Source: Portrait & Biographical Album of Whiteside County, IL
Originally published 1885 Chapman Bros., Chicago, IL

Transcribed by: Becky Jones

Page 253

Henry D. Pond, general farmer, section 31, Genesee Township, was born Oct. 12, 1840, in Portage Co., Ohio. He is the son of Stephen and Abiah (Bristol) Pond, whose record, together with a statement of the genealogy of the family in America, is presented elsewhere in this volume. He was an infant of a few months when his parents changed their residence to Huron Co., Ohio, and when he was 11 years of age they made a final transfer of their interests to Illinois, locating in Genesee Township.

Mr. Pond grew to manhood in Whiteside County, passing the successive years in working on the home estate and obtaining such education as the common schools of the place and period afforded. The same blood that flowed in the veins of his ancestors, in both lines of descent, and impelled them to unite in the common cause and struggle for the independence of the Colonies, furnished the impetus under whose influence he identified himself with the cause of the Union, when the echoes from the rebel guns of April 14, 1861, sounded the knell of peace. He determined to enroll himself among the defenders of the principles which had protected him, and he enlisted at Chicago, Aug. 28, 1861, in the 39th Regt. Ill. Vol. Inf., becoming a member of Company G, under Captain Slaughter. The regiment was under the command of Col. Light and was assigned to the Department of the South. During the first portion of its period of service it was attached to the command of General Grant and afterwards to that of General Butler. Among the more important actions in which Mr. Pond was a participant, were the siege of Charleston, Deep Bottoms and the action before Petersburg. He was in numerous smaller engagements and skirmishes, and was the only one out of 16 that enlisted from his vicinity who went through three years of military service without dying or suffering from wounds or sickness. He received honorable discharge Sept. 10, 1864, at Petersburg. He served all the time in the ranks and was never captured by the rebels. He was nearly 21 years of age when he became a soldier, and on his return to Genesee Township he engaged in farming.

He was united in marriage to Margaret Fleming, March 15, 1866, at Mt. Carroll, Ill. Mrs. Pond is the daughter of Robert L. and Jane (Wilson) Fleming. Her parents were natives respectively of Philadelphia and of the State of New York. The families to which they belonged removed to Indiana, where they met and were married in Lawrence County. The daughter was born there Jan. 13, 1842, and she came with her parents to Carroll County in 1848, and grew to womanhood in that county. Her father died Feb. 27, 1878; the death of her mother occurred Nov. 9, 1880. They had ten children and Mrs. Pond is fourth in order of birth. She is the mother of one child, Abiah D., born Dec. 24, 1873.

Mr. Pond settled in his new capacity of the head of a family, on a farm containing 80 acres of land, of which 40 acres lay in Genesee Township and the other half in the township of Hopkins. It was partly improved but had no buildings. These have since been supplied and are of a creditable character. The horses and cattle on the place are of excellent grade.

Mr. Pond is such a Republican as his war record evinces, and takes an active interest in local politics. Mrs. Pond accepts the views of Spiritualism.