Biography - I Towell
I. T. TOWELL was born in White County, Ill., March 26, 1836, being the eldest in a family of ten children born to William M. and Martha (Stark) Towell, of which family but live members are now living: William M., who served for three years in the civil war as a member of Company L, Third Illinois Cavalry, did valiant work for his country, and is now a resident of Litchfield, Ill., where he is following the calling of a wheelwright; Samuel L., who is now a resident of Kansas, also served his country in the Third Illinois Cavalry during the war; Charles L. resides in Waggoner, Montgomery County, Ill.; Dora J. is the wife of James DeGrate, of Walshville, Ill.; James H., who served with conspicuous bravery in the Civil War for three years, is in the Third Cavalry, and in 1867, while a member of the Kansas State Militia, and fighting the Indians near Ft. Hayes, was massacred, being literally shot to pieces, and was buried near that fort.
Isaac Towell, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Pennsylvania before the War of the Revolution, but in early life removed to Tennessee, where William M. Towell, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1817. He was brought to Illinois in 1835 and afterwards became a wagon-maker and farmer of White County. It was on his farm that the man of whom we write was born and reared, his early scholastic training being received in the common schools near his home. In addition to the three brothers above mentioned and the father who went forth to battle for their country during the perilous times of the Civil War, none donned his suit of blue with greater eagerness than did the subject of this sketch, who did good and faithful service during that great struggle. They were all members of the Third Illinois Cavalry, and during the last year of the war the father served as Regimental Commissary. He lived until September 1890, and died at Walshville, Montgomery County. I. T. Towell answered to his country's first call for troops, and in April, 1861, we find his name on the roll of Company D, of the Seventh Illinois Infantry. During this enlistment he did not leave the State but part of his time was spent at Cairo. On the 7th of August, 1862, he became a member of Company L, of the Third Illinois Cavalry, as a private and for two years thereafter his company was body-guard to different commanders of the Thirteenth Army Corps. He was in many of the bloodiest combats of the war, including Jackson, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, siege of Vicksburg, Franklin and Nashville, and followed Hood into Alabama. He was promoted in regular line, and for more than a year was Orderly-Sergeant of his company, with which rank he was mustered out of the service, May 22, 1865, and returned home without a scratch from any implement of war in the hands of a rebel.
Since the war he has devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits in the vicinity of Litchfield, Ill., and is now the owner of a magnificent farm in Witt Township, the result of his own good management. He is a Republican politically, has served a term as Collector, and for five years was a member of the County Board of Supervisors. He is a member of the Grand Army, and is a Master Mason. In 1860, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Chapman, a Kentuckian by birth, who became a resident of Montgomery County early in life. To them a family of nine children has been given, who are as follows: John W. is married, and is a wheelwright at Litchfield; Laura is the wife of Henry Lee, an Englishman by birth, and a farmer of Witt Township; Mattie is the wife of Jacob Bauerla, a farmer of Audubon Township, of Montgomery County; and the following are at home: Nora, Ida, Eva, R. T., James E. and Maude. All these children were educated in the public schools, but Ida completed her education in Hillsboro Academy. Mr. Towell is one of nature's noblemen, and is an acquisition to the locality in which he resides, for he is public-spirited, energetic, and liberal in the use of his means.
Extracted 04 Dec 2016 by Norma Hass from 1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Montgomery and Bond Counties, Illinois, pages 178-179
