Musick, Samuel

Born: 1783-XX-XX Virginia

Died: 1836-04-28 Sangamon County, Illinois

Flourished: Sangamon County, Illinois

Shawnee Indians killed Musick's father David Musick on August 12, 1792, and took his wife Annie and their five children captive. The following day, a posse of settlers rescued them. Samuel Musick settled in Sangamon County, Illinois around 1823. He settled on Salt Creek on the route from Springfield to Peoria. The Sangamon County Commissioners' Court gave him permission in 1826 to establish an inn to provide food and lodging to travelers and their animals. Two years later, they authorized him to keep a ferry at that point. In January 1832, Musick married Elizabeth Byrd in Sangamon County. In 1831 and again in 1835, the Illinois General Assembly authorized Musick to build a toll bridge across Salt Creek at the site of his ferry. In 1835, Springfield voters elected him as a constable. When he died, Musick owned 480 acres of land in Sangamon County.

Marriage License of Samuel Musick and Elizabeth Byrd, 11 January 1832, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, IL; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 2 May 1835, 2:1; 8 August 1835, 3:2; Petition for Dower, Document ID: 122283, 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=139924; Affidavit of Decease, 2 May 1836, Samuel Musick probate file 269, Sangamon County Probate Court, Illinois Regional Archives Depository, University of Illinois Springfield, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Fifth Census of the United States (1830), Sangamon County, IL, 181; Lawrence Beaumont Stringer, History of Logan County, Illinois (Chicago: Pioneer, 1911), 1:70-71.