Rudder, Thomas

Died: 1847-01-22 Mexico

Flourished: 1829-1847 Sangamon County, Illinois

Rudder's mother died in Kentucky and he moved to Sangamon County, Illinois, with his grandparents in 1829. In 1839, he married Sarah (Sally) Blue in Sangamon County. In 1843, he retained Logan & Lincoln to sue her for divorce, but he dropped the case. At the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, he enlisted as a private in the Fourth Illinois Infantry. He was killed while in service.

Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Sangamon County, 3 August 1839, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Rudder v. Rudder, 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; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 193; Illinois Mexican War Veterans, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 4 March 1847, 2:5.