JAMES C. OVERBEE. retired, Fairfield, was born in Allen County, Ky., April 22, 1820, and is a son of James and Lucretia (Wade) Overbee.
The father was of Scotch descent, and was born a few days after the coming of his parents to the United States. He grew to manhood in Virginia, and about 1800 he was married to Miss Wade, who was a native of that State. He fought in the war of 1812, and afterward moved to Kentucky, where the family resided until the year 1827. In that year, the father. attracted by the promises of Edward Maxey, who was then a settler of Jefferson County, Ill., brought his family to that county. He was not permitted to enjoy the pleasures and privations of that territory long, but died two years after his arrival there. and the mother died in that county in the fall of 1835.
James C. is the eighth of a family of ten children, and the only one now living. He grow to manhood near Mt. Vernon, Jefferson County, and resided in that county until 1856, when he came to Wayne County. In this county he farmed for a number of years, and in 1870 he came to Fairfield, where he has since resided.
Mr. Overbee was married in Jefferson County, in October, 1844, to Miss Eleanor McRight, a native of Kentucky. Three children resulted from this marriage
This lady died January 25, 1845, in Jefferson County, and subject was married the second time, in Wayne County, on June 25, 1845, to Jane A. McNeely, a daughter of Robert and Rebecca McNeely, the father of Scotch descent, the mother of German. She was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, on February 14, 1827, and is the mother of the following children:
In 1846, he became a member of Third Illinois Regiment, under Col. Foreman, and served under that command until the close of the Mexican war, and was mustered out at the expiration of his term of service. Among the battles in which he participated were those of Monterey, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, and others of less importance. In the late war, he also helped to organize several corps, and was occupied in military service until 1864. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, also of the Grand Army of the Republic, and for forty-three years he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
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