PRESS RELEASE
Friday, Sept. 25th

 

< Roger Capps' Visit to Mt. Pulaski >

 photos & information

 

Roger Capps, retired educator from Portland, OR., and great great grandson of Mt. Pulaski's co-founder, Jabez Capps, will be guest speaker at the Mt. Pulaski Historical Society meeting this coming Monday, Sept. 28th at 7 pm in the Mt. Pulaski Historical Museum.  The public is invited.  The meeting may be moved two doors down to the VFW hall if there is a large crowd.  Refreshments will be served.

 

Roger reports that he has an original invitation to Abraham Lincoln's funeral -  "probably given to my grandfather's father, (Jabez's son) - Ebenezer". 

Roger, along with his two remaining brothers, has done some extensive research of Jabez and his large London family.  Jabez sailed to America in 1817.  All but one of his siblings eventually moved to the United States and settled in and around Springfield, IL.  Following their father's death, Jabez's mother also moved to America, taking up residence in Springfield, IL.  A younger sibling, brother Thomas, remained in London in care of the family business [an import cloth & tailor business. where he was listed as a ’wholesale clothier master’, with 14 employees] in the Westminster section of London.  Upon Thomas’ death at age of 90, the following article appeared in the New York Times:


'AMERICANS HEIRS TO MILLIONS'

Capps Family of Illinois Inherit a Rich Estate in England

           

         "Springfield, Illinois, Oct. 26, 1897.The Capps family, residing in Illiopolis, Springfield, Riverton, Vandalia, and Mt. Pulaski, in this state, have just come into an inheritance of between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 through the death of a brother named Thomas Capps, in London, England, on Sept. 19.   Among the beneficiaries of Thomas Capps are Charles Capps and J.M. Capps of this city and A.S. Capps of Riverton.  The deceased was formerly in the wholesale cloth trade, having retired to a country seat in 1875.   He was ninety years old at the time of his death."

 

Jabez co-founded Mt. Pulaski in 1836 and died in Mt. Pulaski on April 1, 1896, one year before his brother, Thomas.  Jabez was only 5 months short of his 100th birthday.