Pgs 412-686 - Illinois Ancestors

514 BIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCES
Coleman. died December 16,1849, leaving. four chilclren, three of whom
are li~in, as previously notkd in this chapter. In political life he was
an ardent Democrat. For vears he was co~mnissioner of high~vavs
here. A reference to the t&vnship history mill point out thekari&s
parts taken by this familp in the boilding up of Essex.
A. E. Gingrich, son of Daniel and Polly (Coleman) Gingrich,
mas born in Stark county May l.4, 1840. In early years he uvorkecl
on the home farm, attended the primitive schools, and studied at
home. At the age of twenty-nine years, he married Miss I-Iarriett,
daughter of Silas ancl Elizabeth (Brock) Caskey, of Ohio, who lnovecl
to Illinois about 1863 ; mas married in 1869 ; remainecl on home fann
one year; then the young couple removed to their present holile near
Duncan, where their five children, Florence M., Allan A,, Violla D.:
John .J., and William W., were born. His brother, D. I-I. Gingrich, is
interested with A. E., and resides in the same house. The family, in
all its parts, have been prominent in everything contributing td the
agricultural interests of Essex, ancl indeed of the county. In politics,
democratic; yet party considerations generally give maby to the claims
of candidates whose characters are irreproachable.
Xrs. Nancy Graves, the widow of Thomas Gmves, and the daug11-
ter of Nathan and Ann (Dixon) Cox, was born in Eoss county, 01110,
in the year 1826. Her parents were respectively from Virginia and
North ~arolina. Their respective parents removing to Ohio, they
became acquainted and were married. Some t~venty-five years after
their marriage they removed to Stark county, Ill., in 1836, and started
to build the first mill in Stark coi~nty. It mas on Inclian creek, ancl
was used for many years. In 1840, Mr. Cox, after a brief illness of
but two weeks, passed from earth in his fifty-sixth year. For three
years after her husband's death, Mrs. Cox remainecl i~the old home,
and there followed her husband to the last sleep, in her sixty-fourth
year. They were both prominent among the pikneers of the-county,
and highly esteemed. Their fainilv consisted of ten chilclren, five still
living, four of whom are in ~tak county. Mrs. Graves remained
with her father and mother until her father's death. In 1841 she vas
united in marriage to Thomas Graves, the son of John ancl Elizabeth
Graves. He mas born in Chatham county, N. C., in 1816. When
eight years of age, his parents removed to Ohio, where he receivecl a
common school education, ancl in 1840 came to Stark county, where
he met and married Miss Nancy Cox. Some eight yeam after their
marriage they remained upon the farm of her father until 1850, when
they removed to section 23, Essex township, where since then the
family has resided. On the 12th of December, 1876, after several
years of failing health, and but nine weeks confined to his bed, he
died. He was a man prominent among the progressive and enter rising
farmers of the township, and one rvho was known only to be geld
in high esteem by all, and it is to such men that the real progression
of Stark county is owing. Since her hus6and's death, Mrs. Graves has
remained on the homestead, where she still resides with five of her
children. Her family consisted of ten children, William H., in Essex
township ; Martha L. (Mrs. Riner Duncan) ; Lorenzo D., Armourdale,