The entire career of Albert C. Millspaugh has thus far been marked with many honors, which as a public man the people have bestowed upon him. As city clerk, city attorney, mayor of his city for two terms, then chief clerk of the Southern Illinois Penitentiary for a number of years and clerk of the appellate court since 1902, Mr. Millspaugh has been a man of affairs since he began the practice of law in 1889. In addition to the many public offices he has filled so admirably he has been honored in divers ways as a private citizen, and the esteem in which he is generally held in his community is evidenced by the many important positions of trust he holds in connection with financial and other organizations in Mount Vernon.

Albert C. Millspaugh was born on September 26, 1858, in White County, Illinois. He is the son of John and Sarah (Bogan) Millspaugh, of Dutch and Irish descent. John Millspaugh was a native of Orange county, New York, born there in 1815. He was a member of the medical profession and passed his life in the practice of medicine. He was the son of Daniel G. Millspaugh, born December 26, 1781, in Orange county, New York, and the grandson of John Millspaugh, born January 22, 1758. The latter was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and fought and was wounded at Bunker Hill, and his father was Peter Millspaugh, who immigrated from Germany to America in about 1750. When quite a young man Dr. John Millspaugh went to Kentucky, thence to White county, Illinois, where he remained for some years engaged in the practice of medicine, and later, in 1876, he removed to Gallatin county, where he spent the remainder of his life, passing away there in 1898.

Dr. and Mrs. Millspaugh reared a family of nine children, including: J. W., in Shawneetown; Mrs. Margaret A. Joyner, of Equality; Daniel, a farmer in Gallatin county; Mrs. Emma Fowler, also of Gallatin county; Robert L., of Shawneetown; J. M., a farmer and stock breeder of Equality; William L., of Equality; and Albert C., clerk of the appellate court of the fourth district.

The preliminary education of Albert C. Millspaugh was obtained in the schools of Shawneetown, which he attended after he was twenty-one years of age, paying for the privilege five cents per day as tuition. After leaving his studies he was employed for some years in the offices of the circuit clerk and the county sheriff, reading law in his spare moments. In 1889 he had so far advanced with his studies that he was admitted to the bar, and in that same year he was elected to the office of city attorney. For a number of years he served the city as clerk, and in 1894 he was elected mayor of Shawneetown. He discharged the duties of his office in such a manner that he was again elected in 1896, serving from April of that year to January, 1897, at which time he was appointed chief clerk of the Southern Illinois Penitentiary at Chester, and he resigned from the mayoralty to assume the duties of his new position. He held that office for a period of six years, and was still in office when he was elected clerk of the appellate court of the fourth district, which comprises the thirty-four southern counties of the state. He resigned his position as clerk of the Southern Illinois Penitentiary to assume, as in former years, the place higher up, and after six years of praiseworthy service in that berth was reelected in 1908. He bears the honor and distinction of being the first and only Republican ever elected to that office since the court was established in 1877.

Following his resignation at the State Penitentiary and his election to the clerkship, he moved to Mount Vernon, where he has since been a resident. In January, 1912, Mr. Millspaugh was elected to the directorate of the Third National Bank of Mount Vernon, and he has been variously connected with the leading enterprises of that city since he established his residence in it.

In 1906 he was one of the leaders in the organization of the Jefferson County Fair Association, and served as president of that organization until 1911, when he resigned, owing to the pressure of other matters of a more portant nature. Mr. Millspaugh is a member of the Poultry Raisers Association, which he has assisted very materially in financial and other ways. He bears an enviable reputation not only in Mount Vernon and Jefferson county, but throughout all Southern Illinois, where he has a wide acquaintance. Mr. Millspaugh is in line for further honors at the hands of the people and his party, if popular sentiment is any criterion as a guide to the future. In addition to the many calls upon his time and attention he has been able to give some consideration to the claims of the many fraternal organizations extant in Mount Vernon and has become affiliated with the A. F. & A. M., being a member of the Blue Lodge, H. W. Hubbard Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons, and Patton Cornmandery, No. 69, Knights Templar, of Mount Vernon. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias of Mt. Vernon and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of East St. Louis, and a member of the Council at Mt. Vernon.

On January 14, 1894, Mr. Millspaugh married Miss Julia Scanland, of Shawneetown, the daughter of William Scanland, at one time a leading businessman and prominent citizen of that city.

Source: History of Southern Illinois George Washington Smith, M. A. VOLUME I - III ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1912
Page 1354 - 1356

Submitted by Robert W. Loman