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.



WORKMAN, JAMES, born Dec. 17, 1806, in Alleganey county, Maryland, was taken about 1810 to Bourbon county, Kentucky, by his father, Abraham Workman, who was an elder brother to John, Stephen, William and David. When James was a young man he went from Bourbon county to Overton county, Tennessee, and was there married to Elizabeth Bilyeu, had one child, and moved to Sangamon county, Illinois, arriving in the fall of 1830, in what is now Loami township, where one child was born. In 1831 he returned to Tennessee, where one child was born and Mrs. Workman died. Mr. W. married there to Lydia Bilyeu. He moved in 1841 to southwest Missouri, and in 1843 returned to Tennessee, where his wife died without children. Mr. Workman married there to Eliza Rayburn, returned to Sangamon county, and settled where he did in 1830. At the close of the rebellion he returned to Tennessee. Three years later he came back to Sangamon county. He had seven children by his third wife. Three died young. Of his children by the first marriage--

JAMES ABRAHAM, born Dec. 16, 1827, in Overton county, Tennessee, raised partly in Sangamon county, married in Tennessee, May 29, 1847, to Jemima Kitchen, and had four children, JAMES M., SARAH E., THOMAS C. and JEMIMA E. Mrs. Jemima Workman died Nov. 10, 1858, and Mr. W. was married May 20, 1860, to Adaline Buck. They have five living children, WILLIAM D., NANCY A., REBECCA A., EMMA E. and GEORGE H. Mr. Workman was a justice of the peace and tax collector in Overton county. Many of his loyal friends had been killed, and his own life threatened by the Ku-Klax, so he left there and returned in 1866 to the vicinity of Loami, Sangamon county, and now--1874--lives in Christian county, near Mowequa, Shelby county, Illinois.

REBECCA, born August 16, 1830, in Sangamon county, married Sept. 13, 1849, to Solomon Shetter, had eight living children. WILLIAM was killed, aged 15 years, by a fall from a horse. ARISSA married James Stanton, and resides near Loami, Illinois. NANCY E., MINIZA J., ANNA I., ELIZA A., ALBERT A., and EPSEY C. reside near Loami, Illinois.

SAMUEL E., born Feb. 9, 1833, in Tennessee, married Nov. 15, 1851, to Isabel Kitchen, and have seven children, SARAH E., LYDIA J., JAMES D., NANCY A., ISABEL and MARY L., and reside one mile south of Loami, Illinois. The living children of the third wife, GEORGE W., WILLIAM B., BARNEY and DELIA A. M. reside with their parents.

In 1872 James Workman and wife, with their four children, moved to Christian county, near Mowequa, Shelby county, Illinois.



Return to 1876 Biography Index
Return to Sangamon County ILGenWeb