Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Whipple, Levi 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 9, 2007, 11:58 pm

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

LEVI WHIPPLE, member of the firm of Whipple & Barr, grain merchants of 
Plainfield, was born near Morris, Grundy County, Ill., March 7, 1846. His 
father, William Whipple, a native of Watertown, Jefferson County, N. Y., born 
in November, 1808, spent the first fourteen years of his life there and then 
went to Detroit, Mich. For six years he worked as a clerk in that city. Coming 
from there to Illinois he engaged in the grocery business in Marseilles, also 
sold groceries through the surrounding country with team and wagon. He then 
settled in Grundy County, renting a farm near Morris, but after two years 
bought another farm near by, and on the latter place he made his home for 
thirty years. From there he moved to Buffalo, Ind. His last days were spent in 
Ford County, Ill., where he died at eighty-seven years. In politics he was 
first a Whig and later a Republican. While he never had any educational 
advantages he became a well-informed man and kept posted concerning current 
events of importance. He was a member of a pioneer family of New England that 
traced its ancestry to Germany. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Basheba 
Gibson, was born in Vermont and died in Illinois in 1862, when forty-five 
years of age. She was a woman of exemplary character and sincere Christian 
faith. She left four children, of whom Levi was second in order of birth. 
Until twenty-five years of age our subject remained at home assisting his 
father in the cultivation of the farm. At the time of his marriage he settled 
on one of his father's farms, which he later purchased, making it his home 
until 1882. He then rented the property and moved to Morris, Ill., where he 
carried on a livery business for two years. Afterward he became interested in 
the lumber business. In 1890 he came to Plainfield and formed a partnership 
with C. V. Barr, renting an elevator at Plainfield and one at Caton Farm. The 
latter burned down in 1892, but was immediately rebuilt by the proprietors. 
Later they bought the elevator at Plainfield and have since operated both, Mr. 
Whipple managing that at Caton Farm, while Mr. Barr has charge of the one at 
Plainfield. The Caton Farm elevator has a capacity of between seventy-five and 
eighty thousand bushels, it being one of the largest elevators in the county. 
By the marriage of Mr. Whipple to Miss Harriet A. Stone three children were 
born, Winnifred, Lester H. and Chester L. In his political views M. Whipple is 
a Republican and takes an active part in assisting those of his friends who 
are candidates for office, but has never sought political positions for 
himself. He was a charter member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Plainfield 
and is still connected with it. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America. In the forwarding of worthy enterprises he has taken an interest, 
contributing to the same as able, and he has for years assisted in the 
maintenance of the Congregational Church with which his wife is identified. As 
a substantial business man no one stands higher in his community than Mr. 
Whipple. He has great capacity for business, and the success of his 
enterprises comes from his energetic management of the same. Having given much 
time and thought to the grain business he is familiar with all its details, 
and manages his elevator in such a way as to reap the greatest possible 
results therefrom. He is very progressive and public-spirited, and is always 
in favor of movements that are likely to benefit his locality, though the 
demands upon his time made by his business interests prevent him from actively 
identifying himself with public affairs.

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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