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Biography - William Sandusky

WILLIAM G. SANDUSKY, Captain of the Iron Mountain Railway Transfer (Julius Morgan), is a native of Fayette County, Penn. He is the oldest of a family of seven children of Albert G. Sandusky and Martha McClain, and was born August 4, 1846. The parents were both natives of Pennsylvania, the father of Scotch and English ancestry, and the mother of Irish origin. The former is now living in his native State, at an advanced age. The mother was born in 1827, and died in 1865, at the old homestead in Fayette County. The father served as a soldier through the late war, being a member of a Pennsylvania cavalry regiment, with which he took part in several of the most decisive and hard-fought battles of the war, and during his service received but one wound. William G., when a mere child, manifested a strong inclination for a life on the water, which was as strongly discouraged by his father, resulting, as is often the case, in a radical move on the part of the boy. He left home when eleven years old, and was that year (1857)in Cairo, but not to remain, and his experience for several years was a varied one, although he demonstrated his ability to take care of himself, which is an exception to the rule, with boys under similar circumstances. He spent considerable time in traveling in different parts of tjie South and West, thus gaining a practical idea of life while a mere boy. His first experience in boating was on the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, and on the Ohio, as far south as the city of Cincinnati. He was a regularly licensed pilot on those rivers before he had become of age, and has been thus employed ever since with slight exception. During the war, he was in Government employ as pilot, principally on the Mississippi River. From 1868 to 1877, he was Captain of. the steam ferry boats "Missionary," “Cairo" and the "Three States," but in July of the latter year, was appointed to the position of Master of Iron Mountain Transfer "Julius Morgan," which he still retains. He was married in Dubuque. Iowa, to Miss Mary E. Deveren, of Tuscaloosa, Ala. Their residence is Walnut street, between Eleventh and Twelfth.

Extracted 31 Mar 2017 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part V, page 42.


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