Enochs, John

Born: 1794-XX-XX Northwest Territory

Died: 1881-XX-XX Fayette County, Illinois

Flourished: Fayette County, Illinois

John Enochs was a farmer, sheriff, and pioneer settler of Fayette County, Illinois. Born in the section of the Old Northwest that would become Monroe County, Illinois, Enochs spent his youth clearing land and working on the family farm. At the onset of the War of 1812, Enochs volunteered for military service first with Kentucky and later the Illinois volunteers. He was stationed at Fort Russell near Edwardsville, Illinois, and saw action in skirmishes with Native American nations in and around Peoria. Leaving the army in 1814, Enochs married Margery Furguson, who died in July 1815. In March 1819, he married Polly Moore, with whom he had one child--mother and child dying soon after childbirth. Enochs moved to Fayette County in 1820. He became a carpenter, working in that trade for three years. In March 1824, he married Sarah Wood, a union that would produce two children. Fayette County voters elected Enochs sheriff in 1828, and reelected him in 1830. In February 1839, Enochs purchased forty acres of public land north of Vandalia in what would become Sharon Township. In 1850, he was farming and owned real property valued at $500.

History of Fayette County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1878), 26, 84, 97; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Fayette County, 146:52, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, St. Clair County, 7 March 1819, 31 March 1824, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Fayette County, IL, 379; National Cemetery Administration, U.S. Veterans' Gravesites, ca.1775-2019 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2006).