Eccles House

Note: This home on this site no longer exists.

Of all the friends who Abraham Lincoln counted in Hillsboro, Joseph Eccles was.his closest. Joseph was born in Kentucky on January 7, 1807. He and his wife, Jane were married in 1829, and the next year they moved to a farm just outside Vandalia, Illinois. 

There, Joseph Eccles farmed, taught school and operated a mercantile business. The Eccles family later moved to Hillsboro, where Joseph was a justice of the peace, assistant assessor, deputy collector of U.S. revenue, and a recruiting officer for Union troops in Hillsboro. 

When traveling through Hillsboro, Lincoln often stayed at Joseph and Jane’s home on the corner of Berry and Water streets. Lincoln was known to sit on the Eccles' staircase and stretch out while telling stories to folks who came by to visit with him. Prior to the demolition of the Eccles' home many years later, the wooden step that Lincoln favored was removed from the house, and it is in the collection of the Historical Society of Montgomery County. E

ccles and Lincoln corresponded numerous times, most often on political matters and local issues important to Lincoln. Eccles was also a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1848. Letters between Lincoln and Eccles are well documented and show their true friendship. Lincoln considered Eccles an important advisor. 

It was Eccles who convinced Lincoln to come to Hillsboro to make a speech while campaigning against Stephen Douglas for the U.S. Senate on September 9, 1858. Douglas had spoken here just a month earlier, onAugust 2nd. "Uncle Joe" and "Aunt Jane”, as their Hillsboro friends affectionately called them, visited President Lincoln in Washington at least two times. 

So much more could be written about the relationship and friendship of these two men. Eccles died in Hillsboro on July 12, 1888. Both he and Jane are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Hillsboro.

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