CHARLES GUM, farmer; P.O. Petersburg; son of Jesse and Mary (Dills) Gum, who were among the first settlers of Menard Co.; he was a native of Kentucky and she of South Carolina; when this now well settled and finely developed county was but a wild and desolate country, they settled at what is known as Claries' Grove, Menard Co. Jesse Gum ranked with the influential and reliable men of the county, and had accumulated a good property. The subject of this sketch is likewise a well-to-do farmer. He married Martha, daughter of Elijah and Nancy (Armstrong) Jones, who were early settlers of Menard Co.; they were married in February 1850; they have seven children, and own 225 acres of fine land that he settled on when this was but a wild and desolate country, with settlers far apart.