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DAVID M. HURT is honored by the citizens of Illiopolis as one of the successful farmers of the township, for his record as a volunteer in the late war, and for his standing as a man and a citizen. He was born December 12, 1832, within the present limits of Menard County, which was then included in Sangamon County. His parents. James K. and Melinda (Preston) Hurt, were natives of Adair County, Ky. They left that State in the early '20s and settled in Illinois near the present site of Springfield. They subsequently removed to the homestead where their son David was born. His father was an active pioneer farmer, and was doing good work in helping to develop the country when his career was suddenly brought to a close by his death of cholera in 1852. He was born in 1805, and therefore was scarcely past the meridian of life when he closed his eyes to the scenes of earth. He and his good wife were the parents of eleven children, of whom seven are now living, all in Illinois except a sister, now Mrs. W. T. Holland, who resides in Kansas.

Mr. Hurt received a limited education in the pay schools of the day and began life as a cooper. He afterward abandoned that trade for farming, in which he was engaged near his old home. In 1867 he bought eighty acres of his present farm, which was then a tract of wile prairie. He immediately began to improve it and now has a comfortable set of buildings on it, good orchards and the land under admirable tillage. By wise economy and hard labor he gathered together money enough to add another eighty acres to his original purchase, and now has a quarter-section of beautiful and fertile land. He devotes himself to general farming and has his place well stocked and from his fields he reaps rich harvests.

It has been the good fortune of our subject to receive the encouragement and cheerful help of one of the best of wives, to whom he was united in marriage in 1867. Mrs. Hurt was in her girlhood Susan Tice, a native of Illinois. Her parents were natives of Virginia and were married there. All of their eleven children were born in that State except two who were born in Illinois. They came to this State in an early day. Mr. Hurt and his wife have had three children: Edwin Morris, a fine young man who resides at home with his parents; Luella, who died in August, 1886; and Minnie, who lives at home with her parents. The whole family are prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which our subject has been connected for thirty-three years. The children have been reared under the wholesome influences of a pleasant home life. The deceased daughter, Luella, was a Christian and died in the expressed hope of immortality beyond the grave.

In this brief review in the life of our subject we must not omit the record of his life as a soldier. He enlisted in August, 1862, as a member of Company K, One Hundred and Sixth Illinois Infantry, under col. R. B. Latham, and went into active service in Tennessee. He took part in the bush fighting and was subsequently set with his comrades to Jackson, Tenn., from there to Bolivar and thence to Memphis. After engaging with the rebels in the skirmish at Kane's Bluff our subject took part in the siege of Vicksburg. While in the line of active duty he was exposed to the terrific fire of the enemy, and once in an advance movement was overcome by the heat and lay insensible by a log until found by comrades. Despite that fearful experience he refused to be placed on the hospital list and bravely stayed with his command until granted a thirty days furlough.

Mr. Hurt rejoined the regiment at Little Rock and went on an expedition up the Red River. He took part in many bloody battles, and was engaged in dangerous border warfare until the close of the war. His regiment was sent on an expedition to Arkansas and finally discharged in July, 1865, our subject having won a good reputation as a patriotic and efficient soldier. In commemoration of his connection with the war he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has been Commander one term of Morgan Post, No. 208. He is an active member of the Farmers Mutual Benefit Association, and it is a matter of common report that his word is as good as his bond, and his standing is among the best men in the community.