LEWIS W. LINK - L. W. Link was born in Greene county, Illinois, December 25, 1835. His grandfather, Christian Link, was of German descent, and was born in Maryland about the close of the revolutionary war; on growing up he emigrated to Kentucky, and at Lexington married Eliza Bell, a native of Tennessee. In the year 1817 he removed to Illinois and settle din Madison county. In 1818 he moved into Greene county and settled three miles south-west of Carrollton, at the head of what is still known as Link's branch. He was one of the pioneers of Greene county, and only a few families had previously located in that part of the state. He was a blacksmith by trade, and when Carrollton was laid out he sold his farm and moved into the town, where he established the first blacksmith shop in Carrollton. Mr. Link's father, John Bell Link, was a boy when he came to Illinois. He married Cascinda Pruitt, a native of Kentucky, and whose family were among the pioneer settlers of Greene county. He died in 1837, when the subject of this sketch was about two years of age. Lewis W. Link was the next to the youngest of a family of seven children. After his father's death, he lived among relatives at Carrollton till fourteen, and then, till 1851, lived with an uncle near Whitehall. He came with his mother and brother to the vicinity of Scottville, in Macoupin county, in1851, and the next year to Plainview. In 1856 the family moved to the neighborhood of Gillespie. February 3, 1856, he married Elizabeth Davis, who was born and raised near Woodburn. He was farming near Gillespie till 1865, and then bought a farm in Honey Point township. He moved to Gillespie in the fall of 1866 and engaged in the milling business, in partnership with George Francis. They purchased a mill for $10,000 and made $5,000 additional improvements. February 11, 1870, the mill burned to the ground, proving nearly a total loss. He continued in the business of buying hay, at Gillespie, till 1874, and then went to farming in Cahokia township.
His first wife died in August 1866. September 10, 1868, he married Elizabeth Mitchell, daughter of Elisha Mitchell, one of the first settlers of Honey Point township. She died in the summer of 1870. His present wife whom he married in August, 1872, was formerly Miss Christiana James. She was born in Kentucky, married a gentleman named Martin, and moved to Missouri, where her first husband died during the war. Mr. Link has five sons.
He is politically a democrat. In the spring of 1876 he was elected supervisor from Cahokia township and has been re-elected to that office each year subsequently. In the spring of 1878 he was made chairman of the board and has since discharged the important duties of that position in a creditable and efficient manner.