Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Menough, Robert D 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com March 25, 2006, 6:46 pm

Author: Bio/Gen Record LaSalle/Grundy 1900

Robert D. Menough was a representative of one of the pioneer families of 
Grundy county and actively connected with its agricultural interests. His 
highly improved farm indicates his careful supervision and his practical and 
progressive spirit. For more than half a century the family had been found in 
this locality. Hiram B. Menough, the grandfather of our subject, was a son of 
one of the pioneers of southern Indiana, his birth having occurred in 
Frankfort, Kentucky, December 25, 1812, and was of French lineage. At a very 
early day his parents crossed the Ohio river into the Hoosier state on account 
of Indian troubles in Kentucky, and were early settlers of Vincennes, Indiana. 
Colonel John L. Menough, a brother of Hiram B. Menough, was captured by the 
Delaware Indians in 1811, being taken from his farm near Vincennes, but was 
soon after recaptured. He served his country in various public capacities for 
many years and his long and useful life was terminated in June, 1879, when he 
was called to the home beyond.

Hiram B. Menough was wedded in Lebanon, Indiana, October 4, 1832, to Miss 
Martha Patlock, who was born in South Carolina, November 29, 1813. With his 
family he came to Grundy county, Illinois, in the spring of 1844, taking up 
his residence in Mazon township, at a time when its settlements were widely 
scattered. They located one and one-half miles southeast of Mazon on a tract 
of wild prairie and there Mr. Menough spent his remaining days. His children 
were as follows: Robert, who married Harriet Rowen; Elizabeth, who married 
Charles Nance; James, who wedded Louisa McKean; Martha, wife of Henry Baird; 
and Thareby, the wife of William Howell. The father of these children was a 
Democrat in his political affiliations and a sterling pioneer settler who did 
all in his power to aid the development and substantial improvement of the 
community. He was among those who laid the foundation of the present 
prosperity and progress of the county. He died August 25, 1899, at the 
advanced age of eighty-seven years.

Robert Delone Menough was born in Washington county, Indiana, July 21, 1823, 
and received the usual common-school education afforded to the farmers' boys 
of the west at that time. He came to Illinois with his parents in the spring 
of 1844, when about eleven years of age, and was here reared amid the wild 
scenes of the frontier. On the 24th of July, 1856, he married Harriet J. 
Rowen, who was born December 4, 1833, a daughter of David and Martha Rowen. 
Her father was born in Pennsylvania and was a farmer and local minister of the 
Methodist church. On leaving his native state he removed to Ohio, where he was 
married, and in 1844 he took up his residence near Olney, Illinois, whence he 
came to Grundy county, establishing his home near Mazon. He was a well known 
pioneer Methodist minister who preached the gospel in many districts of the 
state, carrying the glad tidings of great joy to the frontier settlers. In 
politics he was a Republican, joining the party on its organization. He died 
in 1861, when about fifty years of age. His children were Harriet, McClure, 
Irving, Eliza and Edwin. Two of his sons, McClure and Irving, were soldiers in 
the civil war.

At the time of his marriage Robert D. Menough located on his present farm in 
Mazon township. This he cleared and improved, and to the original tract of one 
hundred and sixty acres he added until he now has a valuable property of two 
hundred and forty acres. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Menough was blessed with 
the following children: Lora E., born August 1, 1857; Ora L., born August 27, 
1859; Laura E., born March 18, 1861; Lida B., born June 3, 1863; James M., 
born March 12, 1865; Robert R., born May 24, 1867; Louella A., born September 
1, 1869; Hiram A., born October 21, 1873; and Volney W., born November 18, 
1871. Two of the number are now deceased, Ora L. having passed away November 
28, 1884, while Volney W. died April 25, 1899. Lora E. was married in 1895 to 
James Hanson, a farmer of Minnesota. Laura A. is the wife of Joseph Horrie, of 
Morris, and their children are Lalla Rookh, Harold and Massie. Lida B. is the 
wife of Thaddeus Gillespie and they have a son, named Parks. James M. wedded 
Gertrude Murray, by whom he had three children—Robert, Rollin and Gail—and 
their home is in Mazon. Robert R., Louella A. and Hiram are still living on 
the old homestead, and the two sons are practical and enterprising farmers and 
stock-raisers. The children have all been provided with good educational 
privileges. Some of the sons are graduates of the Commercial College of 
Kankakee, and Louella A. has been for seven years a teacher in the schools of 
Grundy county, while Lora and Lida were also successful teachers. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Menough were members of the Methodist church, and in politics, he was a 
Democrat. He died April 20, 1884, and his wife passed away September 18, 1897. 
They were people of sterling worth whose many excellencies of character won 
for them the confidence and respect of all who knew them. In their death the 
community lost two of its best citizens, and their family mourned the loss of 
father and mother who had been most devoted to their interests and untiring in 
their efforts to promote their welfare.

Additional Comments:
Source:  Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy County, 
Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, p679-681

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