RAWLINGS, William E., farmer and stock-man residing on Section 8, Township 13, Range, 9, was born near Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, August 12, 1845, the son of Edward and Elizabeth (Holt) Rawlings, his father being a primitive Methodist preacher by profession, and a tailor by trade. William E. obtained his schooling in the land of his birth, and in his youth became a gamekeeper on an old English estate. In 1864 he emigrated to Quebec, Canada, but thence came direct to Jacksonville, Morgan County, where his uncle, Stephen, was then living. He at once assumed the vocation of farming, and later purchased the farm, which has been his continuous home, and upon which he now resides. In 1866 Mr. Rawlings' parents, with the remainder of the family, followed him to America, and the mother died in Morgan County in 1875. The father married again and made fourteen trips between the Old World and the New, finally dying in England.

On October 20, 1869, William E. Rawlings was married in Girard, Macoupin County, Ill., to Eliza E. Fanning, daughter of Joseph Wesley Fanning, and to himself and wife have been born five children, four of whom are now living, viz.: Annie Jane, wife of Thomas Oxley; Albert Edward, who married Lenora Timberman; George William; and Minnie Belle, who is at home.

Mr. Rawlings has served his district on the School Board twelve years. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has been Steward for many years. In politics he is a Republican. His farm, consisting of more than 126 acres, is thoroughly cultivated, being also well improved with a comfortable residence, good out-buildings, an orchard, and all that constitutes a pleasant country homestead. It is almost needless to say that the improvements are the result of Mr. Rawlings' enterprise and industry.