Portrait & Biographical Record of Tazewell & Mason Counties, IL 1894 p. 620-621:
Betty Doremus edoremus@mtco.com

PERRY W. STEVENS, agent of the Illinois Central Railroad at Easton, is one of the worthy citizens that Ohio has furnished to Mason County. He was born in Fairview, Guernsey County, March 31, 1846, and is a son of Joshua Stevens, and a grandson of James Stevens. The former was born in Maryland in 1802, and having attained to mature years was united in marriage with Caroline McCartney, who was born in Virginia in 1803. There they resided until 1856, when they came to Illinois. After a year spent in Clayton County, however, they returned to Waverly, Pike County, Ohio, where the mother died in 1879, while the father's death occurred in 1893. They were the parents of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, and with the exception of one son all are yet living. They are, Elizabeth, James, Sophia, Mrs. Rachel Frey, Thomas M., Mrs. Mary J. Taylor, John W., Mrs. Nancy Bishop, Perry W. and Lewis. Three of the sons served in the Civil War. Thomas M. was a second Lieutenant of the One Hundred and Eighty-sixth Ohio Infantry, and John W. was a Corporal of the Ninety-first Ohio Infantry.

The parents were life-long members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Stevens usually served as Class-leader. They had many friends, and all who knew them held them in high regard. Perry W. Stevens was reared on a farm, and was educated in the city schools of Waverly, Ohio, and in the Iron City Commercial College, of Alleghany City, Pa. Later he engaged in teaching, following that profession for two years in the Buckeye State, and for four years in Illinois. The country found in him one of its faithful defenders during the late war, and on many a southern battlefield he followed the Old Flag.

Mr. Stevens entered the service on the 18th of December, 1863, enlisting as a member of Company D, Seventy-third Ohio Infantry. He joined the company at Chillicothe, its members being then at home on a veteran furlough. He went to Chattanooga, Tenn., participated in the Atlanta campaign under Gen. Joe Hooker, and at the battle of Resaca he was struck in the left fore-arm by a musket ball, which shattered both bones. He was then sent to Bridgeport, Ala., and there remained in the hospital until he was granted a sixty days' furlough. After his return to Louisville, Ky., he did provost duty until January, 1864, when he went to Charleston, S. C., by the way of New York City. He joined his company at Raleigh, N. C., the day after President Lincoln's assassination, marched with the regiment to Richmond, and on transports went to Alexandria. He took part in the Grand Review in Washington, D. C., and carried the regimental colors. He then went to Louisville, Ky., where he was discharged in June, 1865. He now draws a pension of $12 per month.

When his country no longer needed his services, Mr. Stevens returned to his Ohio home, completed his education and fitted himself for teaching. In 1871 he came to Illinois, and for two years taught school in Lawrence County. In 1873 he taught school in Mason County, and in the same year came to Easton. He was appointed agent for the Illinois Central Railroad Company, and has held that position continuously since.

On the 8th of October, 1871, Mr. Stevens was united in marriage with Harriet Irene Thompson, a daughter of Abraham and Cynthia A. Thompson. She was born November 8, 1853, in Shelby County, Ohio, and was killed by a runaway horse October 21, 1893.
"A precious one from us has gone, A voice we loved is stilled; A place is vacant in our home Which never can be filled. "God in His wisdom has recalled A boon His love had given, And though the body slumbers here The soul is safe in Heaven."

By their union were born six children, five of whom are yet living: Ada May, Oliver Perry, Hugh Thompson, Edna S. and Lloyd. The children have all received good educational privileges, and Miss Ada is a graduate of the Mason City High School.

Mr. Stevens is a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which his wife also belonged. Socially, he is a Royal Arch Mason, and is a member of J. Q. A. Jones Post, G. A. R., of Havana. He exercises his right of franchise in support of the Republican party, and is now serving as a member of the School Board of Easton. For twenty-one years he has been station agent at this place, and his long continued service shows how faithfully he has performed his duties, and indicates the confidence and trust reposed in him. His life has been well and worthily passed, and a straightforward, honorable career has won him the esteem of all with whom he has been brought in contact.

