Jernigan, Gabriel R.

Born: 1802-05-09 North Carolina

Died: 1866-08-03 Christian County, Illinois

Flourished: Christian County, Illinois

Gabriel R. Jernigan was a farmer, county government official, sheriff, judge, state legislator, police magistrate, and pioneer settler of Christian County, Illinois. Jernigan and his family arrived in the area that would become Christian County in early 1835, settling on Bear Creek. He purchased 369 acres of public land along Bear Creek in December 1835, and an additional forty acres in 1837. Active in the Democratic Party, Jernigan played a prominent role in the formation of Christian County in 1839, and the County Court appointed him the first county treasurer. In 1840, Jernigan won election proper as county treasurer, and he held that office to 1843. From 1846 to 1848, Jernigan was sheriff of Christian County, and in November 1849, voters elected Jernigan as an associate justice of the Christian County Court. In 1850, Jernigan was principally employed in agriculture and owned real property valued at $3,000. In 1851 and 1852, he acquired an additional 200 acres of public land near his farm. In November 1852, Christian County voters sent Jernigan to the Illinois Senate, where he served from 1853 to 1855. In 1858, Jernigan held the office of police magistrate in Taylorville, Illinois. In 1860, he owned real property valued at $8,000 and had a personal estate of $2,150.

J. C. McBride, Past and Present of Christian County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1904), 23; History of Christian County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brinks, McDonough, 1880), 35, 53, 54, 56, 64, 65; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Christian County, 339:150, 340:75, 343:245, 343:250, 351:100, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Christian County, IL, 127; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Christian County, IL, 98; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 218, 220; Gravestone, Thomas Anderson Cemetery, Christian County, IL.