| Page content last modified: | August 9, 2006, added details of William Benton Allton's military service.
March 6, 2006, added link to David Allton and Lucy Farwell; added 1860 census transcription; amended text. February 24, 2005, added link to Allton - Meredith license. |
| FOUNTAIN GREEN CEMETERY HANCOCK COUNTY, ILLINOIS |
MARY ANN ALLTON (nee GIBSON) 1820-1843
THOMAS H. B. ALLTON 1841-1843
W. BENTON ALLTON 1845-1866 tombstone photos not yet available)
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| William Allton was born in Lewis County, N. Y., in 1811. He is of a family of 11 children, 7 of whom are living. The father, David Allton, was of English descent; was a farmer by ocupation; emigrated to Western N. Y. in 1820, and in 1836, to this State, settling in Fountain Green Tp. He died in 1848, 65 years of age. The mother, who died recently, at the advanced age of 91, was also of English descent and a native of the same State. The oldest daughter, Salona, the wife of Conrad Cratzenburg, died in this county in 1854. ["Sellona Cratsenburg" was listed in the 1860 census.] David F., the elder brother, was married in New York; emigrated to this State in 1834, and died in 1871, leaving a widow and 8 children. Lucy, the oldest sister, is the wife of Cyrus Kyes, of New York. Betsey, wife of Henry E. Vroman, emigrated to this State in 1834; her husband dying, she married Clement Logston, of Macomb, who died in 1866. W. S., N. A., Elliott and Miles, are farmers in this county. Miles died a soldier before Vicksburg, in 1865. [Miles died in 1901.]
William, the subject of this sketch, the third in age, in early life a farmer, emigrated to Rushro in 1833; was educated in the common schools. He was married in 1840, to Mary A. Gibson, who, with one child, died in 1843. He then came West to Indiana, where he was engaged for a time in merchandising at Crown Point. Here he remained for eleven years, returning in 1854 to New York, and settled as a farmer. In 1860 he came to Knox county, near Galesburg, where he engaged in farming. He was married again, to Sarah Meredith, who became the mother of one child, Wm. B., who died with his mother in 1866. [Young William died in 1866, according to his tombstone, but Sarah was enumerated in the 1870 census and the tombstone inscription lists her death date in 1873.] He was married again in 1874, to Miss Maggie Fitch, of New York, with whom, and their sweet little girl, Lillie, he is now enjoying the greatest blessings of a domestic life. Mr. A. resides within a quarter of a mile of the village of Fountain Green, where he settled on a farm of 80 acres, in section 33, also 40 of timber. His neat and commodious residence stands upon a rise of ground so as to give his a view of the surrounding country to be seen in no other part of the tp. Mr. A. has never been before the people as a candidate for office, but from his extensive library, and his genial, social qualities, he would not be an unfit servant for any position in which his friends might place him.
 1880 Gregg History of Hancock CountyFountain Green Township, pages 822 & 825 verbatim transcription except for [bracketed text] |
 William Allton was born in Lewis County, New York, March 17, 1811, the son of One must review various resources to parse out details of William Allton's life and whereabouts. The Gregg history gives the impression that his first wife and their son died before William arrived in Illinois. In fact, William married Mary Ann Gibson in McDonough County, Illinois, on January 28, 1841. According to the inscription on her tombstone, Mary Ann was born August 14, 1820, and died on her birthday in 1843. Her infant son, Thomas H. B. Allton, born November 4, 1841, had died 10 days previous, on August 4, 1843. Both were buried in Fountain Green Cemetery, Hancock County, Illinois.
William remarried eight months later, on May 2, 1844. His second wife was Sarah Meredith, daughter of Mrs. Catherine Meredith, both originally from Pennsylvania. Abraham Lincoln, a local Justice of the Peace, performed the marriage; we can reasonably assume they were married in Fountain Green Township. In 1845 William and Sarah became parents of a son, William Benton Allton, born in Lake County, Indiana. At the time of the 1850 Federal Census, William, Sarah, their young son and Sarah's mother were living in Centre Township, Lake County. By 1860 William had brought his family back to Fountain Green Township. They were enumerated immediately preceding the household of William C. and Eliza Cratsenberg (nee Reece), with whom Catherine Meredith was making her home (unless her name was misplaced during transcription of the census page). William Benton enlisted in the Union Army in 1862. From the Muster and Descriptive Rolls compiled by the Illinois Adjutant General's Office:
Name ALTON, WILLIAM B
Personal Characteristics
Service Record
Young William died October 6, 1866, and was buried at Fountain Green Cemetery. He may have died in Knox County. There is some evidence that William and Sarah had relocated there around 1863. See In 1870 William and Sarah were still in Knox County. Sarah's mother died February 6, 1873, and Sarah died a few months later, May 16, 1873. Now there were three Meredith generations in the little Fountain Green Cemetery, and the senior William had lost his second family. In 1874 William took his third wife, Martha Margaret Fitch, known as Maggie, daughter of Chester and Clarissa (Morse) Fitch. Maggie was born in Hume, Allegany County, New York in 1836. Listed with William and Maggie in the 1880 census was Lily B., 9, born in Wisconsin. Some resources indicate that she was an adopted daughter. William died October 6, 1884, and was buried in Fountain Green Cemetery. Maggie subsequently married Alexander Walker McConnell on November 25, 1886, at Fountain Green. He was born September 25, 1822, in Fannettsburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, to James McConnell and Margaret Walker. It was Alexander's second marriage. He died just four years later, on August 6, 1890, and was buried at the McConnell-Geddes Cemetery near Fountain Green. |
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See also: Walter S. Allton (brother)
Miles Allton (brother)
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enumerated August 20, 1850, dwelling #162 William Alton, 39, male, male, merchant, value of real estate 3000, born NY
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enumerated July 28, 1860, dwelling #3576 William Alton, 49, male, farmer, value of real estate 9000, value of personal estate 8000, |
enumerated June 9, 1870, dwelling #106 Alton, Wiliam, 59, male, white, farmer, value of real estate 13000, value of personal estate 5000, born NY, male citizen of the U.S. aged 21 or more
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enumerated June 8-9, 1880, dwelling #83 Allton, Wm, male, white, 69, married, farmer, born NY, father born CT, mother born VT
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