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Source: HISTORY OF ILLINOIS p. 199
Transcribed By: Betty Doremus

JOSIAH MILLIKEN SAWYER.
Of peculiarly interesting order is the association of Mr. Sawyer with the civic and business interests of the fair little city of Tremont, Tazewell County. Here he was born and reared; he has ever looked upon Tremont as his home.; from this place he went forth as a gallant young soldier of the Union in the Civil War; here he has been long and actively identified with business interests; and here he is a venerable and honored citizen who still finds a satisfaction in giving constructive attention to his well ordered real estate and insurance business. Here the birth of Josiah M. Sawyer occurred April 28, 1846, and he is a son of Josiah and Harriet R. (Bates) Sawyer, the former of whom was born at Peterboro, New Hampshire in 1808 and the latter of whom was born at Bellows Falls, Vermont in 1805, both having been members of families that were founded in New England in the Colonial era of our national history.

Josiah Sawyer was a son of Abiel and Sibyl (Buss) Sawyer, who were born in New Hampshire and were of Scotch-Irish ancestry, their marriage having been solemnized November 15, 1832 at Bellows Falls, Vermont, and the subject of this review being the younger of their two children. The elder son, Abiel B., was a lawyer by profession and was a resident of Salt Lake City, Utah, at the time of his death, his marriage to Rebecca A. Bailey having occurred March 26, 1863, at Pekin, Illinois, and he having been survived by two sons and three daughters. Abiel Sawyer and his wife were lifelong residents of New Hampshire, and that he was influential in public affairs in his home county is shown by his having served as a member of the state legislature.

Josiah Sawyer, eldest in a family of nine children, was reared and educated in his native state, and at Waterford, New York, he learned the machinist trade. There he eventually erected a large machine shop, and this he conducted successfully until the building was destroyed by fire. It was within a short time after this business loss that he came to Tremont, Illinois, where he established his home about the year 1836 and where he passed the remainder of his life. Here he established and equipped a grist mill that was operated by a wind wheel, but the experiment did not prove an unqualified success. When he had grists to grind the wind frequently refused to blow sufficiently to give the required power, and when there was adequate wind he often had so little to do in grinding grists that he finally found it expedient to abandon the enterprise. He formed a partnership with Nathaniel Pratt, a wheelwright, and with a lathe and other equipment they engaged in the manufacturing of table legs, bed rails, bed posts, etc. Mr. Sawyer later modified his turning-lathe in such a way as to make it available for the production of wagon material, and in the pioneer community he eventually became a successful manufacturer of wagons, his shop having been on the lot now occupied by the residence of his son Josiah M. of this sketch. He became the sole owner of the business, which developed into one of no minor magnitude, and for a time he had as an associate C. C. Peak, a cabinetmaker by trade. The financial depression that came in 1857 caused the shutting of the shop, which had in stock material for the construction of about fifty wagons. Thereafter Josiah Sawyer lived virtually retired from active business until his death, in 1883, and his sterling character gave him secure place in the confidence and esteem of the community in which he had gained much of pioneer precedence. His wife survived him by several years, was an earnest communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church and was loved for her abiding human sympathy and helpfulness, she having been unstinting in her efficient service as a nurse in the homes where sickness was present in the community. The names of these honored pioneers well merit place in the annals of Tazewell County history.

