Samuel Cover, Marion Trustee, Postmaster, saddle maker and Civil War veteran, arrived in Jonesboro, Illinois when he was four years old. He was the last of ten children born to Daniel Cover and Susannah (Hahn) Cover and was born in Pipe Creek, Carroll County, Maryland in 1835. Soon after Samuel’s birth, his father died, so in 1839 his mother gathered her brood of children and came down the Ohio River, then to Jonesboro, where she settled permanently and purchased a lot on August 15, 1840 from John McIntosh, Lot #5 in his addition to the town of Jonesboro. Her children were all educated in Maryland and Jonesboro. Her three oldest children, Hiram, Daniel and Catherine were all married in Jonesboro before 1842. Continue reading
Category Archives: Military
Amzi Franklin White, druggist, postmaster of Marion, real estate agent and land agent for the Illinois Central railroad was born in Johnson County, September 4, 1847, the son of John H. and Emily A. (McCoy) White, natives respectively of Connecticut and Tennessee. Amzi’s father was John H. White, county clerk, lieutenant-colonel of the 31st Illinois infantry and first county casualty of the Civil War. See his biography at John H. White. Continue reading
Thomas Davis, Marion Alderman, merchant and Civil War veteran, was born September 18, 1840, the son of Oliver H. Davis (1805-1885) and Rebecca Ann Baker (1809-1885). Oliver Davis came from Tennessee to Illinois about 1828 with his wife and baby daughter Jane. His wife and daughter rode on a horse, and he walked by their side. He settled on the bank of Crab Orchard Creek in what is now Williamson County Illinois, about 1/2 mile East of Pittsburg, Illinois. Continue reading
W. Mart Davis, Civil War Vet, Died Tuesday
Was Resident of Community for Seventy Five Years
Death at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday closed the long and interesting life of Uncle Mart Davis, one of Marion’s oldest and most beloved citizens. He was 88 years, four months and eight days of age. For several months his health had been poor, and it was realized that he could not live much longer. He passed away at his home at 412 E. College Street.
William Martin Davis was born on May 9th, 1841, in Knox County, Tennessee, near Knoxville and moved to Illinois with his parents, William and Elizabeth Ann Hunter Davis at the age of 14, but returned to Tennessee later and at the age of 20 years joined the 15th Tennessee Volunteer Regiment, Company G, under H.B. Cunningham of this city on June 5, 1861. Continue reading
Martin Wiley Robertson, Marion Trustee and merchant, was the son of Henry Robertson (1775-1845) of Nashville Tennessee and Mary Spiller (1798-1853) of Virginia by way of Tennessee. Mother, Mary, was the daughter of William Spiller and Winifred Benson.
Martin’s father, Henry Robertson, came to this part of Illinois, about 1818, returned to Tennessee, then came back in 1823, and settled three and a half miles northwest of Marion, filing his first land claim in 1836, where he farmed successfully until his death in 1845. Henry bought one of the original lots in Marion when the land for the town went up for sale. Continue reading