Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Eggen, Jacob

Born: 1803-08-XX Switzerland

Jacob Eggen was a potter, brickmaker, distillery owner, pianist, public servant, and Republican. He immigrated to the United States from Switzerland in 1833, settling in the area that eventually became Highland, Illinois. In 1835, he started producing pottery for a white lead factory in St. Louis, Missouri. He also operated a successful brickyard for a time and played piano with the Highland orchestra. He married Rosina "Rosey" Koepfli on February 3, 1836. They had a daughter together, in 1838, before Rosey died in July 1849. In 1844, in the tense atmosphere preceding the Mexican War, he organized an artillery company for Highland's newly-created militia using experience he gained from military service in Switzerland. From 1844 to 1849, he co-owned a distillery in Highland with partners John G. Ruegger, Ludwig Gruetli, and Henry Hermann. On October 14, 1850, he married Mrs. Louisa Kuenne, with whom he had a daughter. Eggen was a member of the Highland Republican Club at least as early as 1858. He remained non-factional during the Civil War, earning the trust of the townspeople to the extent that they elected him village president and mayor in early April 1865.

History of Madison County, Illinois (Edwardsville, IL: W. R. Brink, 1882), 111; Amos P. Spencer, Centennial History of Highland, Illinois: 1837-1937 (Highland, IL: Highland Centennial Association, [1937]), 21, 29, 36, 43, 53, 56, 128-29, 273; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Madison County, 3 February 1836; 14 October 1850, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Death Certificate, State of Illinois, Certificate Registration No. 24, Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1948; Rosina K. Eggen, Gravestone, Highland Cemetery, Highland, IL; Rosa E. Hoerner, Gravestone, Highland Cemetery, Highland, IL; W. T. Norton, ed., Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois and Its People 1812 to 1912 (Chicago: Lewis, 1912), 1:535, 2:1010; John Blattner and Others to Abraham Lincoln and Lyman Trumbull; Jacob Eggen, Gravestone, Highland Cemetery, Highland, IL.