USA > Illinois > Bureau County > History of Bureau County, Illinois > Part 102
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692
HISTORY OF BUREAU COUNTY.
WILLIAM C. WHITE (deceased) was born in Ohio, July 7, 1824. He was the son of John and Jane (Robertson) White. The father was of German descent, but was born in New Jersey, and the mother was a native of Scotland. By trade William C. White was a miller, and in Ohio owned a flouring-mill, and in connection with it had a turning lathe. In the spring of 1849 he went to California, where he remained till 1852, being engaged in mining and dealing in cattle. In 1852 he came to Henry Coun- ty, Ill., where his parents were then liv- ing. In the fall of 1852 he purchased the farm first settled in Macon Township of Mr. Motherell, and in 1853 he bought the pres- ent homestead. He gave most of his atten- tion to stock-farming and was very success- ful. At the time of his death he owned 532 acres of land. Mr. White was a member of the Baptist Church of Buda, but contributed liberally toward the support of all churches or toward the advancement of any good cause. He was unable to enter the service during the war, but did all he could for the soldiers, and was known as the soldiers' friend. He was united in marriage in Bu- rean County, December 28, 1854, to Miss Elizabeth A. Lewis, by whom he had nine children. Mr. White died March 6, 1874. His children are: Loretta J., born Octo- ber 16, 1855; Florence A., born August 29, 1857, died March 29, 1863; John William, born April 4, 1859; David A., born January 1, 1861, died March 8, 1862; Carrie A., born December 20, 1862; Sarah E., born October 7, 1866; Warren J., born May 10, 1868; Martin E., born Janu- ary 11, 1870; Ellen C., born October 18, 1872. Carrie A. was married October 29, 1883, to Charles Wolfersberger, of Prince- ton, and John William was married in Jan- uary, 1884, to Miss Annie Wood, of Macon Township. Mrs. Elizabeth A. (Lewis) White was born in Lewis County, N. Y., August 18, 1834. She is the daughter of John W. and Ann (Roberts) Lewis. John W. Lewis was born December 14, 1807, in Lewis County, N. Y. He was the son of William I. and grandson of John Lewis, who came to the United States from Wales, in about the year 1784. William I. Lewis
had one sister, who came at the same time, but she was married to a man named Jones, and settled in Philadelphia, but William I. and his brother Lewis settled with their father near Trenton Falls, N. Y., and their descendants still live there. Both the broth- ers served in the war of 1812. John W. Lewis, the eldest son of William I. Lewis, came to Bureau County, Ill., in 1853, and in the fall of the same year settled on northeast quarter of Section 15 in Macon Township, and lived there till his death. which occurred January 8, 1873. In March, 1832, he was married to Ann Roberts, a native of Wales, born August 18, 1813. At the age of three years she came with her parents to the United States. She died November 16, 1874. She was the mother of twelve children, viz : William, Elizabeth, Sarah, David, John, Walter, Henry, Ellen, Thomas, Jerome, George and Albert. Walter died in New York in 1843, but all the other members of the family came to this county with their parents. John died in California in 1876; Albert W. died in 1858; Henry in 1868, and Thomas in 1875. The remaining members of the family yet survive, and with the ex- ception of Jerome, who lives in Waterville, Kan., and David in Mono County, Cal., all reside in Bureau County, Ill.
WILLIAM WHITTIN (deceased) was born in Erie County, Penn., May 28, 1819, and there grew to manhood and then came West, and subsequently made Illinois and Iowa his home. In 1851 he was married, in Lee County, Iowa, to Eliza J. Larison, who was born near Ithaca, N. Y., December 27, 1830, and in childhood went to Iowa. In 1860 Mr. Whittin came to Bureau County, Ill., and settled the farm of 160 acres now occu- pied by his family, and died January 20, 1877. His only son-David L. Whittin -- was born in Putnam Co., Ill., August 31, 1858, but was mostly reared and educated in Bureau County. He was married January 7, 1880, to Miss Elizabeth Daggar. She was born in Putnam Co., Ill., October 20, 1856, and is the daughter of Peter and Janet Dag- gar. The father is deceased, but the mother resides at Storm Lake, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. David L. Whittin are the parents of one daughter, viz .: Lucy E., born July 4, 1883,
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mr. D. L. Whittin is a stanch Republican in polities, as was also his father.
