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EARLY SETTLERS OF SANGAMON COUNTY - 1876
By John Carroll Power

These biographies were submitted by a researcher and evidently abstracted from the 1876 History of Sangamon County, IL. Errors could occur, so one should always verify the correctness by obtaining copies of vitals and performing all necessary research to document what is contained herein.



TORRENCE, WILLIAM, was born in Hampshire county, Virginia, and married there to Margaret Chambaugh. They had seven children, and Mrs. T. died in that county. Mr. Torrence was married to Celia Sheriff and had two children in Virginia, and the family moved to Sangamon county, Illinois, arriving in the fall of 1834, in what is now Rochester township, and two years later moved into Cotton Hill township. Two children were born in Sangamon county. Of all his children--

JOHN, born in Hampshire county, Virginia, married in Sangamon county to Sarah Donner, (a sister to George and Jacob Donner.) They had five children. GEORGE is married and lives in Taylorville; SUSAN married Henry Baker and lives near Medoc, Missouri; MARGARET married Edward Todd, and lives in Springfield; WILLIAM, married, and lives near Atlanta, Illinois. John Torrence and wife died in Atlanta.

ABSALOM, born in Virginia, died in Sangamon county, August, 1835.

ROBERT, born in Hampshire county, Virginia, came to Sangamon county with his parents, married in Iowa, and lives near Medoc, Missouri.

NANCY, born in Virginia, was married in Sangamon county to John Adams. They had three children.

SAMUEL, born May 7, 1819, in Hampshire county, Virginia, was married January 7, 1841, in Sangamon county, to Polly Delay. They had eight children in Sangamon county. GREENBERRY, born Dec. 8, 1842, is proprietor of Cotton Hill mills, formerly the old Breckenridge mill, and lives in Cotton Hill township, Breckenridge postoffice. ELIZA, born May 8, 1844, married H. Peddicord, and died August 15, 1873, leaving three children in Champaign City. CHARLES, born August 22, 1846, married Josephine Peddicord. They have one child and live near Taylorville, Illinois. ELIZABETH, born Sept. 13, 1848, married Edgar Eggleston, and lives near Taylorville, Illinois. JENNIE, born March 22, 1850, married James Shaw. They have one child, and live near Taylorville. JOHN, EMMA and ANNA live with their mother. Samuel Torrence was killed by being thrown from a wagon attached to a runaway team, Sept. 21, 1875. His widow and children live two miles south of Rochester, Sangamon county, Illinois.

WILLIAM, born in Hampshire county, Virginia, came to Sangamon county with his parents and is living with his third wife near Taylorville, Illinois. He has one child by his second marriage.

SILAS, born in Virginia, raised in Sangamon county, married in Iowa, and lives near Winona, Minnesota.

JANE, born in Virgina, married in Sangamon county to Harvey Fasset, and lives near Winona, Minnesota.

By the second wife:

EMANUEL, born in Virginia and died in Sangamon county at about twenty-one years of age.

JOSEPH, born in Virginia, raised in Sangamon county, and is living with his second wife in Taylorville, Illinois.

ISAAC, born in Sangamon county, is unmarried, and lives near Decatur, Illinois.

MARGARET, born in Sangamon county and died at fifteen years of age.

William Torrence died in 1841 in Cotton Hill township, Sangamon county, and his widow married John Davis. He died, and she lives in Taylorville, Illinois.



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