Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Sprague, Thomas J 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 2:10 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

THOMAS J. SPRAGUE. One of the men who by personal sacrifice and persevering 
industry wrested a home and fortune from the raw prairie land of Will County, 
and who will be long remembered by those among whom he made his home, was the 
well-known pioneer, Thomas J. Sprague. Coming here when the region was wild 
and uncultivated, he bore his part in the development of the land and assisted 
in bringing Will County to its present high standing among the counties of 
Illinois. He was born in Hamburg, Erie County, N. Y., November 23, 1810, and 
grew to manhood on a farm. After having for two years engaged in the 
mercantile business, in 1838 he came west to Illinois, settling in Dupage 
Township, Will County. Here he bought one hundred and sixty acres of wild 
prairie land on which scarce a furrow had been turned nor an attempt at 
improvement made. The task of improving the place was no small one, but he 
succeeded in doing so and met with more than ordinary success as a pioneer 
farmer. By the purchase of canal and government land he finally became the 
owner of over five hundred acres, which he held until his death. After years 
of arduous labor as a farmer he accumulated sufficient to give him a nice 
income, and he then retired from active labors and came to Joliet, where he 
made his home from 1890 until he passed from earth, October 22, 1898, after an 
illness of one week. Financially he was a successful man; nor was he less 
successful in winning the esteem of his associates and the warm regard of his 
friends. In politics he was always stanch in his adherence to the Democratic 
party. Fraternally he was connected with Lockport Lodge No. 538, A. F. & A. M. 
While he was not identified with any denomination he was a believer in 
Christianity (his parents having been Quakers) and in his life endeavored to 
live up to the teachings of Christ. It was his pleasure in his last years to 
contrast the improvements of the present with the privations of the past, and 
to call the attention of others to the wonderful transformation wrought in 
this county during his sixty years of residence here. No one rejoiced more 
than he in the county's upward growth and progress. January 9, 1845, Mr. 
Sprague married Mrs. Lydia (Swift) Godfrey, daughter of Shubael and Eunice 
(Olmstead) Swift. Her father was born and reared in Austerlitz, Columbia 
County, N.Y., and engaged in farming there until 1835, when he drove through 
to Illinois and settled in what is now Dupage Township, Will County. Pre-
empting a tract of wild land he gave his attention to its improvement. Later 
he added to it by the purchase of canal land. A number of years later he sold 
the farm and moved to Waukegan, where he died at ninety-four years of age. In 
politics he was a Democrat. His wife had died in New York when thirty-seven 
years of age, leaving three children. One of these, Lydia, was born December 
28, 1818, on the homestead at Austerlitz, where her father's eyes had first 
opened to the light. She accompanied her father to this county in 1835, and, 
having received an excellent education in the east, she secured a position as 
teacher in Dupage Township, continuing in that occupation until her marriage. 
In 1839 she became the wife of Charles Godfrey, who came to this county from 
the east in 1833. Three children were born of their marriage, viz.: Eunice E., 
wife of Reuben W. Kilmer; Joseph, a resident of Joliet; and Mrs. Julia M. 
Lord, of Joliet. A few years after the death of Mr. Godfrey his widow became 
the wife of Mr. Sprague. Of the children born to this union three died when 
young and Thomas J. died in Joliet October 3, 1893, after having gained a good 
practice as a physician. Two other sons, Charles N. and Frank, are represented 
on other pages of this volume. The daughters are: Elizabeth, wife of Jonathan 
Mather; Harriet, widow of Albert Phelps, of Dupage Township; and Celia, widow 
of George E. Royce, of Naperville, Ill.

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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