Although J. D. Alderson, one of the highly respected citizens of
Virden/is a native of Morgan county, he has spent nearly his entire life
in Macoupin county, having been brought by his parents to Elm Grove when
he was nine months old. He comes of good Southern stock and was born
December 18, 1835, a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Clack) Alderson, the
former of whom was born in Tennessee and the latter in Kentucky. The
father came to Illinois in the ’20s, riding in a two-wheeled cart which
was drawn by a blind mare, and stopped for a time in Morgan county,
Illinois, where he made rails at twenty-five cents per hundred. In 1835
he settled at Elm Grove, Macoupin county, where he entered forty acres
of government land, to which he added as his resources permitted until
he owned one hundred and sixty acres. When he located here deer and wild
game of all kinds abounded on the prairies and wolves were often heard
howling at night. About 1847 he disposed of his place and bought three
hundred and forty acres upon which he established his home. After his
children were grown and scattered in different parts of the country he
sold his farm and went to Cherokee county, Kansas, where he bought one
hundred and sixty acres. He died on his Kansas farm February 11, 1883,
his wife having passed away in March, 1880. Thirteen children were born
to Mr. and Mrs. Alderson, namely: James, deceased; W. C., who makes his
home at Virden; J. D., of this review; Samuel, who died in infancy;
Reuben, also deceased; Warner, who lives at Carl Junction, Missouri;
Sarah, the widow of Benjamin Higler, of Macoupin county; Mary, deceased;
Nancy J., the wife of F. J. Coonrod, of Idaho; Robert, of Macoupin
county; Arthur, who went to Oklahoma and is now deceased; Martha, who
became the wife of John Simms, of Morgan county, and is now deceased;
and Lydia, who married F. A. Jackson, of Cherokee, Kansas.
Advantages of education were secured under greater difficulties in the
rural districts of Illinois previous to the Civil war than under the
present favorable conditions. As a boy J. D. Alderson was obliged to
walk four miles to the district school and the schoolmaster ruled with
the rod and not by moral suasion. The growing lad assisted his father on
the home farm until eighteen years of age. He was then married and
during the first winter after that happy event he hauled rails with two
yoke of oxen and he and his father fenced forty acres of land. In the
following spring he rented land on his own account and raised a crop,
his wife assisting by dropping corn which he covered with a plow. He
sold his crop in the field and then purchased forty acres of land at
twenty dollars per acre. He disposed of this land at twenty-five dollars
per acre and invested his money in one hundred acres at twenty dollars
an acre. A year later he sold his property at an advance of five dollars
per acre and bought one hundred acres. After losing two crops he traded
his land for forty acres which he owned for eight years, acquiring
additional property until his land holdings amounted to one hundred and
thirty acres. He sold out and bought two hundred and forty acres on the
edge of Sangamon county, later acquiring eighty acres in Macoupin county
upon which he lived for twelve years. He gave two of his sons eighty
acres apiece and disposed of the balance, after which he bought two
hundred and forty acres in Macoupin county, which he owned for twenty
years. In October, 1890, he moved to Virden where he has since made his
home. He bought thirty acres in the eastern part of town, upon which one
of his sons resides. The father is now living in a beautiful home which
occupies three city lots and is in the enjoyment of comfort and ease as
the result of many years of well directed effort.
On the 5th of
October, 1854, Mr. Alderson was married to Miss Sarah Nevins, a daughter
of A. S. and Margaret (Steel) Nevins. To this union nine children were
born, one of whom died in infancy. The others are: William A., a
resident of Virden; Charles A., who makes his home in Macoupin county;
Robert, also of Virden; Ida B., deceased; Amy A., the widow of Horace
Campbell, of Virden; Laura, who is the widow of John Armstrong, of
Jacksonville, Illinois; Arthur, a physician of Thayer, Illinois; and
Louis, deceased. The mother of these children died in 1881 and Mr.
Alderson was married March 29, 1882, to Miss Mary Clarke. Three children
were born to this union: Roy Russell, who is now living at Eureka
Springs, Arkansas; O. C., of Lafayette, Colorado; and Mattie L., at
home.
Politically Mr. Alderson has for many years been a
supporter of the democratic party but never through any desire for
office as his principal interest has centered in his business and his
family. He has been identified with this section of the state during all
his active life and has always responded promptly to every movement
which aimed to advance the general welfare of the county. He is
connected with the Christian church, is one of the oldest members at
Virden and was selected, with his grandson, John Campbell, ten years of
age, the youngest member of the church, to turn the first sod for the
foundation of the new church building in Virden, which is being erected
at a cost of about twenty thousand dollars. The ceremony took place on
Sunday, June 18, 1911 at seven p. m., before a large gathering of
people. The exercises were held out of doors, the ministers of the
various denominations assisting in the services, and proved highly
interesting and impressive.
Extracted 15 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 487-489.
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