When William A. Booth came to Illinois with his father in 1833, he was fifteen years old. When a young man, he farmed with his father, chopped sawmill timbers in the Mississippi bottoms for two or three winters, taught one term of school, was partner in a dry goods store in Nauvoo for a short time, and in 1847 was a partner with T. L. McCoy in the pork packing business in Quincy.
In 1850, he bought land and settled in Gilmer township. When he was a young man and living with his father, he went to George Johnson, a farmer and blacksmith living near Columbus, and got him to make an iron moldboard plow for him. This was one of the first iron moldboard plows in Mr. Booth's neighborhood, and its working excited a good deal of attention and comment.
Mr. Booth was married September 29 1852 to Nancy J. Bradley, born in Bourbon county Kentucky June 23 1833, daughter of Hiram and Mary (Markwell) Bradley, the former born in Bourbon county Kentucky and the latter in Fleming county Kentucky.
Mr. and Mrs. Booth had eight children: Mary F., wife of Dr. G. E. Whitlock of Columbus, this county; Christopher S. of Camp Point Illinois; John A., Nellie, Lillie E. and William, who are deceased; Newton C., who married Lizzie Welsh and is a farmer near Camp Point; and Ida, deceased. All the children had good educational advantages.
Mr. Booth was a successful lawyer, owning at his death six hundred and ninety acres of land, and he dealt to some extent in notes and mortgages. About 1864, he made two or three trips to Pennsylvania and Vermont, and bought and established one of the best flocks of Merino sheep in western Illinois. He was several times Assessor of Gilmer township, and during the war, compiled the list of men in Gilmer township [who were] subject to draft.
An athletic man during most of his life, in middle age Mr. Booth walked several times from his farm to Quincy, a distance of fourteen miles. Until old age he could handle an axe with uncommon skill and effect. He was a good marksman, and always retained a prejudice against a shotgun, for scattering. An enthusiastic fisher from his youth, in his later years he had quite a local reputation as a fisherman with hook and line.
A man of considerable force of character, the personal qualities of Mr. Booth gained for him the respect of those who knew him. With a logical practical mind, his judgment in business matters was often sought and referred to. While he would likely have resented being told that he was a good man, he seemed always to do what he did with a conscience, and while his judgment of persons was generally just, he was severely critical of persons who would try, as he expressed it, "to show off," and for shams and humbugs his sarcasm had a ripsaw touch. It was a trait of his character to avoid doing things to attract attention to himself, yet he had strong ambitions, and had the strength of mind and will to work and ripen his plans for years, to achieve the results at which he aimed.
[His friend] Thomas Bailey expressed this estimate of him: "...I never saw any act or thing in any transaction of business but that was honorable and fair."
- Portrait and Biographical Record of Adams County Illinois, published by Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1892.
Researched, and transcribed here, by Tree Leaf.
____________
Note by KQB:
Aged 72 Years
In 1850, he bought land and settled in Gilmer township. When he was a young man and living with his father, he went to George Johnson, a farmer and blacksmith living near Columbus, and got him to make an iron moldboard plow for him. This was one of the first iron moldboard plows in Mr. Booth's neighborhood, and its working excited a good deal of attention and comment.
Mr. Booth was married September 29 1852 to Nancy J. Bradley, born in Bourbon county Kentucky June 23 1833, daughter of Hiram and Mary (Markwell) Bradley, the former born in Bourbon county Kentucky and the latter in Fleming county Kentucky.
Mr. and Mrs. Booth had eight children: Mary F., wife of Dr. G. E. Whitlock of Columbus, this county; Christopher S. of Camp Point Illinois; John A., Nellie, Lillie E. and William, who are deceased; Newton C., who married Lizzie Welsh and is a farmer near Camp Point; and Ida, deceased. All the children had good educational advantages.
Mr. Booth was a successful lawyer, owning at his death six hundred and ninety acres of land, and he dealt to some extent in notes and mortgages. About 1864, he made two or three trips to Pennsylvania and Vermont, and bought and established one of the best flocks of Merino sheep in western Illinois. He was several times Assessor of Gilmer township, and during the war, compiled the list of men in Gilmer township [who were] subject to draft.
An athletic man during most of his life, in middle age Mr. Booth walked several times from his farm to Quincy, a distance of fourteen miles. Until old age he could handle an axe with uncommon skill and effect. He was a good marksman, and always retained a prejudice against a shotgun, for scattering. An enthusiastic fisher from his youth, in his later years he had quite a local reputation as a fisherman with hook and line.
A man of considerable force of character, the personal qualities of Mr. Booth gained for him the respect of those who knew him. With a logical practical mind, his judgment in business matters was often sought and referred to. While he would likely have resented being told that he was a good man, he seemed always to do what he did with a conscience, and while his judgment of persons was generally just, he was severely critical of persons who would try, as he expressed it, "to show off," and for shams and humbugs his sarcasm had a ripsaw touch. It was a trait of his character to avoid doing things to attract attention to himself, yet he had strong ambitions, and had the strength of mind and will to work and ripen his plans for years, to achieve the results at which he aimed.
[His friend] Thomas Bailey expressed this estimate of him: "...I never saw any act or thing in any transaction of business but that was honorable and fair."
- Portrait and Biographical Record of Adams County Illinois, published by Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1892.
Researched, and transcribed here, by Tree Leaf.
