The Busey Family

Contributions made to the Development of the City of Champaign Urbana

Patricia Plaut

Summer Fellowship 2009

To download this lesson in PDF format, click here.

Lesson 3: (3-4 days)

Primary and secondary sources a discussion, Busey Bank founders, and the Busey family tree are the topics in this lesson. Where does Sandra Busey Isaacs fit in the tree?

Procedures: (May take 2-3 days)

· Hand out a copy of the newspaper clipping titled “Busey90thAnniversary_0001”.

· Discuss the photograph of the eight Busey children and the caption. How did people dress around 1860? How did women make their appearance look fancy? Why do you suppose men wore beards?

· Read as whole class or have students read in small groups a copy of the article, Busey90thAnniversary_0001, 0002, 0004. Have them sketch the family tree while reading. Give them Worksheet: The Busey Family Lineage to fill in.

· Discuss the Busey Bank’s first day deposits ledger [Busey90thAnniversary_0003.jpg]. You may want to point out how many dollars were deposited by Busey members. Ask why was this document hand written? [The first three entries were the three owners invested amounts they each pledged to start the bank. The bottom list were the first day depositors.]

· Discuss with them how the photographs of Mathew W. Busey, the photograph of his children, and the hand written copy of the Busey Bank ledger are primary sources but the newspaper article with the family tree described in it is a secondary source.

· Questions to discuss after the family tree is completed are:

Who started Busey Bank?

Do we know where Sandra Busey Isaacs belongs in the family tree? [She will appear when the family tree is expanded in lesson 5]

Are all descendents of the Busey family named Busey? How would their names be different from Busey?

Do we know if today the Busey’s manage the bank? How could we find out?

How much money did the founders of Busey Bank need to start the bank and how much was deposited into the bank on the first day it opened?

· Hand out 93yrsofGrowth.

· What do the figures tell us about the bank’s capital and deposits over a century? Does this reflect on the population growth of Champaign County?

Attachment: Worksheet: The Busey Family Lineage

Analysis of Local Primary Sources: “Busey, ‘Family of Bankers’ Still Active As Urbana Celebrates 90^th Birthday”, contains two photographs [Busey90thAnniversary_0001.jpg, Busey90thAnniversary_0002.jpg] and a copy of the ledger for the first day [Busey90thAnniversary_0003.jpg] depositors into the Busey Bank. Additionally, the primary source 93yrsofGrowth allows students to see how Busey Bank capital and deposits has increased over time. Sources available from the Early American Museum, 600 N Lombard St, Mahomet, Il.

Analysis of Local Secondary Sources: “Busey, ‘Family of Bankers’, still Active as Urbana Celebrates 90^th Birthday” the text tells the story of the Busey family and through the discussion of Busey Bank history gives the Busey family tree.

Ties to a National Primary Source:

For a brief history of banking see: http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0801059.html