HON. LORENZO DOW WHITING, Tis- kilwa, is a native of Wayne County, N. Y., his birth being dated at Arcadia, November 17, 1819. His father, Samuel Whiting, was a farmer and contractor on the Erie Canal, and did at one time a lumber business on the Genesee River; was born in Connecticut; and his mother, whose maiden name was Zilpha Mather, was a lineal descendant of Cotton Mather, and a native of Connecticut. Sam-
uel Whiting, Sr., the grandfather of Loren- zo, was a New Englander, and a young sol- dier in the Continental Army. The Whitings are of English descent. Our subject re- ceived an academic education, and was a merchant's clerk at Olcott, Niagara County, until eighteen years of age. He came West in 1838, and was engaged in the patent right business in Illinois four years, and then returned to New York State. For the next seven years he was engaged in teaching and acting as Town Superintendent of schools in Newfane, Niagara County, filling also the office of Justice of the Peace most of the time. In 1849 Mr. Whiting returned to Illinois, made a purchase of a quarter section of land near Tiskilwa, and for the first three seasons was engaged in farming and teaching. Since he ceased teaching he has given his whole time to agricultural pursuits, adding to his land from time to time until he now has nearly 600 acres largely under excellent improvement. Mr. Whiting served as Super- visor of Indiantown for five or six years. He was elected to the Illinois House of Repre- sentatives in 1868, to the Constitutional Con- vention in 1869, to the State Senate in 1870, and still holds the latter office, having been a member of the upper house for twelve con- secutive years, and of the Legislature four- teen consecutive years. In the Constitutional Convention Mr. Whiting was first to pro- pose the insertion of a provision in the Con- stitution requiring the General Assembly to pass laws regulating railroad charges; and as Senator was active in carrying through the bill which embodied a law against unjust discrimination and extortionate charges known as the Granger Laws. He was the pro- jector of the Hennepin Canal scheme and the
originator of other bills looking to the inter- nal improvement of the State. He was the author of several important laws relating to agriculture, roads and drainage, and of the bill which passed and became a law ceding the Illinois & Michigan Canal to the United States on certain conditions. For the last four or five years he labored in the Senate very earnestly to secure a more just revenue law, whereby all property shall be taxed once and no property doubly taxed. Cheap transportation and equal taxation are leading objects with him. No man in the Senate has a clearer head than "Mr. Whiting, or labors more zealously to secure equal rights and equal justice to all classes of his con- stituents, and of the citizens of Illinois. In 1869 he was among the most active in oppos. ing the lake front scheme, whereby three railroad corporations sought to possess them- selves of the shore line of the outer and future harbor of Chicago. In 1878 he led the opposition in the defeat of Senate bill 114, which was to effect the release of a com- bination of railroads from a large amount of taxes adjudged by the courts to be due to the public. His championship of measures relating to the producers, and his watchful- ness of the public interest when assailed by special and corporate greed, have made him known as the " farmer's statesman." These powerful interests which he has so often foiled generally stir up a lively opposition to his repeated re-elections, but the people whom he has so faithfully served have so far successfully rallied to his support, having elected bim seven times in succession to serve at the State capital. Senator Whiting is a Republican of Democratic antecedents. He was first married in 1846 to Miss Lucretia C. Clement, of Oneida County, N. Y. She died in 1872, leaving three children, two sons and one daughter. Senator Whiting was married the second time in 1874, to Miss Eriphyle Robinson, of Brooklyn, N. Y. She is the daughter of the late Dr. Daniel Rob- inson, of New York, a thorough scholar, with good taste for mathematics, horticulture and mechanics, and was a member of the New York Historical Society. Mrs. Whiting's mother's name was Caroline M. Cropsy, an accomplished lady of French descent; her
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HISTORY OF BUREAU COUNTY.
mother's name was Helen Ackerman, who was connected with some of the most noted early Dutch settlers on the Hudson. Clem- ent A., the eldest son, is married, and Her- bert is tilling his father's lands; Lilian, the daughter, is connected with the editorial staff of the Boston Traveler, a correspondent of the Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean, the Cin- cinnati Commercial and the Globe-Democrat, St. Louis, and an occasional contributor to the monthly magazines.
