PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM
pg 730, 731
WILLIAM H. ILIFF, a native of Cedarville,
Greene County and one of its oldest residents was born in the then embryo
village, July 18, 1840. His parents were natives of this county, while his
grandparents on both sides of the house came from Pennsylvania when young
people, in 1804, two years after Ohio was admitted into the Union as a State.
His father, Wesley ILIFF, was married in early manhood to Miss Sarah, daughter
of Joseph and Sarah BALLARD. Joseph BALLARD was the son of an old Revolutionary
hero, Lyman BALLARD, while Grandfather Wesley ILIFF, was the son of James and
Betsey (HILL) ILIFF of Pennsylvania and of substantial old stock. Both families
trace their ancestry to Germany. Wesley ILIFF was for forty years engaged in the
lime business, to which his son, William H. has succeeded.
The subject of this notice remained under
the parental roof until the outbreak of the Civil War and was the first man in
his township to proffer his services in behalf of the Union, enlisting April 16,
1861, two days after the attack upon Ft. Sumter. That night and the day
following twenty-six more had been added. They joined a squad at Xenia and were
put into the field as Company D, Twelfth Ohio Infantry, in the three months
service. Going to Columbus they assisted in laying out Camp Jackson, which
became a noted rendezvous during the war. While the barracks was being prepared
they slept in the Senate Chamber. Subsequently they organized Camp Dennison and
at the expiration of the three months the regiment and company were
re-organized, enlisting for the three years service or during the war.
Mr. ILIFF and his comrades were sent to
Virginia in June, being assigned to the Army of the Potomac and served three
years and three months, participating in the battle of Bull Run, Antietam, South
Mountain, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gains Mills, Gettysburg and
Winchester, besides numerous other engagements and skirmishes and serving under
nearly every general of that army Being young and full of life and vigor, Mr.
ILIFF enjoyed the vicissitudes of a solder’s life, being blest with good
health, never being confined a day in the hospital or absent from his post and
was never in an ambulance. He was the life of a squad, being always ready for
mischief or duty as the case presented. Two of his brother, Thomas V. and John
W., were also in the service, being respectively in the Fourty-fourth Infantry
and Eighth Calvary. All three of the boys entered the army before reaching their
majority and celebrated their twenty-first birthday in the service.
His term of service having expired, Mr. ILIFF in 1864, received his honorable discharge and returned to his native haunts. He is an active Republican and has held many offices of trust and responsibility being a member of the Town Council, serving as City Marshal and as a member of the School Board and being one of the census enumerators of 1880. For the last four years he has been a guard at the State Prison in Columbus. He was married September 15, 1870 to Miss M. L. SMALL. She was born August 29, 1841 in Cedarville Township and is the daughter of David and Mary (WRIGHT) SMALL; the mother is now living in Cedarville, the father is deceased. Mrs. ILIFF’S paternal grandfather was James SMALL, who came to Ohio from South Carolina in 1804 and who spent his last days in this township. Mr. and Mrs. ILIFF are the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters, viz: Mary, Harry, Walter, Wallace, Sarah and Fanny. Mary is the wife of john MCCORKELL, a leading merchant of Cedarville. The other children are at home. Mr. ILIFF is a member in good standing of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Patriotic Sons of America. He attends the Methodist Church while his wife finds religious consolation with the Reformed Presbyterians.
transcribed by Jean Hehn
29 Mar 2002