THOMAS G. STOKES, farmer, P. O. Anna, is a native of Union County, Ill., born March 6, 1840, to Thomas and Edna (Jennette) Stokes. Thomas Stokes was born in Kentucky in 1809, where he was raised and educated. He came to Union County with his parents, who located in what is now known as the Stokes settlement. During his life, he engaged in agricultural pursuits. He died in 1847. He was a son of John Stokes, a native of Virginia, a farmer by occupation, who died about 1854. The mother of our subject was born in North Carolina, in 1811, and in 1825, with her parents, emigrated to Union County and settled in Anna Precinct. She died in 1849. They were the parents of the following children: William B., Mary, the wife of James S. Campbell, and Thomas G. Our subject was thrown upon his own resources after the death of his parents, and struggled hard to gain a livelihood. His education was limited to the common schools of the period. At nine years of age, he apprenticed himself at the tanner's trade, to W. Davis, and remained with him about two years. He afterward learned the cabinet-maker's trade, and subsequently the milling business, and was thus engaged when the war of the rebellion broke out. He enlisted in Company F of the Sixtieth Illinois Infantry, under command of Col. S. E. Toler, and was with the regiment to the close of the war, taking part in every engagement. He was wounded once while on a foraging expedition. He was mustered out of the service July 30, 1865, and immediately returned home, and soon after went West and engaged in stock raising in Iowa and Nebraska, where he remained about one year. His time since has been occupied in mercantile pursuits, milling and clerking. In 1880, he removed to his present residence, where he has since remained engaged in farming. In 1871, he married Miss Nettie Springgate, who died in 1873, leaving two children, one of whom is living — Maud. In 1874, he married a second time. Miss Martha A. Eaves, a daughter of Judge Eaves, of Anna. She has borne him five children, of whom four are living, viz.: Stella M., Everett T., William P. and Edna. Mr. Stokes is a member of the I. O. O. F., and is a Republican.
Extracted 02 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part V, page 85.
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