History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with
Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious,
Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons
and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co.,
Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 926, Vermont Township
Wm. Provine, miller, was born in Clark Co., Ind., a son of Wm.
and Mary Provine. Wm. P., sen., was a native of Tennessee, but early
came to Kentucky, where he married Mary Buchanan, and in 1803 emigrated
to Indiana where he was county surveyor. William, in 1836, settled in
Macomb, Ill., where he worked three years at his trade as
cabinet-maker. In 1838 he married Paulina Scott, daughter of Martin
Scott, of Ky. In 1847 he moved to Vermont and engaged in wool-carding
for a short time, and then for 10 years he was connected with Isaac
Witehell and Jesse Burr in the building and running of a saw-mill; then
he was merchant at Abingdon a short time, then back to Vermont, and in
company with Stevens & Winans remodeled and ran the Excelsior Mills
(now the Monitor). In 1858 he went to Tennessee, Ill., then to
Bushnell, then back to Vermont, then assisted in building the flouring
mill at Astoria now owned by Wm. Kost. Of the 11 children born to him 7
are living.
