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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: Atlas Map of Fulton County, Illinois, 
Andreas, Lyter, and Co., Davenport, Iowa. 1871
(page 35)

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Joel Peirsol.--Petter Peirsol was the father of Joel Peirsol, the subject of this sketch, and was born in Pennsylvania in the year 1780, and lived there until 1818, when he moved to Ohio and settled in Holmes county, where he resided until 1836, when he moved with his family to Illinois and settled on section 21, in Lee township, Fulton county, and lived there until about 1851, when he moved to Fairview and lived about four years, when he moved to Lewistown, and lived there until his death, which was in 1859. Mrs. Peirsol was born in 1784 and died in 1858. Petter Peirsol was the father of thirteen children -- six sons and seven daughters -- of whom twelve lived to maturity, one died in infancy, and four are yet living and doing well. Mr. Peirsol in his young days was a mechanic, but his principal business was farming and raising stock. He was a man that held many offices of trust, and died, as he had lived, in the confidence of all that knew him. 
    
Joel Peirsol was born in Pennsylvania in 1804, and lived with his father until he was twenty-one, when he occupied his time at carpentering until 1828, when he married Miss Catherine Emry, and settled in Holmes county, Ohio, and lived there until 1836, when he moved to Illinois and settled on section 16, in Lee township, where he still resides. 
    
Joel has, ever since he has lived in Illinois, been engaged in farming and raising stock. He came to Illinois in very limited circumstances, but, through his perseverence [sic], industry, and strict attention to business, he became one of the heavy property holders of Lee township, much of which he has distributed among his children, but still holds valuable property. He is the father of thirteen children -- four sons and nine daughters -- seven of whom are yet living, all married, and doing well. His grandfather Peirsol was killed by the Indians in the year 1780, within eleven miles of Pittsburg. 
    
Joel is entitled to great credit for his energy and influence in improving his township. In 1852 he lost his first wife, and in 1863 he was again married to Mrs. Elmira Halbert, and still lives a comfortable life on the old homestead farm.