Biography - Robert Paden
Robert N. PADEN was born in Todd County, Ky., in 1830. James PADEN, the father of subject, was born near Charleston, S. C., in October, 1777, and lived on his native place till he attained his majority. His father died when a young man. His mother was a lady of Celtic descent. James, when he reached the years of manhood, moved to Virginia, where, in Adair County, he married Margaret McELVAIN, and, about the beginning of this century, moved to Todd County, Ky., where he farmed till 1835. He then came to Montgomery County, Ill., bought 120, and entered eighty, acres of prairie and timber land, four miles southwest of Hillsboro, where a few families had previously settled; here he resided until his death, in 1845; he was a Deacon in the Presbyterian Church, and assisted in the erection of the first church at Hillsboro. The subject of this sketch, who is the seventh son of a family of ten children, came to Montgomery County with his parents in 1835. He received his rudimentary education in the Clear Springs Baptist Church, a log structure covered with clapboards, and having puncheon floors and seats; he completed his studies at the Lutheran College, then at Hillsboro, now of Springfield. In 1851, he engaged as clerk in Hillsboro, and continued in that occupation until 1855, when he opened a furniture store there, in which business he remained one year. In February, 1856, he came to Litchfield and opened a general store in partnership with J. M. McWILLIAMS, but after a year sold out his interest in the business and returned to Hillsboro, where he engaged in the lumber business till 1860. In that year, he became Deputy Circuit Clerk under Benjamin SAMMONS, which office he held for two years, then returned to Litchfield, and was appointed Deputy United States Collector and Assessor of Internal Revenue in District 10, which position he held till 1868. He then removed to Southern Minnesota and engaged in general merchandising and drug business in Rochester and Austin, that State, until 1878, then returned to Litchfield, where he has since resided, engaged in real estate business. He married, October 17, 1855, Illinois E. BLACKWELL, who died May 16, 1881; she was a daughter of Col. Robert BLACKWELL, of Vandalia, Ill. Mr. PADEN is Director, Secretary and Superintendent of the McWILLIAMS Oil and Mining Company, which began operations in January, 1882; was elected Mayor of Litchfield without opposition in 1865, and, during his administration, built the City Hall, and contracted for the first public school house. He was appointed one of the Trustees of the Illinois Industrial University of Champaign for six years, by Gov. CULLOM, in 1881. He was formerly a Whig, and is now a Republican.
Extracted 19 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, page 163.
