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Below is a family biography included in The History of McLean County, Illinois published by Wm. LeBaron, Jr. Co. in 1879. These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary. Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more. There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.
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JOHN SMITH, retired farmer; P. O. Hudson; was born in Randolph Co., N. C.; as early as 1824 he moved a family to Peoria, Ill., then containing two or three houses; in the spring of 1830, he removed to Illinois, stopping first at Big Grove, now in Champaign Co., at the present site of Urbana, then an Indian trading post; the Smith family removed to what is now Towanda Township, this county, locating at the grove which afterward took the family name, and is still called Smith’s Grove; many were the hardships and privations of these pioneers, more of which will be given under the head of township histories in this work. In March, 1831, he was married to Miss Anna Havens, and, in the spring of 1832, settled at Havens’ Grove, Hudson Township, near his present home; Mrs. Smith’s father was the first to permanently locate in the grove which now bears his name (Havens’ Grove), and also the first permanent settler within the present confines of Hudson Township; for further mention of Mr. Smith and other early settlers, see general history of McLean Co. and histories of Towanda and Hudson townships.
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This family biography is one of 1257 biographies included in The History of McLean County, Illinois published by Wm. LeBaron, Jr. Co. in 1879. View the complete description here: The History of McLean County, Illinois
View additional McLean County, Illinois family biographies here: McLean County, Illinois Biographies
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