Humphrey Horrabin’s age kept him from fighting in the Civil War, but he firmly sided with the Union. In 1868, he received the Republican nomination for Representative to the 26th General Assembly, and he won the election, beating Democrat Henry W. Kreider.

Humphrey Horrabin represented the district in the Illinois General Assembly between January 4,1869 and adjournment, April 20,1869.He was an active member of the Liberty Methodist Episcopal Church and the temperance league.

Humphrey Horrabin’s wife, Elizabeth, died in 1870. In 1872, the widowed Horrabin sailed back to England to visit his aged mother, and while there met a woman by the name of Mary Ockleshaw. They married in Lancashire on August 14, 1872, and Humphrey brought his new bride to his home in Blandinsville Township. In 1876, the final Horrabin child was
born, a son named Humphrey James Horrabin.

According to the Macomb Daily Journal, The Honorable Humphrey Horrabin died at home in his chair on July 18, 1887 from heart problems. He was five months short, 70 years old. His son, Humphrey James Horrabin, took over the farm with his wife, Clara (Keys) and their four children. Humphrey Horrabin’s grandson, H. Waldo Horrabin, was well-known as a
great educator, exceptional science teacher, and genius mentor. The lab school on Western Illinois University’s campus bears his name and he helped design the building.

The brick house that Humphrey Horrabin built is still standing and occupied today. Additions were added to it over the years. From an apprentice shoemaker to a family that left a lasting mark on McDonough County, the Horrabins built more than a home, they built a legacy on the prairie.

This Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Lori Boyer of the McDonough County Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs. For more Pioneers of the Past, go to https://www.mcdcgs.com/pioneers-of-the-past/