Josiah M. Sawyer received his youthful education in the village schools of Tremont. He was fifteen years old at the inception of the Civil war, and his youthful patriotism led him the run away from home and make his way to Peoria, where he enlisted in the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, commanded by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. About three hours after his enlistment his father appeared on the scene and brought about his release from service, owing to his extreme youth. His parents kept watch to see that he did not make a second attempt to enter military service. In 1863 Mr. Sawyer accompanied his father on a visit to the latter's old home in Peterboro, New Hampshire, and he finally prevailed upon his father to permit him to remain in the East.   The father found him employment in a sewing machine factory at Winchendon, Massachusetts and later he and his assistant found a place of employment in a bucket factory at South Orange that state. But instead of taking up this work the two young fellows enlisted in the Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry. With their command they finally disembarked under Confederate fire, at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, and their service was largely that of couriers, messengers and body-guards. They participated in various skirmishes, and finally they were captured by the enemy, near the High Bridge crossing of the Appomattox River. A day or two later occurred the surrender of General Lee's forces. The little detachment with which Mr. Sawyer was in service, about 700 men, sufficiently detained Lee's fleeing forces to enable General Grant to compass the encircling movement that led to the final surrender and the close of the war. Young Sawyer and his companion, Alfred J. Watts from Aylmer, Canada, were released from captivity and at Richmond, Virginia, they received their honorable discharge October 31, 1865. Mr. Sawyer arrived at the parental home in Tremont on the third of the following month, and thereafter he attended a business college, in which he tood courses in bookkeeping and telegraphy. In 1867 he was made station agent and telegraph operator, for the Chicago & Alton Railroad, at Petersburg, Illinois, and after several years of such railroad service he was employed a few months as bookkeeper for a business concern in Pekin, judicial center of his native county. He next held for six months the position of station agent and telegraph operator at Grayville, in the employ of the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railroad, and he then became a bookkeeper in a large lumber yard at Memphis, Tennessee. In 1885 he became a rod man with a surveying party that surveyed a railroad line through Arkansas swamps and on the Memphis, Tennessee, this line being now the main division of the Frisco system on its line to Birmingham, Alabama. Mr. Sawyer later assisted in a survey of the Mississippi River from Commerce Cutoff to Friar's Point, under government auspices, and he then resumed work as a lumber bookkeeper near Memphis. He finally resigned his position in order to return home and care for his parents whose health was greatly impaired, and he has since continued to maintain his home in his native village, where he is still engaged in the real estate and fire insurance business. He has long held commission as notary public, and he gave a total of sixteen years of service as township clerk. He is a past commander and now (1925) the chaplain of Jo Hanna Post, No. 117, G. A. R. and on the starr of the commander of the national organization of this great and noble patriotic body whose ranks are rapidly thinning with the passing years. Mr. Sawyer has been in former years active and influential in local councils and has served as secretary and chairman of various conventions of his party.

May 4, 1870, recorded the marriage, at Petersburg, Menard County, of Mr. Sawyer to Miss Elizabeth M. Walker, who was born in Missouri, a daughter of Rufus and Angeline (Terhune) Walker, their marriage having been solemnized in Kentucky, whence they removed to Missouri, from which latter state they later came to Illinois and established their home in Menard County. The supreme loss and bereavement in the life of Mr. Sawyer came when his loved and devoted wife passed to eternal rest, she having been seventy-three years of age at her death, January 1, 1923, and their companionship having thus covered a period of more than half a century. C. Harriet, eldest of the children, is the wife of Louis B. Dean of Tremont; Alice is the wife of Harold L. Dean who is of no kinship with Louis B. Dean, and they likewise reside at Tremont, and the only son, Hubert Norton Sawyer likewise maintains his home in his native village of Tremont.

Reverting to the military career of Mr. Sawyer, it may be stated that he gained the rank of sergeant of Company L, Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, which became an independent battalion in the Tenth and Twenty-fourth Army Corps. At Petersburg, Illinois, Mr. Sawyer has affiliation with the following named Masonic bodies: Clinton Lodge, No. 19, A. F. and A. M.; DeWitt Chapter, No. 119, R. A. M.; and a charter member of St. Aldemar Commandery, No. 47, Knights Templars at Petersburg. At Peoria he is a member of Peoria Council, No. 11, R. and S. M., and of the consistory of the Scottish Rite, besides being there a noble of Mohammed Temple of the Mystic Shrine. At Tremont hs is a member of Camp No. 998 of the Modern Woodmen of America.

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CHRISTOPHER SHAFFER Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record of Tazewell & Mason Co. Illinois" pub. Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co. 1894 p. 351-352 Transcribed by: Betty Doremus CHRISTOPHER SHAFFER. This gentleman is one of the many who have spent the greater portion of their lives in developing the country in order that their children and grandchildren might enjoy the advantages which they themselves were denied. In truth, we to-day are the "heirs of all ages" and profit by the labor and self denial of the hard working classes of times past. Our subject is one of the wealthy agriculturists of Tazewell County, and is now living on section 23, Morton Township, where he has a valuable estate.

