COUNCIL, EMERSON, is one of the younger farmers who have won success in Sangamon County, and owns the Council family homestead in Section 12, Fancy Creek Township, which place was secured in 1819 by his grandfather, Hardy Council, one of the earliest settlers of the locality. Emerson Council was born on this farm July 27, 1885, son of George Washington and Olivia Laura (Miller) Council, the father born on the family homestead, August 6, 1834, and the mother born at West Liberty, Ohio, February 17,1851. They were married March 24, 1868, and located on his father's farm. George W. Council enlisted October 25, 1862, in Company B, One Hundred Thirtieth Illinois Infantry, for three years, and was transferred to Company G, First New Orleans Volunteer Infantry, in which he was Second Lieutenant, and served in that capacity until nearly one year after the close of the war, being then honorably discharged. He and his wife became parents of the following children: Clifford, Ida E., Alvin, born May 19, 1873, a sketch of whom appears in this work; Emerson. The family was established in Sangamon County by Hardy Council, who was a native of North Carolina, and prominent among the first farmers of Sangamon County, a full account of whom appears in connection with the sketch of Alvin Council in this work.

In boyhood Emerson Council attended public school and helped with the work on the home farm. He has never cared for other occupations than farming and has studied the needs and possibilities of Sangamon County land. He enjoys a quiet, peaceful life and has a comfortable home. He is progressive along all lines of agriculture and stock raising, and is the owner of a desirable farm. He is well known and popular among his neighbors and associates, and is interested in local affairs, although taking no active part in politics. He is a Republican in his views and has been a member of the I.O.O.F. for four years. In religious belief he is a Methodist, being a member of the church at Sherman. He is unmarried.