Untitled Document

BENJAMIN F.MOREY

Son of Charles F. and Polly Morey, was born in the town of McKean, Erie county, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1822. At tho age of nineteen he came to Warren county, Illinois, where he landed with $4 in money in his pockets, and an old suit of clothes, which constituted his entire stock of worldly possessions. He began working in a brickyard in Monmouth. hire in that city he was present at the trial of the notorious Jo. Smith. who had been arrested for being accessory in the murder of Gov. Boggs, of Missouri.

He remained in the vicinity of Monmouth about three years, working at various pursuits in the summer and teaching in the winter. He was a member of the first board of supervisors in Warren county in 1854. Mr. Morey was married March 12, 1844, to Miss Philetta Higgins, a native of Vermont. He was a resident of Warren county until the spring of 1861, when he removed to Mercer county and bought land in sections 26 and 27, Greene township. In the spring of 1864 he was elected supervisor of the township, and since that time has acted in that capacity for twelve years, the last two terms being chairman of the board. In the winter of 1864 Mr. Morey was appointed by the township to attend to filling the quota of troops, in order to prevent a draft. He went to Quincy vested with the proper authority and arranged matters so that no draft was made.

The names of Mr. Morey's children in the order of their ages are as follows: Otis R. (now a resident of Audubon county, Iowa), Orinda O. (wife of W. L. Smith, deceased in her thirty-fifth year), Ella (wife of Charles Park, now residing in Cloud county, Kansas), Orlin, Oscar, Cornelius, Eunice, Lettie, and Dollie. Mr. Morey is a member of lodge No. 577, A. F. A. M., at Viola, of which institution he was one of the first members. He is a member of no church ; but his wife and five of his children belong to the Methodist denomination. During his residence in Mercer county Mr. Morey has taken a prominent part in public affairs, and honesty and integrity have ever characterized his actions.

History of Mercer & Henderson Counties

Illinois Ancestors