USA > Illinois > Christian County > History of Christian County, Illinois > Part 44
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His highest ambition in life has been achieved, and that is to be a practical farmer, possessing broad acres, well tilled, good stock, health and happiness. No man in the community stands higher in the estimation of his neighbors than he, and all accord him the reputation of a straightforward, plain, honest man.
WILLIAM H. CROWL
Is a native-born Illinoisan. His place and date of birth was Sangamon county, April 14, 1845. His father, Joseph Crowl, was a native of Washington county, Maryland. He was a soldier of the war of 1812, and one of the patriotic defenders of his country. The Crowls on the paternal side are of German extraction, and on the maternal English. Mr. Crowl the elder came to Sangamon county in 1834, and located at a point east of Rochester, where he remained until his death, which event occurred September 10, 1865. He was a farmer and stock raiser, in which he was very successful. He married Mary Ann Dillehant. She was born and raised on the Eastern shore, Maryland. By this marriage there were fifteen children, eight of whom are living. The subject of this sketch is the youngest in the family. He remained at home engaged in agricultural pursuits, until 1868, when he came to Christian county, and purchased a half section of land in Section 19, T. 13, R. 3 W., and in the following spring he built a dwelling-house upon it, and has remained there to the present. On the 10th of January, 1871, he married Miss Sarah E. Miller, who is also a native of Sangamon county. Her father, Samuel Miller, was born in Loudon county, Va, and her mother, whose maiden name was Eliza Jones, was a native of Kentucky. The Jones' family came to Illinois at a very carly day, and are among the first settlers of Sangamon county. There have been born to W. H. and Sarah E. Crowl four children.
Their names are : Laura, Samuel Joseph, Charles Franklin and Eva Mabel Crowl. Mr. Crowl is not a member of any church organization. He believes in doing to others as he would have others do unto you, and believes that if that maxim is lived up to a man has within him a good share of the essence of genuine Christi- anity. In politics he is an ardent and reliable republican. He cast his first presidential vote for U. S. Grant, in 1868, and since that time has voted the republican ticket in all state and national elections. Mr. Crowl is among the prominent farmers and stock raisers of his township. He has a beautiful farm, well tilled and in a most excellent condition. A view of his residence can be seen on another page in this work.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
H.M.SNYER.
THE subject of the present sketch is one of the leading and prominent men of South Fork township, and a representative man of the county. The Dickerson family, on both sides are of English- Irish ancestry, and were originally from Maryland. John S. Dieker- son, the father of Dr. John H., was a native of Kentucky. He came with his father to Indiana at an early date in the history of that State. From Indiana he came to Sangamon county, Illinois, where he married Mary E. Bell. After his marriage he returned to Indiana, where he remained for three years, and then came back to Sangamon county, where he still resides. The Doctor is the eldest in a family of six children, all of whom have reached maturity. He was born in Davis county, Indiana, June 24th, 1847. He rceeived a fair education in the schools of Sangamon county, and at the age of sixteen years he entered the State normal school at Bloomington, Illinois. It was his father's wish and desire that he should adopt teaching as a profession. He remained in the normal school two years, then returned home and taught school one term, and at the same time commenced the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. H. O. Bolles, of Springfield, Illinois. In the fall of 1868 he entered the Philadelphia University of Medi- cine and Surgery, and graduated from that institution on the 23d of February, 1870, with the degree of M. D. He returned home, and the same year located and commeneed the practice of his pro- fession in Bear Creek township, Christian county, Illinois. Nine months later he came to South Fork township, and located at a point since known as Blackburn, where he has continued the prac- tice with great success to the present.
The Doctor belongs to the progressive school of medicine. He
came to his present locality a comparatively young man, with nothing but his knowledge received from books, and a thorough training in the best medical schools in the country. This, and his energy and industry, was his only capital. His determination to succeed has brought its reward. On the 3d of March, 1875, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Humphreys. She is a native of Sangamon county, Illinois, but was a resident of South Fork township at the time of her marriage. Dr. Dickerson is an active member of the ancient and honorable order of Masons.
