The Clinton Public
Friday, March 16, 1888
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Another Old Citizen Called to His Eternal Rest.
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Henry Farley Byerly was born in North Carolina, February 26, 1809. When about twelve years of age he removed with his father’s family to Shelby county, Indiana, where he grew to manhood. He was married to Polly A. Campbell, December 20, 1831. Six children were born to them, four of whom, three sons and a daughter, survive him. Bereft of the wife of his youth by death, he afterward, in 1841, married Polly A. Clark, with whom he lived happily twelve years, when she departed this life, April 13, 1853. Of this marriage seven children were born, five of whom, one son and four daughters, survive. In October, 1851, he emigrated to DeWitt county, where he has ever since resided, respected and beloved by all who knew him. Brought up in the back woods before the days of public schools, he received almost nothing in the way of an education, yet in the midst of the hardships of pioneer life, while toiling night and day for the support of his family, he managed to acquire the rudiments of an education and became unusually well informed upon all matters of public importance. Whatever his scarcity of means might deny him, the newspaper was never absent from his fireside. He was always on the right side of every great moral question, many times when it subjected him to odium and scorn. But, like Paul, he could say, “None of these things move me.” Seldom did he complain, and never was he known to quarrel with those who opposed him, always affirming that if he was right, time would vindicate his course. Never formally connected with any church, he believed implicitly in the Christian religion, and was all his life a constant reader of the Bible. To his son Alexander he wrote in a letter, now preserved by him as a precious memento, “I have no other hope, but in the merits of Christ. I believe that Christ and him crucified is the essence of the gospel.” He regarded the golden rule as the true standard of life, and conscientiously sought to “do unto others as he would have them do unto him.” And he succeeded so well that he was never accused of wronging any one. He met death with great composure, conversing freely about his approaching dissolution. He expressed himself as entirely resigned and willing to go. A good man has gone to his rest. One who did no harm in the world, but in his humble sphere very much good.
Submitted by Judy Simpson, DeWitt County Illinois researcher
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