GEORGE TRIMBLE. This BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM of Sangamon County would not be complete without a sketch of "Uncle George" Trimble, who has for many years made his home in Curran Township. He is an old-timer, but two older heads of families remaining to tell the story of the early days of this county. He holds a prominent place as a farmer, citizen and politician, having been identified with the various phases of the progress of the county since he first began his labors here. It is a cause of rejoicing to all who enjoy his acquaintance that prosperity attends him and that in his declining years he is surrounded with all of the comforts that he desires.
Mr. Trimble's grandparents emigrated from the Old Country to America during the eighteenth century. His father, Hugh Trimble, was born on a vessel during the voyage, and was reared in Montgomery County, Ky., where Grandfather Trimble carried on his trade of a blacksmith, and also operated a farm. Hugh Trimble became an agriculturalist, owning one hundred and sixty acres. In 1835 he came to this State, passing by Springfield and settling in Morgan County. After a sojourn of two years he removed to Adams County, where he died of the cholera in 1848. He was a Democrat in politics and in religion a believer in the doctrines promulgated by the Christian church. He was married three times. The two children born of the first union are deceased. His second union was with Nancy Nofcutt, a native of Montgomery County, Ky.; she died when our subject was two months old, leaving also a son William, who is now deceased. Four children were born to Hugh Trimble by his third wife. The third child, a son Thomas, was shot by guerrillas in Adams County during the Civil War; the youngest child, Eltona, now lives in that county; the others are deceased.
Our subject was born April 22, 1813, near Mt. Sterling. Montgomery County, Ky., reared on a farm, and early set to work. He had but limited school privileges, the subscription school being held in a building three or four miles from his home, and his stepmother often keeping him at work when his father supposed he was at school. He resided with his parents until he was twenty-four years old, busying himself in farm work, and in the fall driving hogs to some distant market. Six times he went to Virginia and twice to North Carolina, consuming four months in the latter trip and walking all the way. He would come back by a different route each time in order to see more of the country. He was a fine pedestrian and has made as high as six hundred miles in nine days and one-half.
In the fall of 1835 our subject came to this State with his father, traveling with a big wagon drawn by six horses. They crossed the Ohio River at the Louisville (Ky.) Ferry, and the Wabash at Terre Haute, Ind. When they reached Morgan County our subject had but fifty cents. He began chopping wood and doing other work for twenty-five cents a day, and made rails for thirty-seven and one-half cents a hundred. A year after his arrival in this State he returned to Kentucky on horseback and was married to Miss Lydia Shumate, who was born in Bath County to Daniel and Mrs. Shumate. Further items regarding her ancestors will be found in the sketch of William Shumate on another page in this ALBUM. Returning to Morgan County with his bride, Mr. Trimble resided there a year on a rented farm, then came to this county and rented on Lick Creek. He was without a dollar, but had a large capital of indomitable perseverance and determination.
Mr. Trimble performed the usual farm labors, raising such crops as he could, and taking advantage of every opportunity to increase his income. He raised corn and fed cattle for six and one-fourth cents a bushel, mauled rails, did teaming and, in short, turned his hand to any honest occupation by which he could make money. He was an expert in the use of an axe, unexcelled in wood chopping and in snapping corn. He drove hogs to St. Louis, and by feeding those animals for market got his real start. In 1858 he was able to buy a small farm on Lick Creek for $1,600. He located upon it, operated it until it was clear of encumbrances, and then bought an eighty acre tract nearby. After that was paid for he bought two hundred and fifty acres on section 11, Curran Township, but in 1865 sold it and bought the estate he now occupies. This consists of three hundred and fifty acres on sections 23, 24 and 25. It is well fenced, has been furnished with buildings so as to make it virtually two farms, and upon it orchards have been planted and all the improvements made which stamp it as the home of a man who understands his business. One hundred acres is timber land and the rest is devoted principally to corn crops. Mr. Trimble raises hogs in large numbers and has seventeen head of good horses now on hand.
The faithful and efficient companion whom Mr. Trimble brought to Morgan County long years ago, died in 1866. She left five children, three of whom are still living. William is a farmer in Curran Township; Eliza J. married Marion Miller and resides in Loami Township; Elizabeth, formerly the wife of Edward Miller, died in Chatham Township; James A. operates the home farm and is represented in this volume; George died at his home in 1868, at the age of twenty-one years. In the township in which he now lives, in 1867, Mr. Trimble was married to Rebecca J. Drennan. This lady was born in Woodside township and is a daughter of Andrew Drennan , an early settler here.
Like many of the old settlers Mr. Trimble was a famous hunter in the days when game was abundant in this region. He has killed deer, and enjoyed fox hunting with the Fox hunting Company which went out with a pack of sixty hounds. He belongs to the Anti-Horse-Thief Association at Chatham and the Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association at Curran. He has been Commissioner of Highways seven years and School Director seventeen years. He is a Democrat, has been a delegate to county conventions, is well acquainted with the leading politicians of the day and enjoyed the acquaintance of many of those who have gone to their reward. Among this number are Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Trimble was so anxious to vote for Andrew Jackson that he deposited a ballot before he was fairly entitled to the right of suffrage, and on the first occasion of meeting that renowned warrior, he shook hands with him twice. Mr. Trimble belongs to the Christian Church in Bethel and was one of the leaders in erecting a house of worship there. He has been Trustee and always does his share in supporting the Gospel work. He is liberal toward all enterprises which tend to the true civilization of mankind and, not being bound down by denominational prejudice, helped to build the Methodist Episcopal Church and aids many causes.