Bureau County, Illinois - Biographical sketches, 1885 (part 8 of 13)

October 10, 1740, and removed with his parents in 1751 to Bedford (now Merrimack), where he died April 18, 1815. He took active part in the old French war for several years. He married, in 1773, Sarah Campbell, oldest daughter of Deacon Samuel Campbell, who was ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church at Windham, N. H. , for thirty-four years. She was born. July 24, 1745, and was a member of the aforesaid church for the remarkable period of seventy-one years. She died November 28, 1836. John and Sarah McConihe had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. Of those who lived to maturity were: Mary Ann, born February 2, 1777, married David Washburn, and settled in Lebanon, N. Y. ; Samuel, born September 16, 1778, died June 14, 1853, (five children, two of whom died in infancy); Sarah, born September 15, 1783, married James Campbell, of Livermore, Me.; Isaac, born August 22, 1787, died November 1, 1817, (twelve children, four died in infancy); John McConihe, third, born in Merrimack, October 10, 1785, and died September 14, 1840. His death was occasioned by a fall from the great beam in his barn. He was married to Ruth Noyes, in Atkinson, by Rev. Stephen Peabody, April 30, 1812. Ruth Noyes, daughter of James Noyes, was born in Atkinson, N. H. , August 6, 1786, and died in Manchester, N. H., August 16, 1860. The children of John and Ruth McConihe are: Hannah Noyes, born February 8, 1813, married John Brown, May 27, 1832, settled in Buda, 111., (seven children); Mary Ann, born October 10, 1814. died December 31, 1817; Perkins Woodbury, born June 2, 1816, died December 29, 1817; Mary Ann, born January 30, 1818, died November 6, 1881, married Horace Johnson, settled in Manchester, N. H. (four children) ; Lurena, born November 18, 1819, married Justus Stevens, settled in Princeton, 111., (eight children); Mandana, born April 14, 1822, married James Thomson, settled in Princeton, 111. (two daughters); Eliza Jane, born January 7, 1824, married Rev. Lucien Farnham, who was the first Congregational minister at Princeton. Settled in Newark, 111., where he died July, 1874 (one daughter). LUCIEN HARPER McCONIHE was born at Merrimack, N. H., October 10, 1825. He was educated at Francestown Academy, and at Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, N. H. ; came to Princeton in September 18, 1845; was engaged in the mercantile business for several years in partnership with his brother Massillon and Justus Stevens, after which they carried on extensive farming in the townships of Bureau and Walnut In the spring of 1880 he went to Wyoming Territory, where he remained for about three years. He now resides in Osage, Iowa, where he is engaged in farming with his son. He was married in Princeton, May 6, 1851, to Mrs. Isabella Bubach Wilson, who was born in Lancaster, Penn. They had two daughters - Buthelia Belle and Elizabeth Harper - and one son. Buthelia Belle was married to Harry Cooper, of Aurora, 111., May 18, 1876; died March 10, 1880. She left one daughter. The son, Lucien Forrest Mc- Conihe, was born March 5, 1858, and is the last and only male representative in this generation of John McConihe, third.

JOHN MASSILLON McCONIHE was born at Merrimack, N. H., September 21, 1827 ; was educated at Amherst, N. H. , and at Francestown Academy; came to Princeton in September, 1848; was engaged extensively in mercantile business and farming with his brother and Justus Stevens. During Buchanan's administration he was appointed Postmaster of Princeton. In politics the McConihes have always acted with the Democratic party. Mr. McConihe is now Chairman of the County Democratic Central Committee and is a member of the State Democratic Central Committee, and was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1884. He was elected Marshal of Princeton in 1879, and held that office till 1884. June 30, 1853, he married Miss Caroline L. Moseley, who was born in Princeton, and is the daughter of Roland Moseley, who came from Westfield, Mass. , in 1831. "

MORRIS McDONALD, Westfield, was born May 28, 1833, near Albany, N. Y. His parents, Morris and Johanna (Manning) Mc- Donald, were natives of County Kerry, Ireland. They came to the United States in 1831, and lived near Albany, N. Y., about five years, and then removed to Fall River,

Mass., where they resided nearly fourteen years. In 1849 Morris McDonald, Sr., came to Bureau County, 111., and bought 120 acres of land. The family came the following year. The parents died on their homestead in Westfield Township. They had ten children, of whom seven came to Bureau County, 111., but only two of them are now living here, viz. : Mrs. Hannanora Coughlin and Morris McDonald, Jr., our subject. Morris McDonald was reared here and has made farming his occupation, in which he has been successful. He has now a farm of 120 acres. Religiously he is a member of the Catholic Church, and politically is connected with the Democratic party.

W. McFARLAND, Neponset,was born December 29, 1823, in Berkeley County, Va. He is a son of John McFarland,who was born December 3, 1793, in Loudoun County, Va. He died April, 1857, in Sheffield, to which he came in 1856. He was a shoe maker by occupation. The grandfather of our subject, William McFarland, Sr., was a native of Scotland. He came to America with Lord Dunmore, the Governor of Virginia, as a British soldier. He was an excellent swordsman, and fought with Gen. Wolfe in the French and Indian war, and was also at the battle of Quebec. He was one of a family of twelve children, and after the war settled in Virginia, where he died. His wife, Nancy Kingore, was born in the United States. Her parents were natives of Ireland, but of Scotch descent. She was the mother of six children, viz. : Robert, William, Landers, John, Nancy and Katie The mother of our subject, Elizabeth (Bailey) McFarland, was born, 1787 in Berkeley County, Vn. She died, 1854, in Miami County, Ind. Her father, John Bailey, was of English descent. She had seven children, viz.: Landreth, John B., Robert, Jeremiah, William, Hannah and James. Mr. McFarland was educated in Ohio. At the age of sixteen he went to Miami County, Ind., where he taught school for ten years. In 1856 he came to Sheffield, Bureau Co., 111., where he taught school. In 1860 he went to Atchison County, Kan., where he also taught school. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, of the Thirteenth Kansas Volunteer Infantry. He served till the close of the war, and was mustered out June 26, 1865. He participated in the engagements of Cane Hill, Prairie Grove and Weber Falls, and draws a pension. After the war our subject rejoined his family, who had returned to Bureau County in the fall of 1862. Here he taught school for eleven years. He was married in Indiana to Anna V. Donaldson, born 1832 in Ohio. Her.father, William H. Donaldson, was formerly a resident of Bureau County. She is the mother of four children, who are all married, viz. . Sarah E., Mary J., Elizabeth A. and Anna. Mr. McFarland is a member of the William S. Bryan Post, No. 284, G. A. E. Politically he is a Democrat. He is an able correspondent of the Bureau County Tribune, and under the nom de plume of " Wayside," is known and appreciated far and wide.

EZRA McINTIRE.Neponset, was born February 2, 1831, in Bloomfield, now called Skow hegan, Somerset Co., Me. His father, Ezra Mclntire, Sr. , was born September 9, 1793, in the above place, where he died January 8, 1868. He was a shoe-maker in early life, and afterward a farmer, and for over forty years was a member of the Baptist Church. The grandfather of our subject, Phineas Mclntire, was born in 1753 in Andover, Mass. He was a farmer and a Revolutionary soldier till 1779, serving out two enlistments. He was in the battles of Harlem Heights and Brandywine, and was also with the army during the memorable winter at Valley Forge. After the war he married Lydia Heywood, who was a daughter of Oliver Heywood, one of the first and largest proprietors of Skowhegan. She was born in 1779 in Westford, Mass., and survived her husband, who died March 4, 1837. Phineas Mclntire removed to Skowhegan in 1783. He was the father of seven children, viz. : Lydia, Lucy, Joel, Ezra, Auzubia, Levi and Alvin. The great-grandfather of our subject, Jacob Mclntire, was of Scotch descent. He was a soldier in the French and Indian war. After an honorable discharge he returned to Andover, Mass., where he died in his forty-third year. He left a family of five children, viz-. : Perley, Jacob Jr., Phineas, Sarah and Lucy. Of the above Perley and Phineas were soldiers in the Revolutionary war; the former served as Quartermaster. The mother of our subject, Clarina P. Stinchfield, was born December 25, 1795, in New Gloucester, Me. She died June 20, 1880, in Skowhegan. She was a daughter of William Stinchfield, and was the mother of eleven children, of whom eight reached maturity, viz. : Mary, Lorenzo, Erastus, Clara, Susan, Albion, Ezra and Elizabeth. Our subject was educated in Somerset County, Me. , where he was a teacher by occupation. In 1851 he went to California, via Panama, and worked in the gold mines nearly two years, returning East in 1853. He visited Bureau County, 111., in 1854; from here he went to Fond du Lac County, Wis., where he taught one term of school, and then returned East. He came to Neponset Township, Bureau Co., 111., April 12, 1856, and here bought 160 acres of land. At present he owns 120 acres of choice land. August 14, 1862, Mr. Mclntire enlisted in Company H, of the Ninety-third Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served till the close of the war. He participated in the battles of Jackson, Champion Hill, Vicksburg, Mission Ridge, Allatoona and the taking of Savannah. After the war he farmed. He was married here February 2, 1858, to Thankful C. Wells, who was born September 17, 1834, in Clinton, Me. She is a daughter of Richard and Louisa (Cain) Wells, both natives of Maine. Mrs. Mclntire is the mother of seven children, viz. : Ezra E., Nellie L.,MaryE., Richard E., Merton P., Florence A., and Adelaide V. Mr. and Mrs. Mclntire are members of the Baptist Church. He is also a member of the G. A. R., and a Republican in politics.

