JOSIAH JACKSON, carpenter and builder, Forest City; was born in Seneca Co.. Ohio, May 8, 1834, where he remained until he arrived at manhood. He married Miss Mary A. Beard Jan. 6, 1856. In the spring of 1857, they left their home in Ohio and came to Illinois, locating in Vandalia, where he worked at his trade as carpenter for four years. He then removed to the place where Forest City now stands, and immediately went to work at his trade. Mr. Jackson built the first two dwelling houses in Forest City. He continued to work at his trade here for a year and a half, when he returned with his family to his old home in Ohio, and resumed his accustomed occupation. May 2, 1864, he enlisted in Co. B, 169th Ohio V. I., and was mustered out of the service in the following September; he then returned to his family in Ohio.Again the little family took their way to Illinois, where he found employment as a school teacher, immediately after his arrival. Mr. Jackson entered into the mercantile business, but met with reverses that caused him to abandon it, and resume his old occupation of carpenter and builder, in which he is still engaged. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1806, and again in 1874; he has held a commission as Notary Public for twelve years in Forest City; for the last ten years, he has devoted all his spare time to the study of the law, and is occasionally engaged in the practice of that profession, with a fair decree of success. With the usual amount of study and practice, he is bound to succeed in this profession. Mr Jackson has just been awarded the contract for building the sohoolhouse at, Manito, which is a capital indorsement of his capacity and energy as a business man. They have been blessed with four children:  Eva D., born May 28, 1857; B. Fuller, Aug. 28, 1860; Sherman G., Jan. 22, 1865; Rutherford, Oct. 3, 1876.



Maintained by Mason County Coordinator Donna Mayer