____________
Note by KQB:
Aged 72 Years
When William A. Booth came to Illinois with his father in 1833, he was fifteen years old. When a young man, he farmed with his father, chopped sawmill timbers in the Mississippi bottoms for two or three winters, taught one term of school, was partner in a dry goods store in Nauvoo for a short time, and in 1847 was a partner with T. L. McCoy in the pork packing business in Quincy.
In 1850, he bought land and settled in Gilmer township. When he was a young man and living with his father, he went to George Johnson, a farmer and blacksmith living near Columbus, and got him to make an iron moldboard plow for him. This was one of the first iron moldboard plows in Mr. Booth's neighborhood, and its working excited a good deal of attention and comment.
Mr. Booth was married September 29 1852 to Nancy J. Bradley, born in Bourbon county Kentucky June 23 1833, daughter of Hiram and Mary (Markwell) Bradley, the former born in Bourbon county Kentucky and the latter in Fleming county Kentucky.
Mr. and Mrs. Booth had eight children: Mary F., wife of Dr. G. E. Whitlock of Columbus, this county; Christopher S. of Camp Point Illinois; John A., Nellie, Lillie E. and William, who are deceased; Newton C., who married Lizzie Welsh and is a farmer near Camp Point; and Ida, deceased. All the children had good educational advantages.
Mr. Booth was a successful lawyer, owning at his death six hundred and ninety acres of land, and he dealt to some extent in notes and mortgages. About 1864, he made two or three trips to Pennsylvania and Vermont, and bought and established one of the best flocks of Merino sheep in western Illinois. He was several times Assessor of Gilmer township, and during the war, compiled the list of men in Gilmer township [who were] subject to draft.
An athletic man during most of his life, in middle age Mr. Booth walked several times from his farm to Quincy, a distance of fourteen miles. Until old age he could handle an axe with uncommon skill and effect. He was a good marksman, and always retained a prejudice against a shotgun, for scattering. An enthusiastic fisher from his youth, in his later years he had quite a local reputation as a fisherman with hook and line.
A man of considerable force of character, the personal qualities of Mr. Booth gained for him the respect of those who knew him. With a logical practical mind, his judgment in business matters was often sought and referred to. While he would likely have resented being told that he was a good man, he seemed always to do what he did with a conscience, and while his judgment of persons was generally just, he was severely critical of persons who would try, as he expressed it, "to show off," and for shams and humbugs his sarcasm had a ripsaw touch. It was a trait of his character to avoid doing things to attract attention to himself, yet he had strong ambitions, and had the strength of mind and will to work and ripen his plans for years, to achieve the results at which he aimed.
[His friend] Thomas Bailey expressed this estimate of him: "...I never saw any act or thing in any transaction of business but that was honorable and fair."
- Portrait and Biographical Record of Adams County Illinois, published by Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1892.
Researched, and transcribed here, by Tree Leaf.
____________
Note by KQB:
Aged 72 Years
In 1850, he bought land and settled in Gilmer township. When he was a young man and living with his father, he went to George Johnson, a farmer and blacksmith living near Columbus, and got him to make an iron moldboard plow for him. This was one of the first iron moldboard plows in Mr. Booth's neighborhood, and its working excited a good deal of attention and comment.
Mr. Booth was married September 29 1852 to Nancy J. Bradley, born in Bourbon county Kentucky June 23 1833, daughter of Hiram and Mary (Markwell) Bradley, the former born in Bourbon county Kentucky and the latter in Fleming county Kentucky.
Mr. and Mrs. Booth had eight children: Mary F., wife of Dr. G. E. Whitlock of Columbus, this county; Christopher S. of Camp Point Illinois; John A., Nellie, Lillie E. and William, who are deceased; Newton C., who married Lizzie Welsh and is a farmer near Camp Point; and Ida, deceased. All the children had good educational advantages.
Mr. Booth was a successful lawyer, owning at his death six hundred and ninety acres of land, and he dealt to some extent in notes and mortgages. About 1864, he made two or three trips to Pennsylvania and Vermont, and bought and established one of the best flocks of Merino sheep in western Illinois. He was several times Assessor of Gilmer township, and during the war, compiled the list of men in Gilmer township [who were] subject to draft.
An athletic man during most of his life, in middle age Mr. Booth walked several times from his farm to Quincy, a distance of fourteen miles. Until old age he could handle an axe with uncommon skill and effect. He was a good marksman, and always retained a prejudice against a shotgun, for scattering. An enthusiastic fisher from his youth, in his later years he had quite a local reputation as a fisherman with hook and line.
A man of considerable force of character, the personal qualities of Mr. Booth gained for him the respect of those who knew him. With a logical practical mind, his judgment in business matters was often sought and referred to. While he would likely have resented being told that he was a good man, he seemed always to do what he did with a conscience, and while his judgment of persons was generally just, he was severely critical of persons who would try, as he expressed it, "to show off," and for shams and humbugs his sarcasm had a ripsaw touch. It was a trait of his character to avoid doing things to attract attention to himself, yet he had strong ambitions, and had the strength of mind and will to work and ripen his plans for years, to achieve the results at which he aimed.
[His friend] Thomas Bailey expressed this estimate of him: "...I never saw any act or thing in any transaction of business but that was honorable and fair."
- Portrait and Biographical Record of Adams County Illinois, published by Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1892.
Researched, and transcribed here, by Tree Leaf.
____________
Note by KQB:
Aged 72 Years
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