Ninian Edwards was a founding political figure of the State of Illinois. He served as the first and only governor of the Illinois Territory from 1809 to until the territory was dissolved in 1818. He was then one of the first two United States senators from the State of Illinois from 1818 to 1824,and the third Governor of Illinois from 1826 to 1830. In a time and place where personal coalitions were more influential than parties,Edwards led one of the two main factions in frontier Illinois politics.
James Barbour was an American slave owner,lawyer,politician and planter. He served as a delegate from Orange County,Virginia in the Virginia General Assembly,and as speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. He was the 18th Governor of Virginia and the first Governor to reside in the current Virginia Governor's Mansion. After the War of 1812,Barbour became a U.S. Senator and the United States Secretary of War (1825–1828).
Benjamin Pierce was a colonial soldier in the American Revolutionary War and an American Democratic-Republican politician,who served as the 11th governor of New Hampshire from 1827 to 1828 and from 1829 to 1830. He was the father of Franklin Pierce,the 14th president of the United States.
Edward Coles was an American planter and politician,elected as the second Governor of Illinois. From an old Virginia family,Coles as a young man was a neighbor and associate of presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe,as well as,secretary to President James Madison from 1810 to 1815.
Benjamin Ames was the third governor of the U.S. state of Maine,who served from December 5,1821,to January 2,1822.
Jesse Burgess Thomas was an American lawyer,judge and politician who served as a delegate from the Indiana Territory to the tenth Congress and later served as president of the Constitutional Convention which led to Illinois being admitted to the Union. He became one of Illinois' first two Senators,and is best known as the author of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. After his retirement from the U.S. Senate in 1829 he lived the rest of his life in Ohio.
Samuel Whiteside was an Illinois pioneer. A farmer and backwoodsman,Whiteside briefly served in the Illinois General Assembly after statehood and led the Illinois militia for decades,rising to the rank of general but also enlisting as an ordinary soldier when militia calls declined at the end of wars. Whiteside fought the British in the War of 1812 and Native Americans through the Blackhawk War.
James Semple was an American attorney and politician. He was Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives,Attorney General of Illinois,an associate justice of the Illinois Supreme Court,Chargéd'Affaires to New Granada,and United States Senator from Illinois.
James Fisk was an American politician from Vermont. He served in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
The Randolph family of Virginia is a prominent political family,whose members contributed to the politics of Colonial Virginia and Virginia after statehood. They are descended from the Randolphs of Morton Morrell,Warwickshire,England. The first Randolph in America was Henry Randolph in 1643. His nephew,William Randolph,later came to Virginia as an orphan in 1669. He made his home at Turkey Island along the James River. Because of their numerous progeny,William Randolph and his wife,Mary Isham Randolph,have been referred to as "the Adam and Eve of Virginia". The Randolph family was the wealthiest and most powerful family in 18th-century Virginia.
James Graham Clinton was an American lawyer and politician. He served two terms as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1841 to 1845.
James W. Stephenson was an American militia officer and politician from the state of Illinois. He was born in Virginia but spent most of his youth in Edwardsville,Illinois. In 1825 he was indicted for the murder of a family acquaintance,but never went to trial. Upon the outbreak of the Black Hawk War in 1832,Stephenson raised a company and saw combat,suffering severe wounds at the Battle of Waddams Grove. After the war ended Stephenson entered public life,and served as a member of the Illinois State Senate in 1834. In December 1837 Stephenson was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Governor of Illinois. Within six months of his nomination,accusations of embezzlement were leveled against him,and he was forced to withdraw from the election. In August 1838,Stephenson died at home of tuberculosis.
James D. Henry was a militia officer from the U.S. state of Illinois who rose to the rank of general during the Black Hawk War. Henry was born in Pennsylvania in 1797,and moved to Edwardsville,Illinois in 1822. In 1825,while living in Edwardsville,he was indicted with two other men for the murder of an acquaintance,though he never went to trial. One defendant was tried but found not guilty,and following the trial Henry moved to Springfield,Illinois,where he was elected sheriff. When the Winnebago War broke out in 1827 Henry acted as adjutant for four companies of volunteers.
The Livingston family of New York is a prominent family that migrated from Scotland to the Dutch Republic,and then to the Province of New York in the 17th century. Descended from the 4th Lord Livingston,its members included signers of the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Several members were Lords of Livingston Manor and Clermont Manor,located along the Hudson River in 18th-century eastern New York.
The Benjamin Stephenson House is a Federal style home built in 1820 in the city of Edwardsville,Illinois,United States. The house was constructed by prominent Edwardsville citizen and Illinois politician Benjamin Stephenson. He died shortly after the home's completion and the home had 15 subsequent owners,some of whom made major alterations to the original structure. In 1845 the addition of an ell altered the appearance of the house. The last two owners were the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the current owner,the city of Edwardsville.
James Stephenson was an American politician,soldier and slaveholder who as a Federalist served in the Virginia House of Delegates as well as in the United States House of Representatives.
Nathaniel W. Pope was an American government leader in the early history of the State of Illinois. He served as the Secretary of the Illinois Territory,then as a Delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the Illinois Territory,and for over thirty years as the United States district judge for the United States District Court for the District of Illinois.
John Paul was a pioneer in Ohio and Indiana,founding Xenia,Ohio and Madison,Indiana. He was a delegate at the convention that drafted the constitution of Ohio,and was a state senator in the first general assembly after statehood. He also served in the first state senate of Indiana. He founded the second newspaper in Indiana. He was known as "Colonel John Paul" for his services in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
United States 