General Notes

"Stephen Sargent having been bound over to a farmer in New Jersey by his father who left and never appeared again, worked there a couple of years.  By the time he was seventeen, his father not showing up, he decided to go west with a family he knew, who were emigrating.  So he walked into Ohio with them, where he worked a year, then drifted down to Louiseville, Kentucky.  Here he learned the stone masons trace which he worked at mainly until 1836.  One of his largest jobs at his trade was building a causeway approaching the Ohio River at Levenworth, some miles below Louisville.  White in Louisville he made at least two trips down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers on flat boats to New Orleans.

"In 1836 with a partner by the name of Murphy, they bought a stock of goods and shipped it by boat to a place probably near where Terre Haute, Indiana now stands, where it was loaded on wagons and hauled to New Richmond, Illinois.  Now Westfield, where they established a pioneer grist mill, and a few scattering log houses.  His store building was of logs.  New Richmond was located on the road just west of the main part of Westfield, about where the edge of town now is on the road leading out past the Connelly and Davis neighborhood."  Excerpted from Sargent Record.  Source:  The Prairie Sleeps, Vol. 3, p. 411.

"One of Coles County's most interesting and well known families was the Sargent Family of Hutton Township.  The father of the Coles County branch of this family was Stephen Sargent, a son of Jacob and Margaret "Peggy" Patten Sargent.  Stephen Sargent was born July 1, 1797, in Cadia NH and died Nov. 30, 1878, in Hutton Township on his homestead, which remains part of the family property.  His biography can be found in the old county histories and some mention in Coleman's 'Lincoln in Coles County.' " Stephen married Nancy Rose Chenowith Harlan on Oct. 18, 1842, in Clark County, IL.  She was born March 25, 1805, in Jefferson County, KY, a daughter of John and Rebeca Rose Chenowith.  She had married Jacob Harlan (1799-1836) Nov. 7, 1822, and had five children:  Burns; Maria Louisa (1827-1911) who married John Sanford Shoot; Amanda; George; and Martin C. Harlan.  Nancy Rose Chenowith Harlan Sargent died Feb. 19, 1893, in Hutton and was buried beside her husband in the cemetery on their homestead in Section 11.  The old Palestine Road ran through their 600 and some acre farm in Hutton Township.  The Sargents had two children, Margaret R. and John Stephen Sargent.  See notes in each file.

"Although the Sargent Family made many fine contributions to the County, artistically, musically, historically, in the areas of agriculture, education, and religion, etc, Irene Sargent is the only one living with the Sargent name and only the two oldest daughters left descendants (with the Cox and Lee names).  Soon, the Sargent name will be only a memory carried on by an old farm home, some paintings, and some historical records, such as this."  Submitted by David Kent Coy.  Source:  COLES COUNTY, ILLINOIS 1876-1976, p. 827

The Sargent Cemetery is located a little over one hundred yards northeast, at the apex of the slope, from the surveyors rock in the road which marks the corner of:  the south east of the north east, and the north east of the south east 1/4, Section 1 T 2N R 10E (and the south west of the north west) (and the north west of the south west, Section 2 T 2N R 10E.  Hutton Township, Coles County, Illinois.

1860 census Hutton Twp, Coles, IL:  Stephen Sargent, aged 63, farmer, real estate valued $3,000, bp NH; Nancy aged 53, bp KY; Margaret aged 16, domestic; John aged 14 -- both born IL.