Michael Moreland Hersman

Michael Moreland Hersman

John J Hersman's Father

G'Pa Jud's Grandfather

Michael Moreland Hersman was born in 1813 in Harrison, Kentucky, he died in Brookfield Missouri 11 Feb 1896. He married Mary Hulett 17 Oct 1839 in Brown, Illinois. She was born 1823 in Morris, Grundy, Illinois and died 10 Jun 1907 in Brookfield, Missouri. They had 12 children together.
Michael and his family arrived in Versailles, Illinois, in 1856. He was a carpenter by trade and tinker (repairer of metal utensils) . He was a cabinet maker in 1862. He then established an undertaking business on Main Street in Mt. Sterling, Illinois where he made coffins (also known as a cooper).

A distant cousin that Betty and Vernon Hersman communicated/researched with wrote the following, his name was Frank Hersman:

In 1834 Jacob Hersman and his wife Sarah Ann Craig, George Hersman, and his wife Rebecca Knox, Abraham Phillip and his wife Martha Ellen Knox, Susan Hersman and Henry Hersman came to the place later named Hersman. Benjamin Taylor had arrived in Brown County, Illinois, in 1830 and married Susan Hersman in 1836.
In 1856 Michael Moreland Hersman and his wife Mary Hulett and part of their family arrived in Versailles, Illinois.
Michael Moreland was my fathers Uncle and I have called him Uncle Mike all my life.
Uncle Mike was a carpenter. One memory of him was that he was a tinkeror.
He was the first Wabash Agent in Versailles. The first train came through Christmas Day 1858.
He moved to Mt. Sterling where he had an undertaking establishment on Main Street and made coffins.
Michael Moreland Hersman had 11 children (that have been accounted for). His daughter Bertha G. died in a fire on February 3rd, 1856 at the age of 16 months. She was buried in the Versailles South Cemetery.
Uncle Mikes son John was a colorful person, much like his father. John was born in Kentucky in 1848 and came to Versailles with his family when he was eight years old.
He en-listed in the Union Army in 1864 and served two years till discharged because of a disability. He re enlisted in the Illinois Infantry to serve about a year or more. (Info not entirely accurate)
John Hersman was married to Helen Mercerau (misspelled) of Delavan, Illinois in 1878.
They lived in Pekin, Illinois a short time but lived most of their lives in Red Oak, Iowa, where John died in 1909.
John Hersman was a carpenter by trade and an excellent workman. He was a contractor and builder in Red Oak and was a pattern maker for the Kerrihard Foundry. When they lived in Pekin he had been a foreman for a contractor who employed a number of men.