JosephGifford
JOSEPHGIFFORD, a well-to-do and highly esteemed farmer of Versailles township,Brown county, Illinois, where he has lived for twenty years, was born inCambria county, Pennsylvania, in December, 1833.
Hisparents, Joseph and Sarah (Davis) Gifford, were both natives of the KeystoneState, where his father was born in 1802. His paternal grandfather, alsonamed Joseph, was of English parentage, and is thought to have been bornin England. He was a prosperous farmer in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania,and left, at his death, a good estate to his family, consisting of fivesons and four daughters, all of whom became heads of families, some attaininga great age. One son was more than ninety years of age when last heardfrom, and, if still living, as is quite probable, he is nearly a hundred.The father of the subject of this sketch moved from Pennsylvania directlyto Brown county, Illinois, in 1856, and rented land near the village ofCooperstown, where he resided for thirteen years, until his death in 1869,at the age of sixty-seven years. He left a widow and five children, foursons and one daughter: David, a successful farmer in Iowa; Joseph, of thissketch; John and Isaac, both prosperous farmers of Nebraska; and Jemima,who married Manuel Whited, and died in Nebraska, aged forty-two years,leaving five children.
Thesubject of this sketch was reared to hard labor, and had but few educationaladvantages. Before he was eleven years old, he worked in the Sligo PigIron Works, in Clarion county, Pennsylvania. When eighteen years of age,he commenced life for himself, and what little education he possesses hasbeen gleaned by the dusty, toilsome wayside of life. Fortunately his parentsdowered him with an unclouded intelligence and a robust constitution, andinculcated in him a love of truth and integrity, and trained him to habitsof industry and economy.
Hewas married in his twenty-first year, to Lucinda Hovis, of Venango county,Pennsylvania, August 3, 1854, and continued to live in the Keystone Stateuntil the fall of 1868, when they removed to Brown county, Illinois. Theymade the journey overland with a team, bringing six children with them.They were four weeks en route, and, the weather being propitious, theirjourney was a continual pleasure trip and picnic. They camped in theirtent and covered wagon at night, and cooked their meals by the way. Arrivingin Brown county, Illinois, they located on forty acres of their presentfarm for which they paid $650. There were no buildings on the place atthe time, and only fifteen acres of it were cleared. They had brought butlittle means with them, and went in debt $450, since when they have purchasedforty more acres, are out of debt, and have most of the farm well improved.
Priorto coming to Illinois, in September, 1862, Mr. Gifford went as a volunteerin Company E, Sixteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, from Franklin, Pennsylvania.He was on duty all of the time from his enlistment until his dischargeat Lynchburg, Virginia, June 17, 1865, except when he was sick in the hospitalwith typhoid pneumonia, from June 4 to August 16, 1863. He was in someforty-six engagements, some of which were hotly contested. Among thesewas the battle of Hatcher’s Run, which he thinks was worse than that ofthe “Bull Pen.” His last year of service was spent under the command ofGeneral Phil. Sheridan.
Mr.and Mrs. Gifford have had ten children, nine of whom survive: Sarah, marriedGeorge Green, and died, aged twenty-five years, leaving two sons; Ernest,a prosperous farmer of Elkhorn township, married Alice Lewis, and has twochildren; Maggie married Morgan Grady, a successful farmer of Pike county,Illinois; Laura married Frank Sellers, a well-to-do farmer of Iowa, andhas one daughter; Ida married George B. Alexander, and has two children;Julia married John Orr, a progressive farmer of Cooperstown township; Hattiemarried William Tolle, an estimable laboring man of Versailles township,and has one son; Mattie and Mollie, twin sisters, are intelligent and activeyoung ladies, who relieve their mother of much of the household work; JosephW., the youngest a youth of sixteen, is at home, and does much of the hardlabor on the farm. Mr. Gifford, who has toiled hard for many years, istaking a needed rest whenever he can do so.
Inpolitics Mr. Gifford is Democratic, and has been honored by his constituentsseveral times with public office. Besides minor positions of trust, hehas served two terms as Justice of the Peace, and was re-elected for thethird term, but declined to qualify, thinking he had done his share ofsuch service.
Religiouslyhe and his worthy wife are earnest and useful members of the MethodistEpiscopal Church, to which they have belonged many years.
Mr.Gifford’s history would serve as an example for many poor, young men, startingin life. A careful analysis of his prosperity would be found to consistin intelligent and persistent effort, supplemented by uprightness of dealing,careful economy and uniform courtesy in all the various walks of life.
Biographical Review ofCass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical Review PublishingCo., Chicago, 1892, pages 233-234.
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