In polities he is a sound and uncompromising democrat, thoroughly in accord with the principles of his party, and a stanch believer in the ultimate success of that grand old organization. He has through boyhood and maturer ycars given his adhesion to that party, and he sees no good reason to doubt that its prin- ciples must eventually succeed, if the freedom of the country is to be maintained, and the ideas of the founders of the republic per- petuated. His prominence as a man, and worth as a citizen, received recognition by being elected to represent his township in the board of supervisors. He has also held various other offices in his township, and in all of them carefully looked after the interests of his people. He is a man who could safely be trusted with the interests of the people in any position that his friends might be pleased to honor him with. Among the people where he is best known he is respected for his intelligence, energy, and directness of purpose. In his manners he is a pleasing gentleman, with good address and fine appearance. His character is above reproach. As a physician he takes high rank in his profession.
DICKERSON & P.EEK. CHEAP CASH BIORE
OFFICE
THE RESIDENCE OF DR. J. H. DICKERSON. BLACKBURN, SOUTH FORK TP, CHRISTIAN CO., ILL.
The Library of the University of Illinois.
The Library of the University of illinois.
THE FARM RESIDENCE OF C. C.GEORGE, SEC. 8, T. /4, R. 3, (SOUTH FORK TP.) CHRISTIAN CO., ILLINOIS.
STOCK FARM & RESIDENCE OF W.H. GROWL, SEC. 19, T. 13. R.3. (SOUTH FORK TP.) CHRISTIANCO., ILL.
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
165
H.M.SNYDER,
C. C.
George
THE George family were originally from Virginia. His father, Edward George, was a native of that State. At the age of six years he removed with his father's family to Kentucky, where he remained until about 1831, when he came to Illinois and settled on Spring Creek, Sangamon county. His death occurred in June, 1875. He married Catherine Whaley. The subject of this sketch is the youngest in a family of six children. He was born in Sanl- gamon county, Illinois, September 6th, 1846. He attended the schools of his district and worked upon the farm until his seven- teenth year, when he enlisted as a private in Company "M," 16th Illinois Cavalry. The company rendezvoused at Camp Butler, then was ordered to Cincinnati, and from there to Cumberland Gap, Ten- nessee, where it entered upon active service. The company then was a part of the 3d Battalion, 16th Illinois Cavalry, under command of Major C. H. Beers. The command was sent on the errand of driving out the rebels, and opening up Powell's Valley, extending from the Gap into Virginia, for the foraging trains. They were met by the 64th Virginia, a mounted regiment that was guarding that section of the country. This was in the fall and winter of 1863. In the battle that followed the rebel command was beaten and driven through Jonesboro, and the 16th Cavalry remained upon guard until a large and overwhelming force, under command of the Confederate General Sam. Jones, was sent out against it. In the engagement against this superior force the entire command left alive were captured and taken prisoners. They were taken to Libby prison, in Richmond, and from there sent to Belle Island, where they remained two months, and from there they were taken out, packed in box cars, and taken to Andersonville. Here, in this loathsome pen, C. C. George, in company with his fellow- prisoners, spent eleven long and terrible months. The sufferings that they endured are almost beyond the power of pen to describe.
Into this narrow pen, covering an area of fifteen acres, were crowded as many as thirty-five thousand men, with no drainage or means of carrying off the accumulation of filth, scarcely any tents or covering, insufficiency of food, and that of the worst kind, ragged, half-naked, full of vermin, and suffering from hunger and thirst, breathing the pestilential and foul vapors arising from the filthy and over-crowded stockade, is it any wonder that strong men wilted, sickened, rotted, and died, with no more care paid them than if they were so many beasts of the field? We challenge all civilized or barbaric ages to produce a record more foul or systematically inhuman than the treatment of union prisoners in the pen at Andersonville. It is a blot and stain on the boasted civilization of the nineteenth century that man's inhumanity to man should cause such terrible and fatal suffering. The subject of our sketch passed his eighteenth birthday here. He was the youngest of his comrades. Six of them went out from his neigh- borhood and joined the command to do battle for the right. They entered Andersonville together. He was the only survivor ; the rest were literally starved to death. He yet bears in his system the effects of his torture ; nor will he be able, notwithstanding his fine and rugged physical form, to eradicate the poison from his sys- tem. From Andersonville he was taken to Savannah, and from there to Millen, and then back to Savannah, where he was among others paroled. He was sent to the parole camp at Annapolis, Maryland, and went into hospital, and then came home on a thirty days' furlough. He was ordered, through a mistake, to the camp of distribution, at Alexandria, and from there was sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, and from the latter place was ordered to his regiment, then stationed at Pulaski, Tennessee. The command was then, until the end of the war, almost continually engaged in scouting and capturing guerillas and bushwackers. He was mustered out in
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
August, 1865, and returned home to Sangamon county. He then went to work upon a farm, and was herding cattle for several seasons. He then commenced trading in stock, and farming, and has continued in that business to the present time. In 1868 he came to Christian county, and stopped with his brother, and continued in stock trading. In 1870 he purchased eighty acres of land on Bear Creek. On the 1st of March, 1874, he removed to section eight, town thirteen, range three, west, where he at present resides. On the 19th of October, 1871, he was united in marriage to Miss Annie E. Mason. She is a native of Sangamon county, but has been a resident of this county since she was three years of age. Two children are the fruits of this marriage. Their names are John Edward, and Claudie May, aged respectively eight and six years. In politics he is an ardent republican. He represented his town- ship in the board of supervisors in 1879. As a man and a citizen Mr. George is much respected.