H. M. McKEE, Princeton. Among the young men of Princeton who have laid the foundation for a successful future in their life's work is the gentleman whose name heads this paragraph. He was born near Princeton, September 26, 1863, and his entire life has been spent here, and many of the friends made in youth have given him the preference when professional services were required. In 1879 he began the study of dentistry with Dr. J. S. Scott, with whom he remained till 1881, when he bought Dr. Scott's business, and has since been alone in the practice of his profession, and although a young man has built up a practice which few could have obtained after many years' struggle. Dr. McKee is the youngest son of Alfred and Hannah (Gibons) McKee, both natives of Lehigh County, Penn., where they were married. They came to Bureau County, 111., about 1851, and here Mrs. McKee died in 1866. She was the mother of the following named children: Charles J., Sallie F. , Alfred, Mrs. Blanche Stevens and Herbert M. Alfred is a resident of Sheffield, 111., and Herbert M. of Princeton, but the other members of the family reside in Nebraska. In 1882 the father returned to Pennsylvania, where he now resides. In politics Dr. Mc- Kee is identified with the Democratic party. O. W. McKENZIE, Fairfield, was born March 8, 1825, in Essex County, N. Y. His great-grandfather came from Scotland, and settled in eastern New York. He reared a family of seven children, viz.: Alexander, Eobert, Crosby, Ethel, John, Sally M. and Thomas McKenzie. All of the boys were soldiers in the war of 1812. John McKenzie, the father of our subject, participated in the battle of Plattsburg. He was born August 6, 1794, and died here July 3, 1857. He was married February 23, 1815, to Betsy Havens, and reared a family of nine children, viz.: Hiram, Eliza, John M., Oliver W. , De Lafayette, Lyman W., Lomira C., Robert and Chancy D. McKenzie. Mrs. Betsy McKenzie was born February 9, 1796; she died March 5, 1854. Mr. and Mrs. John McKenzie and children came to Bureau County in the spring of 1846. The first summer they rented a farm, and that fall the family built a log-house, with a board roof, on Section 7, where a claim was made, and the first year hauled the water used in the house in barrels from Woodward Bluff, in Whiteside County, a distance of six miles. Such were the privations our Bureau County pioneers had to undergo to prepare the way for posterity. Two years after the log-house was built John McKenzie hauled lumber from Chicago, then their grain market, although a mere village, and built a frame house, in which he and his wife died. O. W. McKenzie came here with his parents, and made a claim on Section 7 of 160 acres, of which he afterward entored one-half, his brother John entering the other half. They broke the first prairie where Yorktown now stands, hiring a two-yoke ox team of Joseph Arnett, at 15 cents per day. Oliver McKenzie afterward bought the oxeii at $10 per head. He improved his eighty acres, and moved a polehouse onto it, which he bought for |5. He was married March 20, 1850, in Princeton, to Emily Dow, eldest daughter of Whitcher and Eunice (Bump) Dow, former residents of Cayuga County, N. Y., who came to this county in 1847, and settled on Section 6. She was a nurse, and an excellent woman, known and loved by all. She was born December 17, 1806, in Mount Holly, Rutland Co., Vt. She died here November 30, 1877. She was married January 27, 1828, and lived nearly fifty years with her husband, who was born October 13, 1804, in Danville, Vt. He died May 30, 1882. They were the parents of eight children, viz.: Mrs. Emily McKenzie, Mrs. Emeline McKenzie, Benjamin F., Thomas, Edward W., Henry H., Mrs. Albina A. Greenman and Clay Q. Dow. Of the above Mrs. Emily McKenzie was born March 5, 1829, in Cataraugus County, N. Y. She is the mother of the following children: Eliza E., Julia A., Raymond H., Willie E., Oliver W. and an infant son. Of these only Eliza E. and Raymond H. are yet living. The former was born February 3, 1851. She married Mortimer W. Brooks, and is the mother of three children, viz.: Clinton, Glen E. and Blanche M. Brooks. The latter, Raymond H., was born November 30, 1854, and is married to Lovina West. Our subject has been a successful farmer and stock-raiser, and has a farm of 580 acres. He was the first blacksmith and storekeeper in Yorktown, and some of his patronage came from a distance of ten miles. He was the first Constable and Assessor in Fairfield Township, holding the former office thirteen years. Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie have both been hard working people, and earned their financial success in life.

married here January 7, 1857, in Princeton, to Miss Julia A. Wroten, born November 26, 1837, in Ross County, Ohio, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Adams) "Wroton, who came here about forty-three years ago, and settled on Greenriver Prairie. Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie are the parents of five children, viz.: Estella M., born April 21, 1859, wife of Alvin L. Pierce, and the mother of one child - Mack Pierce; Robert E., born August 8, 1861; Clara E., born April 26, 1863; Nellie B., born July 24, 1868, and Maude, born June 1, 1870. Mr. McKenzie is a Republican, and has been Assessor and Collector. He has a farm of 130 acres in Section 7, Fairfield Township, and is a member of the A. F. & A. M. fraternity.

CHARLES McKUNE, Manlius, was born in Oakland, Susquehanna Co., Penn., July 10, 1817. His early life was spent in farming and lumbering. When about twentyone years old he went on to the Susquehanna River, and floated lumber down the river during the freshets. The next spring he became a pilot, and continued for thirteen years, being successful in conducting the rafts down the river, without loss. He was also engaged in the lumber business for himself, but lost everything he had during a freshet, the lumber being carried away and lost. Two years later he had managed to save $500, and with that started West, reaching Bureau County in 1846. In the fall of the same year he came to Manlius Township, being one of the first settlers. He built the first fence in the township. He now owns 450 acres of land, part of which he entered from the Government. ' He has always given his attention to farming, in which he has been very successful. Mr. McKune was married in his native county at the age of twenty-eight years to Elizabeth Bachelor, who died in this county. She was the mother of six children, viz. : Frances A., now of Indian Territory, and for several years a teacher in the schools there; Lovina, wife of David Barber, of Iowa; Josephine, wife of Dr. S. B. Waldin, of Michigan; Sarah, wife of Walter Lyons, of New Mexico; Ella, wife of Arthur Walker, of Wyanet. Marion, on the home farm, married to Ada Bastian. Mr. McKune was again married to Miranda

Chapman, of Henry County, 111. She has one child - Joseph, born September, 1874. In politics Mr. McKune votes with the Republican party. He is a member of the Free Methodist Church.

GEORGE S. McLEAN, Princeton, was born in Drakestown, Morris Co., N. J., October 16, 1842. He is the son of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Walk) McLean. The father wis born September 25, 1797, and died March 25, 1864. His trade was that of a wheelwright. The mother was born December 4, 1805, and is yet living. She is the mother of ten children, eight of whom are now living. The subject of this sketch remained at home till December 4, 1859, when he began a three years' apprenticeship to a carriage-maker in Hackettstown, N. J. During the summer of 1864 he worked at his trade in New York City, and in the spring of 1865 came to Illinois, but worked on a farm for one year near Canton, Fulton County. In 1866 he worked for a stockman near Bushnell, but the 1st of January, 1867, he returned to his native State, and again began, working at carriage-making, continued for different parties till 1870, when he went into the employ of the carriage manufacturing firm of McLean & Co. , and remained in the employ of that firm till March, 1873. A month later he came to Princeton, 111., where he opened a carriage repository, and has continued to sell carriages till the present time. His main business, however, is that of an undertaker, in which he engaged in the spring of 1878. In October, 1880, he also added a livery stable to his other business. In 1875 he first invested in property here, and has since erected his buildings - the house in 1877, and barns later. In Hackettstown, N. J., January 14, 1874, he was married to Miss Alice S. Grimes. She was born December 4, 1853, in Hackettstown. Her mother died when she was small, and Mrs. McLean was reared in the family of Casper Jones. Her father, Richard Grimes, is of English descent, and yet survives. To Mr. and Mrs. McLean the following named children have been born: Myrtle May, Charles Raymond, Mary Minnette, George LeRoy and Nellie Elizabeth. In 1870 Mr. McLean became a member of the I. O. O. F.,

JOHN McNALLY, Westfield, was born November 23, 1829, in Bradford County, Penn. His parents, James and Margaret (Dolan) McNally, natives of County Meath, Ireland, came to America in 1820, and settled in Pennsylvania. In 1836 they came to LaSalle County, III. , and both died in Peru. They were the parents of eight children, of whom only our subject and his sister Mrs. Mary Tracy, of Harrison County, Iowa, survive. John McNally was reared and educated in LaSalle County, where he was also married, September 31, 1854, in Ottawa, to Miss Alice Dobbins, born August 15, 1835, daughter to Patrick and Margaret (O'Dormell) Dobbins, natives of Tipperary County. Ireland. The former died in St. Louis, and the latter in Ottawa, 111. Mr. and Mrs. McNally are the parents of eight children, viz. : Mrs. Bridget Minehan, a resident of Linn County, Iowa, James J. ,Mary A. , Margaret. A., Alice, Josephine, Mark and Martha. The McNally family is religiously connected with the Catholic Church. Politically Mr. McNally is a Democrat. He owns a farm of 160 acres in Harrison County, Iowa, and another 160 acres in Westtield Township, Bureau Co., 111., .where he now resides.

JOHN F. MEIER, Clarion, was born October 25, 1819, in Hille, Westphalia, Germany. . He was a son of Johann F. and Maria L. (Burmeister) Meier, who died in Germany. They were the parents of four children, viz. : Caroline, Mary, Henry and John F. , our subject, who came to the United States in November, 1844. He landed at Charleston, S. C., .where he worked till July, 1847, when he became dissatisfied with the state of affairs existing there on account of slavery, and immigrated to Lamoille, 111., where he worked three years for Martin Hopps, and then moved onto his farm of for - ty acres, which he had bought in September, 1849. This he improved and added to from time to time, tho land now belonging to j his children. Mr. Meier was married, August 18, 1850, to Eva B. Geuther, who was born June 26, 1824, in Germany. She died here June 24, 1866. She was the mother of seven children, viz.: John C., Henry H.,

Frederick and William (twins, the former deceased), Harman, Bertha (deceased), and Justina, wife of Henry Grothen (they have two children, viz.: Mary and Diederich). Mr. Meier is one of the oldest German settlers in Clarion. He has always been a hard worker and had long contemplated a trip to Europe to visit his old friends and relatives, of which he found but few. He started June 15, 1884, and returned September 7, the same year. He traveled around considerably while in the old country, but .found no place so good as old " Bureau." Religiously Mr. Meier is a member of the Lutheran Church.

