Alfred Whitacre to Ellen Adlum Straub
Mr. Whitacre turned his attention to farming in Illinois until about 1881, when in the spring of that year, he decided to emigrate to Boone County, Nebraska, and enter a homestead claim in that section of the state.
He entered a claim of one hundred and sixty acres about twenty-five miles northwest of Albion (the county town) on which he continued to live for several years. He thinks he made a mistake in settling in that locality, as a portion of the country in the northern part of the state was of a barren and inferior quality. However, he thought by cultivation of a good garden and raising vegetation he would be able to pull through and have an honest living.
He had two sons, Henry (3/12/1878) and John (6/23/1884) and one daughter Bessie(Sarah Elizabeth)1/10/1880) all of whom moved to Nebraska with their parents. Henry was born on the John G. Heisel farm in Spring Valley, in March 1878, four miles northwest of Shannon. Bessie was born in Shannon, Jan. 10th 1880; John was born in Dekalb County, Illinois. In the spring of 1883 they returned to Illinois and bought a home in Mill Grove, Stephenson County Illinois where they continued to live for some three years, after which they sold their property and moved to Shannon.
Contributed by John Sharp (the marriage occurred December 27, 1877 Book B Pg 45 #1779)
In the summer of 1877 my sister Ellen was married to Alfred Whitacre formerly of Muncy Township, Lycoming County, PA. They were married by the Rev. James Trewatha of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Shannon Illinois.
From "Life and Civil War Services of Edward A. Straub 1909 p.88"
