Ramsey, Silas

Born: 1808-06-02 Maryland

Died: 1873-12-18 Chicago, Illinois

Silas Ramsey was an attorney, clerk, sheriff, judge, state representative, Democrat turned Republican, and Union military officer. He was an early settler of Lacon, Illinois and became an influential member of the community. In 1839, he became sheriff for Marshall County. He married Mary D. Chandler in 1846 and they had at least five children together, although at least two died. In 1847, he became a county clerk, then, two years later, he became a judge for Marshall County. In 1852, the voters of Marshall, Putnam, and Woodford counties elected him to the Illinois House of Representatives and he served in the Eighteenth Illinois General Assembly. He opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and eventually broke with the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party. In 1859, the voters of Woodford County elected him judge. His wealth grew substantially between 1850 and 1860. In 1850, he owned $8,000 in real estate. By 1860, he owned $25,000 in real estate and another $10,000 in personal property. During the Civil War, he served as an aide-de-camp under Major General John A. McClernand, received several promotions for faithful and meritorious service, and attained the rank of major general before mustering out after the war. He died of heart disease at his nephew's home while serving on a grand jury for the U.S. Circuit Court, Northern District of Illinois.

Henry A. Ford, The History of Putnam and Marshall Counties (Lacon, IL: Henry A. Ford, 1860), 150; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 7 May 1846, 2:6; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 4 January 1853, 2:3; 11 October 1854, 2:3; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 13 January 1857, 2:2; 14 April 1859, 2:1; U.S., Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885, Lacon, Marshall County, IL, 2 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2010); Illinois House Journal. 1853. 18th G. A., 4; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Lacon, Marshall County, 100; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Lacon, Marshall County, 59; U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2009); Gravestone, Lacon Cemetery, Lacon, IL; Henry Republican (IL), 25 December 1873, 5:3.