John Elliott
Biography
John Elliott was born May 16, 1806 in Yorkshire, probably in the village of Womersley to Joseph Elliott and Elizabeth Sellers. He was an agricultural labourer as a young man, and married Susannah DAWSON (1806-1863), daughter of another prominent farmer, Henry DAWSON, in Campsall, South Yorkshire. They married December 11, 1826, less than 3 months before her 21st birthday. On her 21st birthday she received £60 from her father's will. (£60 in 1826 has the equivalent purchasing power as £2810.53 would in 2002 according to http://www.eh.net/ehresources/)
John and Susannah's first known child was baptised at the parish church of Arksey, south of Campsall. John and Susannah lived in Fenwick, within the parish of Campsall, dduring which time their children George, Elizabeth and Hannah were born and baptised at Campsall. John & Susannah then moved to Hatfield near Doncaster, which is a few miles from Campsall. Daughters Susannah, Emma and Ann were born to them during this time.
John & Susannah and family are found on the 1841 census living in Hatfield, It is believed that John owned land as a John Elliott appeared in the voter lists for Hatfield around 1838, as well as having his occupation listed as "farmer" for the first time in March 1837, in the baptism record for daughter Susannah (my 3x great grandmother).
John and Susannah emigrated to America in 1842. They sailed from Hull, on the eastern coast of England on the Sir Edward Hamilton, arriving in New York on June 18, 1842. The family traveled to Illinois by boat through the Erie Canal & the Great Lakes, "then overland to Rockford, IL and settled just a little S.W. of Rockford on Kent Creek in the spring of 1842." (letter dated Jan 25, 1985 obtained by another researcher). It was probably the spring of 1843 that they settled in Winnebago.
According to historian Faye Hilton: "He wanted to buy the NW quarter of Section 14, Winnebago Twp. from the government, but speculators got there first and made him pay twice the official price. He eventually owned 240 acres at the SW corner of Cunningham and Weldon Rds., where the Daniel Smith family later succeeded him."
John and Susan had three more children in America: John, Esther and Ellen. Susannah's first child was born in 1828 and the youngest about 1849. That's nearly 20 years of childbirth. Amazing. All lived to adulthood apart from John, who died January 15, 1863 in Nashville, Tennessee, due to illness sustained fighting in the Civil War.
A few of the children moved to Buchanan County, Iowa in the 1850's and raised families.
John Elliott died December 24, 1874 in Winnebago age 68, and Susannah died eleven years earlier, on February 24, 1863 just a few days before her 57th birthday.
John's last will and testament is transcribed on this site.
Notes:
Elliott Family Legend - There's another legend, according to Gene Fagerberg, which needs repeating: "My mother, during her final illness, wrote me a note regarding a "family legend" that might give you a chuckle. It was a story passed down by her dad, William M. Bouck, from his mother, Elizabeth DAWSON Elliott Bouck, who was born in Yorkshire, England. This legend is that we are descended from Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603), "Queen Bess", who wished to be known as the "virgin queen"! Speculation is that her baby was raised by an attendant of the queen (perhaps being sworn to secrecy by the threat of death??) Further speculation is that the baby's father was Sir Frances Bacon, with whom the queen was very friendly. In her delving into the past, my Aunt Gene read somewhere about an attendant who was fired by the queen at about the appropriate time. So that's a Bouck/Elliott family legend! If you don't find a long Elliott line, maybe you should look up Queen Bess and any of her fired attendants."
Well - I believe John Elliott's parents are Joseph Elliott and Elizabeth SELLERS. The earliest known Elliotts on this line is Elizabeth Elliott (born about 1614) and brother Richard Elliott (spelled ELLIYET) born about 1620 to unknown parents, so there's still a chance we're royalty ;-)
