Emmons, Sylvester

Born: 1808-02-28 Hunterdon County, New Jersey

Died: 1881-11-15 Beardstown, Illinois

Sylvester Emmons moved to Philadelphia in 1831 to study law. He was admitted into the bar in May, 1843, and moved to Beardstown, Illinois, the following year. There, in 1847, he married Elizabeth Miller, with whom he had four children. He served as circuit clerk for Cass County in the 1840s and 1850s and was postmaster for Beardstown from 1849 to 1851. He served in several municipal offices throughout his career, including justice of the peace and mayor. A Methodist, he began a publishing career by editing the short-lived anti-Mormon Nauvoo Expositor in 1844 and later managed the Beardstown Gazette. Politically, he was a Whig and eventually moved to the Republican Party. In 1860, Emmons was practicing law in Beardstown, and owned $10,000 in real estate, with $500 in personal property.

William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Cass County, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1882), 239; Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1845-1855, 18:20, National Archives Building, Washington, DC; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Cass County, IL, 234.