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Below is a family biography included in The History of Greene County, Illinois published by Donnelley, Gassette & Loyd in 1879. These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary. Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more. There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.
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PRATHER, JOHN, farmer and stock raiser, Sec. 6, P.O. Greenfield, was born Aug. 3, 1820, was married, in 1853, to Sarah Morrow, who was born, in 1825, in North Carolina, have three children: Edward, born May 29, 1854; James, born Oct. 28, 1856; Ann M., born Nov. 11, 1858. The subject of this sketch is the oldest son of Edward Prather, who is one of the oldest settlers of Greene County, Ill.; was born in Kentucky, Aug. 3, 1795, and at the age of twenty-one left Kentucky on horseback, in 1816, for the unbroken soil of Illinois, and worked by the month on a farm; staid in Illinois for two years, then went back to Kentucky and bought seventy-five head of cattle and brought them to Illinois to pasture, and about half of them died. He sold what was left near Alton, which was but a village then; then went back to Kentucky and was married, Oct. 18, 1819, to Maria Harrison, who was born April 26, 1802. They started for Illinois a short time after they were married; farmed in the American Bottom for a short time, then moved to Carrollton, in 1824, and leased land from Governor Carlin, staying there six years; then entered 160 acres from the government, where he now lives, at the age of eighty-three years. His wife died Nov. 13, 1878, at the age of seventy-four.
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This family biography is one of 744 biographies included in The History of Greene County, Illinois published in 1879. View the complete description here: The History of Greene County, Illinois
View additional Greene County, Illinois family biographies here: Greene County, Illinois Biographies
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