Zadok Casey
Zadok Casey founded the city of
Mount Vernon, Illinois, around 1817. He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1830, and was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1833. He served in the
Twenty-third United States Congress (1833) through the
Twenty-seventh United States Congress (1843). He was a
Jacksonian Democrat.
Zadok Casey was born in Georgia in 1797. Not much is known about his early life. One story is that, as a young man, he witnessed a murder. Because he did not wish to testify, he fled to the frontier. He died in 1862, and is buried in Mt. Vernon.
Casey Creek, a tributary of the
Big Muddy River is named in honor of Zadok Casey. Casey Middle School and Casey Avenue in Mt. Vernon are also named after him.
*
Perrin, History of Jefferson County, Illinois, 1883
