Source: History of Bureau County, IL
H. C. Bradsby, Editor
Chicago: World Publisher Company 1885
Reprinted by: Higginson Book Company, Salem, MA

Transcribed by: Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society
www.tampicohistoricalsociety.citymax.com

Page 701

Philip Wolfersberger, Princeton, was born March 28, 1826, in Campbelltown, Lebanon Co., Penn. His father, John Wolfersberger, was born in 1793, in the same place. He was a merchant by occupation, and was killed by the cars in 1864. John Wolfersberger, Sr., was the grandfather of our subject, and a native of Hessen, Germany. The mother of our subject was Elizabeth (Carper) Wolfersberger. She was also a native of Campbelltown, where she died. She was a daughter of Frederick and Mary Carper, and she is the mother  of nine children, viz.: Julian, Gabriel (deceased), Mary, Margaret, John, Philip, Charles, Isaac and Elizabeth. Of the above John was a soldier in the late war, and killed at Murfreesboro. Philip, the subject of this biography, was educated in the common schools of Campbelltown. In early life he leaned and followed the carpenter and joiner's trade there. In 1853 he came to Princeton, Ill., where he followed his trade till the breaking out of the Civil war. September 1, 1861, he enlisted in the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, Company D.  After serving two years as a private he was promoted to the position of First Lieutenant Commissary of the Third Colored United States Cavalry, in which capacity he served till the close of the war. Before coming home he served four months on the "Freedmen's Bureau," returning to Princeton January 26, 1866. There he followed his trade two years, and then became a partner in establishing a planing-mill. Four years afterward  he sold his interest in the mill, and worked at his trade one year, and then entered upon a mercantile careeer by opening a book-store, to which he afterward added a full line of groceries, queensware, willow and woodenware.

Our subject was married twice. His first wife Martha Miller. She died in 1853, leaving three daughters, viz.: Mrs. Leah Walters, Mrs. Clara Holman and Mrs. Emma Curr.

His present wife, Elizabeth Miller, was a sister to his first wife. She is the mother of three sons, viz.: Frank (deceased), Willilam and Charles. The latter married Carrie White, and is now a partner in his father's store. William graduated from the high school of Princeton, and was appointed to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., where he graduated, and then served two years on the United tates flag ship "Pensacola." He then resigned his postion and went into the express business, and at present is express agent at Leadville, Col.