Bedford Twp. pg. 278-279
John H. Atkins was born in Elmira, New York, September 18, 1823.
There he was educated, and meanwhile assisted his father. At the age
twelve years he went to Pennsylvania, where he clerked in a country
store for his uncle, after which he went back to New York and worked in
a furniture shop, and later on the Erie canal, in the summer, and in the
winter in the timber, chopping logs. He was married April 19, 1849, to
Miss Abigal Dalrimple. After their marriage he moved to Steuben county,
and from there to Schenectady county. Later he moved to Potter county.
On the last day of October, 1854, they started for Lee county, Illinois,
and in the spring of 1857 came to Henderson county. On their arrival
they found the soil unbroken. There were no roads and they could take a
straight course to Burlington. No houses could be seen anywhere. There
were living in the neighborhood at that time David Thompson, William Van
Doran and James Statts, from Ohio and Charles Edward. Mr. and Mrs.
Atkins began life under the most unfavorable circumstances. They,
however, went to work with a determination. They now own a fine farm
and a house that cost $8,000 when built. Their children are: Sarah
(wife of Mr. Frank Everett, of New Mexico), Mary Jane (deceased), and
Abner D., who is residing at home. He was married to Miss Alice Biggs,
of this county. Mr. Atkin's grandfather was a Scotchman, who emigrated
to America at the age of eighteen. He was a soldier in the revolution,
and lived to be 104 years old. Mr. Atkin's father volunteered during
the revolution and was present when Gen. Ross was killed. His eldest
brother enlisted as a drummer and was promoted to lieutenant. Mr.
Atkins was drafted during the late war and immediately responded,
leaving his family and his thriving business to vindicate upon the
tented field the principles that he cherished. In the days when the
expression of abolition sentiments subjected a man to social and
political obliquy, he hesitated not to espouse the anti-slavery cause,
and never turned his back upon the dusky fugitive that asked for succor
while escaping to freedon. The fundamental principal of the republican
party have received his warm support from beginning to the present
time. He is a member of the masonic fraternity.
Bedford Twp. pg. 279-280
Hugh G. Woodside was born in Washington county, Virginia, June 30,
1825. When about nine years old he came with his father's family, in
the fall of 1837, and settled in the northwest corner of McDonough
county, where his father bought a quarter-section of land on which there
was slight improvement. After he had made some improvements and lived
on the place a short time, a man with a forged title came on and his
father bought that also. He remained on the place until the
time of his death, in 1854. He was married in North Carolina to Miss
Jane Galliher. They had seven children: Nancy, Mary, James, Julia,
William and H. G., subject. One other was born in North Carolina and
died there while yound. Mr. H. G. Woodside was married in McDonough
county in 1851 to Miss Catharine Wilson, of the same county. Thirteen
children was the result of this union, as follows: Nancy, Jane,
William, Henry, Edward, Annetta, Andrew E., Alonzo, Grant, Charles,
Minnie. Those not named died while young. His grandfather, James
Woodside, was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mr. Woodside received such
an education as the times afforded. He was a pupil in the first school
established in Bedford precinct. This was a subscription school and was
held in a log house near Bedford church. Mr. Woodside has been chosen
assessor of Bedford precinct for several years.
Bedford Twp. Pg. 277-278
William H. Cortelyon, one of the pioneer settlers of Bedford
precinct, was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, May 29, 1826, and was
married in the same county to Miss Elizabeth M. Field, of the same
place. Four children were the result of the union: Emma Elizabeth
(wife of R. V. D. Simonson, was born in New Jersey), A. W. Cortelyon,
Fannie A., and Lyon are all at home. His father, Abraham Cortelyon, was
also born in Somerset county, New Jersey, in 1795, and was married in
1817 to Miss Elizabeth Van Arsdale, of the same state. She was born in
Middlesex county. His oldest sister, Mariah, was born in New Jersey in
1818. She married Christopher B. Melick, of the same county. They had
ten children. Ralph V. married Catharine Stephens, of the same county.