JOHN MEISENHEIMER, Bureau, was born on the banks of the River Rhine, in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, June 7, 1823. He is the son of Christopher and Mary Meisenheimer, who lived and died in their native country. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom four are living, three in this country: Jo.hn, Christopher, of Galesburg, 111., and Mary, of Creston, Iowa. John Meisenheimer was reared in his native land, and in 1852 came to America and directly to Bureau County. He worked in the brickyard at Princeton for nearly a year and then began farming for J. Albrecht for half. His first farm he purchased of Col. J. F. Thompson in 1854, paying $5 per acre. In 1861 he sold his farm and returned to his native land, where he remained nearly three years, and then again came to Bureau County. In 1865 he moved onto his present farm of 400 acres, where he has since resided. He has given his attention chiefly to the growing of hogs and corn, raising about 150 acres of corn per year, and rotating so that he plants on new ground the most of the time, and has been very successful in his farming. He was married in his native place, January, 1863, to Elizabeth Anspach, who was born February 18, 1836, in the village adjoining her husband's birthplace. They are the parents of ten children, of whom four sons and four daughters are living, viz.: Mary, Jacob, Minnie, Martha, John, Frederick, Henry and Lottie. Mr. Meisenheimer is independent in politics, in which he takes but little part. He is a member of A. F. & A. M., No. 627, of Walnut, and of the German Lodge, No. 428,

JACOB A. MELICK, Milo, was born January 5, 1843, in Hunterdon County, N. J. The grandfather of our subject, Nicholas E. Melick, was a native of New Jersey, where he died. He was of German descent, and was married to Miss Backer, who was the mother of nine children. One of these, John W. Melick, married Ann E. Apgar, who was also a native of New Jersey. She is the mother of the following children yet living: Jacob A. (our subject), Mrs. Mary Bennett, Mrs. Frances Barnford, Peter, William, Ida and Senaca T. Melick. John W. Melick removed to this county in 1854. He farmed here till the fall of 1867, when he removed to Washington County, Iowa, where he died, but where his widow yet resides. Our subject was educated principally in Henry, Marshall Co., 111. He has made farming and stock-raising his occupation, and on his farm of 217 acres makes raising sheep and Norman horses a specialty. In August, 1861, Mr. Melick enlisted in the Forty-seventh Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company D, serving three years and two months. He was promoted to Sergeant, and participated in twenty-one engagements, among others that of Island No. 10, Farmington, siege and battle of Corinth, luca, Vicksburg, Bed River expedition, battle of Pleasant Hill, etc. After he came home he resumed farming, and was married in Princeton, September 22, 1867, to Ella E. Clark, who .was born September 22, 1847, in La- Salle County, 111. She is a daughter of John N. and Rachel Clark, who were natives of New England. Mrs. Melick is the mother of two children, viz.: Elmer, born September 5, 1868, and Annie, born March 11, 1874. Mr. Melick is one of Milo's most wide-awake and successful farmers, and politically is identified with the Republican party.

E. K. MERCER, Princeton, was born on the farm of his grandfather, Ellis Mercer, in Center Grove, Wyanet Township, in Bureau County, 111., on the 27th of November, 1844. He was the first-born of William B. Mercer and his wife, whose maiden name was Rebecca Frankeberger. His father, William B., came to Illinois with his parents from Belmont

County, Ohio, in 1835, and died in Princeton, 111., in 1850, at the age of twenty-nine years. His mother also came to Illinois with her parents from Ohio, and at an early day, 1835 or 1836. Her father was William Frankeberger, who died at Wyanet in the spring of 1884 in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Mr. Mercer resided with his grandparents from childhood; accompanied them to Webster County, Iowa, in 1855; returned to Illinois in the spring of 1861, and in the following spring, at the age of seventeen, enlisted in Capt. Lash's company of sixty-day men to guard prisoners at Camp Douglas, and on the next morning after his arrival at the camp re- enlisted for three years in Battery M, First Illinois Light Artillery. He accompanied his battery to Louisville in October, 1862, and being stricken with typhoid fever a week after his arrival there lay unconscious upon a sand knoll back of Louisville, while his company" was chasing John Morgan over Kentucky. He joined his company in the advance on Nashville in the spring of 1863, participated in the Shelby - ville campaign, and in the succeeding Chattanooga campaign, closing with the battle of Chickamauga, .where he received a wound which disabled him until the next spring. He rejoined his battery a few days before the beginning of the Atlanta campaign, into which he was initiated by being hauled with his gun-squad and gun between midnight and daylight of the 5th of May, 1864, up the precipitous side of Rocky-faced Ridge to try the effect of his ten-pound rifled Rodman on the famous " Buzzards' Roost. " He continued in this campaign, which ended with the fall of Atlanta, and participated in all of its great battles and its continuous fighting - continuous, because from the 5th of May until the close of the campaign at Lovejoy's Station on the 15th of the following October, he and his battery were engaged with the enemy, some time during the day or night of every day but five. After the close of the Atlanta campaign, by a general order of Ma j. -Gen. George H. Thomas, commanding the Army of the Cumberland, Battery M, First Illinois Light Artillery was relieved from all further active duty during the remaining term of its enlistment (six months) as a reward for meritorious service in the field. The remaining term of his service was spent in garrison duty, and he was mustered out with his company at Chicago in August, 1865. After his discharge he spent a term or two at school; followed book keeping, school teaching, grain buying and insurance, and then became a commercial traveler, which business he quit July 1, 1872, to take a onehalf interest in the Bureau County Tribune, of which he is now editor and owner. On the 31st of December, 1873, he was married to Miss Juliet Sapp, daughter of Solomon Sapp (see sketch), and who was born in Bureau County, August 19, 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Mercer are the parents of three children: Fred, born January 25, 1875; Blanche, September 11, 1876, and Nellie, May 28, 1881. G. W. MERCEK, Lamoille, was born November 1, 1844, in Bureau County. His grandparents, John and Rachel (Matson) Mercer, were natives of Virginia and died in Ohio. Their children were: Matson, of Ohio; William; Mrs. Elizabeth Mercer, of Red Oak, Iowa; Mrs. Mary Riston, of Missouri; Mrs. Sarah J. Clark, and another daughter who died in Ohio. Of the above William Mercer married Mary Fletcher, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Townsend and Susan (Ready) Fletcher, natives of Virginia, who came to Bureau County in an early day. All of their ten children at one time lived in Bureau County, where Mrs. Susan Fletcher is yet living with her daughter, Mrs. Fannie Kinnick. William Mercer and wife came to Bureau County in the spring of 1844, where the latter died. She was the mother of five children: Mrs. Rachel Kinnick, Susan (deceased), John W., George W. (our subject), and Mrs. Mary E. Thompson. William Mercer removed to Nebraska in the spring of 1878. Our subject, George W. Mercer, was educated at Lombard University. He taught school two years and is now engaged in the live-stock business in Lamoille. He was married here to Miss Sarah A. Little, born May 15, 1847. She is a daughter of Elijah and Elizabeth (Smith) Little, natives of New Jersey and now residents of Arlington. To Mr. and Mrs. Mercer the following children were born: Clara E. (deceased), Warren L., Mary E. (deceased), Victor

S., Grace D. and S. Ida Mercer. Politically Mr. Mercer favors the Prohibition principles, and religiously he and wife are connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church. DR. JOSEPH MERCER, deceased. For many years the medical fraternity of Princeton claimed the subject of this sketch among its most active members, and many are the words of esteem heard at the mention of his name. Dr. J. Mercer was born January 11, 1828, in Harrison County, Ohio. He was a son of Aaron and Jane (Dickerson) Mercer, who came here in 1834. Dr. Mercer received his medical education in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Phys opathic Medical College of Ohio, where he graduated in the spring of 1851, after which he returned to Princeton, where he commenced the practice of medicine in September, 1852, and soon built up a lucrative practice. Here he was married March 1, 1853, to Miss Mary A. Welch, a native of Newark, N. J., and a daughter of Charles H. and Elizabeth (Anthony) Welch, both natives of New Jersey. The former was a farmer by occupation, and came here in 1851; he was born in 1805 and died in February, 1873. The latter was born in 1803, and died December 20, 1881. She was the mother of ten children, of whom six are now living: Mrs. Almeda Phelps, James Welch, C. Wesley Welch, Mrs. Nancy Kinney, William L. Welch and Mrs. Mary A. Mercer. Of the four other children only Mrs. Jennie Moler reached maturity. Dr. Joseph Mercer possessed an enlightened public spirit, and soon enjoyed an unusual degree of respect and confidence from his fellowmen. He was connected with the Masonic fraternitv, and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Everything was bright in the life of Dr. Mercer, but in the midst of his usefulness he was struck down by a heavy calamity in 1874. After a struggle of four years with the terrible disease which had assailed him, he sank under the shock and died, May 30, 1878, administered to by unwearied and unbounded love, and in the possession of universal confidence and respect. Mrs. Mary A. Mercer was married a second time January 29, 1880, to Joshua D. Mercer, a brother of her first husband. He was a law student in early life, and in later life a druggist. He was born July 17, 1837, and died March 1, 1881. Since the death of her second husband, Mrs. Mercer has nobly devoted her life to such causes as will benefit the human race.

