NATHAN HUSSEY. - Nathan Hussey, living on section 21, Williams township, is meeting with marked success in his efforts as a general farmer and stock raiser, and the neat and thrifty appearance of his place of three hundred and twenty acres is an indication of a life of enterprise, capable management and laudable endeavor. His birth occurred in this township November 9, 1835. His paternal grandfather, Nathan Hussey, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, and removing to Ohio, became one of the pioneer settlers of Greene county. There his son, William S. Hussey, was born, in 1809. The latter came to Sangamon county when a lad of nine years, arriving in 1819, and here he spent the days of his boyhood and youth amid pioneer conditions, sharing with the family in the hardships and trials incident to the establishment of a home upon the frontier. After he had attained man's estate he married Sarah Yocom, a daughter of Jacob Yocom, who was also one of the early residents of this part of the state. William S. Hussey settled in Williams township where he became a very extensive landowner, his possessions aggregating one thousand acres. Making a trip to Oregon in 1851, going overland across the plains, he resided in that state for about eleven years, and then returned to Sangamon county, where his remaining days were passed in honorable retirement from further labor. He died in 1885, and his first wife died in Oregon in 1852. He was again married in Portland, that state. Nathan Hussey is one of four brothers born of the first union, and he also has a half brother and one sister living.

Our subject spent the days of his boyhood in Sangamon county, and when about sixteen years of age went to Oregon with his parents, there residing for seven years. He attended school to some extent there and was a student in Forest Grove University. He also engaged in teaching in Oregon, following that profession for two or three years, after which he returned to Sangamon county, Illinois, in the spring of 1858, making the journey by way of California and through the Pacific waters to the Isthmus, thence crossed the Gulf to New Orleans, whence he proceeded up the Mississippi river to Cairo. He first saw a railroad on the Isthmus of Panama, and first saw slaves in Cuba, where the steamer made a stop. After returning home he engaged in farming on his father's land, where he now resides. He had at first one hundred and sixty acres here and afterward he purchased an additional quarter section, until he now owns three hundred and twenty acres, constituting one of the valuable farms in this part of the state. He erected a good brick residence and has added all modern equipments to his place. His barns and outbuildings furnish ample shelter for grain and stock, and annually he harvests good crops and gathers rich stores of fruit from his orchard. He has planted shade trees, has fenced his land and has carried on farm work along progressive lines that have produced excellent results in winning for him a competence. He raises and feeds stock for the market, and thereby he adds not a little to his annual income.

Mr. Hussey was married in this county in 1859 to Miss Charlotte Keagle, a native of Menard county, Illinois, and a daughter of John Keagle. They have eight living children: Clay, who is married and farming in Williams township; Nathan, who si married and is station agent and telegraph operator at Williamsville; Alfred T., a student of Williamsville; Mattie, the wife of Dr. A. D. Taylor of Springfield; Anna L., a teacher of Williamsville; Sarah A., the wife of Timothy Britton, a farmer of this county, and one of the board of supervisors; Pearl, at home; and Halcyone, the wife of Ed Hanger, of Lincoln, Illinois.

Politically Mr. Hussey is a stanch Republican, and in 1860, cast his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln. He has been commissioner of highways and a member of the school board for a number of years. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has long been a trustee, and he likewise belongs to the Masonic fraternity. He is deeply interested in everything pertaining to the public progress and to many measures for the material, intellectual and moral welfare of his community.