BIOGRAPHY - CARLTON REMSBURG
After a long, active and honorable career Carlton I. Remsburg is enjoying the fruits of his former toil in well earned ease in a comfortable home in Thawville. He is also one of the few remaining citizens who engaged in service in the Civil war. He was born in Frederick county, Maryland, April 6, 1845, a son of Solomon and Mary Remsburg. The father was likewise a native of Maryland but for many years was engaged in farming in Bureau county, Illinois, but his later years were spent in honorable retirement and he passed away in Ohio, Bureau county, at the advanced age of seventy-nine years. He was twice married. By his first union there were two sons: Isaiah, who served in the Civil war as a member of Company I, Twelfth Illinois Infantry, and is now living retired in Ohio, Illinois; and Carlton I., of this review. By the second union there were three children, one of whom died in infancy, while the living members are: Anna, who first wedded James Ruff and after his death became the wife of W. S. Wilson, who is a banker of Ohio, Illinois, and George, who is a farmer and stock-raiser of Bureau county, Illinois.
Carlton I. Remsburg was but an infant at the time of his mother's death. He was reared in the home of his father, assisting in the work of field and meadow during the summer seasons, while in the winter seasons he pursued his studies in the common schools. He was a lad of fourteen years when the father removed with his family to Bureau county, Illinois, and there the son lived to the age of nineteen years, when, his patriotic spirit being aroused at the outbreak of the Civil war, he believed it his duty to go to the front in defense of the Union and in January, 1865, enlisted at Princeton, Illinois, as a member of Company A, One hundred and Forty-eighth Illinois Infantry. The regiment was ordered to Quincy and later to Camp Butler, whence they were sent to Nashville and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland under General Thomas. They were then ordered to Tullahoma, Tennessee, on guard duty. The regiment afterward did guard duty at McMinnville, Tennessee, and subsequently returned to Nashville, whence they were mustered out of service on the 5th of September, 1865, and were honorably discharged at Springfield ten days later. With the exception of six weeks, during which time Mr. Remsburg was ill in the Cumberland Hospital at Nashville, he was always found at his post of duty.
Returning from the war Mr. Remsburg eventually located on a farm situated on section 3, Lyman township, Ford county, comprising one hundred and thirty-seven acres of good land, and here throughout a long period he was engaged in general agricultural pursuits. In his work he always followed the most systematic and progressive methods so that he won success in his chosen field of labor and in 1898, feeling that he had acquired a competence sufficient to enable him to spend the remainder of his years in ease, he took up his abode in Thawville, where he erected a comfortable seven-room cottage, and he and his estimable wife are now living retired, surrounded by a host of warm friends.
It was on the 12th of December, 1869, that Mr. Remsburg was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Hauenstein, who was born in Indiana, July 23, 1849. Her father was born in Switzerland, June 21, 1822, and followed farming as a life work. He wedded Susan Kindle, a native of New Jersey, and to them were born two daughters and one son: Mary, the wife of James Goodrich, a resident of Thawville; Sarah, now Mrs. Remsburg; and Joseph, who wedded Minnie Taylor and resides at Dwight, Illinois. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hauenstein were members of the Episcopal church, in the faith of which they died, the mother having passed away at the age of forty years, while the father, surviving for several years, passed away in Ford county in March, 1880, when he had reached the age of fifty-eight years.
Mrs. Remsburg acquired her education in the common schools and was trained to the duties of the household, so that when she assumed the duties of a home of her own she was well qualified to take charge of the same. She has proved to her husband a valuable assistant and with him is now enjoying a well earned rest. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Remsburg have been born two daughters and a son. Josie is now the wife of Charles Kingsley, who operates her father's farm in Lyman township. To them were born two daughters, Helen Ruth and Iva Marie, but the younger died in infancy. Blanche, the second daughter, is the wife of Walter McNeil, of Thawville, by whom she has a daughter, Carrie. Harold S. wedded Miss Alice Wilcox, of Thawville, a daughter of L. B. Wilcox, who is mentioned on another page of this work.
Mr. Remsburg has always given stalwart support to the men and measures of the republican party and cast his first presidential ballot for General U. S. Grant. He has never been active in politics, however, the only public office he ever held being that of school director, in which he served for nine years. He is a member of Piper City Post, G. A. R.. and at one time served as its commander, while in 1892 he was sent as a delegate to the state encampment which convened at Springfield. He has lived in Ford county throughout a long period and with its growth and development has intimate knowledge. He has gained many warm friends in this section of the county and is well and favorably known in Thawville, where he now makes his home, deriving a good income from his excellent farming property of one hundred and thirty-seven acres.
Extracted 17 Oct 2016 by Norma Hass from History of Ford County, Illinois, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, author E. A. Gardner, Volume 2, pages 776-778.
