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 927, Vermont Township
Elder J. B. Royal, minister of the Christian Church, was born in
Franklin Co., O., Nov. 1, 1816; his father, Thos. Royal, was born in
Manchester, Eng., and came to America near the beginning of the
Revolutionary war and fought for American independence; he subsequently
married a Miss Cooper in Virginia, raised a family, and after her death
he married Rebecca Matthews; then moved to Franklin Co., O., where the
second wife died, leaving one child; he afterward married Ellen Brink,
by whom he had one son, - Joseph, whose name heads this sketch. In 1824
they came to Sangamon Co., Ill. Aug. 19, 1841, Joseph married Louisa
Downing, in Sangamon Co., who died Jan. 8, 1853, in Vermont, Ill.,
leaving 4 children (2 died young). Mr. and Mrs. Royal have 3 children,
- Geo. A., Mollie M.; and Eugene D., who married Emma S. Sexton. Joseph
B. has formerly been pastor of the Christian Church here, and has been
in the ministry 32 years.
