Transcribed by Mary Ann Kaylor
Page 1591
SARGEANT, GEORGE, retired farmer of Dawson, Sangamon County, is of English nativity and his life is an illustration of the value of British blood in the building up of sturdy and patriotic American citizenship. He was born in Lancashire, December, 23, 1837, a son of George Sr. and Jane (Todd) Sargeant, members of old English families. His father, a farmer, brought his family to America in 1845, sailing from Hull and landing six weeks later at Quebec, Canada. From there the came to St. Lawrence County, N. Y., where he settled on a farm and lived about ten years. In 1844 George Sargeant Jr. came west to Illinois, and locating in Clear Lake Township, Sangamon County, where the elder Sargeant died in 1857. Mrs. Sargeant had passed away in 1856.
The subject of this sketch was educated in England and initiated into the mysteries of good farming under his father's able tutelage. He came to the United States with his parents and lived with them until the beginning of our Civil War. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company A One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer infantry, with which he served till the close of the war. He was mustered out at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Mo., after having taken part in many battles, notably in the Siege of Vicksburg. After the war he resumed farming near Springfield, Ill., but soon located in Mechanicsburg Township, Sangamon County, where he continued in that occupation successfully till 1909, when he retired from active life and moved to Dawson. Here he bought several pieces of property, and will pass his declining years. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and Mrs. Sargeant is identified with the Woman's Relief Corps.
Mr. Sargeant married Miss Elizabeth Dillon in 1858. She was born in Sangamon County, a daughter of John Dillon, an early settler in this part of Illinois and a farmer in Sangamon County till his death. Mrs. Sargeant bore her husband a daughter, Ada, wife of Peter Pope, of Dawson, and died in 1866. In November, 1870, Mr. Sargeant married Miss Mary Waterman. She was born in Sangamon County, a daughter of Charles Waterman, a native of Mechanicsburg, and there worked at his trade of harness maker several years, until he abandoned it to become a farmer, following that occupation as long as he lived. Mrs. Sargeant bore her husband nine children: John, the eldest, is a farmer in Missouri; Chester is farming in Sangamon County; Flora is the wife of James Pettit, of Buckhart, Sangamon County; Ethel and Harry are members of their mother's household; the others have passed away. Mrs. Sargeant was born November 15, 1847. There are nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren in the family.