My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM LAWDER, a resident of section 4, township 8, range 5, Randolph County, is the owner of one of the finest wheat farms in this part of the state. He was born in County Down, Ireland, February 29, 1824, and is the eldest of a family of two boys and two girls born to Savage and Jane (Weir) Lawder, natives of the Emerald Isle.

Our subject emigrated to this country January 10, 1844, landing in New Orleans, and coming direct by boat to Rockwood about the 1st of the following April. Upon his arrival here his entire capital was exhausted with the exception of twenty-five cents. With this amount he commenced life among strangers in a strange land. During the first three years of his residence in this county he labored among the few settlers as a farm hand for the munificent sum of fifty cents per day, and worked for James Brown for $100 per year. At the expiration of that time he took up a claim of eighty acres at $1.25 per acre, which formed the nucleus of his present magnificent farm, consisting of four hundred acres on the home place and one hundred and twenty acres in an adjoining tract.

In the year 1847, at Newtownards, County Down, Mr. Lawder married Elizabeth, a daughter of Samuel and Jane Cleland, of the same county. To them were born five sons and nine daughters, three of whom are dead, Elizabeth, John William and Sarah Clementine. The living are as follows: James; Jane, who is the wife of Henry Rodgers, of Campbell Hill; Sophie, the wife of Benjamin Sebastian; Rebecca, who married Edward Pinkerton, a resident of Jackson County; Anna Belle, the wife of Henry Tudor, of Rockwood; Edith, Samuel, Grant; Mary, who is the wife of Albert Barber, of Rockwood; Sherman and Nettie. Samuel was married in 1883 to Sarah Samantha Malone and is now living on section 5, township 8, range 5. Their children are, Jennie Adell, Madie Gertrude, Bessie Beulah and Sylvia Bernice. The wife of our subject was born April 2, 1825, and came to America with her husband, enduring the hardships and privations incident to the settlement of a new country. She bore her share of the labor of caring for the household, and reared a large family. She faithfully kept her place by her husband’s side until July 8, 1881, when she was called from this life.

Mr. Lawder has been a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church, as was his good wife and all the children. Politically he has been a member of the Republican party ever since its first campaign in which the martyred Lincoln was the standard bearer. In the Old Country Mr. Lawder was a member of the Orangeman society, and after becoming a citizen of the United States he joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, though he has not for many years been an active member. For a number of years he served as School Director, and though urged to continue in that position, declined to do so.

The homestead, consisting of large and substantial buildings, is beautifully located on a hill commanding a magnificent view of the Father of Waters and the bluffs along its banks, as picturesque surroundings as can be found in the state. At the time of Mr. Lawder’s arrival here, game was plentiful, and many a deer and wild turkey he has brought down while standing in his doorway.