JOHN R. PULLIAM. - John R. Pulliam, one of the enterprising farmers and stock raisers of Ball township, lives on sections 20 and 29, where he owns and operates a farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres. He was born in Macoupin county, Illinois, January 2, 1836, and comes of Irish ancestry, the family having been founded in Virginia at an early day, whence representatives of the name afterward removed to Kentucky. The grandfather was Robert Pulliam and the father Irwin Stout Pulliam. The former, on leaving Kentucky in 1817, took up his abode in Sangamon county, Illinois, and in the spring of 1818 he made maple sugar, one of the first to perform such work in this locality. He then returned to Kentucky for his family and located in what is now Ball township. Irwin Stout Pulliam, who was born in Kentucky, was reared in Sangamon county and was married here to Miss Matilda Nuckols, who was born in Virginia and there remained until fourteen years of age, when her father, John Nuckols, removed to Kentucky. At a later date Mr. Pulliam took up his abode in Macoupin county, Illinois, where he developed a farm of two hundred acres and several of his children were born there. He afterward disposed of his land and returned to Sangamon county, where he spent his last days and his wife, who survived him, lived to the ripe old age of eighty-eight years.

John Robert Pulliam is the eldest of their seven sons and two daughters, of whom five brothers and one sister are now living. He received but limited educational privileges, spending only a few weeks each winter in the district schools. During the Civil War he enlisted in 1864 for one hundred days' service, joining Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-third Illinois Infantry, under Captain Ames. He joined the regiment, which was sent to Rock Island to guard prisoners and there his term of enlistment was passed. At its close he received an honorable discharge at Camp Butler in Springfield and returned to his home.

In 1876 Mr. Pulliam was united in marriage to Miss Margaret L. Drennan, a daughter of M. D. Drennan, who was born and reared in Sangamon county and died here in 1885. In 1896 he married Laura Price, a native of Henderson county, Illinois, and a daughter of William Flint Price, whose birth occurred in Ohio in 1826. He went to Indiana, but afterward returned to Ohio, where he was married to Deborah Boyer, a native of that state. Subsequently he settled in Henderson county, Illinois, where he reared his family.

After his first marriage Mr. Pulliam located on the farm which he now owns and began to clear and improve it. He fenced the land, erected good buildings, placed his fields under cultivation and developed an excellent property. He began with only eighty acres, but subsequently bought forty acres, upon which his buildings now stand. He has made other excellent improvements of a modern nature and in his work has prospered. Unto him and his wife have been born two sons, John Raymond and Robert Samuel.

Politically Mr. Pulliam was reared in the Democratic faith, but never voted for the party at national elections save when he cast his ballot for William Jennings Bryan. He advocated Republican principles for many years, but is now a strong Prohibitionist and an ardent advocate of the cause of temperance. He and his wife hold membership in McMurray Chapel, a Methodist organization, and he is serving as church steward and trustee. He was made a Mason in Auburn Lodge, but is now dimitted. His life has been characterized by honorable principles and his integrity and worth have gained for him the good will and high regard of those with whom he has been bought in contact.