L. L. MERCER, Selby, was born November 29, 1829, in Belmont County, Ohio. His father, William Mercer, was of Irish descent, and his mother, Elizabeth (Long) Mercer, was of Welsh descent. Both were natives of Virginia. They came to Bureau County by water from Bellaire, Ohio, down the Ohio River, up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and landed at Hennepin, forwarding their goods to Bureau Junction. They settled at Princeton, where the fair grounds now are. The father died in July, 1845, at the age of forty-nine years, and his wife died in 1860, aged sixty years. She was the mother of ten children, viz. : Mrs. Sarah Garvin, Mrs. Nancy Sturdevin, Mrs. Hannah Richards, Mrs. Mary Wright, Mrs. Elizabeth Mitchell, Levi L. (our subject), Mrs. Rebecca J. Kelly, William L. (of California), Mrs. Eliza Nedos and Lucretia Gill. The father was a Whig, and at the time of his death an Abolitionist. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Protestant Church. Levi L. Mercer was reared in this county, and worked on his father's farm until he was of age; he then bought 160 acres at $5 per acre, in Selby Township; be has since added to his farm till he now owns 400 acres of well-improved land. Mr. Mercer was married in Princeton, December 31, 1851, to Saburey Ann Sidwell, who was born in August, 1830, in Morgan County, Ohio, a daughter of Jesse Sidwell. Mr. and Mrs. Mercer have four children, viz. : Mrs. Ida E. Debust; William S., of this county; Adelaide, deceased, and Mrs. lona Bell Piper, of this county. Mr. Mercer is a member of the A. P. & A. M. fraternity. He has been Republican in politics, and has held various township offices.

W. H. MESENKOP, Princeton, was born November 13, 1834, in Lancaster City, Penn. The family is of German descent, and in its genealogy we find that five brothers come to America in colonial times. Four of them settled in the Southern States; the fifth, who was the great-grandfather of our subject, settled in New York State, but subsequently removed to Lancaster City, Penn. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His son Lewis P. Mesenkop was married twice. He reared a family of twenty-two children in Lancaster City. One of these, John L. Mesenkop, was born April 23, 1798. He was a harness-maker by occupation for twenty-five years. In 1835 he removed to Ohio, and lived ten years in Wayne County, and nine years in Cuyahoga County. He was married in Ohio, to Anna Brenneman, born April 12, 1812. She was the mother of four children, viz.: William H., our subject; John L., deceased; Mary M., and Mrs. Sarah A. Penfield, of Minneapolis, Minn. JohnL. Mesenkop came to Princeton in April, 1854, and died here in March, 1875. Those intimately acquainted with him have often remarked his implicit belief in two things: First, the vital principles of the Christian religion; second, the doctrine of the Democratic forefathers. Our subject was reared on a farm in Ohio, where he also taught school at the age of seventeen. He came to Bureau County with his parents, and here taught school in the winter. In 1856 he clerked in a dry-goods store; the following year he farmed. In May, 1858, he went to Hennepin, 111., and established the Putnam County Democrat, which he edited till November of the same year, when he sold out and taught school that winter. In April, 1849, he bought the Bureau County Democrat, and published that paper till 1863, when he sold out and engaged in the insurance business. In the spring of 1872 he established the Bureau County Tribune, and edited it till the beginning of 1873, when he again embarked in the insurance business. In 1875 he purchased a half interest in the GasjWorks, and was elected President of the company, which position he yet fills. During the last ten years he has been a member of the City Council five years and City Treasurer three years, and at present is Alderman of the Fourth Ward. He is also special agent of the western department for several Philadelphia fire insurance companies. He speaks the German and Swede languages fluently; the latter he has acquired himself. Mr. Mesenkop was married August 11, 1858, to Kate E. Petton, born October 4, 1841, in Brecksville, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. Her par- ents, Josiah and Kate E. (Hunt) Pelton, were natives of Massachusetts. Six children are the result of this union, viz.: Mrs. Jennie V. Bowlby, Katie M., Luna E., Minnie M., Alta M. and William L. Mesenkop. Our subject is a member of the A. F. & A. M. fraternity. F. C. METCALF, Lamoille, was born November 14, 1821, in Wilmington, Windham Co., Vt. His father, BenjaminMetcalf, was a native of Vermont He participated in the battle of Bunker Hill, and drew a pension till his death, which occurred April 13, 1846, aged eighty-four years. He married Mrs. Catharine Phillips, who was also a native of Vermont. She died here April 8, 1872, aged eighty-four years. She was the mother of two children by her first husband, viz. : Adaline and Caroline Phillips, and five children by her second marriage, viz.: Isaac; Frederick C., our subject; Maria (deceased) former wife of Col. E A. Bowen, a banker of Mendota; Moses M., of Washington Territory, and A. B. Metcalf, of Wellington, Kan. The Metcalf family is of English extraction. Our subject farmed in his native State till June, 1843, when he came to Bureau County, 111., where he entered 160 acres of land in Section 1, in Lamoille Township, at $1.25 per acre. In 1849, when the gold fever, like a mighty flood with its waves of hope and expectation, flowed over this continent from ocean to ocean, our subject joined a party of fifteen who were in search of gold, and starting March 28, they arrived in Diamond Springs, Cal. , August 26. In California Mr. Metcalf mined, and in April, 1853, returned to this State, where he has been a farmer and stockman. The following year he went to Pennsylvania, where he was married in November, 1854, to Sarah O. Aubbard, a native of Luzerue County, Penn. She is the mother of the following children : Rodolpho, Nevada, Buena Vista and Mabel. Mrs. Met calf is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Metcalf is identified politically with the Democratic party.

WILLIAM MILES, Princeton, was born in Steuben County, N. Y., July 26, 1822. In 1866 he came from Steuben County to Princeton, 111. From 1866 till 1882 he was engaged in the lumber business but has now retired from active life. In

May, 1844, in New York, he was united in marriage to Miss Nancy A. Parker. They have reared a family of seven children, viz. : Harriet M., wife of S. D. Beach, of Steuben County, N. Y; Lucius P. and George, residents of Pottawatomie County, Iowa; William, Edward, Louisa and James, of Princeton. HENRY F. MILLER, Princeton. Henry Miller and his wife, whose name was Catherine Bigler, were born in Frederick County, Md. Ten children were born to them, viz. : Phoebe, born February 11, 1762; Joseph, born December 27, 1764; David, born August 24, 1766; John, born October 7, 1768; Catherine, born June 26, 1770; Michael, April 29, 1772; Jonathan, born February 10, 1774; Solomon, born August 14, 1776; Jacob, born December 17, 1781; Salome, born February 23, 1783. Jonathan Miller was married August 8, 1799, to Susanna Tombs, who was born January 7, 1773. They came from Frederick County, Md. , in 1802, and settled in Greene County, Penn. , where they spent their lives in activity and usefulness. They were the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters, viz. : Jacob, born May 30, 1800; Elizabeth, born December 19, 1803; Catharine, born April 18, 1805; Barbara, born April 19, 1805; Henry F., born March 30, 1807; Daniel, born July 3, 1810; Asa, born May 24, 1812; Lewis, born March 30, 1814. For longevity it will be hard to find a parallel; the eight children are all living at this time. There are 296 living descendants: 8 children, 72 grandchildren, and 178 great-grandchildren and 38 great -greatgrandchildren. Jonathan Miller died December 26, 1840; his wife. Susanna, died August 23, 1852. Henry F. Miller, son of Jonathan and Susanna, was born in Greene County, Penn., March 30, 1807. In April, 1835, he was married to Jane Waldon. She was the mother of five children, two of whom are now living, viz. : Mrs. R. W. Brower and Miss Celeste Miller, both living in Ottawa, 111. Mrs. Jane Miller died July 26. 1846. October, 1847, Mr. Miller ma'rried Mrs. Elizabeth Winslow; to them three children were born, only one of whom is living - A. F. Miller, of Iowa. Mrs. Elizabeth Miller died in June, 1856. January 5, 1871, Mr. Miller was again married to Mrs. Martha

Bryan, daughter of Skillman and Susan (Van Nostrand) Brush, both natives of Queens County, L. I. Mrs. Miller had two children by her first husband: Amanda and Charles, both deceased. Amanda was married to C. K. Howard, and had three daughters, viz.: Mattie B., Gertrude A. and Emma M. Howard. Charles Bryan married Elizabeth Armor, and had one daughter - Fannie. (For further sketch of Henry F. Miller, see chapter XI of General History.)

HENRY J. MILLER, Hall, whose portrait and that of his wife appear in this work, is one of the oldest and best known pioneers in the southeast part of Bureau County. He is closely related to the Hall and Williams families, and therefore a part of their history and genealogy will appear under his name. Mr. Miller is thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of the pioneers of Bureau County, among whose many good traits and virtues hospitality, humanity and straightforwardness take a prominent place. In this biography we shall speak mainly of the "clover leaf, Williams, Hall and Miller." The progenitor of the Miller family was Henry Miller, who was born in North Carolina, where his father died. His mother, Elizabeth Miller (nee Detheridge), died in Warren County, Ky. , to which place she had removed with her son. Henry Miller was married in the latter place to Sally Hall, born in Georgia, daughter of Edward and Rachel (Barnes) Hall, both natives of Georgia; the former of English and the latter of Welsh extraction. In 1818 Henry Miller, accompanied by his father-in-law and family, removed from Warren County, Ky., to Dubois County, Ind., where they farmed fourteen years. From some members of the Hall family, they heard of the beauties of the Illinois prairies, and in 1830 Henry Miller, Edward Hall and the latter's son-in-law, Gilbert Kel- Imn, made claims in Bureau County. They came here alone and returned the same year to Indiana. On the 21st day of May, 1832, on the very day of the Indian Creek massacre, they started for Bureau County, little dreaming that on that very day some members of their family would be cruelly butchered by the inhuman savages, whom some still call the "noble red men of the woods." This little colony numbered fourteen souls, all told. They were compelled to stop several weeks on Ox Bow Prairie, on account of the Black Hawk war, their teams having been pressed into the Government service to haul provisions for the troops. The three families arrived in Bureau County in August. Edward Hall, the father-in-law of Henry Miller, settled in Selby Township in August, 1832, but in the fall of 1835 be removed to Hall Township and lived on his son-in-law's farm in Section 33, where he died June 28, 1838, aged eighty years. He was interred on the farm and was the first to be buried in the spot that ho had selected for his resting place, where also his wife and quite a number of the pioneers of Hall Township repose. ' ' He was a Revolutionary soldier, " is written on the tomb of Edward Hall, and no grander and better eulogy could have been written than is contained in those few words, which were suggested by his grandson and admirer, Henry J. Miller. Edward Hall was probably the only Revolutionary soldier buried in Bureau County; he participated in most of the hard fought battles, and was under the command of Gen. George Washington. He was also one of our old-fashioned pioneer Methodist Episcopal ministers, whose words of admonition are still remembered by a few of our old settlers. His wife, Rachel Barnes, died September 10, 1838, aged seventy-nine years. She was the mother of eight children viz.: Ransom, Reason B., William, Mrs. Polly Scott, John, Mrs. Sally Miller, Mrs. Betsey Kellum and Edward Hall. Of the above Ransom Hall came here from White County, 111., in about 1834, and died here August 26, 1839, aged fifty-four years, five months, twenty days. He married Elizabeth Slocumb, who died December 25, 1842, aged fifty-seven years, nine months and nineteen days. Of her seven children none reside here at present Her son, E. C. Hall, improved the State premium farm in Section 21, in Hall Township, now owned by John Weber. He is now a resident of Texas. Reason B. Hall made a claim in Hall Township on Section 34, in the spring of 1828. The next year he removed south of the Illinois River and then to Galena, but returned here about 1834. In 1849 he went to Oregon, where he died.

