William Ronksley, deceased, was born in Sheffield,
Yorkshire, England, in 1829, and died in Macoupin County, Illinois, in 1890,
leaving a farm of 240 acres in section 35, and one of 78 acres in section
26, Western Mound township.
The father of the late William Ronksley
was James Ronksley, who came with his family to America in 1844. They
remained in Illinois a few years, but finally returned to England, where
James Ronksley died. In 1855 our subject returned to Illinois and located
for one year in Morgan County, but in 1860 he removed to Macoupin County and
settled in Chesterfield township, where he remained until 1869, when he
purchased the valuable farms in Western Mound township, of which he was the
owner at the time of his death. He followed an agricultural life and took a
prominent place among the farmers of this section of the State.
In
1856, at Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois, Mr. Ronksley married Mary
Roberts, who was a daughter of Richard Roberts, who came to Illinois from
England as one of the pioneer settlers of Morgan County. She died in 1897,
aged 71 years, leaving four children, viz: Fanny, who is engaged in the
dressmaking business in the village of Chesterfield; George, a resident of
Kansas City, engaged in postoffice cabinet work, who married Sarah Albin,
daughter of William Albin, a farmer of Missouri, and has one child — Ona
Mildred; Hannah, who married Oliver Carter, foreman of the chair department
of the Joliet State Penitentiary, and has three children — William Robert,
George Oliver and Ethel Fay; and Nellie, who married James O. Bates and has
one child — Evelyn Ruth. James O. Bates rents and operates the homestead
farm.
In politics Mr. Ronksley was a Republican. He was a quiet man,
a kind husband and father and good neighbor, and was always held in esteem
for his high character. He did his part in building up the various
enterprises which have developed this section, and he left a family that is
everywhere respected.
Extracted 2018 May 06 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 106-107.
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