USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Sandwich > History of the Somonauk United Presbyterian church near Sandwich, De Kalb County, Illinois : with ancestral lines of the early members > Part 7
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The Beveridges while in Scotland were all weavers. The little town of Strathmiglo was a town of weavers, and the Beveridges were good weavers, for the same old parish records show that sums of money were paid to members of the family for the best woven cloth. Some of the weaving of great-grand- father Andrew (1) Beveridge is in possession of various mem- bers of the family and, while it is more than one hundred years old, it would even now be considered very good fabric. The house in which George Beveridge lived in Strathmiglo is still standing with his initials "G. B." cut in the stone over the door. Over another door are the initials of his son, Matthew.
We have no record of the death of George Fotheringham, but in 1774, twelve years after her second marriage, his widow came to this country with her son, Andrew (1) Beveridge, then twenty-two years of age, and her daughters, Ann, nine- teen, and Janet, eleven. They were on the water eleven weeks bound for Boston, but the port was blockaded by the British fleet and they landed at Marblehead. Then this mother with her family walked the entire length of Massachusetts to Cam- bridge, New York. Much of this country was at that time little more than a wilderness. The mother probably lived the rest of her life in or near Cambridge, where she died October
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18, 1802. Her tombstone in the old Cambridge (New York) cemetery is well preserved after one hundred and twenty-five years.
Tradition says that two cousins of Andrew Beveridge came over at the same time, but they went to Baltimore. Senator Albert J. Beveridge is believed to be descended from one of these cousins.
Ann Beveridge married James Small soon after coming to this country, and they have more than one thousand descen- dants, many of whom have intermarried with descendants of her brother Andrew.
Andrew, the son of George and Janet Lourie Beveridge, at first lived near Coila, New York, where he had a farm and worked at his trade of weaving. As he came to this country at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, it is not strange that his sympathy was with the British. One story is that he was in the battle of Bennington, was wounded and was the last to leave the field. Another story is that he started to join the Brit- ish army but was captured before he reached it. At all events, the State of New York confiscated the property of the British sympathizers and he lost his farm, which was secured by his brother-in-law, James Small. This so angered him that he said he would go away so far he would never see them again. He seems to have gone to Ryegate, Vermont, where he lived for three years. Later he secured a farm near West Heb- ron, where he lived for the rest of his life, and where he died March 27, 1835.
It is difficult at this time to estimate the character of Andrew Beveridge. He lived in a stern and hard age, when the lines of church and state were more sharply drawn than now.
John L. Beveridge, who was eleven years old at the time of his grandfather's death, remembered him as a stern, silent old man with little sense of humor. He seems to have had a strong, rugged constitution, inflexibility of purpose, and strong convic-
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THE BEVERIDGE FAMILY
tions. A portion of the following letter, which is all that remains of one written by him in 1816 to his brother Matthew, in Scotland, would indicate that he was a man who thought much and said little.
ANDREW BEVERIDGE TO MATTHEW BEVERIDGE "Dear Brother:
"I received yours about the middle of Nov. I am glad to hear of your welfare. I am in ordinary health but frail. Our sisters and families are well. Ann has 19 grand-children, Jennette, 1 son and two daughters, her son is at Divinity Hall with Mr. Anderson which he went to in 1815.
"My two oldest are married. I have nothing in particular to write to you. I have great reason of thankfulness for the way I have been led through this Wilderness.
"May it be your concern and mine to be making advances in holiness, to be as the morning light that shineth more and more to the perfect day.
"The first Acquaintance I had in this country are most of them dead. I have seen Mr. Donaldson from Cooper of Angus who came over last summer, on inquiring of him for several people, most of them was dead before his remembrance, except Mr. Watson of Arle. This is saying to me be ye also ready. It was very sickly and mortal in this land in the spring of 1813. My oldest daughter died of the fever the 15th day of March. She was 24 years of age, many others died in the prime of life. The Lord has been pleading a controversy with this land for many years. He is seeming to be saying, they will not see but they shall see.
