Threlkeld, Thomas (Threikield)

Born: 1793-11-07 Scott County, Kentucky

Died: 1865-04-19 Coles County, Illinois

Alternate name: Threikield

Thomas Threlkeld was a War of 1812 veteran, farmer, minister, and pioneer settler of Coles County, Illinois. During the War of 1812, Threlkeld served as a private in the First Regiment of Kentucky Volunteers. After mustering out of the army, Threlkeld returned to Kentucky, where he was ordained a Baptist minister and began preaching in 1819. He moved from Scott County, Kentucky to Coles County, Illinois, in 1830. He settled on a large farm in what would become Lafayette Township, becoming the first minister to the area. In 1840, he won election, as a Whig, to the Illinois House of Representatives, where he served with Abraham Lincoln. In 1850, Threlkeld was farming and owned real property valued over $5,000. In 1860, the value of his real property was $3,300 and he had a personal estate of $8,050.

C. Glenn Clift, Remember the Raisin!: Kentucky and Kentuckians in the Battles and Massacre at Frenchtown, Michigan Territory, in the War of 1812 (Frankfort, KY: Kentucky Historical Society, 1961), 181; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Coles County, IL, 28; The History of Coles County, Illinois (Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., 1879), 655; Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 338; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 209; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Coles County, IL, 143; Gravestone, Bethel Cemetery, Coles County, IL.