Greene County Historical Society   In 1821 Greene County, Illinois was organized and the newly platted town of Carrollton became its seat of government.  That same year, JW Skidmore, Merchant, erected a two-Room building on the northwest corner of the public square.  In September, 1821, the county commissioners allowed that be paid $4.00 for the use of his room for holding court.  Samuel Lee purchased the building and the two lots with the intention of adding  on to it to the south.  One of its most esteems men, Lee served the county in its early years as a county clerk and recorder, circuit clerk and justice of the peace.  He married 16 year old Mary Ann Faust, sister in law of Mr. Skidmore, in 1824.  Before his grand house could be completed, Samuel Lee died in September, 1829.   Lee’s will directed that the “brick mansion house I have recently commenced in Carrollton shall be finished to the use of my wife Mary Ann Lee.”  His plans were carried out to his specifications, possibly by Moses Stevens, builder of the second county courthouse across the street in 1832.    The one and a half story house in the Federal Style which resulted became the home of the Lee’s widow and their two small children. On April 27, 1831, Mrs. Lee married Edward Baker, an young lawyer, who later became a close friend of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, where the Bakers moved in August of 1835. The next year they sold their “brick mansion house,” as described in the deed, to Orange Heaton.  Moving to California in 1852 and then to the new state of Oregon in 1860, Edward Baker was elected U S Senator.   At Lincoln’s inauguration in March, 1861 Baker, known for his oratory skills, made the shortest public speech of his career with these words:  “Fellow citizens, I introduce you Abraham Lincoln, the President-elect of the United States.”  With the outbreak of the war, he organized the California Regiment and was commissioned its colonel.  He was killed October 21, 1861, during the battle of Ball’s Run.   Charles Drury Hodges bought the Lee-Baker Mansion in March, 1850 from Orange Heaton.  A lawyer and merchant, Hodges served as county judge, representative in the US Congress and Illinois State Senator during his long public service career.  About 1854, Judge Hodges assed a second story to the east part of the original Lee House incorporating or in to a two story Italianate style wing.  With its wide front veranda and its yard enclosed with a wrought iron fence, the imposing Victorian structure was a Carrollton show place.   After Judge Hodges death in 1884, his family continued to make it their home until Mrs. Hodges died in 1899.  The following year their son Beverly C. Hodges converted the family home into the Hodges Office Building.  He ended the 70 year ownership pf the house by the family when he deeded the property to Dr. N D Vedder in 1921.  Doe most of the 20th century this 19th century house has been host numerous businesses and professional services, including lawyers, dentist, doctors and insurance agents.   A gradual deterioration began to plague the old brick edifice until by 1970 its very existence was threatened.  IN 1974, Attorney William Vogt and then Greene County National Bank bought and transferred the historic house to the Greene County Historical and Genealogical Society in 1982.  Efforts begun in 1978 to place the house on the National Register of Historic Places and was rewarded in November 1980.  The society is a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving some of the past of Greene County in its Museum and its family files in its Brick Mansion House.   For More Information Contact:             GREENE COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY             524 NORTH MAIN STREET             CARROLLTON IL 62016             217.942.6013

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