Source: History of Whiteside County, Illinois
By William W. Davis, M.A.
Vol. II
Chicago: The Pioneer Publishing Co. - 1908

Transcribed by: Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society
www.tampicohistoricalsociety.citymax.com

Pages 12210-1224

R. H. McKenzie, a resident of Tampico yet deriving his income from valuable farming interests in Illinois, was born in Bureau county, this state, November 31, 1854, his parents being O. W. and Emily (Dow) McKenzie. The father was a native of Essex county, New York, born March 8, 1825. His great-great-grandfather came from Scotland and settled in eastern New York, where h reared a family of seven children, namely: Alexander, Robert, Crosby, Sallie M., Ethel, Thomas and John. all of the sons were soldiers in the war of 1812 and the military record of the family was therefore a most creditable one.

John McKenzie took part in the battle of Plattsburg. He was born August 6, 1794, and died in Bureau county, Illinois, July 3, 1857. He was married on the 23d of February, 1815, to Miss Betsey Havens, who was born February 9, 1796, and passed away March 5, 1854. They became the parents of nine children: Hiram, Eliza, John M., Oliver W., DeLafayette, Lyman W., Lomira C., Robert and Chancy D. The parents with their children removed westward to Bureau county, Illinois, in the spring of 1846 and during the first summer lived upon a rented farm. In the fall of that year they built a log house with a board roof on section 7, Fairfield township, where the father had secured a claim. During the first years of their residence in this pioneer home they hauled all the water used in the house in barrels from Woodford Bluff in Whiteside county, a distance of six miles. Such were some of the privations of pioneer life neccessary to pave the way to the prosperity of later years. Two years after building his log cabin John McKenzie hauled lumber from Chicago and built a frame house, in which he and his wife spent their remaining days. At that time Chicago was but a small town of little industrial or commercial importance and the most farsighted could not have dreamed of the wonderful growth to which it would attain in less than a century. The crops were hauled to market there, for there were no railroads to supply easier transportation.

O. W. McKenzie came to Illinois with his parents and took advantage of the opportunity offered by the government to secure a claim, obtaining one hundred and sixty acres on section 7, Fairfield township, of which he afterward entered eighty acres, while his brother  John entered the remaining eighty. They broke the first prairie where Yorktown now stands, hiring two yokes of oxen from Joseph Arnett at  fifteen cents per day. Oliver W. McKenzie afterward bough these oxen for ten dollars per head. With characteristic energy he continued the improvement and development of his eighty acres and to the farm moved a pole house which he had purchased for five dollars. Having thus made preliminary arrangements for a home of his own, he further completed these by is marriage, on the 20th of March, 1850, in Princeton, Illinois, to Miss Emily Dow, the eldest daughter of Witcher and Eunice (Bump) Dow, former residents of Cayuga County, New York, who in 1847 arrived in Bureau conty, Illinois. Mrs. Dow was widely known as an excellent nurse and a woman of many spendid traits of character, who was loved by all. She was born December 7, 1877. It was on the 27th of January, 1828, that she gave her hand in marriage to Mr. Dow, with whom she traveled life's journey happily for nearly a half centry. Mr. Dow was born in Danville, Vermont, October 13, 1804, and died in Illinois, May 30, 1882. There were the parents of eight children: Mrs. Emily McKenzie, Mrs. Emaline Greenman, and Clay Q. Of this family the first named, Emily McKenzie, was born March 5, 1829, in Cattaraugus county, New York, and by her marriage became the mother of six children. Ellen E., Julia A., Raymond H., William E., Oliver W., and one who died in infancy.

Oliver W. McKenzie was always a successful farmer and stock-raiser, whose carefully conducted interest brough him a creditable measure of acres of land, rich and productive. He was the first blacksmith and store keeper of Yorktown and was not only associated with its commercial and industrial interest but also took an active part in political affairs in his locality. He was the first constable and assessor of Fairfield township, filling the former position for thirteen years, and in the discharge of his duties he manifested the utmost fidelity as well as capability. Active in business, he achieved a gratifying measure of prosperity and the methods which he followed won for hm the respect and confidence of all.

R. H. McKenzie, whose name introduces this record, remained with his father until he attained his majority, pursuing his educatin in the public schools and gaining intimate knowledge of the best methods of tilling the soil through the assistance which he rendered in carrying on the ome farm. When he had reached adult age, he rented a part of his father's land for four years and then bought eighty acres in Bureau county. Removing  to this farrm, he made it his place of residence until 1890, when he located upon the old homestead belonging to his father and oerated it for two years, thus relieving his father of all the care and labor connected  with the cultivation of the place. There the father died July 22, 1891, , having for about three years survived his wife, who passed away November 5, 1888. Following the death of the former, Mr. McKenzie removed to Tampico, where he has since made his home. He is now the owner of four hundred and eighty acres of valuable and productive land in Bureau county, eighty acres in Whiteside county and ten acres of timberland in Henry county. He always handeled stock while living uon the farm, keeping on hand high grades of horses, cattle andhogs and realizing a good profit from his aninual sales. He has been associated with the business interests of Tampico as a progressive merchant, dealing in groceries and men's furnishing goods for six years and also conducting a meat market.

On the 12th of February, 1879, Mr. McKenzie was married to Miss Lovina West, who was born in Whiteside county in 1859, a daughter of Isaac West, a native of the state of  New York, and one of the family of three children. by her marriage she has become the mother of three children, two sons and one daughter: Roy E., who is a graduate of a business college at Galesburg, Illinois,; Hazel F., who is in Aurora, this state; and Clyde, at home. The parents are consistant and faithful members of the Christian church and Mr. McKenzie indicates his views upon the temperance question by the stalwart support he gives to the prohibition party. He belongs to the Modern Woodsmen camp at Tampico, to the Knights of the Globe, and to the Bankers Life, of Des Moines. He has always lived in this section of the state and is a representative of one of the oldest and most prominent pioneeer families. His own record has been in harmony with that of the family and he stands for progressive citizenship, for integrity in business and for uprightness in every relation of life. He is now deriving his income from his invested interests while he is practically living retired, save for the supervison which he gives to his property.