Biography - THOMAS S. WYATT
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. He 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 schoolhouse, 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 30, 1857, he married Cascinda Smith, of Muhlenburg county, Kentucky.
Extracted 03 Apr 2020 by Norma Hass from the Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois, published in 1900, pages 284-285.