JOHN I. WILKINS, M. D., the oldest living physician in Tiskilwa, was born in Au- gust, 1827, in Dublin, Ireland. His parents, Charles and Catharine (Moore) Wilkins, were both natives of Ireland, where they died and where the father had been an at- torney at law. Dr. Wilkins was educated in Dublin. He received his medical educa- tion at the Royal College of Surgeons, Trin- ity College and " Rotunda," at which latter place he graduated. After a year's practice in Ireland he became Surgeon of the " Shen- andoah," an American vessel bound for Phila- delphia. This was about 1851. After his second trip to Philadelphia he abandoned his position and came to Bureau County, Ill., where his brothers, Charles, Richard and George Wilkins, then resided. He located in the southern part of the county, where he remained till 1857, when he came to Tiskil- wa, where he now follows his profession. In the fall of 1862 he enlisted as a private in the Eighty-sixth Illinois. In January, 1863, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon of the Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry, and served till close of war. For six months he was in Libby Prison, and suffered the horrors of that slaughter-pen. Dr. Wilkins was married February 14, 1856, to Mary J. Church, who was born in 1830 in Pennsylvania. Her par- ents, William W. and Jane B. (Irwin) Church, were natives of Londonderry, Ire- land. The former is now a resident of Tis- kilwa. He came to St. Johns, New Bruns- wick, in 1823. He lived eleven years in Pennsylvania and forty-three years in Peoria County, Ill. He is the father of twelve children. Dr. and Mrs. Wilkins are mem- bers of the Episcopal Church. Their son, Charles L., was born May 10, 1867. The
Doctor is an A. F. & A. M., an I. O. O. F., and a Republican.
ORRIN WILKINSON, Tiskilwa, was born September 27, 1836, in Bradford Coun- ty, Penn. His parents, George and Julia A. (Wanton) Wilkinson, were natives of Rhode Island, where the former was born in 1809. He was a farmer, . and came to LaSalle County, Ill., in 1838. In 1844 he removed to Buda, in Bureau County, where he farmed, but eventually removed to Tiskilwa, where he kept hotel for about eighteen years, and then went to Henry County, where he died in ISSO. His wife was born in 1811. She is yet living with our subject, and is the mother of five children who reached matu- rity, viz. : Marshall S., Lyman J., Orrin, Charles H. and Mrs. Mary J. Smith. Our subject was a farmer in early life. In 1859 he formed a partnership with J. H. Welsh, and kept a general store till August, 1862, when he organized Company E, of the Nine- ty-third Regiment of Illinois Volunteer In- fantry. He was elected Captain and served till close of the war, participating in the siege of Vicksburg, the battles of Missionary Ridge, Allatoona, and minor engagements. He was also with Gen. Sherman in his famous march to the sea. After the war Mr. Wilkinson returned to Tiskilwa, where he did a general collecting and insurance busi- ness till 1877, when he formed a partnership with M. W. Keigley, and at present keeps a general store. Mr. Wilkinson was married twice. His first wife, Maggie A. Welsh, died June, 1862. He was married a second time in October, 1865, to Sarah A. Smith, who was born in 1841 in Bradford County, Penn. Politically Mr. Wilkinson is a stanch Democrat. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1860, and has held that office ever since; was Town Clerk from 1866 to 1880; has been Supervisor since ISSO, and has been School Treasurer twelve years. He is an A. F. & A. M., of Sharon Lodge, No. 550, and a member of Princeton Chapter and Com- mandery; is also an I. O. O. F., Senachwine Lodge, No. 147.
