My Genealogy Hound

JOHN HOLFORTY, Sr., farmer, Sec. 19; P. O. Heyworth; born in Cumberland Co., Penn., June 20, 1821. His grandfather, Luther Holforty, was born in the North of Ireland, and was taken to this country by the British during the war of the Revolution. Upon arriving here he deserted and joined the revolutionary patriots. He was pursued, and had a narrow escape from being captured by the British, who passed over a brush-heap several times, under which he lay concealed. He was engaged at the battles of Valley Forge, Bunker Hill, and many other engagements, and served until the independence of the nation was established, and lived some fifteen years after this date. The father of the subject of this sketch, John Holforty, was born in Dauphin Co., Penn., in 1785, and worked at carpentering and cabinet-making, until his death, which occurred in 1872, at the ripe old age of 87 years. He was married to Ann Sophia Rheinwood; she was born in Dauphin Co., Penn., in 1792. She was of German descent. She died in 1865, 73 years of age. Their children were ten in number, of which six are now living. The subject of this sketch lived with his parents until about 12 years of age, when he hired out as farm laborer, expending the fruits of his labor for the support of his father’s family, until 21 years of age. At the above age, the youngest children being capable of self-support, he continued farm labor until 25 years of age, when he emigrated to Illinois, and located in St. Clair Co., in the spring of 1847, driving all the way from Pennsylvania by team, being thirty days upon the trip. He then bought eighty acres of land at $3.37 and $5.37 per acre, running in debt $110, which he paid off after a period of five years, the delay being occasioned by misfortunes and sickness. He lived in St. Clair Co. until 1860, when he, with his family, removed to McLean Co., and in the spring of 1861, he purchased his present place of 160 acres of prairie land, and twenty acres of timber, upon which he then located, and where he has since lived. He has added by purchase, until he now owns 200 acres of land, with two sets of farm buildings, and also 240 acres of land in Kansas, all of which he has accumulated by his own hard labor, energy and industry. His marriage with Barbara Lutz was celebrated March 11, 1845; she was born near Darmstadt, Germany, Feb. 7, 1822: she emigrated with her parents to America in 1829 or 1830, and settled in Pennsylvania, and, in 1840, emigrated to Illinois and located in St. Clair Co. Her father was a soldier in the army of Napoleon, and with him crossed the Alps, and was obliged to subsist upon the meat of dead horses, upon the retreat of the army from Moscow. Of 300 soldiers, only two survived to reach home. The children of John and Barbara (Lutz) Holforty were eight in number, as follows: Catharine A., John, George, Arthur B., Barbara, Miranda and Marion (twins), and Charles W. Mr. H. has been a member of the Church of the United Brethren for the past forty-two years, Mrs. H. having joined about the same time. He is a strong advocate of the cause of temperance, and has never made use of intoxicating liquors or tobacco in any form. Of the above children, Catharine and Miranda are deceased.