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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County
Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908

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The Biography of Stephen J. BABBITT 

Transcribed exactly according to the original complete text by Anne Marie Willis. 

[Surnames: BABBITT, HARROD, THOMAS] 

[starting on page 773] 

    
BABBITT, Stephen J., a prominent citizen of Fulton County, veteran of the Civil War and one of the large land owners and raisers of live stock in that county, is a native of Union Township, in which he was born August 17, 1844, and where he has always resided. He is the son of Stephen and Malinda (Harrod) Babbitt, his father having been a farmer of Washington County, Pa., born January 3, 1806, and his mother a native of Burton County, Ky., born April 29,1811. Stephen Babbitt migrated to Illinois in 1830, locating at once in Union Township, Fulton County, where he bought a farm and where he lived for many years as one of the fathers of that section of the county. 
    
The district schools of Union Township and the family farm of that township supplied Stephen J. Babbitt with his education and the practical training for his after life of agricultural pursuits and successes. He was one of the strong and plucky youths which the farms of the West sent forth to the battlefields of the Civil War, and who proved the main reliance of Grant and Sherman and Thomas in the fierce [page 774] campaigns of the Southwest. On account of his youth he did not enlist until January 5, 1864, when he joined Company I, Seventy-second Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, known popularly as the First Board of Trade Regiment. He was afterward transferred to Company G, Thirty-third Regiment, and was honorably discharged on the 24th of November, 1865. During his services of nearly two years the young man participated in the engagements at Columbia, Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville--all in Tennessee--and the siege and capture of Spanish Fort and Mobile, besides numerous skirmishes and nerve-wearing marches. As a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Mr. Babbitt takes a soldier's pride in recounting the achievements of his regiments and the brave officers and men with whom he was associated, a member of which body he himself was enrolled. Politically he has always stood unflinchingly by the Republican guns. For many years Mr. Babbitt has been a recognized leader in local politics. He has served as School Director for twelve years and was Assessor three years and has recently been elected a member of the County Board. Whatever office he has filled he has discharged its duties faithfully, fairly, fearlessly and ably. 
    
On the 27th of October, 1870, Mr. Babbitt was married to Leona A. Thomas, at Galesburg. His wife was born in Union Township, Fulton County, October 27, 1851. The three children born of their union are Lewis H., Neva L. and Edith L.