West Cemetery

Samuel Murphy Hays was born in July 1, 1827 in Highland County, Ohio. He was the son of John and Isabella (Murphy) Hays. John and Isabella had been married in Highland County, Ohio on April 9, 1814. Seven children would be born to this marriage with Samuel being the youngest. When Samuel was eight months, old his father passed away on March 24, 1828, leaving Isabella to raise the children.

On May 19, 1833 Isabella married her second spouse John Hutsonpiller. Hutsonpiller was a native of Virginia. Records indicate that John and Isabella had moved their family west settling in Martinsburg Township in Pike County, Illinois, by March 1834. There is some evidence that Samuel may have stayed behind in Ohio or at some point in this youth returned to his home state. When the United States declared war on Mexico in 1846 Samuel Hays would enlist, seeing action at Monterrey and Verra Cruz. When the war ended in 1848 Samuel returned to Pike County where he studied law under Chauncey L. Higbee of Pittsfield, Pike County, Illinois.

Samuels’s stepfather John Hutsonpiller died on November 23, 1851 and was buried in Petty Highland cemetery in Pike County, Illinois. Isabella would remain in Pike County, living with her daughter Isabella in Newburg Township. She died January 11, 1881 and is buried in Highland County, Ohio.

After Samuel completed his law study he formed a partnership with Chauncey L. Higbee and began to practice law. In April 1860 he married Mary L. Adams in Pike County. Samuel – like many lawyers of his day – became active in politics, throwing his support to the Democratic Party. Samuel would say that during the 1860 Presidential Election he did everything possible to defeat Abraham Lincoln.

By 1861 as the war drums begin to beat across the country Samuel Hays views would change. In December 1860 the partnership with Chauncey L. Higbee dissolved. In January 1861 Hays became partners with James S. Irwin in Pittsfield.

Regardless of Samuel Hays’ politics he – like many in Pike County – knew it was time to put the issues, including slavery, that had divided the country on hold. The time to talk was over; it was time to act and do whatever was needed to save the Union. Hays was tireless. He was everywhere, speaking to the crowds and special meetings that were happening throughout the county.

In late April 1861 just a few days after the firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, Hays raised a company of men that became known as the Pike County Home Guard. Local agreement and resolution stated that the company was formed to protect the county and would not leave the state unless called upon to defend the Federal Government.

On May 4, 1861 Samuel Hays moved his company to Quincy, Illinois where they would be formally sworn in as Company K of the 16th Illinois Infantry. Hays was elected Captain of the company that also had a 1st and 2nd Lieutenant, 1st – 4th Sergeants, one Ensign and two Musicians. The company had a total of 64 Privates, but not all of the Home Guard enlisted. Hays would comment later that about 20 – 25 men left and did not enlist.

Within a year, Hays had been promoted to Major. The regiment found themselves near Corinth, Mississippi pursuing the enemy. The summer climate and the water supply caused many men in the Union Army to come down with diseases like severe diarrhea and dysentery. Hays was not immune; by mid-summer he had come down with dysentery. He was disabled by the disease to the point that he was sent home on furlough to recover. He was able to travel as far as Monticello (modern Godfrey) Illinois.

He was moved to a private residence and made comfortable. His wife Mary was sent for, along with his personal physician Dr. Joseph H. Ledlie of Pittsfield, Illinois. Weakened by the dysentery and chronic diarrhea, Samuel Hays passed away on August 6, 1862.

When the body of Samuel Hays arrived in Pittsfield, the Circuit Court adjourned. It was said that his funeral was the largest attended in the community. The 16th Illinois Infantry officers passed a resolution to wear the black customary mourning armbands for thirty days in honor of their late Major.

His widow Mary would also not see the end of the terrible war, passing away on January 24, 1865. She was laid to rest next to her husband. There were no children born to this short marriage.

In the years following the war as the Grand Army of the Republic Posts began to organize throughout the county the soldiers of the Summer Hill, Illinois area named their post Samuel Hays Post #477 in honor of the late Major.

