Life Leading Up To Illinois
After graduating from Amherst, Abel Harwood was a schoolteacher in Shelby County, Kentucky, soon after getting married to his first wife, Mary D. Batecheller. A few years later, him and Mary moved to Lexington, Kentucky upon getting a better teaching offer. However, his health began to fail, and he was forced to quit teaching altogether and pursue another occupation.
At this point, Harwood began to dabble in the boot and shoe business. Proving to be quite successful in this field, he made “considerable money”, earning $9,000 in his first, and clearing $46,000 after 9 years of business.
Abel’s story in Central Illinois began in 1852. At this time the Illinois Central Railroad was being surveyed, and Abel came to investigate the prospect of buying land in the area. He and his wife desired to move to a free state at the time, and believed that the Central Illinois Prairie to be a very promising and worthy investment. As a result, he acquired 3000 acres of land in McLean,Champaign, and Piatt counties for $1 per acre. Later on, he secured another 2000 acres from private sellers at a higher price.
At first, Abel was hesitant to move from his home in Lexington, Kentucky. Yet when he returned from buying his lands in Illinois, he was met by a client who offered to buy his shoe and boot business for $17,000. At the approval of his wife, he sold the business and moved to Bloomington, Illinois in 1853.
Here, he got in contact with his former business partner and started yet another shoe business in the area who was going to manage for Abel as he focused more and tending to and improving the thousands of acres he bought. He became more focused on agriculture, earning $8,000 from his first year in the business while also making money from his shoe business. While working the lands, he also placed a plethora of fences and hedges to improve the look of the lands as well, building houses on each of his lands for $500 each.