Voris, Francis

Born: 1791-09-22 Kentucky

Died: 1852-05-15 Peoria, Illinois

Flourished: Peoria County, Illinois

Voris was a prominent and very wealthy resident of Peoria, Illinois. He supervised the construction of the Peoria County courthouse and built and owned the building that housed Peoria's first telegraph office. He was also a shareholder and president of the Illinois and Mississippi Telegraph Company. He served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1836 to 1838, representing Peoria County. In 1850, he worked as a merchant, lived with his wife Martha and one child, and owned $100,000 in real estate.

U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Peoria County, IL, 158; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, ed. by David McCulloch (Chicago: Munsell, 1900) 1:94, 268-69; John Clayton, The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 206; Gravestone, Springdale Cemetery and Mausoleum, Peoria, IL.