Whitehead, Jr., Silas S.
Born: 1829-06-18 Putnam County, Indiana
Died: 1905-XX-XX Clark County, Illinois
Silas S. Whitehead, Jr. was a teacher, newspaper editor and publisher, attorney, public official, Democrat, and Odd Fellow. He moved to Clark County, Illinois with his family in 1830, attended public schools in the county, then taught school for a time. In 1853, he won election as school commissioner, a position he held for five consecutive terms. In 1856 he became owner of the Eastern Illinoisan, which he published out of Marshall, Illinois. In February of the next year, he married Theresa Wood, with whom he eventually had eight children. He read law under Judge John Scholfield, gaining admission to the bar in 1862. In 1864, he won election as state's attorney for Clark, Cumberland, Effingham, Shelby, Coles, and Edgar counties. He held this position until after the Civil War. He sold the
William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Crawford and Clark Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1883), 44, 55-56, 322, 364, 437; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Clark County, 13 February 1857, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Marshall, Clark County, IL, 251; Gravestone, Marshall Cemetery, Marshall, IL.