Aleri Rodgers Graham, M. D.

Aleri Rodgers Graham, M. D., a medical practitioner at Littler York, was born in the township of Hale, in Warren County, August 24, 1854. His parents are pioneers of the township where he was born, and are John R. and Mary Rodgers Graham.

Dr. Graham obtained a good common-school education as a foundation, in his boyhood, and afterwards attended Monmouth Academy one year. In 1878, he commenced the study of medicine under the preceptor-ship of the medical firm of Hamilton, Marshall & Holliday, at Monmouth. After leaving their office, he matriculated at Rush Medical College in Chicago, and took his degree as M. D. at that institution in 1881.

He inaugurated his career as physician and surgeon at Cameron, in his native county, and operated there two years. Since 1883, he has prosecuted the business of his profession at Little York. He is building up a popular and prosperous practice, and his thorough preparation for the responsibilities of the calling to which he has devoted his life, is fast winning for him the confidence of a substantial patronage.

In Political belief and relations, Dr. Graham is a Democrat.

The marriage of Dr. Graham to Miss Emma Alcock was celebrated Feb 14, 1880. They have one child, named Frederick. The mother was born in Suffolk shire, England. The Doctor and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian Church.

Brazillai Parker, deceased, was a a pioneer of Warren County, who located in the

 township of Spring Grove rather what is now known as such, in 1835. He was born at Snow Hill, Worcester Co., Md, April 18, 1808. His home was there until he was nine years of age, when his parents removed to Kentucky, in which State he remained until his removal to Warren County, in the year state. His father died in Kentucky soon after the family removed to that State. Mr. Parker was accompanied to Warren County by his mother and sister. The journey from Ohio was made overland, they bringing with them their household furniture and also what stock they owned. Mr. Parker built a log house and rived the shingles to cover the roof. After making provisions for shelter he commenced improving the land which --- missing a page found it!!! -- he had pre-empted. He placed in order for successful farming about 100 acres of the tract that he at first pre-empted and from time to time continued his purchases of real estate until he was at the time of his death the possessor of upwards of 1,000 acres. He had at various times visited Nebraska and Iowa and made large purchases of land in both States.

Mr. Parker was a man of zeal, energy and industry and was prominent in his method of pushing such projects as he was interested in to a successful termination.

Politically, he was a republican in later days. In the early times, when he was first interested in politics, he was a Whig. He joined the ranks of the "Grand Old Party" when it was organized.

He was twice married. Ellen D. Pease became his wife in 1843. She was born near Rockland, Maine, and her parents were pioneers in Mercer Co., Ill. To Mr. and Mrs. Parker there were five children born. Henry C. is a citizen of Monmouth township. Adda P. is married to Phelps Paine, a resident of Lincoln, Neb. Rhoda H. is the wife of George Herbert, of Spring Grove Township. Brazillai is the next in order of birth. Sarah is deceased. Mrs. parker, the mother of the children just enumerated, died in 1851. In 1854, Mr. Parker formed a second matrimonial relation with Mrs. Zoa Ulmer. There were two children from this union. Mary W. is married to George F. Miner, of Monmouth. Eva is deceased. Mr. Parker died may 19, 1884..

Hiram Ingersoll, a pioneer of Warren County, of 1835, was born Feb 07, 1812, in Cortland Co., N. Y. His father, David Ingersoll, was a native of Massachusetts and the mother was born in Ireland. Her name before her marriage was Jane McCoy. The elder Ingersoll located with his family in Broome Co., N. Y. when his son was 12 years of age. He was there resident until the fall of the year named, in which he determined to seek a home in the "far West" He removed from his home in the Empire State as far as Syracuse, where he took passage on a canal-boat for Buffalo. He crossed the lakes from that place to Chicago, and there hired a team which brought him to Peoria. He came thence to Warren County on foot.

His father had settled in Kelly Township in 1833, and in the fall of 1835 Mr. Ingersoll joined the family there. He engaged in farming on his father's estate. In the spring following he went to Knoxville and passed two months there working at his trade of carpentry. He returned to the home of his father and pursued the same occupation in Warren County. In the spring of 1838, he went back to the State of his nativity and remained there about a year and a half.   In the autumn of 1839 he again came to Kelly township, and lived with the family of his father until the succeeding spring. In the course of that season he built a house for his father and got out the timber preparatory to the construction of a saw-mill. He continued to follow the trade of carpentry for some years, as he had opportunity,

In 1846, he was married, and bought a farm on section 33 of the same township in which his parents resided, and passing the intervening years between that time and 1875 in farming and working at his trade. In the year last mentioned he retired from he crest and responsibilities of active life and bought the place where he has since reside in that part of Alexis included in Henderson Township., in Mercer County.

