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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.



CANTRALL, LEVI, was born Oct. 1, 1787, in Botetourt county, Va. He was taken by his parents in 1789 to that part of Mercer which afterwards became Bath county, Ky. He was there married Nov. 30, 1809, to Fanny England. They had one child in Kentucky, and the family moved, in 1811, to Madison county, O., where five children were born. They then moved to Madison county, Ill., in Oct., 1819; moved on and arrived where Springfield now stands, Dec. 4, 1819, and reached the north side of the river, in what is now Fancy Creek township, on the fifth, made the selection of a location on the seventh, and commenced building a cabin Dec. 8, 1819. They had seven children in Sangamon county. Of their thirteen children--

THOMAS, born Oct. 11, 1810, in Bath county, Ky., married Oct. 3, 1831, in Sangamon county, to Priscilla D. McLemore, who was born Sept. 14, 1814, in Tennessee. They had nine children, namely: CLARISSA, born Jan. 20, 1833, unmarried, and resides at the house of H. H. Holland. TURNER H., born May 9, 1834, last heard from in Alabama. YOUNG M., born April 30, 1836, married, 1861, to Ellen Graham; had one child, THOMAS E., and Y. M. Cantrall enlisted in 1862 for three years, in Co. C, 114 Ill. Inf., and died in the army. His widow and son reside in Athens. LEVI, born July 16, 1838, died, aged nineteen. NANCY A., born March 25, 1840, married Egbert Mallory. See his name. THOMAS J., born Dec. 21, 1842, served three years in the 10th Ill. Cav., was honorably discharged, and lives in Nebraska. FANNY P., born March 2, 1843, married James D. Mallory. See his name. MARY E., born Dec. 8, 1844, is a teacher in Springfield. Mrs. Priscilla D. Cantrall died, and Thomas C. married June 12, 1848, to Elizabeth Estel. They had four children. MARTHA E., born June 12, 1849, married and died in Logan county. ROBERT H., born July 16, 1851, married Miss Goff, has one child, and resides near Athens. WILLIAM M., born April 16, 1853, and CHARLES H., born Dec. 29, 1855, reside with their mother. Thomas Cantrall lost his life by a runaway team dragging a saw-log over him, in 1858. His widow and unmarried children reside near Athens.

ANN, born July 17, 1812 in Madison county, O., married in Sangamon county to Edward Ridgeway. They had three children, and Mr. R. died in 1834. His widow married Ferdinand Meeker, and had several children. She died in Logan county. Her daughter, NANCY RIDGEWAY, married James Milam, and resides in Buffalo Hart, Ill. Her daughter, DULCINA MEEKER, married Jeremiah Lashbaugh, and resides in Illiopolis township.

NANCY, born Sept. 15, 1813, in Madison county, O., married in Sangamon county to Turner Holland. See his name.

STEPHEN L., born April 4, 1815, in Madison county, O., married in Sangamon county to Mary Ridgeway. They had three children. FANNY married George Provines, has seven children, and reside near Clinton. ALMYRA married Samuel Mellinger, and died, leaving one child. Samuel Mellinger married Mrs. Miranda Snelson, whose maiden hame was Cantrall. GEORGE W. enlisted Aug., 1862, for three years, in Co. I, 114 Ill. Inf., and died in the army. Mrs. Mary Cantrall died in Buffalo Hart grove, and Stephen L. Cantrall died in 1874, at the house of his brother Joshua.

SELINDA, born Nov. 14, 1816, in Ohio, died in Sangamon county, at twelve or thirteen years of age.

ELEANOR, born Oct. 17, 1818, in Ohio, married in Sangamon county to John Jordan, and resides near Olathe, Kan.

ELIZABETH, born May 26, 1820, in Sangamon county, married James Driskell. Mrs. Driskell died. One son, DAVID, enlisted in Co. C, 114, Ill. Inf., in Aug., 1862, for three years, and died at home of disease contracted in the army. Another son, LEVI, resides in Menard county.

LEVI, Jr., born March 17, 1822, in Sangamon county, married to Elizabeth C. King, who was born July 11, 1828, in Tennessee. They had four children. JASPER H., born March 23, 1847, married Sarah E. Wagner, has three children, WILLIAM H., BERTRAM and JOSEPH, and resides near Paxton. WILLIAM M., born March 1, 1849, married Minnie Wells, has two children, ALVIN N. and WILLIAM V., and resides near Illiopolis. MARY E. married Sept. 2, 1874, to Benjamin F. Warren, has one child, HARRY N., and resides near Illiopolis. ALFRED N. resides with his mother. Levi Cantrall, Jr., died March 14, 1868, and his widow married Sept. 2, 1874, to Enoch Primm.

