Will County IL Archives Biographies.....HARVEY, JABEZ ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Paula Winke-Martisek wranglerjack@comcast.net September 19, 2007, 3:56 pm Author: GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD HON. JABEZ HARVEY, postmaster at Wilton Center since 1875, was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, January 20, 1831, a son of Hiram and Nancy (Fletcher) Harvey. His father, who was born in the same province in 1807, was the youngest of twelve children, and attained a more advanced age than any of the others, being eighty-seven at the time of his death. In the fall of 1837 he came to Illinois, driving with a team of horses the entire distance of fifteen hundred miles. He spent a winter in Tazewell County, then came to Will County and settled in what is now the town of New Lenox. Three years later he came to Wilton Township and bought government land three miles northeast of the present site of Wilton Center. At the time he came to Wilton Township, in 1841, it had but two families. In 1844 he went to Five-Mile Grove, Manhattan Township, and ran a dairy for four years, when he returned to Wilton Township, remaining here until his death, in January, 1894. In politics he was a Republican. Both of the grandfathers of our subject, Lemuel Harvey and Isaac Fletcher, were natives of New England and soldiers in the Revolutionary war, after which both settled in Canada, accepting the offer of the British government to give land to all who would settle there. In 1850 our subject went to California, spending four months in the trip overland. He located twelve miles south of Downeyville and engaged in mining; also carried on a miners' store. In 1852 he returned via the Isthmus, his first ride on a railroad being across the Isthmus. He arrived home January 1, 1853, and soon bought one hundred and sixty acres of land one-half mile west of Wilton Center. In December of that year he married Miss Sarah J. Welliver, a native of Butler County, Ohio. After his marriage he settled down to farming. In 1858 he established a mercantile business in Wilton Center, which he has since conducted. In 1864 he took a second trip across the plains in quest of gold, going to the mines at Virginia City, but finding a great crowd there he sold his outfit and returned home. Indians were very troublesome, and caused a delay of a month at Salt Lake. The return trip of seventeen hundred miles was made by stage. On his return he resumed mercantile pursuits. For twenty-two years he was justice of the peace, after which he refused to serve longer. For twenty-one years he was township treasurer, an office that his son, Judd E., now holds. In 1872 he was elected to the state legislature, in which he served two sessions. Frequently he has been a delegate to county, district or state conventions. His service as postmaster covers a longer continuous period than that of any other postmaster in the county. In 1892 he was elected supervisor of Wilton Township and served for a term. After an intermission of two years he was again elected and served for two terms. He is now president of the Pioneers' Society of Will County, in which organization he has been very influential. His wife died June 18, 1897, leaving four children, Everett E., of Des Moines, Iowa; Ettie E., who is married and lives in Milford, Iowa; Judd, a partner in his father's business; and Jay C File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/harvey1738nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 3.8 Kb