Short, James B.

Born: 1806-02-06 Illinois

Died: 1874-01-28 Madison County, Iowa

James "Jim" B. Short moved to the Indian Creek area of what would becomeMenard County, Illinois in 1824 as the first white settler. In 1828, he relocated to Sangamon County. Short was friends with Abraham Lincoln and helped him when he was poor. In the 1830s, Short let Lincoln live with him for $2 a week and sometimes paid Lincoln to harvest crops for him. In 1834, when Lincoln's surveying tools and horse were sold at auction to cover his debts, Short purchased them for $120 and returned them to Lincoln, who reportedly expressed his gratitude by promising to "do as much for you sometimes". In 1850, Short was living in Petersburg, Illinois, working as a farmer, and owned real estate valued at $3,500. He led at least five wagon trains to California on gold mining ventures in the decade leading up to the Civil War. During the Civil War, President Lincoln appointed Short supervisory agent for The Round Valley Indian Reservation in California. He held this position from at least September 1861 to September 1863.

Short married five times in his life, remarrying each time after the death of his previous wife. He married Eliza Jane Berry in December 1829; Elizabeth C. Short, the daughter of Joshua Short, in September 1833; Emily J. Farrell in August 1848; widow Delilah Armstrong in 1859, and Mary McCarty. He had multiple children.

R. D. Miller, Past and Present of Menard County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1905), 18, 74; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:76, 78, 81; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Petersburg, Menard County, IL, 268; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Cass County, 17 August 1848, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Josephine Short Lynch, Short: An Early Virginia Family (Richmond: Josephine Short Lynch, 1970), 277; California, U.S., Pioneer and Immigrant Files, 1790-1950 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2011); Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1861 (Washington, DC: Government Printing, 1862), 88; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1863 (Washington, DC: Government Printing, 1864), 111; Gravestone, Union Chapel Cemetery, Saint Charles, IA.