William Hall settled where Lamoille now stands in 1830. He sold his claim to Aaron Gunn and removed to Indian Creek, where he was killed by the Indians. He was married in Warren County, Ky., to Jennie Williams, a sister of Curtis Williams. She was the mother of seven children, viz.: Mrs. Tempa Curtwright, John W., Edward H., Greenberry, Mrs. Sylvia Horn, Mrs. Rachel Munson and Elizabeth Hall. Of the above only John W., Mrs. Sylvia Horn, Edward H., Greenberry and Mrs. Rachel Munson survived the Indian Creek massacre. Mrs. Polly Scott was the wife of Robert Scott, who camo here from Morgan County, 111., in 1834. They are both deceased. Of their seven children only Mrs. Rachel Sweet is yet living in this township (see Mr. Wixom's biography). John -Hall came here in 1830. He married Betsey Kellum, who was the mother of six boys and three girls, of whom none live here. They settled in Selby Township and were at one time the largest land owners in the county (see General History). Mrs. Sally Miller was the wife of Henry Miller. Mrs. Betsey Kellum, wife of Gilbert Kellum, was the mother of two children deceased. They came here with Grandfather Hall in 1832, and settled in Selby Township, where they lived many years, but finally moved away. Edward Hall, like his brother Reason B., was regarded by the new settlers of this Indian wild waste as that strange being, an Indian fighting, daring pioneer, who took an active part in that prolonged tragedy that gave this great valley to civilization. He was a single man; he came here in 1829 and settled on Section 34, in Hall Township. He built a cabin where Jacob Wassom afterward resided, but the next year left for the wilds of Texas. Henry Miller settled on Section 33, in Hall Township, on the 24th day of August, 1832. He made a claim and afterward entered 380 acres of land. He is the only man in the township who entered his original claim and lived on it till his death, which occurred December 6, 1852, aged sixty-six years. His wife, Sally Hall, died July 26, 1847, aged fifty-three years. She was a true helpmeet and belonged to that noble type of women which we generally find on the frontier. She was the mother of seven children, viz. : William, George W., Eliza, Henry J. (our subject), Edward H., Smith and Elizabeth. Of the above the last four are yet living: Edward H., near Princeton; Smith, in Hall Township; Elizabeth, wife of Wiley H. Horn, is a resident of Nebraska; the oldest child, William Miller, died here. He made a claim on Section 34, and married Rachel H. Hall (deceased), daughter of Ransom Hall, and was the father of the following children: Charles F., Mrs. Sarah Dustin (Missouri), Mrs. Mary E. Messmore and Mrs. C. Frances Messmore, both of Henry County, 111. Eliza Miller married Edward H. Hall, who escaped the Indian Creek massacre. Mrs. Eliza Hall was the mother of four boys and one girl. Henry J. Miller, the subject proper of this biography, was born November 30, 1823, in Dubois County, Ind. He came here with his parents and has made this county his home nearly all his life. His career in life has been a checkered one. He started on a small scale, but by dint of perseverance, industry and good business principles has acquired a handsome fortune. His early life was spent on the farm with his parents; here he also attended the pioneer schools, conducted on the subscription plan. He was fond of the chase, and at one of their many hunts killed the largest wolf ever seen in the county, by riding his famous horse Vic, which was soon after stolen by the "Birch gang," over the animal. Mr. Miller was married here April 5, 1849, to Jane Williams, born February 19, 1831, in Sangamon County, 111. She is the mother of four children, viz. : Icedora, John H., Carmi A. and Jennie M. Miller. Of these Icedora, wife of J. E. Porterfield, is the mother of Edna and Lois Porterfield. John H., a merchant in LaSalle, married Mary Wilhite, a daughter of Hampton Wilhite; she is the mother of Henry J. , Ethel and Roy Miller. Carmi A., who is quite a genius, married Isabel Winser, daughter of James Winser, and is the father of Claude Miller. Jennie M. Miller is at home. Two other children, William C. and George W., died while young; the former aged eight years, had an unusually bright mind. The parents of Mrs. Jane Miller were Curtis and Mary (Peter) Williams, natives of Kentucky.

After living many years in Indiana, they removed to Sangamon County, 111., and then came to Bureau County, settling in Arispe Township. They finally entered what is known as the William C. Buswell farm in Barren Grove, in the Hall neighborhood north of Neponset, where they were known for their hospitality. Curtis Williams was born March 16, 1797, in Warren County, Ky. He died September 3, 1858, in Neponset. His wife was born March 15, 1804, in Washington, Ky. , and is yet living in Annawan, Henry County, 111. She is the mother of ten children, viz. : Volly, deceased; Mrs. Sylvia Beaver and William died in California; Mrs. Elizabeth Potter, of California; Mrs. Mary Stevens, of Kansas; John, of Missouri ; Mrs. M. A. Jane R. Miller; Mrs. Talitha Way, of California; David, and Mrs. Margaret Mavity, deceased. In the summer of 1857 Mr. Miller drove across the plains to California, where he farmed, but he returned the next year, via Panama and New York City, because he wanted to look after his interest in Bureau County, where, in his absence, he had lost quite a fortune, principally by going security. He soon rallied, and to-day his farms located in Hall Township aggregate 1,307 acres. He took an active part in the transactions which led to the organization of the Spring Valley Coal Company, and in partnership with Hon. A. Campbell, deeded to the company about 5,000 acres of coal land, which is now being operated. To our subject partially belongs the credit of opening this new field of labor, which will prove a source of wealth to old Bureau. Politically Mr. Miller is a Democrat. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Protestant Church.

JACOB MILLER, Princeton, was born June 15, '1835, in An nville, Lebanon Co.,Penn. His parents, Isaac and Mollie (Farnsler) Miller, were natives of Pennsylvania, as were also the great-grandparents. The Miller family is of German extraction. Isaac and Mollie Miller died in Pennsylvania. They were the parents of the following children: Henry, Mrs. Christiana Bacbman, Mrs. Sarah Farnsler, Mrs. Mattie Wolfenberger (deceased), Mrs. Lizzie Wolfenberger, Frank, and Jacob Miller, the subject of this biography, who was educated at the Annville Academy, now Lebanon Valley College, and afterward at Mount Pleasant College, WTestmoreland County, Penn. His early years were devoted to teaching school in his native State. Eventually he came to Bureau County, where he taught school in Buda, after which he took charge of the books in the large book and printing establishment of the United Brethren Church Society, located in Dayton, Ohio. After his return to Princeton be built and kept the Empire House, which he afterward sold. He then established the Bureau County Academy in Princeton, where he taught till after the building of the High School, when the academy was abandoned. He then became a member of the firm of Miller, Strock & Co., of the Princeton planing-mill, with which he was connected several years. In 1873 he was elected County Superintendent of Schools of Bureau County, filling that office till 1877, after which he engaged in the real estate and insurance business till 1882, when he was again elected County Superintendent, his term of office expiring in 1886. Mr. Miller has done a great deal for the schools of Bureau County, and awakened that interest in educational matters which is necessary to insure the greatest benefits. It is his great object in life to grade every district school and make old ' ' Bureau " the banner county in the State. Mr. Miller was married, in Dayton, Ohio, to Miss Mary A. Dow, a native of Canterbury, N. H., daughter of Tristram C. and Susan (Lyford) Dow, also natives of New Hampshire, the former of English and the latter of Scotch extraction. They died in Annawan, 111. They settled in Concord Township, Bureau County, June 21, 1846, and were accompanied by the following children: Almira, Joseph L., Tristram T., Josiah, John L., Mary A. and Lyman Dow. Of the above, Tristram T. was a Major in the war of the Rebellion, and was afterward a prominent citizen of Davenport. Mrs. Mary Miller is the mother of four children now living, viz. : Byron G., Victor, Viola and Mertie Miller. In religious matters Mr. and Mrs. Miller are members of the United Brethren Church.

June 6, 1831, in Washington County, Penn. His parents, John and Mary (Simmons) Miller, were natives of Pennsylvania. John Miller was born in December, 1800. He was a farmer, and died 1872 in Tiskilwa, Bureau i Co., 111. The grandfather of our sub- j ject, John Miller, Sr. , was of German descent, but was born and died in Pennsylvania. The mother of our subject was born in 1800; she is yet living. The following of her children reached maturity: Elisha, Silas (our subject), Jonathan, Isaac, Mary, Amos and Mar- j garet. Mr. Miller was educated in Penn- ; sylvania. He came to this county with his parents in 1851, and settled on Lone Tree j Prairie. In 1875 he removed to his present residence near Tiskilwa. As a farmer he has been successful, and at present owns 420 j acres of land. Mr. Miller was joined in mar- | riage July 4, 1859, in Henry, 111., to Miss j Christine Brown, born 1828 in West Virginia. Her parents were Abraham and Elizabeth (Core) Brown. Four children now living blessed this union, viz. : Abraham L., Catharine, Cora and Ida M. Mrs. Miller is religiously connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically Mr. Miller is identified with the Republican party, and has filled township and school offices.

