McDonough County Genealogical Society
Capt Charles R Hume – Hire Township
Charles R. Hume packed quite a bit of living into his years. He was born January 1, 1814, in Delaware County, New York, one of ten children of Robert and Catherine Ross Hume. After finishing at Jefferson Academy, he headed west in 1837 to McDonough County, Illinois, where he bought 320 acres in Hire Township. Along the way, the steamboat he was traveling on blew up, injuring several passengers—but Hume came through without a scratch and went right on with his plans.
In 1839, he married Harriet Lucinda Blandin, daughter of Joseph L. Blandin, founder of Blandinsville, Illinois.
The couple had four children: Julia Catherine and Charles A., who both died young, and two who lived to adulthood—Mary H. (later Mrs. Joseph Edell) and Robert Wilson Hume.
