Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Scofield, Amos H 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 8:43 pm

Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record

AMOS H. SCOFIELD.  Of the citizens whose presence in the county proved helpful 
to its interests none is more worthy of mention than the late Amos H. 
Scofield, of Plainfield. He was a man of excellent business capacity and one 
whose dealings were always marked by integrity.  During the more than thirty-
seven years of his residence in Plainfield he witnessed the changes that 
transformed the barren prairies of Will County into rich, fertile farms, 
replaced the cabins by commodious residences, and brought into the county a 
stream of immigration that founded towns and villages and carried on the work 
of civilization until Will County has taken rank among the best counties of 
the state.

The first twenty-one years of Mr. Scofield's life were spent in the state of 
New York (Genoa Township, Cayuga County), where he was born February 25, 
1813.  From there he came west and settled on a farm at North Branch, near 
Chicago, where he tilled the soil for a period of ten years.  Next he followed 
farming in Newark, Ill.  In September, 1855, he settled in Plainfield, where 
for one year he engaged in merchandising.  At an early day he purchased four 
and one-half acres in the best residence portion of Plainfield; of this two 
lots were sold for residences, and his widow still owns three acres, which 
forms a valuable homestead.

When the slavery agitation filled the whole land Mr. Scofield was firm in his 
adherence to abolition principles.  Late in life he became a prohibitionist in 
politics.  He was a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, regular 
in his attendance at church services, Sunday-school and prayer-meeting, and 
for years served as a class leader.  Up to the last of his long life he 
retained his deep interest in church work and his declining days were cheered 
by the hope which religion gives.  He died very suddenly February 28, 1893, 
when eighty years of of age, leaving to his friends the memory of an honorable 
existence, filled with good deeds and helpful acts.

September 18, 1855, Mr. Scofield married Miss Elizabeth  Rhodes, who was born 
in Rensselaer County, N. Y., but in childhood accompanied her parents to 
Jefferson County, the same state, where she was reared and educated.  In 1851 
she came to Illinois with a brother and settled near Plainfield.  She is a 
lady whose gentleness of disposition has won for her many friends during the 
many years of her residence in this vicinity. For sixty-six years she has been 
a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Though she is now (1900) 
eighty-two years of age, she is still in the possession of her physical and 
mental faculties and retains her interest in the world of activity.  The 
twilight of her life is brightened by the esteem of the neighbors and the 
regard of the people of the town where for so many years she has made her 
home.  On the eighty-second anniversary of her birth, January 27, 1900, she 
celebrated the occasion by inviting to her home a number of friends, all 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Seven of those assembled were over 
eighty years of age, and three of these were widows whose husbands had 
attained eighty years.  At the close of the day it was the verdict of all 
present that the occasion had been one of the most enjoyable and memorable in 
their lives.

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

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