Illinois, and was mustered out of service on the 26th of August, 1864. After the battle of Shiloh he was detailed from his regiment for detached service. When his term of enlistment had expired he returned to his home in Pike county, Illinois; but the war was still raging, and he could not content himself to remain in the village while the safety of his country was imperiled, and on the 12th of October, 1864, he again enlisted, this time for one year's service, as a member of Company A, Thirty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He started to the front, but was delayed on account of illness, and did not reach his command in Raleigh, North Carolina, until the time of the surrender of General Joe Johnston. With his command he went to Washington, D. C., and took part in the grand review, the most celebrated military pageant ever seen on the western hemisphere. Not long afterward he became ill and was finally discharged August 2, 1865.       Mr. Browning then returned to Pike county and took up his old occupation as a farm hand with Mr. Yokem, continued with him a short period. On the 14th of September, 1865, however, he completed arrangements for having a home of his own by his marriage to Miss Margaret J. Dunaven, a daughter of James Dunaven, of Virginia. His wife died August 6, 1866, and their only child, a daughter, died in infancy. On the 8th of April, 1868, Mr. Browning was again married, his second union being with Sarah T. Dunaven, a sister of his first wife. She died April 8th, 1869, and their son died at birth. On the 1st of June, 1869, Mr. Browning wedded Miss Sarah A. Carr, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Carr, and unto this union were born nine children, six sons and three daughters: Huey, born January 30, 1871; Fred K., born January 6, 1873; Elsie E., January 8, 1875; Mary J., October 24, 1876; William R., August 6, 1878; Homer C., May 24, 1880; Stella E., December 27, 1882; Nathan M., March 26, 1884; and Ernie, March 19, 1886. All are yet living but the mother, Mrs. Sarah A. Browning, passed away February 14, 1888. Mr. Browning has since married Mrs. Eliza Johnson, nee Waters, the widow of James S. Johnson. Her husband was a Civil war veteran, enlisting on the 18th of February, 1865, and was discharged from service at Louisville, Kentucky, July 9, 1865.      Politically Mr. Browning is a stalwart republican, never faltering in his allegiance to the party since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. In an active business career he has depended entirely upon his own resources and labors and has justly won the proud American title of a self-made man.                                                  ______________                                               JON W. BALLENGER     Jon W. Ballenger operates one of the best farms in Spring Creek township. He was born October 3, 1843, in Kenton county, Kentucky, and is a son of Benjamin and Mary (Lipscomb) Ballenger. The parents were natives of Kenton county, Kentucky, and the father engaged in the butchering business for a short time in Covington, that state, after which he removed to Pike county, Illinois, settling in Pittsfield, where he conducted a meat market throughout almost the remainder of his active business career. However, about two years prior to his death he retired from butchering and engaged in farming. His death was occasioned by accident, his team running off while he was stacking wheat. He was born September 10, 1819, and was killed when sixty-two years of age. His wife died in Kentucky in 1849.      Jon W. Ballenger was educated in the public schools of Pittsfield, Illinois, and entered business life as an employe in his father's butcher shop, in which he continued until the business was closed out. He afterward turned his attention to farming, and later he engaged in general agricultural pursuits and in butchering. However, in 1885 he retired altogether from the latter trade, and has since given his undivided attention to general agricultural pursuits. He now operates one of the best farms in Spring Creek township, and has made excellent improvements upon it since he rented it. He has about forty-five head of cattle and fifty head of hogs; and in addition to raising stock, he makes a specialty of the production of corn.