ALEXANDER WILDAY, a leading pioneer of this county, is comfortably established on section 3, township 15, range 12. He is a native of Pike County, Ohio, and was born July 11, 1825, to Thomas and Eleanor Wilday, who were both natives of Delaware. They lived in that State until the death of the father, which occurred when the subject of this notice was a young man of twenty years.

In 1846, accompanied by his widowed mother and three other children, Mr. Wilday emigrated to Logan County, this State, where he settled and lived two years. In 1848 he changed his residence to this county, locating upon the land comprising his present homestead. The mother purchased 400 acres, which were subsequently transferred to our subject and his brother Jerial. The family performed a great deal of hard labor in those early days, and our subject, in December, 1850, established domestic ties of his own by his marriage with Miss Talitha Drinkwater. This lady was born in Cass County, this State, and was the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Drinkwater, who were early settlers of that county. Of this union there were born four children, only two of whom are now living: Sarah E., the wife of W.H. Geiger, of Tama County, Iowa, and Martha J., Mrs. Thomas Naylor, of this county.

Our subject studied his first lessons in a log cabin in his native county, the floor of which was of puncheon, the benches and desks of slabs and the window panes of greased paper. During the years which have intervened since then he has been an interested witness of the growth and development of the Great West, particularly of Illinois, and has contributed, as he was able, to the general result. In religious matters he is a member of the Primitive Baptist Church, while his estimable wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has served as School Director probably fifteen years, and in politics uniformly votes the Democratic ticket. He has been successful in accumulating a fair share of this world's goods, and is numbered among the upright men of his community who enjoy, in a large measure, the esteem of their fellow-citizens.