"Some of our cities was visited with the pestilence, and then we were visited with the scourge of war and now if not the famine, yet with a scarcity.
"The lord in just displeasure turneth a fruitful land into barrens for our sins that liveth therein. Our wheat crop has in a great measure failed the two last seasons, and the last season
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the Indian corn almost entirely, which is the main support of the poor.
"It is feared it will be hard with many before next harvest. Last summer was remarkably threatening. It was cold and wet till about the first of June, and after that was excessive dry and cold. We had frost every month of summer (you are not to understand me that it was frost all the time) so there was great scarcity of water for man and beast. The pasture was dried up. There is very little fodder for the cattle, so they sold very low last fall, yet for all these things that complaint may be taken up, 'Yet ye have not returned unto me saith the Lord.' All manner of wickedness prevails among us.
"The two that is the most hurtful to the community is rob- bing and housebreaking in our cities. We have little or no money in circulation, but paper counterfeiting is carried on to a great degree."
Robert (3) Graham, who was eleven years old in 1816, told his children of the severity and unfruitfulness of that year.
The church certificate, brought by Andrew Beveridge from Scotland, reads:
"Pathead, May 19, 1774. The bearer, Andrew Beveridge, an unmarried person, a member of this congregation and in full communion, free of public scandal and ground of church censure known to hinder his reception into any Christian con- gregation where Providence shall order his lot and partaking of church privileges is qualified,
"Thos. Thompson, Muil (Minister).
"is attested by
Robert Chalmers, Sess (Session)."
The following is a copy of a certificate of recommendation brought from Ryegate, Vermont, when he returned to West Hebron:
"To all whom it may concern: This may certify, that Andrew Beveridge, the bearer hereof, came to this part of the
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THE BEVERIDGE FAMILY
country in October or November, 1777, and lived with me a year, and afterwards lived in different places in the neighbor- hood about two years more, that he always behaved himself as a sober, honest, industrious man and maintained a good moral character while he lived in this neighborhood, and was under no scandal or church censure, and for anything I know may be admitted into any society or congregation.
"James Whitelaw, Ryegate, Vt., May 28, 1787."
He also brought a second certificate from Ryegate, Vermont, which says: "This is to certify that the above named Andrew Beveridge lived near three years in this neighborhood and, though I was not personally acquainted with him, by all the information I can get his character was unexceptional in both civil and religious matters. Josiah Page, Justice Peace."
These documents indicate the value placed on character one hundred and fifty years ago. When the State set the standard of religious belief for its subjects, it took undaunted courage for one to stand by his honest convictions if they did not ac- cord with the State creed.
The Associate Presbyterian Church of West Hebron was organized in the house of Andrew Beveridge in 1799, the first three elders being Andrew Beveridge, Hugh Moncrief and William McClellan, names eloquent of sterling worth and high traditions.
While he had a farm, which is now owned by a great- grandson, Andrew Beveridge worked at the trade of a weaver all his life. John C. Beveridge, who was only nine years old when Andrew died, remembered seeing him at his loom, and, as was said before, he was a good weaver. It is said that when his wedding day came it was raining, and so he went back to his loom and was not married until the next day.
ANDREW (1) BEVERIDGE, born in 1752 at Strath- miglo, Scotland; died West Hebron, New York, 1835; mar-
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SOMONAUK CHURCH
ried Isabel Cummings, January 23, 1784, a daughter of Thomas Cummings who at that time lived in Putnam, Wash- ington County, New York, but spent the last years of his life in Cambridge, where he was buried. Mr. Cummings came from Scotland previous to the Revolutionary War. His other known children were James, who married Mrs. Jemima Hoy; Robert, Alexander and Ann, who married John Livingston of Hebron.
