Bergen, John G.

Born: 1790-11-27 Middlesex County, New Jersey

Died: 1872-01-16 Springfield, Illinois

Flourished: 1828-1872 Springfield, Illinois

Raised in a Presbyterian family in New Jersey, Bergen attended Baskingridge Academy and later graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton). After becoming a licensed Presbyterian preacher in 1810, Bergen worked as a tutor at Princeton and served as the pastor of a church in Madison, NJ. In 1812, he was married to Margaretta M. Henderson, with whom he had five children. In 1828, Bergen left New Jersey to settle in Springfield, Illinois, where he became the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, a position he held until 1848. Bergen played an active role in the creation of a statewide Presbyterian organization in Illinois, and he held several offices in that organization throughout his life. Additionally, he was on the original Board of Trustees of Illinois College in Jacksonville. In 1854, Bergen received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Center College in Kentucky. Margaretta Bergen died in 1853, and Bergen remarried in 1857 to Susan A. Vanhoff.

John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 114-16; An Act to Incorporate the Colleges Therein Named; Gravestone, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Sangamon County, 19 November 1857, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL.