WILLIAM RAPER THRAWL is a man of progressive enlightened views, and carries on his business as a farmer and stock-raiser after the most approved methods. His farm in Mechanicsburg occupies one of the most beautiful sites in Sangamon County, and its improvements are such as add to the attractiveness of the place. Clarke County, Ohio, is the native place of our subject, and there he was born to Joseph and Elizabeth (Ross) Thrawl, natives respectively of Maryland and Ohio. They came to Illinois in 1843, and located among the pioneers of that section now included in Christian County, taking up their residence ten miles east of Taylorville, where the father engaged in farming.

William Thrawl was given the advantages of a fine education. After a preliminary course he entered the Illinois State University, where he took a thorough course, including the languages and the higher mathematics, and was well equipped for teaching. He entered upon that profession after a brief experience in a music store, and in due time became one of the leading educators of this county, his professional career extending over a period of thirteen years and ending in 1883. In that year he abandoned that profession in order to devote himself to farming. He bought one hundred and sixty acres of land lying three-quarters of a mile north of Buffalo, and there has a magnificent estate. The natural situation of the land is grand and imposing, and is one of the finest bits of landscape in the county. It slopes north, south and west, and on an eminence of seventy-five feet our subject has a commodious frame residence, which commands an extensive view of the surrounding country and is a conspicuous object for many miles. The outbuildings are of a neat and attractive appearance, and the grounds are in harmony with the natural beauties of the location. The house is tastefully furnished and among its attractions is a grand piano, as both Mr. and Mrs. Thrawl are found of music.

Our subject and his wife were wedded in New Carlyle, Ohio, in 1880. Mrs. Thrawl was formerly Miss Dora Hamlet. Her father is Samuel Hamlet, a banker of Carlyle, Ohio, and one of the foremost men of that State, noted for his integrity, sagacity and benevolence. Mrs. Thrawl is finely educated. She was a student for sometime at the Normal, at Worthington, Ohio, and at the early age of fifteen years became a teacher. So successful was she in that profession that she was chosen a member of the faculty of Linden Hill Academy, an institution that ranked among the best of the higher schools in Ohio. Both Mr. and Mrs. Thrawl are greatly esteemed in the community and are popular in society. They are among the leading members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Thrawl is a man of enlightened views, keeps abreast with modern thought not only in his business but in the general literature of the day, and it is to such men that Sangamon County looks to promote its advancement.