Hearne History - Page 510

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good play at the theatre and love music, and nothing but pride now prevents me following a circus band just as I used to do.

Future generations will remember the foregoing sketch as the one containing more pronouns than all the rest ; but, aside from the mere matter of genealogy, my biography is of little moment to any save immediate relatives; and for this part of the familv I have put my unsuccessful ( ?) life in print as I should tell it to them, less the details. I have no apology to offer for failures, save that I am human, a "self-made man," and not very proud of the job.

William Emsley Hearne was born Mar. 1, 1829, in Wilson Co. Tenn., where his boyhood was spent. He attended college at Lebanon and for some time taught school. He learned blacksmithing, probably before attending college. He married Sarah C. Irby near Lebanon, Tenn., Apr. 12, 1855, and went to Marion, Ill., where for ten years his time was devoted to school-teaching and blacksmithing. During this period five children were born to them: Rufus P., Mallie, Emsley, Selkirk Irby, Winston Garth, and De Witt. The children all live save Selkirk Irby, who died July 15, 1881, In 1865 he took his family to the country, and the 8th of Aug. following his wife died, aged about twenty- nine years. He married again the next year, and no children were born of that union. He did farm work in the summer and taught school in the winter. In 1869 his home was burned, which wrecked his finances, and in his efforts to again get a start he exposed himself to such a degree that his health was impaired, and he died July 23, 1882, a poor man.

Politically W. E. Hearne was a staunch Republican. He was a Methodist in every fibre, and was a worker, both in church and Sunday-school. His children all belong to the same church excepting Rufus, who has never joined any church. Winston G. is a Methodist minister.

Lillian Abia Lippincott, born at Tamaroa, Ill.[1], Sept. 4, 1861. Her girlhood was spent in various towns in southern Ill. She attended college at Greencastle, Ind., but, owing to the death of Rev. Van Winkle, Feb. 1878, did not graduate. Mar. 10, 1880 she married Rufus P. Hearne. Children: Nell Fountain,

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Notes:
[1] Tamaroa is in Perry county on Hwy 51 north of DuQuoin.  Charlotte Hearne Alexander notes that she has done much research in the Tamaroa area and with the Perry County census.  She is related to Rufus P. Hearn, who lived in Tamaroa and married a Lippincott.


Copyright (c) 1999, 2007 Brian Cragun.