A Family History of Alvin Brooks: Articles and Documents
Nevitt Biographies
Sophronia Brooks, daughter of Alvin Brooks and Sallie Carr, married Clement Green Nevitt on 5 Nov 1848 in Whiteside County, Illinois. Clement's father William Nevitt and his family were early settlers in Whiteside. These biographies are of William Nevitt and two of Clement's brothers: Edward Henson Nevitt and William Granville Nevitt.Biography of William Nevitt, father of Clement Green Nevitt
WILLIAM NEVITT of Newton Twp, Whiteside Co IL
History of Whiteside County Bent/Wilson 1877
William Nevitt, father of Hon. E. H. Nevitt, and one of the earliest pioneers of Whiteside county, was born at Brownsville, Pa., in 1779. When a young man he moved to Kentucky, and in 1805 married Miss Mary Edlin at Beardstown, Breckenridge county, in that State. He moved from Kentucky to White county Illinois in 1818, and in 1834 from the latter place to a farm near Knoxville, Knox County, Illinois, where he remained until 1837 when he came to Albany, arriving in August. Here he purchased a farm just back of the present village of Albany, and also became one of the original proprietors of Upper Albany.
In 1821 Mr. Nevitt was appointed Justice of the Peace by the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the State and the appointment afterwards duly confirmed by the Senate, and a commission issued to him by Hon. Shadrach Bond, the first Governor of the state. While a resident of White county he was several times placed in nomination by the Whigs of his district as Representative to the Legislature, but as the latter were in the minority his candidacy was unsuccessful. In 1831 he was appointed by the Governor as one of the Commissioners to improve the Little Wabash river. He had not long been in Whiteside when he was elected School Commissioner of the county, Jabez Warner, Esq., being his opponent. This office he held until his death which occurred in October, 1848.
Mr. Nevitt had eleven children: John, James, Clement, William G., Allen, Edward H., Wilson, Nancy, Maria and Susan. Eliza married Alfred Slocumb; Nancy married Asa Langford; Maria married Noah Shelby, and Susan married Thomas Finch. The children living are Clement, who resides in Knox county, Illinois; William G. in Newton, Whiteside county; Edward H., in Albany; Mrs. Finch in Oskaloosa ( Jefferson county, Iowa, and Mrs. Slocumb in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.
Biographies of Edward Henson Nevitt, brother of Clement Green Nevitt
EDWARD HENSON NEVITT OF Albany Township Whiteside Co IL
History of Whiteside CountyHon. Edward H. Nevitt, of Albany, has been a prominent business man of Whiteside County since 1850. He is a native citizen of the State, having been born at Carwi, White County, Jan. 6, 1822. He was 15 years of age when his father (see sketch of William Nevitt), removed his family to Albany Township, and until the date named he was engaged in farming, with the exception of the time spent in obtaining his education, which he completed by studying at Knox College. He had observed the advantages of the lumber trade on the Mississippi, and at the age of 28 years began his active connection therewith, pursuing his business vigorously in the various avenues of traffic in production-of lumber, until the summer of 186o, when he suffered almost total annihilation of his business relations from the tornado of June 3, which literally destroyed the village of Albany; his saw-mill, with the lumber and fixtures, and his residence, being swept away.
He made a brave struggle to recover his losses, staying on the spot with his friends and neighbors, who had encountered similar disaster. In 1865, he was appointed United States Mail Agent, and discharged the duties of the position on the river route from Dubuque to Rock Island, one season. In the fall of the same year he again embarked in the lumber trade, in which he has since operated continuously.
