Bagby, John C.

Born: 1819-01-24 Glasgow, Kentucky

Died: 1896-04-04 Rushville, Illinois

Flourished: Rushville, Illinois

John C. Bagby, a lawyer and politician, attended public schools in his native Glasgow, Kentucky, before he graduated as a civil engineer from Bacon College in June 1840. He read law with Judge Christopher Tompkins, relocating to Schuyler County, Illinois, in 1845, the same year he passed the bar. Bagby settled in Rushville, where he built a large and lucrative law practice. He also served as a Mason. Bagby married Mary A. Scripps in October 1850, and the couple had nine children. In 1860, Bagby owned real property valued at $5,000 and had a personal estate of $1,000. Later in life he became a U.S. congressman.

U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Rushville, Schuyler County, IL, 335; U.S. Census Office, Ninth Census of the United States (1870), Rushville, Schuyler County, IL, 24; Tenth Census of the United States (1880), Rushville, Schuyler County, IL, 20; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 604; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Schuyler County, 1 October 1850, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; The Review (Dallas City, IL), 16 April 1896, 4:1; Logansport Pharos (IN), 6 April 1896, 1:6; Combined History of Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois (Astoria, IL: Stevens, 1882), 151; Gravestone, Rushville City Cemetery, Rushville, IL.