Children:
i. George (2), born Mar. 16, 1785; died at Somonauk, May 10, 1870.
ii. Thomas, born Feb. 15, 1787; died in New York, Feb. 2, 1869; married first, Nov. 11, 1812, Ann Shields; second, Mary Hoy; born Mar. 15, 1790.
iii. Jennet, born Jan. 6, 1789; died Mar. 15, 1813, in Hebron, N. Y .; unmarried.
iv. James, born Feb. 28, 1791; died in Hebron in 1881; married Janet Lamb.
v. Alexander, born May 4, 1793. (See page 98.)
vi. John, born May 31, 1795; died in East Greenwich, July 30, 1878; married Jane McNeil.
vii. Ann, born Oct. 16, 1797; died Feb. 16, 1858, in Hebron; unmarried.
viii. Matthew, born Feb. 2, 1800; died in Hebron, May 25, 1875; married Elizabeth Hutton.
ix. Andrew, born May 26, 1802. (See page 101.)
x. David, born July 23, 1805; died in Hebron, Sept. 12, 1879; married Elizabeth Shaw.
The average age of these eight sons was over eighty years. Three of them, George, James and Alexander, served for a short time during the War of 1812. Three of the grandsons were in the Civil War. John L. Beveridge, son of George, was
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THE BEVERIDGE FAMILY
major of the 8th Illinois Cavalry, and later colonel of the 17th Illinois Cavalry, and breveted brigadier-general at the close of the war. Alexander, son of Alexander, died in the service at Alexandria, Virginia. The number of the family who were in the World War is not known, but two at least sleep in Flanders Field. All of the eight brothers married and left children, but the family of John has no living descendants. The number of the descendants of Andrew Beveridge is now very large, extending to at least the seventh generation. They are widely scattered, being found all over this country, and in foreign countries.
It may be said of the family in America, as has been said of the family in Scotland, "It lays claim to no great saint and no great sinner," but they are of the sturdy type which has always formed the moral backbone in any community in which they have been placed, and of the type of citizens which has helped to make America great.
GEORGE (2) BEVERIDGE, the eldest child of Andrew (1), was born in the township of Hebron, Washington County, New York, March 15, 1785; died at his home in the town- ship of Somonauk, De Kalb County, Illinois, May 10, 1870; married, in the township of Cambridge, now Jackson, Wash- ington County, New York, March 24, 1812, Ann, daughter of James and Agnes (Robertson) Hoy, born in the township of Cambridge, Washington County, New York, June 17, 1788; died in her home in Somonauk township, De Kalb County, Illinois, May 18, 1865. George Beveridge prospected in De Kalb County and purchased the Eastabrooks farm on Somonauk Creek in 1838, four years before he brought his family to live in the double log cabin. Of their children the two eldest were born in the township of Cambridge and the others in the township of Greenwich, Washington County, New York.
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Children:
i. Jennett (3), born May 5, 1813; died Dec. 2, 1901; married Oct. 23, 1837, James Henry. (See page 149.)
ii. Isabel, born 1814; died Nov. 23, 1814.
iii. Isabel, born Nov. 17, 1815; died Apr. 15, 1894; married Oct. 29, 1838, William French. (See page 121.)
iv. James Hoy, born Dec. 3, 1817.
v. Andrew M., born Jan. 20, 1820; died Jan. 6, 1889; married Dec. 22, 1848, Sarah, a daughter of Aretas Loomis, of Bennington, Vt .; graduated about 1844 from Jefferson College, Canonsbury, Pa .; member class 1849, Princeton Theological Seminary; pastor Presbyterian Church, Hoosic Falls, N. Y., 1851-1858; pastor for many years of First Presbyterian Church, Lansingburgh, N. Y.
vi. Thomas George, born Apr. 9, 1822; died Apr. 24, 1859; married Apr. 9, 1851, Elizabeth, daughter of William and Margaret Irwin. (See page 159.) vii. John Lourie, born July 6, 1824.
viii. Agnes, born June 17, 1829; died July 9, 1909; married Feb. 18, 1851; Alexander R. Patten. (See page 221.)
ix. Mary, born Apr. 25, 1831; died May 28, 1833.
