Mathew Stacy was born in Berkley county, Virginia, January 21, 1799. He is the youngest child of Mathew and Jane Stacy. Mathew Stacy, the father of the above, was a native of Pensylvania, and his wife of Scotland. Mr. Stacy was a tailor by trade. He died at his residence in Columbia [sic] county, Ohio, in 1817. Mrs. Stacy died in Sangamon county, Ill., in 1831.
Mathew Stacy (whose history we are writing) obtained, in the schools of Columbia [sic] county, Ohio, a good substantial business education. He became an apprentice to, and learned the trade of, saddle and harness making. In 1821 he removed to Hopkinsville, Ky., where he opened a shop. He there became acquainted with Miss Sarah W. Renney [sic], to whom he was married January 6, 1825. Mr. Stacy left Kentucky, and, with his family, arrived in Jacksonville, Ill., in October, 1827, where he still resides. He followed his trade, and was engaged in the firm of Stacy and Rapp till 1840, when he entirely discontinued mechanical business. He was probate judge of Morgan county in 1837, which position he held two years. In 1843 he was re-elected to the same position, which he filled ten years. In the meantime (in 1846) he was one of the committee appointed by the Illinois conference of the M. E. Church for the purpose of “superintending the establishment of a Female Academy.” The institution thus founded is now the Illinois Female College. He has been an active trustee and an efficient laborer for its interests. In 1853 Mr. Stacy was elected clerk of Morgan county, and, by re-election, served eight years. He was elected to these offices as the candidate of the whig party. Mr. Stacy is now engaged in the insurance business, representing ably the interests of several of the leading insurance companies in the United States. He has been in this business for forty-one years, the first local agent of insurance in the state of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Stacy have had a family of ten children, three of whom are deceased. Mr. Stacy began life poor, and when he came to Morgan county he had but a small capital, but, possessing intelligence, energy, and economy, he succeeded in accumulating considerable property. His official record shows the esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens. In 1831 Mr. Stacy was a Jackson democrat, but in discussing the great financial question with relation to the United States Bank, he became a whig, and, in 1856, a republican. He was one of those who exerted his influence to preserve the life of the nation. He was an opponent of slavery, and a personal friend of the illustrious statesman and martyr, Abraham Lincoln, whom he ever, by his suffrage, supported. He is an admirer and hearty supporter of U. S. Grant. Mr. Stacy is one of the many purely self-made men of Morgan county, whose public and Christian lives for forty five years are so well known to the present citizens of the county that he needs no eulogy at our hands.
Atlas Map of Morgan County, Illinois; Andreas, Lyter & Co., Davenport, Iowa, 1872, p. 47. Transcribed 27 July 2007 by Barbara Shroyer.