JacobS. Pruett  

 
JACOB S. PRUETT, who for many years hasbeen prominently identified with the agricultural interests of Schuylercounty, was born at St. Mary’s, Hancock county, Illinois, December 3, 1834,a son of Constant Pruett. His father was a native of Roane county, Tennessee,and his grandfather was a farmer of that State, and spent his entire lifewithin its borders. Constant Pruett was reared and married in Tennessee,and emigrated to Illinois in 1829, accompanied by his wife and one child;they journeyed on horse-back to Kentucky, and then secured a cart in whichthey completed the trip. They first settled in Cass county, but at theend of a year removed to Hancock county, where Mr. Pruett entered a tractof Government land; on this he built a log house in which Jacob S., thesubject of this sketch, was born. In 1835 he sold the place and moved toMcDonough county, entering eighty acres of land on what is now section33, Bethel township; he built a log cabin on the east side of the tract,and a few years later erected one on the west side, in which he lived untilhis death in March, 1890, aged eighty-nine years. He married Susan Schoopman,of Roane county, Tennessee; her father, Jacob Schoopman, started to Illinoisin an early day; he fell ill on the way and died before reaching his destination;his widow came to this county, and died in Bethel township. Jacob S. isone of a family of nine children; he was an infant when his parents movedto McDonough county; he attended the pioneer schools which were taughtin the primitive log house, with the yet more primitive furnishing of puncheonseats and desks of the same pattern; the children were dressed in clothof their mother’s own weaving; there were no railroads, and wheat was hauledto market sixty miles distant, and sold at twenty-five cents a bushel.Our subject remained with his parents until he was twenty years of age.He then began life for himself. Having no capital he rented land in Betheltownship for two years, and at the end of two years purchased forty acresof his father’s original entry, and later he purchased the adjoining landacross the county line on section 4, Brooklyn township.

In 1861, at the first call for troops, heenlisted in the Sixteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and reported atSpringfield; thence he went to Quincy, but the quota was filled beforehis arrival; therefore he returned to his home, and in February, 1862,he again enlisted, entering Company I, Sixty-second Illinois VolunteerInfantry, for a term of three years or during the war; the regiment wasorganized at Anna, Illinois, and mustered in at Cairo; thence he went toPaducah, Kentucky, and then to Columbus, and then to Kenton, Tennessee,where Companies I and K were detailed to guard a railroad trestle; whileon duty here he was taken ill, and was honorably discharged; he returnedhome and resumed agricultural pursuits.

In March, 1864, he started with four companionsoverland to Montana; at the end of one hundred and five days he arrivedat Idaho Gulch, and there was engaged in cutting hay for three months,at $50 per month; then he and his brother and Solomon Pestel, engaged inthe live-stock trade. In the spring of 1866 he disposed of his interest,and began teaming between Virginia City and Salt Lake. In the fall of thesame year, he returned to his home, and again took up agricultural pursuits.He was very successful, made investments in land as his means increased,until he is now the owner of 360 acres; this is cultivated by his sons.He resided on the farm until 1882, when he removed to Rushville.

Mr. Pruett was first married March 4, 1855,to Jane Stoneking, who was born in Pennsylvania, August 29, 1833, a daughterof Joseph and Rebecca Stoneking, and died August 1, 1881. Mr. Pruett wasmarried a second time, February 1, 1883, when he was united in marriageto Mrs. Mary J. (Mooney) Eales, a native of Henderson county, Kentucky,and a daughter of Henry L. and Octavia (Kelley) Mooney, and widow of GeorgeEales. Mr. Pruett has five children born of his first marriage: Nicholas,Susan, Eliza A., Harriet and Mary; one child has been born of the secondunion, named Charles. Mrs. Pruett had by her first union six children:Effie E., Addie E., Edward Clarence, Zelma A., Cora V. and Kate. Politically,our subject affiliates with the Democratic party, having cast his firstpresidential vote for Buchanan. He was elected Sheriff of the county in1882, and served in this capacity four years. He was a zealous, capableofficer and enjoyed the entire confidence of his constituency. Mrs. Pruettis a consistent member of the Christian Church.
 

Biographical Review of Cass, Schuylerand Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago,1892, pages 167-169.

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