SAMUEL M. WORKMAN. - throughout life this gentleman has made his home in Sangamon county and is a worthy representative of one of its honored pioneer families. During the years of his business career he carried on farming with good success and also engaged in the raising and shipping of stock, but at present is living a retired life in Loami, though he still owns the old home farm in Loami township , where he was born October 17, 1845. His father, William Workman, was a native of Maryland, born April 8, 1799, and was a son of Jacob Workman, who removed with his family from that state to Kentucky, becoming one of the early settlers of Bourbon county, where William Workman passed the days of his boyhood and youth. When a young man the latter went to Tennessee, where he was united in marriage to Miss Sally Bilyeu, who was born in Kentucky but was reared in Tennessee and was a daughter of Peter Bilyeu. It was in 1829 that William workman brought his family to Sangamon county, Illinois, and located on a wild tract of land in Loami township, which he at once began to improve and cultivate. He entered and bought land in that township to the amount of six hundred and forty acres and converted the same into good farms, which were afterward divided among his children. After a useful and well spent life he died in January, 1876, and his wife, who survived him about eleven years, departed this life in 1887. They were the parents of seven sons and one daughter, of whom John, Isaac, William b. and Samuel M. are now the only survivors. The only daughter, Elizabeth, married J. Webb Campbell, who died in this county in 1903, and she passed away some years ago.

Samuel M. Workman, the youngest of the family, grew to manhood on the old home farm and attended the public schools of the neighborhood. By assisting in the operation of the farm he early acquired an excellent knowledge of the duties which fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He became the possessor of one hundred and thirty-five acres of the homestead, which he operated quite successfully until 1879, when he rented the farm and removed to Loami, where he has since lived retired. He has added to his property until he now owns over two hundred acres.

Mr. Workman was first married in Christian county and after the death of his wife was again married in Springfield, March 14, 1867, his second union being with Miss Anna Harbour, a native of this county, who died June 15, 1897, of consumption, after a lingering illness, during which time Mr. Workman twice took her to the mountains of the west with the hope of benefitting her health. There were three children by this union: Katie J., now the wife of George R. Beaver, of Springfield; John L., a brick and stone mason residing on the home farm; and Joseph O., also on the farm. On the 6th of February, 1902, mr. Workman married Mrs. Myrtle S. Bartholomew, widow of Charles E. Bartholomew, who was a native of Indiana and by whom she had one son, Homer F., now attending school. Mrs. Workman is a native of Fayette county, Illinois, and a daughter of Columbus Wetwood, who was also born in this state.

In his political views Mr. Workman is a Republican, having never failed to vote with that party at each presidential election since casting his first vote for General U. S. Grant in 1868. He and his wife are earnest members of the Methodist episcopal church and stand high in the esteem of all who know them. Mr. Workman has seen this county develop from an almost unbroken wilderness to stand among the best in the state and he recalls many interesting incidents of pioneer life.