MATTHEW LANGSTON, farmer; P. O. Manito; was born June 4, 1824, in Rutherford Co., Tenn., on a farm, and remained there some time; when quite young, he went to Missouri, and his father there engaged in farming and as a wheelwright for some two years; they came, in the fall of 1828, to Illinois, and settled in Morgan Co. (now Scott), on a farm; Mr. Langston remained at home until 1843, at which time he went into partnership wiih his brother and bought a saw mill of their father, owning and running it until the spring of 1850, when he sold out and moved to Mason Co. and improved a farm, which he sold in 1873; he was engaged in mercantile business at Manito from 1865 until 1873, in which year he went to Kansas and farned a year. returning and settling in Manito, III., on some property which they now own; he is now managing and farming a piece of land owned by Peter W. Gay, of Manito Township; he was engaged one year in the war with Mexico, and, in the late war, was Captain of a company in the 85th I. V. I.; he has held various offices in the township and district, such as Justice of the Peace in Manito, one of the first Commissioners who laid off the township. Supervisor of Manito Township six years, School Trustee and Treasurer, Road Commissioner, Collector one term; elected County Judge, served two years and then resigned, and, in the fall of 1870, was elected Representative from the Sixty-First District of Illinois, which position he filled with honor; he is a member of Lodge No. 476, A., F. & A. M., of Manito; his education was very limited; he studied arithmetic but eleven days; by securing all kinds of valuable literature, he has made himself both useful and beneficial. Mr. Langston's father was a minister and early educated his son. Was married, in 1848, to Elizabeth Havens, of Illinois; she died in February, 1850; in January, 1851, he was married to Sarah Havens, a sister of his first wife; they have five children:  William M., Elizabeth, Rebecca, Ellen, Edward.



Maintained by Mason County Coordinator Donna Mayer