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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890

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The Biography of Isaac B. WITCHELL 

Pages 287-288, transcribed in full by Danni Hopkins 

[Surnames: BARTON, BURR, FOULK, TATEHAN, WITCHELL] 

    
ISAAC B. WITCHELL, Postmaster of Vermont, is well known as an old settler of this place and is greatly respected for those qualities of head and heart that have won him the esteem and confidence of all with whom he associates. He is popular in his official capacity and is discharging the duties of his position with characteristic fidelity and greatly to the satisfaction of all concerned. 
    
A native of Ohio, Mr. Witchell was born in Belmont County, June 12, 1818. He is a son of John Witchell, who was a native of Scotland. The father of the latter, bearing the same name as himself, was likewise of Scottish birth. He was reared and married in the land of the heather and removed from there to England. He established himself in the banking business in Leeds, and in 1806, emigrated to America and was an early settler of Belmont County, Ohio. He bought an improved farm and resided there some years. He then sold his place and invested his money in a stock company and so lost all he had. He returned to England and died in Leeds. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Tatehan, was also a native of Scotland, and she too died in Leeds. They reared three children--Mary, Ann and John. 
    
The latter was eleven years old when he accompanied his parents to America. He was bred on a farm, and lived with his parents until fifteen years old. He was then sent to the Weston school, a Quaker educational institution, and when not devoting his time to his books was engaged in working on a farm. He lived there three or four years, acquiring a substantial education, and then returned home. He engaged in farming in Belmont County, and resided there with the exception of three years spent in Guernsey County, until 1836. In that year he started with a three horse team for Indiana, taking his wife and children with him,and after his arrival located at Richmond. Two years were spent there, and then he removed to Henry County, where he bought an improved farm on which he made his home until 1843, when he sold out and went to Jay County. Three years later he came to Vermont, settled in the village and resided there some years. Kansas was his next destination and going there in 1859, he passed nearly four years in that State. Returning to this place, he died here about 1870. Prior to moving to Kansas he and his wife went to England where they spent one year. 
    
The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Bathsheba Foulk. Her native place was in Bucks County, Pa. Her father, Iska Foulk, is thought to have been born in Scotland. He was married in Pennsylvania, to Jane Barton, a native of that State. He was a farmer and weaver, devoting a part of his time to each employment. He died in Belmont County, Ohio. The mother of our subject departed this life in Vermont in 1880. She reared three children, Jane, Mary and Isaac. 
    
Isaac Witchell was about seventeen years old when he went to Indiana with his parents, and he continued to live with them until 1840. In that year he came to Vermont and found here a small hamlet, and the surrounding country sparsely settled and covered with timber in which deer, wild turkeys and other game roamed at will. Mr. Witchell began life here as an engineer in a steam gristmill, which position he held four years. After that he operated an engine at his father-in-law's mill three years. He then built a sawmill in connection with his father-in-law and managed it successfully some years. He subsequently gave his attention to selling and repairing boilers throughout the country. He was thus profitably engaged ten years, and since then has carried on various kinds of business. 
    
In the year 1843, our subject secured a good and faithful wife in the person of Sarah A. Burr. She was a native of Harrison County, Ohio, and a daughter of Jesse and Martha Burr. Her death July 11, 1865, was a severe blow to her family, for she was a true, womanly woman, possessing many excellent traits of character, that gained her the respect and consideration of all with whom she came in contact. The following six of the nine children born of her marriage with our subject were reared to maturity: Adeline, Burr, Eva, John, Martha and Walter. 
    
Mr. Witchell was in early life a Whig, and in 1840, cast his vote for Gen. Harrison. He was in full sympathy with the organizers of the Republican party, and as soon as it was formed fell into the ranks and has remained true to it ever since. He was appointed Postmaster in March, 1889. His selection for the important office was a wise one and received the hearty approval of all his fellow-citizens. For fifty years he has been a strong Temperance man and has used his influence in forwarding the cause. He has taken an important part in the government of the village, and for three years was President of the Village Board. He is prominent in local politics and was Chairman of the township Republican Committee thirty years. 
    
In an account of the Asiatic cholera epidemic that raged in Fulton County in 1851, the unremitting and arduous services of our subject in caring for the sick and dying received honorable mention. While many fled from the scene of affliction, he was one of the faithful few, who heroically stood at the post of duty to the bitter end. Night and day from June until September, with characteristic self-sacrifice, and pitying kindness, he administered to the afflicted, doing all that he could to allay their distress, and he tenderly assisted in the burial of the dead. He witnessed many sad scenes with an aching heart. Men who assisted in burying a victim of the dread disease in the morning, were often stricken with the cholera and would be dead before night. About seventy died in this neighborhood in a few weeks time, our subject being one of the small number who escaped.