Love, Oscar

Born: 1805-XX-XX Washington County, Virginia

Died: 1879-08-08 Champaign County, Illinois

Oscar Love was large landowner, farmer, and Democratic politician. Originally from Love's Mill in the Holston Valley of Washington County, Virginia, Love married Mary Bickley. While still living in Virginia, he began purchasing public land in Kinderhook Township in northwestern Pike County, eventually amassing 540 acres in the region between 1833 and 1837. Love moved his family to Pike County sometime after 1834. In November 1839, he won a special election to the Illinois House of Representatives, replacing Richard Kerr, who had supposedly vacated the seat by leaving Illinois. Love took the seat, but Kerr contested the election, and eventually the House of Representatives removed Love and reinstated Kerr. By 1850, Oscar, Mary, and their four children had moved back to Washington County, Virginia. Oscar was farming and owned two enslaved people. By 1860, Oscar was a miller living in Russell County and owned real property valued at $398. After the Civil War, Oscar and his family moved back to Illinois, settling on a farm in Champaign County.

History of Pike County Illinois (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman, 1880), 879; Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 329, 330; Gravestone, Jessee Cemetery, Champaign County, IL; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Pike County, 701:76, 78; 702:176; 818:100, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Gloria Jahoda, "The Bickleys of Virginia," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 66 (October 1958), 481-82; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 10 December 1839, 3:1, 5; 27 December 1839, 2:2; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Washington County, VA, 143; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Slave Schedules, Washington County, VA, 11; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Russell County, VA, 208.