The Minor Family of Somerset

REFN: 17ZQ-B8
According to the history of the Norths, the earliest member of a
uthentic record in our branch of the family was one John North
, who, when 20 years of age, left London, England, and came to A
merica with a group of immiGrants in the year 1635. The vesse
l which brought them, (Susan and Ellen) carried Fifty-five passe
ngers. They settled in Boston, Massachusetts. Gordy,the ameri
can historian, tells that among the group "were men of refineme
nt and wealth, great wisdom and energy". They were men and wom
en who came toAmerica to procure lands and build homes where th
ey might rear their families and enjoy freedom of religious wors
hip.
Although the ocean voyage was slowand tedious, the immiGrants f
rom the old world came in such great numbers that the Boston col
onies saw the necessity of branching out and opening new country
. So in 1652, eight years after his arrival in Boston, we fin
d John North a land owner in Hartford, Connecticut, USA
It is interesting to know that JohnNorth was one of 100 men, wh
o, with a number of women and children, left Boston and journeye
d on foot into the wilderness, tediously driving their cattlean
d horses before them. This ambitious group was led by the Rever
end Thomas Hooker, who was responsible for the settlement of Har
tford, Connecticut, where they established homes and provided th
eir own form of government. Underthe leadership of Hooker, the
se people drew up the first written constituionin the world. T
his constitution survived until 1818, and gave rise to the Ameri
can idea of having rights set forth and guaranteed in a writte
n document. The laws under which the Hartford colony flourishe
d were drawn from the Bible. The document was drawn up with th
e consent of the entire colony and provided equal rights for all
.
We find by the old Hartford records that "JohnNorth was a lan
d owner in Hartford", also that the section of land in which hi
s property lay was later made into a subdivision called Farmingt
on. It was here, also, according to these same records, that h
e married Hannah Bird, was the father of nine children three gir
ls and six boys--and died at Farmington,Connecticut, in the yea
r 1692, at the age of 76 years.
From Farmington, his descendants gradually pioneered into new co
untry, as the North Geneology,compiled by Dexter North, tells u
s, and are traced by direct line through Massachusetts, Connecti
cut, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and into Illinois. The direct lin
e is John North, Samuel, Thomas, Timothy,Lot,Sidney and Levi -

• the subject of this sketch.
  Levi's grandfather, Lot North was an influential citizen and a p
  rosperous farmer in the town of Rising Sun, Indiana. Near Risin
  gSun is a settlement called North's Landing, also a cemetery ca
  lled North's Cemetery. It is from the Rising Sun that the famil
  y is traced to Carmi, Whit County, Illinois, where Sidney North
  , his wife, Mary Hawthorn, and their children are living. It i
  s here that Levi, their fourth child and second son, wasborn o
  n July 17, 1817.
  We find nothing concerning his boyHood, any more than at an earl
  y age h e learned the trade of wheelwright, and afterwards becam
  e a Carpenter. He married at the age of 20, Arriminta Howard, N
  ovember 16,1837. She was born near Troy, Madison County, Illin
  ois, February 25, 1819, and was thus 18 years old at the time o
  f her marriage. The young couple musthave moved from Carmi, Wh
  ite County, within a year, as their first child wasborn Novembe
  r 14, 1838, at Freemington, Effingham County, Illinois. They gav
  ehim the name of Charles Addison. Under what circumstances o
  f when the family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Da
  y Saints is no know, but fromlosse notes in the family record b
  ook, Levi and Arriminta North were baptized by W. J. Servert, i
  n November 1840, in Lee County, Iowa. Iin Lee County Iow, thei
  r second son was born on December 16, 18