When a sturdy band of pioneers were opening up LaSalle county to the influences of civilization Isaac Gage came to the county and cast in his lot with the early settlers. He faithfully bore his part in the work of progress and development, aided in transforming the wild land into rich farms, assisted in organizing the township and establishing civil authority, and in many other ways left the impress of his individuality upon the growth and improvement of this section of the state. He was ever a respected citizen, and his record deserves a place on the pages of the history of his adopted county.
Mr. Gage was born in Orford, Grafton county, New Hampshire, November 7, 1815, his parents being Isaac and Ruth (Stone) Gage. They were born, reared and married in Massachusetts, and soon after their marriage removed to Orford, where they spent their remaining days. Upon the home farm Isaac Gage spent the days of his boyhood and when old enough he began to assist his father, who was a stone-mason and took contracts for building bridges, walls and other stone structures. He became a resident of Illinois in 1837, in which year he accompanied his uncle, Aaron Gage, to Chicago. On the loth of July of the same year he arrived in Ottawa and soon obtained a situation with Levi Jennings. Jr., with whom he lived for several years, when he established a home of his own.
On the 1st of January, 1845, Mr. Gage was united in marriage to Miss Lucy Little, a native of Grafton county. New Hampshire, and a daughter of James and Polly Little, who were early settlers of Eden township, LaSalle county, dating their residence here from the fall of 1839. Mr. and Mrs. Gage began their domestic life upon the farm which has since been their home, and four children came to bless their union: Louisa C, wife of S. T. Osgood, of Marseilles; Harriet E., widow of Dr. R. N. Baughman; Ida A., who became the wife of J. S. Batkin, and died December 23, 1884; and B. Frank.
Throughout his active business career Mr. Gage carried on agricultural pursuits, and was a most practical, progressive and enterprising farmer. His thrift and industry were attended with success, and his prosperity enabled him to replace the little house in which he first lived by a spacious and pleasant residence, and to extend the boundaries of his farm until it comprised four hundred and eighty acres of richly cultivated land. He also owned an additional quarter section elsewhere in Brookfield township, LaSalle county, and had some valuable real estate in Marseilles. His business affairs were prosecuted with great energy and characterized by the strictest honesty.
Mr. Gage cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Harrison in 1840 and voted with the Whig party until its dissolution, when he joined the ranks of the new Republican party and was one of its stalwart advocates until his death. He assisted in the organization of Brookfield township, was its first assessor and held various other offices of trust and responsibility, discharging his duties with marked faithfulness. His was an honorable, upright and useful life, and in his death, which occurred February 11, 1886, the community lost one of its valued citizens and esteemed pioneers.
Extracted by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois published in 1900, volume 1, pages 336-337.
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