The past and present of Vermilion County, Illinois .. . h Elislia C. B. Fithian has so directedbis business affairs that he has prospered inhis undertakings and to-day he is one of themost extensive landowners of Vermilioncounty. He is also one of its pioneer citi-zens, for his birtli occurred November 8,1837, in Danville, when that city was but avillage. His parents were Dr. \\illiam andOrlethea T. (Berry j Fithian, who are men-tioned elsewhere in this volume. The sonpursued his early education in a little logbuilding called the Williams school, his firstteacher being a Scotchman named Robin-
The past and present of Vermilion County, Illinois .. . h Elislia C. B. Fithian has so directedbis business affairs that he has prospered inhis undertakings and to-day he is one of themost extensive landowners of Vermilioncounty. He is also one of its pioneer citi-zens, for his birtli occurred November 8,1837, in Danville, when that city was but avillage. His parents were Dr. \\illiam andOrlethea T. (Berry j Fithian, who are men-tioned elsewhere in this volume. The sonpursued his early education in a little logbuilding called the Williams school, his firstteacher being a Scotchman named Robin-son. He was not only a good instructor,but he also exemplified his belief in the oldadag^e spare the rod and spoil the was a subscription school and theteacher boarded around in the homes ofthe diffcrent pupils. Later Mr. Fithian wasa student in the White Seminary, a Presby-terian institution, where he continued forsome time, acquiring a good English edu-cation. After completing bis school duties heentered the general store of his lather in. E. D. B. FITh I AN THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 2 si Dan\^ille, remaining there for aljout a tlien came to tlie farm in Oakwoodtownship, for he believed that the outdoorlife would prove beneficial to his failinghealth. He took charge of his fathers farmof thirty-seven hundred acres, very little ofwhich was at that time tuider Fithian began breaking the prairie, us-ing five or six yoke of oxen to a breakingplow A\hich would turn a furrow of twenty-two inches. He broke a tliousand acres inthis way, but much of it had to be gone overagain, often as many as three or four times,for there had been no ditching done and thewarm water would again start the prairiegrasses. Finally Air. Fithian gave up theattempt to transform into cultivable fields? the low land and used it as pasture. Hetin^ned his attention to the stock businesson an extensive scale. His father was alarge stock man and he had gained practicalknowledge o
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