Jan 01, 1846 he was married to Cecilia Potter. She was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, March 14, 1826, and is the daughter of Chester and Eliza Castle Potter. Her parents were natives of Litchfield, Conn., and came to Fulton Co., IL in 1831. After passing a winter there they came, in the spring of 1832, to Warren County. They located at Rockwell's Mills, where they resided at the time of the Black Hawk War. The family was in the block-house in the fort at the time of the murder of William Martin, in 1832. An account of this affair will be found in various parts of this work in connection with the sketches of those when were witnesses of the fight of the savages with the scalp of their victim. In 1833 Mr. Potter removed to Kelly Township, and in the same year he erected a grist-mill on Main Henderson Creek. Soon after he built a saw-mill in connection with the mill already standing. Mr. and Mrs. Potter lived in Kelly Townships until he events of their death. Mr.. and Mrs. Ingersoll had one child which died at the age of nine months.  

Hon James H. Stewart, Jude of Warren County court, was born Jan 05, 1818 at Elkton, Todd Co., KY., and is the son of Rev. Wm K. and Lucretia P. Moore Stewart, natives of North and South Carolina respectively, and descended from Scotch and Scotch-Irish ancestry. They were married in Christian Co., KY. April 01, 1817, and at once repaired to Elkton, where their three sons and two daughters were born.

The Rev. Mr. Stewart was of the Presbyterian Church; came to Illinois in 1830; had charge of congregation at Vandalia five years; there buried his wife in 1831; removed to Macomb in 1836, where he preached to his people as long as health permitted, and died April 15, 1852, in the 62d year of his life. He was a ripe scholar, a graduate of Hampden-Sidney College of Virginia, and was a preacher of recognized force and merit from the time he was 21 years of age.   

Judge James H. Stewart as the eldest son and was educated at Hanover College, Ind. from whence he graduated in 1836, and at once began the study of law, under James Allen, and completing his course of reading in the office of Cyrus Walker, of Macomb, Ill. He was admitted to the Bar at Springfield, Jan 01, 1840, and immediately commenced to practice at Lewistown, Fulton county, this state from there, at the end of a year, he removed to Millersburg, Mercer County, where he remained in close practice four and half years. He then hung out his shingle at Oquawka, and there added 15 years to his life and much to his knowledge of the law. He was then at Knoxville about a year, and first came to Monmouth in the spring of 1861. Here he has spent the matured years of his life. Judge Stewart, the nester of Warren County Bar, has a reputation as wide as the borders of the State in which he resides. His name will be transmitted width the history of the community with whose interest he has been so long identified, and the posterity of those whose lives we chronicle to-day, will know him as a man of honor among men and worthy of their emulation.

Judge Stewart's official career began at Oquawka, in 1851, when he was elected Stat's Attorney, for the 15th Judicial Circuit. In 1856, after a division of the district, he was twice re-elected to the same position for the tenth circuit. in 1881, he was chosen County Judge of Warren, to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Willets, deceased, and in 1882, regularly elected for the ensuing term of four years. The Judge is a Democrat in whom there is no guile, and that he is fully appreciated by his party is attested by his record. He has twice been its candidate for Representative from this county, but that body being notorious as a Senatorial Manufacturing Machine, the good people usually select men especially gifted (?) for that important duty rather than men possessed of knowledge as law-makers. the Judge was alternate delegate to the St. Louis national Democratic Convention of 1876, and the delegate to that body at Cincinnati, in 1889.  

Beginning as a poor boy, Judge Stewart rounds life at a ripe age possessed of a handsome competency. He is largely interested in agriculture and banking, which receives much of his personal attention. He was married in McDonough County, this State, June 30, 1842, to Isabella C. McKamy, who was born in Roane Co., Tenn. Jan 22, 1824, and has borne to him ten children, only three of whom are living--- William K., whose biography appears in this volume; Isabella, wife of D. M. Hammack, an attorney at Burlington, Iowa, and Mary M. Lucretia P. was born Aug 18, 18623 and died Aug 18, 1878; the rest of his children died in infancy. We felicitate ourselves on being enable to add to this biographical notice, as well as to the portrait feature of our work, a reproduction of a life like photograph of Judge Stewart which was recently taken.

David Allard is a farmer in the township of Point Pleasant and is the owenre of 240 acres of land situated on section 8. He was born April 6, 1824, in the town of Eaton, Carroll Co., N. H. of which State his father, Jacob Allard was also a native. Job Allard, his grandfather, was one of the earliest settlers in the "Granite State,"  New Hampshire, where he took up a tract of land all in timber, which was located 18 miles from any settlement of whites. It was in Carroll County, and he cleared a farm, on which he resided until his death. His son Jacob was born on the same farm, and was the heir to the estate of the father who had done the work of the pioneer on it. Sally Thurston Allard, the wife and mother, was also a native of Eaton in the same county.

To her and her husband ten children were born, of whom six are now living: David is the eldest; Jane is the wife of Daniel Young, and they are living in  freedom, Carroll Co., N. H.; Joseph S. is married to Miss Fannie Wornom and is a farmer in this county; Eliza is Mrs. Bradley Davis, and with her husband, resides in Stockton, Cal.; Martha is the wife of Charles Davis, and lives in Iowa; Rose A. is the youngest member of the family living, and is married to F. H. Baldwin. They live in Oregon.  