RACHEL, born Feb. 29, 1824, in Sangamon county, married John Overstreet. See his name.

CHARLES S., born Jan. 6, 1826, in Sangamon county, married Jan. 7, 1845, to Emily M. Vandergrift, who was born Oct. 6, 1830. They had two children. MARY E., born June 13, 1848, married Jan. 25, 1866, to Stephen O. Price, has two children, and resides near Lincoln. MACDONALD, born Aug. 22, 1851, married Aug. 4, 1870, to Margaret Peden, has two children, and resides in Springfield. Mrs. Emily M. Cantrall died Jan. 29, 1852, and C. S. Cantrall married June 20, 1852, to Lucy Swearengin, who was born Oct. 15, 1828. She died April 14, 1853. C. S. Cantrall married April 26, 1855, to Harriet A. Graham, who was born Feb. 17, 1836, in Athens. They have nine children, CHARLES H., THOMAS D., ALICE, JOHN W,, LEVI G., WILLIAM H., FANNY A., HOMER E. and IDA. Charles S. Cantrall had one leg amputated, caused by disease. It was done in Sept., 1871. He resides two miles west of Illiopolis.

JOSHUA, born July 28, 1828, in Sangamon county, married Rebecca Hedrick. They had thirteen children; three died in infancy. Of the other ten, LAFAYETTE was married July 23, 1874, to Gussie Chambers, and lives in Illiopolis township. FANNIE SELINDA married Benjamin Capps. See his name. CARLISLE, BARTON R., JULIA A., MACDONALD, LAURA E., CLARA P., LEVI and BENJAMIN, and reside one and a half miles west of Illiopolis.

JESSE, born April 7, 1830, in Sangamon county, married Eliza J. Humes. They had ten children. He enlisted Aug., 1862, for three years, in Co. C, 114th Ill. Inf. He was commissioned 2d Lieut. at the organization, promoted to Captain, and served as such to the end of the rebellion, and was honorably discharged. He moved with nis family to Black Bob, Johnson county, Kansas.

MACDONALD, born April 5, 1833, in Sangamon county, married Narcissa Hedrick. They had one child, and Mr. Crantrall died Sept. 15, 1872. His widow and son, CHARLES, reside in Menard county, five miles northeast of Cantrall.

Mrs. Fanny Cantrall died Sept. 10, 1835, and Levi Cantrall married May 27, 1836, to Mrs. Ann Barnett, whose maiden name was Patterson. They had five children, three of whom died in infancy. Of the other two--

FANNY L., born Oct. 9, 1838, in Sangamon county, married Jan., 1857, to Henry Graham. They have four living children, MARY A., WILLIAM, ARMINDA D. and JOSEPH, and reside near Athens, Menard county.

JOSEPH S., born Oct. 16, 1841, in Sangamon county, married Jan. 14, 1869, to Margaret A. Canterbury. They have one child, DAISY E., and reside at Cantrall. He is one of the proprietors of the new town of Cantrall.

Levi Cantrall died Feb. 22, 1860, and his widow resides with their son Joseph S., at Cantrall. The town of Cantrall was laid out on land he entered soon after coming to the country, and was named in honor of his memory.

INCIDENTS.

From a statement in writing made by Levi Cantrall a few months before his death, I learn that in building the cabin he commenced Dec. 8th, 1819, about half a mile west of the present town of Cantrall, the mortar froze so that he could not plaster it. December 24, 1819, snow began to fall, and continued one snow after another until it was two feet deep on a level. The weather continued intensely cold, and a company of seven men started to the American Bottom for provisions. They were Levi and Wyatt Cantrall, Alexander and Henry Crawford, M. Holland, a Mr. Kellogg and John Dixon, who afterwards founded the city of Dixon, Ill. They loaded their wagons with flour and meal and started home on the eighteenth, and on the twentieth rain commenced falling. The rain and melting snow set the whole country afloat, and when they reached the Sangamon river it was too full to cross. They sent back to Kelly's--where Springfield now stands--for tools, and obtained an axe and grubbing hoe. With these they made a canoe, and reached home twenty-one days from the time of starting. On the 6th of May, 1820, the frost killed their growing corn. The settlers thought of moving back south, but they hauled up provisions before the next winter and lived through it.

Levi Cantrall built a horse mill in the fall of 1820. It was a band mill, with a wheel forty feet in diameter. It was the first mill ever built north of the Sangamon river, and people came thirty miles or more to mill. Mr. Cantrall built a water mill on Cantrall's creek, near the present town of Cantrall. It did sawing and grinding. He says the snow of 1830-31 was four feet on a level. Levi Cantrall kept a tannery where he lived for more than forty years.



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