Hallock Township (part 2 of 2)

WILIi ROBERT (deceased), farmer, P. O. Lawn Ridge, was born April 15, 1822, at Delmar, Tioga county. Pa., and was the son of Robert Will and Margaret Lawson, of Forfarrshire, Scotland. He was the fourth child and third son in a family of seven children, and was reared on a farm in his natal county until the year 1837, when, at the age of fifteen, he removed with his parents to Hallock township, Peoria county, and settled on Sec. 3, near what is now Hallock post office. There he made his home till 184S, when, on June 7 of that year, he married Miss Mary, daughter of Lyman Robinson and Polly Nurs, who was born March 19, 1823, in Broome county, N. Y., and came with her parents to Illinois in the Spring of 1843, arriving at Blue Ridge May 20, of the same year. Their marital union resulted in six children, three of whom are now alive, William, born May i, 1S49, and died when four years old ; Helen, born Nov. 18, 1851, died April 26, 1853; John Wesley, born Feb. I, 1854, died Dec. 29, 1872 ; Annie, born May 29, 1856 ; Minnie, born May 25, i860, and Laura A., bom March 25, 1865. Upon marriage they settled on the farm now occupied by his widow, and there all their children were born, and Mr. Will died, Feb. 14, 1876. Mrs. Will at present owns 120 acres of finely improved farming land worth about $3,ooo. Mr. Will was, through life, an active, useful man, and his untimely removal was keenly felt and deeply regretted by many. He was, for twenty years, justice of the peace, and had acceptably filled, in turn, almost all of the township offices ; was a notary- public for many years, and county surveyor at time of his death ; also for over twenty years was recording secretary of the Methodist Church at Lawn Ridge, and represented it at the annual conference several times. Mrs. Will and family are also members of the same church.

was born in Chenango county, N. Y., and is the eldest son of Dr. A. Wilmot (now and for many years a resident of Peoria county) and Olive A. Wilmot, net Smith. He came with his parents to the county when very young, and when about fourteen years of age went to the Knox College, Galesburg, 111., and attended the classes there at various periods extending over almost two and a half years ; afterwards began his professional studies, reading medicine under the care of his father, and attending lectures at Michigan University, Ann Arbor, and at Iowa University, Iowa City, graduating from the latter with degree of M. D., Feb. 16, 1858. Shortly thereafter he established his present practice in Lawn Ridge. He married, Nov. 8, i860, Miss Carrie A. Stillman, who was bom in Ontario county, N. Y., October 11, 1835, and who came to Peoria county with her parents, settling in the city of Peoria when two years of age. The fruit of this union are two children, Frank, born Oct. 18, 1861, who is now attending Antioch College, O., and boards with the same lady with whom his mother boarded while attending classes at the same college twenty years ago, and Edna, born Sept. 21, 1871.