BIOGRAPHY - JAMES SUTTON
James
R. Sutton, a prosperous and enterprising agriculturist of Mona township, was
born on the farm on which he yet resides, his natal day being July 12, 1871.
He is a son of John W. and Rachel Sutton, the former a native of England and
the latter of Ohio. In the year 1850 the parents came to Illinois, first
locating in Grundy county, where they operated rented land for three years.
The father served as a loyal defender of the Union in the dark days of the
Civil war, his term of enlistment covering three years and six months. In
1868 he came to Ford county, purchasing the farm Which is yet the home of
our subject. He had a family of three children, namely: James R., of this
review; Elizabeth; and William. John W. Sutton successfully carried on his
agricultural interests until the time of his death in 1906, but the mother
still survives him, making her home in Mona township with her daughter.
James R. Sutton acquired a common-school education and assisted his father in the cultivation of the old homestead farm until he had attained the twenty-fourth year of his age. He then wished to start out in life on his own account and accordingly rented a tract of land for two years, but on the expiration of that period returned to the home farm, where he has lived continuously since. He now operates two hundred and forty acres of rich and productive land, the fields yielding golden harvests annually as a reward for the care and labor he bestows upon them. He follows progressive and modern methods in the conduct of his agricultural interests and his farm comprises one of the neat and attractive properties of the county.
In 1900 Mr. Sutton was joined in wedlock to Miss Bertha R. Bute, a native of Livingston county, Illinois, whose parents now reside in Kempton. She was one of a family of three children and by her marriage has become the mother of four children, namely: Elmer L.; Clarence B., Velma F., deceased; and Arthur I.
In his political views Mr. Sutton is a republican and for three years acted as collector, while for four years he was deputy sheriff under Frank Mason.
His public duties have been discharged with the same fidelity and capability that he displays in the conduct of his private business interests and he has ever received the warm regard and confidence of his fellow townsmen. Fraternally he is connected with the Odd Fellows Lodge, No. 406, at Kempton, and his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. They are held in high esteem throughout the entire community by reason of their upright and honorable lives. Mr. Sutton has spent his entire life in this county and is therefore familiar with its development from pioneer times down to the present, having aided in the arduous toil which brought about the wonderful transformation that is everywhere apparent in this part of the state. Although one of the younger representatives of agricultural interests in Ford county, he has already attained a measure of success that augurs well for the future.
Extracted 17 Oct 2016 by Norma Hass from History of Ford County, Illinois, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, author E. A. Gardner, Volume 2, pages 694-697.
