WHITAKER, Isaac T.
Isaac T. WHITAKER, proprietor of a hotel in
Wenona, was born in Breckinridge county, Kentucky, December 19, 1823, and is the son
of Jesse WHITAKER, whose birth occurred in Barren county, of the
same state, in 1791. However, Isaac WHITAKER, the paternal
grandfather, was a native of Virginia and of English descent,
the family having been founded in that state by ten brothers who
came over from England about the time of the Revolutionary war,
in which he served as a teamster. He later emigrated to
Kentucky, but his last days were spent in
Vigo
county, Indiana. The mother of our subject, who bore the maiden
name of Sallie PEARSON, was born in Shelby
county, Kentucky, in 1797, and was the daughter of Moses PEARSON,
a Welshman, who also served as a teamster in the war for
independence, emigrated to Kentucky,
and removed to Vigo county, Indiana, where
his death occurred.
In Shelby
county, Kentucky, in 1816, the
marriage of the parents of our subject was celebrated, and in
1825 they located upon a new farm in Vigo
county, Indiana, where they made their home until 1851, when
they became residents of Cole county, Illinois. The father was a very patriotic
man, who served in the war of 1812, being under General Jackson
at the battle of New Orleans, raised a company for the Mexican
war, but hostilities ceased before his troops were accepted, and
during the civil war, although sixty-six years of age, he
enlisted as a private soldier in the Seventy-ninth Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for one years, and was
then discharged on account of an injury sustained while lifting
a cannon. Returning to his home in Coles county, he there lived
until 1865, when he settled at Lacon, where his death occurred
in January, 1879. The mother of our subject having died in Vigo county, Indiana, he
wedded Mrs. Rhoda McCLURE, a widow lady, who also died in
January, 1879. The parents were both earnest members of the
Baptist church.
Our subject is the fourth in order of birth
in the family of seven children born of the first marriage, the
others being Moses P., who faithfully served his country during
the civil war and died in 1871, leaving two children; Mrs.
Resenah AKEN, who is living in Vigo county, Indiana, and has two
children; Dorcas, deceased wife of Rice STARK, by whom she had
six children; William C., who died while in the union service,
leaving three children; Willis P., who died in 1895, leaving six
children, and Jesse A., ex-sheriff of Marshall county, who at
his death left one child.
The early life of Isaac T. Whitaker was
passed in Vigo county, and on the
10th of March, 1846, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Mary
Jane SMITH, who was born in Shelby
county, Indiana, in 1828, and was the daughter of John C. SMITH,
a native of Kentucky. He then located upon a farm in the
hoosier state, which place continued to be his home until coming
to Illinois in September, 1849, when he settled at Washington,
but the following year he became a resident of Lacon, where he
was engaged in mechanical work until 1862. After six years then
spent in Peoria, he removed to a
farm in Evans township,
Marshall
county, which he continued to improve and cultivate until 1875.
At that time he came to Wenona, where he has since successfully
conducted a hotel.
In September, 1850, Mr. WHITAKER’s first
wife died. To them were born two children, one still living,
Levi S., of Greeley, Colorado.
He was again married in September, 1851, Mrs. Hannah MARTIN
becoming his wife. She was born in Harrison county,
Ohio, in April, 1831, and a daughter of Francis
WORLEY, who came from Ohio
to Marshall county Illinois, in 1835, but after a residence of
about twelve years removed to
Iowa, where his death occurred. By the
second union were born three daughters, all of whom died while
young.
For forty years, Mr. WHITAKER has been an
earnest and consistent member of the Baptist church, to which
his wife also belongs, and for a number of years was chorister
in the church. In his younger years he also taught music all
over Marshall and Putnam counties. He is a stanch adherent to
the principles of the republican party in politics, and supports
the candidates offered by that organization on all occasions.
Extracted May 2011 by Norma Hass from
The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois, 1896.
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