Joel Harvey was a native of New York State, and was born February 20, 1812. On the 24th of April, 1834, he married Miss Rachel Cole, also a native of the Empire State. Their children have been: Samuel C., born February 10, 1836; Elizabeth A., born March 4, 1839; Phoebe A., born January 26, 1842; Mary E., born November 5, 1847; Martha, born January 27, 1850; Julia A., born January 1,1853; and Alice R., born January 13,1857. Elizabeth A. died April 27, 1844, and Julia A. December 16,1853. Samuel C. married Miss Margaret A. Dickey in December, 1865; children, Mary A., Samuel J., Harvey, and three boys who died in infancy. Samuel C. Harvey enlisted in Company B, 13th regiment Illinois, volunteers. Appointed sergeant in his company. He carried a gun all through the service, and never failed to fall into line at roll-call or at the tap of the drum, participating in all the battles and marches in which his regiment took a part. As one of the brave and faithful soldiers in the Union army from Whiteside county, Samuel Harvey deserves due commendation. Phoebe A. married G. G. Keefer; children, Clara R., Jennie, and Henry. Mary E. married Abram Waldron; children, Joel and Albert. Martha married John F. Strock; children, Edith, who died in infancy, and Willoughby C. Alice R. married Edgar Galt, June 7, 1877.
Mr. Harvey learned the wagonmaker's trade in his native State, and followed it more or less after his arrival in Whiteside county. When he came to Round Grove he bought the claim of Caleb Plummer, paying $1,500 for it, and lived in the log cabin built by Plummer. When he first came to Illinois he settled near Ottawa, but the next spring came to this county, making all of his way from New York State to Whiteside by wagon and horses. The season he arrived here was very wet, compelling him to go around by the way of Elkhorn Grove in order to cross the Elkhorn creek, there being no bridge south of that point. The roads were very few, and all the small streams and the sloughs almost impassable. To be mired two or three times a day was no unusual occurrence. After Mr. Harvey had settled at Round Grove and built his sawmill there, John Wentworth, who had received the appointment of Mail Agent under the administration of Gen. Jackson, called upon him with a view of establishing a mail route from Sterling to Fulton. Both of the gentlemen took a seat upon a log by the mill, and it was there arranged to establish the route, Mr. Wentworth agreeing that Mr. Harvey should be appointed Postmaster at Round Grove, upon condition that he would make a road, and bridge the sloughs from Sterling to Round Grove.
Mr. Harvey agreed to the proposition, and, completing his part of the agreement, received the appointment as Postmaster. He not only kept the postoffice, but sufficient accommodation for both man and beast. The mail was carried from Dixon to Fulton in a two-horse wagon, by A. L. Porter, afterwards for many years Sheriff of Lee county. Mr. Harvey gave up the postoffice in 1841, and moved to Sterling. It was then abolished. Mr. Harvey was one of those energetic, persevering, vigorous, and irrepressible men whom no opposition or difficulty can dishearten. On the contrary, the more difficulties and embarrassments they have to encounter, the more they are determined to surmount them. Mr. Harvey has done more in opening up farms, laying out roads, building mills, stores, and factories, than any other man in Whiteside county. His last great work was the digging of the artesian well in Sterling. He died in Sterling, September 3, 1875.
Bent-Wilson History of Whiteside County
