GEORGE VASEY, a stock-raiser, and farmer, resides on section 29, township 15 and range 11, where he owns and operates a splendid farm of 169 acres, twenty acres of which is good timber. This farm is well improved, and is the old homestead entered by the maternal grandfather of Mr. Vasey as early as 1832. Mr. Vasey has lived on this farm since 1859, and since he commenced residing upon it has made some improvements.

Mr. Vasey was born in North Riding, near Scarboro, Yorkshire, England, March 11, 1837, and is an excellent representative of the progressive English farmer. He inherited in a large degree the painstaking and careful plan of husbandry that is of necessity practiced in his native land It is an established fact that the people who come from the old countries, where land is scarce and poverty plentiful, and where the habits of economy in living, and the thorough plan of cultivating land obtains, make better farmers than a great many who were reared in this country. It is well known that in a good many cases where plenty exists waste follows, and so in this country, where there is an abundance of land, the people are not so careful of the way they cultivate it as are the old country farmers.

John Vasey, the father of George, was the son of John Vasey, Sr., both being natives of Yorkshire, England. The senior Mr. Vasey was a farmer in Yorkshire, and lived and died there. He was about three score and ten years of age at the time of his death. John Vasey, Jr., the father of the subject of this sketch, was reared in his native county, and for a few years, when a yong man, spent his time as a sailor. He was married in England to Miss Hannah Richardson, who was a sister of Vincent Richardson, of whom a sketch appears in this Album. John Vasey and wife, after marriage, began life as farmers, and to them were born seven children, their births all occurring in Yorkshire. The entire family came to the United States in the spring of 1849, landing at Quebec, Canada, after an uneventful voyage of eight weeks and three days. From Quebec they proceeded by land and water to Illinois, and in the summer of the same year they reached Morgan County. The senior Vasey procured land and immediately set about making a home, and when he died, in July 1871, he had been the owner of about 600 acres of good and well-improved land. He started his children liberally in life. Mr. Vasey died when he was sixty-eight years old, having well rounded out a most useful and virtuous life. When he passed away the county lost a good citizen. His wife survived him, she dying in 1884, being then about seventy-one years of age. She was a kind mother, a good neighbor, and was thoroughly well liked by everyone with whom she came in contact, and her memory will long be cherished by her children. George Vasey was educated chiefly in Morgan County, and here received his first ideas of "getting on in the world." He went back to England and was married in Lincolnshire, April 15, 1867, to Emma Grant, who was born there in 1843. She is the daughter of James Grant, who was a successful businessman in Lincolnshire, and died ripe in years. The mother of Mrs. Vasey died young, and but little is known of her history. Mrs. Vasey is the mother of three children: John J., Laura B., and Charles H., all of whom are at home. Politically, Mr. Vasey followed in the footsteps of his father and brothers, and is a sound Democrat, but he cares little for politics, except when local affairs are involved. He is one of the solid men of this town, and one who is greatly respected for his sterling qualities.