John Thomas Ledbetter

John Thomas Ledbetter was born on June 7, 1845, in Hardin County, Illinois, the son of Doctor Jackson Ledbetter and Rebecca Ellen Lane. He grew up on the family farm and at seventeen enlisted to fight in the Civil War.²

The Civil War

On August 13, 1862, John Thomas enlisted in Company F of the 131st Illinois Infantry, which was mustered in at Fort Massac on November 13, 1862. The regiment was consolidated with the 29th Illinois in 1863. He participated in several hard-fought engagements: Haines’ Bluff on the Yazoo River, the capture of Arkansas Post, Milliken’s Bend, the siege of Vicksburg, Fort Blakely, Spanish Fort, and Woodville, Mississippi.²

The regiment suffered terribly from disease while working on the canal at Young’s Point near Vicksburg — measles, smallpox, and pneumonia depleted the ranks until it was ordered to Memphis for recuperation. After the surrender of Vicksburg the regiment served at Big Black River, Paducah, Kentucky, and finally Natchez before the consolidated battalion was ordered on expeditions through Murry, Kentucky, and along the Tennessee River.²

John Thomas was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, on November 6, 1865. He is named on the Illinois monument at Vicksburg.²

After the War

He returned home with his health impaired and attended school to make up the education neglected in his youth. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, becoming “an able young lawyer” in Hardin County.³

On February 25, 1866, he married Mary Lowery, daughter of John Lowery of Hardin County. They had nine children: John J. (a lawyer), Rhoda C. (who married S. L. Jackson), Jackson, Olla J. (who married C. W. Hess), Ida A. (who married William Sneed), Elsie, James A., William R., Q. A., and Herbert.³

Mary died on February 10, 1889. Five months later, on July 12, 1889, John Thomas married Julia A. Foster, daughter of Harris and Elizabeth Foster. They had one child, Henry.³

Sheriff and Public Life

John Thomas served as Sheriff of Hardin County for two years, Assessor for one term, County Treasurer for one year, and Justice of the Peace for two terms. His decisions were “always sustained when carried up to a higher court.”³

In October 1880, the Hardin Gazette listed the election tickets: “Democratic: John T. Ledbetter, Sheriff. Republican: blank. National Greenback Ticket: John T. Ledbetter, Sheriff.” He ran on both the Democratic and Greenback tickets simultaneously.²

He was a member of Tadmore Lodge No. 754, A.F. & A.M., at Karber’s Ridge, and also of the Grand Army of the Republic.³

Death

John Thomas died on November 26, 1896, at Peters Creek, Hardin County, at the age of fifty-one, from hypertrophy of the liver. He was buried at Hess Cemetery, next to his first wife Mary. The 1880 census records him as a farmer in Monroe Township, Hardin County, age thirty-six, with Mary and seven of his children.⁴

The Ledbetter Line

The Facts and Photos genealogy compiled by William Burl Ledbetter Jr. traces seven generations of Ledbetters in America:¹

1. Henry Ledbetter — first generation in America
2. Drury Ledbetter — second generation
3. Henry Ledbetter — third generation
4. Doctor Jackson Ledbetter — fourth generation
5. John Thomas Ledbetter — fifth generation
6. John Jackson Ledbetter Sr. — sixth generation
7. Col. John Jackson Ledbetter Jr. (1901–1963) — seventh generation