William Henry Jackson

 

SOURCE: "History of Champaign County, Illinois," by J. O. Cunningham, 1905

SURNAMES: CARPENTER, JACKSON, RANNER, STYLES

WILLIAM HENRY JACKSON, retired farmer, Urbana, and early resident of champaign County, is a native of Portsmouth City, Scioto County, Ohio, where he was born October 21, 1852. His parents, John and Elizabeth (STYLES) JACKSON, were born in Pennsylvania and Virginia, respectively, and the latter died in 1867. John Jackson was born in 1801, and died at the age of eighty-one years. In youth he learned the carpenter’s trade in Portsmouth, Ohio, and came with his family to Champaign County in 1854, when his son, William Henry, was two years old. After farming for a few years he moved to Urbana and worked at his trade, becoming, in time, a builder and contractor of note. He had few of the advantages enjoyed by the builders of today, all work being accomplished by hand, and requiring far more skill and patience. He was one of the builders of the old Methodist Episcopal church, to which denomination he and his wife belonged. During the Civil War (in 1863), he was employed by the Government in Tennessee. First a Whig, and later a Republican, he transmitted his principles to his three sons, William Henry, James A., and Thomas E.

In early boyhood, William Henry Jackson attended the old Silver school, still standing in Urbana Township. At the age of nine years he began working by the month, receiving four dollars per month and board for his services. He was thrifty and economical, and when fifteen years old (march 4, 1884), he bought eighty acres more, all of which he devoted to general farming. In the spring of 1892 he retired from farming and located at No. 107 N. Central street, Urbana, where he built a residence which since has been his home.

On December 6, 1882, Mr. Jackson married Catherine Frances CARPENTER, who was born in New York City, a daughter of Nelson D. and Catherine Frances (RANNER) CARPENTER. The Carpenter family claims kinship with the royal family of Germany, and the mother of Mrs. Jackson was born at Meintz, near Frankfort, Germany.