JOHN WHITE.
THE subject of this brief biographical sketch is a native of Dick- son county, Tennessee. He was born February 29th, 1828. His father, Craig White, was a native of the same state as was also his father before him. Craig White removed his family from Tennes- see to Illinois in 1830. He settled in the south-east part of Sanga- mon county, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising. He was an unusually active and industrious man, and succeeded in amassing considerable wealth. In 1860 he practically retired from active life. He removed to Pana, Christian county, where he re- mained until his death, which occurred August 15th, 1878. He married Sally Lane, who was born in North Carolina. She died November 6th, 1870. John White is the fifth in a family of eleven children, six boys and five girls. Three of the children have sur- vived the parents. John was but two years of age when his parents came to Illinois. His school days were exceedingly few, and his opportunities for receiving an education very limited. He was com- pelled at an early age to become self-supporting, and help to pro- vide for the large family. The lack of opportunities in his youth for study las, to a considerable extent, been remedied and overcome by his habit of close observation and fondness for reading acquired in his maturer years ; and now upon the current topics of the day he is as well posted as those who make far larger pretensions. His education has been of the practical kind and not the ornamental. He remained at home until he reached his maturity, and made his father's house his home until he was married. In 1849 he pur- chased land in Locust Township, near the village of Owaneco, in Christian county, and in the fall of 1850 moved there and began improvements. He remained there for eight years. Ile sold out then and purchased a half section in Sec. 10, T. 13, R. 4 W. to which he added until he is now the possessor of as fine a body of improved land as can be found in the county. There he has resided up to the present time, except one year, 1865, which he spent in the lumber business in Pana, IN. The business of his life has been that of a practical farmer, stock raiser and stock feeder. He has also been engaged in stock trading and shipping.
On the 5th of September, 1850, he married Elizabeth Hatchett, of Sangamon county. She was born in Virginia. Her father, Ilar- rison Hatchett, removed to Ilinois in 1832, when she was one year old. Five children have been born to John and Elizabeth White, four of whom are living. Their names are Fanny, wife of Dr. Drennan, of Pawnee. Hiram, a farmer of this county. Columbus, who is yet at home, an intelligent, well-educated youth just verging into manhood, and Annie, wife of George Setzer, of Sangamon county. In politics Mr. White is a sound democrat, and has stood
by that party through evil as well as through good report. He is a man who has always enjoyed to the highest extent the confidence and esteem of the community in which he resided. As evidence of this it may be mentioned that he has been elected to positions of honor and trust, and in all discharged the duties therein involved in a manner creditable to himself and to his fellow-citizens. In 1861, he was elected Associate Justice of the county, and held the office for one term, at the expiration of which he was re-elected and served one year, when the county was reorganized under Township organization. In 1867 he was elected Sheriff of the county, and served one term. He afterwards represented his township in the Board of Supervisors. In his official capacity and as a servant of the people, he looks after their interests the same as if it were his own private business. He is a plain-spoken, straightforward man, and leaves no one in doubt as to his views or position upon any question of public policy. When convinced that he is right, he is uncompromising and immovable. Firmness is one of the charac- teristics of the man. In his manners he is quiet and of rather a retiring disposition.
