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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.



ROSS, MRS. NANCY, was born in 1777, in Essex county, N. J. Her maiden name was Dunn. Her father, Jeremiah Dunn, was captain of a company of New Jersey rangers in the Revolutionary army, and was killed July 28, 1778, at the head of his company, at the battle of Monmouth, N. J. He left a widow with one son and three daughters. The widow never married, although she survived her husband sixty years. Their daughter Nancy, whose name heads this sketch, was married in 1795 to William Ross, who was born in the same county, Feb. 14, 1769. They were married in Essex county, had six children there, and, in 1813, moved to Cinci nati, O., where seven children were born. William Ross died there of cholera, Nov. 18, 1832. Mrs. Nancy Ross moved with some of her children to Sangamon county, Ill., arriving in the fall of 1839 in Round Prairie, four miles east of Springfield, and the next year moved to what is now Cooper township. Seven of her children died young. Of the other six--

HETTY, born in 1796 in New Jersey, married in Cincinnati, O., to Jonathan L. Cory, who died near Natchez, Miss., while there on business. He left one child, WILLIAM ROSS CORY, born March 18, 1823, in Cincinnati, and came to Sangamon county with one of his uncles previous to 1840, and was married in Springfield to Icy Isabel Deck. They had four children, three of whom died under eight years. WILLIAM R., Jun., born Jan. 16, 1847, in Sangamon county, married Sept. 12, 1875, to Annetta Deyo. William R. Cory, Jun., is a teacher, and resides in Rochester, Ill. Mrs. Icy I. Cory died in 1855, and Mr. Cory was married Sept. 22, 1859, to Christiana Clements, who was born July 22, 1836, in Montgomery county, Md. They have five living children, JOHN A., ANNIE I., ALICE A., ELLA L. and CLARA H. William Ross Cory resides in Springfield, Ill. Mrs. Hetty Cory married in Cincinnati to Martin H. Flagg, and moved to Springfield in 1838. They had five children; twins died young; one lives in Cincinnati and two in Minnesota. Mr. Flagg died in 1843 in Springfield, and his widow went to Cincinnati and died of cholera, July 3, 1849.

NANCY, born about 1800 in New Jersey, married in Cincinnati, in 1817, to Bennajh English, born near Philadelphia, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He died in Cincinnati in 1837, leaving a widow and two children. They came to Sangamon county in 1840. AFFALINDA married John Tunnicliffe, and lives in St. Louis. BENNAJH married Sarah Firey, and lives in Cooper township. Mrs. Nancy English resides with her son in Cooper township, Sangamon county, Ill.

WILLIAM R., born Oct. 3. 1809, in Rahway, Essex county, N. J., married in Cincinnati, O., May 18, 1834, to Ann Flagg. They had two children born in Cincinnati, and moved to Springfield, Ill., in 1838, and from there to Cooper township, where Mrs. Ross died, Feb. 18, 1844. Mr. Ross was married Dec. 28, 1845, to Mary E. Crowl. They had six children. Of his children -- LAURETTA, born April 13, 1835, in Cincinnati, married in Sangamon county, Dec. 15, 1851, to Henry O. Stafford. They had four children; two died young, and Mrs. Stafford died Dec. 7, 1859. Of her two children, ORLANDO C. lives with his father in Decatur; LAURETTA A. resides with her grandfather Ross. ADELIA, born in Cincinnati, died in Sangamon county May 22, 1854, in her seventeenth year. By the second marriage--GEORGE R., MORDECAI V. and JOSEPH H., live with their parents. William R. Ross and family reside three miles east of Rochester, Sangamon county, Ill.

ANDREW J., born March 8, 1815, in Cincinnati, was married in Sangamon county June 11, 1843, to Elizabeth Lord, who died Nov. 26, 1865, leaving five children, WILLIM R. ANDRDW J., Jun., LOUISA J., JESSE E. and HENRY H. A. J. Ross married Oct. 10, 1868, in St. Louis, to Mrs. Elizabeth Viler, whose maiden name was Ford. They have three children, RICHARD M., MILES M. and MILTON R., and reside three miles north of Berry station, or Clarksville, Sangamon county, Ill.

CHARLOTTE D., born in 1816, in Cincinnati, married there to W. H. Morris, raised a family, came to Sangamon county on a visit, and died suddenly at the house of her brother, William R. Ross, Aug. 8, 1871. Her remains were taken back for interment in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, O.

LOUISA J., born in Cincinnati, married in Sangamon county, Ill., to Milton Ross. He died Aug. 20, 1845, and his widow resides three and three-quarter miles east of Rochester.

Mrs. Nancy Ross died Feb. 24, 1852, in Cooper township. The remains of her husband (William Ross) were removed from Catharine street Cemetery, Cincinnati, by their son, William R., and deposited by her side in Cooper township, in 1870.



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