EZRA JACKSON is a Hoosier by birth, born in Scott county, February 26, 1823. His father, Samuel Jackson, was a native of North Carolina, and his grandfather, Solomon Jackson, was probably a native of the same state. The grandfather was a powerful man and lived to the great age of ninety-eight years. He enlisted three different times in the Colonial army during the Revolutionary war, the first two enlistments being as substitute. He served during nearly the entire war, and was very young when he first enlisted. He was a shoemaker by occupation, but also taught school, and remained in North Carolina until the formation of the Territory of Indiana, when he came there, too, and settled in what is now Scott county. He was thus one of the earliest settlers and pioneers of Indiana. For many years he drew a pension from the government for his services and patriotism during the Revolutionary war. He visited Schuyler county several times, but finally died in Jefferson county, Indiana.

Samuel Jackson, the father of our subject, was quite a young man when he went to Indiana. He married and lived there until 1829, and then, accompanied by his wife and five children, all drawn by two yoke of oxen, hitched to an old fashioned wagon, came to Illinois in search of a home. There was scarcely an inhabitant on the broad prairie then, and not a laid out road in Schuyler county. He located in what is now Bainbridge township, moving into a vacant log cabin, which the family occupied for two years, buying in the meantime a tract of land upon which was a rude log cabin and five or six acres of cleared land, the remainder of the farm being heavy timber. There was little value then in standing timber, no matter how large and fine, and accordingly the great trees were cut down, rolled together, and destroyed by the torch. This was necessary in order to clear the land for cultivation. Upon this farm he resided until his death in 1839. He was an industrious, exemplary citizen, and an honor to the great and historic name of Jackson. The maiden name of his wife, the mother of our subject was Esther Close, who was born within two miles of Albany, New York. Her father was a native of England, who came to America at the age of thirteen. He married a Connecticut lady, and came to Scott county, Indiana, in a very early day, being one of its pioneers.

Our subject, Ezra Jackson, is one of seven children born to his parents, viz.: Zadok, Ezra, Calvin, Elizabeth, Jesse, Solomon and Mary J. When Ezra was five years of age, he was brought to Schuyler county, where he grew to manhood. He was reared on the farm, and remained there until the age of twenty years, when he commenced to learn the trade of a cooper, after following which a few years, he conducted a hotel for one year in Frederick. In 1865 he bought property at the corner of Liberty and Lafayette streets, Rushville, where he kept hotel for twenty years. He then removed the building standing there and erected the brick store building now occupying the site of the hotel. For some time he has been retired from active business. He was married, in 1846, to Emily Brunk, who was born in Morgan county, Illinois, June 8, 1829, the daughter of Jesse and Eliza (Day) Brunk, natives of Kentucky, and pioneers of Morgan county. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson's living children are: Owen, Felix, Mary Ellen, Effigene, Martha and Frederick. Mr. Jackson is a Democrat in politics.