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RICHARD
C. FISHER, who is now
living a retired life in Greenfield, was long
identified with agricultural pursuits in
Illinois, farming at different times in Sangamon
and Jersey counties. His residence in the
state dates from 1845 and in Greene county since
1874. The development of Illinois has been
so rapid as to seem almost marvelous, for it is
within the memory of Mr. Fisher and other
early pioneers that all this section of the
country was largely unimproved, the work of
civilization and progress being scarcely begun.
He was born in Boundbrook, New Jersey July 10, 1827,
and his father, William B. Fisher, was
almost a native of New Jersey, and in that state
the grandfather, Isaac Fisher, was born.
The great-grandfather, Hon. Jeremiah Fisher,
was one of the prominent men of New Jersey,
serving in the legislature prior to the
Revolutionary war and taking an active part in
molding the affairs of the colony. He was
a minister of the Presbyterian
church and through his labors contributed to the
moral development of that part of the country.
It was in New Jersey that he reared his family
and there his descendants remained for some
time. Our subject's
great-great-grandfather, Henderich Fisher,
came to America prior to 1700 and landed in New
York. In 1703 he purchased what became of
the old Fisher homestead of the
original proprietor, William Cockwood,
who in the year 1682 had bought nine hundred
acres on the south side of Raritan river at
Boundbrook, New Jersey, of the English
government. This was the old home of the
Fisher family for over a century.
W. B. Fisher spent the days of his boyhood and
youth in New Jersey and was married there to
Catherine S. Coriell, also descended from an
old Revolutionary family. Mr.
Fisher began farming in his native state and
in 1845 he came to Illinois, settling in Jersey
county in the city of Jerseyville. There
he purchased a claim and later he entered land
in Sangamon county from the government,
developing therefrom a good farm, on which he
reared his family. He died prior to the
Civil war and his wife survived him for a number
of years. Richard C. Fisher is the
eldest in a family of nine children: William
and Mary, both deceased; Mrs.
Sarah Christopher, who resides in
Kansas; Isaac Fisher, a resident
of Waverly, Illinois; Mrs. Emeline Hatfield,
who died in Kansas; Mrs. Eliza
Jane Burch, a resident of Virden,
Illinois; Mrs. Ella Dupy,
of Waverly, Illinois; and Charles A. Fisher,
of Litchfield, Illinois.
Richard C. Fisher was reared to manhood in
Jersey county and is largely self-educated,
for his advantages in youth were very meager, he
was a student in an old log schoolhouse seated
with board benches and supplied with other
primitive furnishings. The work of the
home farm became familiar to him in his youth
and he gained practical knowledge of the
vocation which he made his life work. He
was married near Jerseyville in1852 to Miss
Catharine Christopher, who died in the year
1881.
Following his marriage Mr. Fisher located in
Greenfield. He bought and owned a farm in
Sangamon county and also had a tract of land in
Jersey county, together with eight hundred acres
in Nebraska. At one time his landed
possessions comprised over twenty-three hundred
acres. He entered one thousand and forty
acres in Nebraska and the remainder of his farm
property was secured through purchase. He
has been a very active and successful business
man, energetic in his agricultural pursuits and
as the result of his capable direction of his
business affairs he has won a large measure of
success.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Fisher have been born three
children: Clara McClintock,
deceased; Mary C., now the wife of
Jacob Dohn, of Greenfield; and Hattie
Dell Rohrer, of Burk, Idaho. Mr.
Fisher was again married in Greenfield, his
second union being with Eliza Jane Edwards,
a native of Illinois, who was reared in this
county. She first became the wife of
David Harvey Edwards and following his
demise gave her hand in marriage to Mr.
Fisher.
Mr. Fisher's study of the political questions of
the day led him to give his support to the
Republican party for a number of years, but he
is now identified with the Prohibition party,
feeling that the temperance question is one of
the dominant issues before the people of the
country today. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fisher
hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal
church of Greenfield. Through fifty nine
years of residence in the state he has seen
central Illinois develop from a wilderness and
swamp to one of the richest agricultural
districts of the entire country, also famous as
a stock-raising center. In this business
he was deeply interested and his labors proved
very gratifying as dominant elements in winning
the success which is the good of every man's
endeavor.
Source: Past
and Present of Greene Co., Illinois by Hon. Ed. Miner – Publ. Chicago: The S. J.
Clarke Publishing Co. - 1905 - Page 494 |
