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 668, Farmers' Township
Joel S. Reese, sec. 11, Farmers’ tp.; P. O., Bernadotte. Before
railroads were known in Illinois, and when Black Hawk’s tomahawk had
scarcely been lowered from the zenith of its brutal butchery, Joel
Reese, sr., in 1831, loaded his family and effects in a two-horse
wagon, and leaving civilization in Muskingum Co., Ohio, through great
difficulty and sickness, and wintering on the White river in Indiana,
landed in Fulton county in September, 1832. He died April 6,
1836, honored and esteemed by all who knew him. Our subject, Joel S.
Reese, was born Dec. 23, 1812, in Muskingum Co., Ohio, and came with
his parents to this county in 1832. Being a young man, full of vigor of
life, he went to work with a will, and in 1835 he in partnership with
Jonathan Jennings, erected a sawmill on Spoon river, on the opposite
bank directly across from where Fuller’s mill now stands, in Harris
township. They were a year in completing the work; and when they raised
the frame work they had to go 14 miles to secure help. Mr. Reese’s
father having died soon after this, he was called home to attend to
domestic affairs, leaving the mill in care of Mr. Jennings. After
realizing some profits from the mill he sold his interest in it for
$2,000. He married Feb. 5, 1840, Mary A. Cline, by whom he had 11
children; of these 9 are living, viz: Harriet A., Henry B., John W.,
Mary J., S. Melissa, Frank, Lucy, Samuel E. and Reuben A. Reuben A. is
a stenographer, writing at the rate of 100 words per minute, which is
good for a beginner. Mr. Reese is engaged in general farming.