Mr. Allard was reared and educated in the town where he was born. At the age of 20 he went to Belfast, Maine, and there passed two years in acquiring a knowledge of blacksmithing He returned to his native State and operated a as a "jour" one year. July 2, 1846, Mr. Allard was married to Miss Harriet Patch. She was born in Eaton, N. H., and is the daughter of Dennis and Susan Drew patch he then purchased a farm in the vicinity of the old homestead, and there opened a shop in his own interest. He managed the farm and the shop together until 1835, when he sold both, preparatory to moving to Illinois. he settled in Warren County and bought a farm near Jackson corners, in the township of Ellison. On this he resided until 1864, when he removed to Monmouth, to secure for his children the advantages of the schools of that place. He was engaged in the pursuit of his trade in the Carr Plow shops there two years, and at the expiration of that time he purchased a farm in Point Pleasant Township on which he has since resided. It has the usual complement of trees and farm buildings. It has also a grove of forest trees, including white ash, walnut, butternut, ash-leaved maple, white maple cottonwood, willow and chestnut. These cover six acres, and are situated on a mound which is said by surveyors to be the highest point between the two rivers east and west.

To Mr. and Mrs. Allard were born ten children, eight of whom are now living; Frank, Vina, Rose, Josephine, Orrin, Charles, William and Elgena.

L. Bennett, owning 67 acres of good tillable land in Tompkins Township, and also 480 acres in Boone Co., Neb, and residing upon section 19, of the township named, where he is engaged in the pursuits of an agriculturist, was born in Madison Co., N. Y. on April 08, 1829, his parents being Jacob and Elizabeth Coss Bennett natives of Montgomery Co., New York.

The gentleman whose name heads this biographical notice, lived with his parents until he was eight years of age, at which time his father died. He then absent from his mother until he was 14 years old, when he returned and resided with her for four years, receiving at her hands a good common school education. He then left home and worked out for five years by the month. In 1854, he came to this State, and became a citizen of this county, where he was engaged in the occupation of a farmer, working for others and doing odd jobs for one season. During that year he purchased the 89 acre tract of land on which he is at present residing. moved upon it with his family and at once engaged in the vocation which he had followed more or less all his life.

he erected a fine residence upon his farm, together with a good barn and necessary outbuildings and set out trees, ornamental and fruit and cultivated an improved the place, until it presents a fine appearance to the passer-by- of to-day. In his chosen vocation, Mr. Bennett is meeting with that success, which push perseverance and energy are sure to bring.

In 1857, Mr. Bennett was united in marriage with Miss Liza Thorp, a native of New York, and a daughter of John Thorp. Her father came to this State in 1854 settling in this county, where with his wife have lived until their death. In politics, Mr. B. votes with the republican party, and is regarded as one of the leading representatives of his vocation in his township.

John Bennett, who after many struggles which he has encountered in his more than fourscore years, is now able to sit in the midst of peace and plenty, while viewing the golden sunset of life in the domestic quietude of his farm, on section 16, Tompkins Township. He was born in Montgomery Co., N. Y. July 13, 1800, his parents being James and Hannah Sharp Bennett, natives of South Carolina and New York respectively.

Mr. Bennett of this notice was an inmate of the parental household until 20 years of age. He received such education as was to be acquire at the district schools, and in 1824, after leaving the house of his parents he purchased a tract of farm land on time, which, however, owing to reverses, he was unable to pay for. After this first bitter experience with the ups and downs of life, he was occupied until 18454 in agricultural pursuits on rented land in his natve State. In 1854, Mr. Bennett came to Illinois and purchase a farm of 80 acre tract and pursed the farm upon which he has since resided. His improvements are of the best quality and his farm is indicate of that puce and energy which has characterized the life of Mr. Bennett.

Mr. Bennett has been twice married. his first marriage was to Miss Lydia thorp, January 1821, and by whom he had two children. Miss Melinda Thorp became his second wife. In politics Mr. Bennett is a strong advocate of the principles of the Republican party. In religion he and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

David C. Brent, general farmer and stock raiser, residing on section 18, Ellison Township, was born in Lancaster Co., Va Oct 12, 1821,k and is a son of Kenner Brent (see sketch of Paul Brent.) Our subject, David C., is the eldest of the living children, and was 14 years old when he came to Illinois. He lived on the farm with his father until his marriage, in the meantime acquiring a fair English education. His marriage was celebrated on the 7th of March, 1850, in Ellison Township, the lady chosen to become his wife being Miss Jane, daughter of William Brown, from Lancaster Co., Va., who was by occupational  farmer and carpenter, his demise occurring in July, 1833, in this township. Mrs. Brent was the eldest child of her father's family of seven children, and was born Jan. 01, 1830./ She was only a small child when her parents came to this township, where she remained with them until her marriage.

The home circle of Mr. and Mrs. Brent has been blessed by the birth of 12 children, thee of whom are deceased. The living are six sons and three daughters, as follows; Elizabeth C., born April 25, 1854; Augusta, February 22, 1856; William K., December 14, 1857; Melvin D., January 08, 1860; Thomas, February 14, 1862; Manie, June 17, 1864; Edmund, July 26, 1868; Frank, October 15, 1870; Joseph A., November 27, 1872.

After marriage, Mr. Brent settled on the farm where he now leaves and is the possessor of 304 acres of excellent land, nearly all of which is improved.

Mrs. B. is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Brent has held the office of Road commissioner, and politically, is identified with the Republican party, being a staunch advocate of its principles.

Nealy A. Chapin, banker and merchant at Kirkwood, is not only one of the best known men in the county, but is classed among the early pioneers of this part of the State. His parents, Ebenezer and Catherine Daggett Chapin, were natives of New York and Vermont Respectively. They came west to Indiana in 1832, and were living in Crawford county, that State, when Nealy A. was born, January 28, 1828...... I lost track & got off on something else will look this guy back up if I happen to forget email if you need it or Carol. thanks my book is an original older one and it's in pieces and I get lost looking at someone else. sorry.

Charles R. Russell.  Among the prominent young farmers of Warren County, we have the subject of this personal narrative. He lives on section 14, Lenox Township, and is a son of Jonathan Russell, a prominent farmer of the county, whose biography is given in this Album. His mother, Lydia A. Evans Russell was a native of Pennsylvania, Charles was born in Chautauqua county, N. Y. August 29, 1859, He received a good education in the schools of this county, his parents having moved here when hew as about a year old. Here he was reared and has since lived. He is the owner of 70 acres of good, tillable land in Lenox township, section 22. He is a member of the order of the golden Rule, and in political faith is a Republican.

Mr. Russell was married at Monmouth Sept 4, 1884, to Lonie L. Shaw, daughter of Clarkston Shaw and Melissa J. Codington, natives of New York and Kentucky respectively. Mrs. R. was born in Spring Grove Township November 01, 1864.

Charles T. Page is senior member of the firms of Page & Pinkerton, dealers in hardware, stoves and furniture, and manufacturers and jobbers of tin ware, at Monmouth himself and partner being the successors to a business established by Chancy Hardin in the early history of Monmouth. Mr. Hardin sold out to M. C. Churchill, who sold the business to Mr. page in 1874. Mr. pinkerton coma into the firm in 1876, at which time the trade was simply in hardware and stoves. In 1879, they added furniture and at this writing their business in that line is the larges in the city... (Foxie's note: wonder what they'd think of Wally World. Tee-hee smiles)

Mr. Page was born at Hillsdale, Mich, April 18, 1849. His parents Rev. William and Frances Durand page, natives of Connecticut, were married in York State, removed to Michigan and subsequently to Rockford, Ill., where the senior Mr. Page died, in 1856. His widow resides at this writing (October, 1885) with her eldest son at Ft. Wayne, Ind.

Charles T. Page was educated at Rockford, and when about 19 years of age, was employed by the Winnebago National Bank, at that place, as bookkeeper. He remained there four years and went to Chicago as assistant cashier of the Home National Bank, a position he filled two years, coming thence to Monmouth.

He married at Alexis, this Sate, Sept. 18, 1876, Miss Bertha Alexander, daughter of John E. Alexander, and the two children born of this union are named respectively Mary Florence and Edna. Mr. and Mrs.. page are members of the Presbyterian Church.

William M. Lair, a well known farmer of Kelly township, is the son of William Lair, one of the earliest pioneers of Warren County. The senior lair was born in Warren County, KY, April 03, 1797. His father was a German by birth and his mother was born in North Carolina. they were among the very first settlers in Warren Co., KY., and their son, the father of the gentleman who is represented in this sketch, was the first white child born there. He was reared to be a farmer, and passed the ole of his youth in his native county.

He was married there, February 05, 1827, to Sarah R. (Ralston) Wallace. She was the daughter of William and Nancy Smith Wallace and was also a native of Warren Co., Ky. Her grandfather, Robert Wallace, came from Ireland. She was born May 08, 1809. In 1832 they left their native county with their family, setting out with their own conveyance, for the State of Illinois. They brought with them their household appurtenances and camped and cooked by the wayside. They were four weeks on the road. They passed a year on the Spoon River, in Knox county, and after reaching Warren County settled for a summer in Monmouth. Mr. lair then bought land on section 30 in "Township 12 Range 1" now Kelly Township.

He set about perfecting the arrangements common to pioneers, built a log house for the temporary accommodation of his household, and proceeded with all possible dispatch to work of improving his claim. Soon after, the firs log cabin was replaced by a double hewed-log cabin structure of goodly dimensions, which constituted their home until 1858. In that year the family removed to the southeast quarter of the same section and once more lived in a pioneer's cabin. This they inhabited until 1861. They then removed to a school-house in which they lived six weeks, while their own house was in preparation. The new house was a commodious frame building, and was the home of the senior ( William M's father) Lair during the remaining portion of his life. His demise took place April 07, 1872. six of the children born to him and his wife thirteen in all are still living. They are:

Robert W. who married Mary A. Quinn, and to them were born four children, viz; Annie, William, Addison, and Fannie. Addison is deceased. Robert lives in Spring grove township.