JOSEPH H. MILNER (deceased), was born June 12, 1858, in Westfield Township, Bureau Co., 111., where he died April 10, 1884. He was a son of Rezin Milner, who was born January 16, 1818, in Belmont County, Ohio. He came to this country about twenty-eight years ago, and bought land in Section 4. He was an industrious and very economical man, and at the time of his death, which occurred August 12, 1884, owned over 320 acres of choice land. He was married twice. His first wife, Athanisa Pancoast, died in Ohio. His second wife, Mary J. Harvey, a daughter of Daniel and Eliza Harvey, was born April 18, 1826, in Ohio; she died here May 22, 1863. She was the mother of two children, viz. : Susan I., and Joseph H. Milner, whose name heads this biography. Susau I. Milner was born July 30, 1855, in Ohio; she died here June 14, 1876. Joseph H. Milner was reared and educated in this county. He was also a farmer by occupation, and bid fair to become one of Bureau

County's most enterprising and useful citizens. He was married here November 18, 1880, to Miss Ada D. Black, a daughter of Isaac C. Black. She was born February 27, 1861, in Arlington. This union was blessed with one son, Joseph H. Milner, Jr., who was born January 12, 1882, and who is the image of his father. He was a man who quickly gained and retained the confidence and good will of all who came in contact with him, so that at the time of his death it was said that he had not an enemy in the wide world. His memory will ever be cherished for his many good qualities of head and heart. His widow, whose young life has been blighted by four deaths in the family since her marriage, has borne her trials heroically, and has the sincerest sympathy of all. J. H. MORGAN, Concord, was born in Lackawanna County, Penn., December 28, 1844. He was reared on a farm in his native State, and his principal occupation during life has been that of farming. In 1864 he came to Bureau County, 111., with his parents and has since resided in Concord Township. Part of the time after coming to the county he worked in the coal mines at Bourbonnais. In 1874 he engaged in the mercantile business at the same point, and continued until 1877; but most of the time he has followed farming, and now owns a farm of 120 acres. Mr. Morgan's opportunities for an education in early life were very limited, but he takes an active interest in all school matters, and has held various school offices in the district and township. In politics he is a Republican, and has acted as Township Collector, etc. He is an active member of the Baptist Church. He is the son of Enoch and Margaret (Bowen) Morgan, both natives of Wales. I Mrs. Morgan was born in 1809, and yet survives. Enoch Morgan was born in South Wales in 1804. In 1830, in company with his wife and about twenty others, came to the United States, and settled in Carbondale, Penn., where he resided until 1864, when he came to Bureau County and settled near Buda, where he died November 13, 1882, at the age of seventy-eight years, six months and thirteen days. His occupation was that of a miner, and was one of the pioneers in the mining of hard coal in the northern portion of the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania. Mr. Morgan and his partner, David Davis, were the first to take out coal at what is now Scranton, Penn. The first summer that he worked was on the bank of the Lackawanna Biver, and only by daylight at 75 cents a day. Mr. and Mr. Enoch Morgan were the parents of the following named children who yet survive: William, John, David, Jediah and Jemima. William and David reside in Pennsylvania; John and Jediah in this county, and Mrs. Jemima Morse in Shenandoah, Iowa. Mrs. Elizabeth Jerman, another daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, died in Pennsylvania, but was the mother of one daughter, who is now Mrs. S. M. Aker, of Buda, 111.

C. M. MOBBILL, M. D., Fairfield, was born February 24, 1851, in Randolph, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y. His grandfather, Mastin Morrill, was a native of Vermont. Our subject's parents, Albert and Hannah (Boardman) Morrill, are natives of New York. They reared the following children: Mrs. Cynthia L. Binkley, Charles M., Marion and Willard Morrill. Charles M. Morrill received a common school education in Illinois and Iowa. His preceptors in his chosen profession were his uncle, Dr. J. L. Morrill, and Dr. J. H. Taggart. At the age of seventeen he went into the drug business, and during that time read medicine. He kept a drug store in Yorktown and Tampico, and made many friends in the vicinity of both places. Being desirous of entering the medical fraternity and showing the public his ability as a practitioner, he attended medical lectures at Cincinnati, where he graduated January 25, 1876. After receiving his diploma Dr. Morrill permanently located in Yorktown, Bureau Co., 111., in which vicinity he has a lucrative practice and enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. Dr. Morrill was joined in marriage March 19, 1876, in Tampico, 111., to Miss Mary E. Banes, born June 18, 1856, in Whiteside County, 111., daughter of Jenks G. and Naomi (Parvis) Banes, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Maryland. They were formerly residents of Cincinnati, but removed to Whiteside County, where he at one time cultivated over 1,800 acres of land. Mr. and Mrs. Dr.

Morrill have one son - Frank Q. - born January 22, 1880. Politically the Doctor is a Qreenbacker, and a Free-thinker in all religious matters.

JOSEPH MORRISON, Princeton, was born in "Union Township, Belmont Co., Ohio, August 16, 1806. His father, Arthur Morrison, was born April 1, 1770, in Adams County, Penn. ; he died September 3, 1839, in Belmont County, Ohio. He was a tanner and farmer by occupation. The grandfather of our subject was John Morrison, who was a native of Pennsylvania, but his father was a Scotchman. Mr. Morrison's mother was Grezzella McCormick. She was born in 1776, in Pennsylvania, and died May 16, 1846, in Belmont County, Ohio. She was the mother of fourteen children, of whom ten reached maturity. Of these six are now living: Mrr. Martha Cerr, Samuel, Joseph, Arthur, Mrs. Jane McCormick and Bobert. The family is noted for longevity, the average age of three now living being eighty-two yeara Our subject received his early education in a log schoolhouse in Belmont County, Ohio, where he afterward followed tanning and merchandising. In the spring of 1849, when the news of the discovery of the gold mines of California reached the East, Mr. Morrison, more from a desire of seeing the West than to hunt for gold, joined a party of sixty-five men, and with them crossed the plains with teams and wagons. They were nearly four months in reaching the gold fields. Before leaving the East he formed a stock company with eight men, one of whom died on the plains. The other eight men worked together one year in the gold fields and were successful. After the first year a part of them reorganized and worked another year. In the spring of 1851 Mr. Morrison returned to Ohio, where he lived one year, and then came to Bureau County, 111., settling in Dover Township. He farmed till the spring of 1877, since which he has resided in Princeton, where he is living a retired yet by no means idle life, enjoying the fruit of a successful business career. Mr. Morrison was married March 10, 1831, in Belmont County, Ohio, to Miss Ann J. Thompson, who was horn August 22, 1812, in Belmont Count}', Ohio; died May 22, 1884. She was a daughter of

Samuel Thompson, a native of Ireland, and a Captain in the war of 1812. Her mother, Ann J. Lundy, was also of Irish extraction. Mrs. Morrison was the mother of eleven children. Of these two died in infancy, Cyrus died at the age of fourteen, and another son, Hugh A., reached maturity. He was a gallant soldier in our late war, lighting till its close, after which he was sent with his regiment, the Second Illinois, to Texas, where he stayed till January, 1866, when he came home. About 1870 he entered the service of Gen. Dodge, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and with the General went to Texas, where he was in his employ till his death from lung fever, which occurred November 18, 1874. The names of the living children are: Mrs. Mary Garton, Mrs. Grezzella Honn, Mrs. Frances Butts, Mrs. Sophia Emmerson, Thomas C. (now a farmer in Nebraska), Julius (a farmer in Kansas) and Maggie. Mr. Morrison is an active member of the Presbyterian Church. He is connected with the Republican party. For the last ten years Mr. Morrison has traveled considerably, visiting all the States except three, and all the Territories except three. His two brothers, Samuel and Robert, are residents of California, and to that State he has been twice since he was there digging for gold. At present Mr. Morrison is one of the Directors of the Farmers National Bank

L. O. MORSE, Neponset, was born February 10, 1840, in Peacham, Caledonia Co., Vt. His father, Thomas Morse, was born 1796, in Peacham, Vt. He was a brick-maker and farmer, and died there in 1872. The grandfather of our subject was Moody Morse, who was a native of Massachusetts, but died in Vermont. The mother of our subject, Cynthia (Blanchard) Morse, was born in 1802, in Peacham, Vt. She died there in 1881. She was a daughter of Abel and Elizabeth (Eastman) Blanchard. They were natives of Massachusetts and the parents of thirteen children. Mrs. Cynthia Morse was the mother of five children: Francis A., Mrs. Mary E. Balcon, Lucius O. (our subject). Abel and William W. Our subject was educated in his native town. In early life he worked at his father's occupation. At the age of nineteen he went to Fall River, Mass. , where he clerked one and one-half years, and then enlisted April 7, 1861, in the Third Regiment of the Vermont Volunteer Infantry, Company G, serving till July, 1864, and was discharged | at Burlington, Vt. He was promoted to j Second Sergeant, and participated in the I battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Days' Fight, Bucketsville, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Funkstown, Rappahannock Station, Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor and Fort Stevens. In October, 1864, he came West to Osceola, 111., where he taught school two winters and farmed one summer. In May, 1866, he came to Neponset, where he clerked three years, and then went into the clothing business. After two years he engaged in the hardware and farm implement business, and is now conducting that business in partnership with P. M. Chi Ids and S. H. Bennett. He has made an efficient Postmaster for more than fourteen years, and takes a deep interest in all public affairs, being one of the most wideawake men in town. Politically Mr. Morse is a Republican. He was married August 13, 1867, at North Haverhill, N. H., to Miss Addie Hatch, a native of Vermont, and a daughter of Obadiab Hatch. She is the mother of two children: Hazen H. Morse, born December 12, 1869, and Glenn A., who was born January 31, 1876. Mr. Morse is a supporter of the Congregational Church, of which his wife is an active member.

