Pgs 412-686 - Illinois Ancestors

OP VALLEY TOWNSHIP. 663
the wife of J. Anderson, resides in Stark county, Ill. John and James
are at Rochester ; Nancv resides on homestead; Nary resides at
Wyoming; Elizabeth is p6st.mistress at Stark ; Jane is in the Indian
Territory ; George I. at Princeville, and Charles H. in Peoria county.
The father of the subject of this sketch was for a time a friend and
companion of Daniel Boone, being mith him at Fort Boone when it
was besieged by the Indians.
John Morrimy, son of John and Margaret (Knox) Morrissy, was
born in Iiilkenny county, Ireland, in 1520, and there he resided for
twenty-eight pears, when he moved to Boston, Mass. Later he worked
on ra.ilroac1 in Nen7 I-Iampshire as section hand, but after one year
engaged in farin work in Vir einia, where he remained eighteen
months. then lnovecl to Peoria. 111.. where he relnainecl three veazs.
While there he lnarriecl Miss ~dannn Prendergast, who in IS56 kttled
with l~inl in Valley on 160 acres which he purchased on section thirtytwo,
an area since increased to 400 acres. Mrs. Morrissy cliecl here in
May, 1875, following three of her children to the arare and leaving
five, namely : John, James, Robert, Kate, ancl Bri get. In IS50 his
parents came to the United States, settled in Peoria county, where
the father (lied in his eiglltv-fourth vear, and the mother in her
eigl~ty-second year. MY. &orAssY has i1rnGs been a Democrat: and
prominent in national election matters. His inclustrv has won for him
in excellent social position, and, what is next best, good estate - a
soaething which neither manliness, honor, nor industry could accomplish
under British laws in his native land.
WiZIiam Peterson, born in Franklin county, Ind., August 23, 1842,
is the son of Henry ancl Ziporah (Halberstadt) Peterson, and grandson
of John Peterson, of Trenton, N. J., who settled in Indiana in 1823,
eight years after his marriage with Niss Edit.h Gaines. Afte~ spending
thirty-four years in Indiana the family movecl to 1,aSalle count ,
Ill., where they resided nine years, when they removed to Philo, 111,
where parents cliecl, each in the eightieth year. Of their fourteen children
thirteen becazne heacls of families, of whom seven are still living.
John Peterson held a claim to a tract of land on which the Union
depot ant1 other valuable builclings of Philtldelphia now stand,-but this
claim was set asicle by sharpers, who prscluced false titles. Being a
man wlio desired peace he submitted to this robbery, but his heirs contemplate
taking steps to recover the millions of which Mr. Peterson
was defrauded. Henry Peterson mas born at Trenton, N. J., where
his twin brother cliecl at the age of one year. He shared his parents'
labors ancl travels until the age of twenty-one years, when he married
Miss Halberstadt. In 1850 he inoved to Lee county, Iowa, where he
remained until 1862, when he reniovecl mith his family to the Missouri
boundary. His sons, Samuel and William, m!lo enlisted, did not join
in this migration. Later the family reinoved to Philo, Ill., ~vhere, on
Xarch 14, 1873, lle bid farewell to his church brethren, stating that he
moulcl never meet them +pin. On the succeeding~clay, while drawing
corn across his meadow---the slry showing but a s~ngle cloucl-he was
struclr by lightning ailrl instantli killecl. Elis widow resides upon the
homestead at Philo. Of their fainily of ten cllildren : Samuel G. is in