Page 740

JOHN A. CHESTNUT. How more than pleasant after a life well and prosperously spent to look back upon the years long since buried in the fathomless stream of Time, and recall the numerous honors and pleasures that met one at almost every step.

Our subject is at present a retired attorney-at-law, and his life is replete with honors bestowed upon him in return for his great talent and marked ability. His birth occurred in Kentucky, January 19, 1916, and he is a worthy son of that State that has produced so many gifted and brilliant men. His father, James Chestnut, was a native of South Carolina and was of Irish descent. He married Miss Elizabeth Stevenson of North Carolina, and after spending a great part of his life in the Blue Grass State, he removed to Illinois, settling in Morgan County, near Waverly, in 1836. His death occurred in 1849, and his wife died in 1853.

The subject of our sketch was educated principally in Kentucky but read law in the office of P. H. Winchester, of Carlinville, Ill., and was admitted to the bar of Illinois in 1837 and to the United States Courts in 1841. He practiced his chosen profession most successfully in Carlinville from 1837 to 1855, ex-Gov. John M. Palmer being his chief competitor in legal work. Mr. Chestnut gave up the practice of law and engaged in the real-estate and banking business in Carlinville and in a few years amassed a handsome fortune. After moving to Springfield, our subject made some unfortunate investments, but is still in comfortable circumstances, and lives in an elegant home on West Monroe Street, two blocks from the State House.

Mr. Chestnut first married Miss Sarah Blair, of Greene County, Ill., in 1844, but death claimed her in 1849, and she passed to her final resting place, leaving one child - Leonora, who is now Mrs. Tingley Woods, of Leadville, Colo. In 1854 our subject married Miss Kate N. Corbett, of Jersey County.

The subject of our sketch is one of the most prominent men in the State of Illinois and has always held high offices and is the recipient of much esteem. He is a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and has held numerous offices and done much for the interests both of his church and for the cause of Christianity in general. In 1876 he was a delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, and was also a delegate to the Centennial Conference held by this church in Baltimore, in 1844. In 1867 Mr. Chestnut was made Cashier of the Springfield Savings Bank, which position he held for several years and then resumed for awhile the practice of law. In the year 1880 he was the Supervisor for the Untied States Census for the Sixth Illinois District. He is a member of the Sons of Temperance, and while voting with the Republican party is ready to vote with the Prohibitionists when it will accomplish any good results. He was a member of the Board of Managers of Oak Ridge Cemetery, which office he held until 1874. He was appointed by Governor Oglesby as one of the Directors of the Illinois Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Jacksonville, in 1868. He was re-appointed by ex-Gov. John M. Palmer in 1871 and as trustee in 1869, and by Gov. Beveridge for four years for the same in 1873, and was also one of the trustees of the College in Jacksonville. On the 13th of January, 1838, Mr. Chestnut was elected Clerk of the County Court of Macoupin County for four terms, holding the office until 1849. In 1857 he was President of the Board of Trustees of Carlinville and in 1859 was re-elected to the same position. He was elected in 1865 and served one year as Supervisor of Sangamon County; in 1880 he was appointed by President Hayes Supervisor for the Sixth District of Illinois comprising Adams, Pike, Calhoun, Jersey, Greene, Macoupin, Montgomery, Christian, Sangamon, Cass, Menard, Scott, Morgan and Brown Counties. He was also President of the Springfield Manufacturing Company from 1871 to 1875. Indeed, it would be impossible in a biographical sketch to render full justice to the great popularity and unusual success of our subject. Suffice it to say that his has been a career that may well be taken as a model by the youth of our country.

And from the following 1912 volume: