Jewett, Benjamin F. (Jewitt)

Born: 1805-XX-XX

Died: 1848-12-29 Tazewell County, Illinois

Alternate name: Jewitt

Benjamin F. Jewett married Ann Larer, and the couple had at least two daughters. They lived in Springfield, Illinois, as early as 1838. The following year, Jewett established the first iron foundry west of the Allegheny Mountains. He was a partner with the foundry until 1841, and later ran a dry-goods store. While living in Springfield, the family were once neighbors of Abraham Lincoln. By the time of his death in 1848, Jewett lived in Pekin, where he was a partner in a business that manufactured portable sawmills.

Nicholas H. Ridgely to Abraham Lincoln; George T. Fleming, History of Pittsburgh and Environs (New York: The American Historical Society, 1922), 6:306; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 10 December 1839, 2:7, 2 April 1841, 3:3, 9 April 1841, 2:7, 6 March 1845, 3:1, 26 March 1846, 2:7; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 15 January 1849, 3:2; Wright v. Brooks & Shackleford, 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=138491; Promissory Note of John Hay and Others to the State Bank of Illinois; U.S. Census Office, Sixth Census of the United States (1840), Sangamon County, IL, 16; Gravestone, Lakeview Cemetery, Pekin, IL.