John Clover, born 1806, Illinois, died April 1850, of fever in Monroe County, Illinois. He was a farmer.(1) John was born 1 February 1806, died 6 April 1850 according to the Wilder letter.(2)  He was the son of Jacob Clover and Catherine Harness/Harnish.(3)  John married 10 May 1826, in Monroe County, Illinois, Dorcus Brownfield.(4) Dorcas was born 3 October 1810, in Christian County, Kentucky, died 21 April 1871, Monroe County, Illinois.(5)  John appears to have lived his entire life in the same area.  See the link for further information on the family of Dorcus Brownfield.

Monroe County Marriage Book 1, County Courthouse, Waterloo, Illinois.  FHL 1006355.
Volume 1: 87 John Clover was married on 10 May 1826 to Dorcas Brownfield. The license was granted on 8 May 1826.  They were married by William Sterret. Volume 1: 97
    Rebecca Clover and James Nelson, both of Monroe County, were married 21 December 1826 by Henry C. Mizner, J.P. The licenses was granted 18 December 1826.
        I apparently did not remember to do Elias who married Anna Kidd on 13 November 1829 according to the Illinois State Wide Marriage Index.  William Sterret was not marked as a Justice of the Peace, however, he may have been so.  If anyone has access to a county history, I wonder if they could check and see if he was a minister or a Justice of the Peace.  The reason I am interested is that there could be church records for some denomination which are not kept in Monroe County and which we do not know about.  But I have no idea what church this group attended if they attended at all.
    If anyone has the county history for the area, it would be interesting to find out if William Sterret was a Justice of the Peace.

Whiteside Pond Cemetery
The pieces of this tombstone were located by Pat Vaseska.  She is working on the cemetery which was vandalized by the county some years back. She believes that John was also buried here. She had previously found the tombstone of Elias Clover in this cemetery. We suspect many of that generation were buried there. It is a shame that most of the tombstones were broken and smashed.



        John’s children are listed in the letter of Virginia Wilder.(6)
        In addition, the surviving children were listed in the estate records of John Clover, Monroe County, Illinois. “Your petitioner further shows John Clover decd died intestate seized in fee of the following described real estate, situate in the County of Monroe, State of Illinois to wit: [two pieces of land with legal descriptions] and left the following heirs at law to wit: William N. Clover; Ann Bradshaw & Sylvester Bradshaw, her husband; Mary Johnson and John W. Johnson, her husband; Catherine Clover; Sarah Clover; Isaac Clover; Delilah Clover; Elizabeth Clover and John Clover, the five latter of whom are minors to whom your petitioner prays a guardian ad litem may be appointed to defend on their behalf and Dorcas Clover, his widow all of whom are made defendants to this petition.”(7)

The Bureau of Land Management shows John purchasing land from the government in 1836.:
CLOVER JOHN SWNWFR 04 02S 10W 3 09/22/1836 MONROE

    In the 1860 Census, there are some people who are missing in Monroe County, Illinois, and Dorcas (Brownfield) Clover, widow of John Clover, appears twice.   I found this second entry when I went back again to look for her son, William N. Clover, whom I still cannot find in the 1860 census.
    •    1860 Monroe County, Illinois Columbia PO, 9 September 1860, page 187, Census taker William Wilson, line 7, 1439/1439: Darka Clover 49 fem farmer $2000/$100 Kentucky; Isaac 22 farmer IL; Rach 17 IL; John 11 IL.  [Catherine Clover aged 24 born IL is in the next household headed by Joe Gall.]
    •    1860 Monroe County, Illinois Waterloo PO, 13 September 1860, page 201, Census taker William Wilson, line 15, 1532/1532: Dorias Clover 50 male farmer $1000 $200 IL; Isaak 24 IL; Lub [?] female 17 IL, John 10 IL; Lily 22 IL.
     I point this out because it shows what problems censuses can be.  I love them, and quote them, and chase them all over the place, but they are just not always reliable and I want to remind you of this.  Note that the first set of data is better even though it was missing a person.  Dorcas was actually born in Kentucky and these ages agree pretty much with known dates.  But in the second one, we have names that are off, dates that are off, and Dorcas’ place of birth is wrong, but we have another person in this group.  Lily is presumably Delilah Clover.  The censuses were dated only 4 days apart so it is not likely they moved.  The entries have two separate Post Offices, yet the same man took both censuses.

    •    1830 Monroe Co, IL p. 169, John Clover 300011-0011
    ▸    1840 Monroe Co, IL p. 356, John Clover 101001-23001
    ▸    1850 Monroe Co, IL Eagle Precinct, M432-121: p. 55B, Darkus Clover 39 KY, Wm 22, Mary 17, Isaac 13, Sarah Jane 11, Delilah 10, Elizabeth 8, John 2.  All children b. IL. Catherine 13, IL is living next door in the Bradshaw family.
    ▸    1860 Monroe Co, IL p 187 1439/1439: Darka Clover 49 Farmer $2000/100 KY; Isaac 22 IL; Rach 17 IL; John 11 IL. 
    ▸    Catherine Clover was living with the Joe Gall family next door to her mother.  She was listed as aged 20, born IL.
    ▸    1870 Monroe Co, IL Waterloo PO page 509A: David Whitesides 23 IL; Sarah 21 IL; Margaret 5 IL; Dorcas Clover 62 IL; Annie 59 IL; Adeline 28 IL idiot. [Note Dorcas was actually 70.][Note that there was a Sarah Clover in the 1850 census with Elias Clover and his wife, Anna Kidd. Probably this is her and Annie is actually Anna (Kidd) Clover.] 

Children of John Clover and Dorcas Brownfield 

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Endnotes:
(1)  John Clover, 1850 Illinois Mortality Index, AIS Search 8.
(2) 1978 Letter of Virginia Wilder to Mrs. Estella (Clover) Howard.  Sent by Jim Kimrey.
(3) See the Clover Family Exchange, Volume 10, pages 18-19.
(4) Monroe County Marriage Book 2:217, Monroe County Courthouse, Waterloo, Illinois.
(5) 1978 Letter of Virginia Wilder to Mrs. Estella (Clover) Howard.  Sent by Jim Kimrey.
(6) 1978 Letter of Virginia Wilder to Mrs. Estella (Clover) Howard.  Sent by Jim Kimrey.
(7) Monroe County Probate Records, Waterloo, Illinois. Copy sent by Phyllis Veath.

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