turned his farm over to his third son, since 
which time he has lived retired from active cares.
The marriage of Mr. Myers, in 1856, united him with a daughter of Hiram 
Johnson, of Wheatland Township.  She died in 1883.  Five children were born of 
their marriage.  The two eldest, Burton and Wallace, are engaged in the livery, 
feed, hay and grain business at Naperville, where their father built a large 
barn for them.  The youngest son, William, manages the home farm.  Edith is the 
wife of John Graves, of Aurora, who was captain of a company in the Spanish-
American war; and Pearl, who resides with her father on the home farm.  While 
he takes a warm interest in public affairs and in questions affecting the 
welfare of our nation, Mr. Myers has never been a politician and has never 
desired office.  The only positions he has ever held were of an educational 
nature.  In political views he favors the Republican party.


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