It is by perseverance and good management that this gentleman now owns one of the best farms of Pope County. He is located on section 26, township 13, range 5, and is a native of Wayne County, KY, his birth having taken place on the 26th of November, 1846.
     His father, Charles S. Chrisman, was a blacksmith by trade and followed that occupation for a living. He was reared in Kentucky, going there when a lad with his parents, and after reaching his majority he began life on his own account and purchased land. Charles married the lady of his choice, who bore the maiden name of Mary Simpson and was a native of Kentucky. In his chosen occupations as blacksmith and farmer, he was so prospered as to make a good living for him and family.
     Charles S. Chrisman moved to Illinois in 1860, and when war was declared between the North and the South, he enlisted in the Sixth Illinois Calvary, Company D, in which he went to the front and served as army blacksmith, receiving his honorable discharge in 1864. At that period he returned to Illinois and purchased land, on which he resided for about two years, at the end of which time he sold out and went to Kansas. Staying there but two years, he returned to Illinois and is now living with his aged companion, who is, with her husband, enjoying good health. She was born December 11, 1815, and her husband’s occurred in September, 1820.
     John M. Chrisman remained at home with his parents until seventeen years old, attending school about two terms in his native state, Kentucky. When his parents emigrated to Illinois, he of course came along, driving the ox-team and enjoying camp life for about three weeks. Being of a patriotic nature, he also answered President Lincoln’s call for troops, and when but seventeen years old enlisted in the Twenty-ninth Illinois Infantry, Company F, at Columbus, on the 9th of August, 1864. He fought in the siege of Mobile and the engagements of Ft. Blakeley, Spanish Fort, and several minor skirmishes, remaining in service until the close of the war. He was discharged at Millican, Texas and was paid in full at Springfield, Ill., in November, 1865.
     Returning home, young Chrisman stayed with his parents three years, and in 1869 purchased a farm of eighty acres in this county, in township 13, range 5, on which he lived for two years, and the sold out in order to purchase the farm on which he now lives and which comprises one hundred improved acres. The house that stands thereon has been remodeled, and with the farm is kept in such shape as to signify a model farmer as its owner. Mr. Chrisman is now engaging in the raising of stock, horses, cattle and sheep, and realizes large crops of corn, wheat, oats and other cereals.
     John was married November 25, 1869, to Mary E. Dixon, who was born June 24,1849, and whose parents were natives of Kentucky and Ilinois, respectively. She died August 26, 1892. The maiden name of our subject’s present wife was Ellen Noel, and she is a most estimable lady, and is highly regarded in the social circles of this community.

______Copied from The Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope and Hardin Counties, Illinois Chicago Biographical Publishing Co. 1893 pp.332,333.