John and Elizabeth Woolsoncroft

--Ancestry.com

Sturmcroft Acres

 

 

 

--The Pantagraph.  Bloomington, Illinois.  1 February 1956.  Page 8.

23 November 1871

LYMAN ITEMS
Corn has "riz." -- Johnson and Meserve now pay 30 cts.
All our farmers are bragging of their big corn crop; hardly any of them estimate the yield at less than 50 bushels per acre.
Some of our young folk took a notion to get married the other day, to wit: Mr. Nelson Busick to Miss Maria Woolsoncroft, and Mr. William Wilson to Miss Alice Busick, all of Lyman. They were nice looking girls and proper young men. Maybe you saw them yourself as they departed for Paxton after the event.
Some boys concluded to "charivari" the married folks, aforesaid, and one of them loaded his gun so heavily that on firing it, it burst, injuring his hand so badly that amputation was necessary.
A new time table for the Gilman, Clinton & Springfield Road, took effect on Monday, the 20th. Two passenger and four freight trains a day -- lots of business and heavy trains.

--Paxton Record. 23 November 1871.

John Woolsoncroft

In this biography the Woolsoncroft name is spelled with an extra letter, Woolstoncroft.  I transcribed as written. 

John Woolstoncroft, one of the extensive land-owners of Lyman Township, residing on section 18,

--Lyman Township Plat.  1884.

claims England as the land of his nativity and also has Scotch blood in his veins.  He was born in Lancashire, in 1810, and was one of a family of eight children, two sons and six daughters, whose parents were John and Mary (Woods) Woolstoncroft. His father was a weaver of cotton cloth.  He died at the age of sixty-four and his wife passed away at the age of fifty.  The only members of the family yet living are three sisters of our subject:  Mary and Janet, both of whom are widows and reside in Lancashire, England, and Sarah, who resides in Philadelphia.
Our subject began to earn his own livelihood at the age of eight years, working at the weaver's trade from that time until twelve years of age, when he learned the trade of brick-making and also laid brick.  When about twenty years of age, he determined to try his fortune in American and in 1831, sailed from Liverpool to New York.  He was almost penniless when he arrived in the country, a stranger in a strange land.  He first secured work as a weaver in Philadelphia, where he remained for six years, and in the spring of 1837, he went to Ohio, where he spent about five months.  He next located in Putnam County, Ill., and, making his home in Magnolia, engaged in weaving in the winter season and in brick-laying in the summer.
While residing in Putnam County, Mr. Woolstoncroft was united in marriage to Elizabeth Phillips, a native of England.  Their union was celebrated in April, 1838, and unto them were born six sons and six daughters, eight of whom are now living:  David, the eldest, wedded Mary Warner, a native of this State, by whom he has three children.  He is a plasterer and brick mason and one of the prominent citizens of Roberts, and in politics, is a stanch Republican.  John married Miss Hannom and follows farming in Kansas; he too, is a Republican.  Abraham married Miss Pettit and is a resident farmer of Kansas; Wilber was joined in wedlock to Miss Hawthorne, and follows farming in Kansas; Alice is the wife of George Dykes, an agriculturist of Illinois; Elizabeth is the wife of John Warner, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work; Hannah is the wife of Edward Owens, a farmer of Wall Township, Maria, who successfully engaged in teaching in Onarga and in Ford County, is now the wife of Nelson Buzick, farmer, by whom she has six children, namely Earl, who aids his father in the farm work; Flora, a student in Onarga Seminary; Mary, Jessie, John W. and James.  Mrs. Woolstoncroft died May 7, 1864 and was interred in Magnolia Cemetery, where a beautiful monument marks her last resting place.