Harriet is the wife of Dwight Corning, and is the mother of ten children; the names of the six living being Benjamin, Jennie, Jessie, Clark, Helen, and Alice. The family resides in Crawford County, Kans.

Helen is the wife of Samuel McKahan, and they are also residents of Crawford County and the parents of five children, namely: Charley, may, Hattie, Altie and an infant deceased.

Sarah E. married R. B. Ball. Rosa and Fielding are the names of their children. The reside in Rice county Kans.

Ella J. is the wife of Ferdinand Burtschy, a resident of Nodaway County, Mo. Four children were in their family-- Etta, Ada, Freddie and Gracie. Freddy is deceased.

The next in order of birth was William M. the subject of this notice. Catherine, who is now deceased, was the wife of James T. Gilmore. Fielding A. is also deceased, but had married Margaret S. Pedigo. Anna E. who is also deceased, became the wife of Irvin Robinson. The remaining five children died while young.

William M. Lair was born on the homestead of his father, in Kelly township, Feb 05, 1853. He had the training and education of the farmers' sons of that period and, in connection with his mother, ably manages the estate left by his father. A view of the old homestead is given on page #428.

He was married Aug 2, 1876, to Nancy A. Pedigo.

Their family now includes four children Florence, Clark, Maggie and Robert. Mrs. lair was born in Kentucky in the  same county in which her husband's parents were early settlers. The date of her birth was Sept 04, 1`857. She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Milligan Pedigo who were natives of Warren County, Ky. They came to this county about 1860, and settled in Kelly township. The father died in 1872. His widow is still living and resides in Iowa. Mr. Pedigo had previously been married, by which union he had five children, and by his second marriage had ten children. Woweee--- 15 children all together sounds like my 5th great grandfather. Three of the fifteen are deceased.
 

biographies below were typed by Carol Parrish of Warren Co., IL and emailed to me. Have a happy day. thanks so much Carol....

N. Thomas Patton, of the firm of Patton & Beedee, dealers in flour, seeds, pumps, agricultural implements, lime, cement, etc., at Monmouth, Ill., was born in Adams Co., Ohio, Nov. 20, 1831.  The parents of Mr. Patton, John S. and Jane (McCague) Patton, reared two sons and two daughters.  The senior Mr. Patton was twice married (see biography of R. S. Patton). 

            The subject of this biographical notice was brought up on his father’s farm.  Of the children Mr. Patton was the third in order of birth and the second son.  At the common schools he acquired a good English education and taught successfully for several years in Ohio.  In 1855 he came to Illinois and resided in Peoria County up to 1868, teaching school in the meantime, five or six winters, and carrying on a farm during the summer.  In 1868 he removed to Warren County and was engaged in the occupation of an agriculturist, in Hale Township, for about ten years, coming thence to Monmouth, where he has since been engaged in his present business.  His first partner was M. A. Gidding; his second, D. C. Goudy; and the third, Mr. Beedee.  Mr. Patton was a successful farmer and is likewise a popular and successful merchant.  Before coming to Monmouth, he was two years School Trustee, and since residing here he has represented his ward two years in the city council.

            Mr. Patton formed a matrimonial alliance with Miss Esther Stevenson, in Marshall Co., Ill., Oct. 16, 1856.  Mrs. Patton died in 1877, leaving four children – Ella J. (Mrs. R. Miller), Charles, Nannie B. and Alice.  Mr. Patton’s second marriage occurred at Monmouth, in 1878, the present Mrs. Patton having been Mrs. Eliza J. Davidson, nee Black.  Religiously, both Mr. and Mrs. Patton are members of the United Presbyterian Church. Portrait and Biographical Album of Warren County, Illinois (1886), Chapman Brothers of Chicago, p. 423. 

ROBERT S. PATTON, Treasurer of Warren County, was elected first in 1879 and re-elected in 1882, term to expire in December, 1886.  The gentleman whose name heads this notice was born in Adams Co., Ohio, Jan. 16, 1837, and was the first child of five born to John S. and Sarah (Morrison) Patton, natives respectively of Virginia and Ohio.  They were of Irish extraction.  The father was married before to Miss McCague, and by that marriage four children were the result – George A., Mary J., Nathaniel T. and Martha.  Of this marriage all are deceased except Nathaniel T.  He married Esther Stevenson, she being a native of Ohio and now deceased.  The five children of the second marriage are Robert S., Carrie S., Eliza M., John H. and Sarah; the latter died while young.  Cary S. married Miss Lizzie Harsha; Eliza married J. B. Woods; John H. married Sarah M. Woods.  Judge Robert Morrison, grandfather of Mr. P., on the maternal side of the house, was an officer in the war of 1812.  His grandfather, Nathaniel Patton, on the paternal side of the house, was one of the first defenders of his country.

            Mr. Patton settled in Hale Township in 1860.  His parents came the next year and in that township spent the rest of their lives, the senior Mr. Patton dying in 1863, aged 64 years, and his widow in 1876, at the same age.

