Pinckard, Thomas S.

Born: 1833-06-19 Upper Alton, Illinois

Died: 1911-04-23 Mechanicsburg, Illinois

Flourished: Alton, Illinois

After receiving a common-school education, Pinckard apprenticed in the printing offices of the Alton Telegraph. In 1852, he became a foreman, and the following year he traveled to California, where he was employed installing telegraph lines. He returned to Alton in 1854, where he worked as a foreman at the Alton Courier and, in 1855, he took a position as foreman at the Illinois State Journal in Springfield. He enlisted in the Illinois cavalry in 1861 and served until 1864, when he returned home to Alton and became a partner in the Alton Telegraph. Politically, Pinckard was a strong Republican and the newspapers he worked for and operated were Republican in politics.

W. T. Norton, ed., Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois and Its People 1812 to 1912 (Chicago: Lewis, 1912), 1:105, 610; Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 24 April 1911, 11:3.