McEvers, Theodore L.

Born: 1819-07-30 Ohio

Died: 1881-01-29 Montezuma, Illinois

Born in Amesville in Athens County, Ohio, Theodore L. McEvers was a farmer, merchant, boat builder, and boatman. McEvers moved from Ohio to Pike County, Illinois by boat with his family in 1829. Reared on the family homestead in Montezuma, Illinois, he farmed before turning to boat building and mercantilism. Eventually he owned and operated a steamboat, transporting goods between Peoria, Illinois and Saint Louis, Missouri. In December 1843, he married Sarah A. Eakin, with whom he had four children. Sarah died in April 1850. In October 1851, he married Emily Shaw. McEvers grew prosperous as a result of his mercantile and boat operation, but at one point lost everything in his steamship. In 1850, he owned real estate valued at $900. By 1860, he owned $2,000 in real estate and another $3,500 in personal property.

Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Pike County, 28 December 1843; 2 October 1851, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Portrait Biographical Album of Pike and Calhoun Counties, Illinois (Chicago: Biographical, 1891), 440-41; History of Pike County, Illinois (Chicago, Chas. C. Chapman, 1880), 463; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Pike County, IL, 99; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Pike County, IL, 5; Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre-1916, Pike County, 29 January 1881, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Gravestone, Bedford Cemetery, Bedford, IL.