In 1867, Mr. Woolstoncroft came to this country with John Hunt, and purchased four hundred acres of raw land.  The towns of Melvin and Roberts were not then laid out, wild game of all kinds was plentiful and at that day one could not have realized such a rapid change was so soon to take place.  Our subject bought land at $9 per acre and began the development of a fine farm.  His labors were successful and he has become one of the well-to-do citizens of the community.  In early life, he was a Whig and cast his first Presidential vote for William Henry Harrison, but since the organization of the Republican party, he has been one of its stanch supporters.  Throughout the community, he is held in the highest regard and the word of John Woolstoncroft is as good as his bond, for his upright life and sterling worth have won him the confidence of all.  He is now eighty-two years of age but is still enjoying good health.

--Portrait and Biographical Record of Ford County, Illinois.  1892.

David Woolsoncroft CW Vet

Civil War Veterans buried in Lyman Township Cemetery:

DEATH OF DAVID WOOLSONCROFT.
Last week David Woolsoncroft of Roberts was on our streets shaking hands with old friends, and Tuesday of this week he died at his home in Roberts. He was a veteran of the civil war and a member of the Thirteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Since the war he has farmed and worked at masonry in the vicinity of Melvin and Roberts, and was well-to-do. He was 68 years old.
The funeral was held in the M. E. church at Roberts, Thursday, at 2 o'clock. There were members of the G.A.R. present from that section, Onarga, Thawville and Piper City. Comrade James McBride represented our Piper City Post. The burial was at Roberts. -- Pan-Handle Advocate.

--Paxton Daily Record. 4 August 1908.

DAVID WOOLSONCROFT
David Woolsoncroft was born in Magnolia, Putnam county, Illinois, July 18, 1840, and departed this life at his home in Roberts, Ill., July 28, 1908, aged 68 years and 10 days.
Mr. Woolsoncroft, in the usual manner of farmer boys, spent his boyhood days on the farm, afterwards learning the trade of stone and brick mason and plasterer, at which occupation he spent a good bit of his time in later years.
He was an honored veteran of the civil war, his enlistment at Magnolia, Ill., on Aug. 20th, 1861, being the first important event of his life. He enrolled his name among the boys in blue of Company I, Eleventh Ill. infantry. From Magnolia he proceeded to Bird's Point, Mo., where he was mustered into service. He was placed on duty as a teamster, and went to Fort Donelson just after the battle, and thence to Fort Henry and up the Tennessee river to Pittsburg Landing, whence he advanced to within five miles of Corinth, Miss. He then turned and went to Jackson, Tenn,. and thence back to Cairo and Ft. Henry and across the river to Ft. Donelson. He was later at Paducah, Ky., where he shipped aboard a transport for Memphis, Tenn. From Memphis the troops went to Lake Providence. La., to Mississippi, and afterwards on transports to Grand Gulf and to the rear of Vicksburg. They took part in the battles of Jackson, Champion Hills, the Black River Bridge and the siege of Vicksburg until the surrender of that city, July 4, 1863. Next they went to Natchez and after retuning to Vicksburg, went to Yazoo City. Soon afterwards, Mr. Woolsoncroft's time having expired, he was sent to Springfield, where he was honorably discharged, September 16, 1864. He was ever a faithful soldier and fortunately, though participating in several hard fought battles, was never wounded. His constitution, however, was impaired, and he never fully regained his health.
On the 5th of March, 1868, Mr. Woolsoncroft was united in marriage to Mary Warner, the daughter of George and Elizabeth Warner, of Peru, La Salle county, Ill. To this union there was born three children, James Henry, John Edward and Gilva Victory, all of whom, with the bereaved widow and two brothers, Abraham, of Baileyville, Kansas, and Wilbur, of Montgomery City, Mo., and two sisters, Mrs. Hannah Owens, Rockwell City, Ia., and Mrs. Maria Buzick, of Champaign, Ill., survive to mourn his loss.
Mr. Woolsoncroft and his wife began their married life on a farm two and a half miles out from Roberts and until the time of Mr. Woolsoncroft's decease as above mentioned, they had resided either there or in Roberts.
Mr. Woolsoncroft's long residence in this vicinity, his unobtrusiveness, his good-natured and genial companionship had won for him a large circle of friends who sadly lament his loss. --Roberts Herald.

--Paxton Daily Record. 11 August 1908.