JOHN GRAHAM MULCASTER, agent of the Illinois Central Railroad at
Makanda, Illinois, and a citizen who has been identified with the realty
interests of Southern Illinois for some years, is a veteran of the
Spanish-American war, and a member of an English family of great antiquity,
which traces its lineage back to the year 1066. His father, Richard
Mulcaster, was a son of Thomas Mulcaster, a younger brother of Lord
Mulcaster, of Ravenglass, England, and the family home in England,
"Brackenthewaite," an estate of one thousand acres, has been in the
possession of the family for more than six hundred years. Mr. Mulcaster was
born October 1, 1876, in Monroe county, Illinois.
Richard Mulcaster
was born at Carlisle, county Cumberland, England, June 1, 1829, and received
excellent educational advantages, being sent to Oxford College, but before
graduating therefrom enlisted in the English navy during the Crimean war,
and served until the close of that struggle. On his return to England he was
for two years engaged in civil engineering, and then went to Toronto,
Canada, and later, in 1857, to Troy, where he assisted in laying out the
town. He then returned to his native country, but at the time of the
breaking out of the Civil war came to the United States, and remained in New
Orleans until the close of the war, being employed by the Confederate
Government as a civil engineer, although he never enlisted in the Southern
army. When the war had closed he came North, and settled in Monroe county on
the Mississippi river, near Modoc, where he purchased a farm, but
subsequently removed to Waterloo, Illinois, and became a school teacher and
justice of the peace. In 1884 he located in Jackson county, purchasing a
farm in Degonia township, and there carried on agricultural pursuits and
conducted a general merchandise store until 1892, when he retired from
activities. His death occurred in Murphysboro, March 4, 1894. In 1867 Mr.
Mulcaster was married to Miss Mary Hickman, at Kimmswick, Jefferson county,
Missouri, and she is still living, making her home at St. Louis, and has
been the mother of seven children, of whom John Graham is the fourth in
order of birth. She is a member of the Episcopal church, of which her late
husband was also an attendant, and his political belief was that of the
Republican party. Mrs. Mulcaster, in 1849, when a child, was a member of a
party bound for California in prairie schooners, journeying via St. Joseph,
Missouri, and Salt Lake, and this same party followed on the heels of the
one which was exterminated in the Mountain Meadow massacre.
John
Graham Mulcaster attended the country schools of which his father was the
teacher from the time he was six years old until he was ten, at which early
age he entered the Murphysboro High School, and was graduated therefrom four
years later. He then secured employment in the general office of the St.
Louis Ore and Steel Company, where he worked eighteen months, and then
became an employe of the Western Union Telegraph Company, remaining one year
and completing a course in telegraphy. Leaving that firm, Mr. Mulcaster went
to work for the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, where he spent three years as an
operator, resigning to accept a position with the Illinois Central Railroad,
with which he was connected at the time of the outbreak of the
Spanish-American war. Enlisting in the Seventh United States Signal Corps,
under Captain J. B. Inman, of Springfield, Mr. Mulcaster served in General
Shafter's army at Santiago, Cuba, and then went with General Miles'
expedition to Porto Rico, remaining there until the close of the war, after
which he assisted in putting in the telegraph service throughout that
island. He was mustered out of the service at Chicago, in December, 1898,
and shortly thereafter re-entered the service of the Illinois Central as
railroad agent at Herrin. Since that time he has held the same positions at
various stations, and is now located at Makanda. Mr. Mulcaster has invested
his money in real estate, and now owns considerable property at various
places in Illinois and Oklahoma.
On May 6, 1900, Mr. Mulcaster was
married to Miss Ella Walker, of Carterville, Illinois, daughter of J. B.
Walker, a prominent farmer. Mr. Mulcaster is an earnest worker in the ranks
of the Republican party, and his loyalty has been rewarded by election to
the offices of alderman and village clerk. He is a member of the ancient and
august order, A. F. & A. M., of the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias,
and he and Mrs. Mulcaster attend the Baptist church. In all matters
pertaining to the welfare of his adopted locality Mr. Mulcaster has shown
the greatest interest, and his aid and influence may always be counted upon
to forward movements of a progressive nature. He is widely known through
Southern Illinois, and wherever he has been stationed has had hosts of
friends.
Extracted 15 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, volume 2, pages 761-763.