J. H. WILLIAMS, Lamoille, was born August 24, 1821, in Culpeper County, Va. He is a son of Jackson and Margaret Will-
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
iams, natives of Virginia. They died in Cosbocton County, Ohio. Their children were: Cordelia, Mary, Charley, Addison, James H., Washington, Eliza, Amanda and Jackson Williams. James H. Williams came to Coshocton County, Ohio, when he was fif- teen years old. In May, 1847, he enlisted in Company B, of the Third Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served one year in the Mexican war. He came to Bureau County, Ill., in the summer of 1848, and with his Mexican land warrant entered 160 acres of land in Lamoille Township, on which he moved in March, 1850. This land he im- proved and to it added more, till at present he has 620 acres of choice land in the vicin- ity of Van Orin or Williams Station. Mr. Williams does not boast of an education, yet he has been a very successful and self-made man. He was married in Ohio to Elizabeth Shirk, who is the mother of the following children: Henry, Eliza and William now liv- ing, and James, Charles and Washington de- ceased. Henry Williams was born January 24, 1850, in Fulton County, Ill. He was reared and educated in this State. He taught school several terms in this county, and for three years was in the employment of James H. Williams & Co., grain, lumber and stock merchants of Van Orin. Since then he has been a farmer and owns 190 acres. He was married here August 9, 1874, to Mary A. Long, born February 5, 1854, in Ohio. She is a daughter of Frederick and Rachel (St. Clair) Long. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Williams are active members of the United Brethren Church. To them three children were born: Hattie, born May 24, 1875; James, May 23, 1880, and Florence, January 6, 1882. Will- iam Williams was born July 8, 1854, on the old homestead. He was educated in his na- tive county, and has been a successful farmer and stockman, especially the latter, shipping his own stock. He raises some fine cattle, horses and hogs. He is managing the home- stead of 640 acres, of which he owns half. Mr. Williams was married November 7, 1877, to Sarah Crossman, born July 5, 1854. She is a daughter of John C. Crossman, This union is blessed with two children: Harry, born October 9, 1878, and Charles, who was born November 7, 1882.
R. B. WILLIAMS, Hall, was born July 16, 1826, in Boston, Mass., a son of Robert and Adeline (Hoyt) Williams. The Will- iams family is of Scotch descent, and those now in the United States are descendants of early settlers of Deerfield, Mass., they having been there at the time of the Indian massa- cre. Our subject's grandfather, Solomon Williams, was born in Deerfield, Mass., and lived there until his death. He reared a family of six sons, all of whom lived to be very old men. Of these, Robert Williams, our subject's father, was a merchant for nearly fifty years, and died in 1863, at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife, Ade- line Hoyt, died in Boston, at the age of forty- two years. She was a daughter of Gen. Eperfras Hoyt, a soldier and engineer in the war of 1812. Robert and Adeline Williams were the parents of six children: Jane I. (de- ceased), Robert B., Arthur, Charles (deceased), John and Edward (deceased). Robert B. Williams was educated in Boston, where he learned and followed the machinist's trade for more than ten years, until his health failed. In July, 1855, he came to Bureau County, Ill., and bought 100 acres of land of his brother Charles, who returned East. Mr. Williams was married in Boston, August 7, 1850, to Mary A. Wittaker, born in Lan- cashire, England, November 7, 1831. Her parents, William R. and Maria (Wilkinson) Wittaker, were also natives of England, where they died. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have five children living: Mrs. Fannie Hill, John, Robert, Edward and Charles. Two children died in infancy, and in April and May, 1868, they lost three daughters; Ada, aged sixteen years; Tena D., aged nearly fif- teen years, and Jennie I., aged thirteen. Mr. Williams votes the Republican ticket. He has held the various township offices.
