| HENRY GUEST McPIKE |
| Henry Guest McPike A Brief Family History Henry Guest McPike’s family can be traced back all the way to Scotland. The family came to the US sometime before the Revolutionary War. Henry’s Grandfather and Great Uncle both fought with George Washington at Valley Forge. Around 1795 Henry’s Grandfather and family came west to Kentucky. Henry’s parents John and Lydia along with his older brother Edmund moved to Indiana around 1825 were he was born on July 6th. John McPike was the editor of “The Indiana Whig” which was first published on April 18, 1834 and an Associate Judge of Dearborn County from 1830-1835. John and Lydia had two more boys before the family moved to Alton Il in 1847. Soon after the family came to Alton, Henry became a real estate agent, later he is noted as being involved in box manufacturing and an insurance executive. His father John began to publish the “Monitor” in 1848. John passed away at Henry’s home in February of 1876. While in Alton, Henry became a big part of the political community. During the Civil War he was asked to act as the Deputy Provost Marshall for the area, which is a management position in the War Department. After his time as Deputy Provost Marshall, Henry then became a city councilman for a number of years. In 1887 he was voted to the highest office in Alton. Henry was Mayor of Alton from 1887 to 1891. One little known fact about Henry is that he was one of the 11 delegates from Madison county for the election of Abraham Lincoln. Not a lot of details are known about Henry’s personal life. I was able to find that Henry married Amanda Malviny Burn on February 22, 1854. They had 2 children a son James and a daughter Jennie. In 1880 United States Federal Census, he was listed as Single/Head of Household with 2 other household members. They were Bessie Skinner 25 and Haley McPike 18. Then on the 1900 US Federal Census he is listed as 74 years old, Head of house with wife Nellie along with Moreland McPike age 12, residing in the house. Documentation has been found that Henry was married 3 times, with children from each of the marriages. Nothing is said about what happened to his wives. Henry Guest McPike passed away at his home “Mount Lookout” on April 18th 1910 at the age of 85. His family continued to live at the Mansion until 1936. Article By: Debbie Evans 03/25/2008 |