Mr. Nevitt's abilities received early recognition by his townsmen, and he was elected to the position of Assessor on the organization of the township, and was successfully re-elected twenty years. He served as County School Commissioner and as Supervisor of Albany. He held the latter office six consecutive years, and was re-elected for a seventh term, but resigned to take his position as Representative of the Eleventh District, which included the counties of Whiteside and Carroll. He was elected to the Assembly of Illinois in the fall of 1876, and was made a member of some of the most important committees. His service in the 30th General Assembly was characterized by the same ability, faithfulness and public spirit which had made hurt prominent in local affairs and in the duties of his private citizenship. Mr. Nevitt is the possessor of a mind well stored by a wide familiarity with literature and prominent individuals in public life; and he is the recipient of the respect and esteem of all who know him for his disinterested services in the general welfare, as well as for his superior character as a man.
Mr. Nevitt was joined in marriage to Hannah Alvord, Dec. 27, 1855 at LeClaire, Iowa. She was born May 26,1826, in Elliottsville, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y. A daughter, Lizzie Blanche, was born April 19, 1856, and died Nov. 18, 1858. The wife and mother died Nov. 30, 1882. The second marriage of Mr. Nevitt, to Jennie Whiting, occurred Jan. 15, 1884. Mrs. Nevitt is a native of the City of Lockport, N. Y.
EDWARD HENSON NEVITT
Portraits and Biographical Pg 779
Edward H. Nevitt was born in Carmi, White county, Illinois, January 6, 1822. When twelve years of age his father moved from White county to near Knoxville, Knox County, Illinois. Here the family remained until 1837 when they all came to Albany. Mr. Nevitt was married to Miss Hannah Alvord at LeClaire, Iowa, on the 27th of December, 1855, Elder Hartzell , performing the ceremony. Miss Alvord was born in Ellicottville, Cattaraugaus County, New York, May 26, 1826. Lizie Blanche, marriage, was born April 19, 1856, and died November 18, 1858.When Mr. Nevitt first came to Albany he settled in the part of the town then known as Van Buren, now more particularly designated as Upper Albany. During the first years of his residence he followed farming. In 1847 he engaged in the lumber business on the Mississippi river, and continued in it about three years. In 1852 he became connected with the saw mill business, and was so occupied until 1860 when the mill in which he had an interest was, together with the lumber, machinery, etc., swept away by the Tornado. His dwelling house was also destroyed at the same time, thus entailing a heavy loss m which it took several years to recover. In 1863 he was appointed mail agent on the river from Davenport to Dubuque, in which service he remained nearly a year, and then went into the lumber, insurance, and real estate in which he is still engaged.
His fellow citizens early discovered that he was peculiarly qualified for an able, prompt and faithful discharge of the duties of a public trust, and in 1852, the first election after the township organization, elected him Assessor of the town, and continued him in that office at each succeeding election until 1877, a period of a quarter of a century. In 1870 he was elected Supervisor of the town, an office which he continued to hold by re-election until January 1,1877, when he resigned to take his seat as Representative of the General Assembly of the State from the 11th District, to which office he had been elected for two years in in the fall before. During the late, long and arduous session of the Thirteenth General Assembly he was always vigilant in the discharge of his duties, rarely being out of his seat during session hours, or away from committee work when it demand his attention. He was chairman of the Committee on Engrossed and Enrolled bills, one of the most important committees of the House, and also member of several other committees. Mr. Nevitt was educated at Knox College.
Biographies of William Granville Nevitt, brother of Clement Green Nevitt
WILLIAM GRANVILLE NEVITT of Newton Twp, Whiteside Co IL
History of Whiteside County Bent/Wilson 1877
William G. Nevitt was born in Breckenridge county, Kentucky, in 1814, and was one of eleven children who all grew up and were married. In 1819, with his father, he removed to White county, Illinois. In 1832, when volunteers were called for to operate against the Sac and Fox Indians in the north part of the state, Mr. Nevitt, then a lad of sixteen, enlisted. His father equipped him with a horse, gun, and accoutrements, and he joined the Spy Battalion of the second brigade, and served honorably throughout the campaign.
After the many trials of a lonely journey on horseback, Mr. Nevitt reached Knoxville, after the close of the Indian troubles. His father removed to that town in 1835. While at Knoxville, the subject of this sketch was employed to make the assessment of Henry county, then attached to Knox for judicial purposes, and he, while thus engaged, visited Prophetstown and Portland, and assessed the settlers there, these two townships being then a part of Henry county.
