McDonough County Genealogical Society
Major Stephen Yocum
Another early settler of McDonough County was Stephen Yocum, who brought his family to the eastern part of the county—an area that later became New Salem Township. Born February 17, 1800, in Kentucky, he was one of eleven children of George and Rebecca (Powell) Yocum.
On September 29, 1829, he married Mary Dorris in Marion County, Illinois. In the early 1830s, Yocum served as a Major in the Black Hawk War, a title by which he was thereafter known. He served in the same regiment in which Abraham Lincoln served.
In 1833, the Yocum family settled on Section 19 of New Salem Township, on the north side of Camp Creek, where they built a cabin. Their family eventually grew to eleven children—nine daughters and two sons. [Rebecca, Amanda, Eliza, Telitha, Mary, Hester, Elzira, Julia, Clara, Millen, and George] One son, Millen, died in infancy; the other, George F. Yocum, was killed at Stones River, Tennessee, while serving with Company C, 84th Illinois Volunteers during the Civil War.