Charles Roger Lame was born on November 27, 1820 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Joseph and Sarah Lame. Charles and his sibling William and Amanda were baptized on April 26, 1830 at the Old St George Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On May 11, 1841 Charles married Elizabeth Reed Whartnabey in Philadelphia.

In 1836 the family traveled west settling in Alton, Illinois before returning east. Charles once again moved west in 1842 settling in Barry, Pike County, Illinois for about two years at which time he moved to Pittsfield the county seat of Pike County.

Lame was a former Whig Party member who turned Republican. He had strong beliefs regarding the expansion of slavery into the free territories. He was a Mason and secretary of the Pittsfield Lodge No. 56, A.F. & A.M. Charles was a builder and contractor by trade building many of the homes and businesses in Pittsfield. Lame belonged to the Congregational church in Pittsfield which he had helped build.

Charles Lame was a dear friend of Abraham Lincoln. On October 1, 1858 Lincoln was in Pittsfield campaigning for a seat in the Senate. Lincoln’s opponent was Stephen Douglas. In preparation of Lincolns arrival Robert Caldwell Scanland and Lame were practice firing a campaign cannon which was a tradition of the day. The two men had test fired one shot from the cannon and were in the process of loading the second shot. While Lame swabbed the barrel and carefully rammed the powder charge and wadding, Scanland filled the vent with powder and then covered the vent with his hand. This was done to prevent air from getting into the barrel and feeding any hot ambers that might be left which could cause the gun to fire prematurely. As Scanland laid his hand on the barrel the hot barrel burned him causing him to jerk his hand away. Scanland’s actions caused sparks to fall from the torch he was holding in the other hand. The sparks touched off the powder in the vent hole causing the cannon to fire before Lame had removed the ramrod and stepped back. This result with Lame’s face being burned and his arm badly mangled by the ramrod. The ramrod flew a block away lodging itself into a tree on Piper Lane.

Lame was taken to his home on Fayette Street and local physician Dr. Joseph H. Ledlie was called. Ledlie had wanted to amputate Charles Lame’s arm but he decided against it. Over the next few days Lame developed a fever due to infection in his wounds. Ledlie believed that Lame would die from his wounds.

The room that Lame laid in did not have screens on the open widows. This allowed houseflies to enter the home and lay their eggs in the wounds of Lame’s arm resulting in the hatching of maggots. Under Ledlie’s supervision he did not remove the maggots because it appeared that they were cleaning the wound of dead and infected tissue. Over time Lame’s fever went down and he fully recovered.

Charles Rodger Lame continued to support Lincoln and run his furniture and undertaking business until his death at age sixty-seven. He is buried here in West Cemetery.

Dr. Thomas Worthington was born in Anderson County, Tennessee on June 11, 1808. He was the son of James and Lettice Tunnell Worthington. He first came west to Pike County in 1833. That same year he enrolled in the Medical College of Ohio located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Upon his graduation Worthington returned to Pike County where he remained the rest of his life. He was a fine physician well liked for his bedside manners and caring of his patients. He was one of the first doctors that encouraged other doctors to stop the practice of bleeding their patients to treat them for illness. Worthington was one of the earliest physicians to develop and use traction on patients with severe broken limbs. One of his most famous cases involved a young boy by the name of Jefferson Kinman who was thrown under a loaded wagon causing a severe crushing injury to his arm and leg on one side of his body.

After examining the boys injuries Worthington wanted to amputate but the boy’s father refused. Worthington dressed the wounds and left. Checking in on the boy next day he discovered that both the leg and arm were drawn up into an unnatural way. Rigging up a series of weights attached to the boy’s limbs Worthington was able to extend the limbs to their normal lengths. In time the boy healed with little or no effect. As an adult Thomas Jefferson Kinman would enlist and rise to the rank of Lieutenant in the 99th Illinois Infantry. Sadly Kinman was killed in the charge on May 22, 1863 at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Worthington had his pupils. Dr. John Thompson Hodgen started out as one of those pupils. After completing his medical training Hodgen became an assistant resident physician at St Louis City Hospital. Later he worked as demonstrator of anatomy at the University of Missouri. During the Civil War Hodgen worked as a surgeon and as Surgeon General of Missouri.

