Billingsley, William

BILLINGSLEY, SMITH, MOORE

Posted By: mjv (email)
Date: 8/4/2020 at 08:18:18

William Billingsley, farmer and stock-raiser, son section 9, township 77, range 7 west, English River Township, owns 782 acres in this county, divided into three well-improved farms. He is also the owner of 1, 068 acres of land in Florida. He was born in Monongahela County, now W. Va., Aug. 29, 1828, and is the son of Samuel W. and Hannah (Smith) Billingsley. He removed to Greene County, Pa., in 1849, and one year later came to Iowa, settling at Richmond in April, 1850. He purchased the farm he now resides in 1856.

Mr. Billingsley was married, Nov. 3, 1853, in Washington, this county, to Miss Sophia J. Moore, daughter of Phillip B. and Lydia Moore. She was born in Licking County, Ohio. They are the parents of four children, three boys and one girl, all except the youngest born in this county; Ray, born Nov. 10, 1854, married Eleanor Patterson, and resided in Santa Ana, Cal., and they have three children, two boys and one girl; May, born Sept. 6, 1856, is the wife of Frederick Lathrop, and also resided at Santa Ana, Cal., and has one daughter; Jay married Eleanor Benjamin, lives in Oskaloosa, and has one daughter; Jones, born March 21, 1870, died August 8 of the same year. Mrs. Billingsley died in 1870. Mr. Billingsley removed to Iowa City in 1869, and resided there nine years, engaged in horticulture. He returned to Washington County in March 1878, and has continued to reside here since. He still owned this farm while at Iowa City.

Mr. Billingsley has been a member of the Board of Supervisors five years. He was a member of the County Board when the whole board was arrested for contempt of the United States Court. The board was obliged to disobey a State law to submit to a Federal law. He served as Trustee of his township six years and two years as Assessor. Politically, he is a Democrat, and religiously, he is liberal in his views.

Samuel W. Billingsley, the father of our subject, was born in in 1790, in Monongahela County, Va. His wife Hannah (Smith) Billingsley, was born in 1800, in the same county. The former was of English, and the latter of Irish descent, but the family was of American birth for several generations. The father died in September, 1855, and the mother in 1870. They were the parents of five children: William, the subject of this sketch; Mary died when but two years old; George W., who married Louisa E. Todd, and is a farmer of this township, where he has resided since 1850, and owns 272 acres of land; Cyrus married Margaret Stinson, and is a farmer of Girard, Kan., and is the owner of 300 acres of land, and John M.

We are pleased to present to the patrons of this Album the portrait of Mr. William Billingsley which will be found on an accompanying page.

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington County, Iowa (1887). Excerpt from Biographical Sketch of William Billingsley, page 361.