L. R. HASTINGS, Mason City. Among the settlers who came to Mason Co. in 1851, we find the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He was born in Franklin Co., Mass., March 3, 1806, where he obtained his general education. In 1825, he removed to New York and followed farming and preaching until 1845, when he came to Indiana and followed farming and preaching until the fall of 1851, when he came to Illinois and entered 160 acres of land in Mason City Township, with land warrants, at an expense of 81-1/4 cents per acre; here he resided until 1876, when he sold at $60 per acre, and removed to Mason City, where he now resides. He was ordained as a. Baptist minister in St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., in 1845, and has followed the ministry for a period of thirty-four years. About the year 1854, he organized the Big Grove Baptist Church, a branch of the Crane Creek Church, and, a few years later, organized the First Baptist Church of Mason City, which at that time was known as the First Baptist Church of Prairie Creek. His marriage with Jane Eddy was celebrated in New York Nov. 11, 1830; she died in Mason City Township in 1856; there are now two children living by this union, James L. and Jane. He married for his second wife Mrs. Olive Peck in 1858; her maiden name was Olive Halstead; she has three children by her previous husband.



Maintained by Mason County Coordinator Donna Mayer