Fell, Joshua R.

Born: 1804-01-21 Chester County, Pennsylvania

Died: 1888-01-15 Oregon

Flourished: 1837-1860 McLean County, Illinois

Fell, who was apprenticed to learn the blacksmith trade in Pennsylvania, was older brother to Kersey H., Jesse W., and Thomas. He lived and worked in various places in Pennsylvania, and on June 16, 1831, he married Sarah Harlin. In May 1837, the couple and their three children moved to Bloomington, Illinois. Around Christmastime that year, Joshua lost sight in his left eye while slaughtering pigs for the winter. Once settled in Illinois, Joshua and Sarah had three more children. In 1850, Fell was a blacksmith in Bloomington and owned real estate valued at $3,000. In 1860, he was a farmer in Normal, where he owned real and personal property worth $8,600. He later moved his family to Oregon.

Gravestone, Olney Cemetery, Pendleton, OR; E. Duis, The Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois (Bloomington, IL: Leader, 1874), 371-72; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), McLean County, IL, 17; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), McLean County, IL, 103; Obituary, The Bloomington Daily Pantagraph (Illinois), 17 January 1888, 4:5.