JOHN B. MILLER
WAS born in Hampshire county, West Virginia, January 18th, 1829. His father, Absalom Miller, was a soldier of the war of 1812. He married Nancy Sherwood, who was born and raised in the same state. The family left Virginia and came to Illinois in 1858, and settled in Pana, where they remained a short time, and then removed to Clinton, De Witt county, where they both died on the same day, December 25th, 1874, and were both buried in the same grave. There were ten children in the family, all of whom, so far as is known, are still living. John B. remained at home until the spring of 1856, when he determined to come west to seek his fortune. He arrived in Springfield, Illinois, March 4th, 1856, and hired out to work on a farm. He remained in Sangamon county for three years, when he came to Christian county and leased a tract of land of A. B. V. Humphreys, where he remained three years, after which he sold out his lease, but remained in the
neighborhood and continued farming. In 1868 he purchased eighty aeres in section thirteen, town thirteen, range four, west, and commenced its improvement. He remained here until 1875, when his failing health admonished him to suspend hard and active labor for some time. He accordingly leased his land and removed to Springfield, where he engaged in the butchering business for a while, and then entered the flour and feed business. He remained in Springfield until the spring of 1879, when he returned to his farm in South Fork township and has remained here until the present. On the 27th of November, 1862, he married Sarah Jane Hardin, whose parents were natives of Bath county, Kentucky. They came to Illinois in 1855, and settled in Christian county. Three children have been born to John B. and Sarah J. Miller. Only one survives. His name is Wallace T. The others died in infancy. The subject of this sketch was originally an old line whig in politics. His first presidential vote was cast for General Win- field Scott in 1852. On the formation of the republican party he joined its ranks, and has from that time voted with that party. Mr. Miller's life has been spent upon the farm, except the few years that he was a resident of Springfield. In 1875 he purchased eighty-one acres in the south-east part of the same section in which his other eighty neres are. In his life he has by hard work, and the practice of economy, secured to himself a comfortable com- petency, which has all been the acenmulation of his own toil. In his neighborhood, where he is best known, he is regarded as an honest man and a worthy citizen.
The Library of the University of Illinois.
FARM RESIDENCE OF JOHN C. WHITECRAFT, SEC. 31, TP. 14, R. 3. (SOUTH FORKTR.,) CHRISTIAN CO., ILL.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
167
HĂSNYDER
John C. Writecraft
AMONG the old settlers and prominent agriculturists of Christian county that deserves mention in this work is John C. White- craft. He was born in Bath connty, Kentucky, March 10th, 1824. He was the son of John and Rachel Whitecraft ; his ancestry on the paternal side are of Irish, and on the maternal, English extrac- tion. But his forefathers settled in America long prior to the Re- volntionary war. John Whitecraft, the father of the subject of our sketch, was born in West Tennessee; his father's name was also John, who was a native of Pennsylvania, and emi- grated to Tennessee at an early day, where he lived for a number of years ; he then removed to Bath connty, Kentucky ; his son John, the father of John C., was then a child of five years of age. He grew to manhood in Bath county, and was married there to Rachel Arnett, a native Kentuckian ; her father, Ahijah Arnett, was a native of Virginia ; he emigrated to Clark county, Kentucky, at an early day, when Kentucky was inhabited principally by the Indians. Mr. Arnett returned to his native land to obtain suffi- cient money to enter land in Kentucky. As he was making the journey back from Virginia to Kentucky alone on horseback, in a dense wilderness, he was waylaid, murdered and robbed. The early settler of that day not only had the hardships to endure incident to a new country, in making improvements sufficient to live comfort- ably, and watching the Indians, but they were constantly in dread of desperadoes, who would commit murder and robbery with im- punity, the consequence being that the Indians were credited with all such lawless deeds committed, whether they were guilty of the crimes or not. John and Rachel Whitecraft raised a family of seven children, six sons and one daughter, of which the subject of this sketch was the fourth. John Whitecraft was a farmer, and raised his family to agricultural pursuits. He emigrated from
