BEERS, PHILO, was born July 16, 1793, in Woodbury, Conn. When he was about fifteen years old he was put to live with an elder brother, probably on account of the death of his parents. They could not agree, and he ran away, and was gone twelve or thirteen years, without his relatives hearing from him. During his ramblings he become acquainted with Doctor Joseph Bennett Stillman, who introduced him to his mother and sisters, at Morganfield, Ky. Mr. Beers always said that he made up his mind, on their first acquaintance, to have Miss Martha Stillman for a wife. The Stillman family moved to Sangamon county, Ill., and Mr. Beers went to Carlyle, Clinton county, same State. He was first elected a justice of the peace, and after serving for a time, was elected to represent Clinton county in the Legislature of Illinois, when it assembled in Vandalia. While residing at Carlyle he was married in what is now Williams township, Sangamon county, on the farm of John Poorman. In response to a letter of inquiry, the author of this book received from the clerk of Madison county, Ill., a reply, dated April 29, 1874, in which it is stated that a license was issued at Edwardsville, Oct. 27, 1820, for the marriage of Philo Beers and Martha Stillman; that it was returned, endorsed by Elder Stephen England, with the statement that he had solemnized the marriage Nov. 2, 1820. The clerk also stated that it was the 279th license issued from that office. They are believed to have been the first couple ever married north of the Sangamon river in the State of Illinois; certainly the first in what is now Sangamon county. The first marriage under a license from Sangamon county was between Wm. Moss and Margaret Sims, April 20, 1821. Mr. Beers took his bride to Carlyle, where they had two children. They moved to Sangamon county, and settled three miles southwest of Williamsville, where one child was born. Of their three children--
JOSEPH B., born and died at Carlyle in infancy.
HENRY CLAY, born in 1824, at Carlyle. Philo Beers was the only man living in Carlyle who voted for Henry Clay for President of the United States that year, and the citizens insisted that the babe should be named for his father's candidate. Henry Clay Beers was married in 1848, in Sangamon county, to Adelaide C. McNabb. They had one child, WM. PHILO, who died, aged two years. H. C. Beers died in 1851, in Springfield. His widow married Adolphus Rogers, and resides near Cincinnati. He is a merchant there.
CAROLINE M., born Feb. 20, 1827, in Sangamon county, married in Springfield, May 13, 1847, to Elder Andrew J. Kane. See his name.
Mrs. Martha Beers died in 1845, and Philo Beers died March, 1858, both in Springfield. Mr. Beers moved into Springfield and built a brick dwelling house at the northwest corner of Madison and Fifth streets, about 1830. It was among the first, if not the first, brick dwelling erected in Springfield.