SHORT, R. A., farmer and stock raiser, Sec. 18, P.O. Greenfield, was born Dec. 13, 1835, in Greene County [Illinois]; was married Sept. 7, 1859, to Emily J. Chaney, who was born April 11, 1841, in Mason County, Ill., the daughter of William and Mary Chaney; have six children: Catherine B., born March 15, 1862; John B., born Oct. 8, 1864; William S., born Dec. 8, 1867; infant son (deceased); Thomas J., born Oct. 23, 1871; Samuel S., born April 4, 1873. The subject of this sketch is the eighth child of Thomas J. and Catherine Short; has followed the occupation of a farmer in the summer and has taught school for eighteen winters; has been esquire for a number of years, and has united twenty-two of his scholars in marriage; was elected County Treasurer of Greene County in 1875-6, and owns 261 acres of land.
Source: [Anonymous], History of Greene County, Illinois; Its Past and Present (Chicago: Donnelley, Gassette & Loyd, Publishers, 1879), p. 627.