BIOGRAPHY - WILLIAM JACK
William Jack owns and cultivates an excellent farm of one hundred and twenty acres on section 22, Rogers township. He has resided upon this place since he made purchase of the property in the spring of 1903 and has made many substantial improvements upon it during the intervening years. He is a native of county Antrim, Ireland, born July 11, 1862, his parents being James and Nancy (McClintock) Jack, who spent their entire lives in Ireland. The father is still living there but the mother is now deceased.
William was the fourth in order of birth in their family of ten children, five sons and five daughters. He was reared to the occupation of farming and continued his identification with agricultural pursuits until he became connected with mining interests and when he determined to come to America he was serving as an assistant pit boss in the coal mines of his native land. The favorable reports which he heard concerning America and its opportunities, however, induced him to seek a home in the new world and in 1883 he crossed the Atlantic, being then a young man of twenty-one years. He made his way at once into the interior of the country, his destination being Kempton, Ford county, Illinois, where he arrived on the 3d of November. He has since resided in the county and for four years after his arrival he worked as a section hand. He then began working by the month as a farm hand, being thus employed for two years, after which he resolved to engage in farming on his own account and rented an eighty-acre tract of land which he cultivated for fourteen years. His diligence, perseverance and careful expenditure during that time brought him the capital that enabled him to purchase one hundred and twenty acres of land on section 22, Rogers township, in the spring of 1903. This is a well improved place with good buildings and all the modern machinery necessary to facilitate the work of the fields. Annually he garners rich harvests and everything about the place is indicative of the care and labor which he bestows upon the farm. Moreover, he is a stockholder in the Farmers' State Bank at Cabery and is now accounted one of the substantial residents of the community.
In October, 1884, Mr. Jack was married to Miss Jane Kenney, a native of county Antrim, Ireland, born July 11, 1868. She came alone to America in 1881 to join her brother, James Kenney, then of Gilman, Illinois. Her parents, Archie and Rachel (Corry) Kenney, spent their entire lives in Ireland but both are now deceased.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Jack have been born five children: Wilbur, who died in infancy; Alice, at home; Ray, who died at the age of five months; Harvey, who is attending school at Onarga, Illinois, as a student in the Grand Prairie Seminary; and Ruth, at home.
Mr. Jack is a member of the Modern Woodmen Camp and gives his political allegiance to the republican party, keeping well informed on the questions and issues of the day. He attends the Presbyterian church and his life commends him to the confidence and good will of his fellow townsmen. He deserves much credit for what he has accomplished in a business way, for he started out here empty handed and the success he has achieved is attributable entirely to his perseverance and labor, which have been intelligently directed and prompted by laudable ambition.
Extracted 16 Oct 2016 by Norma Hass from History of Ford County, Illinois, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, author E. A. Gardner, Volume 2, pages 674-675.
