Jesse LaFollette

Jesse LaFollette (c. 1781 - 1843) was the grandfather of Robert Marion La Follette, Sr., William La Follette, and Harvey Marion LaFollette. His family lived next to the Knob Creek Farm, Kentucky owned by Thomas Lincoln during Abraham Lincoln's boyhood years. LaFollette is shown in one of the limestone panels at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana.

Early life LaFollette was born near Morristown, New Jersey, in about 1781. His father, Joseph, and grandfather, Jean, were Huguenots who had escaped the persecution in France, traveling first to Jersey and then to the colonies where they operated a small farm near the Wallkill River in northern New Jersey. Jean was killed during the French and Indian Wars. Joseph married Phoebe Gobel of Morristown, New Jersey, whose father's farm along with other neighboring farms in Jockey Hollow was used by George Washington and his troops during the winter of 1780. After serving with Count Casimir Pulaski during the Revolutionary War, Joseph and his family joined the pioneers who trekked westward through the Cumberland Gap. Jesse LaFollette is shown in the Kentucky panel of the memorial, standing next to Abraham Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln.