Biography of
Captain Joseph B. Scudamore
p. 1618
CAPTAIN JOSEPH B. SCUDAMORE.
Eighty years a
resident of the state of Illinois, and since his boyhood a useful and valuable
member of society is the remarkable record of
Joseph
B. Scudamore
of Wayne City. As a veteran of the Civil war he rendered invaluable service to
the Union, serving in the war with honor and distinction. As the original owner
of the land upon which Wayne City now stands, and as one of the prime movers in
the establishment and upbuilding of the city, he is rightly called the “Father
of Wayne City,” and all his life he has been foremost in good works in whatever
community he found himself situated. Since 1868, when he
bought land in Wayne county on which
Wayne City was laid out in 1882 by him, he has been prominent in business
circles of the community, and has given of his time and energies without stint
or selfish consideration to the manipulation of city and county affairs of a
civic and political nature. On the whole, his life is a veritable record book of
worthy service to the commonwealth and nation, and the many fine and excellent
attributes of his wholesome nature have been used in a highly creditable manner
for the furtherance of the common good.
Born on August 23, 1832, in Gallatin
county, Illinois,
Joseph B. Scudamore is the son of
George and
Rebecca (Buck) Scudamore, natives of England and Southern Illinois, respectively.
George Scudamore settled in Gallatin county when a young man and there passed his life
in industrious attention to his business. He died before the breaking out of the
war, having reared a family of seven children. They were named:
George, now
deceased;
Thomas, also dead;
Joseph B., of this review;
James A.; Elizabeth,
deceased;
Sarah, deceased; and
Rebecca, married and living in Middleton, Illinois.
When the elder Scudamore died Joseph
B. was left an orphan at the tender age of twelve years, and the struggle for
existence devolved upon him straightway. He worked here and there on neighboring
farms for some years, and when the Civil war broke out he was among the first to
respond to the call to arms. He enlisted in Company G of the One Hundred and
Tenth Illinois, and was named second lieutenant, soon afterward being promoted
to the rank of first lieutenant and later to a captaincy. With his company and a
regiment he participated in a number of the hottest engagements of the war, and
saw service in Kentucky,
P. 1619 Tennessee, Mississippi and other
states. His first term of enlistment expired in May, 1863, and he reenlisted
in March of 1865 in Company L of the Sixth Cavalry, as a private. He was made commissionary
sergeant, and remained with this regiment until the close of the war. During the
interval between his first mustering out and his second enlistment he
served as recruiting officer, so that he was practically in the service from the
beginning to the close of the war.
In 1865 he settled on the Hamilton and Wayne county line, where he remained
until the spring of 1869, when he came to what is now Wayne City, but which was
then a tract of farm land. He bought a quarter section with the idea of going
into farming, but after a short time the prospects for a city in the vicinity
became so favorable that
Mr. Scudamore
with characteristic wisdom and foresight,
anticipated the possible locating of a young city in other quarters by platting
his farm in city lots. This was done in 1882, and since that time the growth of
Wayne City has been a thing of continuous progress. He operated a general store
in the new town and was its first postmaster, and in numerous ways became
eligible to the title which has been accorded him,—” The Father of Wayne City.”
He served a second term as postmaster, between 1902
and 1906, and has fulfilled
many another public office in a highly creditable manner. A Republican in his
political faith, he has ever been active in the interests of that party and has
given good service to the cause. Before the war
Mr. Scudamore
was constable in
Hamilton county for some years, and since the war he has been a notary public
for thirty-two years and a justice of the peace for four years. He was township
supervisor for five terms, and was elected a member of the state legislature in
the Thirty-sixth general assembly between 1888 and 1890, in all of these
offices performing valuable service in the interests of his city, county and
state. He has served as president of the town board for five terms, and was the
first mayor of Wayne City, an honor singularly appropriate to the founder of the
city.
Mr. Scudamore
owns a farm of ninety acres, which he personally manages,
and is the owner of a considerable quantity of town lots and residence property
in Wayne City. He is generally
conceded to be one of the most
prominent figures in the history of the city and an important factor in the
communal life of city and county. Despite his advanced years and lifetime of
arduous labors, he is still hale and hearty and takes fully as active an
interest in affairs of the community as he did twenty years ago. He still
carries on a lively trade in the buying and selling of live stock although he
has for the most part discontinued his breeding interests, being at one time one
of the most extensive live stock breeders and dealers in the county. He is
prominent in fraternal circles, owning membership in the Masonic order, the Odd
Fellows, the Rebekabs, and in the Grand Army of the Republic.
On January 1, 1856,
Mr. Scudamore was married to
Miss
Elizabeth J. Lewis, the daughter of
Wilson and Mary (Romine) Lewis. She was born
March 28, 1838, and died April 27, 1900. They reared a family of eight children:
Frances A., who died in 1902; Ada C., married B. C. Tolbert, living in Wayne
county;
Alvin G.; Mollie R., the wife of
F.
Q.
Jacobson,
living in Wayne City;
Eva, married to
V. C. Pitman; John W.; Bertha,
the wife of
T. W. Ashbrooke; and Edna G. Mr. Scudamore is the grandfather of
twenty-three children and the great-grandfather of three.
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