Among the native born residents of Richland county who have reached a
well-merited success we must certainly include the name of Harrison Umfleet.
He is now approaching his eightieth year and has been prosperous in his
agricultural calling. Few men are better known in this township and county
than he. Honesty and fair dealing have been his watchwords, and these twin
virtues have been personified in his active life.
Harrison Umfleet
was born on October 26, 1829, in Richland county, or as it was then known,
Lawrence county. His family lived in the vicinity of Claremont. He was the
son of Seth and Rebecca Umfleet, his mother's maiden name being Cummings, a
daughter of Daniel and (Durman) Cummings. His father was born in North
Carolina and his mother in Kentucky, her birth occurring in 1810. His father
came with his parents from North Carolina to Kentucky in the year 1815, in
which state they settled on a farm. Here he remained with his parents until
he married Rebecca Cummings, February 4, 1827. They then went to farming for
themselves, and in 1828, moved to Lawrence county, Illinois, making the long
journey on horseback and ferrying the Ohio and Wabash rivers. He did not
sell his farm on leaving Kentucky, possibly for the reason that he regarded
his journey as a tentative one. Seth Umfleet first entered forty acres near
Sumner on government license, paying one dollar and twenty-five cents an
acre for it. It was all prairie land at the time. He, however, quickly set
to work and erected a log house and stable and a rail fence on the
settlement. At the time he was possessor of only one horse and it was much
of a drawback to him. In order to draw the rails he hitched his horse to a
sled and loaded three rails on at a time, carrying another on his shoulder,
during the building of the fence. At the same time he was busy in another
occupation. He taught country school in Claremont township at the same time.
When Harrison Umfleet was but an infant his parents returned to Kentucky on
a visit to his grandparents, making the journey once more on horseback. It
was then a bad time for such a journey, being late in the fall of 1829. They
returned to Illinois again in the early winter of 1830, where they farmed in
Claremont township. Soon afterwards they sold the place and moved into
Lawrence county, buying forty acres on state road. Here they remained five
or six years when they moved to South Sumner, which was their home until
1865, whereupon they again moved, this time to Olney, Illinois. Here the
family remained until the death of Mrs. Seth Umfleet, in the fall of 1871,
at the age of sixty-one years. Seth Umfleet married again, secondly a widow
Truskett, and Harrison Umfleet lived near his father until his death in
February, 1892, at the age of eighty-seven years.
Harrison's mother
was the daughter of Daniel and Mrs. Kilburn, both natives of Kentucky, where
they died on a farm near Crab Orchard. Her mother died when she was but ten
years of age and her father survived for many years, eventually dying in
Kentucky at a period after she had married.
The subject of our
sketch remained at home with his parents, helping and assisting them in
their daily round of work, until his marriage to Martha Elston, on April 3,
1853. His wife was the daughter of Martha and Lucy Elston, her mother's name
being Cropper. They were natives of Kentucky, who had moved from there to
Ohio, where Martha was born on June 10, 1837. At an early age she removed
with her parents to Richland county, Illinois, where her father died at the
age of seventy-nine, after he had survived her mother who died at the age of
fifty-seven years on February 1, 1858; her father's death occurring in the
fall of 1879. Mrs. Umfleet remained with her parents up to the time of her
marriage in 1853. She was the seventh in order of birth of ten children who
all grew to maturity. One of her brothers participated in the Civil war.
Harrison Umfleet was the second in order of birth of a family of four
children, all ci whom grew to maturity. His oldest brother, James Fountain,
served in the Mexican war under the gallant General Taylor (well known as
"Old Rough-and-Ready"), for about three or four years and was never wounded
in any encounter.
When Harrison Umfleet married in 1853 he moved
onto a forty-acre farm in Lawrence county, inherited from his father, and
lived en it until 1864, when he sold the place and bought two hundred acres
in Preston township, Richland county, for which he paid six dollars an acre.
This is the spot on which he and his wife now live. He has prospered in his
farming business and has greatly improved the farmstead. The land is mostly
all under cultivation, an improved type of buildings have been erected, and
fencing and other improvements have been carried out upon the property. He
and his wife are now living on the place, having retired from active work.
He has divided up some of his land among his children, but yet has one
hundred acres in his possession. This is being taken care of by one of his
sons, who, with his youngest sister, lives upon the place with their
parents.
Harrison Umfleet obtained his early education during his
attendance at the subscription schools in Lawrence county. Owing to the
conditions prevalent in those days he was not able to attain very much in
the educational way, although his younger brother Benjamin went very far in
that line. He taught school for years in Richland and Lawrence county, and
served through the greater part of the Civil war. On enlisting a second time
he was assigned to a post in the Christian Commission.
To Harrison
Umfleet and his wife six children have been born, namely: Olive, Lucy,
William, Seth, Matthew and Rebecca. All married with the exception of
Rebecca, who is the youngest. He and his wife have led a married life of
singular happiness, and their sons and daughters have always been a source
of much gratification to them.
Harrison Umfleet has played an active
part in county and township politics. In the old regime his father and elder
brother belonged to the Whig party. He is himself a Republican and a loyal
supporter of his party. John C. Fremont was the first Presidential candidate
he recorded his vote for. He has been for several terms a School Trustee and
as a School Director and he has been also road overseer for many terms.
Practical religious work has been one of the characteristics of Harrison
Umfleet and his family, being staunch believers in the Bible and church
work. Though he himself favors the Baptist communion, his wife and children
are members of the Christian church and work actively for its expansion.
Extracted 21 May 2019 by Norma Hass from 1909 Biographical and Reminiscent History of Richland, Clay and Marion Counties, Illinois, pages 454-456.
| Jasper | Crawford | |
| Clay |
 |
Lawrence |
| Wayne | Edwards | Wabash |
