Newspaper – Concord Veteran Cast First Vote For McClelland

Clayton, Ill., Nov. 8,–Among the voters in Concord township last Tuesday was Joseph Renaker, a Civil War veteran, and the only surviving member of the G.A.R. in Concord township.  Mr. Renaker voted for the first time seventy-two years ago, when he cast his ballot for General McClelland, a Democrat, who was a candidate for the presidency against Abraham Lincoln, and Mr. Renaker says he has voted Democratic since that time except when he voted for Theodore Roosevelt when he was a candidate on the Progressive ticket.
The voting place seventy-two years ago was in a schoolhouse near the location of the present town hall.  Mr. Renaker is ninety-three years old and very spry for his years.  He can recall much of the early history of the county.

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