JAMES DEWITT, blacksmith, Anna. This gentleman is a native of Union County, born November 9, 1844. His father, John Dewitt, was born in Virginia, where he was only partly raised, when he was removed to Kentucky by his parents. He was a farmer by occupation, and engaged in the same until the breaking-out of the late war, when he entered it; was wounded at Fort Donelson, and died at the St. Louis Hospital from its effects; also sunstroke; it occurred in June, 1863. His parents were natives of Virginia, and of French descent. Margaret (Cruse) Dewitt, (subject's mother), was born in North Carolina, and came to Union County with her parents who settled south of Jonesboro. She died in 1873, aged forty -six years. She was the mother of six children, of whom the following four are now living: Martha, wife of Henry Douglass, a farmer of Jonesboro Precinct; Mary, wife of Eli Douglass, a blacksmith of Alexander County; Laura, wife of E. C. English, a cooper of Jonesboro, and James, our subject, who was the fourth child; he was raised on the farm, and educated in the common schools; at twenty-one years of age, he left his home and apprenticed himself to Eli Douglass to learn the blacksmith's trade, and remained with him for about three years; when he came to Anna, and opened a shop on his own account. He is now engaged in the same business in partnership with William W. Stokes, and besides doing a general blacksmithing business, they carry a large and complete stock of farm wagons, road buggies, also a large assortment of plows, cultivators, harrows, and in fact a general line of agricultural implements. Mr. Dewitt was married in 1869, to Miss Laura A. Walker, a native of Union County, and a daughter of Hiram Jay and Nancy (Hargrave) Walker. This union has been blessed with the following children: Estella and Mamie. Mr. Dewitt is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Knights and Ladies of Honor, and the I. O. O. F.
Extracted 02 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part V, page 60.
| Jackson | Williamson | |
| MO |
 |
Johnson |
| Alexander | Pulaski |
