Page 1341

JACKSON, CHARLES, a member of the Springfield Fire Department is a native of Jersey County, Ill., born October 15, 1841. He is a son of George and Elizabeth (Brown) Jackson, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of South Carolina. The father was a farmer by occupation and was an early settler of Jersey County, where he spent the last forty years of his life, and the mother died at Jerseyville. They were parents of three sons and seven daughters, and three of their children now survive: Charles is the oldest; Emily, Mrs. Daniels, lives at Jerseyville; George, also of Jerseyville, is Superintendent for the Bell Telephone Company there. The father was educated at West Point.

In boyhood Charles Jackson attended school in Jerseyville, where one of his teachers was a brother of ex-Gov. John M. Palmer. After completing his education eh learned the trade of engineer, which he followed at Jerseyville, and when the war broke out he was working as engineer in a distillery there. He enlisted from that city in Company C, Sixty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which was under the command of Col. Fry, and participated in the Battles of Corinth, Parkers Cross Roads, Vicksburg and Shiloh, besides minor engagements. He was mustered out at Springfield.

After the war Mr. Jackson returned to Jerseyville, where he remained until 1866 and then came to Springfield. He first took a position as engineer in a paper mill, where he remained five years, then worked eleven years for the Springfield Woolen Mills. He later worked one year as engineer for the Roberts Laundry Company and one year in the Franklin Building. For the past two years he has been in the employ of the City Fire Department as watchman. He owns the home he occupies and also property in Jerseyville, and is a substantial, reliable citizen. In politics he is a Democrat and he is a member of Stephenson Post No. 30, G.A.R., of Springfield, and Camp No. 454, M.W.A. He is a member of St. Agnes Parish Roman Catholic Church.

Mr. Jackson was married at Jerseyville May 17, 1864, to Annie McBride, who was born in the north of Ireland, daughter of Charles and Rose McBride, native of that country. Her father eventually settled in Springfield and both he and his wife lived with Mr. and Mrs. Jackson the last years before their deaths. There were several children in the McBride family, all of whom are now deceased. Mrs. Jackson died January 7, 1911, sincerely mourned by a large circle of friends. No children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jackson.