Rutledge, John M.

Born: 1810-11-29 Henderson County, Kentucky

Died: 1879-05-17 Birmingham, Iowa

Flourished: 1834-05-05 Sangamon County, Illinois

Rutledge came to Illinois as a small child. His father James Rutledge was one of the founders of New Salem, Illinois, and he was the older brother of Ann Rutledge. During the Black Hawk War, Rutledge served in Abraham Lincoln's company of Illinois Mounted Volunteers. In 1837, he moved to Van Buren County, Iowa. He joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1844, and he married Rachel Pettit on September 7, 1850. Seven years later, on May 26, 1857, he married Sarah Calhoun Harris, and they had two children. In 1860, he was living and farming at Lick Creek, Van Buren County, and owned real estate valued at $1,656 and a personal estate of $650.

Muster Roll of Abraham Lincoln’s Company of Mounted Volunteers; Charlotte Bergevin, Daisy Sundberg, and Evelyn Berg, Camerons, Westward They Came (n.p., 1983), 181-82; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Lick Creek, Van Buren County, IA, 71-72; Gravestone, Bethel Cemetery, Birmingham, IA.