Wyatt, Thomas S.

The following data is extracted from Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois.

Thomas S. Wyatt, ex-Sheriff of Douglas County, was born in Todd County, Kentucky, January 13, 1838. His father, Needham Wyatt, a blacksmith, was born in Tennessee. Thomas Wyatt, the father of Needham, was born in North Carolina; was a Revolutionary soldier, and was at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. The mother of-Thomas S. Wyatt was Mrs. Martha A. (Mann) Wyatt, sister of Rev. William W. Mann, a prominent member of the Methodist Church of Kentucky. Thomas S. Wyatt's early life was spent in his father's blacksmith shop. lie received but ten months' schooling, yet became a fair scholar through studious habits. At the age of nineteen years he began business for himself as a carpenter, which trade he followed for two years in Muhlenburg County, Kentucky; he next followed farming; then, in 1865, came to this County and built a blacksmith shop seven miles northeast of Camargo, which he conducted until 1880, when he was elected sheriff. In 1882 he was re-elected by a majority of six hundred and forty. He had previously, while engaged in his trade, been a justice of the peace for nine years. In youth he united with the Methodist Church; has been a class leader and Sunday school superintendent, and was licensed as a preacher in 1875, since when he has preached often. He organized a society in Jordan school-house, Camargo Township, which society afterward built a large Church, wherein he preached his first sermon. He is a Mason and a Republican, and voted for Abraham Lincoln in Kentucky. December 3o, 1857, he married Cascinda Smith, of Muhlenburg County, Kentucky.

Source: Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois

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