From Potrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois; 1885; p. 215
Samuel Currie, retired farmer, resident of Morrison, has been a citizen of Whiteside County since 1838, when he became a member of its pioneer agricultural element, and has since been a factor in the development of Northwestern Illinois. He was born August 15, 1810, in Roxburgshire, Scotland, on the river Tweed. HIs father, John Currie, was a native of Yetholm, in the same shire, and was born Oct. 25, 1776. His mother Hannah (Lockley) Currie was born in Ilderton, Northunberlandshire, England, Nov. 11, 1784. The marriage of his parents took place at Jedburgh, May 27, 1805, and in May, 1818, the family emigrated to America. They settled at first in the State of New York, where they remained until November 1819, when they went to York in Canada (now Toronto). In March, 1820, they took possession of a farm in Scarborough, in the Dominion where the father died, Sept. 17, 1830. The mother died Dec. 18, 1861, in East Whitby, Canada. There are (in 1885) but four survivors of their ten children, who were born in the following order: Sarah (deceased) was the wife of Joseph Lundy. James is living in retirement in the township of Whitby,Canada; has been for many years a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. John was a farmer; Andrew was a merchant tailor,and Robert, formerly a farmer in Kansas, are all deceased. George is engaged in the business of sheep-raising in Montana. Mark was during his lifetime a carriage builder and blacksmith in Canada. Margaret is deceased. William resides in Lloyd, WI, and was a millwright before his retirement from active business life.
Mr. Currie attained to adult age in the Dominion, and when about 24 years of age rented a saw-mill and engaged in manufacture of lumber, in which he was interested about five years. During that period Mackenzie's Rebellion, known also to the history as the Patriot's War, startled the representatives of the British government in the Dominion and Mr. Currie joined the insurgents in the ill-fated struggle. He was shot through his right arm in one of the encounters of the conflict, and has suffered from the consequences all his life. He found Canadian rule no more palatable after the rebellion had been crushed than before, and, in June, 1838, he bid a final farewell to monarchical government and came to Illinois, locting primarily in Carroll County, where he remained one year. In 1839 he came to Whiteside County and entered a claim of 240 acres of land on section 30, Clyde Township, which comprised 160 acres of prairie and 80 acres of timber--one of the finest and most promising tracts of land in the township and which he converted into a model farm. He resided on his estate 25 years, pursuing his agricultural projects and engaged during the latter part of that period in loaning money. He has operated to some extent in the business last named since his removal to Morrison, in October, 1864, when he retired from active participation in a laborious life. He is the owner of considerable property, variously situated in the county.
Mr. Currie has been married twice. He first formed a matrimonial alliance, in Scarborough, Canada, June 15, 1833, with Jane Patrick, who died May 27, 1840, after becoming the mother of two sons, Asa and John--who followed their young mother to the silent land beyond while they were still in youth. She was born June 4, 1812. Mr. Currie was united in marriage to Julia Thomas, Sept. 17, 1840 in the townhship of Mt. Pleasant. Mrs. Currie was born Dec. 10, 1817, in St. Clair, IL. Her parents, Anthony M. and Jane (Jordan) Thomas, were born in South Carolina, and were married in 1805, in St. Clair County, whither the former had come in 1804. Anthony Thomas was a soldier of 1812. He came to Mt. Pleasant in 1837, where he died Sept. 8, 1850. His wife died Sept. 12, 1858.