Bale, Abraham

Born: 1801-XX-XX Kentucky

Died: 1853-XX-XX Menard County, Illinois

Abraham Bale was a farmer and Baptist minister. In March 1823, Bale married Mary (Polly) Lewis in Green County, Kentucky. Abraham and Mary Bale would have several children together. In 1839, he moved his family to Illinois, settling in the area of New Salem. In December 1839, Bale purchased 200 acres of public land northwest and south of Petersburg. Mary Bale died, and in March 1843, Abraham married Clarissa Elmore. In 1846, he acquired approximately eighteen acres of public land southeast of Petersburg on the Sangamon River. In 1850, Bale was farming in Mason County, Illinois. In 1852, he bought the New Salem mill, which he operated until his death. He served as pastor of Clary's Grove Baptist Church in Tallula and also preached in Walker's Grove Township.

Kentucky, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1850, 4 March 1823, Green County (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 1997); The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1879), 290, 326, 668, 690; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Menard County, 70:60, 92, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Menard County, 28 March 1843, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Mason County, IL, 171; Burial Record, New Salem Cemetery, Petersburg, Illinois, accessed 9 June 2021, http://sites.rootsweb.com/~ilmaga/menard/cemetery/cem_newsalem.html.