McDonough ILGenWeb

WELCH, William D., who has been for a long time successfully operating his fine farm in Hire Township, McDonough County, Ill., was born in Tennessee Township, McDonough County, January 17, 1834. He is a son of Jefferson and Adella (Caldwell) Welch, natives of Kentucky. Jefferson Welch and Adella Caldwell came to McDonough County in 1833, and their marriage took place in that county the same year, making the second wedding ceremony performed in the county. The father, who served in the Black Hawk War, entered land in Tennessee Township, and, after clearing it, followed farming and stock-raising. William D. Welch obtained what mental instruction he could in the common schools of the neighborhood as opportunity offered, while assisting his father on the farm, also attending the college at Abingdon, Ill. He bought his present farm of 160 acres in Section 27, Hire Township, in 1871, and has made all the improvements on it, being the final owner of about 600 acres of choice farming land, all of which he has since sold but 160 acres.

Mr. Welch was married on February 28, 1877, to Eliza Hoffman, of Missouri, a daughter of Payton and Elizabeth (Milburn) Hoffman, natives of Kentucky. The children born of this union are as follows: Frank, Samuel, Anna (Mrs. W. D. Null), who resides in Hancock County, Ill.; Arthur, Jefferson, Essie, Robert and Melvin. Mr. Welch is a member of the Baptist Church, and politically, a supporter of the Democratic party. He has served one term as Road Commissioner and filled other local offices. He is a man of intelligence and strict probity, and has lived an irreproachable life. His success in agricultural pursuits is but the natural result of many years of industrious application to the work before him, and of frugal and upright habits of living.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907, volume 2, pages 1039-1040, extracted 26 Oct 2020 by Norma Hass.