He moved to this state in the spring of 1858. Ella P. married Richard
Hageman, of North Branch, New Jersey, where they still reside. William
H. Cortelyon is of German descent. His great-grandparents were
Hollanders, who came to this country at a date unknown, but which must
have been before the revolution. William Cortelyon, grandfather of our
subject, was born in New Jersey and settled on Long Island. Mr.
Cortelyon, in the spring of 1836, shipped his goods to Fulton county,
where he had gone to visit friends, and in the meanwhile came to
Henderson county to look at the country, and being satisfied with the
appearance and prospect, he returned to Fulton county, and came back
with lumber ready to build. The prairie grass was almost waist high all
over. He bought his first land of David Rankin, in section 10. When he
came out he brought five carpenters with him, and a house was soon
erected; but one day, when he was in town, a heavy windstorm came up and
carried away the newly-build edifice.
Bedford Twp. pg. 278
Daniel Leinbach was born in Pennsylvania in 1811. He was a German
by descent. He learned blaksmithing in Pottsville, that state, and
followed the trade during his lifetime. He moved in an early day to
Ohio, at the first settlement of that state, where was married to Miss
Julia Ann Messer. They raised a large family of children, among whom
were Isaac, Henry, Mary Ann, Benjamin, Sarah J., Donald, Samuel E., Emma
C., Hannah M., and James W. Mr. Leinbach came first to Fulton county in
an early day and bought a farm, and resided for four years, when he
removed to Henderson county, where he bought 160 acres of land in
section 1, of John Huston. He improved it and made a fine farm, which
is still owned by the heirs. His son, Daniel, a farmer, resides in
Henderson county, near Raritan. He married Miss Elizabeth Huston
January 1, 1871.
Bedford Twp. pg. 278
John Bowen was born in Giles county, Virginia, in 1800, and is the
son of John Harless Bowen. In his father's family there were fourteen
children. His father died in that state. His mother was still living
at the time he left the state. When a young man Mr. Bowen left his
native state for Michigan with teams. When he arrived in Ohio, he ran
out of money and was forced to stop and seek employment, which he found,
and remained there three years. He then went to Michigan, and after a
residence of five years came to Illinois in 1836. He first settled in
McDonough county, and two years after came to Hancock, where seventeen
years of his life was spent. He bought land in that county, and having
three yoke of oxen, harness and wagon, he was not long in making a start
in life. He sold his land there in 1854 and removed to Henderson
county. At one time he owned over a section of land. He was married in
Virginia at the age of nineteen years to Miss Mary Burton. He is the
father of the following children: Ariminta, Marshall, Elizabeth, Lena,
John R., Almeda, Catharine, W. H., James H., Mary, Jonathan, Arena,
Lafayette, Eliza, Warren, and two others who died while young. Though
Mr. Bowen is now eighty-two years of age, he is quite active and attends
to all the little odds and ends about the farm. In all his struggles
with fickle fortune to gain a competence, and the severe trials thought
which he passed, it is a source of great satisfaction to him in his
declining days to know that he has the good will of all. He holds to
the principles of Freemasonry.
Bedford Twp. Pg. 275-276
Dr. E. Beard is not identified with the history of Henderson county
for so long a period as some others, but he has reached a position of
prominence in the community by his own exertions as a successful
practitioner. He attributes success to the fact that experience has
taught him to throw aside many of the old dogmas of the early practice,
and to use such remedies as prove the least harmless, and afford the
most speedy relief to the patient. Mr. Beard was born in Leesburg,
Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1820. In 1829, he removed from that state
to Ohio, where he received his education, and graduated at the medical
college of Columbus, Ohio. Soon after this he began the practice of
medicine in that state, and continued it for seventeen years. He
removed to Henderson county, Illinois, in 1865, and during his residence
here his practice has extended over a large portion of the county, and
he classed among the most skillful and successful of the profession. He
was married in Ohio in 1841, to Miss Mary Brady. Ten children, five
boys and five girls, were born to them. Dr. Beard's ancestry were of
Scotch-Irish descent, and runs back to the Moors and Brady's of
Virginia. His grandfather was born in Virginia in 1761. He removed
from that state to Ohio, where he died at the advanced age of
ninety-two. When a young man, he was a drummer in the revolution, and
joined the army in company with a man with whom he was at that time
learing a trade. After his service and the war was over, he followed
shoemaking as an occupation.
