William Nevitt, father of Hon. E. H. Nevitt, and one of the earliest pioneers of Whiteside county, was born at Brownsville, Pa., in 1779. When a young man he moved to Kentucky, and in 1805 married Miss Mary Edlin at Beardstown, Breckenridge county, in that State.

He moved from Kentucky to White county Illinois in 1818, and in 1834 from the latter place to a farm near Knoxville, Knox County, Illinois, where he remained until 1837 when he came to Albany, arriving in August.

Here he purchased a farm just back of the present village of Albany, and also became one of the original proprietors of Upper Albany.

In 1821 Mr. Nevitt was appointed Justice of the Peace by the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the State and the appointment afterwards duly confirmed by the Senate, and a commission issued to him by Hon. Shadrach Bond, the first Governor of the state.

While a resident of White county he was several times placed in nomination by the Whigs of his district as Representative to the Legislature, but as the latter were in the minority his candidacy was unsuccessful. In 1831 he was appointed by the Governor as one of the Commissioners to improve the Little Wabash river.

He had not long been in Whiteside when he was elected School Commissioner of the county, Jabez Warner, Esq., being his opponent. This office he held until his death which occurred in October, 1848.

Mr. Nevitt had eleven children: John, James, Clement, William G., Allen, Edward H., Wilson, Nancy, Maria and Susan. Eliza married Alfred Slocumb; Nancy married Asa Langford; Maria married Noah Shelby, and Susan married Thomas Finch. The children living are Clement, who resides in Knox county, Illinois; William G. in Newton, Whiteside county; Edward H., in Albany; Mrs. Finch in Oskaloosa ( Jefferson county, Iowa, and Mrs. Slocumb in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

History of Whiteside County