Vredenburgh, John S.

Born: 1809-03-11 Somerset County, New Jersey

Died: 1879-03-09 Springfield, Illinois

Flourished: Sangamon County, Illinois

Alternate name: Vredenburg

John S. Vredenburgh, merchant, left his native New Jersey for New York City in 1821 and worked in a dry goods firm there as a young man. He relocated to Sangamon County, Illinois in 1835, where he purchased 120 acres and farmed before settling in Springfield to follow mercantile pursuits for most of the remainder of his career. In 1860 he was working as a lumber merchant and owned real estate valued at $8,000 and possessed $8,000 in personal property. Legal matters brought Vredenburgh into occasional contact with Abraham Lincoln in court. He was also involved alongside Lincoln in the Illinois Colonization Society. Vredenburgh, a Democract, served as mayor of Springfield for a year beginning in 1864 and was mayor at the time of Lincoln’s assassination, when he called a special meeting of the city council to address the assassination. His term as mayor ended just prior to Lincoln’s funeral. Vredenburgh married Ann Eliza Doremus in 1832 and the pair were survived by eight children. In religion, he was a Presbyterian.

John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 45, 745; History of Sangamon County, Illinois (Chicago: Inter-State, 1881), 724-25; Christian Intelligencer (New York, NY), 29 September 1832, 3:6; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Sangamon County, 68:266, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 4 February 1858, 2:1; U.S. Census Office, Sixth Census of the United States (1840), Sangamon County, IL, 40; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Sangamon County, IL, 207; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 190; Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield), 7 April 1864, 3:2; Illinois Weekly State Journal (Springfield), 19 April 1865, 3:2-3; For cases involving Lincoln, search Participant, “Vredenburgh, John S.,” 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; Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 10 March 1879, 4:5; Gravestone, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL.