Eccles, Joseph T.
Born: 1807-01-07 Mercer County, Kentucky
Flourished: Hillsboro, Illinois
Eccles moved with his parents to Vandalia, Illinois in 1830. The family soon bought a farm near the town. A year before leaving Kentucky, Eccles married Jane L. Anderson. He worked as a teacher for two seasons, a clerk for a year, and then became a merchant for five to six years. Eventually, Eccles bought his own farm near Vandalia and worked it for nine years. After that time, he relocated to Hillsboro, where he again took up work as a merchant. Eccles held several political offices, including justice of the peace in Vandalia and Hillsboro, assistant assessor, and deputy U.S. revenue collector. He was a delegate to the 1847 state constitutional convention. Eccles fought in the Black Hawk War and recruited in Hillsboro during the Civil War. He also personally captured several Civil War deserters. Eccles was a Presbyterian, temperance advocate, Whig, and Republican. In 1860, he owned $10,000 in real estate and $5,000 in personal property. Abraham Lincoln represented Eccles in
William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1882), 103; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Hillsboro, IL, 1; Eccles et al. v. True et al., Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=135664.