Patrick & Mary (McNamara) McGrath farmstead--Section 28, Osage Township, LaSalle County, Illinois. They purchased the farm in phases: Dec 6, 1869 N 1/2 of SE 1/4 of section 28; May 10, 1873 SE 1/4 of the SE 1/4 section 28; Sept 6, 1873 NE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 section 28. In 1877 the land was valued at $4000.

They farmed there till they retired in Dec 1908, moving into Wenona. Their youngest son Michael Patrick McGrath & newly wedded wife Agnes Kate Whalen then took it over. Michael farmed it till his death in 1937. Agnes kept the land & house till her death in 1972. The farm was sold & divided--& the house torn down soon after.

I'm told the farm sits on a water divide; the creek on the SW 1/4 is the Sandy Creek which winds northwest to enter the Illinois River between Lacon & Henry. The little rivulet that starts on the farm & crosses Rt 7, the north-south road to the east, is Moon Creek (now only grass waterways) & enters the Vermillion River over around Streator.

I never knew any of these relatives but I'm impressed at my Irish immigrant ancestors' success. Likewise I never saw the farmhouse standing--but I enjoy going by the fields & "picturing" the farmstead as it was in the past!

I was born on June 30, 1944. My parents and 2 older sister were living in that house. Agnes Whalen McGrath was my mothers Aunt. My Dad told me he wanted to purchase the farm sometime between 1939 and 1945 for $175.00 per acre and asked his father-in-law Daniel O'Brien but Dan said there was no land worth that much money and his reasoning was he had purchased land about 3 miles east of there in Livingston County in about 1920 and paid about $300.00 per acre and then worked hard to make payments throughout the Depression. There was originally 160 acres but 40 acres was sold about that same time. The 120 acres was sold in 1972 after Agnes died and the selling price was about $1200.00 per acre. A nephew of Agnes purchased the farm and still the owner.

My grandfather was Thomas L Mc Grath from clonmel . He immigrated in the early 1900’s to Plymouth mass and then Whitman Mass . There’s got to be a family connection!

Also my daughter lives in Chicago and married a guy from Peru

Check out Patrick McGrath's biography on Find a Grave (Memorial 155462317). You can contact me through that site. McGrath was a very common name in County Tipperary, but we can compare notes.