George Beveridge and his wife, Ann (Hoy) Beveridge, who were destined to take so vital a part in establishing what is now the Somonauk United Presbyterian Church, were born, reared and married in the first American home of the family, Washington County, New York. Here their nine children were born, two of whom died while very young. Six children came west with their parents in 1842, two others following soon after. One, Andrew M. (3), remained in the East. By his will George Beveridge devised the sum of ten dollars to
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Rev. Andrew M. Beveridge
Mrs. Andrew M. Beveridge (Sarah Loomis)
John C. Beveridge
Mrs. John C. Beveridge (Mary Ann McCleery)
THE BEVERIDGE FAMILY
each grandson bearing the name George, and five dollars to all others. Henry J. Patten, born after the will was drawn, and consequently omitted from the list of beneficiaries, re- members that his mother gave him a pig as a consolation.
JAMES HOY (3) BEVERIDGE was born in Greenwich, Washington County, New York, December 3, 1817; died January 29, 1896, at his farm home in De Kalb County, Illinois. He married Elizabeth A., a daughter of Platt and Lois Disbrow. She was born August 24, 1826, at Sherman, Fairfield County, Connecticut; died October 22, 1905. Eliza- beth was descended from John Disbrow who was an early settler in Stamford, Connecticut, and is supposed to have been the eldest son of Major-General John Disbrow, an officer in Cromwell's army, who married Jane Cromwell. This John Disbrow married Sarah Knapp, and they had a son, Thomas Disbrow, who married Mercy Jones, the widow of
Nichols. Their son, Thomas Disbrow, married Abigail God- ding and they had seven children, of whom the fifth was Caleb, born August 2, 1719. He married, November 19, 1740, Sarah Davis, and died May 14, 1812. Asa was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He married Charity Platt. Their sixth child was Platt Disbrow, who married Lois Pepper in 1804. The children of Platt and Lois (Pepper) Disbrow were: Willis, Joseph, Davis, Dimond, Stephen Pepper, Flora L., Levi and Elizabeth A.
Children:
i. Gertrude (4), born Aug. 15, 1850; married first O. A. Thompson, second Rufus E. Thompson.
ii. Infant daughter, born and died May 9, 1851.
iii. James Henry, born July 2, 1852; died Sept. 16, 1852. iv. Lois Annie, born Feb. 8, 1854; died Mar. 5, 1864.
v. Merritt Hoy, born June 17, 1869; married Isabella Robinson; born June 22, 1877; died April 3, 1923. Merritt Hoy retains the homestead.
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SOMONAUK CHURCH
James Hoy Beveridge was educated in the public school and at the Cambridge Academy in New York. In Illinois, he at- tended Granville Academy and Mt. Morris Seminary. His life was much more than ordinarily eventful. His son, Merritt Hoy, tells us that his father came to Somonauk in 1841 and took a claim adjoining his father's claim on the north. About 1848 Mr. Beveridge and his brother-in-law, Alexander R. Patten, opened a store at Freeland Corners, and did a good business for a frontier country store. It was a boon to the set- tlers.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Beveridge began house- keeping on the farm. In 1849 he was elected one of the asso- ciate justices of the county and in 1852 was elected assessor.
In 1854 he was one of the leading spirits in calling the Anti-Kansas-Nebraska Bill Convention held in Sycamore. In 1856 he was a delegate to the first Republican state convention held at Bloomington.
In 1852 he was elected circuit clerk of the county and in 1856 was reëlected. His residence was at the county seat during this period of eight years.
In 1864 Mr. Beveridge was elected State Treasurer, and the following spring removed to Springfield.
