Charles R. ROOD is a native of Grandville, Washington County, New York, and was born July 24, 1813. He came to Whiteside county in October 1836, and settled first in Albany where he remained three years. During this time he located his present farm on section twenty-two in Garden Plain, then a part of Albany Precinct, and in the fall of 1840 when back to the East, remaining until 1844, when he returned with his wife and settled permanently in his new home. Mr. ROOD was married to Miss Sarah S CHURCHILL at Mooers, Clinton County New York, on the 27th of October 1842. Mrs. ROOD is a native of Champlain, Clinton county, New York, and was born November 11, 1815. The following are the names of their children; Myra, born August 12, 1845; Albert Lawrence born October 11, 1847; Nellie, born November 12, 1848 and Julia, born March 11, 1856. Albert Lawrence died January 3rd, 1848, Nellie married James NIMON and is living in Leavenworth, Kansas. Myra and Julia are residing at home. Probably no man in Whiteside took a more prominent part in the affairs of the county at an early day than Mr. ROOD, or was more thoroughly acquainted with its people. In 1837 he was appointed Deputy County Surveyor by Mr. Crawford, the County Surveyor of Ogle county, Whiteside being then attached to Ogle for county purposes, and in 1838 received the appointment of Deputy Sheriff from the Sheriff of Ogle county. Upon the complete organization of Whiteside in 1839 he was elected its first County Surveyor, the term being for four years, but vacated the office in 1842 during his absence at the East. Soon after his return he was appointed Deputy Surveyor for the county, and holds that position at present. Mr. ROOD surveyed and laid out the towns of Harrisburg and Chatham (now Sterling), Lyndon, Albany, and a part of Fulton, and has surveyed and located most of the leading roads in the county. Besides these public surveys, his services have been very frequently in demand since he first came to the county, to make private surveys of lands, lots and blocks. As a Surveyor he has no superior in this section of the country. His knowledge of the profession, and his accuracy are unquestioned. Of township offices he has been Supervisor several terms, also Highway Commissioner, School Director and Township School Treasure. When the Postoffice was established at Garden Plain he was the first Postmaster. He has always been an ardent friend of the Temperance cause, and as early as 1837 assisted in forming a Temperance Society in Albany, which was probably the first organization of the kind in the county. This Society was organized in the spring and by the following June it numbered over forty members, showing that the leader were not only zealous, but effective in their labors. Mr. ROOD is the owner of one of the finest farms in Garden Plain township - a town, if we may use the expression, running over with splendid farms. The land rolling, the soil rich and deep, and under his careful management produces abundant crops. His talent and success as an agriculturist are only equaled by those exhibited and attained in his profession. When the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry came into being he took an active part in organizing subordinate Granges, and was the first Master of the County Grange. He is at present connected with the Farmer's Co-operative Manufacturing Company, whose works are at Lyndon.

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Charles R. Rood, whose name is associated with the history of Whiteside County in the year 1836, when he located in Albany,. He was born July 20, 1813, in Granville, Washington Co., N. Y. He is the son of Robert R. and Elizabeth (Holden) Rood. His parents were both natives of Connecticut and went, about the year 1800, to Clinton Co., N. Y., where they were among the pioneer settlers at Mooers. They left Clinton County in 1812, on account of the embarrassments caused by the war, and passed the next two years in Washington County, returning at the end of that lime to Mooers. His fatner owned timber land in Clinton County, where he engaged in the lumber business and cleared several farms; he was a resident there until his death.

Mr. Rood relumed to Washington County when nine years of age, and spent three years in the family of his uncle, after which he again became an inmate of the paternal household, passing the time principally in attendance at school. At 19 he began to teach school, and operated alternately as teacher winters, and a farmer summers, for some years. In 1836 he came to Illinois to seek a suitable location for the efforts he desired to make in the way of securing a'home and fortune. He came by the lakes to Detroit and thence by stage to St. Joseph, Mich. He operated there three months as a surveyor, and early in the fall of the same year he took lake passage for Chicago, coming from that then small city to Ottawa by stage. In company with nine others, with a span of horses and a wagon, he made his way to Albany, where he remained during the winter. In the spring of 1837 he made a claim, situated on section 22 in township 21, range 3, now Garden Plain. In the winter of 1837-8 he taught the first school in Albany, in a frame house he built at that place. He was made Deputy Sheriff and also Deputy County Surveyor of Whiteside County, in 1837, by appointment from the officials of Ogle County, to which Whiteside County was attached for municipal purposes; and in 1839 was elected County Surveyor, being the first incumbent of the office on the completion of the county organization. At the land sale at Galena in 1839, he was appointed to bid in for the several purchasers the land that was sold in the townships of Albany and Garden Plain. In the fall of 1840 he resigned, as he was about to return to the State of New York. On his return about four years later, he was appointed Deputy Surveyor, and has held that position most of the time since. The result of his operations as a surveyor may be traced throughout the county. He surveyed and platted Chatham and Harrisburg (now Sterling), Lyndon and Albany, and located the principal thoroughfares. He has also performed an enormous amount of labor in private interests, surveying land for all purposes. He has held some of the township offices, notably Township Treasurer, Commissioner of Roads and Supervisor several terms, and gives his best efforts to the public welfare, both as a citizen and as an official. On the establishment of a postoffice in Garden Plain, he was elected as being well qualified to attend to its relations. He has been a declared temperance advocate all his life, and assisted in the organization of the first temperance society in the county, located at Albany. Mr. Rood was the first Master of the County Grange, and also the first Master of the subordinate grange in Garden Plain. For the last five years he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Northern Illinois College at Fulton. He was originally a Whig, but became an adherent of the Republican party in 1856.

Mr. Rood returned to Clinton Co., N. Y., in 1840, and in the ensuing winter taught school in the village "of Mooers. He was married Oct. 27, 1842, to Sarah S. Churchill. She was born Nov. ir, 1815, in Champlain, Clinton County. After marriage, Mr. Rood located in the Province of Quebec, 40 miles from Montreal. He bought a farm, where he erected a saw-mill and engaged in the manufacture of lumber. He bought standing timber for the supply of his mill. In 1844 he returned to Whiteside County and settled on his land on section 22 in Garden Plain Township. Pie at once set about the erection of a frame house and engaged in the cultivation of his farm. His estate is in fine and profitable condition, and ranks more than fairly with farms of the township. Mr. Rood has taught several terms of school since bis return to Whiteside County. Three of six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rood are now living: Myra A. is the oldest; Nellie married James Nimon and they live in Dennison, Tex.; Julia E. is the youngest. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.