My Genealogy Hound

John S. Medley, owner and proprietor of the extensive saw and planing-mill and shingle factory two miles south of Evening Shade, was born in Parke County, Ind., in 1848. He is a son of Capt. Philip and Rachel (Barnes) Medley, of Indiana and Kentucky, respectively, who were married in Indiana, and in 1853 removed to Fulton County, Ill., and from there to Schuyler County, Ill., after the war, where the father died about the year 1870, and his wife one year previous. Both were members of the Union Baptist faith. The elder Medley was a miller by occupation, and a man of fine business ability. In 1862 he joined the Thirteenth Illinois Infantry, and commanded Company I, serving about six months, when he was forced to resign on account of poor health. He was a member of the A. F. & A. M., and a son of Rev. Samuel Medley, of Scotch-Irish descent, a noted preacher of Kentucky, who died in Illinois. The grandfather of John S. Medley, James Barnes, was a farmer, and died in the State of Indiana. John S. Medley is the third child of eight sons and three daughters, of whom eight are yet living. He received his education partly at the common schools and by self-tuition, and at the age of seventeen years his ability was so well recognized that he was taken into partnership with an extensive saw mill firm, and has continued in that business ever since. He thoroughly understands the business, and has met with success in every instance. In 1869 Mr. Medley moved to Evening Shade, where he resided up to 1870, when he married Mrs. Nancy Sharp, a widow lady, of Indiana, who died six months after their wedding. In 1889 he was again married, his second wife being Miss Lily Green, of Illinois. Mrs. Medley’s mother is still living, but the father died when she was a young girl. Mr. Medley owns about 1,200 acres of land in the vicinity of Evening Shade, and has about 125 acres under cultivation, with several good buildings and barns. His mills have the reputation of turning out some of the best work in Sharp County, and, as a citizen and business man, he enjoys a popularity that must be gratifying even to the most egotistical, although Mr. Medley is as modest as he is popular. His mills have a capacity of about 8,000 feet of lumber, and about 20,000 shingles per day, and has also a planing attachment. In politics he is a Democrat, and has been a member of the I. O. O. F. since his maturity, holding all of the offices during that period.