Judy, James W.

Born: 1822-05-08 Winchester, Kentucky

Died: 1916-09-16 Tallula, Illinois

Flourished: 1851 to 1916 Tallula, Illinois

James W. Judy was a farmer, stock dealer, auctioneer, and U.S. Army officer. At the age of fourteen, Judy moved with his parents from his native Clark County, Kentucky, to Montgomery County, Illinois, spending his teen years on the family farm. He moved to Menard County, Illinois, in 1851, and commenced farming. In March 1851, Judy married Catharine A Simpson, with whom he had six children. In addition to farming, Judy became a auctioneer of shorthorn cattle, earning a reputation as the leading shorthorn auctioneer in the United States. Success as an auctioneer allowed Judy to acquire large tracts of land; his home farm near Tallula consisted of 565 acres. In 1860, Judy owned real property valued at $9,540 and had a personal estate of $8,710. In July 1860, he represented Menard County at the Republican Party's convention for the Illinois Sixth Congressional District. Upon commencement of the Civil War, Judy raised a company in Tallula, of which he became captain. Judy moved his company to Camp Butler, where he organized the 114th Illinois Infantry Regiment. In September 1862, he received a commission as colonel in command of the 114th Illinois Regiment. From February to April 1863, Judy commanded the Third Bridge, Eighth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps of the Army of the Tennessee, seeing action at Vicksburg, Jackson, and other sieges and skirmishes. He resigned his commission in August 1863.

The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1879), 715; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Menard County, 22 March 1851, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Menard County, IL, 40; Illinois Daily State Journal (Springfield), 12 July 1860, 3:4; Roger D. Hunt, Colonels in Blue: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin: A Civil War Dictionary (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017), 75; Gravestone, Greenwood Cemetery East, Tallula, IL.