Hornback, John (Hornbach)

Born: 1798-02-03 Kentucky

Died: 1857-12-02 Menard County, Illinois

Flourished: 1825-1857 Menard County, Illinois

Alternate name: Hornbach

John married Abigail Bracken in Kentucky and they started a family before emigrating to Illinois with John's father and brothers. They settled in present-day Menard County, Illinois, in 1825. Hornback volunteered for the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War, serving as a private in 1831 and as a 2nd lieutenant in 1832. Hornback was a farmer; in 1850, he owned $4,000 worth of real estate.

The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1879), 370, 744; Gravestone, Hornback Cemetery, Menard County, IL; Ellen M. Whitney, comp., The Black Hawk War, 1831-1832: Illinois Volunteers, vol. 35 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1970), 1:83, 127, 204; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Menard County, IL, 293.