Prickett, John A.

Born: 1822-05-04 Edwardsville, Illinois

Died: 1897-02-18 Edwardsville, Illinois

John A. Prickett, a clerk and banker, received his education in his hometown of Edwardsville, Illinois. Upon commencement of the Mexican War, Prickett enlisted as a first lieutenant in Company E, Second Illinois Infantry. He was wounded by a bullet in his left shoulder in the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847 and returned to Edwardsville. That year he married Elizabeth M. Barnsback, and the couple would go on to have five children. Prickett served as circuit clerk and then Madison County clerk, spending fourteen years combined in those positions. He was also the first mayor of Edwardsville. In his personal life, he was interested in civic movements for social welfare and education for all. Prickett later served as the head of the banking house John A. Prickett & Son for twenty-eight years; the firm was suspended just months before his death in February 1897.

The Alton Telegraph (IL), 25 February 1897, 8:1; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Madison County, 4 November 1847, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Ninth Census of the United States (1870), Edwardsville, Madison County, IL, 16; The Chicago Chronicle (IL), 19 February 1897, 7:7; Edwardsville Intelligencer (IL), 12 March 1897, 1:1-6; W. T. Norton, ed., Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois, and Its People, 1812 to 1912 (Chicago: Lewis, 1912), 1:625; Gravestone, Woodlawn Cemetery, Edwardsville, IL.