JOHN TUDOR who is a representative of a fine old English family in Randolph County, is a general farmer, and has a good estate located on section 4, township 8, range 5, which he has supplied with all the necessary buildings and farm implements suited to the purpose of a first-class agriculturist. Mr. Tudor was born in France Jlanuary 4, 1827, where his parents were temporarily residing. He was the fifth in order of birth in a family of eight children comprising the household of Thomas and Mary (Corbitt) Tudor, natives of Shropshire, England, where the family residence was located for many years.
About 1832 Thomas Tudor came to America, locating in Haverstraw, N. Y., where he worked at his trade, that of a foundryman, for a number of years before sending for his family to join him in the New World. He was more fortunate in a monetary way than many emigrants who made their home in America, and it was not for lack of funds that he delayed sending for the family, but to make sure that he would be pleased with life as he found it in a new land. In 1836, the mother with her children took passage at Liverpool, and after a comparatively smooth passage of a month, they landed in New York. One unpleasant incident of the voyage, long to be remembered, was the fact of the supply of food giving out. The passengers had to be placed on short rations, but as the journey was nearly at an end, their suffering was not very great. Thomas Tudor met them in New York City, and they went directly to their new home in Haverstraw.
Our subject immediately took a position with his father in the mill, where he remained until his twenty-second birthday. Having heard such glowing accounts of life in this then western country, he decided to cast in his lot with friends and kindred who had come to Illinois, and was accompanied on the journey by his brother and his family. The party set out in May, 1849, and after a tedious journey, reached their destination in Jackson County on the 1st of June. On arriving here, our subject first found employment working for his brother-in-law, receiving for his services $11 per month. The following season, having received aid from his father, he purchased a tract of one hundred and twenty acres, paying for it in gold, which coin was so scarce that the officials were not inclined to take it, fearing that it might not be good. He was very successful in his calling, and soon purchased two hundred and forty acres, which now constitute the homestead, and he also owns two hundred acres lying in other townships.
During his boyhood days our subject attended school in England, and while in Haverstraw he attended a school which was supported by the fund raised from the mill where he was employed. December 9, 1851, John Tudor and Miss Eliza, daughter of Samuel and Arabella (Price) Richards, were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Richards were living at that time in Haverstraw, N. Y., although they were natives of Shropshire, England, and lived near the Tudors in the Mother Country. Mrs. Tudor departed this life January 25, 1876, at the age of forty-four years. She had become the mother of eleven children, eight of whom survive: Thomas Henry, who is the present Postmaster of Rockwood; Arabella, Mrs. James Stewart, who resides on a farm near Rockwood; Guy Seymour, a blacksmith in Shiloh; George Benjamin, a farmer living in Jackson County; Charles Sherman, a teacher in Randolph County; Nellie, Mrs. Edward Morgan; Lydia Priscilla and Ernest Shubel, at home. Those deceased are, William Wallace, Rose Hannah and Florence Elizabeth.
John Tudor is a member of the Presbyterian Church, as was also his good wife. He has been a Republican in politics since the organization of the party, casting his first vote for Fremont in the year 1856. Besides having served as School Director many terms, Mr. Tudor has officially represented his township as Supervisor on the County Board.
Extracted from Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois, published in 1894, page 207.