The old-fashioned notion that hard work, patient industry, and
far-sightedness make for success in the various avenues of life does not
seem to be accepted so unreservedly in our day. The spread of pessimism
engendered by many phases of our complex life is in a great measure
responsible for the lack of faith in the old idea. However, if we observe
conditions closely we will find that the intelligent individual, who leads a
practical and industrious life, will reach a point of success commensurate
with his efforts. The life of the subject of this sketch will afford us an
instance of this.
James Marshall Kinkade, of Preston township,
Richland county, Illinois was born October 22, 1845, in Hardin county,
Kentucky. He was the son of James and Martha A. Kinkade, his mother's maiden
name being Veach. Both were natives of Hardin county, as were their parents
before them and both came originally of Irish stock. In the fall of 1850,
then being five years of age. the subject of our sketch came with his
parents from Hardin county, Kentucky. The journey was a formidable one in
those days. The wagons of the pioneer had to be requisitioned; the Ohio had
to be crossed by ferry at Louisville, Kentucky, camping out was a necessity.
Added to this were the usual strain and restless expectation which always
attended such journeys. They landed eventually in Shelby county, Illinois,
where his father rented a farm remaining on the same for two years. Then
they moved to Richland county, where one hundred and sixty acres of
government land was purchased at the then current price of one dollar and
twenty-five cents an acre. The place was then in the original state of
wildness and its appearance bespoke years of hard and unremitting labor to
bring it to perfection. Undaunted, the elder Kinkade set about the task, and
at once started building a house for his family upon the property, in the
meantime placing them for safety under the roof of the log cabin of another
family at the next settlement. The house erected was a frame one, being the
first of that description built in what is now Preston township. Having
added barns and other buildings he moved the family into their new home.
This was at a period eight or ten years before the district had been
surveyed. There were no roads. People drove haphazardly about over cow-paths
and trails. Upon the official survey being made, the elder Kinkade was
elected Supervisor and as the township was as yet unnamed the process of
christening it was left to the father of the subject of our sketch. He named
it Preston township which name it bears today. In the period we are
referring to the antiquated horse-mills were in use. It was customary for
people to bring "grist to the mill" on horseback, utilizing the horses on
their arrival to grind their produce. Whole wheat flour and that of the
coarse variety were in use at that time. The process of evolution asserting
itself, later on the windmill superseded the horse as motor power. Old time
methods ruled in the agricultural line. In the planting of corn it was usual
to hitch three yoke of oxen to the plow. At every third furrow corn was
dropped in and the soil turned over upon it. The subject of our sketch
remembers this process perfectly and many youthful days spent in assisting
his father in the operation. As another instance of the backwardness of
agricultural life at this time the threshing machine had not yet appeared on
the scene. Threshing was done in this manner: The sheaves of wheat were laid
upon the ground in a circle and horses were ridden around over them. When
one side was threshed, or more literally, trampled out, the sheaves were
turned and the process repeated. The elder Kinkade continued to improve the
farm all through this time, fencing and erecting outbuildings. He obtained
his timber supply from a plantation of eighty acres which stood in his land.
James Marshall Kinkade remained at home on the farm until his
twenty-first year. Afterwards, as something of a change he hired out with
neighboring farmers. When past his twenty-third birthday lie married
Margaret J. Upton, on February 28, 1869, at which time he erected the home
he now lives in on the family property, and having purchased forty acres
from his father settled down to farm. His parents continued to live in the
nearby home until the fall of 1884, when they bought town property in
Dundas, Preston township, whither they moved, and where they remained until
their demise. The elder James Kinkade was born October 26, 1817, married
April 9, 1838, as before stated, in Harclin county, Kentucky, and died
August 23, 1893. His wife preceded him February 3, 1891. Both are buried in
Dundas cemetery, Preston township. During their married life they reared
nine children, five boys and four girls, of which James Marshall Kinkade was
fourth in order of birth. Seven of the family grew to maturity, while one
died at the age of ten years.
The mother of James Marshall Kinkade
was born August n, 1816, in Hardin county, Kentucky. On her marriage she
left the home of her parents who were also natives Kentuckians, and who died
in their native state. She was one of seven children, all of whom grew up.
Margaret J. Upton, the wife of the subject of our sketch, whom he
married in 1869, was born in Richland county, Preston township, October n,
1852, and was the daughter of Isaac and Cynthia Upton, natives of Ohio,
whose parents originally came from Kentucky. Her parents married in
September, 1851, in Mercer county, Ohio. In 1851, her father and grandfather
went to Iowa in search of land, when not finding a suitable location they
turned their faces toward Richland county, Illinois, in which they settled
on one hundred and sixty acres, paying the government price of one dollar
and twenty-five cents an acre. Upon settling in Illinois they sent to Ohio
for their families. They remained in the new location for three years when
they sold out and purchased another one hundred and sixty acres of prairie
and eighty acres of timber which they settled on and where Grandmother Upton
died. Grandfather Upton surviving her a few years and dying upon what is
known as the Hill farm. He had reached his seventieth year. The younger
people, Isaac and his wife, remained on the farm at Dundas, Illinois
(Preston township) until the time of their death. Mrs. Upton died at the age
of thirty-one, in the year 1866. Her husband survived her several years,
dying December 13, 1889, aged fifty-seven years, two months and two days.
The couple were the parents of six children five growing to maturity, one
dying in infancy. The wife of the subject of this sketch was the oldest of
her family.
During his long farming life, James Marshall Kinkade
prospered, and he now owns one hundred and five acres of rich farm land and
which has been painstakingly improved and admirably cultivated under his
supervision. He leads a very happy family life and has had three children
born to him. Two grew to maturity while one died in early life. Of his
children, Luella became the wife of Allison T. Phillips, a well known
accountant in Casper, Wyoming, and James I. has been an employee of the
Illinois Central for several years on which road he is a brakeman.
In early life James Marshall Kinkade obtained a better education than many
in the township. He spent a term of six months in the subscription schools,
after which he attended the free common schools until his twenty-first year.
In his school-boy days he was considered a very apt pupil; and his early
training has been of much benefit to him in after years.
In politics
he is a Democrat and is an ardent admirer of William Jennings Bryan. He has
been quite active in township affairs where his ability and practical common
sense have received recognition. He has been for some time Road
Commissioner, an office for which he is well fitted and which he still
holds. He served a term of nine years as Treasurer of schools in Preston
township. In religion his wife is a member of the Missionary Baptist church
at Dundas. Preston township, Richland county, Illinois.
Extracted 21 May 2019 by Norma Hass from 1909 Biographical and Reminiscent History of Richland, Clay and Marion Counties, Illinois, pages 478-481.
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