Illinois Genealogy

Fitchyou Cummings, Concord, was born in Gallatin County, Illinois, May 8, 1818, and is the son of Thornton Cummings, deceased, and brother of William Cummings. Fitchyou Cummings came to Bureau County with his parents in 1834, and since that time has resided in Concord Township. His opportunities for an education were the most limited. Instead of schools, when coming to French Grove, there was excellent opportunity for the hunter to find game. As Mr. Cummings was of an independent nature, he wished to make for himself a farm, and as money was at that time almost impossible to obtain, he…

John C. Crossman, Lamoille, was born January 29, 1830, in Draycott, Somersetshire, England. (See Biography of George Crossman of Lamoille, Illinois.) Mr. Crossman came to the United States about 1850. He worked two years in Onondaga County, New York, where he was also married. In March 1852, he came to Lamoille, Illinois, and after working one year, rented land and farmed. In 1855 he bought 160 acres of land, which he soon sold, and after renting another year bought 160 acres of William Hart, which he sold, and in 1857 went to New York State, and from there to England,…

Among our citizens of foreign birth, who have identified themselves with Bureau County, we must mention the subject of this sketch, who was born November 7, 1826, in Somersetshire, England, town of Bishford. His parents, George and Sarah (Rhude) Crossman died in England, where he was a mechanic. Their children were: Henry, who died on board a man-of-war off the coast of Africa; George, our subject; John C., a resident of this county; Jane, deceased, and Mrs. Mary A. Jeffries. Mr. Crossman came to America in 1852. He was eight weeks on the ocean. He lived two years in Onondaga…

William Crisman, Macon, was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, June 25, 1825. He is the son of William and Margaret (Wisegarver) Crisman. They were both natives of Pennsylvania and of German descent. They died in Bedford County. They had eleven children who reached maturity, and of that number six sons and two daughters yet survive. Our subject was reared on a farm, but at the age of sixteen began learning his trade of millwright, which trade he followed in his native State till coming to Bureau County, Illinois, where he landed April 7, 1855. For four years he did carpenter…

Elisha D. Crisman was born July 28, 1824, in Berkeley County, Virginia.^[1]Berkley County was a part of Virginia until West Virginia separated itself in 1863. His father, George P. Crisman, was born in 1796, in Virginia, which State he left on account of his opposition to slavery, and removed to Ohio, and from there to Knox County, Illinois, where he died in 1872. He was a farmer by occupation, and a soldier in the war of 1812. He was of German descent. The mother of our subject, Dorothy Sanders, was born 1798 in Virginia. She died 1833, in Highland County,…

Benjamin C. Couch, Esq., Tiskilwa, was born September 19, 1822, in Boscawen, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. He is a grandson of Benjamin Couch Sr., a native of New Hampshire, and a soldier in the Revolutionary war, participating in the battle of Bunker Hill, where he had a bullet shot through his ear. He married a Miss Heath, who was the mother of five children. Of these Benjamin Couch, Jr. was the father of our subject. He was a farmer by occupation, and was a native of New Hampshire, where he died. The mother of our subject, Mrs. Sallie (Morse) Couch,…

James R. Cottle, Princeton, was born February 26, 1835, in Singapore, East India. His father, Richard Cottle, is a native of England, and yet resides in Bristol. In early life he was a carriage trimmer, but is now Government Inspector of the Great Western Railroad. James R. Cottle, Sr. the father of Richard Cottle, was a gentleman of leisure; he was formerly a Government Collector. The mother of our subject was Eliza (Betterridge) Cottle, a native of Thatchan, Berkshire, England. She died in Bristol. She was the mother of nine children, of whom six are now living, but none in…

Nicholas Cottrell, Dover, was born December 8, 1829, in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. His father was Rufus Cottrell, a native of Hampshire County, Massachusetts. He was a farmer by occupation, and died in 1868, aged seventy-four years, in Malden, Illinois. His grandfather, Nicholas Cottrell, was a native of Massachusetts, where he died; he was a blacksmith by occupation, and a soldier in the Revolutionary war, where he served with distinction. The mother of our subject was Sarah (Odell) Cottrell, a native of Dutchess County, New York; she died in Malden, Illinois, in 1872, aged seventy-six years. She was the mother of…

The Corss family was probably among the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts, at least they were residents of Deerfield, Massachusetts. At the time of the French and Indian massacre in 1703 and 1704, and only two of the family escaped, one of whom was the great-grandfather of C. C. Corss. The family still continued to reside in Massachusetts, and at Greenfield, Massachusetts, our subject was born, October 13, 1897. His grandfather, Asher Corss, was among the early settlers of Greenfield, known as one of the old proprietors, he having taken up a large tract of land in that vicinity. Asher Corss…

Martin Corley, deceased, was a native of the Parish Ashgraw, County Conard, Ireland, where his parents, Daniel and Mary Moulton, died. Martin Corley came to America when quite young and became a captain of a boat on the Genesee River. He was married in Rochester, New York to Sarah Biglow, born November 26, 1815, near the Canada line in Berkshire Township, Vermont. She is the daughter of Stephen and Phebe (Wing) Biglow, the former a native of Rhode Island and of Welsh extraction, and the latter of Connecticut and of English and Irish descent. Her father commanded on of the…