Egbert P. Little is one of the old residents of Champaign County, having come here with his parents nearly fifty years ago. The business to which he successfully applied his efforts through many years was farming, but he is now living retired in the city of Champaign. Mr. Little prospered as a farmer and stock man, and his material circumstances have added to his own comfort and have also provided means and training for the careers of his children, in whom he takes special pride.
Mr. Little was born in La Salle County, Illinois, September 3, 1857, a son of John and Frances (Bassford) Little. His parents were New Englanders, his father a native of New Hampshire and his mother of Vermont. Both are now deceased. His father was for many years a farmer and ‘was long identified with the agricultural interests of Champaign County. Of the nine children in the family four died in infancy. Addie A. is the wife of John Blair of Syracuse, New York; Leslie resides at Tolono in Champaign County. The next in age is Egbert P.; Luella is the eighth in the family and Linnie is the wife of Charles DeForest, of St. Joseph, Illinois.
Egbert P. Little was eleven years of age when he came with his parents to Champaign County in 1868. He grew up on a farm at Tolono, and was educated in the local district schools. He lived at home until his marriage, and then bought land and applied himself with all the vigor and enthusiasm of youth to the task of making a home and succeeding at his chosen vocation. Mr. Little continued active on the farm until 1908, when he removed to Champaign and bought his present home at 905 South Wright Street.
On March 19, 1884, he married Matilda Merry, a native of Champaign County and a daughter of Franklin and Catherine (Norton) Merry. Her parents were both natives of New York State and were quite early settlers in Champaign County, where they located on a farm in 1855. Both spent the rest of their years in this county and her father was killed by the kick of a horse. Mrs. Little was the second in a family of three children. The oldest was Cyrena, now living in Nebraska, the widow of Frederick Brown. The youngest is Charles D. Merry, of Urbana.
Mr. and Mrs. Little had five children, the fourth of whom died in infancy. Roger F., the oldest, is now a practicing lawyer at Urbana.
Leroy Louis, after graduating from the University of Illinois, taught in a high school three years, went abroad, spending about a year in Servia, and is now an associate editor of the Outing Magazine in New York City. Ethel Esther is a graduate of the class of 1917 in the University of Illinois, while the youngest child, Elmer P., is in the first year of the University. Mr. Little is a Republican in politics and has been casting his vote in allegiance to that party for forty years. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