            Robert S. Patton lived on his father’s farm in Hale Township, which he had previously bought from the heirs, until the spring of 1880, when he removed to Monmouth to take charge of the office that he was elected to fill.  He has always been a consistent Republican, but his selection for the office which he so ably filled was made not so much on account of his politics, as his fitness.  With the exception of the School Treasury of his township, which he handled for 12 years, the present is the only official position he has ever filled or sought to fill.

            Mr. Patton was married in his native county to Miss Sarah Ann Sheppard, on the 2d of February, 1860, and of the seven children born to him, Anna S., George, John and Guy are living, and three were buried in infancy.  Mrs. Patton was the daughter of Johnston and Mary (Henry) Sheppard.  She was born in Adams Co., Ohio, June, 1839.  Her parents came from Ohio.  Her parents are of American origin as far back as known.

            Mr. Patton belongs to no secret order, but has been many years a consistent member of the United Presbyterian Church.Portrait and Biographical Album of Warren County, Illinois (1886), Chapman Brothers of Chicago, p. 558, 561. 

EDWARD L. BLODGETT, a farmer of this county, having a good title to 280 acres of land, located on sections 4 and 9, Hale Township, where he resides and is engaged in its cultivation, was born in Orleans County, N. Y., Feb. 4, 1834.  He received a common school education in Indiana, his parents having removed to that State when he was but six years of age.  In the latter State, Edward L. lived, labored and developed into manhood.  One year after attaining his majority, in 1856, he came to this State, locating in Henderson County, where he resided for upwards of a year, engaged in farming, then returned to Indiana.  Two years he remained in the Hoosier State, and in the spring of 1860 came back to Illinois, this time locating in Warren County.

            On coming to this county, Mr. Blodgett worked out for about four years, when he settled in Hale Township.  He was a soldier in the late civil war, having enlisted Feb. 20, 1864, in the Tenth Ill. Vet. Inf., and served his country for about 18 months.  He was engaged in all the battles in which his company took part participating in the grand review at Washington; was with Sherman in his march to the sea, and received an honorable discharge at the close of the war.  He then returned to Warren County, and engaged in the vocation of agriculture, and has lived here following that occupation until the present time.  The major portion of his land is under an advanced state of cultivation.

            The marriage of Mr. Blodgett dates July 3, 1866, at which time, in Henderson County, Miss Dolly Vanwinkle became his wife.  She was born in Jefferson Co., Iowa, and has borne her husband eight children, whose names are recorded as follows:  Wilson M., Joseph R., Margaret, Mary B., Edward L., Clara, James A. and Emma.

            Mrs. Blodgett is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and her husband politically is a believer in and a supporter of the principles advocated by the Republican party. Portrait and Biographical Album of Warren County, Illinois (1886), Chapman Brothers of Chicago, p. 471-472. 

WILLIAM CROSBY became a citizen of what is now Kelly Township in 1848.  He was born in 1815, in Augusta County, Va., and is the son of George Crosby, a native of Pennsylvania.  The latter was born in 1862, and settled in the “Old Dominion” in 1804.  He bought a farm in Augusta County and was its owner and occupant through the remainder of his life.  He was by trade a blacksmith, and during the second contest with Great Britain he made horseshoes for the use of the soldiers of the American army.  His wife was a native of the county where her son was born.  He was reared on the farm and was a pupil in what was call the “subscription school.”  He grew to the age of manhood in Virginia and married Maria Wagner, in September, 1839.  She was born in Augusta County, in 1817.

            For the next eight years Mr. and Mrs. Crosby remained on the homestead of his father and in 1847 started to find a home in the West.  They traveled to Harrison County, Ind., with two horses and a wagon, and lived there about a year.  In March, 1848, they again turned their faces toward the setting sun, setting out on the 16^th of that month with the same outfit as that with which they had left Virginia the year previous.  They arrived in Warren County on the 2d day of April, and took possession of a claim which the father had secured the fall previous.  It consisted of 80 acres, and after a few years it was found that the title was defective and Mr. Crosby was obliged to pay for the property a second time.  Since he secured himself in its ownership he has been a continuous resident on the place.  He is at present the owner also of 80 acres on section 1, in the same township, and 21 acres of timber on section 13.  He and his wife have nine children living – Ruth, May, Elizabeth, George, Sally, John, Benjamin, Melinda and Augustus.  Mr. Crosby has been a life-long adherent of the Democratic party.Portrait and Biographical Album of Warren County, Illinois (1886), Chapman Brothers of Chicago, p. 348.  

