Biography - Pleasant Veatch
PLEASANT VEATCH, of Bloomfield Township, Johnson County, was born in Simpson Township, the same county, October 1, 1837. His father, Ishmael Veatch, was born December 10, 1798, in North Carolina, and was a son of John Veatch. The last-named was of English ancestry, but it is not certain whether he was born in England or America. He emigrated from North Carolina to Kentucky, and from Kentucky to Illinois about 1816, and settled in Johnson County. Purchasing land in Simpson Township, he resided there until his death. Mrs. Veatch, whose maiden name was Nellie Jones, survived her husband and died at the home of her son Ishmael, She reared two sons and three daughters.
Ishmael Veatch was about seventeen years old when his parents moved to Kentucky. He resided near Bowling Green until 1816, then came to Illinois and settled in Johnson County, of which he was a pioneer. He secured a tract of Government land in what is now Simpson Township, and there built a log house, a mere cabin constructed of poles. Here he was married and made his home, his nearest neighbor at that early day being five miles away. He resided there from his marriage until the time of his death, which occurred March 24, 1872. He was married November 17, 1822, in Johnson County, Ill., to Parmelia Chapman, who was born February 9, 1808, in New York, and was the daughter of Daniel and Lucretia Chapman, the former of whom was a Revolutionary soldier and a native of England, Mrs. Veatch died January 31, 1867. Three of her children survive: James A., living, in Simpson Township; Pleasant and Maria, the latter being the widow of Frank Silevin and a resident of Bloomfield Township.
Pleasant Veatch was reared and educated in his native township. The schoolhouse in which he acquired the rudiments of his education, was the primitive log structure described frequently in these pages, and his father's family lived, as did their neighbors, in the true pioneer style, because no other was then possible. His mother spun and wove the cloth, and then made the clothes for the family. His father tanned his own leather as well as carried on his farm work. He also made the frame work of the cradle with which he cut his grain, and which was the first grain cradle in the county, being then considered a great invention. Pleasant Veatch resided with his parents until his marriage, when he bought a farm in Simpson Township.
In 1861 our subject enlisted in Company F, Forty-eighth Illinois Infantry. He was engaged in the battle of Shiloh, and was so severely wounded that he was never again able to do active service. As soon as able to leave the hospital, he started back to rejoin his regiment, but was sent to Cairo, and there discharged on account of the disability caused by his wound. He resided in Simpson Township until July 9, 1865, when he bought the farm on which he now resides. At the time of his purchase there were fifteen or twenty acres cleared and a log house erected on it. He has now two hundred and fifteen acres of land, one hundred and seventy-five of it cleared and improved. On the place are good frame buildings, numerous fruit and shade trees, and all the improvements needed to carry on farming with comfort and profit.
February 3, 1859, Mr. Veatch was married to Isabelle Keith, who was born in Tennessee, October 15, 1842, and is a daughter of William and Irene (Farris) Keith. She died November 16,1876. Mr. Veatch was married, July 6, 1884, to Amie Vancleave, who was born in Calloway County, Ky., October 8, 1848. She is the daughter of the Rev. Wilson F. and Nancy J. Vancleave. Mr. Veatch has. four children by his first wife, viz: John L., Florence, Edgar I. and Thomas A. By his present wife he has two children, May and Ray. Both Mr. and Mrs. Veatch are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. In politics Mr. Veatch is a Republican. Socially, he is a member of .Vienna Post No. 221, G. A. R.
Extracted 12 May 2002 by Rick Girtman from 1893 Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope, and Hardin Counties, Illinois, pages 361-362.
