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EDWIN TOMLIN , the proprietor of Walnut Ridge, one of the finest farms in Sangamon County, ranks among the prominent citizens of the community. Since the age of eleven years he has been identified with the history of the county and from boyhood has watched its growth and progress, aiding materially in its development and upbuilding. The Tomlin family from which he descended is of English extraction and in Colonial days was founded in this country. The grandfather of our subject, William Tomlin, was born in New Jersey, and his father, Almarin Tomlin, was a native of Cape May County, that State. Emigrating westward in 1837 he lived upon the farm which is now the home of our subject. He married Rhoda Smith whose father was a Revolutionary soldier. Her mother, whose maiden name was Ludlum, was of English lineage, but the Smiths were of Welsh extraction. The three families, Tomlin, Smith and Ludlum, were all well known and highly respected families of New Jersey and lived in that State prior to the Revolutionary War.

In this county the father of our subject followed farming and became a prosperous citizen. Both he and his wife were active in church work and the efforts of one were ably seconded by the other. Their charitable, benevolent and Christian lives won them the love and confidence of all and made their memory blessed. The father died on the old homestead in 1858 at the age of fifty-eight years, and the mother died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Mattie Crowder, of Macon, Ill., in 1887, at the age of eighty-six years.

Their family numbered thirteen children. Emeline, the eldest, is the wife of Samuel Sutton, a farmer of Menard County, Ill.; Louisa is the wife of William B. Quinn, a resident farmer of San Diego, Cal.; Edwin is the next younger; Jeremiah has not been heard from for twenty years; Harriet B. died at the age of two years; Harriet H. is the wife of Josiah Reed, of Kansas; James L. makes his home in Kansas; Lydia H. is the wife of Josiah Alkire, formerly a wholesale merchant of St. Louis, now residing in California; Martha is the wife of Thomas Crowder, of Macon, Ill.; Mary, twin sister of Martha, died at the age of thirteen years; Rachel, wife of Monroe Rankin, lives in Portland, Ore., where her husband is engaged in the real-estate business; Rhoda, twin of Rachel, is the wife of Stephen Capps, a proprietor of a wooden mill at Jacksonville; and Caroline is the wife of Rev. William McClung, a Presbyterian minister of Kansas.

We now take up the personal history of our subject, who was born in Cape May County, N.J., July 29, 1826. Among his earliest recollections are his father's home in that State and the ocean. He also retains a vivid remembrance of the time, when a boy of eleven years, his eyes first beheld the prairies of the West. He was the oldest son of the family and it therefore devolved upon him to aid his father in the labors of developing a farm. He helped break the prairie with ox-teams and shared in the hardships and trials of pioneer life. He began his education in the subscription schools of New Jersey, but his advantages were necessarily limited as his assistance was needed at home. He was early inured to hard labor, but thereby developed a self-reliance and energy of purpose which have proved of incalculable benefit to him in his business career.

In 1854 Mr. Tomlin formed a matrimonial alliance with Miss Mary Margaret Correll, sister of Warner H. Correll, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work and in which is given a sketch of her parents. She was born in this county and her primary education was supplemented by a course in a Seminary, at Jacksonville. Ten children have been born unto Mr. and Mrs. Tomlin, Eva is the wife of William Sinclair, a farmer of Sulphur Springs, Cass County, Ill., by whom she has three children, namely: Carl, thirteen years old; Lawrence and Allie; Fannie, the second child of the family, died at the age of two years. Thomas A., unmarried, is a grain-dealer of Browning, Mo.; Charles S., who wedded Miss Ella Silvers, is a farmer and stock-dealer of Browning, Mo.; Lee C., who is engaged in farming and stock-raising in Browning, married Bertha Prather; Sally C., Jacob F., Annie S., Isaac F. and Frank are at home. Although Mr. and Mrs. Tomlin have quite a large family all are yet living with one exception. Their beautiful home, Walnut Ridge, is one of the finest in the county, having more the appearance of a city mansion than a country residence, but it seems that Mr. Tomlin cannot do too much to enhance the happiness of his family and has provided them with every comfort. Around its genial fireside there seems to be an atmosphere of goodwill and kindly sympathy, which makes every visitor feel at home. A well-spread table satisfies the most epicurean taste and the spacious parlors abound with music, literature and works of art which tell of the culture and refinement of the occupants of this mansion. The home received its name from the beautiful grove of walnut trees which surrounds it.

Mr. Tomlin is one of the most successful and enterprising farmers of the county. He raises considerable corn and hay but these products are all used for the feeding of his stock. He has a fine flock of eight hundred sheep; ships annually three car-loads of cattle and one hundred head of hogs and has upon his farm a herd of fifty fine horses of the Clydesdale breed. During his boyhood Mr. Tomlin joined the church and for forty years has lived a consistent Christian life "growing gray in the service of the Lord." He and his family hold membership in the Methodist Church, to the support of which he contributes with a liberal hand in which he has served as a Trustee and Stewart for many years. In his politics he is a stanch Prohibitionist and strongly sympathizes with the labor movement. A life of industrious effort marked by honesty and uprightness has made Mr. Tomlin an honored citizen and won him the love and confidence of the entire community.