SOLOMON WILLIAMS, Lamoille, was born at Amherst, Mass., May 1, 1809, and is a son of Chester and Sarah (Howe) Williams, both natives of Massachusetts, where they were born January 27, 1772, and January 13, 1772, respectively, and married January 14, 1802. The father died at Amherst, Mass., February 6, 1822, and the mother September 5, 1860. They had five children: Frederick, George, Mary, Solomon and Sarah. The last
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HISTORY OF BUREAU COUNTY.
two being the only ones now living. Fred- erick lived and died on the old homestead at Amherst; two of his children-Chester and William-are still living; Sarah is now a widow (Mrs. Sarah H. Ferry), and resides at Pittsfield, Mass .; she is the mother of Irving D. Ferry; Solomon Williams, the subject of this sketch, was reared to the life of a farmer, and like nearly all New England boys, re- ceived the advantages of a good education. In 1836 he decided to seek his fortune in the West, and made his objective point Illinois, arriving in Chicago by canal and steamer over the lake; from this point he walked to Ottawa and Peoria, and finally to this county, in search of a good location whereon to found a home. He decided that Bureau County af- forded advantages for him superior to any that he found elsewhere, and in the fall of 1836 bought a claim for 540 acres of land, located in Lamoille and Clarion Townships, on which he now resides. He was then a single man, and kept bachelor's hall in a log- house located on his purchase in Clarion Township, until the following year, when he returned to his native State and was married at Hatfield, Mass., September 5, 1837, to Har- riet D. Smith, who was born in Hampshire County, Mass., August 17, 1809. He soon afterward with his wife, returned to his pres- ent farm and commenced housekeeping. His wife died February 16, 1853, leaving one child-S. Dwight Williams-who married Elizabeth Reed and is now a resident of New- ton, Harvey Co., Kan., where he was one of the first settlers; they have three children: Earl D., Harriet and Ada L. Solomon Williams was again married May 24, 1855, to Frances Prime, who was born November 16, 1837, at Ticonderoga, N. Y., an only daughter of George W. and Frances (Brown) Prime, natives respectively of Vermont and Massachusetts. By Mr. Williams' second marriage there are the following-named chil- dren: Maria E., born September 20, 1857, (and now the wife of Albert E. Porter, born December 28, 1844, in Clarion Township, this county, where his father, Albert G. Porter, was prominent among the early settlers, though he now resides at Waterloo, Iowa); George P., born December 1, 1859; Frederick F., born October 31, 1864; and Sumner H.,
born March 22, 1866; all of whom are at present living at the old homestead with their father. The mother, Mrs. Frances (Prime) Williams, died April 28, 1874. Mr. Will. iams' home farm consists of the original pur- chase of over 500 acres, highly improved and thoroughly drained. His residence is one of the finest in the county, and situated in the midst of a beautiful and well-kept lawn, de- lightfully shaded by trees set by his own hand. The outbuildings are models of con- venience, and the whole appearance of the place indicates the care of a tasteful and in- telligent, as well as a successful farmer. Mr. Williams is also the owner of a farm in Min- nesota. In politics he is a Republican and in public affairs thoroughly progressive.
C. WILLIAMSON, Neponset, was born November 6, 1823, in Steuben County, N. Y .; a son of Abraham and Sarah (Smith) William- son, both natives of New Jersey. They died in Steuben County, N. Y. They were the par- ents of ten children, viz .: Robert, Lucy and John are deceased; Charity, Chester (our subject), Mime, Elias, Charles, William and Daniel. Our subject, Chester Williamson, was reared in the State of New York, where he was also married and in 1855 came West and settled on Section 18, in Neponset Town- ship, Bureau County, Ill., where he now resides on a farm of 120 acres. He was mar- ried July 22, 1849, to Miss Electa J. Rodgers, who was born September 27, 1831, in Thomp- kins County, N. Y. She is a daughter of John and Luzitta (Smith) Rodgers, natives of New York. She is the mother of ten chil- dren, viz: Seymour, born May 7, 1850, now a resident in Iowa; Lafayette E., born May 16, 1852, a resident of Oregon; Mrs. Sarah A. Kepler, born September 26, 1854, a resi- dent of Webster City, Iowa; Pardon, born May 22, 1857-he was a ranchman in Hepp- ner, Oregon, and died April 20, 1884, in St. Paul, Minn., while on his way to Buffalo to be treated for consumption by Dr. Pierce; Mrs. Luzitta Lewis, born May 14, 1859; Gilbert R., born June 28, 1861; U. Grant, born July 28, 1863; Chester, born Septem- ber 8, 1865; Effie, born August 29, 1870; and Hattie, who was born March 1, 1873. Mr. and Mrs. Williamson are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has held
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
school offices and been identified with the Democratic party.
