HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS Illustrated With Biographical Sketches
of many Prominent Men and Pioneers; published by W. R. Brink & Co.,
Edwardsville, Ill., 1882. pp. 401-402.  Green County.

GENERAL JAMES SEMPLE.
	General James Semple was one of the pioneers of the state of Illinois, 
and one among its most distinguished citizens, who have contributed to its
prosperity; and departing, left behind them monuments of their labors that
will be remembered and lauded for centuries to come.  He was born in Green
county, Kentucky, January 5th, 1798.  His parents, John W. and Lucy Semple
(nee Robertson), were natives of Virginia and descendants of one of the old
Scotch families of Remfordshire, Scotland.  James was the eldest in a
family of nine children.  He received a fair education in the schools of
Greenburgh [sic], Kentucky, which was supplemented by a legal course
pursued in Louisville. Prior to this, however, he had learned the calling
of tanner and currier, a business which proved unsuited to his tastes and
talents.  His first advent to the state was in 1818, locating in
Edwardsville, where he remained for a short time, when he returned to
Kentucky.  In the year 1820, he moved to Chariton, Missouri, and in 1822,
was elected colonel of the 21st regiment of the Missouri militia.  In 1824,
he removed to Edwardsville, where he continued the practice of his chosen
profession, that of law, with great success.
	He was exceedingly diligent and careful, and being a man of 
magnificent presence and fine manners, he rose rapidly to distinction.  
Upon the breaking out of the Black Hawk war, he was commissiioned as
brigadier-general on Gen. Whiteside's staff. Immediately after the
cessation of Indian hostilities, he engaged in politics.  He represented
Madison county in the state legislature several terms and was twice elected
speaker of the house -- a merited compliment to a natural parliamentarian
and statesman, and leader of the party.  He had become so prominent in
national affairs in 1837, that he was appointed by President Van Buren,
minister to Santa Fe de Bogota, and it is related by the old timers that
the General was somewhat in doubt with regard to the location of the
mission.  He, therefore took into his confidence Abraham Lincoln, who
although of different politics, was a warm personal friend.  After
consultation, Mr. Lincoln confessed that he was as ignorant of the
geography of South America as Semple.  They, therefore, concluded to visit
a book-store and post themself upon South American history.  The mission
was accepted, and General Semple took passage for New Grenada in January,
1838.  He held his positiion until 1842, when he returned to Edwardsville,
and the following year received the appointment of judge of the supreme
court, of the state, which positiion he resigned after a few months'
occupancy to accept a seat in the United States Senate, by appointment
under the administration of Governor Ford, to fill the vacancy of Samuel
McRoberts, deceased.  In this body he stood almost alone in the advocacy of
the establishment of a line of communication with the Pacific coast.  In
this regard his keen foresight placed him several years in advance of his
age, and he was therefore, subjected to ridicule by flippant and shallow
critics, who were incapable of comprehending his broad conceptions
pertaining to the future great republic.  In 1843 and '43, General Semple
specially distinguished himself in speeches made at Alton and Springfield,
Illinois, relating to the "Oregon" question, which was then agitation in
the minds of the people of the states.  We gleen [sic] the following from
one of these powerful and patriotic speeches:  "I regret that the Western
boundary was not settled in the late treaty with England in reference to
boundary lines in America, and that I consider the right of the United
States to the whole of Oregon as far as the Russian boundaries, as clear as
the noonday sun; that the right of the state of Maine to all she claimed
equally clear.  But a foreign nation laid claim to a part of that territory
without any shadow of right whatever.  Yet, we have seen the special agent
of the nation refusing even to discuss the question of right, and proposing
for the sake of 'peace,' to divide the country in dispute; and we have seen
that proposition agreed to by the executive and senate of the United
States.  For his part he was as much in favor of peace as any of his
countrymen, but that he would prefer war, to yielding one inch of territory
that justly belonged to the United States."  Through the efforts of Mr.
Semple, Judge Lyman Trumbull, Stephen A. Douglas and other leading men of
the West, a set of resolutions was prepared and published that had great
weight with the action of Congress relating to the Oregon controversy.
	After the expiration of his term in the Senate, in 1847, he returned 
to his home in Edwardsville.  Having been so long absent from the pursuit of
his profession, legal duties became irksome to him, and he retired from
both the bench and the bar, and devoted himself to business (principally
town making), a taste for which he had been somewhat cultivating long
before, in laying out the town of Highland.  He laid off an addition to
Alton, which perpetuated his name, and to which he removed afterward, but
subsequently located in Jersey county, Illinois.
	General Semple spent considerable time and money in the construction 
of a self-propelling wagon, which proved to be a failure.  He was ahead of 
his age.  The enterprise would have resulted in a success had he lived
twenty-five or thirty years later, but we had no mechanics at that day who
could carry out his plans.  Semple was robbed of all that he had been able
to lay up of his salary, as he was on his return from Bogata; but he
afterward became, by judiciious trading, principally in lands, moderately
wealthy.  He was an uncommonly exact and methodical man in his business,
and could, in the dark, lay his hand upon any paper he wanted from his desk
or shelves.  He was pre-eminently straightforward in all of his dealings,
professional, political, or private, and any deviation from the path of
rectitude met with a scathing rebuke from him without regard to
consequences.  He observed so much ignoble conduct in political affairs,
that he became disgusted and withdrew from public life. Although he
possessed the elements of great popularity, "he could not bend the pliant
hinges of the knee, that thrift might follow fawning."  He was very kind
and affectionate in his family, and exceedingly sociable with his
neighbors.  He was six feet three inches in height, and admirably
proportioned.  He was one of the finest specimens of manhood to be found in
a day's journey.  His style of speaking was easy and flowing, but not in
the least ostentatious.  His object seemed to be to present his subject,
and not himself, to his auditors.  He was a Democrat of the Jefferson type,
but would not brook [sic] modern innovations, invented for the sake of
expediency.  His motto was to live and die by his creed.  In political
principles he thought there was but little room for improvement, and that
the steam was purest at the fountain-head; but in all other affairs of
life, he was pre-eminently a man of progress, and had no concern about
being out of line of safe precedents.  Semple was a public-spirited man,
and always lent his aid and influence to the advancement of measures which
he believed would be conductive to the public welfare.
	He was married to Mrs. Mary S. Mizner, a daughter of Dr. Cairns of 
Monroe county, Illinois, June 5th, 1833. Dr. Cairns was a prominent 
politician, and a member of the first Constitutional Convention of Illinois, 
and bitterly opposed to the introduction of slavery into the State.  By this
union there were born four children, of whom Mrs. Lucy V. Semple Armes, of
St. Louis is one; Mrs. Julia E. Scott, of St. Louis; and Eugene Semple of
Oregon. Mrs. I. M. Floyd-Jones (nee Mizner) of St. Louis, is his
step-daughter.  The evening of Gen. Semple's life was passed in one of the
most sightly spots in the State - Trevue - an exponent of his own excellent
taste, a home naturally beautiful, but aided by airt.  Here he passed away
December 20th, 1866.

Semple Robertson Whiteside Van_Buren Lincoln Ford McRoberts Jefferson 
Mizner Cairns Armes Scott Floyd_Jones
=
VA Scotland Louisville-Jefferson-KY Madison-IL MO New_Grenada 
Springfield-Sangamon-IL OR England Russia ME Jersey-IL Monroe-IL 
St._Louis-St._Louis-MO

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/green/semple.j.txt