Bedford Twp. Pg. 276-277
The subject of this sketch, S. V. Van Arsdale, who is now passing
his declining years in the village of Raritan, with all the comforts of
life spread around him, was one among the first few enterprising band of
pioneers who came to this county in "days that tried men's souls," and
through whose influence the pillars of society were founded on the
principles of virtue and knowledge. He was born in New York in 1815,
and is the third child of a family of six children, and three only of
who are living. His sister, Catharine, wife of Garrett Staats, resides
in New Jersey; Peter B. resides in Fulton county, Illinois, and S. B.
Van Arsdale resides at Glen Garden, New Jersey. His father having died
in 1836, and his mother May 26, 1847, he came to Illinois, settling in
Fulton county, in 1850. There he bought some land and began to improve
and make a farm. During his settlement there he made a visit to
Henderson county and was attracted with its natural advantages for
agricultural pruposes, but not until some time after this could he be
induced to remove to the new eldorado. They returned to Fulton county
and in a short time sold their farm there, and in the spring of 1856
came up and bought 160 acres of land on Sec. 22. He improved it and
traded it for 180 acres on Sec. 7. Having bought a residence in town,
he retired from business. He was married in New Jersey, 1836, to Miss
Joanna V. Bergen. Six children was the result of the union: Abraham,
the eldest, born March 1, 1838, married Miss Mary Ann Huston, daughter
of George Huston, one of the first early pioneers of Bedford precinct;
they have four children and live south of Raritan. Peter, born May 9,
1842, married Miss Amanda J. Huston; they have three children. J. B.
Van Arsdale, born October 30, 1844, married Miss Ann M. Lewis; she
having died, he married Sarah M. Brokaw. Peter served three years as a
soldier in the late war, as a member of the 14th Ill. Cav. Mr. Van
Arsdale's grandfather, Abraham Van Arsdale, was born in Somerset county,
New Jersey, December 2, 1750. He as a magistrate. His father was born
in Holland, and emigrated to America in an early day and settled on Long
Island. He was an only son, as was Mr. Van Arsdale's father. He was
buried in Harlingen cemetery, Somerset county, New Jersey. Mr. Van
Arsdale's grandmother, Margaret Keneday, was born in America. In Mrs.
Van Arsdale's father's family were the following: James, the eldest,
was born September 14, 1804; John, March 12, 1808; Joanna, June 7, 1813;
Mariah, April 18, 1815; Peter and Philip Bergen, twins, March 5, 1818.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Arsdale are members of the Reformed church.
Bedford Twp. Pg. 277
Matthew Huston, though a young man, is nevertheless worthy of a
place in the history of his county, in which he was born and reared.
From his yough he has been an active business man, and to him the
community is indebted for the introduction of fine bred horses in the
neighborhood, which business receives a part of his attention. He made
it a success from the start. His farm and stables are in section 28; he
has 108 acres. He was married in Henderson county December 15, 1871, to
Miss Minerva Lovett, who parents were among the very first pioneers of
the precinct, as were also the grandparents and father of Mr. Huston.
Mr. Huston's father is Walton Huston, a retired farmer and resident of
Raritan. Mr. Huston is an honored member of the masonic fraternity.
All Rights Reserved
Copyright 1999
Connie Lovitt Bates