WILLIAM H. MAURER, of Rock Grove Township, is the son of George Maurer, who also had two other sons, Moses and George P., by name, who are yet living. George Maurer is now eighty years old. He was born in Union County, Pa., and in his early life worked by the day and month. He lived at home until the spring of 1840, when he came to this county, locating about a mile north of his present home. He made the journey overland by wagon, driving a team for a neighbor.

In 1840 George Maurer bought a claim of about 400 acres. He returned to Pennsylvania in 1841, and the same year came back with money he had earned to pay for his purchase. It was timber and prairie land, and some of that timber is yet standing. Mr. M. built a log cabin near a spring on his land and lived there for two years, then erected his present house. George Maurer married, in 1842, Miss Elizabeth Bolender, daughter of John Bolender, the gentleman for whom he drove a team the first time he came to Illinois. He now set to work diligently cultivating his land and now has 150 acres under plow. His house was built in 1845, but he was unable to erect his barn until 1877. His family originally consisted of nine children, four of whom are deceased. The record is as follows: Sarah, Mrs. John Candy, was born Nov. 10, 1843, and lives at Ackley, Iowa; Moses, born Feb. 26, 1845; Mary C., Feb. 21, 1848; William H., our subject, Nov. 15, 1855, and George B., April 2, 1860, all live at home; Daniel died in 1851, aged three years, four months and four days; Harriet, July 17, 1860, aged eight years and six months, and Isaac, July 8, 1860, aged eleven years and three months.

Our subject attended the district school until he was eighteen or twenty years old, acquiring a good, common-school education. George, the only son married, chose for his wife Miss Jennie A. Woodring, daughter of George Woodring, a farmer of Centre County, Pa. George’s wife was born in 1862, and they were married in 1879. The union has been productive of the birth of two children: Dora A., born Jan. 13, 1880, and Addie E., Oct. 14, 1885.

The two sons, William H. and Moses, have rented the old homestead for eleven years. George works by the month, and all reside at home. The father of the boys is an old-line Whig; he voted once for Lincoln, but has been a Democrat ever since. The boys are all Democrats. George Maurer belongs to the Reformed Church, while his wife is a member of the Lutheran Church. A handsome lithographic view of the old home place is shown on another page of this work, and in the quaint fashion of its buildings is a silent reminder of the days gone by.

Contributed by Carole Parrish - Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. (1888