JAMES OWENS, of Point Pleasant Township, is one of the prominent members of the farming community of Warren County.  He is the owner of 400 acres of fine land located on section 12, which is in an exceedingly good condition for successful farming.  Mr. Owen is a descendant from ancestors, who, by their bravery in the contests with Great Britain, for the liberty of this country, earned for their succeeding generations the indisputable rights of American citizens.  He was born in Tennessee (Hawkins County). Dec. 17, 1819, and is the son of James Owen.  The latter was the son of William Owen, who was born in South Carolina, and was a soldier of the War of the Revolution.  Among the battles in which he is on record as having been a participant, were Kings’ Mountain, Cowpens, Eutaw Springs and Camden, besides many smaller engagements.  He died in Hawkins Co., Tenn.  His son, James Owen, was born in Anson Co., N. C., March 25, 1789, and he was only six months old when the family removed to Tennessee, where they were pioneers of Hawkins County.  The Indians of that section of the country were still troublesome and for a short time after the arrival of the family in that State, they resided in a fort.  James Owen, Sr., there reached the years of maturity and still a young man when the War of 1812 again called the citizens of America to defend her from British encroachment.  He enlisted and was in the action called the battle of Horse-Shoe.  He married Sarah Lantor, who was born in Rockbridge Co., Va., about two miles from the Natural Bridge.  After marriage, Mr. Owen settled on a portion of the large tract of land which his father had bought in Hawkins County.  Not being a friend to the slave element, however, he at last resolved to emigrate to some one of the free States, and, accordingly, made preparations to leave the section in which he had been born and reared.  He set out with a horse and carriage, containing all his household goods.  His wife rode on horseback, carrying the two youngest children, while the two eldest daughters, aged respectively 14 and 16, walked the entire distance to their destination in the State of Indiana.  All else was abandoned by Mr. Owen in his eagerness to retreat from the hated institution, being determined that his children should not grow up within its influence.  A location was made in Floyd County, where they settled on 80 acres of timber.  A “patch” of land was cleared and a log house erected.  The heavy timber was removed by hard and persistent labor and there the wife and mother died in 1835.  In the year following that event, Mr. Owen sold his place and again set forth with his family for a new start in the role of a pioneer.  He and his four children rode on horseback to McDonough Co., Ill., at which place they stopped and located, instead of going to Flint Hills (now the city of Burlington), Iowa, where they had originally intended to settle.  They made their home in the northwest part of McDonough County, at a point designated as the “Job Settlement,” where a tract of land was purchased, on which they resided until 1844.  The father then sold out again and sent to Missouri, but remained there only a short time, returning to Illinois and locating in Henderson County.  There James Owen, the subject of this biography, who had never been separated from his father during the many migrations of the family, bought 80 acres of land on which his father died in October, 1845.

            On the small farm in Henderson County, where a frame house had been built and some other nominal improvements made, Mr. Owen resided until 1851, when he sold out and came to Warren County.  He made his first purchase of land in Swan Township, of which he was the occupant between two and three years.  He then sold out and bought the farm upon which he now lives, located on the northwest quarter of section 12, in Point Pleasant Township.  No improvements of any character had been made on it, but the owner soon accomplished the necessary work which put it on a footing of equality with the numerous farms of value in the county.  It is also supplied with all the needed outbuildings of substantial structure.  Besides 400 acres under cultivation Mr. Owen is the owner of 50 acres of good timber land in Swan Township.

            Mr. Owen had small advantages for obtaining any education in the schools, but his mental caliber is such as to supply all deficiencies of that character.  He was fond of reading and possessed the natural sagacity to render it a source of profit and a means of intellectual cultivation.  His powers as a natural mathematician are something remarkable, and he probably stands at the head of that class of geniuses in the State.  He is a Republican by inheritance and inclination and has been a strong adherent of the party since its organization.

            July 23, 1846, Mr. Owen was married to Demarus E. Emerich.  She was born in Fayette Co., Ohio, July 14, 1829, and became the mother of 11 children.  They were named James C., Jacob E., Sarah A., John A., Joseph S., Mary J., Lucinda, Mary F., Cassius C., William C., and George G.  The eldest son (James C.) was born May 6, 1847, and died June 2, 1880, from disease contracted during his service in the late war as a member of Co. H, 83d Ill. Vol. Inf.  He left a wife and four children.  Mary J. died at the age of nine years.  Lucinda died in infancy.  Mary F. also died in early childhood.  Cassius C. was born May 1, 1861, and died Sept. 21, 1885.  He left a wife and one child.

            The parents of Mrs. Owen were Jacob and Abigail (Cooper) Emerick, natives respectively of Virginia and Ohio.  They removed hither in 1832.  The father died March 12, 1855, near Fort Scott, Kan.  The mother died Nov. 1, 1877.Portrait and Biographical Album of Warren County, Illinois (1886), Chapman Brothers of Chicago, p. 452-453.

ANDREW J. REID is a resident on section 4 of the township of Spring Grove.  He was born in the towns of Greenwich, Washington Co., N. Y., and is the son of Peter and Phebe (Hutchins) Reid.  His parents were both born in the same county where their son first saw the light of day.  His birth occurred July 9, 1833.  Alexander Reid, his paternal grandfather, was also a native of the State of New York and was a Lieutenant in the Continental Army.  He was a participant in the battle of Hubbardston in Rutland Co., Vt., the only authenticated battlefield of the Revolution in the Green Mountain State.  John Reid, the great-grandfather, was a native of Scotland, and he was one of the earliest settlers of Washington Co., No Y., where he settled on a tract of land known as the “Argyle Patent.”  The maternal grandmother was a native of Nova Scotia.  In her girlhood, she was Eunice Campbell.  Her father was of the Campbell clan.

