ELI HIRAM SIKES
Page 30

It is not possible in a brief sketch to do justice to the memory of one who was for many years prominently before the community. We can only give in outline the biography of a man whose nobility of character endeared him to all with whom he came in contact. The main facts of his history have been furnished by his widow, who, cherishing his memory, would thus offer a slight tribute to his departed worth. Impartial men have furnished the information as to his character. In matters of public welfare he was always on the alert. In the rebellion he was one of the first and most earnest in defense of the cause that he considered right, and he assisted in many ways to enlist men at a time when the feeling was at first strongly opposed to the war. He was a man of unflinching integrity in all business matters, and his word was as good as his bond. He was decided and firm in his views on all subjects of public interest, but a genial and sociable man. He was a member of Mason City Lodge, No. 403, A.F. and A. Masons, and was buried by them according to the solemn and impressive rites of the order. Being a prudent man, he left his family an estate sufficient to place them in independent circumstances. He was never in the habit of accumulating debts, and his administrator had but little to do, everything having been arranged by him in his usual systematic manner before his death. Mr. Sikes was born in Sciote County, Ohio, October 24th, 1825. His father, David Sikes, was of the same county and state, and his mother, Rachel Virgin, was from Kentucky. His mother dying when he was nine years old, he came with his uncle, Kinzie Virgin, to Illinois in 1836. They settled on Salt Creek about eight miles southwest of Mason City, near a place called Hiawatha. He worked industriously until he had made enough money to enter 160 acres of land in the same neighborhood, which is now owned by the family. William Warnock and family, from Ross County, Ohio, came out in 1850, and he there made the acquaintance of Miss Caroline Warnock, the eldest daughter and they were married September 9th, 1852. Eleven children were born to them, of whom five are now living, the remainder having died in infancy. All of the surviving children are now at home in Mason City, whither Mrs. Sikes removed in 1868. Their names in the order of their ages are Harriet E., George W., John H., Orrilla A. and Yates L. George W., having applied himself to the "Art preservative of Arts," is now in the office of the Mason City Independent, with a fair start and fair prospects of life. Mr. Sikes was a man of well proportioned figure, of nervous temperament and active habits, his head and face bore the stamp of intellectual power; and if his earlier days had been blessed with advantages, and he had not by force of circumstances been compelled to incessant labor, his name would have been enrolled among distinguished men of his day. Of this we have been assured by discriminating men who knew him intimately. Finding his death near at hand, he arranged his affairs, appointed his executor, and met the grim messenger unabashed,--- "As one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." He was attacked with typhoid fever in September, 1868, and died October 11, 1868. His remains rest in the Big Grove cemetery in Salt Creek township, not far from the scene of his early struggles and his later triumphs.

1874 Atlas Index

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