"Portrait and biographical album of Coles County, Illinois"
  
ELSON R. GREEN, a prominent and wealthy farmer of Coles County, is now practically retired from active labor and is enjoying the comforts of one of the most elegant homes in Charleston Township. This is located outside the city limits and comprises eighty acres of highly cultivated land, with one of the most handsome and substantial residences in the county. Besides this property Mr. Green owns a farm of 303 acres in Ashmore Township, on which is a commodious farm house and other modern improvements. It is well stocked with the best grades of domestic animals, and Mr. Green, while occupying the farm, makes a specialty of raising Poland-China hogs, importing probably the first animals of the kind in Coles County. He commenced life without means, working much of the time as a farm laborer, and the position which he now occupies in his community, amply indicates the perseverance and industry with which his years have been employed.
Mr. Green has been a resident of this county since the spring of 1849. His boyhood years were spent in Miami County, Ohio, where his birth took place on Christmas Day, 1830. His father, James Green, was a native of West Virginia, in which State various representatives of the family have resided for several generations. The father of our subject remained in the Old Dominion until reaching manhood and was there married to Miss Elizabeth Hemingway, who was born in the western part of the State, in that portion which remained loyal to the Union during the late Civil War.
After marriage, James Green and his bride migrated to Ohio and located in Hamilton County, amidst the timber, where the father of our subject opened up a farm upon a. portion of the present site of the city of Cincinnati. After a few years spent in that region they pushed on further westward into Miami County, where the elder Green proceeded as before, clearing away the timber, erecting a log cabin, and the second time assuming the role of a pioneer settler. After a few years spent there he became uneasy and desirous of setting forth on another pilgrimage. He accordingly loaded his worldly effects into wagons and with his family started to cross the Mississippi and located in Missouri. While journeying through Coles County, this State, they met some of their old neighbors who were returning from Missouri to their former homes. The distressing account which these people gave of matters in that State, persuaded Mr. Green from continuing his journey and he concluded to locate where he was, namely in Coles County. He accordingly settled upon a tract of land in Hutton Township, which he occupied four years and then decided to return to Ohio. Locating in Darke County he again cleared away the forest, broke the virgin soil and put up the cabin of the pioneer. His residence there, however, was of short duration, and we next find him in Randolph County, Ind., where he entered a large tract of land, platted a town, built several houses, and effected many other improvements which induced people to repair there for settlement. He also fitted up a building for a hotel and was pressing rapidly along the road to wealth when he made the mistake of so many generous-hearted men, that of going security for a large sum of money in order to accommodate friends. As is too often the case, when the obligations became due Mr. Green was obliged to meet them, and by this means lost the larger part of his fortune. He finally removed from Randolph to Grant County, and located upon 100 acres of land which he cultivated to the best of his ability until in 1848, when, greatly broken in health and spirits, he was obliged to abandon active labor and died in the fall of the year. Mrs. Green after the death of her husband resided one year in Randolph County and then returned again to Grant County. Finally, at the request of her children, she came to this county and passed her remaining years, her death taking place at the home of her son in Morgan Township.
The household of James and Elizabeth Green included fourteen children, all of whom lived to become men and women, and the parents lived to witness the marriage of each. Nancy, the wife of Nelson Reddick, and Arthusia who married Nelson McCoy, are now deceased; Katie is the wife of Andrew Frazier, of Union City, Ind.; Andrew is deceased; Zachariah is a resident of Logansport, Ind.; Hester is the wife of Branson Anderson, of Randolph County, Ind. The younger members were: James, John H., William P.; Mary, the wife of A. Wiggs; Nelson R. of our sketch; Henry H., and Hannah J., the wife of G. W. White. The last two are numbered among the dead.
James Green was a man of great force of character and when becoming entitled to the right of suffrage identified himself with the Whig party. When this party was abandoned by the organization of the Republicans, he rallied to the support of the latter and continued their firm adherent to the end of his life. He was strongly opposed to slavery and was one of the most active members of the Abolition party whenever the question of human freedom was agitated. His son, our subject, is imbued with the same principles and affiliates with the same party to which his father belonged at the time of his death.
Nelson R. Green was a youth of eighteen years at the death of the father, and a year later came to Central Illinois and commenced work as a farm laborer at $10 per month. In 1853 he was employed in a sawmill at $16 per month. He had been trained to habits of industry and economy, however, and saved his earnings, so that by June, 1854, he had a cash capital of $300, and a good team of horses. This was considered a fair start in those days and he felt fully justified in beginning to think about a home of his own and some one to share his fortune. The maiden of his choice was Miss Mary E., daughter of Job W. and Martha (Archer) Brown, and they were married at the home of the bride’s parents in Ashmore Township, Jan. 19, 1854. Mr. Brown was one of the earliest pioneers of Illinois and located first in Edgar County, where the wife of our subject was born on the 7th of September, 1835. After the marriage of Mr. Green his employer offered him $20 per month and a house to live in if he would continue in the mill, but he was obliged to decline on account of his health which would not permit continuous indoor employment. He accordingly rented a tract of land and the first season sowed fifteen acres of wheat, forty acres of oats, and planted sixty acres of corn. He labored early and late, but the season proved unfavorable and at the end he harvested but 225 bushels of wheat, eleven bushels of oats and 200 bushels of corn. This was rather discouraging to begin with, and during the following winter he was glad to work for his father-in-law at fifty cents per day. In the spring, however, he determined to try farming again on his own account, and leased another tract of land. He was fairly successful this year but begrudged the paying of rent, and in 1860 managed to secure possession of seventy-three and one-half acres of land, for which he contracted to pay $1,400, $1,000 in cash down. Eighteen months later he cancelled his indebtedness and had a home which he could call his own. His property lay on section 11, in Ashmore Township, and he occupied the home- stead thus established for more than twenty-five years and until Jan. 25, 1886, when he took possession of the place he now occupies. He still retains possession of his farm, which is operated by a tenant, and from which he realizes annually a handsome income.
The first agricultural fair ever held in Coles County occupied a strip of pasture then owned by Nathan Ellington, but which is now a portion of the site of Charleston. Mr. Green and his father-in-law attended, the latter exhibiting stock and receiving a goodly share of the premiums. Each year since then Mr. Green has been actively identified with the agricultural society, and is uniformly found in attendance. One year he exhibited a three-year-old that “tipped the beam” at 1,000 pounds.
Mr. Green during his youth received very limited advantages and has been painfully aware of the difficulties encountered by those but imperfectly versed in the common branches of education. In order that his children should not labor under this difficulty, he determined to leave the farm and remove to a point where they could avail themselves of competent instructors. The household circle was completed by the birth of eleven children, of whom two died when young and nine are still living. Jonathan W. and George A. are prosperous farmers of Edwards County, Kan.; Lulu is the wife of Maiden Conelly, and a resident of Hodgeman County, Kan. Those unmarried and at home are William A., Leonard, Carrie, Claude O., Charles N. and Eugene D. They have all inherited the worthy qualities of both parents, and form a family group of which Mr. and Mrs. Green have reason to be proud.
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