            The father of Mr. Reid of this sketch was reared on the home farm and became quite famous as a naturalist.  He was one of those who classified and arranged the flora of the Empire State.  He was well known through his writings for the Spirit of the Times.  His death took place in Greenwich, Washington Co., N. Y., in September, 1878, at the age of 83 years and two months.  The mother died in 1878, aged 76.  Six of 11 children of whom they became the parents, are still living.  Alexander H. resides in DeKalb Co., Ill.; Andrew J. is the next in order; Jane E. is the wife of John Wellman, of Greenwich, N. Y.; Catherine is married to H. L. Pratt, of Westfield, Chautauqua Co., N. Y.; Margaret is the wife of Edward Orcutt, of Cambridge, Washington Co., N. Y.; Emily A., is married to William T. Creighton, of Harper City, Kan.

            Mr. Reid grew to the age and condition of manhood in the county where he was born, and received the training of a farmer’s son.  He obtained a degree of learning which enabled him to engaged in teaching, and for a time he was occupied in that pursuit.  In 1857 he came to Illinois.  He passed three years in farming in Mercer County, and in 1860 came to Warren County and followed the same pursuit in the summer seasons and taught school winters until he decided to enter the military service of the United States.  He enlisted Sept. 30, 1861, in Co. G, 30^th Ill. Vol. Inf., and continued to discharge military duty until he received an honorable discharge, Dec. 21, 1862, for disability.  He was in the actions at Fort Donnellson and Britton’s Lane, near Denmark.  After his return to Warren County, he located upon the farm where he now resides.  It was unimproved at the time, but under his skillful management it was soon placed in proper condition for prosperous agriculture.  In 1872 he engaged in mercantile business at Norwood, in which pursuit he continued for seven years, when he again resumed farming.  In political relations, he is a Republican.

            His marriage to Selinda E. Boggs took place June 3, 1863.  She was born in Huntingdon Co., Pa., and is the mother of two children, - Gertrude and Eva May. Portrait and Biographical Album of Warren County, Illinois (1886), Chapman Brothers of Chicago, p. 341.

JOHN ROGERS is one of the farmers of Warren County who, from a small beginning, has made a competency by the application of the industry and perseverance which is his heritage as a foreigner and one who is born into the world with a proclivity to make the most of such resources as fall to the common lot of mankind.

            He is a resident on section 2, Spring Grove Township, and is the owner of a fine farm of 200 acres.  He was born June 24, 1825, in the County Roscommon, Ireland.  His mother, Catherine, died when he was 17 years of age, and in the succeeding year his father, Michael, married again.  When he was 18 years old he went to Yorkshire, England, and was there employed as a farm hand until 1850, when he came to America.  In November of that year he sailed from the port of Liverpool for the United States.  The vessel was wrecked and was driven to the Bermudas.  Mr. Rogers finally reached New York, after a passage of 13 weeks and three days.  The severity of the weather and the exposure of the passengers on the wreck caused the death of many, but his good health and powers of endurance enabled him to survive all, and he landed in a comparatively uninjured condition.  He went to Orange Co., New York, where he had an older brother, who was the only member of his family, besides himself, who came to the United States.  He remained there until 1855, when he came to Keithsburg, Ill., where he had some friends, and was there employed in a warehouse for William Gale.  He came thence to Warren County, in 1858, where he located on the farm on which he has continued to reside ever since.  He had bought 160 acres of land in Mercer County, and paid for it, but, as it subsequently appeared, the party had no legal power to sell it, and in consequence Mr. Rogers lost both his money and land.  He, therefore, had to start anew again.  In 1851 he came here, and has been 35 years in the West.  Politically, he has always been a Democrat and has steadily voted for that party.  He is engaged in raising Short-horn stock, and is an accomplished leader in that line of cattle.  Before he came to Spring Grove Township, he had bought 60 acres of land, of which 30 acres were under the plow at the time of his purchase.  His success has enabled him to make further purchases, until he is now the owner of a good farm, as mentioned above.  He has also become the owner of 200 acres, situated seven miles west of the place on which he lives, and parts of which lie respectively in Warren and in Mercer Counties.

            The marriage of Mr. Rogers to Mary Murphy took place Dec. 26, 1853.  She was born in Ireland.  She was living in Orange County, New York, at the time of her marriage.  To them have been born six children.  Charles is the leading merchant in Little York, Warren County, and is represented by a sketch on another page.  He married Maggie McNamara, and they have two children.  William resides in Sumner Township, and is a farmer.  He married Miss Hannah McNamara.  John is a partner in the store with his brother at Little York.  Kate is the wife of Bartholomew McNamara, of Sumner Township; they have two children.  Mary and Ann are the names of the two unmarried children.Portrait and Biographical Album of Warren County, Illinois (1886), Chapman Brothers of Chicago, p. 412-413.