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Below is a family biography included in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois published by Biographical Publishing Co. in 1894.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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CAPT. THOMAS G. CHADWICK. There is always a vast amount of interest felt in the private life of those brave men who gave up home, family and friends to fight for their country, and there undergo all the privations and hardships characteristic of the soldier’s life. Our subject, who is a prominent lumber merchant of Chester, became a member of Company D, Sixty-fourth Missouri Militia, in 1863, and fought valiantly for his country’s flag until the close of the war.

A native of Berkshire County, Mass., our subject was born September 29, 1822, and is the son of John and Candis (Garfield) Chadwick, also natives of the Bay State. The father followed the occupation of a merchant in his native state, and during the latter part of his life removed to Otsego County, N. Y., where he purchased a tract of land. There he resided until his decease, which occurred in 1840. He was exceedingly popular in his community, and was a Whig in politics. The mother of our subject also died in the Empire State, her decease occurring in Jefferson County in 1845.

The subject of this sketch passed his boyhood and youth on his father’s farm, and was given a good education in the common school. On reaching his twentieth year he returned to Massachusetts and engaged in the lumber business for two years. Wishing to find a more suitable location in which to carry on his business, in 1844 he took a trip through the western states, and later, returning east, located in Lycoming County, Pa., and purchased a steam sawmill, which he operated for three years. At the expiration of that time he returned to the west and located in Kankakee County, near Kankakee City, where he purchased a farm which he cultivated for three years and a-half. He then sold his farm and moved to northern Iowa, where he became the proprietor of a good estate, and there resided during the winter.

Not liking the climate of northern Iowa, in 1854 Mr. Chadwick went to St. Louis, Mo., where he stayed with his brother, James B. After being with him for some time, in 1858 he removed to Perry County, Mo., where he purchased a tract of land on the Mississippi bottoms. This land he farmed successfully until 1866, the date of his advent in Chester. He purchased land to the amount of two hundred and thirty-five acres in the Mississippi bottoms, across the river from Chester, and this he still operates.

The lady whom Mr. Chadwick married, in 1849, was Miss Eliza J. Pixley, a native of Great Barrington, Mass. By her union with our subject she has become the mother of two children, Charles E. and Georgie A., both of whom remain with their parents.

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This family biography is one of 679 biographies included in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois published in 1894.  View the complete description here: The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois

View additional Randolph County, Illinois family biographies here: Randolph County, Illinois Biographies

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