All Rights Reserved © Copyright 1999, 2000 All material contained on these pages are furnished for the free use of those engaged researching their family origins. Any commercial use, without the consent of the host/author of these pages is prohibited. We have tried to use images that were obtained from sources permitting free distribution, or generated by the author, and are subject to the same restrictions/permissions. All persons contributing material for posting on these pages does so in recognition of their free, non-commercial distribution, and further, is responsible to assure that no copyright is violated by their submission.



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.




CORRELL, LEVI, was born June 22, 1767, in New Jersey. When a young man he went to Kentucky, and was married Nov. 6, 1794, in Bath county, to Mary Hicklin. They had eleven children, four of whom died young. Of the other seven--

JOSEPH, born Oct. 8, 1795, died when a young man.

ELIZABETH, born Jan. 18, 1797, in Harrison county, Ky., married March 23, 1820, to Jonathan McDaniel. See his name.

HUGH, born July 6, 1804, in Harrison county, Ky. He was married May 2, 1826, in that county, to Mary Y. Sinclair. They had two children in Kentucky, and moved to Sangamon county, Ill., arriving in the fall of 1830 in what is now Mechanicsburg township, where they had four children. Of their six children, ELIZABETH, born May 9, 1827, in Kentucky, married in Sangamon county to Robert P. McDaniel. See his name. He died, and she married James H. McDaniel. See his name. CYRUS, born July 16, 1829, in Kentucky, came with his parents to Sangamon county, married at Concord, Morgan county, to Mary Brown. Cyrus Correll died Dec. 23, 1868, in Sangamon county, leaving one child, CORA, residing with her mother, who is the wife of Pierce Kiser, and lives in Mechanicsburg. CORDELIA, born Feb. 23, 1833, in Sangamon county, married Feb. 18, 1858, to John M. Carpenter, who was born March 26, 1829, in Butler county, O., and came to Sangamon county in 1850. They have three children, WINFORD H., DORA B. and MINNIE C., and reside three and a half miles northeast of Buffalo. DAVID, born March 29, 1836, in Sangamon county, is unmarried, and resides two and a half miles south of Dawson. STEPHEN, born May 12, 1838, in Sangamon county, married March 12, 1868, to Ann M. Semple, who was born Dec. 29, 1846, in Ireland. They have two children, WILLIE and MARY D., and reside two and a half miles south of Dawson, at the family homestead. MARY, born Sept. 7, 1840, in Sangamon county, married Mar., 1864, to Jesse Wheelin. Mr. Wheelin died Feb. 1, 1871, and Mrs. W. died Aug. 21, 1871. Their only living child, CYRUSE., born July 8, 1865, in Sangamon county, resides at the family homestead, two and a half miles south of Dawson. Hugh Correll died June 1, 1854, and his widow died Sept. 7, 1874, both where they settled in 1832, on the farm two and a half miles south of Dawson.

MARTHA, born March 13, 1806, in Kentucky, married Hugh McDonald. They had five children and moved to Texas, where Mr. McDonald and two sons, JAMES and THOMAS, and a daughter, MARTHA, died. Mrs. Martha McDonald returned, and died in Sangamon county. MARY E. married Mr. Grider, and lives in Decatur, Texas. SUSAN died at Quincy Ill., September, 1875. ANNA resides with her uncle, Thomas Correll.

THOMAS, born Jan. 18, 1808, in Harrison county, Ky. He was there married. Oct. 7, 1830, to Sally McDaniel. (She was born Aug. 28, 1811, in Clarke county, Ky.) They moved immediately after they were married to Sangamon county, Ill., arriving in the fall of 1830 in Mechanicsburg township, where they had eight children. Of their children, M. MARGARET, born July 13, 1832, married Edwin Tomlin. See his name. WILLIAM FLETCHER, born Oct. 16, 1833, married Feb. 25, 1868, to E. Fannie Purviance. They have two children, FRANK and KATE, and reside in Macon county, Ill., two and a half miles southeast of Illiopelis. D. SIMPSON, born Sept. 3, 1835, married Feb. 25, 1874, to Lizzie Peden, who was born Oct. 19, 1855, in Morgan county, O. They live two miles south of Illinois. WARNER H., born May 1, 1837, married Dec. 20, 1866, to Anna Simpson, who died in 1867, and he married March, 1871, to Lizzie St. Clair. They have three children, THOMAS, SAMUEL and ESSIE MAY, and live near Pleasant Plains, Ill. CORNELIUS, born May 19, 1839, married March 12, 1863, to Carrie A. Cass. She was born Dec., 1845, and was a daughter of William Riley Cass. They had two children, FLORA C. and VIRGIL, and Mrs. Correll died April 1, 1866. Mr. Correll was married Nov. 16, 1869, to Lidie N. Davies, in Philadelphia. She was born there May 30, 1843, of Scotch and English parents, and graduated in 1865 in one of the institutions of learning in her native city. They had three children, FANNY MARY, JESSIE NEWTON and HEBER WILBER; the latter died in infancy, and Mrs. Lidie N. Correll died March 23, 1874. Cornelius Correll is a graduate in the Law department of Michigan University, Ann Arbor. He is now a member of the firm of Correll & Co., druggists, Springfield. JOHN, born June 5, 1841, resides with his parents. LEVI S., born Aug. 14, 1843. He is a graduate of the Medical department of Ann Arbor University, Michigan. He is member of the firm of Correll & Co., composed of the brothers Cornelius, John and Levi S., druggists, Springfield. Levi S. was married July 8, 1874, in Springfield, to Lou Freeman. They reside in Springfield. FANNIE, born August 22, 1846, in Sangamon county, married Oct. 29, 1869, to Isaac Funk. They have two children, ARTHUR and MABEL; the latter died in infancy. They reside at Funk's Grove, near Shirley, McLean county. Thomas Correll and his wife reside within one mile of where they settled in 1830. It is two and a half miles southeast of Dawson.

