My Genealogy Hound

HENRY CLAY BISHOP, farmer, Sec. 5; P. O. Downs; one of the oldest living settlers of Downs Township; born in Clark Co., Ohio, Dec, 3, 1824; he was the second son of William Bishop, who was born Sept. 8, 1794, in Virginia. During the war of 1812, he was a teamster, and went to Fort Meigs and Fort Wayne. About the year 1820, he went to Virginia and married Margaret Lake; she was born in Virginia in 1803; she is now living in Bloomington at the advanced age of 76 years; they were the parents of nine children, who lived to grow up, eight of whom are now living. In 1833, he came to Illinois and located upon Sec. 30, Old Town Township, McLean Co.; upon their arrival here they were obliged to sleep in a wagon for three weeks, and lived in the abandoned hut of a hunter for the first winter, and the following year, built the Six-Mile House, a double log cabin, which was used for many years as a stopping place for travelers. He entered land, to which he afterward added until he had 2,000 acres; of their children, eight are now living; three of the sons are farming in this county; one is a physician of Bloomington, and one a physician of Chicago. Mr. Bishop was a man universally respected, and died Oct. 5, 1865, at the advanced age of 61 years. The subject of this sketch remained at home until 1852, when he went to California overland, crossing the Rocky Mountains at South Pass; there were six in the party, and they had two teams of cows hitched to the wagons; the trip consumed five months; he remained in California until 1856, the most of the time being engaged in mining, he then returned and engaged in farming, which business he has since successfully followed; he located upon his present place in 1865, where he has 355 acres, upon which he has good farm-buildings, and some town property in Normal.