©Illinois Genealogy Trails History Group http://www.genealogytrails.com/ill/kaskaskia BIO OF JAMES SHIELDS JAMES SHIELDS is one of the most romantic characters in the history of Illinois. He was born in Ireland in 1810, immigrated to the United States in 1826 and died at Ottumwa, Iowa, June 1, 1879. He commenced the practice of law at Kaskaskia in 1832; was elected a member of the Legislature in 1836 and state auditor in 1839, and associate judge of the Supreme Court August 16, 1843. From this record it may be easily inferred that Shields did not have much opportunity to devote him self to practice. At the commencement of the Mexican war he was appointed brigadier-general, served throughout the war and was severely injured at Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec. He was mustered out on July 20, 1848, and the same year received the appointment of governor of Oregon Territory, which office he resigned upon his election as United States Senator from Illinois, December 3, 1849. His opponents immediately after his election as senator claimed that he had been naturalized October, 1840, and hence the nine years required by the constitution to render him eligible to a seat in the United States Senate had not elapsed. The point was good and Shields' seat was declared vacant, but on a called session of the Legislature, convened after the period of nine years had elapsed, he was again elected and served until the expiration of his term, when he removed to Minnesota and was elected United States Senator by that state, May 12, 1858. He served in this capacity until May 3, 1859, when he removed to California. At the outbreak of the Civil war be was in Mexico superintending the operation of a mine, but went immediately from there to Washington, where he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, August 19, 1861. He remained in active service until March 28, 1863, when he resigned and returned to California, but soon thereafter removed to Carrollton, Missouri, where he entered upon the practice of law. During his residence in Missouri he served as a railroad commissioner, and was a member of the Legislature in 1874-79, in which latter year his death occurred.(ILLINOIS, The Heart of the Nation by Hon. Edward F. Dunne, Volume IV, 1933, Transcribed by Kim Torp) ©Illinois Genealogy Trails History Group http://www.genealogytrails.com/ill/kaskaskia RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE BIO OF JESSE BURGESS THOMAS JESSE BURGESS THOMAS was a very prominent man in early Illinois history. He is said to have been a descendant of Lord Baltimore. He came from Maryland to the West as early as 1803. In that year he settled in Indiana Territory, and in 1805 was speaker of the Territorial Legislature. In 1809 he was a delegate in Congress from the Indiana Territory, pledged to secure the separation of Illinois from the Indiana Territory. This he accomplished and while in Washington secured the appointment from President Madison to one of the judgeships of the newly organized territory. He resided first in Kaskaskia, but later joined the other territorial officials at the county seat of "Elvirade," not far from Prairie du Rocher. Later he moved to Cahokia, where he built and operated a wool-carding machine. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention that made the Constitution of 1818 and presided over that body. He was one of Illinois's United States senators from 1818 to 1829 and took an active part in the passage of the Missouri Compromise. He was reelected to the United States Senate in 1823 and served till 1829. He later moved from Illinois to Ohio and died at Mount Vernon, Ohio, in 1853. (ILLINOIS, The Heart of the Nation by Hon. Edward F. Dunne, Volume IV, 1933, Transcribed by Kim Torp) ©Illinois Genealogy Trails History Group http://www.genealogytrails.com/ill/kaskaskia RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE BIO OF JOHN RICE JONES JOHN RICE JONES, who was probably the first English-speaking lawyer in the Illinois Territory, was born in Wales in 1759. He was educated at Oxford University in medicine and law, and came to Philadelphia in 1784, where he counted among his friends Dr. Benjamin Rush, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and Meyers Fisher. He practiced law in Philadelphia a year or so, then came over the mountains and down the Ohio. At the Falls of the Ohio he found George Rogers Clark making up an army to go against the Indians on the Wabash. He volunteered and the expedition reached Vincennes in 1786. Here Mr. Jones was stationed for the next four years in a Government capacity. In 1790 he went to Kaskaskia, where he remained eleven years. He then returned to Vincennes, where he received the appointment from Governor Harrison of attorney-general for the Indiana Territory. In 1808 he returned to Kaskaskia. At this time he is said to have been very rich. He did William Biggs, who had been captured by the Indians on the Wabash, a great favor by securing his release and helping him to return to his family at New Design. John Rice Jones was the father of several sons, all of whom were men of considerable prominence in Western affairs.(ILLINOIS, The Heart of the Nation by Hon. Edward F. Dunne, Volume IV, 1933, Transcribed by Kim Torp) ©Illinois Genealogy Trails History Group http://www.genealogytrails.com/ill/kaskaskia RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE