Biography - Samuel Jackson
SAMUEL JACKSON, a resident of Vienna City, Johnson County, was born in Wilson County, Tenn., December 4, 1830. His father, Samuel Jackson, was, it is thought, born in North Carolina, but spent his later years in Tennessee, dying in 1830. The maiden name of his wife was Nancy Porterfield. She survived her husband many years and died in Pulaski County, Ill. Samuel Jackson was born a few weeks after his father's death and his mother then went to reside with her deceased husband's parents, William and Frances Ann Jackson, coming with them to Illinois in 1831, the removal being made overland in a four-horse wagon. They all lived in Sangamon County two years and then removed to what is now Pulaski County. They resided there and in Union County for some years.
When Samuel Jackson was twelve years old he was bound out to a doctor, to live with him until he was twenty-one years old. He remained with the doctor until 1847, receiving his board and clothes for his services, and from that time on he cared for himself. During the year 1847 he engaged with a mail contractor to carry the mail from Vienna to Shawneetown, a distance of sixty miles, making the round trip three times per week on horseback for three months. In the spring of 1848 he put in a crop of corn for Mrs. Vanderbilt and received $30 for his labor, but not in cash. In October of the same year he went to Mississippi and was employed on Island No. 75, or Ozark Island, at the mouth of the Arkansas River. Before going down the Mississippi River, however, he had been engaged at different kinds of work, a part of the time on the farm at twenty-five cents per day. At that time the nearest mills were operated by horse power and it was necessary for him when he went to mill to start by three o'clock in the morning and sometimes then he had to wait all day to get his grist, parching corn in the ashes for his dinner.
Our subject remained in the South until March 25, when the cholera broke out and his bedfellow sickened and died in a few hours. He returned at once to Johnson County, but without any money. He obtained two days' work at fifty cents per day, and on the 25th of April he engaged as porter in a general store. He was thus employed six months, when he became a clerk in the same store, remaining there until 1853. He then went to Jonesboro and clerked one year and then one year in Pulaski County. He afterward went to Anna, Union County, and remained there until March, 1856, when he went to St. Louis and clerked in a wholesale boot and shoe store until July, 1859. Returning to Illinois, he located at Vienna with a capital of $2,000 and engaged in business for himself on the corner west of the Perkins' House. In December, 1861, he formed a partnership with John Bain, the firm name being Bain & Jackson, which continued until Mr. Bain's death. He then formed a partnership with his son, A. G. Jackson, and W. B. Bain, under the name of Samuel Jackson & Co., which partnership continued until their store was burned down, December 26, 1891. Mr. Jackson then engaged in the sale of farm implements, carriages, wagons, etc.
Our subject was married September 23, 1860, to Frances P. Bain, who was born in Bloomfield, Johnson County, Ill., in 1843, and who is a daughter of John and Winnie Bain. To this marriage there have been born eight children, viz: Samuel A., Arthur G., Cora, Harry M., John B., Winnie May, Walter H. and William G. He has one son, Samuel A., by a former wife. Mrs. Jackson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Jackson is a Republican in politics and is a member of Vienna Lodge No. 150, A. F. & A. M.; of Vienna Chapter No. 67, R. A. M., and Cora Council, R. & S. M.
Extracted 16 Dec 2016 by Norma Hass from 1893 Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope, and Hardin Counties, Illinois, pages 492-493.
