Yates, Henry

Born: 1786-10-29 Virginia

Died: 1865-09-13 New Berlin, Illinois

Yates moved with his parents in 1788 from his native state to Fayette County, Kentucky. Yates's father died there, and in 1804, the family moved successively to Woodford, Scott, and finally Gallatin County in Kentucky. Yates helped lay out the town of Warsaw, Kentucky. Yates returned to Virginia, and in 1809, married his cousin, Millicent Yates. They moved to Gallatin County, Kentucky, where they had eleven children, including Richard Yates, who would become a U.S. Senator and Illinois Governor during the Civil War. Millicent Yates died in April 1830, and Henry married Mary A. Shuff. In May 1831, the couple moved to Sangamon County, Illinois, settling in Springfield. In November 1832, they moved to Island Grove, where they had one child. In 1833, Henry laid out the town of Berlin, and later laid out the town of New Berlin. Mary Yates died on May 11, 1835, and Henry wed a third time, marrying Elizabeth McMillan in September 1835. They had six children. Yates made his living as a farmer and stock raiser, but he also bought and sold large amounts of land in central Illinois. In 1850, he owned $20,000 worth of real estate, and in 1860, he owned real estate valued at $137,000 and a personal estate of $2,000.

John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 789-91; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 15 October 1841, 4:4, 24 September 1863, 3:2; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Sangamon County, IL, 210; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Sangamon County, IL, 147; Gravestone, Berlin Cemetery, Berlin, IL.