McChesney, Joseph H.

Born: 1829-XX-XX Ohio

Died: 1895-03-12 Chicago, Illinois

Joseph H. McChesney was a scientist, professor, author, and U.S. consul. By 1857, he lived in the Chenery House in Springfield, Illinois. He served as assistant state geologist for Illinois and helped create the state's first State Geological Survey. In July 1858, while living in Sangamon County, he won election as vice president for the Natural History Society of Illinois. He lived in Chicago at least as early as 1860 and was a member of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. Sometime before 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him consul to Newcastle, England, a position McChesney held until after the Civil War.

B. Winters & Co., comp., Springfield City Directory, for 1857-'58, (Springfield, IL: S. H. Jameson, 1857), 66; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 1 May 1858, 2:3; 3 July 1858, 2:2; The Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 22 December 1858, 1:3; Illinois Daily State Journal (Springfield), 7 January 1860, 3:3; Joseph H. McChesney to Abraham Lincoln; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1865 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1866), 3; Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre-1916, Cook County, 12 March 1895, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL.