Billings, John W.

Born: 1810-08-25 Charlton, Massachusetts

Died: 1892-XX-XX Bloomington, Illinois

Of American colonial ancestry, Billings called himself "a full-blooded Yankee, dyed in the wool." In his early years, he apprenticed to an architect and builder for three years, worked one year for a bridge builder, and then commenced carpentry work for himself. In 1837, he went west via New York and the Great Lakes, landing first in Chicago, and then settled in Bloomington, Illinois, sometime before 1840, where he made his living as a carpenter. On March 26, 1840, he married Rebecca Ann Hatfield and had a daughter named Eliza. In 1850, he lived with his family in Bloomington, where he owned $1,000 in real property. By 1860, he owned $2,900 in real and personal property.

Gravestone, Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, Bloomington, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), McLean County, IL, 19; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), McLean County, IL, 128; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, McLean County, 26 March 1840; E. Duis, The Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois (Bloomington, IL: Leader, 1874), 364-69.