My Genealogy Hound

STRINGER, WILLIAM M., farmer and stock raiser, who takes a leading position among the more prominent settlers of Greene County; is a native of Kentucky, where he was born April 6, in the year 1807; but little can now be gleaned, relative to the ancestry of Mr. Stringer; his father died during his sixth year, his mother Elizabeth Stringer was laid at rest many years after, within the borders of Greene County. While Illinois was still a territory, probably about the year 1817, young Stringer an adventurous youth, directed his footsteps westward in company with his uncle, and first landed in Madison County, where he remained six years, employed as a farm hand; his mother had married the second time, and while a resident here, he received the news of his foster father’s decease, and accordingly went back to his old home in Kentucky, where he took charge of the home farm; it was during this time that he united his fortunes to Miss Elizabeth Joslyn, a daughter of Elindor Joslyn, of Kentucky; the year 1829, found this family en route for the West, where a settlement was made in what is now Scott County, then designated as Morgan, close to the city of Winchester then but a hamlet; he remained until 1833, the date of his removal to Greene County, he found the country but little improved, comparatively few were here to improve it, the native prairie grass at times growing to a height of from three to five feet. He had entered his first land 40 acres in 1834, on which he built the usual rough cabin, where he lived the frugal life of the pioneer for many years, while his children grew up around him and became valuable assistants in bringing the farm to a proper state of cultivation. We cannot describe in detail the hardships endured by Mr. Stringer, and perhaps it is only necessary to state that his present good fortune was secured by no lucky chance or event, but by persistent energy; of his marriage, eight children were born only two of whom are living: Leroy and Levi, the latter enlisted at the breaking out of the war, in the U. S. Service, and serving through the Rebellion, received his commission as Lieutenant.