J. B. Matlock and James F. Wassell

Matlock and Wassell are the publishers and editors of that recognized leader among Republican journals of southern Illinois, the Chester Tribune. They are both young, energetic, determined men. J. B. Matlack was born in the city of St. Louis, Mo., June 7, 1847. His...

Joseph Lively

Wolves, finding young livestock comparatively easy prey, caused the pioneer much damage.  Counties invariably paid liberal bounties for wolf scalps and thus helped considerably toward their destruction.  Joseph Lively, who lived in the vicinity of Bremen, was a...

John Lively

When John Lively came to the county in 1805, he settled on the prairie that has since borne his name. The Lively family has remained a prominent one in Randolph County for more than a century.

Henry Levens

When Henry Levens came to the Horse Prairie Settlement about 1800, he brought a large family of sons and daughters. Though they were good and substantial citizens, they might have been forgotten long ago had they not been in one way a most unusual group. Most of his...

Pierre La Clede

Intending to establish a rather large farming and trading business, Pierre La Clede had come to the region of Fort Chartres in 1763. Upon his arrival he learned that the territory had recently been given to the English. Not wanting to settle in English territory, he...

Elias Kent Kane

Elias Kent Kane, a native of Vermont, came to Kaskaskia in 1814. He was influential in the formation of the government of the state and served in various public offices, being a senator from Illinois at the time of his death.

John Rice Jones

There is something about ‘the first’ that sets one apart. John Rice Jones, a Welshman, was the first lawyer in Illinois to practice at the bar. He held various offices and later moved to Missouri where he became a judge of the supreme court.

Robert Higgins

This is from the Herald Tribune Newspaper. (reprinted in the Randolph County Genealogy Society’s Quarterly “Trails”) Robert Higgins – enjoying more than local fame as a hunter, moved from the vicinity of Kaskaskia to a place about two miles...

Henry Herschbach

In 1872, Henry Herschbach established a wagon factory in Chester. This industry became a very important one, and many an older person in southern Illinois recalls the farm wagons with the name “Chester” painted proudly on the side of the wagon box.