Hotaling store around 42 years

Phillip Miller Hotaling ran a Fairbury grocery store from 1900 until 1942.

The Hotaling family's story began with Miller Hotaling's birth in New York in 1851. The Hotalings had been in the New York area for many generations. Miller Hotaling's paternal grandfather served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and his great-grandfather fought on the colonists' side in the Revolutionary War.

Jacob Hotaling (1842-1865) was a brother to Miller Hotaling. Jacob Hotaling served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was captured and sent to the dreaded Andersonville Prison. After 22 months of starvation and disease, Jacob Hotaling died in Andersonville at the age of 21.

Miller Hotaling moved from New York to McLean County in 1868 when he was seventeen years of age. He rented land and started to farm. In 1874, Miller Hotaling married Miss Flora Pulsifier in Livingston County. Miller was 23, and Flora was 19 when they married. Miller and Flora Hotaling had four children. Their first child was Lewis R. Hotaling, who was born in 1877. Their second child was born in 1878 and was named Phillip Miller Hotaling. Daughters Leah May Hotaling was born in 1881, and Chloe Helen Hotaling was born in 1884.

Unfortunately, Flora Miller died in 1886 at the age of 30. Miller Hotaling was 36 years old when his wife died. Flora Miller was buried at Graceland Cemetery near her parents. Mr. Hotaling had to raise four children under the age of nine by himself.

Three years after his wife's death, 39-year-old Miller Hotaling married 18-year-old Martha Ann VanWormer at the Methodist Church in Fairbury. She was born in Brimfield and was the daughter of William and Martha Sheperd VanWormer. Miller and Martha Hotaling had four daughters. Mr. Miller Hotaling had a total of eight children from his two wives.

Phillip Miller Hotaling was born in 1878. He lost his mother when he was eight years old and got an 18-year-old stepmother when he was 11 years old.

In January 1900, twenty-two-year-old Phillip Hotaling bought Jarvel White's interest in the Fairbury grocery firm of Jarvel White and Frank Reaney. This store was then located in the McDowell building, which was later occupied by Zimmerman Hardware in 1942. He bought out Mr. Reaney and became a sole proprietor of the grocery store in 1905.

In 1903, P. M. Hotaling married Jennie Bates Clift. Both the bride and groom were 24 years old when they married. She was the daughter of John H. Clift (1842-1912) and Arabella B. Smith (1849-1928). They initially lived on South Fourth Street when they were first married. Phillip and Jennie Hotaling had one daughter in 1907. They gave their daughter the same first name as the mother of Jennie Clift, Arabella Hotaling (1907-1990).

In 1904, Miller Hotaling, who was 54 years old at the time, sold his 100-acre farm five miles northwest of Fairbury to Rudolph Ulfers for $150 per acre and moved to town.

Nine years after moving to town, Miller Hotaling died in 1913 at the age of 62. He was buried at Graceland Cemetery.

The oldest Fairbury telephone book at the Fairbury Echoes Museum is the 1930 phone book. In this phone book, P. M. Hotaling lived with his wife, Jennie, at 312 E. Elm St., and their phone number was 169. The P. M. Hotaling Quality Grocery was at 116 W. Locust St., and that business had phone numbers of 109 and 516. Mr. Hotaling also had a listing for his coal business with the same address as his grocery store.

In 1935, P. M. Hotaling moved his grocery store from the McDowell Building to the Keck Building. In 1938, Miss Carrie Broadwell was a bookkeeper at Hotaling Grocery. That year, she married Ralph Zimmerman.

That same year, the Blade reported there were at least seven grocery stores in Fairbury. The list of grocery stores included The Harper Grocery, P. M. Hotaling's, Walton's Department Store, Kroger Food Store, The Model Grocery, Larking Food Store, and Mimmo's Oak St. Market. In 1940, P. M. Hotaling moved his store from the Keck Building to the American Legion Building.

In July 1940, Jennie Hotaling, wife of P. M. Hotaling, died at the age of 61 in Fairbury. She was buried in Graceland Cemetery.

The Fairbury Post Office had at least five different locations over the years in Fairbury. In 1938, it was located in the building at the northeast corner of Second and Locust Streets. In 1940, the City wanted to buy land for a new post office from the TP&W railroad. The new post office would be built at the southwest corner of Locust and Fourth Streets. The TP&W railroad said the lot was worth $8,400. Mr. P. M. Hotaling and a group of Fairbury men went to the Federal Court building in Peoria and argued the lot was only worth $2,500. The Judge agreed with the Fairbury men and determined the lot was worth $2,500. Unfortunately, World War II started in 1941—the War delayed construction of all new post offices. Fairbury's new post office was not built until 1959.

After being in the grocery business for 42 years in Fairbury, P. M. Hotaling closed his store in September 1942. Mr. Hotaling told the Blade he started with $350 and a horse and wagon in 1900.

In 1943, Fairbury had a big steel scrap drive. The scrap metal collected was melted down and used to make new military equipment to support the World War II effort. Since P. M. Hotaling had just closed his grocery store the year before, he donated his large coffee grinder. Fairbury's first fire alarm bell was also contributed to the scrap drive.

In 1957, P. M. Hotaling received special recognition for being a member of the Fairbury Odd Fellows for 50 years. Grand Master Harry E. Burns from Crystal Lake came to Fairbury and gave Mr. Hotaling his Odd Fellow Jewel.

Phillip Miller Hotaling died in 1966 at the age of 88. He was buried in Graceland Cemetery.

P. M Hotaling owned and operated a grocery store in Fairbury for over 42 years. He also owned and operated the Fairbury Coal Chute company. In his later years, he sold real estate and seed corn. Mr. Hotaling was an essential member of the Fairbury business community.

(Dale Maley's weekly history feature on Fairbury News is sponsored by Antiques & Uniques of Fairbury and Dr. Charlene Aaron)