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ADAM BRAUGHTON. The portrait on the opposite page represents a gentleman who has been exceedingly prosperous since he came to this country many years ago while yet a youth, and who is now one of the well-to-do farmers of this section. By his able management he has not only improved a valuable farm, but has been no unimportant factor in extending the agricultural interests of this region. He is an honored resident of Williams Township, where he has owned and occupied his present farm the past thirty years.
Our subject was born in Franklin County, Ohio, June 1, 1830. His father, William B. Braughton, was a native of Maryland, and went to Ohio in its pioneer days when he was sixteen years old. He was there married to Lydia Cramer, a native of New Jersey, who died in 1833, at the age of twenty-five years. She was the mother of three children, of whom our subject is the only survivor. The father was again married in 1838, taking as his wife Nancy Dean, by whom he had two children who died in infancy. Mr. Braughton came to Illinois with his family in 1846, and was one of the early settlers of Williams Township, where he bought land and developed a good farm. He lived to see the county well-improved, and finally passed away in 1883 at the venerable age of eighty-four years, leaving behind him the record of a life well spent. He was a true Christian and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for years.
Adam Braughton was born in a log cabin amid the pioneer scenes of Ohio, and obtained his education in the primitive schools of those days, which were taught in log houses rudely furnished with slab seats, etc. He remained with his father until he was twenty-four years of age, being of great assistance to him on the farm, and after that worked by the month as a farm hand for a year. In 1846 he accompanied his father from the old home in Ohio to this county, driving across the country with a team. He began his career as a farmer on his own account by renting land in Williams Township in 1855. He bought his first land in the spring of 1860, and now owns one hundred and seventy-six acres of well improved land in this county and a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Rice County, Kan. He has been quite an extensive landowner in his time and gave each of his three sons one hundred and sixty acres of land when they started out in life on their own account. He has paid much attention to raising stock of good grades, and has found it a profitable business.
Our subject takes a great interest in his home and family, and is a man of quiet, domestic tastes. He was very fortunate in the selection of a wife in the person of Miss Nancy Taylor, to whom he was wedded August 17, 1854. Mrs. Braughton is a native of this county, born November 28, 1834, and a daughter of one of its earliest settlers, Simeon Taylor, a native of South Carolina, who came here before 1818. He departed this life August 5, 1881, at the venerable age of eighty-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Braughton have been blessed by a numerous family of children, of whom the following are living: William M., George W., Adelbert C., Emeline, Ethel Arvilla and Nellie J. An otherwise happy wedded life has been shadowed by the death of five of their children, namely - Mary E., Simeon L., John A., James A. and Charles E.
Mr. Braughton is in all respects an upright, straightforward man, sincere and conscientious in all his dealings, and no one can bring aught against his character, or can impeach his standing, which is of the highest in this community where he is so well known and respected. In all his doings he shows himself to be guided by high principles, and in him the Christian Church finds one of its most sincere members. He is a Good Templar, and is strongly in favor of temperance or of any other needed reform. In his political views he is a Democrat.