Thomas Correll says that he raised a crop of corn in Kentucky, during the summer of 1830, and sold it for $75.00 He spent $500 in getting married, and brought the remaining $70.00 with him. He fed his father's stock during the winter of 1830 and '31, (being the winter of the "deep snow,") for which he received $30, making an even $100. With that money he came to Springfield and entered his first eighty acres of land. Having secured his land, he had not a cent of money to pay a hotel bill, and a man by the name of Constant hearing him relate his situation, kept him over night and trusted him for it. The ferryman at the Sangamon river took him over on the same terms, and that was the way he laid the foundation for his home. When they commenced keeping house they had neither a table nor chair. He made a shelf on the wall, and from that the first meal was taken standing. His wife's uncle, Henry McDaniel, was with them, and he praised her cooking, to keep her courage up. Mr. Correll, during the summer of 1831, rode eight miles to help David Riddle harvest his wheat, and returned home every night. He received sixty-two and a half cents per day for his labor. The first wheat he raised for himself he harvested with a reap hook, or sickle, tramped it out with horses, hauled it to St. Louis, one hundred miles, and sold it for fifty cents per bushel. As he accumulated some money, he bought fat hogs, and drove them to St. Louis. One year he made some money, and feeling liberal, he overpaid some of the men who helped him. The next year he lost all, and was thirty-seven and a half cents short in money to pay his hired help. One of those who had been overpaid by him the year before, would not suffer any reduction, and he had to raise the money in some other way. He thought that was not very encouraging, but his success in life since, makes the contrast very striking.

SUSANNAH, born Oct. 9, 1809, in Kentucky, married Jacob Morgan. See his name.

SARAH, born Dec. 31, 1811, in Kentucky, married Jacob Constant. See his name.

Mrs. Mary H. Correll died July 10, 1816, in Kentucky, and Levi Correll was married July 17, 1817, to Mrs. Elizabeth Sinclair, whose maiden name was Phillips. She was born July 27, 1807, in Northumberland county, Va. Her father died when she was quite young, and her mother, with her son and daughter, moved to Harrison county, Ky. Mr. and Mrs. Correll had two children in Kentucky, and moved to Sangamon county, Ill., arriving in the fall of 1830, in what is now Mechanicsburg township. Of their two children--

WILLIAM, born August 16, 1818, in Harrison county, Ky., was married in Sangamon county, Dec. 7, 1848, to Permelia A. Simpson. They had three children. CYRUS died in infancy. HENRY OWEN married Ada Elkin, and lives near Mechanicsburg. MARY EVA lives with her parents, three miles west of Mechanicsburg. William Correll says that himself and his half-brother, John Sinclair, broke forty acres of prairie in 1831, northeast of the old state house square, in Springfield. It included the land where Everybody's Mill, the jail, Opera House and Journal office now stand.

ELIZA, born Dec., 1821, in Kentucky, married in Sangamon county to Talbott Lyon. They had four children, and Mr. Lyon and all the children died. Mrs. Lyon married in Sangamon county to Gardner Bruce. They reside at Atchison, Kansas. Mrs. Elizabeth Correll has two children by her first husband, Mr. Sinclair.

MARY Y. Sinclair, born July 27, 1807, in Northumberland county, Va., married Hugh Correll. See his name.

JOHN Sinclair, born in 1808, in Virginia, married in Sangamon county to Mrs. Miriam Massey, whose maiden name was Constant. They had several children, and the parents and all except two of the children are dead. Their daughter, Miriam, married Narcissus Rivaud, and reside at Kankakee. John Sinclair, Jun., went to South America, married a Spanish lady, and resides there.

Levi Correll died May 2, 1845, and Mrs. Elizabeth Correll died Nov. 10, 1852, both in Sangamon county.




Return to 1876 Biography Index

Return to Sangamon County ILGenWeb