 
 History of Hancock County, Illinois, 1921, Scofield, pages 1188-1189Duffy, Samuel Benjamin, one of the successful farmers and stockraisers of Pilot Grove Township, is very well and favorably known throughout the county. He was born in Carthage Township(1), August 28, 1865, a son of Samuel Spangler and Fannie (Meeks) Duffy, natives of Hancock County. Anthony and Matilda (Spangler) Duffy, the paternal grandparents, natives of Pennsylvania, were among the very earliest settlers of Hancock Township, where they entered government land. After their marriage, Samuel S. Duffy and his wife settled on a portion of the home place, but later made some changes, owning considerable land at different times. In 1906, they bought a residence in Fountain Green Township, where he now resides. Their children were as follows: John, who died at the age of three years, Samuel Benjamin; Sarah, who is Mrs. F. B. Carey of Duluth, Minn.; Verdelia, who was born March 22, 1893 [1873], died May 20, 1908; and Anthony, who lives in Hancock Township. Samuel B. Duffy spent his boyhood on the home farm, and attended the Penn district school, continuing to make his home with his parents until his marriage, which occurred June 20, 1888, when he was united with Jessie Mull, born in Fountain Green Township, a daughter of Jackson and Anna Mull, natives of New York and Hancock County, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Duffy became the parents of two children; Clarance, who served his country during the Great War; Farlin who lives in Prairie Township. Mrs. Duffy died in August 1893. On May 1, 1895, Mr. Duffy was married to Jeanette Williams, born in Hancock Township, a daughter of James and Martha (Owings) Williams, he born in Trigg County, Ky., and she in Indiana. By his second marriage, Mr. Duffy has the following children: Robert, who lives in Pilot Grove Township; Orville; Laura, who is the wife of Eddie Weatherington; Floyd, Kermit, Sarah and Mary, all of whom are at home. For three years after his first marriage, Mr. Duffy rented a farm in Monroe County, Mo., but after his wife's death, he returned to his father's farm and there spent a year. Following his second marriage, he lived for one year in Hancock Township, and three years in Pilot Grove Township, and for one year in Fountain Green Township. He then bought a farm in Hancock Township, but four years later moved to Fountain Green Township, returning three years later to his own farm in Hancock Township. After two years on it, he went to Pilot Grove Township and rented 460 acres of land which he operates, and he owns 370 acres in Hancock Township, conducting part of it, and renting the remainder, operating in all 830 acres of land, of which one-half is cultivated, and the rest in pasture. He raises Poland-Angus cattle, hogs, horses, sheep and poultry, and ships in large quantities, being one of the largest stockraisers in this part of the state. In politics he is a Republican, and served as assessor of Fountain Green Township, and was elected to the same office in Hancock Township, but did not serve on account of his removal from that locality. He also served for two terms as supervisor of Pilot Grove Township, and was appointed to fill out a third term. A Mason in good standing, he belongs to Burnside Lodge, A. F. & A. M.; Carthage Commandery, K. T., and the Consistory of Quincy, Ill., and the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Odd Fellows of Wabash, Ill., and the Modern Woodmen of Fountain Green, Ill.
(1)This biography stated that Ben Duffy was born in Carthage Township. In 1865 there was a household headed by Samuel "Duffey" in Carthage Township; the ages of the eldest male and female jibe with those of Ben's parents, but the stroke tallies (depending on the date of enumeration) do not account for Ben's older brother, John, who reportedly died in November of 1865. When Ben married Jessie Mull he stated that he had been born at Hancock Township; when he married Jeanette Williams he reported that he had been born at Webster, which is in Fountain Green Township, Hancock County. The farm where Ben's parents lived for some years was in Section 5 of Hancock Township, which is fairly close to the town of Webster. A loose chronology based the locations mentioned in the biography and census records: 1888 - married to Jessie.
Ben Duffy died January 12, 1935, in Hancock Township. Mary Jeanette survived until April 16, 1950; she died in LaHarpe, Hancock County. Both are buried at Moss Ridge Cemetery, Carthage, Hancock County. The children of S. B. Duffy and Jessie Mull were:
The children of S. B. Duffy and Mary Jeanette Williams were:
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Clarence Mull Duffy, born March 30, 1890, Hancock County, in/near Fountain Green. He died May 4, 1950, at the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy, Adams County.
