James B. Fields – Preacher / Orator / Pioneering Businessman
James B. Fields (1850-1896) was a Baptist preacher and orator in Illinois and Denver, Colorado. He was known for his orations in opposition to agnostic, Robert G. Ingersoll. J. B. Fields was born a slave on March 1, 1850 in Prairieville, Missouri. His parents were Henry and Minnie Fields and had originated in Virginia. The family escaped slavery in…
Read MoreLawrence Yates Sherman – U.S. Senator
Lawrence Yates Sherman was born November 8, 1858 in Miami County, Ohio. His parents Nelson and Maria (Yates) Sherman, first moved to McDonough County, Illinois in 1859 and eventually settled in Jasper County in 1867. Sherman attended public school and the Lees Academy in Coles County. In order to pay for a college education he alternately…
Read MoreErnest J. Stevens – Millionaire Hotelier and Businessman
Ernest James Stevens was born on February 13, 1884 in Colchester, McDonough County, Illinois. His parents were Jessie Louise (Smith) and James William Stevens. In 1890 the family with four sons moved to Chicago where Ernest’s father James W. and his brother Edward established the Illinois Life Insurance Company, a business that ultimately generated the substantial…
Read MoreEd & Lon Maxwell (alias The Williams Bros.) – Outlaws
Two of the most notorious men this county ever produced, and who at one time attained a national reputation for their murderous and nefarious deeds, were Edward and Alonzo Maxwell, the outlaw brothers, raised in Forgottonia‘s McDonough County, who rivaled Frank and Jesse James in their notoriety. Beginning with petty thievery in Blandinsville, IL and ending with the…
Read MoreC.V. Chandler – Businessman / War Veteran / Philanthropist
Charles Vilasco Chandler was born in Macomb, McDonough County, IL., January 25, 1843. His father, Col. Charles Chandler, who died December 26, 1878, was a prominent banker of Macomb and a sagacious financier. In 1852 Chandler was persuaded by his friend William H. Randolph to partner in an investment of land in McDonough County to the…
Read MoreRay “Rock” Hanson – War Hero / Athletic Coach
Raymond W. “Rock” Hanson former United States Marine Colonel and highly decorated veteran of World War I and World War II, was best known as the football coach at Western Illinois State Teachers College (now Western Illinois University) in Macomb, Illinois from 1926 to 1941. Hanson enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1916 and served during World War I. He was assigned to the 75th Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. Hanson…
Read MoreWilliam H. Randolph – Politician / Hotelier
William H. Randolph was born in Ohio in 1813. At the age of 21 he moved to Rushville and then Macomb where he opened a grocery store in 1834. He was a talented and popular young man who was elected sheriff in 1838 and was twice re-elected. In 1844 he was elected to the Illinois…
Read MoreRandolph House Hotel
The Randolph House building was, in earlier times, the finest hotel in Illinois between Chicago and Quincy. During the campaign of 1858 Abraham Lincoln was a guest here on at least two separate occasions, August 25 and October 25. The Randolph House was built on the southeast corner of Macomb’s Square in 1857 by William H. Randolph,…
Read MoreJames K. Magie – Journalist
James K. Magie was the owner of the Macomb Journal during the Civil War era in Macomb from 1861 to 1865. He accompanied Abraham Lincoln as he traveled around Illinois in the late 1850s debating politics with Stephen Douglas. Magie was with Lincoln in Macomb, when a significant strategy for the debates was settled upon,…
Read MoreCamp Creek Cemetery
Camp Creek Cemetery is located approximately 8 miles due south of Macomb in McDonough County just to the north west of the village of Industry, IL. Camp Creek Presbyterian Church, originally located about a half mile east of this cemetery, was established about 1832, however, members congregated in private homes, barns, or in the open until…
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