Clift, Samuel A.

Born: 1788-XX-XX New York

Died: 1867-10-XX Schuyler County, Illinois

Flourished: Schuyler County, Illinois

Samuel A. Clift was a farmer and millwright. In June and August 1835, he purchased more than 160 acres of public land in Schuyler County, Illinois. He likely relocated to Illinois with his family soon after. In 1836, he and William A. Hinman constructed a dam across Crooked Creek in Schuyler County and established a mill along the creek's banks. He grew fairly prominent in the local community. In 1841, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation appointing him one of several persons authorized to establish a turnpike from Springfield to Quincy, Illinois and from Beardstown to Warsaw, Illinois. By 1850, he and his wife, Mary W., had at least four children together, and he owned $5,000 in real estate. By 1860, he owned $3,000 in real estate and $1,000 in personal property.

Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Schuyler County, 698:1, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Schuyler County, ed. by Howard F. Dyson (Chicago: Munsell, 1908), 2:681; Combined History of Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia: W. R. Brink, 1882), 101; An Act to Establish a Turnpike Road from Springfield, via Beardstown, to Quincy, and from Beardstown to Warsaw; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Schuyler County, IL, 801; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Schuyler County, IL, 124; Gravestone, Rushville City Cemetery, Rushville, IL.