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 198-199; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Samuel Willcoxen, a wealthy citizen of Buckheart Township, has
for many years been identified with its farming interests as one of its
most practical, wide-awake and business-like farmers and
stock-raisers. He is a native of Ashe County, N. C., born October
12, 1813. His father, the Rev. Squire Willcoxen, was for many
years a Baptist preacher. He was also a North Carolinian by birth
and was married in the State of nativity to Sarah Tatrim, a daughter of
James Tatrim and a native of North Carolina. The Rev. Mr.
Willcoxen was a son of Samuel Willcoxen and he served in the war of
1812.
When our subject was about three years old the family removed
from North Carolina to Kentucky, where they remained twelve years, and
then came to this county about 1828. Thus his parents were among
the first settlers of this part of Illinois, locating in a place called
Slabtown. Five years later they moved into what is now Buckheart
Township, west of the present home of our subject on section 5, and
were among the pioneers of the township. Here the father’s death
occurred on his farm in 1837 at the age of fifty-nine years. They
were the parents of nine children, six girls and three boys, and
Samuel, of whom we write, was the seventh of the family.
Our subject was reared among the pioneer scenes in Kentucky and
experienced also all the hardships and privations of pioneer life in
Fulton County. After coming here he attended the old Tatrim
school, which was conducted on the subscription plan, and there he
learned to read, write and cipher. He remained with his parents
until he was twenty-seven years of age, when he married and established
a home of his own, taking as his wife Miss Lucinda Carner, of this
township. She was born in Kentucky and was brought to this State
when she was quite young by her parents, who were pioneer settlers
here. She has been a very useful assistant to her husband in the
acquirement of his property and has been a devoted mother to their
children, of whom they have had three; Ellen, wife of Elijah
Johnson; George W., who resides on the old homestead, and one who died
in infancy.
By wise thrift and prudence, by the dint of hard and unremitting
labor, by careful management, shrewdness and foresite in the
transaction of business, Mr. Willcoxen has placed himself among the
most well to-do members of the farming population of Buckheart
Township. He is very skillful as a farmer and has his farm
well-stocked with cattle, horses and hogs of high grades. Before
he divided his land with his children he had nine hundred acres of
choice farming land. He still retains possession of two hundred
acres which is under a high state of cultivation and finely
improved. After marriage he first settled on the old homestead
that belonged to his father, and besides carrying that on managed one
of his mother’s and he lived on it forty-six years, when he bought his
present farm on section 11, Buckheart Township, comprising one hundred
and fifty-four acres, and is considered one of the most valuable in the
locality. It is supplied with substantial buildings, including a
large and comfortably furnished residence and one of the best brick
barns in the neighborhood.
As an early settler of Buckheart Township and as one of its most
able farmers, who has done much for its development, our subject
occupies a prominent place among the pioneers of this locality and of
the county. He and his wife are devoted member of the Baptist
Church, contributing their quota to its support and helping along its
every good work.