A native of Greenbrier County, Va., our subject was born April 29, 1813, to Christopher and Mary (Fisher) Shaffer, natives of Pennsylvania. The former was reared on a farm in the Keystone State, and when a young man emigrated to Virginia, where he married. He was a miller by trade and followed that occupation through life, together with that of farming. He was twice married, and by his first wife became the father of four children, George, Peter (a soldier in the War of 1812), Elizabeth and Mary. By his union with the mother of our subject there were born three children, Phoebe, Phillip and Christopher.

About 1825 Christopher Shaffer, Sr., emigrated with his family to Franklin County, Ohio, where he lived for a number of years. Later he came to this county, making his home with our subject until his decease, which occurred at the advanced age of ninety-three years and six months. At the time the family located in the Buckeye State our subject was a lad of thirteen years and soon began to make his own way in the world, being first employed as a farm hand. He received his education in the subscription schools of that day, and when reaching his majority received as pay for his labors only $10 a month. He was very economical and industrious, and from this small salary was enabled to save money. He spent one year working in a tan yard, and although becoming quite proficient in that business, followed it only a short time.

 A year after becoming of age Mr. Shaffer married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Emmer and Elizabeth (Huff) Cox. The lady was born in Ohio, November 25, 1812, while her parents were natives of Virginia and were farmers by occupation. After his marriage, Mr. Shaffer began farming on rented land in Franklin County, but soon came with his family to this county, where he was convinced he could better his financial condition. The trip was made overland in 1841, and all their worldly possessions were placed in a wagon drawn by four horses, and Mr. Shaffer says that even then it was not very heavily loaded. By trading one of his teams on his arrival in this county he was able to make a payment on a quarter-section of land which he had purchased, and which is included in his present fine estate. He now owns four hundred acres of choice land in Morton Township, upon which he settled in 1842, the family than making their home in a hewed log cabin which he erected.

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer, of whom Orlando and Phoebe are deceased. Lavina married William Huxtable; Eliza is the wife of Joseph Walden; the others are, Sarah J., Lewis M., William and John H. Our subject is a member of the Baptist Church, with which he has been connected since 1840, and has held the office of Deacon for over a quarter of a century. His estimable wife departed this life September 9, 1886. Mr. Shaffer has sixteen grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren living. He is one of the best citizens of the county, and during his long career here not a word could ever be said against his honesty and uprightness.

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Portrait and Biographical Record of Tazewell and Mason Co. IL 1894
Betty Doremus <edoremus@mtco.com>

GURDON F. SALTONSTALL. The gentleman whose life will be briefly sketched in these paragraphs is one of the most successful lawyers of Pekin, and is at present officiating as State's Attorney. He is a member of an old and prominent eastern family that dates its history back to the Puritans of New England. The first representative of the family in America was Richard Saltonstall, who settled in Massachusetts in 1830.

The father of our subject, Dr. G. F. Saltonstall, was born in New London, Conn., and was a graduate of a medical college in Philadelphia. Early in the '40s, after a short residence in Scott County, Ky., he came to Tremont, Tazewell County, Ill., and here engaged in practice. In 1848 he removed to Missouri, and settled at Fayette, Howard County, where he retired from the profession and engaged in the manufacture of hemp rope and bagging. In 1850 he died of cholera in Marietta, Ohio. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah A. Thompson, was born in Kentucky, and died in Fayette, Mo., in 1866.

The parental family consisted of five children of whom three are now living, Gurdon F. being the second in order of birth. He was born at Tremont, then the county seat of Tazewell County, and accompanied his parents to Fayette, Mo., where his education was conducted under private teachers. In 1866 he came to Pekin and commenced the study of law in this city. The following year he was admitted to the Bar at Ottawa, this state, since which time he has conducted an extensive practice in Pekin. For a few years he was engaged in partnership with another gentleman, but since 1870 he has been alone.

As an attorney, Mr. Saltonstall has gained an enviable reputation, and his councils are sought by the leading men of this section. He is thoroughly read in the law, and skilled in the management of cases submitted to him. In the Democratic party he wields a considerable influence, and invariably gives his support to the nominees of that organization. The political questions of the age have received from him the serious consideration which they demand, and he has firm convictions upon all subjects of general importance. In 1888 he was elected State's Attorney, and four years later was re-elected to that position, of which he is the present incumbent. He gives his aid to all public measures having for their object the promotion of the welfare of the people, and may be relied upon to support all projects that are beneficial and uplifting in their influences.

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