CHARLES O. WILSON, Buda, was born in Knox County, Ohio, June 23, 1840. He is the son of Prentice S. and Mary (Updyke) Wilson. In early life he began learning the machinist's trade in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. When about eighteen years of age he came to Vermont, Ill., but in 1859 or 1860 removed to Kewanee, where he worked at his trade till in August, 1862, when he enlisted in the service of his country in Company A, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Volun- teer Infantry, under Col. Howe, of Kewanee. He participated in the engagements of Cham -. pion Hill. Black River, siege of Vicksburg, Jackson and Meridian, Miss., Spanish Fort, etc., and then went to Montgomery, Ala., where for about three months he acted as Superintendent of the Quartermaster's Department, and while superintending the unloading of a boat his hand was crushed and so crippled for life. Up till the fall of Vicksburg, he was in Gen. Logan's com- mand, but then went to New Orleans under the command of Gen. A. J. Smith. He was in the service for three years and nine days. After receiving his discharge he returned again to Kewanee and followed his trade of machinist and engineer there till about 1868, when he took charge of the engine at the Lovejoy coal mines near Buda. He remained at the mines for four years, and then began farming, in which business he continued till 1880, when he opened a meat market in Buda but soon afterward began in the restaurant business, but in 1882 he opened the Wilson House in Buda, which has met with success. Mr. Wilson is one of the charter members of the G. A. R. Post of Buda. In politics he is a Republican and for the past nine years has been a member of the 1. O. O. F. He has twice been married, first to Laura Earl about 1860, by whom he has one child living -Cloa A.,-now wife of Allen Anderson. He was married March 5, 1867, to Lucinda Aker, who is the mother of the following- named children: Florence, a daughter by a previous marriage, and by her present hus- band, Alice, Norman P., Edna May (de- ceased), and Lizzie.
WILLIAM S. WILSON, Ohio, was born
in Belmont County, Ohio, May 15, 1831, and is the son of Stephen and Amy Wilson. The father was born in New Jersey, July 20. 1793, and the mother was born in Pennsyl- vania, December 28, 1805. They were mar- ried in Brown County, Ohio, in 1824, where they resided until they came to this county, April 1, 1837, and settled at Princeton, re- siding at and near there till 1851, when they removed to and settled in Ohio Township. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were the parents of five children, three of whom are now living: Rebecca, born April 26, 1826, wife of John Warfield; William S., May 15, 1831; Joseph G., August 20, 1833, died May 3, 1884; Nancy, September, 1835, wife of L. T. Pomeroy, and Edwin, deceased. The father died in Ohio Township, March 30, 1873. The mother is still living. The subject of this sketch came to this county with his par- ents, and resided at home till October 7, 1852, when he was married to Maria Joncs, the daughter of Abram and Mary Jones, of Princeton, Ill., who was born April 29, 1834, in Princeton, Ill. The father was born Sep- tember 5, 1801; the mother was born March 18, 1802, and came to this county in IS31. (See sketch of Daniel Jones.) Mr. Wilson settled in Ohio Township in 1850 on Section 17, the south half of which he still owns, and where he resided till IS76, when he re- moved to Ohio Village. He engaged in the mercantile trade in Ohio in 1870, and con- tinued in that business for ten years. Mr. and Mrs. William Wilson have no children of their own, but have raised two: Emma Morse, born April 25, 1859, now Mrs. Fen- wick R. Anderson, Ohio, Ill., and Addie Doty, May 25, 1873. Mr. Wilson has been in the past extensively engaged in stock-deal - ing, and is at present engaged in farming and stock-raising and feeding. He is the owner of 363 acres in Ohio Township, 320 acres in Lee County. 160 acres in Nebraska, also residence and business property in Ohio Village. In politics Mr. Wilson was formerly a Republican, and early a member of the Free-Soil party, but at present favors the policy of the Democratic party. In 1870 he served as Supervisor of Ohio Township. Mr. Wilson is President of the banking firm of Wilson, Pomeroy & Co., of Ohio, Ill. He
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