In 1867 he was appointed one of the State House Commis- sioners and was their secretary. He served on this commission from the beginning of the construction of the State House to its completion-from 1867 to 1878. He was the able and active secretary of the Lincoln Memorial Association of the state, which built the Lincoln Memorial. Mr. Beveridge made many good friends at the state capital by his strict honesty and helpfulness. At one time he saved a prominent man from financial embarrassment by timely assistance. Afterwards when this man was on a safe financial basis he insisted on Mr. Bev- eridge's acceptance of a gold watch in appreciation of his help
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Thomas G. Beveridge
Mrs. Thomas G. Beveridge (Elizabeth Irwin)
Simon N. and Edward M. Patten
Jennie M. Patten
THE BEVERIDGE FAMILY
when in great need. This watch is now in the possession of his son Hoy, who prizes it highly.
In the summer of 1879 Mr. Beveridge returned to his farm at Somonauk, where he gave special attention to the breeding and raising of Jersey cattle.
During his retirement from public service he was not per- mitted to be wholly free from public responsibility. His opinion was sought on important matters in the community and state, and he was frequently called to serve as delegate to important conventions.
Mr. Beveridge united with the Associate Church at Somon- auk on profession, in 1849, as the record shows. At Springfield Mrs. Beveridge and her husband united with the Presbyterian Church. After coming back to the farm in 1879 they took membership in the Presbyterian Church of Sandwich. When Mr. Beveridge died in 1896, the Reverend Mr. Nye of Sand- wich conducted the funeral services, assisted by the Reverend A. G. Hastings of the United Presbyterian Church. He is buried in Oak Mound Cemetery.
JOHN LOURIE (3) BEVERIDGE was born in Green- wich, Washington County, July 6, 1824; died in Hollywood, California, May 3, 1910; married January 20, 1848, in Chi- cago, Helen M. Judson, daughter of Philo Judson.
Children:
i. Alla May (4), married Samuel B. Raymond. Children:
i. Lourie Raymond (5), deceased.
ii. William Raymond.
iii. Helen Raymond, married Shirly High; de- ceased.
ii. Philo Judson, married, first, Ella Reutzer.
Children:
i. Kuhne (5).
ii. Ray.
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Children by his second wife, Daedda Wilcox:
i. Marion (5).
ii. Daedda.
iii. Phyllis.
John Lourie Beveridge's boyhood was spent on a farm. He accompanied his father on his first trip west, returning with him, and in the spring of 1842 came with his parents to Somonauk.
Although the opportunities for higher education in the West at that time were very limited, during the succeeding three years, by great perseverance, he succeeded in getting a year and a half of excellent schooling at Mt. Morris Seminary. In the autumn of 1845 he went to Tennessee. There he received further training through teaching school as well as by observ- ing the ways of life in that community. He admired many traits of Southern character, but never learned to accept the institution of slavery. In the meantime he read law and was admitted to the bar.
Returning to the North in December, 1847, he married, and the following spring with his wife returned to Tennessee. In the autumn of 1849, either through bad management or through the dishonesty of an associate, he lost what money he had accumulated and was left in debt. It took him two years to wipe out this debt. He returned to Somonauk, Illinois, and soon after, with his wife and two children, settled in Sycamore, the county seat of De Kalb County. Here he en- tered a law office and succeeded well.
In the spring of 1854 Mr. Beveridge removed to Evanston, Illinois, and occupied himself with business connected with the recently founded Northwestern University, of which his father-in-law was business agent. In the spring of 1855 he opened a law office in Chicago. Here he successfully carried on his profession until the beginning of the Civil War.
Governor Beveridge's war record is brilliant. His law part-
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James Hoy Beveridge
Mrs. James Hoy Beveridge (Elizabeth A. Disbrowv)
John L. Beveridge
Mrs. John L. Beveridge (Helen M. Judson)
THE BEVERIDGE FAMILY
ner, General John F. Farnsworth, secured authority to raise a regiment, the 8th Illinois Cavalry, for which Beveridge in a few days succeeded in recruiting Company F, he himself enlisting August 12, 1861. In September he was unanimously chosen captain and the following day was selected by the line officers to be second major of the regiment.
