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 L. MAJOR, dealer in grain, including corn, wheat and oats, for a Peoria firm, Tyng, Hall & Co., is doing a flourishing business at Mattoon, located near the P., D. & E. R. R. track, where he has operated since 1882, and has become an important factor in the business interests of the village. He is a fine illustration of the self-made man, who has thus far in life paddled his own canoe and deserves great credit for his industry and enterprise. Mr. Major was born in Davis County, Ind., April 24, 1849, and is the son of John A. and Mary J. (McAdams) Major, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Ohio. John Major followed farming during his early manhood, and for a year operated on the other side of the Mississippi in Keokuk County, Iowa, Not quite satisfied with his experiences in the Hawkeye State, he returned to Indiana and resuming his farming there, remained until 1868. He then became a resident of Lafayette Township, this county, and engaged in fanning until 1870, then retired to the village and spent the balance of his life in the ease and comfort which he had so justly earned by a life of industry. He departed from the scenes of his earthly labors in 1875, leaving a wife and eight children. These were India, Mrs. Craycraft, of Mattoon; William L., of our sketch; Alice; Maie, who is clerking in the dry-goods store of George N. Bucks at Mattoon; John S. and Jennie, twins. The former married Miss Cora Hughes, and is a resident of Chicago, engaged as a messenger with the American Express Company; he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Jennie became the wife of George Gibler. of Mattoon. The two youngest children are Mattie and Grace. John Major was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, but the wife and mother belongs to the Congregational Church. Mr. Major spent his early years on his father’s farm, receiving the advantages of a common-school education. After reaching his majority he went into Kansas and farmed one year, then returning to Mattoon, engaged in the corn-meal mill of I. & D. D. James, with whom he remained about five years. He then engaged on the railroad as car builder one year, and established his present business in 1881. He gives employment to from four to eight men. While a resident of Moultrie County Mr. Major was married, in the spring of 1885, to Miss Allie McCaig, of Sullivan, that county. Mrs. Major is the daughter of William McCaig, a native of Ohio, and by her union with our subject has become the mother of one child, a daughter, Ruth. Their residence is pleasantly located on Wabash street, and is the resort of many friends. Mr. M. and his wife are worthy members of the Congregational Church, and politically, our subject is a stanch supporter of the Republican party. He became connected with the Knights and Ladies of Honor in 1882. |
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