Wickizer, John H.

Born: 1818-XX-XX Pennsylvania

Died: 1889-XX-XX

Flourished: Bloomington, Illinois

Alternate name: Wickhisor

John H. Wickizer was an attorney, public servant, and Republican. He was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in 1846, and moved to Bloomington, Illinois in 1848. Sometime during the 1840s, he partnered with fellow attorney Asahel Gridley. In 1849, Wickizer traveled to California in search of gold, but returned to Bloomington empty handed soon after. In September 1851, he married Mary Ann Hains, with whom he eventually had at least three children. He won election as mayor of Bloomington and served one term, from 1852 to 1853. In 1856, voters elected him to the Illinois House of Representatives. Sometime after 1856, he and Gridley partnered with Reuben M. Benjamin, with whom they practiced until they each retired from law. In 1860, he served as a delegate to the Republican State Convention held in Decatur, Illinois. By that year, he owned $5,000 in real estate and another $2,000 in personal property. In 1861, he retired from the practice of law and became an assistant quartermaster in the U.S. Army. He attained the rank of captain and served until after the end of the Civil War.

Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McLean County, ed. by Ezra M. Prince and John H. Burnham (Chicago: Munsell, 1908), 1:210; 2:833, 841; The History of McLean County, Illinois (Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., 1879), 201, 233, 348, 768; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, McLean County, 11 September 1851, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; John M. Palmer, ed., The Bench and Bar of Illinois: Historical and Reminiscent (Chicago: Lewis, 1899), 2:727; Illinois Daily State Journal (Springfield), 12 May 1860, 2:3; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 4, Bloomington, McLean County, IL, 31; Ezra M. Prince, Transactions of the McLean County Historical Society (Bloomington, IL: Pantagraph, 1899), 1:32; Gravestone, Pleasant View Union Cemetery, Fayette, OH.