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WILLIAM T. VANDERGRIFT , merchant, Cantrall, Illinois, was born in Athens, Menard County, Illinois, June 27, 1843; son of A.J. and Arminta (Barnett) Vandergrift; father a native of Virginia, and mother of Kentucky; were married in Sangamon county, about 1842, where a family of five children were born, four of which lived to be men and women, Anna Bell, now the wife of F. C. Sherwood, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Thos. J., of Shellsburg, Wisconsin; John S., of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; William T., enlisted in the Ninety-second Regiment, Infantry, Illinois Volunteers, Company I., in 1862, and participated in all the engagements of the regiment, some of the principals being the battle of Chickamauga, Atlanta campaign; with Sherman to the sea; was mustered out at Concord, North Carolina, and discharged at Chicago. In 1865, he married Miss Margaret Canterbury, a daughter of O. P. Canterbury, of Cantrall, Illinois; she was born June 14, 1851. By this union there are three children, Emory C., Arminta and Hardy M. Mr. Vandergrift is at present engaged in merchandising in Cantrall; carries a stock of dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, and everything that is usually carried in a country store; handles a stock of $2,000.
In politics, he is a Republican, and cast his first vote for U. S. Grant, first term, for President of the United States.