John Fulwiler

OHN FULWILER, an old resident and merchant of Lexington, first visited McLean I County in 1842. having made the trip from / Cumberland County, Pa., where he was born in December, 1810. His father, Abraham Fulwiler, was also a native of the Keystone State and a man prominent in the affairs of his county, being one of those who assisted in its division when a part of Cumberland County was laid off into Perry County, of which he became the first Register and Recorder. He also engaged in mercantile pursuits, and at one time conducted three stores in Perry County.

The Fulwilers were of German ancestry, and the mother of our subject was formerly Miss Mary, the daughter of James Black, whose family originated in Scotland. The parents of our subject both died in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Fulwiler remained with his parents during his boyhood and youth, receiving a common-school education. When eleven years of age he entered his father's store, in which he remained for about three years, and was then placed upon the farm where he lived four years, and then returning to the store was there occupied until he became of age. Then, desiring out-door pursuits, he took a contract for grading and laying ties and rails on the Cumberland Valley Railroad, which occupied him about three years. He then went into partnership with McGowen & McKeehan, and operated what was then known as the Juniata Furnace until 1 842. He then sold out and made his western trip to McLean County. Upon returning to Cumberland County, Pa., he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Shippcnsburg, where he lost heavily by indorsing for some iron men. In 1853 he returned to the West and made his arrangements to engage in the dry-goods business at Lexington. The following year he removed his family here, and has since been engaged in general merchandising with fair success.

Mr. Fulwiler was married in Shippensburg, Cumberland Co., Pa., on the 15th of January, 1834, to Miss Mary, the daughter of David Mahon, of Cumberland County, Pa. The sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. F. are recorded as follows: William is engaged in building railroads in Arizona, and the Arizona Canal on Salt River; Anna became the wife of Henry Robinson, and the mother of three children, two sons and one daughter; she is now deceased: Laura J. is the wife of William J. Murphy, President of the Arizona Canal and Land Company; David is a graduate of the State Normal School at Normal, and now resides in Lexingington; John A. is a lawyer in Bloomington; J. Alvin is a resident of Lexington; Julia, the youngest daughter, resides at home with her parents.

In 1H56, Mr. Fulwiler was elected Justice of the Peace of Lexington, which office he held four years. He has served as Supervisor of the Township, and was one of the delegates to the Bloomington Convention at the time of the organization of the Republican party in this State. Mr. and Mrs. F. are members in good standing of the Presbyterian Church, with which they both became connected before their marriage. Our subject is seventy-seven j'ears of age, and his wife a few months older, and they have lived happily together for over fifty-three years. They are greatly respected in this community on account of the excellence of their character and the genuine goodness of heart which has enabled them to sympathise with the afflicted and distressed, and to exert their influence whenever possible in the cause of truth and justice.

J"jOHN A. HEFNER, a resident of Money I Creek Township, is a farmer by occupation and also Justice of the Peace, and the son of ' Peter and Betsey (Flesher) Hefner, the former of whom has a sketch elsewhere in this work. John A. Hefner was born in the township in which he is at present residing, Sept. 16, 1844. He was brought upon a farm, attended the common schools, and has known no other vocation in life than that in which he is at present engaged. He remained an inmate of the parental household until twenty-two years of his life had passed, when he settled on a place of his own in Money Creek Township and began to do for himself.

Mr. Hefner is now the owner of 272 acres of valuable and productive land and is meeting with far more than ordinary success in the prosecution of his calling. We give a view of his residence and surroundings in another part of this work. He was married in Money Creek Township, Feb. 14, 1867, to Miss Mary E., daughter of William and Elizabeth (Shook) Stewart, the former of Scotch

As printed in Portrait and biographical album of McLean county, Ill., containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and bio (1887). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.