Biography - William J. Tackett
WILLIAM J. TACKETT. The name of Tackett has been borne by some of the
most useful citizens of this county from the early days of its settlement,
and as an honored representative of that family that has helped to bring
this section of Illinois to its present tine condition we are pleased to
place on these pages a brief life-record of William J. Tackett, a highly
respected resident of Shelbyville. He is a skillful farmer, and has valuable
farming interests, which are still under his management, although he has
retired to the city.
But few of the present citizens of this county have lived in this part of
the State as long as our subject, who has spent much of his life here as boy
and man for sixty years or more. He is a son of one of the earliest pioneer
families of Shelbyville, John and Enfield (Mason) Tackett, and his father
for several years kept a hotel in the village in the early years of its
history. For further parental history, see the sketch of John A. Tackett on
another page of this volume.
William Tackett was born in Bourbon County, Ky., June 11, 1826, the second
son of his parents, he was but three years old when they brought him to
Illinois in 1829. Shelbyville, where the family set up their new home, was
but a hamlet, with a few log habitations, and gave but little intimation
that it would become the beautiful city of to-day. Our subject grew up here
under pioneer influences, and watched with interest the growth of the city
from day to day, and has witnessed almost the entire development of the
surrounding country from a wilderness to a well settled and wealthy county,
and he can take pleasure in the thought that he has had a hand in bringing
about this wonderful transformation. His education was conducted in the
pioneer schools of the city, which were taught in a log house, that had rude
furniture of the most primitive sort, the seats being made of slabs, without
backs, and with wooden pins for support. That was in the days before the
introduction of the free school system, and each family had to pay for the
support of the schools according to the number of scholars sent. Mr. Tackett
advanced his education by attendance at Hillsboro Academy, and at the age of
twenty-one he began to study medicine.
Our subject was smitten by the gold fever after the discovery of the
precious metal in California, and he was one of the famous "49ers" to go to
that State in search of it. He started with others in the month of March,
and made the journey across the plains and mountains with mule teams. The
little company of gold seekers saw no white settlers between the Missouri
River and the Golden State, except the Mormons at Salt Lake. They
encountered deer, antelopes, buffaloes and other wild animals in great
numbers in crossing what was then known as the "Great American Desert," and
Indians held undisputed sway throughout that desolate region. The train
arrived at Sacramento one hundred and ten days after starting from Illinois,
and our subject found that city in the pioneer stages of its existence, and
among its rude habitations there were but two frame houses.
Mr. Tackett devoted himself to mining awhile, then handled stock at a large
profit the remainder of his stay in California. In February, 1852, he set
out on his return home, well satisfied with his experience of life on the
frontier. He traveled by the way of the Isthmus to New Orleans, thence by
the Mississippi to St. Louis, from there by stage through Vandalia to
Shelbyville, and on the 20th of March he found himself once again among the
familiar scenes of his boyhood. After his return he practiced medicine for a
time, and then turned his attention to the grocery business, which he
conducted a few years, but he finally took up the congenial pursuit of
farming, and resided on his farm from 1859 to 1866, when he again came to
the city to live, and has ever since made his home here. He continues to
superintend his farm, however, and has it under a fine condition as to
tillage and improvement, it being one of the best in those regards in the
locality. Mr. Tackett is a man of much experience, possesses good mental
endowments, is public spirited, and is in no ways backward in lending his
assistance to all projects that will in any way enhance the prosperity of
the city and county, with whose interests he has been identified for so many
years.
The pleasant wedded life of Mr. Tackett with Miss Mary J. Durkee was entered
upon in 1853. It has been blessed to them by the birth of children, of whom
they have five, as follows: Edward, a general merchant at Raymond; Mattie,
wife of William R. Glen, of Philadelphia; Archie J., a resident of Raymond;
Fannie, the widow of Andrew Welch, of Shelbyville; and May, the wife of C.
M. Aidrich, of Peoria.
Mrs. Tackett was born in Tippecanoe County, Ind., and is a daughter of David
F. and Freelove (Fink) Durkee. Her father was born in Vermont, and was a son
of Dr. John Durkee, who was a practicing physician and a pioneer of
Tippecanoe County, settling near La Fayette, and engaging in his profession
until his death. Mrs. Tackett's father was but a boy when his parents
settled in Indiana, and he grew to a stalwart manhood amid its pioneer
scenes, and in due time was there married. He lived in that State until
1848, when he came to this county and cast in his destiny with the pioneers
who had preceded him. He bought a tract of wild land in what is now Pickaway
Township, developed a good farm, and resided on it a number of years. He
then came to the city to spend his remaining years. His wife died at the
home of a daughter at Wilmington, Will County, Ill. They reared these six
children — George, Celia, John, Edward, James and Mary J.
Extracted 13 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties Illinois, pages 453-454.
