W. L. WHITLEY, an illustration of whose farm appears in this work, was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, March eighth, 1844. His father, James Whitley, was born in the year 1809, in Fairfax county, Virginia, and when a small boy moved with his father to Harrison county, Kentucky, where he grew up and married Phoebe Haley, who was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, in the year 1805. James Whitley emigrated from Kentucky to Illinois in 1846, and in October of that year settled on the farm in section twenty-eight, Harristown township, on which he lived till his death, on the first of April, 1872. He came to this state with little means, only owning a horse, a pair of oxen and forty dollars in money. He bought eighty acres of land in section twenty-eight, and traded the yoke of oxen as part payment, and in a year or two managed to free the land from all incumbrance. He afterwards purchased a mill on the Sangamon river near his residence, which he carried on for several years. As he had opportunity he made investments in land, and at his death owned five hundred and fifty acres. In his politics he was a democrat. His widow still survives him. He had three children: Richard F., who now lives in Vernon county, Missouri; Napoleon B., who died in the year 1859, at the age of seventeen, and W. L. Whitley, the youngest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
W. L. Whitley, who occupies the old homestead farm, was about two years and a-half old when he came to Macon county. He obtained his education in the neighborhood of the old farm, on which he has always lived. On the first of September, 1872, he married Alice J. Peats, a native of Mercer county, Pennsylvania, where the marriage occurred. Like his father he is a democrat in politics. He owns four hundred and twenty acres of land in Harristown township. The farm on which he lives is one of the oldest in that part of the county. The eastern part of the farm includes the most of the land which Abraham Lincoln cultivated when he resided in Macon county in 1830.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
History of Macon County, Illinois. With Illustrations Descriptive Of
Its Scenery, and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and
Pioneers. Published by Brink, McDonough & Co., Phildelphia, 1880.
Reproduced through efforts of The Decatur Genealogical Society, 1972.
p. 186 [Harrison County].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
W. L. WHITLEY, an illustration of whose farm appears in this work, was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, March eighth, 1844. His father, James Whitley, was born in the year 1809, in Fairfax county, Virginia, and when a small boy moved with his father to Harrison county, Kentucky, where he grew up and married Phoebe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_gspb_post_css":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-harrison"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\n