#52Ancestors Week 11, Lucky

 Week 11 of #52Ancestors

This week's theme is "Lucky"... and while I consider myself lucky for a lot of things... it was hard to figure out who to talk about for this category. 

Some suggestions in the Facebook group were:

1. An ancestor I felt lucky to have found
2. A family heirloom 
3. An ancestor that won the lottery or something similar

I wound up choosing one of my 3rd Great Grand-Uncles, Martin Van Buren Ussery.  I actually wrote about him in a Family History Post on Facebook last year.  While he seems to have led a very successful life, there's one particular moment of his life that I think is the coolest thing EVER.  He attended a Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858.  HE SAW AND HEARD ABRAHAM LINCOLN WITH HIS OWN EYES AND EARS!  I just think that is so neat!

Anyway... here's his life in a nutshell...

Martin Van Buren Ussery, was born August 3, 1838, in Maury County, TN (slightly southwest of Franklin and Nashville). 

Any guesses as to who was President at the time of his birth?  Ha ha.  He was the 8th known child (of 11) of Sylvester and Mary (Barnett) Ussery. There’s another Presidential connection, too…  James K. Polk was living in Maury County at the same time the Ussery family was.  In fact, he is just 2 census pages away from Sylvester Ussery in the 1830 census.  Polk was living in Nashville during the 1840 census… and the Ussery family packed up and moved north to Johnson County, IL, between 1840 and 1850.

Although I can’t find an actual copy of his obituary, there is a transcribed version of it online.  It ran in the Jonesboro Gazette.  It states that he moved from Johnson County (where he was in the 1850 census) to Anna (next to Johnson County) in 1855, “when the Illinois Central was being built.”  In 1858, Martin followed the crowds of people to the north side of Jonesboro IL, and witnessed the Lincoln-Douglas debate.

He married Eliza Meisenheimer in October of 1860, and they had two known children.  Martin is listed in the Civil War draft records in 1863 as a 25 year old Grocer.  While two of his brothers went to war, he did not serve in the military.  Instead, he worked on becoming quite a prominent businessman in Union County during that time. In the Jonesboro Gazette, I was able to find an ad for his grocery store from 1867.  In the 1870 census, he’s listed as a Butcher, with a $500 valued personal estate and a $7000 valued real estate.  Then in 1875, his wife died and he remarried in 1876 to Margaret Elizabeth Sowers.  They also had two known children.

In 1877, in the Illinois State Journal paper, there’s a mention of the “Ussery Opera House” in Anna.  I have seen it listed that way at other times, as well, but have not been able to find out the history of that, as of yet. His obituary states that Martin “served one term as County Commissioner, and two terms as Anna Mayor.”  I was able to find the voting results for the 1878 election, when he won the vote for County Commissioner.  There’s also an interesting little article from 1880, talking about the possibility of Martin running for State Senate.  If he did run, he did not win the election.  

In 1879, the Southern Illinois Fair Association was organized, and Martin was elected the first president.  He later served as Treasurer. The group originally purchased 51 acres of land in Anna for the fairgrounds. Later, a portion was sold to the City of Anna for a cemetery.  The fairgrounds are still in use today, and operate as the Union County fairgrounds. Their website states that 2022 was their 141st annual fair.

Moving through the census records, the 1910 census states that Martin was the Secretary of the Building and Loan Association at that time.  What a busy guy!

Martin’s story does come to an end, though.  He became sick with pneumonia, and died on January 24, 1916, at the age of 77.  He’s buried in the Anna City Cemetery, not far from his parents, as well as some of his siblings.