This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Hostetler, Crum, Wykle, Campbell, Hunsley,Coleman, McAnderson, etc. Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4Bk.2ACIB/106 Message Board Post: "History of Macon County" 1910, page 380 "FRANCIS M. HOSTETLER Francis M. Hostetler, a retired farmer and merchant of Harristown, who owns about four hundred and twenty acres of valuable farming land in this county and an orange grove in Florida, was born in Clark county, Indiana, February 3, 1835. His parents, Jacob and Tabitha (Crum) Hostetler, were both natives of Kentucky and after their marriage lived in Indiana. In 1835, the same year in which our subject was born, the parents came to Macon county and located on section 14, Harristown township, where the father entered government land at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre and in the course of years became a large landowner and one of the leading men in his community. He was an ardent supported (sic - supporter) of the democratic party and held several public positions of responsibilty, serving as assessor for one year, as associate county judge, and for many years as justice of the peace. He departed this life at the age of sixty-three. There were three children in the ! family: Francis M., the subject of this review; Mary Jane, now Mrs. J. C. Campbell, of Decatur; and Malinda E., the wife of C. E. Hunsley, of North Dakota. Francis M. Hostetler grew up on what was then the Illinois frontier and early became familiar with many of the hardships of pioneer life. He was educated in a log schoolhouse with split logs for seats and greased paper for windows, and he remembers that the first stove that was introduced into the region was placed in this little log schoolhouse and was regarded as a great curiosity and attracted many visitors. He assisted in the work of the farm and at eighteen or nineteen years of age hauled timbers to make culverts and bridges for the Wabash Railroad, which was then in the course of construction through Macon county. From his earliest recollection Mr. Hostetler has been identified with farming operations and also at various times with the mercantile business and he attained high success both as a merchant and as a farmer, possessing unusual foresight and sagacity, and being endowed with those habits of industry and perseverance which are so necessary in the managemen! t of all business affairs. While a young man he received as a gift from a member of the family one hundred and sixty acres of land in this county, which he still retains, and to which he added from time to time until he became the owner of his present large and well equipped farm, paying from twenty to seventy dollars an acre for most of his land. At the close of the Civil war he engaged in the mercantile buisness at Tuscola, this state, for three years, and in 1876 he removed to Latham and was there actively connected with mercantile affairs for six or seven years, but he finally located at Harristown in 1884, where he has since made his home. In 1857, in Decatur township, Mr. Hostetler was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Wykle a native of Greene county, Tennessee, who passed away in 1907, and Mr. Hostetler was again married, April 21, 1910, the lady of his choice being Mrs. Bertie (Coleman) McAnderson, who was born in North Carolina, March 2, 1886, a daughter of William and Ann Eliza (Simmons) Coleman. Her first husband was John McAnderson, of Newbern, North Carolina, by whom she had one child, Lizzie, born in North Carolina, July 19, 1902. In March, 1903, she removed to Point Washington, Florida, and at Bartow, that state she met Mr. Hostetler, in December, 1909, the meeting resulting in marriage the following April. Mr. Hostetler has recently been in the habit of spending his winters in Florida. He has been a lifelong democrat but has never been drawn into the whirlpool of politics, as his attention has been devoted to his various business interests. He is a member of the Christian church and gives liberally towards its support. He is also identifed with Tuscola Lodge, I.O.O.F., and has made many friends in Macon county who admire him on account of his useful life and the interest he has always taken in those with whom he has been associated."