STANDARD ATLAS
OF
SCOTT COUNTY, ILLINOIS
1903
Geo. A. Ogle & Co.Publishers & Engravers
134 Van Buren St.
Chicago
Transcribed by Larry Fearneyhough
Page 106
One of the citizens of Scott county, now living near Manchester, who had considerable to do with Winchester in the era of railroad construction and boom, and who took an active interest in all that was transpiring at that time, is Michael Condon. He was born in the County Cork, Ireland, in 1832. He was a typical Irish lad and when seventeen years of age concluded that the world had better things in store for him than were to be found in his native country, so he sailed away and landed in America, January 10, 1849. He came almost as straight as he could come to Scott county, and settled about a half-mile south of the public square in the present city of Winchester, Illinois, and secured labor from Uncle Jacob Miller, (now dead and gone these many years). For years Mr. Condon worked for him, and while thus engaged he helped to get out and transport considerable of the material used in the construction of the older state institutions located at Jacksonville. At the time what is now the Rock Island branch of the C. B. & Q. railroad was constructed through Winchester Mr. Condon did considerable work in that line and for a number of years was a familiar figure in the about Winchester.
June 7, 1865, he was married to Miss Mary Morley. She is a native of Donegal, Ireland, and was born August 16, 1839. She came to this country, sometime in the latter 50's. She's a bright woman, gifted with the native Irish wit and quick instinct, is a splendid cook and has made an excellent wife and mother. She believes you should eat as well as talk and if you visit at her home you will have to do your full share of both. Mr. and Mrs. Condon are the parents of eight children, viz: Katie, Sarah, Mary, Anna, Michael, Nellie, Hannah and John. The eldest daughter is married to John Smith and now lives in Jacksonville. Mr. and Mrs.Condon have reared an interesting family and are rightfully proud of their children.
In the good old days, long before Winchester began to put on metropolitan airs, Michael Condon lived there and mingled with the people. He was attentive to his labors and attended strictly to his own business. While it is true that he took an occasional "drap o' the craythur" he regarded it as his own affair and went steadily about the even tenor of his way. For years before his marriage his mother kept house for he and his brother, James. After his mother's death Mr. Condon married and the latter events of his life are so well known as to need but little comment. In the years of his residence in Scott county he has managed to put by a little for the winter of life and now, after nearly three-quarters of a century's buffeting up and down the earth he is at home upon his own 200-acre farm near Manchester, where he is glad to break bread and spend a social hour with all who pass his threshold.