Untitled Document

ROSWELL C.SEXTON

Son of Roswell and Elizabeth Sexton, was born in Herkimer county, New York , in 1803. His parents resided there until he was nine years of age, when they removed to Meadville , Crawford county, Pennsylvania . His father and mother were both natives of Connecticut . During their residence in Meadville his father was the proprietor of a hotel at that place, and it was here that the subject of this sketch received his education.

In 1832 he went to Centerville , in. the same county, and was married there in 1833 to Miss Mary Peck, a native of New York . He remained in Pennsylvania over twenty years after his marriage. In 1857 he came west and located near Oxford , Henry county, where he remained until 1860, when he came to Viola and began keeping hotel in the Perkins building. The names of Mr. Sexton's children, in the order of their ages, are : William H., now county clerk in Warren county ; Prior B., who resides on a farm near Viola ; Amelia, deceased in her eighteenth year; Dora, wife of H. Southwell, present superintendent of schools in Rock Island county; Theodore F., who resides in Viola ; and Dora, wife of L. Menold, also of Viola.

Two of Mr. Sexton's sons enlisted in the service of their country, in defense of the principles they ever held dear. William enlisted in August, 1862, in Co. D, Sad Ill. Inf., and Theodore in. March, 1865, in the same regiment and company. William was quartermaster of his regiment, and acted in that capacity until the close of the war. The family are all prominent members of the Presbyterian church, with which the father united in 1828. Mr. Sexton and sons are all citizens of great worth, and are universally respected. The old people are well advanced in years, and can look back over the pathway of life with pleasure, and console themselves with the thought that for their sons and daughters they leave as a legacy a noble example, a spotless name.

History of Mercer and Henderson County

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Illinois Ancestors