Trace the pioneering journey of Adolphus Fisher, born into an early settler family in Ohio in 1847, and his evolution into a successful farmer in Wyoming Township. His tale is a testament to perseverance and innovation, from his family’s early struggles in Ohio to establishing a prosperous life in Illinois. Alongside his wife, Dolly Siglin, Adolphus cultivated not just the land, but a legacy of hard work and resilience. This introduction offers a glimpse into the Fisher family’s contribution to the American agricultural landscape, embodying the spirit of enterprise and community.
Adolphus Fisher, who is a farmer of much enterprise and ability, is prosperously pursuing his calling in Wyoming Township, where he owns a well-ordered and well-managed farm. He was born on October 2, 1847, six miles west of the State House at Columbus, Ohio, coming from one of the early pioneer families of that part of the country. His father, Jacob Fisher, was born in Pennsylvania, and it is supposed that his father, Thomas Fisher, who was of German ancestry, was also born in that state. He removed from there to Ohio in the early days of its settlement and was one of the first settlers in Franklin County. He bought one hundred acres of forest-covered land and erected a log cabin as a dwelling place for his family, splitting boards to cover the roof and for the floor, and using wooden pins instead of nails in the construction of the building. For a time, there was no door, but a blanket was hung over the entrance to keep out the wolves, for they were plentiful, as well as deer and other wild animals. In one instance, the grandfather of our subject was caught out after dark, and being pursued by timber wolves, he took refuge in a vacant cabin, and clambering onto the sleepers overhead, had to stay there until morning dawned, as the wolves howled at him beneath all night. Indians still inhabited that section of the country and were frequent callers at his house, and he had but few white neighbors. He struggled with the hardships of pioneer life, worked at his trade part of the time, and cleared his land when not otherwise engaged, so that by years of hard toil he evolved a farm from the wilderness, upon which he resided until 1856. In that year, the old man came to Illinois to spend the remainder of his life with his children at Jefferson Grove, Ogle County, and there death found him in the fullness of time.
Jacob Fisher passed his early years in Pennsylvania, and when his father removed to Ohio, he accompanied him to the new home in the forest wilds. He bought one hundred acres of timberland, cleared quite a tract of it, and then sold it at an advance and bought other land, upon which he erected the substantial double log house which was the birthplace of our subject. In 1852, he sold that place, and coming to Illinois, was a pioneer of this county. He was accompanied by his wife and ten children, and by his brother and his wife and three children, the entire journey across the intervening country being made wholly by land. He stopped a short time at Jefferson Grove and then bought land at Twin Grove, in what is now Willow Creek Township, this county. His purchase included two hundred and forty acres of land, of which thirty-five acres were timber and the remainder open prairie. There was a small frame house on the place, also a small log stable, and seventy acres of the land were under cultivation. At that time, there were no railways in the county, and but little improvement had been made throughout the length and breadth of this beautiful farming region that is today the scene of so many smiling homes and highly developed farms. Mr. Fisher soon showed himself to be a practical, capable pioneer, but he was not destined to tarry long in this promised land, where he sought to build up a new home, as death removed him from the scenes of his labors three years after his settlement here. His widow, who was a native of Pennsylvania, her maiden name Ruth Carleton, continued to live on the farm at Twin Grove many years, until her death at a venerable age in 1889. At her husband’s death, she was left with a family of ten children, whom she reared carefully.
Adolphus Fisher was but a child when his parents came to this county, and here he grew up to a self-reliant, energetic manhood. He attended school in his youth, and when not so doing assisted in carrying on the farm. He lived with his mother until he was twenty-two years old, and then began his independent career as a farmer on rented land in Ogle County. He farmed as a renter six years, and at the expiration of that time was enabled to invest in land of his own and bought one hundred and thirty-eight acres at Jefferson Grove. He was busily engaged in its improvement until 1882 when he sold that and bought the farm where he now resides in Wyoming Township. He has one hundred and seventy-five acres of fine land of exceptional fertility and under excellent tillage, and provided with a substantial set of frame buildings and all the necessary farming machinery for carrying on agriculture after the best methods.
Mr. Fisher was married, in 1873, to Miss Dolly Siglin, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of Amos and Catherine Siglin, of whom a sketch appears on another page of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher enjoy life in a cozy home, which is the seat of abundant hospitality, which they dispense with a free hand to friend or stranger who may cross their threshold. They have two children living, Elsie and Amos.