McDonough ILGenWeb

DUDMAN, Thomas Jefferson, editor and proprietor of the "Macomb (Ill.) Eagle," and for more than twenty-five years one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Macomb, was born in the vicinity of Chili, Hancock County, Ill., September 19, 1850, a son of Robert Jackson and Phoebe (Mills) Dudman, natives of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, respectively. Mr. Dudman was reared on the paternal farm in Hancock County, and in boyhood attended the district schools in the neighborhood of his home. He was afterward, for two years, a pupil in the high school at Bowen, Ill., and subsequently pursued a course of study at Carthage, Mo., where he completed his education. After graduating there he applied himself to teaching, and followed this occupation in the latter State and in Illinois for a number of years. In 1879 Mr. Dudman moved to McDonough County, and was made Principal of the Colchester public schools. After remaining in this connection one year, he was tendered the principalship of the schools in Industry, Ill., which he accepted, and held until two years later, when he established his home in Macomb, and, in conjunction with Prof. M. Kennedy, became one of the heads of the Macomb Normal and Commercial College. While connected with that institution, he conducted the departments of science and mathematics In the fall of 1881. Mr. Dudman was elected County Superintendent of Schools of McDonough County for a term of four years. and was re-elected in 1885. On the expiration of his second term in this office, in 1890, he bought of Charles H. Whitaker the plant of the "Macomb Eagle," which the latter gentleman had owned and operated for the preceding twenty-five years. This connection Mr. Dudman still maintains, and has made the paper a medium of potent and wholesome influence in the affairs of McDonough County, and the interests of the surrounding country.

On October 22, 1874, Mr. Dudman was wedded to Marietta Landson, of Augusta, Ill., who was born in Adams County, Ill., May 24,1856. Seven children were the offspring of this union, of whom one died in infancy. Politically, Mr. Dudman has always been an unswerving adherent of the Democratic party. In fraternal circles, he is identified with the A. F. & A. M. and the M. W. A. His career as a successful educator and public official, and his able and efficient work in connection with the “Macomb Eagle” have won for him a high reputation and a wide circle of friends, and he is regarded as one of the leading citizens of McDonough County.

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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McDonough County, compiled by Dr. Newton Bateman, and Paul Shelby, 1907.