Biography - William Terry
WILLIAM H. TERRY, who controls and operates a fine farm on sections 8
and 9, Raymond Township, Montgomery County, was born near Jerseyville,
Jersey County, Ill., on the 18th of November, 1838. The Terry family is of
Welsh origin, some of the ancestors having come to America in the latter
part of the seventeenth century and located in Connecticut. It was in honor
of this family that the old town of Terryville, Conn., was named. Many of
its members have been prominent in the history of this country. The
great-grandfather of our subject was with Washington at Valley Forge and did
good service in the War for Independence. Gen. Terry, the noted Indian
fighter, was also a member of the same family.
After the Revolution, the Terry family went to Virginia, where Jasper M.
Terry, the father of our subject, was born. When he was a small child his
parents removed to Kentucky, and in 1832, when eighteen years of age, he
came to Illinois and located in what is now Jersey County, but was then
Greene County. He accumulated quite a large fortune prior to his death,
which occurred in 1876. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary A.
Wagner, was a native of Allen County, Ky., and was of German extraction.
The Terry family numbered nine children, all of whom are yet living: John W.
is a man of much learning and is a Baptist preacher by profession. He was a
missionary to Spain for many years and was there located in 1868, when the
Spanish Government banished all Protestant missionaries from the country. He
then returned to the United States and went to New Mexico, where he
established the First National Bank at Socorro. He is now a wealthy banker
and real-estate dealer. Anslam K., A. O., T. J., and T. F. constitute the
firm of attorneys and real-estate men who do business under the name of
Terry Bros., in East St. Louis. They are wealthy citizens and very
prominent. A. O. is a graduate of Ann Arbor University. T. J. and T. F. are
graduates of Shurtleff College. Henry C. resides on the old homestead in
Jersey County. Mary Emma is the wife of William Hatcher, a hotel keeper of
Springfield, Ill. Frances A. is the wife of Dr. E. Weir, of Edwardsville.
Our subject did not have the advantage of a college education as his younger
brothers did, as when he was a youth, his father had not yet acquired his
fortune, but he managed to obtain a fair English education in the schools of
Jerseyville, and is now a well-informed man. He assisted his father on the
home farm until March, 1861, when he came to Montgomery County and located
on a farm in what is now Pitman Township. In December of the same year, he
married Miss Milberry Sharp, a native of Macoupin County, Ill., whose
parents came to this State in an early day from Tennessee.
After the breaking out of the late war, Mr. Terry abandoned farming to enter
the service of his country. He enlisted on the 12th of August, 1862, in
Company F, One Hundred and Twenty-second Illinois Infantry, of which he was
commissioned Sergeant, and for three years he valiantly served his country,
participating in many battles and engagements. When the war was over, he was
honorably discharged, on the 8th of August, 1865. He then returned to his
home, where he continued to reside until the spring of 1877, when, after his
father's death, he removed to his present home.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Terry have been born five children, namely: William J.,
who is engaged in farming near Pana, Ill.; Rena who is engaged in teaching
music; George L., an electrician; John Charles, a musician of much talent
and the leader of the Raymond Band; and Fannie Agnes, a teacher of
recognized ability in the public schools. Mr. Terry is a man of more than
ordinary ability, and his success in life has come to him as the reward of
his own efforts. Socially, he is a prominent member of the Grand Army, being
Commander of Raymond Post No. 504.
Extracted 29 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Montgomery and Bond Counties, Illinois, pages 121-122.
