Shipp, Dudley M. bio

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 719-720, Isabel Township
D. M. Shipp was born Oct. 11, 1832, in Ky., son of Walker and Rebecca Shipp, also natives of Kentucky; came to Illinois in 1855, stopping in Richland Co., then Menard, then to Mason, and finally in this tp. in 1859; formerly an operator of a saw-mill, now a farmer; has been School Director and Trustee, road Commissioner, etc., and has always been an influential man. He built the first levee on Spoon river. At the age of 20 he married Mary Seay, a native of Ky., born in 1834, and they have had 3 children, one only now living. Sec. 27, Isabel tp., Havana.

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 321-324; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Dudley M. Shipp is one of the shrewdest and most intelligent agriculturists of Isabel Township, as is shown by the success which has crowned his efforts. His home is on section 27, and his real estate comprises over six hundred acres of the very best land. He operates about five hundred acres, which furnishes him a field for very extensive operations in the crops best suited to the situation and the soil on which he works. Much of the land is in the Spoon River bottom and Mr. Shipp was the first to begin the construction of a levee to protect the land against overflow. The levee has now been extended by other farmers until it is five miles in length. Mr. Shipp's portion of it cost him $1900. The enterprise was begun by him in 1867, and he was the first man in this vicinity to raise crops on the bottom.
The grandfather of our subject was John Shipp, probably born in Virginia, whence he removed to Kentucky in a very early day, when panthers and bears were numerous there. He was very fond of hunting and in the pursuit of that pleasure had several narrow escapes from being killed by panthers. On one occasion he was resting on a log in the woods when he heard a crackling in the brush behind him and turned just in time to raise his trusty rifle and shoot a panther which was springing upon him. He was a farmer and a distiller of peach brandy and apple jack. He lived to be more than fourscore years old, breathing his last in Hart County, Ky.
Walker Shipp, the father of our subject, was born in Taylor County, Ky., reared on a farm there and continued to make the county his home until 1835. He then located in Hart County in a section where deer were plentiful, and the memory of our subject includes the sight of his father shooting those animals. Mr. Shipp came to Central Illinois in the winter of 1864, and lived with our subject from that time until his death, which took place when he was fifty-eight years old. He was a Democrat until the outbreak of the Civil War, after which he gave his allegiance to the Republican party. He was an earnest Christian, identified with the Baptist Church.
The mother of our subject was known in her girlhood as Rebecca Mardis. Like her husband she was born in Taylor County, Ky., and was a consistent member of the Baptist Church. She passed away at the age of sixty-five years, in the Indian Territory, where she was living with a daughter. She was the mother of eight children, all of whom grew to maturity although three have now crossed the river of death. The subject of this notice is the first-born. the others are, Marion F., John R., Malinda, Sally, James M., Mrs. Ellen Jackson and Mrs. Harriet Seay. Malinda, Sally and Harriet are deceased.
The gentleman whose name introduces this life history was born in Taylor County, Ky., October 11, 1832, and accompanied his parents to Hart County when he was two years old. He attended school in the primitive log cabin with its slab benches, greased paper windows and writing desks around the walls, where each scholar paid a quarterly fee for tuition and the teacher boarded round. His school attendance was mainly during the winter months and the summers were devoted to work on the farm in which he, as the oldest of the family, bore a prominent part. Young Shipp was but twenty years old when he married and began life for himself. He purchased over one hundred acres of land in La Rue County and began housekeeping in a hewed log dwelling. A year later he sold the property and moved on his father's place in Hart County where he farmed until 1855.
In October of that year Mr. Shipp started for this county, making the trip with a team and wagon, but when he reached Richland County, this State, the roads were so bad that he remained there during the winter, coming on here in the spring. He settled near Petersburg and began working in a sawmill in which he subsequently bought an interest. The venture proved a poor investment and he finally sold out his interest and removed to Havana, remaining there a short time and then hiring out on a farm at $20 per month. The next year he raised a crop on shares and continued so to do about five years.
In 1864, Mr. Shipp bought one hundred and sixty-four acres on section 24, Isabel Township, where twenty-five acres had been broken and a log cabin built. He replaced the rude dwelling by a somewhat better one made of hewed logs, which was his home twelve years. Four years after his first purchase he bought one hundred and sixty acres adjoining on the same section, and in 1872 purchased the land he now lives upon on section 27. Still later he added eighty acres, having prospered greatly in his undertakings as a tiller of the soil and in raising large numbers of animals. The fine frame dwelling now occupied by his family was put up by him in 1881. In construction, design and situation it ranks among the very best in the township. It stands on a high hill overlooking the valley, thus giving its occupants a beautiful view over hill and dale, valley and plain, where fields of yellow grain, orchards, groves and tasteful farm buildings present a charming picture to the eye.
Mr. Shipp has been twice married. The first union was consummated December 15, 1850, the bride being Miss Mary E. Seay who was born in Kentucky in 1834. She became the mother of three children upon whom were bestowed the names of Charles J., George W. and John W. The youngest of the group is the only one now living. The mother died March 21, 1883, strong in the faith of the Baptist Church of which she had long been a member.
Mr. Shipp contracted a second matrimonial alliance October 31, 1883, when he was united to Sarah E. Landis, a native of this county, born in Bernadotte Township, October 9, 1852. The present Mrs. Shipp is a daughter of John and Phebe (Littlejohn) Landis, the former of whom was a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Landis were early settlers in this county and the husband died on their farm in Bernadotte Township, at the age of fifty-two years. Mrs. Landis is still living. She is a member of the Free Methodist Church. The second marriage of our subject has been blest to himself and his wife in the birth of three children Dudley L., Bruce and Flossy D.
Mr. Shipp brings to the consideration of all subjects presented to his mind, the shrewdness and cautious judgment that have characterized his agricultural career. He is a firm believer in the political doctrines of the Republican party and therefore casts his vote with that element. He has held the offices of Road Commissioner and School Trustee for fourteen years, and has also been the incumbent of other minor offices. He belongs to Lewistown Lodge, No. 51, I. O. O. F. He is identified with the Baptist, and Mrs. Shipp with the Methodist Church. (Elsewhere in this volume will be noticed a lithographic portrait of Mr. Shipp - pgs. 321-322)