COUNCIL, HARDY
, born Sept. 20, 1793, near Tarboro, N. C., was taken by his parents to Tennessee, thence to Barren county, Ky., and from there to White county, near Carmi, Ill. He was there married, in 1818, to Jane Hanna, who was born Feb. 25, 1795, in Kentucky, They moved on horseback the next year to Sangamon county, Ill., arriving in August, 1819, in what is now Fancy creek township, preceding his brother William two years. Mrs. Council carried a sack of wheat on the horse she rode, besides many household implements. Mr. Council carried all he could in the way of tools and other articles necessary for farming. He commenced improvements by building a camp or rough cabin. He was unable to obtain a plow, but being anxious to raise some wheat for a beginning, he took a grubbing hoe, or old fashioned mattock, and dug up about one acre and a half, near the junction between prairie and timber, and on the ground thus prepared, sowed the wheat brought by his wife, and raised a good crop. When the land was surveyed and brought into market, there was a line between his cabin and where he raised his crop of wheat. He could only enter one piece, and he chose that with the house on it. The land where the wheat grew was entered by another person, who never cultivated it, but allowed a growth of young cottonwood trees to start on it, which has made quite a grove, that can be seen for several miles; many of the trees are more than two feet in diameter each. Mr. Council and Robert McClelland came together, and they cut an ample supply of grass, and stacked it for their horses and cattle. They knew nothing of the danger of prairie fires, and before they were aware of the importance of protecting it, their hay was all burned. They kept their stock alive by cutting down elm trees, so that they could eat the buds. Mr. and Mrs. Council had seven sons born at that place, two of whom died in infancy. Of the other five--JOHN H., born May 19, 1822, married Edna Lake. They have five children, JAMES H., CHARLES F, JOHN W. and GEORGE R., the two latter twins, and ANNA F., and reside near where his father settled in 1819, three miles west of Sherman.
WESLEY, born Nov. 21, 1824, was married April 14, 1853, to Martha A. Wigginton. They had twelve children, nine of whom died under thirteen years, the other three, JOHN, WILLIE and NELLIE reside with their parents in Williamsville.
WILLIAM F., born Jan. 21, 1828, married Rosanna England. They have seven children, MARY F., WILLIAM H., FLORA J., DAVID E., GEORGE A., NORA E. and U. S. GRANT, who reside with their parents in Menard county.
ROBERT, born March 23, 1831, married Ellen Cresee. They have three living children, JOHN W., MABEL and LILLIE M., and reside in Menard county, five miles northwest of Williamsville.
GEORGE W., born August 6, 1834, enlisted Oct. 25, 1862, in Co. B, 130th Ill. Inf., for three years, was transferred to Co. G, 1st New Orleans Vol. Inf., in which he was 2d Lieut. He served in that capacity nearly one year after the close of the war, and was honorably discharged. He was married March 24, 1868, to Olivia L. Miller, who was born Feb. 17, 1851, in West Liberty, O. They have two children, CLIFFORD and IDA E., and reside at the homestead settled by his parents in 1819, in Fancy creek township.
Mrs. Jane Council died March 30, 1863, and Hardy Council died July 26, 1873, both in Sangamon county, Ill.