Worthington’s knowledge and inventiveness must have influenced Hodgen. In his lifetime and career Hodgen is credited with inventing traction devices, splints, a double-action syringe and a stomach pump. He invented the Hodgen brace a splint used to set broken femur bones. The device is still in use.

Worthington’s practice continued to grow. In a time when land was affordable he began to buy land. In time he was land rich owning property throughout Pike County. To supplement his income between planting and harvest he became a stockman raising cattle, horses, hogs and all other types of stock.

Thomas Worthington was a strong Whig in his political views. In 1842 he ran for state senate and won. It was said that his stump speeches were delivered with force, vigor and to the point. While serving in the state senate he is credited with helping pass the Two Mill Tax and the Free School Tax. Worthington ran for reelection in 1846 but was defeated by 203 votes.

Worthington was even allowed to come before the Illinois Supreme Court in order to argue that the taxation of land and the note given in payment was a double and unjust taxation. His argument was heard and raised much commendation. In the end the court found against Worthington.

At the age of forty Worthington found himself feeling ill to the point that he had to pass his daily affairs and practice to others. Within a few years his health approved but he chose not to return to his past interests. Instead he became interested in geology and the glacial period. Worthington became so involved in his new interest that he traveled all over the country in its pursuit. He took extensive notes on his findings.

Along with geology Worthington was a devout Christian and spent hours studying the Bible. He died after suffering from illness for only two days on November 14, 1888.

Colonel William Ross was born in Monson, Massachusetts, April 24, 1792, where he resided until the age of 13, when his father, Micah Ross, moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

In 1820, Colonel Ross and his three brothers, Leonard, Henry and Clarendon, moved to the Midwest, settling in an area on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, which Colonel Ross named “Atlas,” a derivative from the words “At last.” Atlas became the first county seat of what is now Pike County. But in 1834, because it was more centrally located, Pittsfield became the county seat. Colonel Ross was given the privilege of naming Pittsfield after his hometown in Massachusetts, since he gave the money to buy the land that Pittsfield lies on.

In 1832, Colonel Ross fought beside Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War, and he became politically prominent when he swung the presidential nomination to Lincoln at the Chicago convention. He did it by distributing copies of an editorial written by John George Nicolay in a Pittsfield newspaper. During Colonel Ross’s life, he raised and shipped beef, owned three riverboats, a flour mill and a general store, served as postmaster, founded the first bank, and was instrumental in founding the Republican Party.

On September 30, 1858, Abraham Lincoln spent the night at Colonel Ross’s stately home on the east edge of Pittsfield. The next day Lincoln spoke for two hours on the town square. Later photographer Calvin Jackson made two ambrotypes of him.

Colonel Ross died May 31, 1873 and is buried here in West Cemetery.

Colonel Asa Carrington Matthews was born in Perry, Illinois, in 1833. He was the son of Benjamin Leach and Minerva Carrington Matthews. Asa attended McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois. After graduating he studied law and was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1856. He married Anna Edna Ross daughter of Colonel William Ross on October 5, 1858.

In 1862 he recruited men that would become Company C of the 99th Illinois Infantry. Matthews would be elected as the Captain of the company. He rose through the ranks over the course of the war to Colonel. At the end of the war he was selected by the War Department to accept the surrender of Confederate General Kirby Smith. Matthews was then sent into Indian Territory to negotiate the surrender of Confederate Cherokee and Choctaw Indians.

After the war Colonel Matthews returned to Pittsfield and his law office. In the years that followed Asa held several important political positions. He served as Collector of Internal Revenue for the states of Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. Elected three times to the Illinois Legislature along with serving as Speaker of 36th Illinois General Assembly. He was appointed the first United States Comptroller by President Harrison. Along with his many political appointments he was very active in veterans affairs. He served on the Vicksburg Commission whose task was to erect a monument on the Vicksburg National Military Park in memory of all the Illinois soldiers who fought at Vicksburg. He died on June 4, 1908 and is buried here in West Cemetery.