In October the regiment was ordered to join the Army of the Potomac. Under General Stoneman, Beveridge was in the advance upon Richmond in 1862. Upon the retreat of the army from the James River, his battalion was in the extreme rear, in imminent danger from the shot and shell of the enemy. His was the only cavalry force which crossed the river at Fredericksburg. Major Beveridge led his regiment at Get- tysburg, Williamsport, Boonsboro, Funkstown and between the Rappahannock and Culpepper, forty-seven engagements in all. In November, 1863, he was selected by General Farns- worth to recruit and organize the 17th Illinois Cavalry, of which he was commissioned colonel, January 28, 1864. On February 12 he was ordered to report to General Rosecrans in Missouri. At the head of his regiment he scouted through Missouri during a series of engagements with the guerrillas and bushwhackers. Their final engagement took place under Gen- eral Pleasanton, when they drove the rebel, General Price, out of the state and captured a third of his army.
After the surrender of Lee, Colonel Beveridge remained in service in order to close out all the military stores in Missouri south of the river except those in St. Louis, and to muster out the troops in Missouri. In October, 1865, he was ordered by the Secretary of War to preside over a military commission in St. Louis for the trial of rebel offenders against property and persons of the United States. He was mustered out of the service February 6, 1866. The previous year, on March 7, 1865, he had been breveted brigadier-general for gallant and meritorious conduct.
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SOMONAUK CHURCH
Returning to civil life, he resumed his law practice in Chi- cago. In the summer of 1866 he was elected sheriff of Cook County and served with credit a two-year term. In November, 1870, he was elected State Senator from the 25th district (Chicago). After serving nearly a year as State Senator he received the nomination for Congressman at large on the Republican ticket, and was elected in November, 1871.
Before his term expired General Beveridge was elected Lieutenant-Governor, November, 1872. Governor Oglesby having been elected United States Senator, Beveridge became Governor. Through these changes in official life he had the extraordinary experience of holding in succession the offices of Congressman, Lieutenant-Governor and Governor, all within the space of three weeks. At the end of his term as Governor, he returned to Chicago and resumed the practice of law. Later he served a term as U. S. sub-treasurer in Chicago by appoint- ment of President Arthur. "Governor Beveridge possessed the courage of his convictions and never dreamed of sacrificing principle to popularity," says Moses, in his history of Illinois. "His great desire was to discharge the duties of his office for the best interests of the state."
Governor Beveridge lived for many of his later years in Evanston, finally removing to Hollywood, California, where he died May 3, 1910. He is buried in Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.
ALEXANDER (2) BEVERIDGE, the fourth son of Andrew (1), born May 4, 1793; died June 2, 1874; married Sarah, a daughter of Robert (2) and Mary McClellan. John C. was their third son.
Children:
i. Andrew (3).
ii. John C., born Feb. 3, 1826.
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THE BEVERIDGE FAMILY
JOHN C. (3) BEVERIDGE, third son of Alexander (2) and Sarah (McClellan) Beveridge, was born in North Green- wich, Washington County, New York, February 3, 1826. His father was one of the eight sons of Andrew (1) and. Isabel (Cummings) Beveridge.
When John was six years of age the family moved to Hebron. In his early life he worked on the farm. His education. was obtained in the district school, and in West Hebron Academy, where he was for a short time.
In 1862 John C. Beveridge came to Illinois and for a time lived with his uncle, Andrew (2) Beveridge, near Freeland Corners. During this period he purchased 160 acres from his brother Andrew (3) Beveridge, who was living in New York. Andrew (3) had located this land in Victor township on a soldier's warrant several years before. At the time of the pur- chase all there was on the land was a small cabin and a single locust tree. Some years later he purchased 40 acres adjoining on the north.
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