Kentucky with his family to Illinois in 1835, and settled in what is now Christian county ; he located on section 25, town 14, range 4, where he improved a farm of six or seven hundred acres, and lived until July 24th, 1846, when he died. His wife survived him nearly thirty years, and then met an untimely death, as her father did before her, but nnder nnlike circumstances, upon September 23d, 1875. She had been attending the fair at Springfield, and was returning home, in company with her son and other members of the family, when the horses became frightened and unmanageable in consequence of a train passing in the city ; the wagon was turned over; Mr. Whitecraft received serious injuries, while the occupants of the wagon were more or less injured, Mrs. Whitecraft being killed outright. She was nearly seventy-nine years of age at the time of this lamentable occurrence. John C. Whitecraft was be- tween eleven and twelve years of age when his father settled in Christian connty, and has since resided within a short distance of the old homestead. His advantages for receiving an education were very limited, as schools at so early a day werc far from the point of excellence that they have since attained, but by close ap- plication he gained a good general education. He went to the first school taught by Jndge Vandevcer, in the Finley log school- honse; in 1836, was in the school-room when the sudden change in December of that year took place ; it became so cold he could not go home, so he remained in the school-room over night. That cold day was his last day at school, and the last school taught by the Jndge. At the age of twenty-six he was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Janc Williams, upon the 10th of January, 1850. She was a daughter of Joseph and Judy Williams, and a native of Sangamon county. By this union they had one child, Joseph W. Whitecraft. Mrs. Whitecraft died March 16th, 1856. Mr. Whitecraft was
.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
again married April 7th, 1859, to Mrs. Catherine Crowder, a na- tive of Tennessee. They had a family of four children born to them, one of whom survives, namely, Mary Jane. Mrs. White- craft died Aug. 1st, 1877. Mr. Whitecraft lived at home with his mother until his first marriage ; he then bought the farm he is now living on ; gave three dollars per aere for it and began farming for himself; a business he followed successfully until the fall of 1877, when he turned the management over to his son, Joseph W., who is now running the farm. Joseph was married Oet. 7th, 1874, to Miss Mary E. Smith, a native of Kentucky ; they have two child- ren, viz : Eliza Jane and Bertha Alice. Mr. Whitecraft in politics is a stanch republican ; he cast his first vote for Henry Clay. He has never aspired in polities nor permitted his name to appear on a ticket for election to office, his aspirations having been solely con- fined to agricultural pursuits. Mr. Whitecraft is a man yet in the prime of life, and bids fair to survive many years. He still takes an active part in the practical pursuits of farming, having succeeded in making one of the best-looking farms in the county, his dwell- ing possessing an air of comfort and luxury. Personally he is a genial, pleasant gentleman, and has the advantage of knowing how to live after suffering the hardships, privations and discomforts peculiar to a life of a self-made western farmer.
A. A. TAYLOR
WAS born in Bath county, Kentucky, October 17, 1818. Charles Taylor, his father, was a native of Pennsylvania. He, in company with his father, removed to Tennessee, where they remained one year, then went to Kentucky, where the father remained until 1856, when he came to Illinois and settled in Christian county, and remained here until his death, which occurred April 13, 1866. He married Mary Arnett, who was also a native of Kentucky. She died Sept. 3, 1868. Two children were the fruits of this union-the subject of this sketeh and Sarah E., wife of Presley T. Hardin, who is a farmer and resident of Buekhart township in this county. Mr. Taylor received a fair education in the pioneer schools of Kentucky, and labored upon the farmn. On the 5th of February, 1845, he married Miss Cassias Workman. She was also a native of Kentucky, and died May 18, 1871. Ten children were born to them, all of whom are living. Their names are: James M., who married Cynthia Adams, now a resident of Crawford county, Kansas; Mary B. widow of the late Milton M. Moores; Rebecca C .; Emma E., wife of James Perkins ; Ella H .; Sarah E .; Charles H .; Rachel Dora; Willie L., and Maxey A. Taylor. In March, 1874, Mr. Taylor removed from Kentucky to Christian county, and purchased a farm in Section 18, Town 13, R. 3 W., where he has remained to the present. Mr. Taylor is a member of the Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a democrat. He was formerly an old line whig. He cast his first vote for William Henry Harrison in 1840. In 1877 he was elected to the responsible position of supervisor of his town- ship. Ile has also hell other offices in his township. In whatever position he has been placed he has always zealously guarded the interests of his constituents. Mr. Taylor as a man and citizen is greatly respected by all who know him.
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