PROF. S. W. MOSES, Princeton, was born March 5, 1842, in Petersburg, N. Y. He is a son of Hiram Moses, a native of Norfolk, Conn., where he was born September 15, 1800, and yet resides. He is a physician and has followed his profession for fifty-five years. His father was Thomas Moses, a farmer. His parents or the great- grandparents of our subject came to the United States from England. The mother of Prof. Moses was Abalina (Worthington) Moses. She was born in New York and died in Petersburg. She was the mother of five children, viz. : Hiram, who is a physician, Thomas, Charles, Albert, and Solan W., our subject, who received his primary education in Petersburg and Fort Edward. It soon became evident the musical scales had more attraction for him than the mysteries of science. Therefore at an early date he studied music in Troy, N. Y., and Boston, Mass. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in the Music Corps of the Second Regiment of New York Volunteers, and was afterward transferred to the Tenth Regiment, serving about one year. After the war he devoted himself to his chosen profession and taught music, making harmony, thorough base, violin and piano a specialty. He is an excellent violinist, and has played before large and select audiences in Boston, Chicago, and New York, and a number of other cities. In 1866 he came West and for three years taught in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. After this he taught four years in Dixon, 111. For the last six years he has been teaching in Princeton, Illinois, and here opened a music store. Prof. Moses' ability as an instructor is well known and he may well be satisfied with his success. He was married January

I, 1862, in Petersburg, N. Y., to Miss Mary E. Hovey, a native of Petersburg. Her parents were Moses and Cornelia (Hakes) Hovey. She is the mother of two children, viz. : Cornelia A., born April 7, 1864, and Mattie M., born April 30, 1867. Prof. Moses is a member of the A. F & A. M. fraternity, and in politics he is a Republican.

II, 1822. In 1831 he came to this county with his father, Roland Moseley (see general history). They were among the number who came here before the Indian troubles, and during the Black Hawk war the family fled across the river to the fort, having first buried their goods. W. N. Moseley spent most of his life in this county, following farming as an occupation. He was married in Princeton, 111., December 16, 1860, to Miss Sarah A. Ross, a native of New York. Her father, Charles Ross, was of Scotch de scent. He moved with his family from New York to Canada, and thence to Putnam County, 111., in about 1838, and there died. To Mr. and Mrs. Moseley five children were born, viz.: Fannie, William, Frederick, Asa B. and Roland F. Mr. Mosoley died May 6, 1872. He was a practical, thorough going business man, and through his energy and close attention to business made a financial success of life, and left a good property, but more than all, an untarnished name. His education was such as could be obtained in the schools of the frontier, but he was a great reader of the news of the day, and gained much practical knowledge, and was well versed in current history. Mr. Moseley never entered into political life, but was an adherent of the Democratic party.

D. E. MUNGER, Princeton, was born in Verona, Oneida Co., N. Y., March 31, 1845. He is the son of William H. and Emily A. (Bushnell) Munger, both natives of Connecticut. The father was born in 1803, and died in Verona, N. "#., October 17, 1854. His occupation was that of the proprietor of a hotel, and his family was born and reared in the hotel in Verona. The mother was born October, 1807. In the fall of 1855 she came to Morris, Grundy Co., 111., and settled on a farm. She is now a resident of Bridgeport, N. Y. She is the mother of seven sons, four of whom responded to their country's call and enlisted in the army. One, George B., in the Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge, and afterward discharged. Three of the brothers, D. E., William H., and H. G., enlisted August 22, 1862, in Company C, Seventy- sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Capt. afterward Col. C. C. Jones. Mr. D. E. Munger was but sixteen years of age at the time of enlistment, being the youngest in the regiment. Their regiment was in the Army of the Tennessee, Second Brigade, Fourth Division of Seventeenth Army Corps. They participated in seventeen different engagements, among which were the siege of Vicksburg, Champion Hills, Jackson, Mississippi, and Spanish Fort. They were mustered out of the service at Galveston, Tex., but did not receive their pay till August 22, 1865, after arriving at Chicago. Soon after returning from the service, H. G. Munger died of disease contracted while in the army. Of the Munger brothers now living, all are engaged in the hotel business. G. B. and E. M. are proprietors of the Matteson House, Chicago; W. H. is in the Gault House, Sterling, 111. ; D. A. is in the Phrenix House, of Pontiac, 111., and D. E. is proprietor of the American House, Princeton, 111. After returning from the army Mr. D. E. Munger engaged in the hotel business at Leland, 111., and such has been his occupation since, with the exception of seven years when he was in the drug business at Newark, Kendall Co., 111., and Pontiac. While at the latter place he suffered a heavy loss from tire, as his store was burned. Besides having been in the hotel business at Leland, he has also been in the same business in Wyanet, 111., and in Princeton, and since 1879 has been proprietor of the American House. While at Leland Mr. Hunger formed the acquaintance of Miss Angie M. McClure, to whom he was married at Earl, 111., December 22, 1866. She was born in Johnstown, Cambria Co., Penn., March 27, 1844. Her parents, John and Rebecca (Wier) McClure, were natives of Pennsylvania. The father's occupation was that of a merchant during most of his life, and a short time before his death, which occurred in 1854, his business had been consumed by fire. The following year, 1855, his widow and family removed to Earl, LaSalle Co., 111., where she yet resides. Of the family of seven, only four now survive, viz.: T. D. McClure, of Chicago, Mrs. James Mekeel, of Ottawa, 111., Mrs. D. E. Munger, and Mrs. Allie Wade, of Cannon River Falls, Minn. Mrs. Munger is the mother of two daughters, viz.: Maud May, born March 24, 1869, and Georgie E., born July 18, 1878. Mr. Munger is a member of the Princeton Masonic Lodge and of Ferris Post, 309, G. A. R., of Princeton. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a stanch Republican.

HOWARD W. MUNSON, Hall, was born September 10, 1820, in Jefferson County, Ind. His father, Alanson Munson, was a native of New York, and died in Bureau County, 111., December 16, 1865, at the age of sixty-six years, two months arid eighteen days. He was a son of Hiram and Rhoda (Peas) Munson, natives of New England, and the parents of five sons. Alanson Munson married Rosanna Sage, a native of Kentucky, who died in this county September 12, 1854, at the age of fifty-five years and seven months. She was the mother of three boys and two girls, viz. : Howard W. and Lucinda (deceased), twins, Mrs. Matilda Miller, Caleb, of Nebraska, and William, of Nebraska.

Alanson Munson came to LaSalle County, 111., in about 1837, and was located on Indian Creek, where the massacre occurred. In 1840 he came to Hall Township, Bureau County, where he died. Howard W. Munson came to LaSalle County, and for some time was on Indian Creek helping his uncle, William Munson, whose wife, Rachel Hall, was taken prisoner by the Indians. Mr. Munson now resides on the old homestead, for which his father traded his farm on Indian Creek, and which was entered by Edward H. Hall. Our subject now owns 365 acres of laud. He was married in this county October 23, 1844, to Eliza J. Seaton, born January 12, 1826, in Oldham County, Ky., a daughter of James and Nancy (Wilhoit) Seaton. (See sketch of Seaton family.) Mr. and Mrs. Munson are the parents of five children, viz. : Plencina, born August 19, 1846, drowned July 4, 1862; Mrs. Augusta Swan, Mrs. Loretta Brookie, William H. and James A., all in this county. In politics Mr. Munson is a Democrat.

L. B. MUZZY, Berlin. Thomas N. Muzzy, father of the above named gentleman, was born in Worcester County, Mass., March 16, 1789. He was a musician in the war of 1812, and his son now possesses the clarionet on which he played. In 1814 he settled in Guernsey County, Ohio, taking up Government land, and lived there until his death, in March, 1883. He named the township Spencer, after his old township in Massachusetts. For many years his business was that of farming, but in after life he was also interested in railroads in Eastern Ohio, and was one of the well known men of Guernsey County. He was married in Massachusetts a short time before he moved to Ohio, to Lorinda Bacon. She was born in Worcester County, Mass., March 8, 1791, and is still living. Both families are noted for their longevity. They were the parents of twelve children, eight of whom are now living. Two died in infancy, and one while in the army. Three of their sons were engaged in the civil war. L. B. Muzzy was the youngest of the family, and was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, July 23, 1833. He i was reared on a farm until nineteen years of age, when he attended school in Cambridge,

Ohio, for two years, and Afterward engaged in teaching. In 1855 he came to Bureau County, and gave his attention to teaching and farming. September 9, 1857, he was married in Dover to Maria B. Wood, born in Saratoga County, N. Y., March 31, 1839. Her parents were also natives of Saratoga County. Her father, Lewis Wood, was born June 11, 1805, and her mother, Electa (Clark) Wood, February 12, 1801. They came from New York to Downer's Grove, 111., and in 1855 to Dover, where he died May 1, 1864. His wife is still living. They had eight children, six of whom are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Muzzy have four children, viz.: Bollin L., born June 22, 1858, a photographer of Mendota (his wife was Miss Vene Bert, of Princeton); Nettie M., born April 26, 1860, wife of George Bryant, of Milwaukee, Wis. ; George L. , born October 31, 1863; Lora C., born January 5, 1868, wife of Marshal Momeny, of this county. Mr. Muzzy purchased his present farm in 1867. It contains 115 acres, with excellent improvements. He has spent most of his life in agricultural pursuits and making a model farm. In politics he has always been a Republican. He and his wife are members of the Congregational Church of Maiden. He is an Odd Fellow, his membership being at Cumberland, Ohio.

