William F Gould was only about eighteen months old when his father died. He lived with his mother to the age of gourteen years and acquired a common-school education. He then traveled westward by steamer to Wisconsin, settling in what was then Racine county, bit is now Kenosha county. This was in 1844. A few years later, he retruned to the Empire state, taking up his abode in the town of Cato, Cayuga County, where he learned and followed the trade of a carpenter and joiner, being identified with building operations in the east for a number of years. In 1858 he came to Illinois, settling in Whiteside County, and for a time worked at his trade, after which he purchased a farm of forty-eight acres in Jordan township, on which a small frame house had been erected by the first settler, he being the second to locate there. Subsequently he bought forty acres more from the Illinois Central Railroad and still later another forty-acre tract from Joseph Sowles. He improved all this, bringing the land under a hight state of cultivation, his fields producing rich crops of cereals best adapted to sail and climate. Upon that place he made his home until 1882, when he rented his farm and took up his abode in Sterling, where he has since made his home. He followed his trade until about 1904, since which time he has lived retired. He was thus for twenty-two years identified with building operations in Sterling, and many substantial structures of the city are an indication of his handi-work and skill. He now owns a good home at No. 208 East Seventh Street, two other residences and still other town property.
The lady who now bears his name and whom he wedded on the 14th of April, 1853, was in her naidenhood Miss Mary A Davis, a daughter Esek and Charlotte (Ward) Davis. The former was a son of Echabod Davis, who removed from Argyle to New Haven, New York, and ther died at an advanced age, while his wife, Peace Davis, passed away in middle life. They were the parents of ten children. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Gould were Adam and Sarah Ward. The former was one of the patriots of the American Army in the Revoluntionary war and lived in Saratoga, New York. Esek Davis was a native of Argyle and his wife of Saratoga county, New York. They removed to New Haven, Oswego coutny, that state, where Mrs. Gould was born April 2, 1830. There the parents remained for some time and then went to Cayuga county, where her father died at the venerable age of ninety-seven years, while his wife reached the age of eighty-one years. They were the parents of nin children, four daughters and five sons, but only three are now living: Mrs. Mary A Gould; Martin L., of Cayuga County, New York; and Elizabeth E., the widow of John Laird and now a resident of Cayuga County, New York.
Mr. and Mrs. Gould have but two children. The elder, Charles W. Gould, who is conducting a typewriter exchange in Seatle, Washington, married Etta Depell, nowdeceased, nd to them were born three children, Mabel, Edna and William J. After losing his first wife, Charles W. Gould wedded Nettie Dudley. Frank E. Gould is a traveling salesman living in Chicago and married Margaret Tighe, by whom he has one child, Frank E.
Mr. and Mrs. Gould are members of the Baptist church and are much esteemed as people of genuine worth. He is a veteran of the Civil War, having enlisted on the 14th of March, 1865 as a member of Company E, Thirty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of hostilities. He was on detailed duty most of the time and after thet war returned to his farm. He in now a member of William Robinson Post, G A R of Sterling. He has been one of the world's workers and his diligence and persistency of purpose constitute the basis upon which he has builded the success that now enables hime to live retired.
Through the years of an active business career William F Gould followed farming and carpentering, but is now living retired in Sterling, his prosperity in former years supplying him withtne necessities and comforts and some of the luxuries of life. He has long since passed the Psalmist's span of three score years and ten, his birth having occurred in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1829. In bother the paternal and maternal lines he represents old families of the Empire state. His two grandfathers, William Gould and Gideon De Groff, were natives of New York, were farmers by occupation and lived to old age. Tobias Gould, father of our subject, was born in Saratoga County. New York, was reared to agricultural pursuits and made farming his life work. Removing to Pennsylvania, he settled in Bradford County, where he conducted a farm and also filled the office of coutny sheriff for a time. In early manhood he married Diana De Groff, likewise a vative of Saratoga County, New York. His death occurred in 1831 and his widow afterward married Samuel Scott. By her first marriage she had three sons and a daughter, of whom only William F Gould is now living. By her second husband she had two daughters, one of whom has passed away, while Mary Jone Scott in now the widow of Charles Ayers and resides in Sheldon, Iowa.
Will of William F. Gould
Obituary of William F. 1829 - 1914
History of Whiteside Cunty Pg 887
Contributed by Sheila Smith
