1925 Biography - Mark Whiteaker
Captain Mark Whiteaker was born in Williamson County in 1S33 near New Burnside. His grandfather, Mark Whiteaker, came to southern Illinois as early as 1818 or 1820. His father, Hall, came here from Tennessee where he had married Elvira Damron. John Damron, the father of Elvira, was a revolutionary soldier serving from Virginia. John Damron married Anna of Wales, British lies. Their children were Agnes, who married; Stephen Gill, his father Benjamine Gill, was also a Revolutionary soldier. Elvira married Hall Whiteaker; Melissa married William Choate; Noah married Mary Ann Thornton; David married Belle Casey. These families all lived in Johnson county except David. Tradition says the Damron family came originally from Virginia. Captain Whiteaker remembers stories of Virginia told him by his maternal Grandmother. Hall Whiteaker born in 1811 and Elvira born about 1816 settled in Williamson county, but later came to Johnson, settling on the stage road leading from Cape Girardeau to Shawneetown, near what is now New Burnside where most of their children were born and raised. Mark (2) born 1833, Anna (2) born 1835, Ginsey (2) born 1836, William H. (2) born 1839, Polly (2) born 1841, John (2) born 1843. Mark Whiteaker assisted in organizing Company G. 120 Illinois Volunteers, and was made its captain 1862, and his brothers W. H. and J. A. served in his company. After the close of the war he followed farming many years in Burnside township, in the meantime serving as associate judge of the county and was later elected sheriff. Captain Whiteaker (1924) is now in his ninety-first year and has resided in Vienna since retiring from his farm. He has a remarkable memory for his age and enjoys the esteem of all who know him. He is a stanch Republican, a Mason and a member of the Grand Army Vienna Post. He and wife are members of the M. E. Church, as was his mother, and he attends services regularly even at his age. He married Elizabeth Deaton. The children are Arista (3) born 1862, married Isaac McElroy; their children are William (4), Mark (4), Josephine (4), Miles (4) and Isaac (4); Martha (3) born 1865, married Oscar Burris, they reside in Vienna and have Melvin (4), Albert (4), Geneva (4) and Martha June (4); Geneva (3) born 1867, married Dr. A. I. Brown, their children are Essie (4), Charles (4), who married Gertrude Teeter, of Murphysboro, where they reside, Hall (3) born 1869, married Cina West; second, Grace Barette, children Helen (4) and Juanita (4). He is a physician of Santa Cruz, Calif. William (3) born in 1871, married Alice Mathis. He is a physician of Harrisburg, Ill., and they have one son; Thomas (3) born 1873, married Emma Hight, he was accidently killed in early manhood and left one daughter Uba (4); Elizabeth (3) born 1877, married John (see Mathis); Gertrude (3) born 1879, married Amos Compton, they live at Marion, Ill. Captain Whiteaker and wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary 1910. Mark 85, W. M. 79. Their sister, Mrs. Anna Newbold, 83, spent the day with their brother, J. A. Whiteaker, on his 75th birthday 1813, at his home near Ozark. These four "young people" were left to have the day entirely to themselves which they did preparing their own dinner and no doubt recalling many childhood incidents.
Extracted 08 Feb 2017 by Norma Hass from 1925 A History of Johnson County, Illinois, by Mrs. P. T. Chapman, pages 463-464.
