Monson, Bushrod W.

Born: 1811-01-22 New York

Died: 1900-10-08 Clinton, Illinois

Flourished: 1847 to 1865 DeWitt County, Illinois

Bushrod W. Monson, a farmer and a blacksmith, moved from his native New York to Cincinnati, Ohio, in his youth. When still a young man, both of his parents died and left Bushrod and his eight brothers and sisters without a home. He was apprenticed to a blacksmith and worked in the business in Ohio for a number of years. In 1838, Monson married Sabra Bates Thomas in Madison County, Ohio, and the couple had three children. In 1847, the Monsons relocated to Illinois and settled on a farm near Clinton. Monson became a farmer and continued his blacksmithing career. In May 1853, Monson was a member of the jury that found Moses Loe, a client of Abraham Lincoln, guilty of manslaughter in the stabbing death of James Gray. He was a longtime member of the Masons.

Clinton Register (IL), 12 October 1900, 5:3; Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993, 11 February 1838, Madison County (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2016); Illinois, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1772-1999 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2015); History of DeWitt County, Illinois (Philadelphia: W. R. Brink, 1882), 86; People v. Loe, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=135583; Gravestone, Woodlawn Cemetery, Clinton, IL.