 |
| Jasper County within Illinois |
Merging families in Jasper County, Illinois
 |
| Willow Hill in Jasper County |
About 1848 Jeremiah Ferguson and his wife Harriett moved their
family from Decatur, Indiana to Jasper County, Illinois. In the 1850 federal census Jeremiah was
listed as a farmer in Newton, Jasper County, Illinois with real estate valued
at $1000. In 1880 Jeremiah had moved to
Willow Hill and owned 122 acres of which 38 were tilled and 44 were wetlands or
forest. His total farm value was
$4000.00. He also had $200 in livestock. In 1879 Jeremiah realized about $200 from the
sale of farm products.[iii]
Now there are two families at the same place and time. The Sempsrott family moved to Jasper County
in the early 1860s and the Ferguson family that was there prior to 1850. Jeremiah’s youngest son would marry Mary E
Stewart and have a son John in 1875. Frederich
Sempsrott’s son Charles would marry Elmira Stiffle and they would have nine
children. Two of Charles Sempsrott’s
daughters would marry into the Ferguson family.
Leila (b 1893) married David Ferguson’s son Roy (b 1900) and Naomi
Sempsrott (b 1903) married David Ferguson’s grandson Murl Ferguson (b 1898 ). Naomi and Murl would become the parents of
Wanda Bernice Ferguson.
 |
| Ferguson Family |
The pull of Willow Hill remained strong and
there are still members of both families in the area even though later
generations moved to cities like Chicago and Danville for work. The Mound Cemetery has the names of many
generations of the Fergusons and the Sempsrotts.
 |
| Mound Church and Cemetery Willow Hill, Jasper County |
 |
| Burl Ives a famous son of Willow Hill |
[i] Wikipedia
[ii] Fanning's Illustrated Gazetteer
of the United States p372
[iii] 1870 Federal Census Non-Population Schedule
Photo Credit:
photo by Matt Hucke Graveyards of Illinois
Love the photo of the Ferguson family, Donna! A great family momento. And seeing Burl Ives' tombstone - oh my - how lovely! You're doing a great job on this writing challenge!
ReplyDeleteThanks Celia. This was my husbands family on his maternal side. I was lucky enough to have experienced Willow Hill and its environs several times.
Delete