Bios: James Stitt Descendants : of Franklin Co, PA 

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>From "History of Henry County, Illinois", by Henry L. Kiner, Volume II,
Chicago:  The Pioneer Publishing Company, 1910.  Alice Gless

WILLIAM L. STITT

Among the more successful and prominent agriculturists of Oxford
Township is William L. Stitt, who is carrying on the work begun by his
father, James Stitt, with most gratifying results.  The family is of
remotely Irish descent, a great-grandfather of our subject having come
from County Down, Ireland, in 1791.  He settled in Franklin County,
Pennsylvania, whence his descendants have come to Illinois.  His son,
William Stitt, was a successful agriculturist there until 1856, when he
came with him son James, to Oxford Township, this county.  Here he lived
until his death, in 1873.  His wife, who was Margaret Harmonni before
her marriage, was of German parentage but Pennsylvanian birth and
survived him about six years.

James Stitt, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in
Franklin County, Pennsylvania, October 4, 1827.  In his youth he learned
the tailorıs trade, which he followed until the news of the gold
discovery in California having reached him, he set out to make his
fortunes there.  In 1850 he joined an overland wagon train, and after
spending about two years in the western state, prospecting and mining in
the gold country, he returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama and
New York City.  In 1853, he married and removed to Stockbridge,
Michigan, where he followed his trade and engaged in farming.  The next
year, however, he came to Henry County, Illinois, and arriving here July
4, 1854, secured the tract upon which his son is living today.  After
the inauguration of the Civil War, Mr. Stitt enlisted in 1862, in
Company D, One Hundred and Twelfth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, spending
the next three years in active service upon the battlefield.  During
that time he participated in a large number of important engagements,
among them being the battles of Knoxville, Resaca, the Atlanta campaign,
Franklin, Nashville and Wilmington.  He was also present during the
raiding of eastern Tennessee.  In a large number of lesser fights he
proved his valor and was twice wounded at Knoxville and once seriously
at Wilmington, North Carolina.  After the close of the war, having
received an honorable discharge June 20, 1865, Mr. Stitt returned to his
family in Henry County, taking up farming.  He made a number of
improvements on his place, and as his enterprises prospered invested
extensively in land in Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.  He was also widely
known as a stockman of importance, whose operations were ever attended
with profit.

James Stitt was twice married.  Before he left his native home he was
united, in 1853, to Miss Elizabeth Hammond, who died in 1869, leaving
five of the seven children born to them, namely:  Lawrence, who is
married and lives in Colorado; Frank E., who is married and lives in St.
Charles, South Dakota; Amanda, who became the wife of W. C. Cole,
December9, 1885, and died September 9, 1896; Wesley K., who is married
and lives in Marcus, Iowa; and Elmer M., who makes his home in Clarinda,
Iowa.  On the 19th of August 1869, Mr. Stitt married a second time, his
wife being Miss Mary J. Paden, who was born in Knox County, Illinois,
and was a daughter of D. J. Paden.  She was reared in Henry County and
having received a good education, was engaged in teaching for a number
of years before her marriage.  She was a woman of ability, who directed
the management of the Stitt homestead for several years after her
husbandıs death.  Through her union with James Stitt, she became the
mother of five children:  Charles, who is married and lives in Wichita,
Kansas; James H., of Gary, Indiana; William L., the subject of this
sketch; Lucia, who was one of the successful teachers of Henry County;
and Harry W., who attended the University of Illinois at Champaign and
is now in Wallace County, Kansas.

The father was intimately connected with the public life of Oxford
Township, for he had served as school trustee and filled other offices
of responsibility.  In early years he was an adherent of the Republican
Party, but later, being a strong temperance man, he supported the
principles of the Prohibition Party.  For more than forty years he was a
consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his honorable
and upright life gained for him the esteem of all who knew him.  His
death occurred April 25, 1896.

William L. Stitt, a worthy son of so noble a father, was born upon the
farm upon which he now lives, March 12, 1877.  Upon it also he grew to
maturity, assisting in the general work that was carried on there, while
he received a fair education in the public schools of Alpha, which
served as foundation for later intellectual attainments.  Subsequently
he attended college at Valparaiso, Indiana, taking the business and
teachers course, for he looked forward to making teaching his
profession.  His fatherıs death, however, compelled him to change his
plans, as he was called home to assume the management of the farm in
conjunction with his brother, James H.  In 1903 he married and while he
continued farming in Oxford Township, it was not until 1906 that he
finally made the Stitt place his permanent residence when his mother and
sister removed to Abingdon, Illinois.  It is one of the splendid tracts
of arable land in that township, is all under a high state of
cultivation and well improved, the son maintaining his fatherıs
reputation as a first-class farmer.  Like the latter he has engaged in
stock raising and feeding to some extent, although he has not devoted to
it the time or attention that his father did.  Progressive and
energetic, he has won a success that may compare favorably with that
attained by the other, even without considering the disparity of their
ages and the difference in the amount of their experience.

It was on the 11th of February, 1903, that Mr. Stitt was united in
marriage to Miss Ella J. Cederberg, who was living in the vicinity of
Galva but had previously made her home at Woodhull.  Her parents had
come from Sweden to America as young people and were married after they
arrived here.  Mr. and Mrs. Stitt have one son and one daughter:  Lloyd
L. and Mary.

He is a prohibitionist in his political views and is actively concerned
in advocating its cause throughout the county.  His influence is also
felt in local affairs, for he is serving as road commissioner, a
position to which he was elected two years ago, and is a member of the
Alpha Board of Education.  Deeply interested in the maintenance of first
class public schools, he has spared no effort to make the local
institutions among the most successful of the county.  Fraternally he
enjoys pleasant relations with the Modern Woodmen, and with his wife
belongs to the Mystic Workers.  They are both members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, active in its work and in its Sunday school, Mr. Stitt
being one of the trustees.  A young man of progressive ideas, of proved
integrity and high character, he enjoys an enviable reputation in the
community to whose advancement he has contributed so much.