WILLIAM H. GREEN
William H. Green, an extensive land-owner of Tazewell County; in early days an active Whig and later for many years a Republican politician: a veteran of the Civil War; member of Bogardus Post, G. A. R. of Washington Township, Iowa County, Wis. and a pioneer of at least three distinct localities in the Middle West, comes of a family represented in Worcestershire, England, for many centuries, in which maritime county he himself was born, July 22, 1843, and where his father, William Green first saw the light on October 13, 1812. His grandfather, John Green, was born in the same locality, and there passed his entire life.
On the maternal side, William H. Green is descended from ancestors by the name of Hands, his mother, Sarah, daughter of Lord Hands, having been born in Worcestershire in 1819.
The father, William Green, brought his family to America in 1848, his son, William H., being at that time five years of age. He settled on a farm in Iowa County, Wis., when that State was still a territory, and, after becoming well established in 1850 left his family for the gold diggings of the Pacific coast. In 1867 he located in Bremer County, Iowa, where he passed the balance of his life, and where he son William H., obtained the greater part of his education. The boy led an uneventful life until the commencement of the Civil War, when he enlisted in Company C, Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and under General Sherman, participated in many of the battles which have made his campaigns famous, among them being Savannah, Averysboro, Bentonville and Atlanta. At Bentonville he received a gun-shot wound in the leg, and after being captured was sent to Libby prison. In that notorious charnel-house he remained six weeks, and was then discharged from the service, June 25 1865, having attained to the rank of Corporal.
During the two years succeeding the war Mr. Green worked in the coal mines in Iowa County, Wis., and then located at Tremont, where he remained another two years. He afterward rented land in the State and engaged in farming for a couple of years, but later located in what is now Marion County, Kan., where he obtained a soldier’s claim to 160 acres. Here he was called upon to endure the hardships of frontier life, his nearest neighbor being fourteen miles distant, and Norton, the nearest village, was twenty-eight miles away.
Had it not been for the able assistance of Mr. Green, the aforementioned village would have been much slower in its growth, for he assisted in hauling lumber for the construction of the first houses, and otherwise contributed to its upbuilding. After four years passed in Kansas, he located in Tazewell County, Ill., where he rented various tracts of land, until purchasing the farm of 348 acres upon which he lived until its recent sale. Since he has bought a half interest in eight acres of land in the northern part of Deer Creek Township, which he is having laid out as an addition to the village of Deer Creek, a number of lots having already been disposed of. He also owns 320 acres in Hancock County, Ill., and a residence on Delaware Avenue. Peoria, where he expects to remove in the near future.
On February 3, 1875, Mr. Green was married to Miss May Robinson, born in Tremont in 1855, and two of their children survive, viz.: Emma Gungerich and Arthur.
Mr. Green has filled various political positions in the different places in which he has lived, and has served as Supervisor of Deer Creek Township, as well as School Director several terms. He is a genial and generous- hearted man, cordial and considerate to his neighbors, and the soul of honor in all his business dealings.
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Tazewell County - page 1010