William “Squire Billy” Saul

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William “Squire Billy” Saul

Birth
England
Death
6 Jul 1915 (aged 78)
Glenn, Jackson County, Illinois, USA
Burial
Glenn, Jackson County, Illinois, USA GPS-Latitude: 37.8054425, Longitude: -89.5821189
Memorial ID
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Billy was born at Traveller's Rest Farm in Doncaster England and at an early age was apprenticed as a wheel-wright making mostly cannon wheels for the British Army. His reason for immigration was to attain freedom from religious strife. He emigrated first to Canada in 1862 but did not like the cold winters so he moved south to Jackson County where he had relatives. He bought a tract of land along the bluff at the mouth of Reeds Creek from his Uncle, John Saul, who was living there with his family which included son, Thomas Bennett Saul. He became a naturalized citizen in Murphysboro on 20 October 1868 and there he met Sarah Jane Robison, from Ohio, who was living at the Logan House Hotel. They were married 6 Nov 1868 in Whittenburg, Missouri. After a very brief honey-moon they returned to their new home. A few years later he acquired another farm on a ridge between Matusky and Logan Hollows and moved there "mostly to escape the mosquitoes" that swarmed around the swamps and ponds in the bottom lands. The task of turning some forested ridges into a hill-top farm kept his growing sons occupied. His prior experience served him well and he was a skilled blacksmith, carpenter,and woodworker. Some of his furniture pieces are treasured by his descendents now, a hundred years after they were built. He built beautiful coffins of walnut that were remarkable because he was the first to install a cloth liner
and pillow. He teamed up with Parker Grosvenorin a lifetime friendship and he built several houses and barns for Mr. Grosvenor. Two of his children married into the Grosvenor family. He became a Justice of the peace and performed many of the marriages of persons in this cemetery. In his later years he returned to the Reeds Creek home which he bought from Thonas Bennett and his wife Refina Vanover Saul. He died there about two decades later after a series of strokes (apoplexy).
Billy was born at Traveller's Rest Farm in Doncaster England and at an early age was apprenticed as a wheel-wright making mostly cannon wheels for the British Army. His reason for immigration was to attain freedom from religious strife. He emigrated first to Canada in 1862 but did not like the cold winters so he moved south to Jackson County where he had relatives. He bought a tract of land along the bluff at the mouth of Reeds Creek from his Uncle, John Saul, who was living there with his family which included son, Thomas Bennett Saul. He became a naturalized citizen in Murphysboro on 20 October 1868 and there he met Sarah Jane Robison, from Ohio, who was living at the Logan House Hotel. They were married 6 Nov 1868 in Whittenburg, Missouri. After a very brief honey-moon they returned to their new home. A few years later he acquired another farm on a ridge between Matusky and Logan Hollows and moved there "mostly to escape the mosquitoes" that swarmed around the swamps and ponds in the bottom lands. The task of turning some forested ridges into a hill-top farm kept his growing sons occupied. His prior experience served him well and he was a skilled blacksmith, carpenter,and woodworker. Some of his furniture pieces are treasured by his descendents now, a hundred years after they were built. He built beautiful coffins of walnut that were remarkable because he was the first to install a cloth liner
and pillow. He teamed up with Parker Grosvenorin a lifetime friendship and he built several houses and barns for Mr. Grosvenor. Two of his children married into the Grosvenor family. He became a Justice of the peace and performed many of the marriages of persons in this cemetery. In his later years he returned to the Reeds Creek home which he bought from Thonas Bennett and his wife Refina Vanover Saul. He died there about two decades later after a series of strokes (apoplexy).