In 1836 his father, Wm. Nevitt, in company with others, bought the claim where Albany now is, and the next year, 1837, W. G. Nevitt was married and made a claim three miles southeast of Albany, where he now resides, and has for forty years. He has reared seven children, and lost two. Mr. Nevitt, in the early days of settlement, served as constable, and has also been a Justice of the Peace about twenty years. He is a type of the honest, hard-working, God-fearing farmer his rules of life being the Ten Commandments.
WILLIAM GRANVILLE NEVITT
Portraits and Biographical Whiteside CountyWilliam Granville Nevitt, a farmer on Section 6, Newton Township, was born March 22, 1814 in Breckenridge Co KY and is he fourth son of Wm. and Mary (Edlin) Nevitt. His parents came to White Co IL when he was five years old, and he there grew to man's estate. He was 18 when the second invasion of BlackHawk took place and he volunteered in what was designated the Spy Battalion of the Second Brigade, in command of Colonel McHenry. He was equipped by his father with a horse and gun and was a participant int he battle of Bad Ax. After the capture of the troublesome chief, Mr. Nevitt set out on his return. He desired to make his way to his brothers' in Knox County and he started alone on his pony. He found his gun burdensome and he threw it away. The first night he found himself at the confluence of two creeks and he picketed his horse and slept on the ground. At day dawn he again set forth and toward nightfall struck a trail which led to a cabin in a corn field, but with no human eing near. He pressed on until he came to another cabin without an occupant, and he again rode on, following the trail which led to a block house, where he found the proprietors of the empty houses. This was near Henderson Grove in Knox County. He reached his brother the next day and remained with him two weeks, afte which he went to Lewistown to see his brother-in-law. He reached his home in September. He spent the next two years as an assistant in a blacksmith shop, after which he removed to Knox county. In 1836 he went to Oquakwa and there engaged to help build a sawmill. He joined his parents in Albany in 1837.
in June he started in company with th Slocumbs to make claims. They went to a southeasterly course and located in what is now Neton Twp. making a claim on the west half of section 6, Stephen B. Slocumb locating the east half of the same. The other Slocumbs, four in number, made claims east of section 6 in the same twp. Their land lay in a straight line and the thoroughfare on which it was situated was called Slocumb Street. Mr. Nevitt cut logs and hewed timber for a dwelling and sent to Maquoketa Iowa for sawed lumber. His dwelling was 16 x 24 feet. He afterward increased its dimensions and occupied it until 1855, when he built the brick residence now occupied by himself and family. Mr. Nevitt had the use of three yoke of oxen during the first year of his residence in Newton Twp. and he was busy all summer breaking prairie for his neighbors, receiving $5 per acre for his services. He also went to Beaver Island to draw logs for a steam mill at Albany. He drew one 60 feet long that would "square" 14 inches which had been sought in vain by David Mitchell and a man named Bergen, who also had an interest in the mill.
Mr. Nevitt returned to White Co IL in the fall of 1837 and spent the winter. March 5, 1838 he was married to Leannah, daughter of John and Rebecca (Morely) Martin. The parents of his wife were natives of NC and wer pioneers of White County. April 5the the bridegroom set out with his bride to make their way to their future home. Both were on horseback, Mrs. Nevitt riding one given her by her father. They wer 14 days making the trip. They stayed a few days with the parents of Mr. Nevitt, until their house was completed. They owned two chairs, which was presented to them by the husband's parents. Seven of nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Nevitt are still living. Mary married D.J. Markee of Newton Twp./ Martha is the wife of H.H. Bliff of Webster Co Iowa/ Perry resides in Newton Twp/ Olney is a resident of Minneapolis MN; Nannie is the wife of C.C. Clendening of the same place/ Hettie married Charles Osborn of Minneapolis/ Minnie resides at home.
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