Negly, Joseph B. bio

Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County, Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States, and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890; page 581-582; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Joseph B. Negly. Among the numerous avenues by which men pass to success there is none that affords better opportunities than that of tilling the soil. Without doubt the farmer’s life has less of cankering care in it than that of any other class of workers in the business world. He leads a quiet life, free from the noise and care that almost invariably attend a commercial career, and confident that his labor will bring a good result. Mr. Negly is numbered among the successful agriculturists of Fulton County, Ill., who having accumulated a fortune, can afford to rest from active labor and enjoy the comforts wealth can procure. As such we are pleased to present a brief account of his life, and also direct the attention of the reader to his lithographic portrait on the opposite page.
The place where Mr. Negly spent the earlier period of his life was near Mercersburg, in Montgomery Township, Franklin County, Pa., and the date of his birth was June 15, 1813. He comes of German lineage, his great-grandfather coming from the Fatherland at a very early day and locating in Pennsylvania. In that State Grandfather Eliab Negly was born, and there, after a useful career, he passed from the busy scenes of earth. His occupation was that of a miller, and he figured in the Revolutionary War. The immediate progenitors of or subject were Jacob and Mary (Bowermaster) Negly, both of German descent. The father was a farmer, and in connection with his agricultural labors worked as a blacksmith, having learned that trade.
The parental family included eight children, of whom the following are deceased: John, Mary, Jacob, Elizabeth, Eliab and Daniel. The survivors are: Barbara B., widow of Jacob Martin, of Pennsylvania, and our subject. He of whom we write was reared on his father’s farm and continued to live with his parents until he was twenty-three years of age, when he was prepared to establish a home of his own. He was united in marriage, June 14, 1836, with Miss Catherine Wolf, a native of Pennsylvania and the daughter of David and Catherine (Buttesbaugh) Wolf.
The record of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Negly is a follows: David Wolf died in infancy; Catherine is the wife of Newton Ellis, of Canton; Ann Maria married John Brown, of Marshalltown, Iowa; Joseph W. lives near Gilman, Iowa; Daniel P. is deceased; George owns and is residing at the old homestead where he was born; Susan is the wife of N. C. Wilkinson, of Alta, Iowa; Jacob M., the second child, was killed at the battle of Shiloh, while with the Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, in Company C; William H., the youngest child, is deceased. After the death of his first wife Mr. Negly was married in Buckheart Township, June 15, 1881, to Mrs. Mary Almsley, widow of Aaron Almsley and a native of Germany. Her parents, Jacob and Catherine (Slossen) Tresser left the Fatherland when she was only three years old, emigrating to the United States and locating near Chambersburg, in Franklin County, Pa.
While in the prime of early manhood our subject resolved to locate in the West, and coming to Canton, Ill., in October, 1844, soon afterward purchased a farm in Fairview Township. He continued to give his time and attention to agricultural pursuits until he retired from his active labors and settled in Canton in 1883. At one time he engaged in the mercantile business, being the proprietor of a dry-goods store and succeeding admirable in that, as in other avocations. In politics he was formerly a Whig, then a Republican, and still frequently votes the latter ticket, although he is now identified with the Greenback party. For a period of fifteen years he was President of the Fairview Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He is a Master Mason, having been connected with the Fairview Lodge for twenty eight years, and being Master of Fairview Lodge twelve years; he is also a Royal Arch Mason. For a time he was in Europe buying horses for the Canton Importing Company, of which he was made President on his return home.