PERRY SAPP. - Perry Sapp, who follows farming on section 22, Williams township, is a veteran of the Civil war and bears an honorable record for brave service in the cause of freedom and union, and in the paths of peace he has also won an enviable reputation through the sterling qualities which go to the making of a good citizen.

A native of Ohio, Mr. Sapp was born in Knox county, February 13, 1838, and is a son of Charles Sapp, who was born in Maryland, February 23, 1807, and during boyhood went to Ohio with his parents, the family becoming early settlers of Knox county. There Charles Sapp married Miss Elizabeth Mathena, a native of the Buckeye state. By trade he was a millwright and followed that occupation in early life, but later turned his attention to farming. Coming to Illinois in 1838 he located in Fayette county, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, continuing to make his home there until called to his final rest in the fall of 1865. His first wife died in 1847 when our subject was only nine years old and he subsequently married again. The children by the first marriage were Lyman, now deceased; Hiram; Perry; Allen, who was also a soldier of the Civil war; and Martha Jane, wife of G. W. Riley, of Shelby county, Illinois.

It was during his infancy that Perry Sapp accompanied his parents on their removal to Fayette county, Illinois, and until seventeen years of age he remained upon his father's farm. In the fall of 1854 he first came to Sangamon county, but soon returned to Fayette county and did not locate permanently here until the spring of 1855. For several years there after he worked on a farm for Charles Miller.

His love of country was manifested in August, 1862, by his enlistment in Company B, One hundred and Thirtieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Mississippi. His first engagement was at Port Gilson and he was afterward in the battles of Champion Hill and Black River and in the Vicksburg campaign until the surrender of that stronghold. He was in the second battle at Jackson, Mississippi, and later returned to Vicksburg, where he was in camp for some time. With his command he then went down the river to New Orleans, where they spent a month and were in southwestern Louisiana for about two months. In December, 1863, Mr. Sapp was sent home on recruiting service, and remained there until the 4th of May, following, when he rejoined his regiment at Morganza Bend at the mouth of the Red river. Later he was in the Mobile campaign and the battle of Spanish Fort, after which he returned to Mobile and was then mustered out at New Orleans August 15, 1865. He was honorably discharged at Camp Butler, Illinois, the following September.

Returning to Sangamon county, Mr. Sapp resumed work for Mr. Miller, remaining with him three years longer. In February, 1868, in Williams township, he wedded Miss Mary Ann Yocom, who was born on the farm where she now resides, her father being William Yocom, who was from Kentucky an d he was one of the "snowbirds". Mr. and Mrs. Sapp have two children, namely: Lyman, who is engaged in farming upon the home place, is married and has two children, Herman R. and Ralph L.; and Mary Florence is the wife of Fred Collins, who is also farming on the Sapp homestead.

Mr. Sapp cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and has never wavered in his support of the Republican party and its principles. As a friend to our public school system, he has served as township school trustee and also as school director at different times. Socially he is a member of the Grand Army Post at Springfield and religiously his wife and daughter are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The family is one of prominence in the community where they reside.