Thomas Tyson was born in 1836 in Niagara County, New York. His father died when he was two years old and at the age of ten, he left his home to begin work in a cooper shop and later as a farm laborer in New York. Although he had to learn a trade at a very early age, Thomas Tyson was one of the lucky orphans -- he had a trade that could make his later success possible. At the age of 14 (1850) he was determined to move West and did so with his mother and stepfather. They first came to Tazewell County, where Thomas worked for a farmer named Perrin. On that farm he would wake up at 4 a.m. to milk the cows, then accompany his employer into the timber where they would cut down trees and split them into railroad ties. They would cut 100 of those railroad ties each day! For this work he received $10 per month. He continued working for Perrin until he had enough money saved to purchase his own farm.
He farmed the land with his brother, William, and in 1855 he married Mary J Bell in Delavan, Illinois. Mary was also an orphan from a young age and had no parents at all, raised by grandparents and then an aunt, she must have been very happy to have her own home. Thomas and Mary had five children, two girls and three boys. Although his biography in the Portrait and Biographical Album of McLean County does not say so, it is obvious that he was something of a nurseryman, from the drawings of the many trees on his property. Thomas and Mary Mr. Tyson retired from farming in 1901 and died in 1913 in McLean, Illinois.
A hundred and seven years after Thomas' birth, Thomas' grandson, another Thomas, was the first McLean County resident captured during World War II. Although captured in Africa, he would spend 27 months in Germany as a prisoner of war. Thomas M. Tyson died in 1990 in Decatur, Illinois after a long career as a railroad engineer.
John C Gregory was born and raised in McLean County. A member of a later generation, his life was very different from that of Thomas Tyson. He established his farm at an early age, with the assistance of his prosperous father. As stated in the caption of the drawing, Gregory was a breeder of short horn cattle and Oxford-Down sheep. He was married to Arnettie Ogden, the only child of a Money Creek farmer (another source of future land and wealth). John attended the Normal schools and completed his studies at Evergreen Business College at the age of 21. His father was John Gregory of Normal who had come to Tazewell County in 1844. He was a very wealthy farmer and stock breeder. The announcement of John Gregory's younger brother's wedding contained a comment that Mr. Gregory gave each of his children 400 acres on the occasion of their weddings, so John Gregory had a good start toward building a large farm. He raised 130 head of cattle, 25 thoroughbred horses and 75 hogs and managed this farm very ably at the time of this biography. Arnettie and John were the proud parents of a little girl named Pearl at the time of the publication of the Album. Note the woman and little child figures in the drawing as well as the drawing of a second woman -- a housekeeper, possibly. One outbuilding is marked "scales" and the other "ice." At the top of the drawing is a detail of some of his choice breeding stock. His prize bull was called Duke of Prairie Grove according to the drawing.
