When at the age of four years William Booz left Paris, Kentucky, where he was born, with his father and mother to come to Illinois, it was a very poor family and they encountered many hardships on the road.

They settled near where Jacksonville is today.  But after several years of bad struggling the father took his family and possessions further north, and settled on a small farm about eight miles southeast of Carthage.  Here they lived very happily until the mother died.  Shortly after that the father died leaving six children, of which William was the oldest, then fourteen years old.

William's mother was a very cultured woman of her time and she had devoted much of her time in teaching William.  Consequently, William had taken a desire for books and had studied much.  At the age of fifteen he was teaching school and at the age of sixteen he was preaching.  Many older men of the community called him the "Boy Wonder" and the "Boy Preacher."

He also read and studied about medicine.  When his father died William was granted permission to pick his guardian.  He chose Joseph McCubbins.  At the age of nineteen he was married to Mr. McCubbins' daughter, Elizabeth.  In the same year he went to Keokuk, Iowa to study medicine. He went to school and did janitor work while his wife kept boarders.  After attending school awhile he came back to his home and began practicing.

He then thought he would like to study law.  So he studied law and tried many cases in the community, but he gave up law and devoted all his time to medicine and preaching.

He took an active part in politics and had made several speeches against Stephen A. Douglas.

As a doctor he was recognized as one of the best in this part of the country.

During the Civil War he had many experiences with slaves and southern sympathizers.  He had seen slaves escaping from Missouri through Illinois and on two occasions had aided them.  He was an anti-slavery man and for this reason he had enemies in the county because there were many people here who favored the south.

On one occasion he was thought of being a southern sympathizer.  One night at midnight he was taken out of his home and put on a horse and taken to Quincy.  His wife and four children did not know what had become of him.  He was taken to Quincy and tried for being too sympathetic to the south.  He was found innocent and allowed to return home.

When a boy he was working about where Mr. Duane Pennock lives today.  He saw the mob down to the old jail and he heard the shots that killed Joseph Smith.

He reared a large family and sent all of them to school to different colleges.

His father was of Irish and Dutch descent.  His mother was Irish and his wife was purely Irish.

His wife's uncle, Mr. McCubbins, was a colonel in the Revolutionary war.  He had a leg shot off. He was buried in the Belnap [sic] cemetery east of Carthage.  He was my great-great uncle.

The McCubbins family left Kentucky sooner than the Booz family.  This was an Irish family and the father had come from the east when a youngster with his father.

The family settled southeast of Carthage on Crooked Creek.  After years of farming the family became well to-do people of the time, owning much land.

William McCubbins, my great, great uncle, was a noted speaker over this part of the state.  He was a great speaker on temperance.  He also made political and economical speeches.

My mother's ancestors both came from Kentucky except the Owens who came from Ohio.

Dane Griffith left Kentucky in the early thirties and settled near lived for many years on a farm. [sic]  Mr. Griffith was a farmer and preacher.  Charles Griffith, the oldest son, now a very young man [sic] did not like Missouri so came to Illinois.  He left with plenty of money but soon spent it and was forced to work on a farm for his board.  He later got a job in a blacksmith shop in Stillwell, Illinois.  He worked here awhile but quit it.  He then worked for Mr. Owens on a farm and later married his daughter.

Mr. Charles Griffith made several visits back to Missouri, but he never staid long.  From then on he lived in Stillwell but later moved to Carthage.

His ancestors were German and Irish.  The Owens were of Scotch-Irish descent.

Dr. Booz was the well-known local columnist, "Country Jake".  Read a few of his columns from The Carthage Republican

Elizabeth Jane Emery McCubbin was born in Green County, Kentucky, June 13, 1832, and died at her home in Carthage, Illinois, May 22, 1916.  She came with her parents, Joseph and Ellen McCubbin, to Hancock Co., Illinois, when she was two and one-half years of age. She lived within a mile of the old McCubbin homestead, situated in Hancock township, until she moved to Carthage in 1892.

She was married to William Booz on Jan. 9, 1851.  To this union twelve children were born, two dying in infancy.  Her husband, Dr. William Booz, died February 20, 1901. Nellie Jewel Booz died January 7, 1903; Mrs. Fannie E. Cannon, April 27, 1911, and Mrs. Elizabeth A. Cloud, November 21, 1913.  The subject of this sketch had one sister, Sally Ann, and three brothers, William G., Thomas B., and Turner F.  She had one half-brother, Joel Thacker.* One member of this family survives, T. B. McCubbin, of Reedley, California.  The surviving children of the late Dr. and Mrs. Booz are, Mrs. Sarah E. Gibbs, of Plymouth, Ill,; Mrs. Lenora W. Reno, of East Carthage; Mrs. Emma W. Cloud of St. Marys Prairie; Mrs. Zelpha F. Davis, of Monmouth, Ill., and Joseph M. and Will Zooz [sic] of Carthage.  She had twenty-seven grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren.

When a young girl Mrs. Booz confessed her faith in Jesus Christ and accepted him as her personal Savior, uniting with the Church of Christ, worshipping in a cabin near what is known as Oak Grove church.  I well remember when she was a young mother and the busy life she led.  Early on Sunday mornings she began her preparations for church; dressing the little children and taking them with her, often walking three-quarters of a mile, leading in the singing and after the services entertaining the different church members and others.  She listened to the complaints of the Doctor's patients, as the office was in the residence.  When the Doctor was visiting patients she often prescribed for people who failed to find him.  She said she was willing to leave this world and could see into the land of the blest.  Her conversation for hours was in rhyme.  We children did not think for some time to write it down.  The following are a few of the lines she repeated:

We wish to add a personal word of appreciation of the character of Mrs. Booz.  No one could know her and not recognize a peculiar worth and nobility in her character.  She was the soul of generous, even abundant, hospitality.  Her keen and unerring appraisement of human nature was quicker to sense the virtues and value of others than to see their weakness; and she was loyal -- loyal to family, to friends, to church and to her country.  She has now joined her beloved and faithful companion and marches with him in the procession of those who have triumphed in the faith.

The funeral was held at the Christian church this afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev. E. M. Smith officiating.  Interment at Moss Ridge cemetery.

Those from out of town who are attending the funeral are: Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Clowes and family of Beardstown, James Clowes and daughter, Miss Eva, of Kewanee, and Dr. Jethro Davis and family of Monmouth.

*The mention of "half-brother, Joel Thacker" was apparently in reference to Joel Thacker Booz (1841-1918), brother of Dr. William Booz.

Elizabeth's mother was Eleanor Lipsie.

Hancock County marriage license was issued at Carthage on January 4, 1851, to Wm. Booze and Elizabeth Jane McCubbin.  They were married on January 9 by Gillmore Callison.  Marriage License