William may have been a twin to a Mary S as they were the same age int he 1860 census.
Residences & events:
1880 Milam Twp, Macon Co, IL. At census time William was 25, afarmer, a nd Mary was 22. They had baby girl "Neona", 2 mos. Nextdoor neighbor s were John Gray and James Beard. Mary's parents livedin the same are a.
1883 Sullivan, Moultrie Co, IL was the date of the family's moveacros s the county line per his obit.
As an attorney, he represented the city of Sullivan, IL, in the early1 900s.
6/23/1900 Harrison St, Sullivan. Mary was head of the house atcensus t ime at age 42. She had been married 21 years and birthed 4children, o nly 3 of whom still survived. Living with her were 3sons, Walter, 16, N imrod N, 15, and Roger G, 12.
Rufus was recorded as Wm R Huff, 41, born 8/1858, lawyer, married 20ye ars, boarder on Comanchi St in Dallas, TX. It is uncertain who hewas b oarding with as head of house is unreadable. Others in thehouse had u nknown names. He was probably there on legislativebusiness, perhaps a c onvention, as the whole street was filled withroomers and boarders.
2/21/1906 The following item was in the Decatur paper:
"Rufus Huff is this week moving to the Neeves farm, just west of town,w hich now belongs to Mrs. Huff."
1910 Where was the family that year? None of them were in anycensus.
1920 Sullivan, Moultrie Co, IL. Listed in the census as Rufus Huff,6 2, born KY, general farmer, with Mary, 61. (What happened to hislaw p ractice?) They lived alone between the Gifford and Bookerfamilies.
5/19/1921 His name was again in the news:
"Had Narrow Escape
The accident to Rufus R Huff on the Locke hill Wednesday morningw as regarded as fortunate for Mr. Huff that he was not killedoutright.
He was coming up the hill and had trouble with his engine and thec ar started backwards and when about half way down the hill it backedto wards the high embankment on the west side of the hill. It went upthe e mbankment backwards the rear wheels going quite a distance upthe emban kment and turning over forward catching Mr. Huff under thecar where he w as later found by Mrs. Art Ashbrook who lives at thetop of the hill an d who got help there as soon as possible. It tooka team of horses to p ull the car off of him. Mr. Huff's conditionThursday morning was impr oved and it was thought that he would beabout soon."
8/4/1928 In the 30 years ago today column of the newspaper was: "TheD emocrats nominated J. M. Gray and Rufus Huff for representatives."
4/26/1930 Sullivan, Moultrie Co, IL. Again recorded as Rufus in thec ensus, he was again a lawyer in general practice at age 73 . Marywas 7 1. Neighbors were James Watkins and George Fields.
The 1880 census said he was 25, making his birth year 1885. The 1920c ensus said he was born in KY.
Huff, William Rufus Sullivan Progress Fri. Jan 3, 1935
Rufus Huff died Saturday in Kansas City where he was making his homewi th his son Walter Huff. The remains were shipped to the McMullinFune ral Home in this city where services were held on Tuesdayafternoon. R ev. Paul M. Curry of the M.E. Church, of which thedeceased had been a m ember, was in charge.
The pall bearers were Guy Bupp, Walter Jenkins, Walter Birch, MelGiffo rd, Bert Fultz and Dave Cummins. Burial was in Greenhill.
He was born in Marion Co., Ill. Aug 6, 1854 and at time of death was81 y rs, 4 mos, and 22 das. of age.
In 1879 in Macon Co., he was united in marriage with Mary Neaves. Tot his union 4 children were born - Neona, Nimrod, Roger, and Walter.The m other and all children except Walter preceded him in death. TheNeaves a nd Van Gundy families are relation by marriage.
The Huff family moved to the Sullivan community in 1883. After thedea th of his wife, Mr. Huff went to Kansas City in 1931.
The inscription on the shared gravestone says:
I am the resurrection and theli ght
he that believeth in me thoughh e
were dead yet shall he live.
John 11.25
