For forty-five years Samuel Hastings has been numbered among the
influential citizens and leading business men of Mendota, but is now living
retired. As a representative of commercial circles he has borne an important
part in securing the material development and substantial progress of the
city with which his family name has so long been interwoven. The substantial
residence which is to-day his home, located at the corner of Monroe and
Michigan streets, was erected by his father in 1854, and is thus one of the
landmarks of the town.
Samuel Hastings was born in Moorfield. Harrison county, Ohio, September 11,
1829, and traces his ancestry back to John Hastings, who was a native of
Ireland, but of English descent. He came to the United States, locating in
Harrison county, in 1822, and there continued his accustomed vocation of
farming. His death occurred when he was about seventy-two years of age. His
brothers, Thomas and James, accompanied him to this country, the former
settling near Washington, Pennsylvania, while the latter became a resident
of Jefferson county, Ohio.
The Hon. John Hastings, a son of John Hastings, the emigrant, and the father
of Samuel Hastings, of this review, was born in Inniskillen, Ireland, and
was one of five children. In 1822 he came to these hospitable shores with
his father and for some time pursued his studies in a seminary in Mount
Pleasant, Ohio, while later he engaged in teaching for several years. After
his marriage he settled upon a farm which his father gave him, and a few
years later embarked in the mercantile business near Cadiz, Ohio. After
managing that enterprise with ability for a number of years he was nominated
and elected to the state senate, where he served his constituents with
credit for two terms. For a long period he was a justice of the peace, and
in 1850 he held the office of census enumerator. In 1854 he came to Illinois
and was associated with his son Samuel in the dry goods and lumber business
in Mendota until his death, which occurred September 12, 1857, when he was
fifty-three years of age. He married Miss Jane Knox, who was born in
Stribane, county Tyrone, Ireland, a daughter of Samuel Knox, a wealthy
gentleman who was born and reared in Scotland and became connected with
agricultural pursuits. That he carried on an extensive business may be
inferred from the fact that he employed thirty servants. About 1817 he came
to the United States, locating in Harrison county, Ohio, where he died at
the age of seventy-six years. He was one of the typical "old-school"
gentlemen, quiet and severe in manner and a strict Presbyterian in religious
faith. For a number of years he was an elder in the church and took an
active part in its work. Mrs. Jane Hastings, together with her five brothers
and sisters, were reared in the same belief, but in her later years she
identified herself with the Methodist denomination, to which Mr. Hastings
likewise belonged. She preceded her husband to the better land, dying
January 9, 1855, when in her fiftieth year.
Samuel Hastings, whose name introduces this review, is one of twelve
children, seven of whom were sons. The surviving members of the family are:
Mary Ann, a resident of Lee county, Illinois; Jane, of Mendota; Mariah,
widow of S. Newton Barton, who died during the civil war; Harry, of Lee
county, Illinois; and James, of Seattle, Washington. They were reared upon
the paternal homestead in Harrison county, Ohio, and in the town where their
father carried on business, and were provided wath good educational
advantages. John Hastings, the eldest brother of our subject, was associated
with him in business in an early day, and died in Mendota, in 1858, at the
age of thirty-two years.
After he had completed the common-school course, Samuel Hastings entered the
commercial college in Columbus, Ohio, where he obtained a knowledge of
business forms and banking. In 1853 he came to Mendota, while upon an
inspecting tour seeking a settlement in a desirable location. Pleased with
this town, he returned to his native state and the following June,
accompanied by other members of his father's household, took up his abode in
the city which has since been his place of residence. He was associated with
his father in the dry-goods business until the latter's death and afterward
accepted a clerkship in the employ of W. T. Black, under the firm name of W.
T. Black & Company. In 1867 Mr. Hastings withdrew, and as a member of the
firm of W. F. Corbus & Company was engaged in the drug business until 1876,
when he bought out the interest of the senior partner and continued alone in
the enterprise for eighteen years. In 1894 the firm became Hastings & Wylie
by the admission of Robert A. Wylie to the business, and finally, in
December, 1898, after this extremely long and successful commercial career,
Mr. Hastings sold out his interest and has since practically lived a retired
life. He owns a valuable farm of eighty acres situated about ten miles north
of the town and has other property and investments which yield good returns.
In 1865 Mr. Hastings was appointed and afterward elected secretary and
treasurer of the Mendota Cemetery Association, which was organized several
years ago, but to him was left the task of systematizing the business. He
has since continued in this office, and to his ability and excellent
business ideas may be largely attributed the development, extension and
adorning of this beautiful city of the dead. During the war Mr. Hastings was
an ardent worker in the Union League of America, which organization was
formed to encourage loyalty to the Union and give aid and succor to the
loyal citizens throughout the land and to further promote the general
welfare of the public and to furnish such aid to the Union soldiers as they
needed in the way of clothing, shelter, food and other supplies. In the
interest of the league Mr. Hastings labored very actively and effectively,
and was a warm friend of the Union cause.
In his political affiliations he is a stalwart Republican, unswerving in the
principles of the party. For years he has been a leading member of the
Mendota Lodge, No. 176, F. and A. M., Mendota Chapter, No. 79, R. A. M., and
Bethany Commandery, No. 28, K. T. He and his sister, Jane K., live together
in the old family residence, which has sheltered them for so many years.
They have the care of two nephews, — Harry Hastings Wright and Roy Knox
Wright, — whose parents are deceased. Miss Hastings is a lady of excellent
education and amiable qualities, and an active member of the Methodist
church. Both she and her brother have many friends, and are highly esteemed
by all who enjoy their acquaintance.
Extracted 17 Jul 2017 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 472-474.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
| Bureau |
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Kendall |
| Putnam | Grundy | |
| Marshall | Woodford | Livingston |
