Azro Hilliard

Azro Hilliard was born in Vermont, December 8, 1813. He is a son of Rev. John and Mary (Telly) Hilliard, the former of New Hampshire, the latter of Vermont. He learned the carpenter's trade, obtained a practical education and learned the cabinet trade in Vermont, at the same time he was engaged in carpentering, He won the reputation of a skillful workman in the manufacturing of anything his ingenious mind devised. In 1843 he located at Chicago, landing with his chest of tools and seventy-five cents. He soon became in great demand in that enterprising village, where his services were largely sought in building houses and the construction of articles in skilled mechanism. He prospered and accumulated a good property, residing in the city of his adoption till 1866, the time of his removal to Lafayette, where he now lives in retirement. He owns considerable real estate, consisting of town property and over one hundred acres of good farming land in Knox county, Illinois. He has served on the village board two terms. He was married in Chicago to Mrs. Thersa J. Sherman, daughter of F. A. Howe, a pioneer of Chicago and an early lawyer, in the year 1852, who has borne him two children, viz.: John A. and Fred. L., both on farms in Knox county, Ill. Mrs. LI. settled in Chicago with her parents in about 1833. She informs the writer of this sketch that she, in her girlhood, picked hazel nuts at what is now Lake street, and that she, too, distinctly remembers the issuing of goods to the Indians. Before their removal sheds were improvised for houses and the population was very small.