Liberty G. Persinger Biographical Review

LIBERTY G. PERSINGER, one of the most prominent farmers of Woodstock township, was born in Alleghany county, Virginia, June 6, 1831, a son of Allen and Paulina (Peters) Persinger. Allen Persinger was a native of Virginia, born in Alleghany county, and resided there until he was twenty -three years of age. He then emigrated to Illinois, accompanied by his wife and one child; the journey was made from Virginia in a one-horse wagon, and when he arrived his capital amounted to $25 in cash. He went to work with a will, and began the task of placing a tract of wild land under cultivation. He afterward sold this, and entered eighty acres on another section; to this he added as his means increased, until at one time he owned several hundred acres. He built a log cabin in which he lived four years, and then erected another one of more pretentious size, in which he died at the age of seventy-four years; his wife passed her last days in the same house. Politically, he was closely identified with the early history of the county and State; he held many local offices, and represented his county in the Illinois State Legislature. Liberty G. Persinger, who is named for the old Revolutionary General, Liberty Green, remained with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age. He was then married to Elizabeth Tharpe, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of Jonathan and Anna Tharpe, who were born in North Carolina and were early settlers of Schuyler county. To Mr. and Mrs. Persinger have been born eleven children, ten of whom are living; all are married: William L. has five children; Paulina has five children; Anna C. has three children; Cornelia J. is the mother of three children; Naomi has two children; Louis M. is the father of two children; Allen J. has a family of two children; Elmer E. and Edward have no children; Estella is the mother of one child. After his marriage, Mr. Persinger rented the land which he now owns; he lived in a little log cabin for a year, and then erected another in which he resided eight years; he then built his present home. He has 300 acres under good cultivation, 111 of which he inherited from his father’s estate. He carries on a general farming business, and has met with more than ordinary success. The land was originally heavily timbered, and has required no small amount of energy and labor to reduce it to a state of cultivation. Mrs. Persinger is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Our subject takes no active interest in politics further than to discharge his duty as a citizen by casting his suffrage, which is with the Republican party. He is a man of superior business qualifications and unquestioned honor and integrity.