Captain F. B. Sale

 

SOURCE: "History of Champaign County, Illinois with Illustrations," 1878

SURNAMES: CRAMER, SALE

Capt. F. B. SALE, one of the leading agriculturists and business men of Condit township, is the son of John and Nancy B. SALE, and was born in Greene county, Ohio, June 9th, 1822.

His father, John Sale, was a native of Virginia, and early in life moved to Ohio. He was one of the pioneer ministers of the Methodist Church of Ohio, devoting his life to the cause of Christianity. He was presiding elder at the time of his death. He was in the ministry over thirty years. The subject of our sketch was the youngest of a family of nine children. His boyhood days were spent on a farm. He received such an education as the common schools of the neighborhood afforded. He remained and assisted in carrying on the farm at the old homestead until he arrived at the age of thirty-one years.

On the 11th of October, 1844, he was married to Miss Maria CRAMER. As the fruits of this union eight children were born to them, seven sons and one daughter. Their names may be mentioned, as follows: Willis George, now a resident of Indianapolis, Ind.; Edwin C., who is a grain merchant at Dewey Station, in East Bend township; Charles E., a resident of Nebraska; John A., a partner with E. C., at Dewey Station. The style of the firm is Sale Brothers. S. B. is engaged in farming in East Bend. Frank O., who is a teacher, James P., and Fannie, who are residing at home with their parents. In the fall of 1853 Mr. Sale removed with his family to Urbana, Ill., where he was engaged in merchandizing and trading until 1856. In the fall of the latter year he settled on a farm on section 17, in Condit township.

Mr. Sale taught the first school in the new building in district No. l, and was the first teacher in that township to receive a salary as high as forty dollars per month. This was in the winter of 56-'57. He was deputy assessor under C. H. Sherfy and William Munhall, during the years 1856-57. In 1858 he was elected justice of the peace, and has acted as such most of the time since.

In 1862 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, under command of Col. Harmon. Was mustered in at Danville, Ill., September 3d, 1862. He was elected and mustered in as captain of company F, of the above regiment. The hard marches and privations incident to camp life so told on his health that he was compelled to resign, and returned home to the bosom of his family in the spring of 1863.

His eldest son, Willis George SALE enlisted and served during the one hundred days service. Mr. Sale has been a member and an active worker in the Methodist Church for the last forty years. In 1857 he was licensed to preach, and has efficiently performed the duties of a local preacher since that time. In 1866 he was appointed agent of the American Bible Society. His district embraced the counties of Champaign, Iroquois, Piatt, and Macon. During the same year (1866) he was ordained deacon of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Bloomington, Ill., by Bishop Ames, and in 1871 was ordained an elder at Jacksonville, Ill., by Bishop L. Scott.

In politics he is a republican. In the spring of 1878 he was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors. In the life of our subject we find a man who has preserved a pure Christian character, and who, through his long and eventful career and various vicissitudes has ever been faithful to any and all trusts reposed in him. And tile richest legacy he will leave to his children is the record of a well-spent life.