David G. Proctor, farmer, section 6, Genesee Township, was born July 23, 1840, in Shawswick Township, Lawrence Co., lnd. George R. Proctor, his father, was born in Kentucky, near Lexington, and was the son of Ezekiel Proctor. The latter removed from Kentucky with his family to Southern Indiana and located near the line of Jackson County, a part of the State that was still in heavy timber. George R. Proctor married Mary W. Green. She was born in Lawrence Co., Ind., where she was brought up and where her marriage took place. Later on, after three children had been added to the family, they removed to Martin, where the father was made Sheriff, and was one of the first officials of the county after its organization. He was a man of good judgment and fair education, and in early manhood he had spent some years in teaching in the public schools. He officiated as Sheriff two years. In 1850 he returned to Lawrtnce County and left his wife and children on the Green homestead, the estate of her father. He engaged one season in running a flat-boat on the Mississippi River to New Orleans. He set out from St. Joseph, Mo., with the Beck brother (his brothers-in-law by a former marriage), for California. They drove across the plains with oxen and mules, the journey consuming six months. Mr. Proctor spent three years in the land of gold, with satisfactory resuIts; but, returning in the same manner in which he went out, he was taken sick while making the transit, and his accumulations disappeared. He reached his family in Lawrence County, whence he came to Illinois two years later, locating in Whiteside County in October, 1855. This portion of Illinois was then comparatively unorganized and unsettled, and in the year following Mr. Proctor, senior, went to Carroll County, where he died. The mother is 69 years old (1885). The first wife lived but two years after marriage and had no children.
Mr. Proctor of this sketch is the oldest living child of his parents, and is the second in order of birth of the family, which included seven children. He is the only son, and his father's death left the family, consisting of his mother and six young daughters, dependent on him for support; and by effort and economy he was enabled to fulfill the trust. His oldest sister married William Moxley, one of the first white children born in Genesee Township. He died and left his wife his property, which consisted chiefly of a farm on section 6, and which she gave to her mother when she died, two years later. This property is still held by the mother and that owned by the son lies adjoining. The combined acreage constitutes a fine and well located farm. That owned by Mr. Proctor includes 66 acres and lies in Carroll County.
His marriage to Sarah A. Hurless took place in Genesee Township, Dec. 17, 1865. She was born April 11, 1849, in Holmes Co., Ohio, and is the daughter of Rev. Cephas Hurless, deceased, of whom a full account is presented elsewhere in this work. Her parents removed to Illinois when she was five years of age. She was reared to womanhood in Genesee Township, receiving a good education, and when she reached suitable age and degree of qualification, she engaged in teaching. The six children now included in the family circle were born as follows: Cephas E., April 29, 1867; George R., May 25, 1869; R. Ira, March I, 1872 (This child is a dwarf. His height is three feet and four inches, or 40 inches, and his weight is 39 pounds. He is perfectly and symmetlically formed.), Minnie J. was born Dec. 10, 1876; Richard, Sept. 13, 1881; Lizzie, Aug. 19, 1883. Mr. Proctor is a Democrat in political persuasion. He has been prominent in local official positions, and has served in the capacities of Tax Collector and those of the several school offices. Mrs. Proctor is a member of the United Brethren Church.
Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois, Chapman Brothers Publishing Co., Chicago, 1885 Pg 245
David G. Proctor, one of the honored pioneer citizens of Whiteside county, and now living in Genesee township, is a son of George R. and Mary (Green) Proctor, the former a native of Kentucky. The Greens were of Irish extraction, and were early settlers in Pennsylvania, while the Proctors located in Virginia in colonial days.
The brothers and sisters of our subject were eight in number. Sarah B., the eldest, married William Moxley, and had one child, who is deceased. Mr. Moxley died in 1863, and his wife in 1867. Margaret J. Proctor married L. S. [Llewelyn] Crouch, of Lee county, Illinois, at the age of nineteen years. They have two daughters and a son. Mellissa E. died, unmarried, Mary A. is the wife of William H. Brewer, of Monroe county, Mississippi, and they have two children. The next child died in infancy, and George R. died at the age of two years. Harriet N. became the wife of Andrew J. Hurless, of Carroll county, and has two children. Eliza married Clinton H. Manning, of Genesee township, and they are the parents of two children.
David G. Proctor was born in 1840, in Lawrence county, Indiana, and continued to reside there until he was fifteen years of age. His father having died in Genesee township in 1855, the young man, who was the eldest son, and was well trained as a farmer, proceed to be his widowed mother’s mainstay, and the supporter of his numerous brothers and sisters. He rented land in Genesee township for several years. In 1893 he purchased the sixty-acres farm which had been occupied by his mother, in this township, and which, by her death, in the year mentioned, was left to the heirs. Mr. Proctor has been very successful as a farmer, and has made many substantial improvements upon his fine homestead, which now comprises one hundred and forty-seven acres.
For a helpmate along life’s journey, David G. Proctor chose Sarah Ann Hurless, a daughter of Cephus and Elizabeth (Overholser) Hurless. She was born in Ohio, and her marriage to Mr. Proctor took place in 1865. On the paternal side, she comes of old Virginia ancestry, while on the maternal line, she is of German descent. Martin Overholser, the grandfather of Mrs. Proctor, now ninety-one years old, and a resident of Coleta, is hale and hearty, notwithstanding his advanced age. He has many living descendants, as may be seen from the following: he has eight children, eighty-nine grand children, forty-six great-grandchildren, and seven great-great-grandchildren—a total of one hundred and fifty. Dr. Proctor’s infant son, David, is of the fifth generation living to-day in Genesee township. Cephus and Elizabeth Hurless were the parents of six children, of whom Adeline and another died in infancy; Susanna became the wife of H. C. McCray, of Carroll county, Illinois, and has two sons; Rebecca J. married Joseph Bushman, of this township, and they have three children; and George P., of Pocahontas county, Iowa, married Carrie Wells, and has two daughters. After the death of his first wife, Cephus Hurless married Tabitha Winters, and had eight children by that union. Five of the number died in infancy, and three survive, namely: William, Belle and Roy [Cephas LeRoy]. William, who wedded Annie Conaway, and has two children, resides in Genesee township. Belle became the wife of Miles Wallace, of Carroll county, and they have three children. Roy, who is unmarried, is engaged in teaching school, and lives in Coleta.
Seven children blessed the union of David G. Proctor and wife. Cephus E., a farmer of Clyde township, Whiteside county, married Bertha Daniels. George R., a practicing physician, whose sketch is printed elsewhere in this work, is a leading citizen of Coleta. Minnie J. is the wife of Mathias Spang, Jr., who carries on a farm situated half a mile east of Coleta. The young couple have one child. Ira R. and Richard G., unmarried, live at home and assist their father in the management of the farm. Elizabeth also lives with her parents. The youngest of the family, a boy, died in infancy.
In all local affairs, Mr. Proctor has been active and interested. He has never been an aspirant to political office, but has served as tax collector in his township. In national politics, he sides with the Democratic party. His wife is a member of the United Brethren church, and he is liberal and broad-minded in his religious views. The entire community, in which he has so long dwelt, esteems him highly, looking upon him as a representative of the sterling pioneer element, who founded this county.
Contributed by Larry L. Reynolds from The Biographical Record of Whiteside County, Illinois, Illustrated, Chicago: The S.J. Clark Publishing Company, 1900, PG 423
Note: David Proctor died 23 November 1921 - He is buried in Bethel Cemetery, Carroll Co IL
