NORTH, JOHN
, born Nov. 22, 1806, near the village of Bent creek, on James river, Buckingham county, Va. His grandfather, Richard North, was born in England, and trained to the business of a cutler. He came to America, and worked at his business at Bent creek. His wife's maiden name was Thornton, but whether they were married in England or America is unknown to their descendants. Their third son, Peter, born in Virginia, was married there to Elizabeth Franklin, a daughter of Robert Franklin, of Campbell county, Va. Peter North was a soldier from Virginia in the war with England in 1812. In 1819 or '20 he moved to Jefferson county, near Dandridge, Tenn., taking with him six children. The second son, John, whose name heads this sketch, was there married, Sept. 22, 1828, to Anna Giger, who was born Nov. 4, 1807, in that county. They came to Sangamon county, Ill., arriving April 12, 1829, in what is now Cooper township, north of Sangamon river, where they had four living children. Of their children--BENJ. HOUSTON, born Nov. 19, 1832, in Sangamon county, married Nov. 15, 1855, to Minerva A. F. Miller, who was born May 18, 1836, in Loudon county, Va. They have three children, JOHN H., MARY A. and ALMEDA S., and live in Cooper township, Sangamon county, Illinois.
HARVEY N., born Jan. 26, 1835, married Nov. 13, 1856, to Sarah E. Prather. They have four children, TONY, EMERY, CLYDE and PETER, and live in Christian county, four miles northeast of Breckenridge, Sangamon county, Illinois.
JOHN W., born Nov. 9, 1837, in Sangamon county. He enlisted August 7, 1862, in Co. A, 73d Ill. Inf., for three years, was captured Sept. 20, 1863, at the battle of Chickamauga, taken to Richmond, Va., was one month in Libby prison, thence to Danville, Va., thence to Andersonville, Ga., arriving at that prison pen March 20, 1864, where he remained to Dec., 1864. He was then taken to Charleston, S. C., where he spent six weeks in prison, thence to Florence, S. C., where he was released on parole, and started from Wilmington, N. C., March 4, 1865, for home, via Annapolis, Md., and reached home March 17, 1865, and was honorably discharged. John L. Hesser, relating his prison experience, speaks of John W. North as "a man of peculiar form or stature, six feet four inches in height, two hundred and ten pounds in weight, and a heart in proportion. In Andersonville he generally went by the name of The Infant. He was very kind and obliging to all the sick and weakly souls; never allowed any imposition on those poor, feeble forms who were not able to defend themselves. We lived as two brothers, commingled our sorrows together for eighteen dreary months, never were separated but one night during our imprisonment. * * * Lived through all the trying and heart-rending scenes of the many kinds of disease and death, where so many more died than lived, astonished that even one could live." John W. North was married March 8, 1866, to Maria McDauiel. They had three children, LOU IDA, ANN ELIZABETH and GERTIE LEE, and live two and a half miles south of Mechanicsburg, Illinois.
ANDREW J., born March 18, 1841, died April 26, 1857.
Mrs. Anna North died Feb. 24, 1844, and John North was married Sept. 19, 1844, to Susannah Eckel. They had six children; all died under five years. Mrs. Susannah North died July 1, 1855, and John North was married Feb. 19, 1856, to Mrs. Amelia Woodruff, who had previously been Mrs. West, and whose maiden name was Taylor. They had four children, PETER F. died in his second year. ROBERT F., born Mar. 31, 1859, EDWARD E., born Jan. 14, 1861, and PERMELIA A., born Jan. 24, 1864. John North resides on the farm where he settled in 1829, three miles south of Mechanicsburg, Sangamon county, Illinois.