Bishop, Martin L.

Born: 1818-11-11 Ohio

Died: 1896-04-17 Bloomington, Illinois

Martin L. Bishop was a farmer. While still living in Ohio, he married Myrtilla J. "Matilda" McRoberts, with whom he had four children. He relocated to Randolph Township in McLean County, Illinois in the fall of 1840 and owned one of the first water mills in the township, on the Kickapoo Creek. Matilda died in August 1848, and, in November 1848, he married Margaret E. Glasscock. They eventually had five children together. Over time, he amassed more than 1,200 acres of land in McLean County. In 1850, his real estate was valued at $12,000. By 1860, he owned $25,000 in real estate and another $3,000 in personal property.

The Biographical Record of McLean County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1899), 197-98; Jacob L. Hasbrouck, History of McLean County Illinois (Topeka: Historical, 1924), 1:116; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, McLean County, 2 November 1848, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 331; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), McLean County, IL, 82; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), McLean County, IL, 106; Gravestone, Bishop Cemetery, Heyworth, IL.