E. R. Danforth 1892

Hiram W. Beckwith, son of Danville namesake Dan Beckwith and Master of Olive Branch 38 in 1863, included this biographical sketch of E.R. Danforth, master of the lodge in 1892, in his book, History of Vermilion County, Illinois: Together with Historical Notes, published in 1879.

“E. R. Danforth, dealer in groceries and provisions, No. 86 Vermilion street, is a native of Wabash, Indiana. He began business in his present location in January, 1879, by buying the grocery establishment of J. W. Elliott. He began his mercantile life in his old home, Wabash, Indiana, where he spent several years as a clerk in a general store. In 1869 he left Wabash and located in Homer, Illinois, where he spent three years clerking in a grocery establishment. In 1873 he accepted a situation as clerk with Mr. Wm. Hessey , dry-goods merchant of Danville. He remained with Mr. Hessey until he decided to engage in business on his own account. His store is eighteen feet front by one hundred feet deep, located where there is but little doubt of 
success and stocked with a line class of groceries and provisions, queensware, crockery, tinware, and many other useful and staple lines of goods that experience and good judgment have taught him were necessary for success. For a man who has never been engaged in business for him- 
self, Mr. Danforth is certainly exhibiting some very good financiering qualities. Should his business in the future be conducted as carefully as it has been in the past, there is but little doubt of his ambition for success being realized."