AUGUSTUS MYERS, Concord, was born in Hunterdon County, N. J., September 21, 1833. He is the son of Samuel and Catherine (Smith) Myers. The Myers family is an old family of Hunterdon County. Samuel Myers was born in 1805, and came to this county in 1854, and is now a resident of Mineral Township. His wife was born in 1811, and is the mother of nine sons and one daughter; all the family, except two sons, are yet living, but only the daughter and two sons in Bureau County. The others are settled all through the West. Augustus Myers was reared on a farm. He received most of his education in the schools of his native State. After coming to this State he worked on the farm, taught school, etc., till his marriage, and then engaged in farming for himself. He has lived in Concord Township since March 6, 1865. He now owns a farm of 240 acres of well-improved land.

October 7, 1858, he was married to Miss Eliza A. Neff, who was born in Champaign County, Ohio, November 1, 1836, and is the daughter of George W. and Magdalene (Dicious) Neff. The father was born in Pennsylvania in 1811, but the mother in Virginia in about 1809. They came to Bureau County, 111., in 1854, and here died - he in 1879, "but she in 1876. They were the parents of ten children, five of whom yet survive. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have four children living, viz.: Wellmore L., born June 14, 1860; Charles L.. October 18, 1862; Frank G., March 28, 1866, and Arthur A., November 22, 1872. In. politics Mr. Myers is Republican, and has held various township offices, and at present is Supervisor.

ANDREW D. NEELY, Neponset, was born September 19, 1824, in Homer, CortlandCo., N. Y. His father, Robert Neely, was a farmer and soldier in the war of 1812. He died in Little York, Cortland County, N. Y., in 1879, aged ninety-seven years. The grandfather of our subject was of German descent; he was a farmer and manufacturer by occupation, also a soldier in the Revolutionary war, with rank of Captain. He died in Scipio Center, N. Y. The mother of our subject, Margaret (Vandeline) Neely, was of foreign descent, but a native of New York; she died in Homer, N. Y. She was the mother of six children, viz. : Mrs. Hannah Scuder, Abraham, Robert (deceased), Mra Sarah Boyles (deceased), Mrs. Jane Barnum, and Andrew D., our subject, who was educated at Homer Hill, N. Y. He farmed in early life. In 1849 he came West, and crossed the plains and freighted about one year for Perry & Young, between Leavenworth and Salt Lake City. He participated in several severe Indian fights; then took sick and returned East, where he remained one year, when he came West again and settled in Rockford, Winnebago Co., 111. Thero he farmed about five years, and then removed to Oneida, Knox Co., 111.; was there two years, and roamed about three years through Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Santa F6, N. M., mainly to see the country. He returned to Knox County, 111., in 1859, and in August, 1861, he enlisted in Company C of the Forty-second

Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, as private, but was promoted to Color-Bearer Sergeant. He participated in tbe battles of Stone River, Franklin, Chickamauga, Fort Donelson, Shiloh and other engagements. He was severely wounded September 20, 1863, at Chickamauga, and lay in the hospitals fourteen months, having contracted gangreen and erysipelas. He was discharged August 19, 1864. After the war he returned to Knox County, and there lived till 1868, when he came to Neponset Township, Bureau County, where he was married September ] 5, 1868, to Mrs. Mary J. Russell (nee Mary J. Vanvactor), who was born May 17, 1836, in Ply. mouth, Marshall Co., Ind. She is a daughter of David and Harriet (Ward) Vanvactor. Mrs. Neely is the mother of three children, viz. : Mrs. Hattie E. Dana, a daughter by her first husband, William Russell: James Eddie Neely, born July 19, 1869, and Minnie Neely, born October 15, 1875. Mr. Neely is a Republican and a member of the G. A. R., Elmira Post.

JAMES NELSON, Westfield, was born March 4, 1838, in Perth, Canada. His parents, James and Martha (Gourley) Nelson, were natives of the north of Ireland. They came to Canada while quite young. The father was a hatter by occupation and followed it in Perth and Ottawa. In 1852 he came to LaSalle County, 111., where he died July, 1868, aged sixty-four years. The mother died July, 1867, aged fifty-six years. They were the parents of ten children, of whom the following are yet living: Elmer W., Mrs. Margaret Longworth, James (our subject), Mrs. Letitia R. Holbrook, William S., Josiah D. and Mrs. Isabell Ritchmyer. The above were all married. Our subject, James Nelson, came to Bureau County in 1856 and has been a farmer and stockman all his life and has a farm of 160 acres. Mr. Nelson was married here October 20, 1862, to Miss Mary A. Barrett, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Barrett) Barrett. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are the parents of the following children: James B., Elizabeth L., Charles C., Warren G., Mattie M. and George E. Nelson, the latter deceased aged seven years. Politically Mr. Nelson is identified with the Democratic party.

P. J. NEWELL, Princeton, was born in Princeton, 111., April 12, 1836, and is probably the oldest man now living in the city who was born within the corporate limits. He is the son of Benjamin and Harriet (White) Newell. The former was born in Concord, N. H. , the latter in Alden, N. Y. They were married in Alden in 1835 and came to Princeton, 111., the same year, and Mr. Newell engaged in the dry goods business and continued in the same for thirty-five years. In 1881 he moved to Denver, Col., and in 1883 to Topeka, Kan., where he now resides. In 1856 our subject began learning the hardware business in the store of A. S. & E. C. Chapman, and with the exception of short intermissions he was employed in this store for nine years. During the time in 1860 he went to Pike's Peak, where he remained some months. April 17, 1861, he entered the ninety-days' service in the army and went to Springfield, but all the troops not being required at the time, he was sent home. October 13, 1863, Mr. Newell was united in marriage to Miss Helen S. Partridge, a native of Oswego, N. Y., who had come to Peoria, III. , about 1846, and for some years before marriage had been engaged in teaching there. Mr. and Mrs. Newell have two sons and two daughters living and also one son and daughter dead. The living are: Frank, Henry, Hattie and Minnie. The oldest son has been in Peoria, 111., for three years where he is a book-keeper. August 31, 1864, Mr. Newell engaged in the hardware business for himself in Princeton: but sold out after eleven months, during which time he had cleared above all expenses $1,500. For i three years he worked at his trade in Gales- ' burg, 111. , but in 1869 came back to Princeton and again went into business, this time in connection with Thompson Bros., Mr. Newell having charge of the tinware department and the Thompsons of the hardware. In 1871 he opened a stock of hardware in the old stand where he had learned his trade. In 1873 he sold an interest in the business and the firm was then Newell & Thompson, but in 1877 he sold the entire stock to Mr. Thompson. April 12, 1881, he bought out the furniture and undertaking business of E. Strong Phelps, paying for the same $4,250 but sold the building in which he has his store to Mr. Phelps for $3,500. At that time Mr. Newell knew nothing of his present business, but he applied himself closely to business and has been very successful as an undertaker. October, 1881, at the organization of the Illinois Undertakers' Association he was appointed one of the Executive Committee, and in the October meeting, 1882, he was appointed a member of the Finance Committee. Since 1875 Mr. N. has paid over $6,000 security debts, but his energy has carried him through and now he carries a stock of goods valued at between $6,000 and $7,000, and is a stock-holder in the Princeton Homestead & Loan Association and also in the Town Hall Company. Mr. Newell is a member of the Knights of Pythias and takes an active interest in all matters concerning the order and has held various offices in the society. In politics he is identified with the Republican party.

D. T. NICHOLS, Wyanet, was bom in Broadalbin, N. Y., August 3, 1812. In 1829 he removed to Livingston County, N. Y. In early life he learned the harness-maker's trade and followed that occupation in the State of New York and also in Chicago, 111., where he landed October 8, 1839, when the city claimed a population of 3,000. He remained in Chicago for seven years and then removed to Kane County, but still later purchased land in Winnebago County, 111., at 60 cents per acre. In 1850 Mr. Nichols was one who crossed the plains to seek his fortune in the gold fields of California He spent one successful year in California and then returned to Illinois, riding on mule-back from Sacramento to Illinois. In 1853 he came to Bureau County and purchased a farm in Wyanet Township, and since that time he has been a resident of Bureau County. In 1854, when the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad had been completed in this county, he was at Wyanet Station as the train was passing through, when Col. C. G. Hammond invited him to take a ride to Mendota, which he did, and while on the way Col. Hammond proposed that he should take the position of Station Agent at-. Wyanet. His answer was that he knew nothing of railroading, nor did he care to; however, he was prevailed upon to take the place, and since 1854 Mr. Nichols has been in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and all this time he has been agent at Wyanet, except two years at Buda, and with the exception of J. W. Cothrin, of Galesburg, he is the oldest employe of the road. When first beginning he knew nothing about the business, but he spent one-half day with the agent at Princeton, and then studied out the remainder for himself. When first appointed agent there was no depot, and as there were only day trains, he drove into the station from his farm, and in the evening out again. Afterward he had a box car as a depot, till the present building was erected. Once during the war, several car-loads of soldiers had to be supplied with tickets, and his were all used, so he took the power upon himself to manufacture tickets, sign his name and sell them. They were accepted by the conductor, and afterward Mr. Nichols received the compliments of the Superintendent for this procedure. Mr. Nichols has grown old in the service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, but has grown in the esteem of the officials, and all having business with the line at this point. November 20, 1834, Mr. Nichols was united in marriage to Miss Clarissa Watkins, of Onondaga County, N. Y. She died in 1845, leaving three children, viz.: W. I., of Burlington, Iowa; Minerva, wife of Andrew Garrett, of Claremont, Mo. ; and Horace, who died in Herne, Tex., in 1880 In 1846 Mr. Nichols was married to Miss H. G. Barry, of Madison, N. Y., who is the mother of six children, viz. : Clarissa, widow of J. Crawford; S. E., wife of E. J. Engle: Emma, wife of W. A. Yearnshaw, and C. L., of Topeka, Kan., train-master on the Santa F6 Railroad, also two children, deceased.

ISAAC H. NORRIS, Lamoille. The Nor ris family is of English extraction, and its genealogy is brief. Whether the family descends from some branch of the British nobility, or the more humble Puritan stock, we do not know, yet the strong traits of character and nobility which shine forth in the progenitors of our subject leads the genealogist and biographer of these lines to wish he knew more of their past.