Cornland, Illinois

Thomas W. Capps, general merchant and postmaster at Cornland, was born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1838, and has always lived in Sangamon and Logan counties. He is a son of John Capps, who settled at Mount Pulaski about 1850, where he was engaged in the mercantile trade a number of years, when he removed to Decatur and engaged in business. He subsequently settled in Sangamon County, where he still resides. He was boru in England, and when a young man came to the United States, locating in Springfield about 1830. Thomas W. is the only one of his father's family living in Logan County. Mr. Capps was again married in 1870, to M. E. Van Hise, a daughter of D. Van Hise, and to this union was boru one son - Earl V., a native of Sangamon County. He was again married in 1876 to Mary E. Day, a daughter of Joshua Day, and to this union has been born one daughter - Nina D., born in Cornland. Mr. Capps established his present mercantile business at Cornland in 1875, which he has since followed with the exception of one year. He has held the position of postmaster since 1877. In 1862 he enlisted in the Sixty-eighth Illinois Infantry in which he served seven months, when the regiment was dislLl charged, the terra of enlistment having expired. He then reenlisted in the United States navy, serving till the close of the war. He was in both the Mississippi and South Grnlf squadrons, and was with Admiral Farragut at the capture of Mobile, and after the war he was engaged in the mercantile trade at Illiopoiis two years.

Passage source: History of Logan County, Illinois, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Towns, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Person, and Biographies of Representative Citizens : Also a Condensed History of Illinois, Embodying Accounts of Prehistoric Races, Indian Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History, published 1886.

Joshua Day ^ of Cornland, Elkhart Township, is one of the pioneers of Logan County. He is a native of Massachusetts, born in Chester, Hampden County, in 1817, and was a son of Ira Day. There were eleven children in his father's family, eight sons and three daughters. Joshua came to Illinois in 1837, and to Logan County in 1838, having resided for a short time in Hancock Township. He purchased his first land in Logan County of John D. Gillett, an uncle of John D. Gillett, of this township. Mr. Day is now engaged in the mercantile trade in Cornland. His first wife was Hannah "Wiley, and his second was Hannah Cheney, who died in June, 1882. Mr. Day has eight children, three sons and five daughters, all but one married. Mr. Day has been a resident of Illinois for thirty-eight years, and but few are now left in Logan County who came as early as he.

Passage source: History of Logan County, Illinois, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Towns, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Person, and Biographies of Representative Citizens : Also a Condensed History of Illinois, Embodying Accounts of Prehistoric Races, Indian Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History, published 1886.

William Dolvin, grocer of Elkhart, is a native of Harrison County, Ohio, where he was born in 1819. He was reared to manhood on a farm in his native county, and there received an academic education. He began teaching at the age of twenty-three years, and followed that profession for twenty-six years. He taught sixteen years in his native county, and in 1858 came to Sangamon County, Illinois, where he taught ten years, and since June, 1868, he has been a resident of Logan County. A younger brother, John Dolvin, who came with him to Illinois, also followed teaching, having taught in Ohio and Illinois for twenty-eight years. The latter was married in 1883 to Emma Hobkirk, a former pupil, who died about a year after her marriage. He now lives at Spencer, Clay County, Iowa, where he owns several farms. He is a very successful farmer, although he lost his right arm at the age of sixteen years. William Dolvin was married in the spring of 1867 to Mary A. Smith, a native of Sangamon County, Illinois, daughter of Philip Smith, one of the prominent and wealthy old settlers of Central Illinois. Her father was a native of North Carolina, and her mother of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Dolvin have two daughters - Ida B. and Olive L., the former born in Sangamon County in 1868, and the latter in Elkhart in 1870. Mr. Dolvin has a beau- tiful residence in Elkhart where he has built up a fine mercantile trade. He has dealt considerably in Western lands, which he sells at an advance on the purchase price. At present he is the owner of two fine farms in Iowa. In politics he is a staunch Republican. He has never aspired toofiicial positions, but has served as justice of the peace, and held other township oflices. Mr. l")olvin and his wife are members of the Christian church at Elkhart. His father, Richard Dolvin, was a native of Virginia, removing to Ohio when a young man, where he married Phoebe Edwards, our subject's mother, whe was also a native of Virginia. They had a family of eleven children, all of whom lived to be over twenty one years old, William being the third child. Richard Dolvin was one of the early settlers of Harrison County, and became one of the prominent farmers of that part of Ohio, where he lived till his death.

Passage source: History of Logan County, Illinois, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Towns, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Person, and Biographies of Representative Citizens : Also a Condensed History of Illinois, Embodying Accounts of Prehistoric Races, Indian Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History, published 1886.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Elkhart Township - it names this place 2 more 2 times.