BEGGS, JOHN, one of Cass County's highly respected citizens, and a man of distinguished antecedents, resides on his farm which is situated in township 17, range 8, Cass County, five miles northwest of Ashland, Ill. He was born in Morgan County, Ill., near Princeton, August 7, 1831, and is a son of Charles and Mary (Ruddell) Beggs, and a great-grandson of James and Elizabeth (Hardy) Beggs. Very little has been preserved of their history but it is known that they came to the United States from the north of Ireland and located in New Jersey and they had, at least, two daughters, who married and reared families, and tow sons, one of whom, Thomas, was born in the United States. He married Elizabeth McDowell, who was of Scotch descent but was born in Ireland. Thomas Beggs was an officer in the Revolutionary war and died of camp fever in 1778. Of his children there were: James, John, Charles, George and Elizabeth, the last named becoming the wife of John Naylor.
Charles Beggs was born in Rockingham County, Va., October 30, 1775, and on August 1m 1797, he married Dorothy Trumbo, who died in 1811. She was the mother of the following children: Elizabeth, born in Jefferson County, Ky., June 15, 1798; Sarah, born in Clark County, Ind., April 28, 1800; Mary Ann, born in Clark County, Ind., January 19, 1802; George W., born in Clark County, Indiana, November 29, 1808; and Susan and Rebecca, born in Clark County, Indiana, both died in infancy. The second wife of Charles Beggs was Mary Ruddell, born in Rockingham County, Va., April 28, 1790, and died August 4, 1871. Charles Beggs died October 21, 1869, and they were buried in Zion cemetery in Cass County. They had the following children: Cornelius, born August 16, 1813, died aged thirty-two years and was buried at Smithland, Ky.; William H., born in Clark County, Indiana, April 20, 1817; James Lemon, born November 11, 1819; Margaret, born in Indiana, December 23, 1821, married Milton Stribling; Dorothy, born in Clark County, Ind., January 21, 1826, is the widow of Samuel Sinclair, of Springfield, Ill.; Isaac W., born August 31, 1828, died unmarried when aged thirty-one years and was buried in Zion cemetery; John, born as above stated, in Morgan County, Ill.; and Thomas and Charles, both of whom died in infancy.
Immediately following his first marriage Charles Beggs and wife started on horseback for Kentucky to find a new home. Their route led up the valley of Virginia and down the valley of the Tennessee and on through Cumberland Gap and over the Boone trail to Jefferson County, Ky., where they determined to establish a permanent home. He was a farmer and felt that the new country with its opportunities and its congenial climate would entirely come up to his expectations, but he found the practice of slavery a great drawback to his peace of mind and a test of his religious principles. He was a zealous Methodist and could not forget the attitude of the founder of that faith toward slavery. Stephen R. Beggs, son of James, formed the first Methodist class at Fort Dearborn, being one of the pioneer Methodist preachers of Illinois. He died at Plainfield, Ill., aged ninety-three years. James Beggs, brother of Charles Beggs, was a graduate of William and Mary College, Virginia. In 1808 he was president of Governor's council in Indiana, and was in the territorial legislature held at Vincennes when a system of black laws, similar to those then in effect in Illinois was proposed, and when a test vote was taken it was found the body was evenly divided and James Beggs cast his vote against the proposed system.
Feeling that he could not rear his children in an atmosphere of slavery, Charles Beggs in 1800 was again a homeseeker. He crossed the river into the territory that later became Indiana and settled in what is now Clark County, on the bank of the Ohio River, where, shortly afterward, he was joined by his brothers, John and James. Here Charles Beggs followed a quiet, agricultural life for many years and in 1813, assisted by Abraham Epler, he built a mill and also became a merchant. The time came, however, when his upright character and business ability were so recognized by his friends that he was obliged to answer their insistent call into public life. Gen. William Henry Harrison was governor of the new territory and Mr. Beggs became a personal friend of that able statesman and was chosen a member of the convention that drafted a new constitution. Some years later they were soldiers together at the battle of Tippecanoe, in which Charles Beggs was commander of a division of cavalry. When Mr. Beggs was authorized to find a suitable place for the location of the county seat of Clark county he decided upon two farms, those of James McCampbell and Barzilla Baker, upon which, in 1806, Charlestown, named in his honor, was built and continues the county seat. There he established his store and carried on his other enterprises including river produce traffic, which proved profitable. For twenty-eight years he lived at Charlestown, educated his large family and gained honor and esteem for his usefulness in public life. In 1829 he once more decided to become a pioneer and the family traveled by wagon to Morgan County, Ill., where he acquired land near Princeton.
John Beggs was born in his father's log cabin in Morgan County, and he remembers that in his boyhood the neighborhood was wild and game was plentiful. He attended the subscription schools and assisted on the home farm. On December 18, 1855, he was married to Sarah Sinclair, born at Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ill., March 16, 1834, daughter of Samuel and Melinda (Bird) Sinclair. Mr. Sinclair was born in Tennessee, July 17, 1808, and died May 8, 1868. Mrs. Sinclair was born in Kentucky, July 17, 1810, and died July 30, 1837. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Beggs: Emma, who married Charles Edwin Bregge, was born December 29, 1856, and died August 13, 1901; Anna, who was born July 27, 1858, was married October 18, 1894, to Rev. J. O. Kirkpatrick, resides at Mt. Sterling, Ill., and they have two children, Myra Annie and John Edwin; Charles Sinclair, who was born May 23, 1860, married Helen C. Putnam, and they have two children, Thomas Putnam and Edwin Upton; John Thomas, born April 4, 1863, died March 25, 1897; Nellie, born April 6, 1865, died August 12, 1865; Myra, born July 7, 1867, resides with her father; and Samuel Watson, born December 8, 1869, married Minnie Taylor, December 18, 1894, and they live at Crandon, Wis., and have four daughters: Emma Taylor, Dorothy Alta, Jessie Margaret and Minnie Myrtle. The mother of the above children, Mrs. John Beggs, died November 19, 1912, and her burial was in the Centenary cemetery.
After marriage John Beggs resided with his parents for one year. In 1857 he moved on a farm he owned in township 17, range 9. The place, looking like a forest was wilderness of wild crabapple and plum trees. He secured 240 acres to which he later added and now has 320 acres of as fine land as can be found in the county, his son Charles S., being his partner in general farming and raising cattle, horses and Poland China hogs, the son having practically everything under his charge in late years. The clearing and improving was done by Mr. Beggs and in 1860 he remodeled the house, making it modern and comfortable. In politics he is a Republican and during many years he served as school director and as school clerk. He is a trustee of the Methodist church of which he has been a member since youth.