Jasper County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in the U.S. state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 9,698. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Newton.

History

Jasper County was formed in 1831 out of

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

and Crawford Counties. It was named for Sgt.

William Jasper William Jasper (''c.'' 1750 – October 9, 1779) was a noted American soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was a sergeant in the 2nd South Carolina Regiment. Jasper distinguished himself in the defense of Fort Moultrie (then called Fort Sulliv ...

, a Revolutionary War hero from

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. During the defense of

Fort Moultrie Fort Moultrie is a series of fortifications on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, built to protect the city of Charleston, South Carolina. The first fort, formerly named Fort Sullivan, built of palmetto logs, inspired the flag and n ...

in 1776, the staff of the

American flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...

was shot away. Sgt. Jasper attached the flag to a pole and stood on the wall waving the flag at the British until a new staff was erected. File:Jasper County Illinois 1831.png, Jasper County at the time of its creation in 1831

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.7%) is water.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Newton have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of was recorded in July 1954. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in May.

Adjacent counties

* Cumberland County – north * Clark County – northeast *

Crawford County Crawford County is the name of eleven counties in the United States: * Crawford County, Arkansas * Crawford County, Georgia * Crawford County, Illinois * Crawford County, Indiana * Crawford County, Iowa * Crawford County, Kansas * Crawford Count ...

– east * Richland County – south * Clay County – southwest * Effingham County – west

Demographics

As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...

, there were 9,698 people, 3,940 households, and 2,800 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 4,345 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.6% white, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% American Indian, 0.1% black or African American, 0.3% from other races, and 0.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 39.5% were German, 12.5% were American, 11.0% were Irish, and 9.1% were English. Of the 3,940 households, 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.1% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 28.9% were non-families, and 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.90. The median age was 42.7 years. The median income for a household in the county was $46,546 and the median income for a family was $53,034. Males had a median income of $39,167 versus $24,856 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,467. About 6.3% of families and 8.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 10.6% of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those aged 65 or over.

Education

Jasper County is largely served by Jasper County Community Unit School District 1, which is based in its county seat, Newton. Five of the district's six schools are located in Jasper County. Saint Thomas Catholic School is a private elementary school, also in Newton.

Communities

City

* Newton (seat)

Villages

Hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila * Hidalgo, Nuevo Le� ...

* Rose Hill * Ste. Marie * Wheeler * Willow Hill *

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

Unincorporated communities

* Bogota * Boos * Hunt City * Island Grove * Latona * West Liberty

Townships

Jasper County is divided into eleven

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

: *

Crooked Creek Crooked Creek may refer to: Streams In Australia * Crooked Creek (Clyde River), a tributary of the Clyde River in New South Wales * Crooked Creek (Walsh River), a tributary of the Walsh River in Queensland In the United States * Crooked Cree ...

* Fox * Grandville * Grove * Hunt City * North Muddy * Sainte Marie * Smallwood * South Muddy *

Wade Wade, WADE, or Wades may refer to: Places in the United States * Wade, California, a former settlement * Wade, Maine, a town * Wade, Mississippi, a census-designated place * Wade, North Carolina, a town * Wade, Ohio, an unincorporated communi ...

* Willow Hill

Notable residents

* Glenn Brummer, baseball

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

for the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

and Texas Rangers; member of the 1982 World Champion Cardinals * Irene Hunt, author of the classic '' Across Five Aprils'' *

Albert Isley Albert Elias Isley (January 18, 1871 – December 24, 1953) was an American judge, lawyer, and politician. Isley was born in Jasper County, Illinois on a farm. He graduated from Valparaiso University. He lived in Newton, Illinois with his wi ...

, Illinois judge, lawyer, and state senator *

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

, folk singer, author, and actor * Ross Wolf, baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

; plays for the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Championship; formerly played for several

teams

Politics

Jasper is politically a fairly typical "anti-

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United S ...

" Southern Illinois county. Opposition to the "

" Republican Party and that party's

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

meant that Jasper County voted solidly Democratic until isolationist sentiment drove its voters to Warren G. Harding in 1920. Since the New Deal, the county has shown a steady trend away from the Democratic Party due to major shifts in that party's views – initially on economic policies, and since the 1990s on social issues.Cohn, Nate
‘Demographic Shift: Southern Whites’ Loyalty to G.O.P. Nearing That of Blacks to Democrats’
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', April 24, 2014 Only one Democrat – Lyndon Johnson in his 1964 landslide – has won a majority since 1940, and as is typical of the

Upland South The Upland South and Upper South are two overlapping cultural and geographic subregions in the inland part of the Southern and lower Midwestern United States. They differ from the Deep South and Atlantic coastal plain by terrain, history, econom ...

, Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton did far worse than any previous Democrat.

References

External links

Jasper County Genealogy Trails

Jasper County Genweb
* http://www.southeastillinois.com {{Coord, 39.01, -88.15, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990 Illinois counties 1831 establishments in Illinois Populated places established in 1831